This was our first time on NCL, compared to other cruise lines this was a disappointment.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
embarkation was very slow, had to wait in terminal until boarding number was called. Very inefficientt. Even though you were given boarding time prior to cruise this did not apply.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
This was our major disappointment. The quality of food and options were sub-standard in the main dining room. NCL needs to scrap the free style dining and due assigned dining times. The average wait time to be seated was 45 minutes to an hour. On no less than 3 occasions we waited more than 20 minutes for anyone to come take our order, after waiting 45 minutes to be seated. We appeared for dinner at 5:30 to 6:00pm each time. There was no continuity of service, someone would take our order and never come back to the table. Yet there was staff running all over each other, but very poorly trained. No one came back to our table to see how we were doing. We are seasoned cruiser, on other lines our waiter and his assistant would anticipate our needs and coordinate the entire process, making sure everything was delivered on time and in order. No one came to the table to get our desert orders or bring coffee as we were used to on other lines. I would also like to say that the dessert menu was very limited, ice cream was always vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry. We ate in two specialty restaurants, just let me say nothing special. Waiters were not pleasant, and food presentation was poor especially in Ocean Blue. Only ate in buffet twice the day we boarded and disembarked. The food options were limited and were not tasty on the lunch buffet. The breakfast buffet was good. The worse food was served on the NCL island, we basically threw it away. It was cold, food tasted old, very few options, and two or three desert, which were also poor. The island and the food were a total disappointment. I really hate to see what the food options in their main dining is going to be when they go to the same menu every day.
O'Sheehan's Neighborhood Bar and Grille
4 out of 5
We found the service to be very good, and the food was pretty good. We found it to be a better option than the buffet or dining room for lunch
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Pool area was very small and tight. Nothing special.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
The stage shows were excellent, cannot comment on anything else. Most of the other performances were not to our taste.
Service and Staff
2 out of 5
Our room steward was excellent. Waiters in dining areas were poorly trained. We had one waiter who was not assigned to our tables that actually came to our assistance more than once when he observed what we were going through. My husband and I had not complained, he was just observing what had been occurring. We are not the difficult cruisers that are always complaining. The worst was when the manager of the future pleted a presentation, and we tried to ask her some questions. She walked away. She is a salesperson for the organization, so her behavior was a poor representation of the company. We were shocked.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
Ship was very clean, layout was ok. Easy to find your way around ship.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Size of cabin was good, and room was clean. Problem there were no electrical outlets at bed size. I sleep with a Cpap machine. This was unexpected, but luckily my husband brought an extension cord. We had to run an extension from the bed across the room to the vanity.
This was the worse. It took three hours to get off. Because we had to be transferred to Fort Lauderdale, we almost missed our flight. Delta held the plane for us.
My husband and I have been cruising for years. I have a European cruise booked neck year, it on the breakaway. I am hoping to have a better experience. We booked the European cruise before we made the trip in May of this year, I actually came home thinking I might need to cancel the European trip. I stand by the fact that the dining experience was the worse. We were told to report to diner at 5:30 or 6:00 pm, so that we would not have a problem with wait time. There were long lines with an average rate of 45mins. I would say that there were a 100 people waiting outside the manhattan room. There are three main dining rooms and one was closed the duration of the cruise. But I think the problem was that the staff was new and poorly trained which caused for longer wait and meal times.
Is this your first cruise since cruising has started up again? This isn't a ncl issue but a cruising reality. Hopefully as staff gets back to full strength those issues will improve. Thanks for the review
We enjoy free style dining and always choose it on every line that offers it. NCL allows reservations that will cut your wait time. Everything else is the post-Covid reality - understaffed crew, long embarkation lines, sometimes drop in quality, etc. Let's be less entitled and happy to be cruising again or not cruise at all until things change.
Thanks for your review. I love the freestyle dining on NCL and I’ve never had issues like yours, pre or post Covid. You do also have the option to book the restaurants in advance too, if you knew you were going the same time every day. Sounds like a different cruise line with fixed dining times would suit you better. Hope you enjoy your next cruise.
Interesting, we always do anytime (but not NCL) and have no issues on other cruise lines, except on nights that lobster is on the menu, then the lines can be 30-45 minutes long.
We board Sunday. First NCL and we did Carnival in May and needed to go to Ft Lauderdale airport and used a private transportation service had no problems. We will try O’Sheeans. Thinking positive about ocean blue! Thanks for your honest review.
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