Well, I fell in love with cruising, what a fantastic way to travel. We've now booked our next Cruise. I can't believe I've never done this before. So relaxing, so enjoyable, and I don't have to unpack but once. Canada was amazing I highly recommend you go.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
It could have been better. There was a lot of confusion at the beginning. Firstly, Norwegian has no signs for "enter here" at the port. We walked from the ferry terminal and there was nothing saying "here is where you enter" if you weren't coming from the road. Once we figured out this was the entrance, we walked in and there was a line, but there were a lot of lines, and we weren't sure where to go. Apparently there was a sign but we didn't see it because it was facing the wrong direction. So finally we got in the correct line. This took about a half an hour to 40 minutes for us to get to the front of the line, then we finally got our cards.
It would have been nice to get some "New Cruiser" information. As we had never cruised before, we had no idea if we were allowed to eat at a restaurant or only at the buffet we had no idea if we could drop our carry-on bags somewhere, we had no idea if we were allowed to sit anywhere. After getting that sorted, there were questions as to how much drinks were. Some people were under the impression drinks were $20 a piece no matter whether you had the drinks package or not. By the way that is not true, if you do have the drinks package it is only the price of the taxes for the drink which turned out to be less than $2 a drink. Again, a "New Cruiser" pamphlet would have been helpful.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
The Manhattan Room Restaurant
4 out of 5
I took off one star because it was loud!
Le Bistro
4 out of 5
I was looking forward to duck and creme brulee. I got neither, as they were not available. I got the escargot, which was quite good and fish which was excellent. The Frasier cake at the end could have used more vanilla. I don't believe they used actual creme pat.. I like creme pat. They , at least, didn't rush me out of the restaurant, and allowed me to enjoy my food.
La Cucina
1 out of 5
The chicken was cooked wonderfully, the sauce was tasteless. They rushed us out of the restaurant. The waiter basically did not want me to eat dessert. I asked for coffee with my dessert at the beginning because I figured it would take him a few minutes to brew it, he said I could get coffee anywhere. I will never eat at La Cucina again on any Norwegian ship
American Diner
3 out of 5
My husband ate here for the meatloaf. He said it was goid. But very loud. Also there was a very long wait for a table
Moderno Churrascaria
3 out of 5
The food was very tasty but they rushed you out of the restaurant as fast as they could
Garden Café
5 out of 5
This was wonderful!! Food was fabulous. Service was amazing! Returned repeatedly to see what new delicious food they came up with
Shaker's Cocktail Bar
5 out of 5
Amazing service and the drinks were fantastic. The cucumber and basil with gin was a favorite as well as Le Fizz.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Salon
3 out of 5
I got my nails done, a mani pedi. I don't usually get my nails done but as I'm getting older I have a hard time seeing my toes. So I paid over $100 to get a mani-pedi. The young lady did my feet she did a good job, and of course she had to try to sell me some scrubbing stuff. But my nails chipped like the next day. For over $100 I would hope that they would last at least to the end of the cruise.
Photo Gallery
2 out of 5
When you go to purchase your package, you tap the button and swipe your card, and you pick your package and the pictures you want, then you can't add anything you need someone to come help you. I wanted one of those glass laser things. For that you had to scan a QR code using your minutes, from your Wi-Fi, so that you could order it. Joke was on them though, my phone decided that the QR code was a virus and would not allow me to continue, they had to use their own phone. Dear corporate, that is bad customer service and that is your fault because the workers at the counter did not choose to use that particular service, you did.
Climbing Wall
1 out of 5
The climbing Wall was removed. So no one got to experience it.
Breakaway Casino
1 out of 5
Loud, so much smoke. If you don't normally gamble and miss the "intro" like I did, you miss important info. Apparently I was supposed to get a loyalty/points card? No idea. Anyway I only went 2xs . Too much smoke.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
Breakaway Theater
5 out of 5
We got a seat near the center of the theater dead smack in the center. We watch "Burn the Floor" and I can't believe that all those dancers were on that tiny stage at the same time. What a fantastic show. You can see everything at the same time from that theater and the acoustics were great.
Bliss Ultra Lounge
5 out of 5
Only went for the glow party. Small but nice venue. Extremely loud!!! Fast service.
Headliners Comedy Club
4 out of 5
I loved "Howl at the Moon", it was a lot of fun, but the venue is very small.
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
The biggest issue I had was at the pay specialty restaurants. They rushed us out and one of them was very rude to me. Other than that the staff was wonderful
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
It smells like smoke. Most of the venues were very small for all of the people that were on the ship. One pool for 4,000 guests? Who thought of that? I don't think it was very well thought out.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Our cabin was beautiful and comfortable, the bed was fantastic it was even bigger than our bed at home. The bathroom was big and roomy and I cannot believe people complain about the toilet paper, it's nicer than the stuff they give us at work. I found the toilet paper the shampoo and the lotions to be very nice. The air conditioner worked and our balcony was fantastic.
Ship tip
Waiting for the elevators is a pain. Once on the elevator it gets you to your floor very quickly. But waiting for the elevator takes forever. You can get there faster by taking the stairs.
I'm gonna give this town 5 stars because I'd love to go back. We'll have to because the ship was very, very late getting in and the 2nd excursion (another tour bus) was unable to let us have too much time to really explore. I had a crap time personally. Lost an earring, lost a Starbucks card, and dropped my phone and it was run over by a car. Thankfully I have a very strong phone case and the phone was fine. I will return to the area another day for sure! The people are friendly and the area is beautiful and interesting.
Beautiful port. Got to take a tour bus excursion. I'm sure some people like that sort of thing, I found out I do not. We drove through Acadia as fast as we could. Got to the top of the one mountain, got off in time to use the toilet and buy a postcard and then had to race back to the bus. The tour guide kept pointing out interesting things to look at and then we'd fly right past them. Wouldn't even pull into a lookout area so we could move to one side of the bus to get a picture. He kept saying " get your camera ready" there wasn't time. Even if it was ready, it wouldn't have been in focus. This could have been because of how late everything was getting started, but I really didn't like it. The place itself was beautiful. We ate lobster roll at an over priced (sit down) restaurant. It was meh. Bought some trinkets and got a tender back to the ship.
There is a massive Hill in this town, I mean massive. If you don't want to do an excursion and you want to get up the hill I suggest you get a taxi it was only $15 from the taxi to the port so I suggest you take it. It is beautiful and I wish we had spent more time there
We decided to do a 9:30 disembarkation, as such we had to be out of a room by 8:00. So we ate breakfast got out of the room and waited in the casino, which smelled like smoke the entire time, and had nothing to do until it was time to leave. I wish there was something to do while we were waiting.
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