Mismatched for our family. will never cruise NCL again. Quality of Celebrity and even RCL FAR better. Smoking prevalent and horrid. Specialty restaurants great--best thing on cruise BY FAR. Other dining either just okay or really bad. The ship is constantly LOUD--there is no elegance. This was pricier than Celebrity and gave us far less. I am unsure how this rating system works and the questions are not broken down enough to give accurate ratings. Specialty restaurants are 5's while other options are at best 1/2
Embarkation
4 out of 5
This was actually well done and handled a lot of people quickly and in an orderly way. All of the NCL people were welcoming. Baggage handlers were attentive and took care of us even though we had not been told how to get baggage tags ahead of time.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
Specialty Restaurants -- 5 stars -- fantastic in every way---they were the saving grace!!
Aqua (one of 2 main dining rooms) -- -5 if I could. One of the WORST meals all three of us have ever eaten. Meat too tough to cut or chew. Fish not edible. Duck pasta with non-existent duck!! We never returned.
Venetian (other main dining room) -- service slow; food far better than Aqua but VERY inconsistent. Sent a number of dishes back. Coffee burned more than once. General menu okay but not great.
Garden Cafe -- much of breakfast items were greasy...learned what was decent to eat and it was ok. Lunch was best since we usually wanted salads and fruits--pineapple was quite good.
Bars---some better than others. Many didn't have necessary ingredients like mint for a Mojito--not exactly an uncommon drink:( Thank God for the Drink Package and champagne!
Wait staff was very good in Specialty Restaurants. Some of Venetian's were excellent--others not. One waitperson in Venetian didn't understand the drink package and what was covered or not.
The quality was NOT even close to RCL or Celebrity -- drink packages on those ships also covered far more things.
Without the Specialty Restaurant package, we would have been miserable, especially considering this cruise cost actually more than the Celebrity cruise that was sold out.
Onboard Activities
1 out of 5
One pool for this large a ship is stupid. It was literally wall-to-wall people who couldn't move. The Fitness Room was also subpar. One of the hot tubs at the front of the ship was decent and at least not crowded if you went early morning. Library, which was the ONLY quiet place, was FRIGID morning, noon and night.
Entertainment
2 out of 5
The stage shows (magician, aerialists) were great. Second City--not that funny--have seen them in Chicago and it was FAR funnier. The major problem with the rest of the "entertainment" was how insanely LOUD everything was. Even it was a decent little duo, it was SO amplified that we wouldn't stay. It became a game every night to try and find any less noisy location where we could enjoy drinks before dinner, play cards or whatever. This is not just we slightly older folks--our daughter (in her 20's) thought it obnoxious as well. Also, the pool band needs to learn some additional tunes--they repeated the same ones day in and day out:( The Cruise Director was pretty obnoxious and not funny. The Asst Cruise Director WAS good--he should be promoted. Also, SMOKING --gag!! We had no idea it would be this prevalent.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Many waiters were quite good; some not. The room steward was nice and there were 3 of us in a cabin but she managed to keep it clean. She wasn't always prompt. On other cruise lines, esp Celebrity, it was as if they anticipated your every need. If you left your cabin, it was freshened immediately. This was Not the case with NCL. The Specialty Restaurants Reservations agent was NASTY. She was rude, not only to us but to others in line. She was not helpful and did not listen and then would get openly exasperated when either corrected or asked another question. She was on duty on Saturday, July 29th. The Guest Services personnel were very nice and helpful. Excursions Desk agents were nice but one had no earthly idea about some of the advertised excursions. Service incredibly slow many times in Venetian. Aqua service was as terrible as the meal.
Ship Quality
2 out of 5
Cleanliness was fine. SMOKING was HORRID---it should be well advertised that this is prevalent on the ship. Granted, it was mostly on one side of the ship but it was still obvious in some of the non-smoking areas. There were spots on the ship that reeked of stale smoke although "non-smoking"-- when one is highly allergic to smoke, this is not only a personal preference but also a health issue. There should be some areas that are quieter other than the meat locker Library. Luckily we had a balcony room--it became our haven.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
We knew that we would be cramped with 3 of us in the cabin. The bathroom is nice that there is a door for the toilet area. I was sent an e-mail from NCL that said I could bid for a better room -- an upgrade. It stated that our booking agent could take us through the procedure. When I called her, she was unaware of the practice, e-mail, etc. and didn't know how to do it. We didn't want to try it on our own but if someone had been able to tell us what to do, we may well have opted to bid for a slightly larger cabin.
The cabin steward kept it clean--she just was not always prompt in getting it done. She found us a 3rd chair for our balcony and that was awesome...we did tip her extra bc the room was clean.
Ship tip
Make sure you know what you want and what you are getting. We LOVED Celebrity and this is about as different as you can get (except for maybe Carnival). There is nothing refined about this except for the Specialty Restaurants. Dress Codes are definitely not enforced. If you want a constantly LOUD ship with smoking and crowds -- this is the ship for you. We will never cruise this line ever again. We did get to see Bermuda and it was beautiful in every way. Considering we paid more for this cruise than we would have for Celebrity, we stupidly expected it would be at least on par or even maybe nice. No WAY!! Not even close. I will say that tons of people seemed to be having a ball so, in truth, I think we were just mismatched for this cruise line.
Boston is great...it was pouring rain the afternoon we were there which definitely limited what we had planned to do. The hotel advertised a free shuttle to downtown but that tuned out to be not true, and Lord knows, it was near nothing.
We arrived on Sunday and were told by the Visitor's Center that we should just stay in this area bc most things on the island were closed. It was REALLY hot and we did walk around to all of the shops and paid to go through the Museum with the Commissioner's House. The views were incredible but it was pricey for what it was. If you like touristy shops, this area is fine. There was a Pirate Ship that charged to swim and go off their plank:( At least we did not pay for the slow trolley that rode around the area. It is clean and people are nice.
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