The two serious negative experiences that I describe in this review the Medical Clinic, Guest Services, and Security left me a bad impression about Norwegian. I have taken cruises with several other cruise lines (Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Crystal) and have never had such negative experiences. I will recommend against Norwegian in the future in favor of the competition.
Please feel free to contact me for further information if you truly wish to correct these wrongs.
Embarkation
2 out of 5
Embarkation was fairly good in most respects, but there was a mistake was made during check in for my daughter's room charges that became a huge hassle at disembarkation.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
Omelet stations should be set up separate from the regular buffet line. The omelets backed up the entire buffet line every morning. Buffets very good otherwise.
The restaurants were slow in general, but the French restaurant was particularly slow. Dining was a three hour ordeal.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Entertainment
4 out of 5
Children's Programs
4 out of 5
Signing up for the kids club was quite inefficient and not well managed. It took unnecessarily long. There was only one staff member handling the sign-ups on the first day of the cruise, the busiest day.
Our children loved the kids club. The staff was great with the kids.
Service and Staff
2 out of 5
We had a bad experience with the Medical clinic after bringing our granddaughter there when she wasn't feeling well. We were grossly overcharged for basic antibiotics and the staff was not honest about the charges for the medication. The on-duty nurse showed us the menu of charges which do not show costs of medications. At check out I asked the nurse what the cost was for the medication prescribed by the doctor. He said he didn't know, but expected it to be in the $20 to $30 range. When we received the bill in the room later he had CHARGED US $562 FOR BASIC ANTIBIOTICS!!!. I complained about this with the medical clinic and guest services, but got nowhere. I plan on reversing the charges on my credit card and formally disputing these exorbitant charges.
Other than the medical clinic, guest services, and security (see disembarkation), the other staff was great, especially my room steward.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
The room was good and as expected. Our room steward was great.
Ship tip
Check out the competition. There's better cruise lines to choose from.
Disembarkation was a disaster with Security and Guest Services. Both groups displayed a high level of incompetence. My teenage daughter had reservations in a different room with relatives. So, at embarkation I had put my daughter's charges on my credit card. On the last day of the cruise I received a phone message and a letter from guest services that I had to contact them to address her room charges. I was surprised by this but contacted services and they agreed to put her charges on my room and credit card, and guest services confirmed that this matter was resolved. Then at disembarkation security would not let me or my teenage daughter leave the ship. It took over a half hour of going back and forth between guest services and security to resolve this matter!!! Guest Services and Security displayed a great deal of incompetence, and animus towards me for a situation they created. I had resolved this matter twice already and then was detained by security and embarrassed with my entire family at disembarkation.
Nice. You should not have been surprised by the high cost of using the ship medical facilities. You will lose on trying to reverse the cc charges. The fact that the charge was excessive does not negate the fact they provided a service that you requested. While excessive, it is a legit charge.
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