Norwegian let down its customers - complete disappointment

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 2

Helpful Votes: 46

Review summary

Norwegian let down a lot of previously loyal customers. The published itinerary showed one tender port, and the remainder to be docks. It turned out that all ports were tender ports except for two. Tendering was a big hassle, and Priority guests did not get priority for the return tender. It may sound petty, but for the price of a Suite and promises for priority tendering - what are we getting for the extra cost? They never provided priority for return tendering. They canceled three of the eight ports, including Dublin which is a huge port to miss, and communication about the cancellations was poor. The first two ports that the captain decided to scrap, I saw it on the navigation channel and called the Concierge to ask him why we weren't stopping - the second one he wasn't even aware of - but they didn't make an announcement until an hour later. For the third one, they disabled the navigation channel so nobody would see that they blew past the port. They claimed it was because of rough seas for tendering - well, they were on the itinerary as docking ports, so tendering shouldn't have been an issue, and also Dublin was sunny and had calm seas all day. To "compensate" the guests for the inconvenience of missing 3 out of 8 ports, they gave a $100 nonrefundable stateroom credit to each cabin... then closed the ship store permanently when they went into Portland even though there was a full night at sea left, so guests could not use any remaining nonrefundable credit at the ship's store. This is my first trip on Norwegian, but I was also surprised at the "Service Charge" they automatically add on $25/person/day - $500 for a 10 day cruise - does not cover tips for the people actually waiting on us, and none of it is discretionary. They state it is for the "behind the scenes" crew. So we were still expected to tip our butlers and concierge on top of that. I am used to "mandatory" tips being collected and distributed to those who served the guests, but it that is not what the "Service Charge" really is. I have doubts as to where it even goes. They also offered a laundry special - $30 for a bag of laundry which is a great deal. But it would have been nice to know that before we packed enough for a full 10 day cruise - we could have probably packed half as much, but by the time you are on the ship it's a little late to pack lighter. I'd say to chalk it up to remember for the next cruise, but there won't be a next cruise for us on Norwegian. I am also done with the nickel and diming of customers at every turn - pay extra to get a decent meal (that wasn't even that good); the included wifi is 150 minutes, so you can't leave it on and use it when you need to because the minutes run out even when it is idle - but that is to get you to upgrade to unlimited service, but even that service wouldn't allow streaming of any sort, including facetime. For that you have to upgrade to the unlimited premium wifi. And even that is not any faster - it just unlocks streaming. Our plan offered "free" unlimited bar, but you have to pay gratuities on its value that would add $500 to the bill - so you have to decline the free unlimited bar to avoid that service fee. I guess I can see why they do this petty stuff for the guests paying under $1000 for an inside stateroom, but it's tough to justify for guests paying ten times that on an owner's suite.

Embarkation

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Onboard Activities

Entertainment

Children's Programs

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

Copenhagen, Denmark

NEWHAVEN HARBOUR (EDINBURGH), SCOTLAND

Invergordon (Inverness & Loch Ness), Scotland

Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, Scotland

Belfast, Northern Ireland

Portland (Weymouth), England, UK

Southampton (London), England

Disembarkation

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