Disappointing
Norwegian Dream Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western
Contributor Level:
Deck Hand
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 22
7 Night Texaribbean (Houston Roundtrip)
Sail date: January 13, 2007
Ship: Norwegian Dream
Cabin type: Balcony
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 14 years ago
Review summary
Our cruise started off on the wrong foot in Houston. There had been some weather issues the night before our sailing day and we were left to sit in our hotel (5-6 hours) without any instruction as to when we would be boarding the ship. We finally arrived at the port and waited several more hours to begin boarding. We arrived at our cabin with out instructions for the evening, making up the time lost at port, etc. We were horrified with "Houston" as a port. This is really a "Industry" port. NCL was the only cruise company to sail out of Houston. I could not help but feel sorry for all the first time cruisers thinking this was what all cruise ports were like. There are so many beautiful ports to sail out of, why Houston???????? This was our 20th cruise and so know of possible weather problems and delays, but never was the lack of communication as bad as on the Dream. This lack of communication continued throughout the cruise. The "auto-adding" of "tips" has severly caused customer service to suffer! We had no customer service on this ship. The crew appeared to be on "robot" mode, knowing that they would receive their "tips" without customer service. The non-smoking rules that were in place were not inforced, so there was smoking through out the ship, making it unpleasent in many places were wanted to be. The music on the outter decks was so load you could not get away from it to have a nice "reading" spot. The entertainment was below standard. These acts were pitiful and lacking the "Broadway" air that so many of the shows on the seas have.Ports of call
We signed up for a "jeep & snorkel" tour. It was so disorganized. We waited & waited, then walked 3/4 mile and waited some more. We finally got our jeep and drove off only to have to stop every few minutes to have the other jeeps catch up. We were a few miles out side of town (where all the cruise ships were) and we were told this was were we were to snorkel. We said no-way and had the tour driver take us back into town for a refund.
Thumbs Up
0
We opted for the "Zipline & Tubing". We drove by bus for 1 1/2 hour to the junkle to wait in line for 1 1/2 hour for our 15 minute "Zipline" adventure. Then waited another hour on the bus only to be told the "tubing" had been canceled. We rode the bus back to town 1 1/2 hours and boarded the ship. All & all had we known the time involved, the rain we would have not done this tour. (Again, lack of communication)
We took a tour to the ruins & Merida. We enjoyed seeing the town and the ruins, but the tour bus had no water on it and it was quiet warm outside. It would have been nice to have had something on hand to drink.
We signed up for a "jeep & snorkel" tour. It was so disorganized. We waited & waited, then walked 3/4 mile and waited some more. We finally got our jeep and drove off only to have to stop every few minutes to have the other jeeps catch up. We were a few miles out side of town (where all the cruise ships were) and we were told this was were we were to snorkel. We said no-way and had the tour driver take us back into town for a refund.
We opted for the "Zipline & Tubing". We drove by bus for 1 1/2 hour to the junkle to wait in line for 1 1/2 hour for our 15 minute "Zipline" adventure. Then waited another hour on the bus only to be told the "tubing" had been canceled. We rode the bus back to town 1 1/2 hours and boarded the ship. All & all had we known the time involved, the rain we would have not done this tour. (Again, lack of communication)
We took a tour to the ruins & Merida. We enjoyed seeing the town and the ruins, but the tour bus had no water on it and it was quiet warm outside. It would have been nice to have had something on hand to drink.
Pros: Dining
Cons: Lack of communication with crew