Our Family Cruise

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 30

Review summary

1-13-2007, Saturday The cruise started bad. We flew from Sacramento on the midnight flight and arrived in Houston at 6 AM. We waited until 9:30 for the port transfer bus (we had expected this). We sat on the bus for at least 45 minutes before it left the airport. We were told there was a problem at the port that caused a delay. We had a group of 20; six from Sacramento and the remaining 14 driving to the port from various places in Texas. When the bus got to the port we sat on the bus for another 45 minutes until the cruise staff gave us an option of going to the boardwalk. We were told that we could stay at the boardwalk for a few hours and then a shuttle would bring us back, the shuttles would run every 20 minutes. We waited for the 14 others and then all 20 of us went to the boardwalk. Not long after being there it started raining and we didnt have any of our coats/rain gear, those were back in our luggage at the port. So we had to buy jackets. We stayed at the boardwalk for a few hours and then at 3:30 tried to get a shuttle back. We stood out in the rain for over an hour before we could get a shuttle. Finally we got a shuttle back to the port and were on the ship by 7 PM. We ate in the buffet but there was no seating room. Nothing was done to assist with seating and we heard staff asking for more help. The food was not refilled timely. The beds were not split in two rooms; we had to move them ourselves. Then the stateroom staff gave us the sheets to make up the beds as single beds. I asked them to do it for my room, my son and his cousin just slept on the beds without the blankets and the other person had to make up the fold-out bed herself but didnt get sheets the first night, only a blanket. 1-14-2007, Sunday We went to breakfast in the Four Seasons dinning room. The service was so slow and the food was not hot. After waiting more than 45 minutes for our food the Muster Drill started, so we asked if we had to participate and the wait staff said no. Then after our food was delivered we were told we would have to leave. We were told the food would not be there when we got back. So we just spent over an hour waiting for breakfast (with 3 kids) and then had to leave without breakfast. We had 6 kids on the cruise with us. Five were going to the kids corner but two were 8 and the other three are 10. We wanted the group to stay together but the person in the center would not allow them. There were so very few kids in this age range so it seemed unreasonable to have to split them up, but they would make no exceptions. We spent the day on the pool deck, swimming and having drinks. When we ordered sodas for the kids they had to drink them warm as they were out of ice. We ate dinner in the Four Seasons again. We have been on at least 7 other cruises: Carnival, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, and NCL. We have always had the option if we didnt like something on the menu to have steak or chicken. We were told there were no substitutions and when five of our group didnt like anything on the menu they had to go to the buffet. We were told we had to make these special arrangements ahead of time. When we asked if we could see the menu for the next day so we would know if we wanted to make these arrangement we were told no. Photo Shop - The sign with the hours of business indicated the shop would be open at 9:30 PM. We returned at 9:30 and no one was there. We asked and were told that the attendants were out taking pictures. Why have the sign up if it isnt correct?

Ports of call

Progreso (Merida), Mexico

Belize City, Belize

Cozumel, Mexico

Progreso (Merida), Mexico

Cozumel, Mexico

Belize City, Belize

Pros: free style dining

Cons: almost everything else, the service was terrible

Recommends Norwegian Dream? No.

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