The Cruise Was Fine, NCL Never Again

The hotel provided a shuttle to cruise port. From there we were on our own to figure out NCL's poorly organized and confusing embarkation process. Our advice is to follow the directions provided by NCL BEFORE arriving at the port. Many passengers had not printed their luggage tags. The line to have NCL print luggage tags was at least 200 passengers long. We gave our luggage to a guy at the curb, tipped him (most passengers weren't tipping and should have), and from there we figured out where to go and what to do on our own. Somehow we made it on the ship. We decided to be in the last boarding group. A good idea because we had to waste less time on ship waiting for the staterooms to open.

Some good. 3 specialty dining restaurants. Odd experiences in all 3 with service, "entertainment," and quality. NCL had closed the bar at Le Bistro, so our drinks came from a bar 5 decks down. Took 20 minutes of our evening waiting for 2 cocktails and a bottle of water. The food was fine. We could have had much better at home. The country band at Q Texas Smokehouse was OK had they not been playing in a small, low ceiling restaurant. The mistress of ceremonies, who was also the vocalist, was shrill and loud, allowing for no level of conversation below screaming at each other. The BBQ was fine. We liked Food Republic. The restaurant is a greenhouse setting. All courses were very good. This is where our server chatted us up and then handed us "Hero" cards to fill out and stood over us while we figured out what to say. We were more polite than we should have been. We chose to have breakfast in the 2 main small dining rooms. Service was fine. Denny's does breakfast as well and that's not a complement. We had lunch at The Local several times. Again, reminded us of Denny's. Didn't dine at the buffet. We attempted once. People cutting off each other while desperately grabbing for 2 items at once. Reach for something and risk losing an arm. That is not an exaggeration. Everyone on their phones not paying attention to anyone or anything other than what they would graze on next. It's a buffet, there's no reason to load up ONE plate and dump half of it on the floor while trying to find the perfect table in the massive facility. Manners and etiquette were of little importance to our fellow passengers. The ship was at half capacity. Can't imagine the scene at the buffet at full capacity and will never will.

We went to the cupcake decorating demonstration with Tiara. We got a free cupcake. We did that "activity" only because we were killing time and happened upon it while walking through the crowded atrium. We could do all the other activities at home through our local park and recreation department, and for free.

Nothing offered was of interest. Just because we are captive on a ship does not obligate us to be interested in what we'd have no interest in on land.

We have no children. What a dumb question.

3 stars is given in consideration of NCL's Cruise on the Cheap cutbacks on everything related to the passenger experience while holding their crew members responsible to sell NCL's poorly conceived product in a positive way, all the while forcing passengers to subsidize their crew's wages with required/obligated passenger paid gratuities, and somehow getting away with it. There were no stand outs thanks to the crew's employer. Several engaged us in polite conversation only to warm us up to be obligated to fill out "Hero" cards for them. Very awkward. We'd read that NCL's cost cutting is very apparent after we booked the cruise. That's an understatement. From waiters to room stewards to ship personnel, you could feel NCL's tight squeeze on every one of them and on us.

The ship was clean until the disembarkation. Our toilet was cut off at 7am, no flushing. Our apologies to the crew member who was left a generous tip. Does NCL think that we are going to not mention this in a review? This alone is reason enough to not consider investing in another NCL cruise. Disgusting.

For a ship launched November 2019, and out of service for 2 years, our cabin was in really, really poor condition. Cheap laminate peeling and broken off the edge of the desk tool. The finish on the headboard was damaged. The fabric on the "sofa" looked as though someone had dragged a razor blade across the top right side. The deck furniture was covered in soot from the ship's exhaust. We took a towel from a cleaning cart and cleaned the deck furniture ourselves. You definitely don't get what you are led to believe you pay for on an NCL cruise. We had bid on an upgrade to The Haven then decided the expense wasn't worth it for 4 nights. In hindsight, we are relieved to not have wasted another couple of thousand dollars on The Haven.

I mentioned that our toilet was shut down at 7AM. That pretty much sums up the entire cruise.