We had an incident happened in Cabo San Lucas Mexico. We supposed to travel with NCL tour bus for the day 04/29/2023, because I booked tour tickets prior through NCL app for Camel Ride in Cabo. I waited until 04/29/2023 morning, didn’t get the tickets for the tour. So I went to talk to the stuffs who were in charge of shore excursions at 6:30 am. They confirmed my online booking and payments, and wrote me a paper ticket. However the written tickets didn’t work when I got to the port, and I couldn’t get on the tour bus. Therefore I was forced to be on my own for that day, and I followed the departure time on the NCL app which is 2pm.
The ship left me and my mom in Cabo San Lucas Mexico at 1pm local time on 04/29/2023. According to NCL app, the ship departure time should be 2pm (I have the screenshot of the app). We got to the port at 1pm. When we arrived, the ship was still there, hadn’t left, but the Captain decided to not let us on the ship. He said because we were late, and he said the scheduled departure time is 12pm.
We spent about $1200 to get back to LA, including paying for flights, hotels and car rental. I’m writing to file a claim for the money I lost on this trip total of $5726.96.
For what we’ve suffered due to the mistake of your company, we're unlucky to be alive and survived from all the craziness. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
Embarkation
1 out of 5
it was terrible, stuffs are irresponsible
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
1 out of 5
I throw up after eating the food at deck 7 " the bar and grill", I'm not sure what was in the food. and the following serveral days I didn't feel like eating, until now it's been almost 10 days. I still don't feel good
Onboard Activities
1 out of 5
There isn't much activities to interact with the crowd. Mostly just watch Movies, and lie by the pool. i didn't expect to be on the ocean for 16 days didn't get to touch the water nor go to the beach. There is only one small tiny pool for 5000 customers on board. Most shore excursions are just boring expensive city bus tour, you barely get off the bus. Regular big bus tour are only $20-$30, here Norwegian charge you $100-$200 per person. If this cruise is only meant for older people(over 70) and people with disabilities. Why bother to advertise with water slides and racing track? For 16 days, I barely see anyone go on them. The energy on this cruise is not good. I had way better expenrience with Carnival 20 year old ship than this newer bigger ship. What a waste of my $7000. Be aware they charge a lot of extra fees without you agreeing to it.
Entertainment
1 out of 5
boring, super old music
Children's Programs
1 out of 5
Service and Staff
1 out of 5
I couldn't get my lugguge after waiting for 6 hours at the port, and no one wanted to help. We waited at the port in LA for 6 hours from the ship docked time 8am until 2pm. The ground stuffs couldn’t be bothered by helping me, and told me to step aside and wait. They said they had to clear other customers first. I had to wait until they clear out all 5000 customers on the ship, and finish boarding thousands of new customers as well.
I was anxiously waiting for 6 hours. The ground stuffs didn’t let me on the ship, but also didn’t bother to make a phone call to the ship to locate my luggage. Until 2pm after they settled all the new boarding customers. They finally made a phone call to the ship and found out no one packed up my room yet. So everything was still in my room unpacked at 2pm. And 2pm is very close to my flight departure time to NYC which was 3:26pm on the same day. I almost had to leave without my luggage. At that point I wasn’t sure if they would ever return my luggage, because the cruise is about to sail to Vancouver Canada at 3pm.
Ship Quality
1 out of 5
it's such a big ship, but all entertainment are only gathered on top or 6 floors. not much space to explore or do different activities for
Cabin / Stateroom
1 out of 5
the cabin is ok. but I have way better expenrience with Carnival, and they often give free upgrade. Norwegian is very disorganized.
Ship tip
I wouldn't recommand anyone who is under 65 to go on this cruise as all of us who are around or under age got disappointed by how boring it is. Also the ship left many people at different port, so you'll have to either not get off the ship, or don't leave the port. Their NCL is not reliable. I trusted the departure time on the app, and got left behind in Mexico. Because the ship left 2 hours earlier that the time showing on the app. It's a terrible mistake from Norwegain. And I suffered so much from it.
This shore excursions was not only boring but also expensive, just asimple city bus tour, you barely get off the bus. Regular big bus tour are only $20-$30, here Norwegian charge you $100-$200 per person.
We had an incident happened in Cabo San Lucas Mexico. We supposed to travel with NCL tour bus for the day 04/29/2023, because I booked two tour tickets prior through NCL app for Camel Ride in Cabo. I waited until 04/29/2023 morning, didn’t get the tickets for the tour. So I went to talk to the stuffs who were in charge of shore excursions at 6:30 am. They confirmed my online booking and payments, and wrote me a paper ticket. However the written tickets didn’t work when I got to the port, and I couldn’t get on the tour bus. Therefore I was forced to be on my own for that day, and I followed the departure time on the NCL app as that’s what I had on hand.
The ship left me and my mom in Cabo San Lucas Mexico at 1pm local time on 04/29/2023. According to NCL app, the ship departure time should be 2pm (I have the screenshot of the app). We got to the port at 1pm. When we arrived, the ship was still there, hadn’t left, but the Captain decided to not let us on the ship. He said because we were late, and he said the scheduled departure time is 12pm. It was very shocking to hear that after looking at the NCL app on my phone. Never would I expect such a big company make mistakes on important info on the app that customers rely on for booking.
Norwegian customer service told me that I could pick up my luggage in the last port which is in Los Angeles. So I thought I could at least get my luggages back smoothly. Unfortunately the cruise is very disorganized, or rather irresponsible. We waited at the port in LA for 6 hours from the ship docked time 8am until 2pm. The ground stuffs couldn’t be bothered by helping me, and told me to step aside and wait. They said they had to clear other customers first. I had to wait until they clear out all 5000 customers on the ship, and finish boarding thousands of new customers as well.
I was anxiously waiting for 6 hours. The ground stuffs didn’t let me on the ship, but also didn’t bother to make a phone call to the ship to locate my luggage. Until 2pm after they settled all the new boarding customers. They finally made a phone call to the ship and found out no one packed up my room yet. So everything was still in my room unpacked at 2pm. And 2pm is very close to my flight departure time to NYC which was 3:26pm on the same day. I almost had to leave without my luggage. At that point I wasn’t sure if they would ever return my luggage, because the cruise is about to sail to Vancouver Canada at 3pm.
There seems to be a good number of things about this review that are, shall we just say, questionable. In any case, we will be on this 21-day in 2024. Having cruised on Encore and Joy, we will be interested to find out how accurate your review is, and how you could possibly not figure out what ship time means.
I am So sorry about your experience , it must have been terrible for you, but i was on the same cruise and my counter point is that we had to move our clocks frequently to match local time, so there was no difference between ship time and local time. As far as Cabo we left exactly at the stated time. I am curious why all ports all received ones. Matzatlan was a great port, also my friends got off and went to beaches at 3 different ports and had a nice time..Maybe next time try some locally provided tours and not the ship tours. So sorry about your gi distress but i ate at the local a few times, no problem and the food was great. I am not an NCL cruiser only recently this cruise but your review unfortunately was not at all my experience, the entertainment was great. I prefer Celebrity or Princess, so if you prefer Carnival stick with what you will have fun
Even if you were there for local time rather than ship time, if the ship was still there when you arrived I don't understand why the Captain refused you to board. That's pretty messed up of him to do. I for one hope you receive some kind of compensation. Good luck.
Appreciate your detailed feedback. Is it possible you were on local time not ship’s time? That could be why you were considered late. Sorry you had so many issues.
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