There were 4,600 passengers on this cruise, but it rarely felt overcrowded. We did not wait in line for dinner or shows. Freestyle cruising is great!
The ship was clean and nice, the staff was friendly. The food was very good, so was the onboard experience. However not much to do in port unless you book an excursion and those were hit or miss, see above. The gym and spa were excellent.
Because this was high season there were always other ships in each port. That made time off the ship difficult. Everything on shore was crowded and the excursions were overcrowded because people were all there at the same time from all the 3 or 4 other ships all there at the same time.
The disembarkation experience ruined the trip though. It was so stressful because there were no cabs. It would have been fine if I had booked the bus through NCL. Those seemed to be running reliably. I know NCL does not control the cabs, but it was absolute chaos. I hope they learn from this and coordinate better with the port in the future, or at least notify passengers that you will not be able to get a cab so at least they have been warned. We were all blindsided.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
Embarkation was hectic but well managed. The cruise was completely full, 4,600 passengers, so you just had to be patient. It went about as smoothly as it could with that many people.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
The food was very good, even at the buffet and regular restaurants. The staff was friendly and helpful. The open bar allowed us to have wine with dinner and an evening cocktail without thinking about it. I did not notice anyone drunk or overserved, but the bartenders were always busy.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
The adults only pool and deck in the back was nice. Never crowded, always quiet. The waterslide was fun. I did not participate in any of the group activities.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
This is a big ship so one of the benefits is that the theater and shows were big productions. All of the entertainment was great.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Everyone was very friendly and helpful.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The staff was constantly cleaning the buffet lines and seating area. I felt very comfortable that everything was as clean as it could be.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Interesting design with the curved walls. It felt comfortable. our "suite" was not much bigger than a regular balcony room. It was very functional. The bathtub was wasted space. Can't imagine anyone needs to take a bath on a cruise.
Ship tip
Book the bus to the airport in advance. We tried to get a cab and when that became impossible they would not sell us a bus ticket in the terminal, even though some busses were leaving with empty seats.
We did not go to Puerto Plata, we got diverted to another port which was nothing more than a shopping mall next to the ship. Total waste of time unless you wanted to just shop.
St. Maarten was fine, but like most ports there is not much to see or do that is walkable from the ship. My terrible rating is for the shore excursion we did. It was the chair lift to the top of a mountain and zipline down. The issue is that it was oversold by about 10X. The line to board the chairlift was over two hours in the hot sun. Then when you get to the "top" you are not quite there yet, you have to stand in another line for half an hour to actually get to the top. The views were great and the flying duchman was fun but not worth the time. It was billed as a 3 hour excursion, it took almost 6 hours from leaving to returning to the ship. The return bus only ran every hour, we jumped on a bus for another ship or it would have taken even longer.
Terrible because of the disembarkation, not the city. I planned on having a cab take us on a 2-3 hour tour and then to the airport. That turned out to be impossible because of the disembarkation debacle. See below.
It is impossible to describe how bad this was in words. The lines off the ship were not managed with lines up the stairs, elevators opening into the line and people cutting in front of others. However, that was not the worst part. There were no cabs and the terminal staff lost control of the crowd, it was almost a riot. I am sure hundreds of people missed their flights because there was no way out. I saw people climbing into the back of cabs with the luggage just to get out of there. I walked out to the road and commandeered an incoming cab just to make my flight. I felt bad doing that for the people waiting in vain, but there was no choice. It was every man for himself.
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