A Decent Escape

This was one of my least favorite cruises with Norwegian. Overall the ship was beautiful. Massive in size, but in many ways poorly designed. On this particular cruise, the crew seemed exhausted, and somewhat moody. Something I had never experienced before onboard a Norwegian Cruise.

Boarding was somewhat simple, however, the agent at the Port of Miami seemed very uninterested, and didn't provide any direction, and didn't even take my health questionnaire. The ship was very crowded, and at certain times it was difficult to move throughout the ship. Certain areas of the ship, such as the area near O'Sheehans Pub were usually always a traffic jam that would require additional care when moving around. Smoking areas were designated to two specific areas onboard, so guests were smoking on their balcony's against cruise line policy, and it made enjoying our balcony somewhat difficult when there is cigarette smoke blowing into our room. Speaking to Guest services seem to be a dead end on so many levels.

Disembarkation also took two+ hours in Miami, after waiting in a line the wrapped the entire interior corridor of the ship. Additionally, the port couldn't handle the amount of people disembarking, they would temporarily suspend getting off, until they got caught up in customs, and therefore it made it very difficult to get our transportation to the airport arranged because of the delays. 

I believe that these ships are becoming too big, and they are losing the attention to detail that smaller, intimate ships have naturally. Otherwise, I will continue to travel with Norwegian, I just hope they don't lose themselves under their new management and the seemingly increased push to cram as many passengers as they can into a ship with the same amount of crew and service.