Great service, mediocre food, high pressure selling

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 8

Review summary

After 4 days into our trip, and just 15 minutes before we were scheduled to get off the ship for Great Stirrup Cay island, the island excursion was canceled, due to travel restrictions. Here’s how the cruise went: -ropes course, closed -mini golf, closed -basketball court, closed -theater and all theatrical shows, closed -Most restaurants with any outside seating were closed. Apparently they had to paint the handrails -The ship was maybe at 25% capacity and there were still not enough lounge chairs on the decks Apparently they take the opportunity when capacity is low to perform maintenance on a bunch of stuff that customers would, surprisingly, still like to use. Would they do this at high capacity? Of course not, too many people would complain, but since they weren’t making as much money, I guess we had to be okay with it. Do you know what was NEVER closed for maintenance? Not even for a minute? Everywhere they could make extra money from you: The spa The gift shop ALL of the jewelry shops The bake shop The gelato shop The bars The several-times-daily art auctions And when I got on the ship I felt almost assaulted by how hard they tried to sell acupuncture to me in the spa. They even get you in a room alone with one of their “consultants” for a free consultation, and then say a 4-session treatment is what I need, at $170 per session, without even examining me. And they don’t let up or offer to leave the room until you’ve discussed it for a few minutes. Used car sales people have nothing on the people in that racket. Overall the cruise was enjoyable. Almost every staff member was polite, genuinely happy we were there (going so far as to say their livelihood depends on us and that’s why they’re so happy we decided to cruise). Everything was clean, very clean. It’s just like a nicely appointed hotel, but on the water which is very cool. Views were wonderful from our balcony, and the food in the buffet was better than most buffets! (Except the top tier in Vegas) The onboard entertainment of nightly game shows was also really fun. I did want to point out all the good stuff because I want to be taken seriously when I mentioned the negatives at the beginning of the post. There are some things they can’t control, like the island, but please don’t treat us like second class citizens in regards to which facilities are open because the capacity is low. If you’re going to use social distancing as an excuse to close things down, then please DO NOT OFFER AUCTIONS AND FREE THINGS IN A SMALL, ENCLOSED SPACE LIKE A JEWELRY STORE AT AN EXACT TIME. There were 50+ people crowded there, which was orchestrated that way to have as many people at once for the sales pitch. And Dueling Pianos was standing room only with nobody wearing masks!! What in the actual…. Anyway, very nice ship, clean, polite and friendly cleaning and buffet staff, very funny and fun cruise director / entertainment staff (Romeo by himself could keep you laughing and smiling all night). Mediocre food at non-complimentary restaurants, but good service. High pressure sales, avoid the spa unless you’ve got $1,000 or more that you’re okay with letting go of. I can’t see the island being open anytime soon. If you’re going in the next 6 months, I’d try to get a cruise credit or even refund (good luck with that) for when the island will be open. It’s the big attraction on the cruise and it was pulled from under us at the end. Of all the things my wife wanted to do, that was the reason we went with NCL - their island. Disappointed but understand that at least a FEW things can’t be helped because they were following protocol. Just wish they’d follow the same protocols for the bars, jewelry shops, art auctions, acupuncture, or anywhere else they make money on the ship itself.

Ship experiences

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

Great Stirrup Cay (Cruise Line Private Island), Bahamas

Port Canaveral, Florida

Cozumel, Mexico

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