It was a great 1st cruise experience. I'd do it again next time if we're blessed to cruise in the next few years. Wonderful memories made, wonderful people we met onboard and on the islands we visited. I always look at our pictures to reminisce and relive the experience. It was the best vacation we've had, way better than Disneyworld!
Embarkation
4 out of 5
It was busy but we were able to embark earlier than what we signed up for. There are enough chairs for seniors and passengers, there's a clean bathroom at the port and some cold water for drinking while we were waiting.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
The food was fantastic. The menu on the main dining rooms are all the same though. We have reservations every night on complimentary main dining and specialty dining. It gets old that Taste, Savor and Manhattan Room are different places but have all the same menu every single night. Those 3 places should at least have different menus or theme in my opinion. Just because they're complimentary doesn't mean that the menus should all be the same. Even the cocktails are all the same on the 3 places. Teppanyaki was good, although the food was very salty in my opinion. Food Republic was fantastic.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
We mostly stayed on the upper deck where they had the kids and adult pool. There's also rock climbing, zip lining and slides. Some of these amenities may be closed depending on the weather and how windy it is outside.
Entertainment
2 out of 5
We watched the Magician, Choir of Men and the Elton John show. All shows are unfortunately comprised of men and NCL need to do something about that. The Choir of Men had some suggestive, sexual innuendoes dance acts which aren't really entertaining to watch for both kids and adults. Not my cup of tea. The shows could be better and could be revamped. Also, it's very difficult to reserve shows onboard. The kiosks are mostly useless as it won't let us reserve shows in advance (during at sea days) and the guest services always has a long line. I waited for so long in line in the guest service desk only to find out that only 1 person at the end of the desk is able to reserve shows/ specialty dining and there's not even a sign saying that. There were other shows onboard but I couldn't rate the experience as we didn't have the chance to book it onboard.
Children's Programs
My kids did not participate on any kids program
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
The staff and crew are the heart of the whole NCL/cruise experience. They treated us like royalty onboard, they're all hard workers.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The ship is very easy to navigate,.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
The room is tight but we weren't always in our room. For a family of four it's not too bad, we have a family balcony with 4 chairs and a small table so all of us were able to enjoy that amenity especially when the ship was about to dock or leave, we had privacy on looking out for the scenery and enjoy the nice sea breeze outside. Staying at a family balcony was worth it. I couldn't imagine us staying at an interior room, that would've been terrible.
Ship tip
Our itinirary was changed and we docked in NCL's private island on the 2nd day instead of being at sea. They had to use a tender boat to take the passengers to the island, make sure your family wakes up early, eats breakfast so you could be one of the first to be on the island and save yourself a chair with an umbrella. We didn't wake up til almost past 8am and we didn't get to the tender boat til close to 1000. The ship will only stay there til 2pm but all passengers must be back 1pm.
I wouldn't go an excursion next time. We docked at Taino Bay and it has everything. Retail shopping, free pols to use and lazy river. Not sure if it has beach access, I doubt that it has but it's a neat place. We took an excursion to Coconut Cove, nice all inclusive resort but going there took 45mins-1 hour. Road is very bumpy and in poor condition. The resort and beach is beautiful, food was just okay.
We love St Thomas, we took an excursion for sight seeing, shopping and going to the beach. Magen's bay was beautiful. Crystal clear water, couldn't compare to Fl beaches like one review said. Virgin Island with no high rise condos/hotels around and the water is CLEAR, you could see the fish swimming in your feet. We were one of the 1st tourists to get there, no problem with privacy/ crowd as what some review said as the beach is a few miles long. Renting chairs with umbrella is a rip off though, $20 per chair, retail store at the beach is very expensive, we had to get our kids a pair of goggles as we forgot to pack them and they were begging for it, it costed us $50 for 2 goggles! Please don't buy anything from their bar or retail store unless you really need to. There's a pharmacy close at port (we went after we came from the beach), they had goggles for only $8!
Beautiful island and people is all I can say. We did sight seeing and made a stop at Long Bay beach and it's the best beach on this trip. Beautiful crystal clear, turquoise water. The people is very nice, prices at the bar for food and drinks were reasonable, renting a chair with umbrella was only $25 for a pair for the whole time we stayed. They also gave us free water bottle from Kirkland for a family of 4. I love this place!
Beautiful private Island by NCL. Quite crowded so make sure to wake up and be one of the first family as passengers will need to use a tender boat to get to the island.
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