A great ship and a great destination either plenty to see and do. Big ship that never really felt crowded and line ups were never an issue as long as you figured out the right time to go to things. With only one port and being docked there for nearly three days made this cruise feel even more freestyle than usual for NCL and there was never any need to rush to get on or off the ship.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Security check was quick. General population check in is split with decks 5-11 going to the desk near the front of the terminal and decks 12-15 going to the desk way at the back of the terminal. At least after walking that far the line was a fraction of the size than the 5-11 line was. All told it was about 20 minutes to get through everything and be sitting in a chair waiting to board. Boarding started a bit after 11am and an announcement was made shortly thereafter that rooms would be ready around 3. Around 2:30 they announced the rooms on some decks were ready and a couple minutes later they announced all rooms were ready. A great time to be one of the few on board willing to take the stairs. Benefit of the later cabin availability times is bags were already arriving in the halls. Overall a fairly painless procedure.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Can’t say we had any real complaints about the food. Never had to wait to be seated at any restaurant, although we tried to go around the time they opened to avoid any lines. Food arrived in roughly the time you’d expect for the respective venues. Aside from the buffet it was always hot. Taste wise everything was at least good and didn’t have anything I would consider a disappointment.
Garden Café
3 out of 5
Due to the itinerary the only times we were ever in a rush to eat a quick meal was the night we had show reservations at 7 and disembark morning, so those were the only two times we ate at the buffet. Huge buffet that seems to go on forever but the size of the buffet isn’t really indicative of the selection available. Same items repeat several times throughout, so while you’ll find stuff to eat don’t expect to be overwhelmed with choice. Food was fine but nothing special as you’d expect from a buffet. Food is most likely to be cold by the time you peruse the whole buffet and find a seat. Room layout is weird with floor to ceiling walls with lattices separating the buffet from the seating. Makes the room seem confined and almost feels like you’re eating in a big jail cell.
Moderno Churrascaria
5 out of 5
We love a Brazilian steakhouse. Their meat options have been somewhat reduced over the last year or two but what is available is always good. Large buffet area with other sides and things but if you’re doing a Brazilian steakhouse correct you’re there for the meats and the salad bar is irrelevant. Shout out to our waiter, Julius. Very attentive throughout the meal with drinks and getting the meat sent over that we wanted. At one point there was a delay in getting the requested item sent over so he just grabbed it himself and sliced it off for us. He saw us the next day when we were having lunch at Taste/Savor and he came over and said hi to us by name and discussed the previous night’s meal.
Savor
5 out of 5
I’ll lump Taste/Savor/The Manhattan Room together here since I think this was the one of the three we ate at most often for no specific reason. Great places to eat if you’re not in any big rush. Dinner is served nightly at all three. Breakfast each morning at Taste/Savor and lunch on sea days only at Taste/Savor. On a 7 day cruise the menu rotates enough that you don’t need to have any repeat meals, unless you want to. Food was always served hot and within reasonable times. Never had to wait for a table to be ready but we usually went around the time they opened, so the crowds weren’t there yet and we always got a window seat. Manhattan Room is just one big room so noise level is much higher but it feels slightly more posh. Taste/Savor are much smaller and the room is segmented off so it’s much quieter and a more intimate feel.
O'Sheehan's Bar and Grill
4 out of 5
Ate at O’Sheehan’s a few times and the service was always super fast. Appetizers within 5 minutes of ordering and mains basically the moment you finished the appetizers. Food was always hot and tasted good. They’ve ditched the old nightly blue plate special, so it’s easy to get bored with their menu after eating here a couple times.
Room Service
4 out of 5
Ordered room service for sail away since we had a balcony on the Statue of Liberty side of the ship. Thought it would be nice to eat supper while sailing out of NYC and avoid the rush of people all trying to get food once we passed the statue around 6:45. $12(10+auto gratuity) isn’t a horrible price to have about 10 plates of food dropped of in our room for us. Some menu options aren’t things you regularly see on other menus, so there are some unique choices available. The 7 layer chocolate cake normally only available at Cagney’s is also on the menu, so my wife was excited to see that. Speciality dining without having to pay for speciality dining. Food was still warm when it arrived but nothing super fancy.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Lots of different activities available on the top decks if you want to get wet or physical or tanned and outside the premium areas like Vibe and the Haven none of them come with any extra cost.
Sports Complex
5 out of 5
Several different choices available with mini golf, ropes course, bocce ball, giant chess, and basketball/soccer court. A nice way to get some top deck sun if you don’t want to just sit in a lounger all day. It also seemed to be well blocked from the wind as it was typically very calm while other areas up too could be quite windy.
Mini Golf
4 out of 5
Played mini golf a couple of times. No cost with 9 holes. Not a traditional mini golf course with boundaries and obstacles to navigate. Set up more as a mini golf version of a real golf course. They use different textures and types of carpet for different hazards. A fun way to kill a bit of a time.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
Saw the Choir of Man in the theatre and otherwise didn’t really do any of the offered entertainment. That wasn’t for lack of choice, I just much prefer to avoid going to where people are as much as possible. After going on the Getaway earlier this year I will say the Escape did a much better job. The Getaway tried to cram everything into the Atrium and it just didn’t work well. The Escape ran many things in the Atrium but it has enough empty space that they also had a bunch of folding chairs set up that greatly increased capacity. They also utilized the theatre and Supper Club for many of the events which just makes so much more sense as the Getaway seemed to avoid using those areas at all.
Escape Theater
4 out of 5
Saw the Choir of Man here on day 2. Nothing super fancy but it does what it’s needed for. Reservations are certainly a good idea as the theatre isn’t massive but tickets were available for the majority of the cruise so if you want to wait until the second night they show it then there doesn’t seem to be as much need to rush to make sure you get tickets.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
I’ll start positive and then go negative. It was announced on day 2 that our itinerary was going to change. In an attempt to minimize the affect of weather later in the week we’d dock in Bermuda 23 hours earlier than scheduled and leave 23 hours earlier. No big deal, same nearly three days in Bermuda. Day 1 and 3 in Bermuda were great weather and day 2 rained and then choppy seas the night we left Bermuda and smooth sailing after that, so it was the right choice and worked out well. For whatever reason NCL still decided to give every passenger a $50 onboard credit as an apology for the itinerary change. The cruise we were on with them earlier in the year had a port dropped and the port times changed multiple times during the cruise and we got no apology credit then. So to get one for this was totally unnecessary but greatly appreciated. Left us with final onboard expenses of 84¢.
As for the negative we had an ongoing issue with waiters in Taste/Savor/Manhattan making small mistakes. Bringing us the wrong meals, or giving them to the wrong person at the table happened repeatedly. Not a huge deal as they were quick to correct it, but still happened too often to not mention. Then at dinner on the second to last day we got charged for two sofas despite having the sofa package. Had to go to guest services to ask about it and took nearly the whole day to get credited back. That night at dinner I checked after we ordered our meals and once again we were charged for sofas. We ordered three and got charged for four, so that was even worse than the night before. Brought it to our waiters attention and she reversed the charge immediately. Once again, not a big deal but it pays to keep an eye on your onboard billing. Especially if it can avoid you a trip to guest services.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The layout works fine. Having previously been on the Getaway the ship instantly felt very familiar. Nice to have some public sun deck area at the front of the ship which is something the Getaway does not have. Some sort of observation lounge still feels like the biggest thing it is missing, but otherwise it’s got everything it really needs. The Waterfront is great as always for a quiet place to sit or walk that gets you close to the water and away from the crowds.
It was hard to walk anywhere without coming across somebody cleaning something. We put our dirty room service dishes outside our door and in less than 5 minutes we heard somebody out there taking them away. They are very on top of keeping everything clean.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Originally booked an inside room but won an upgrade to a balcony. Perfectly serviceable room. Bathroom was a decent size and plenty of room everywhere, except the end of the bed. Our layout had the couch beside the balcony and the bed beside the closet. Not much room between the closet and the bed in this layout. Room attendant kept things clean and no complaints about her. Only saw her a couple times during the week and she didn’t do anything special or out of the ordinary for us, but we don’t expect that.
Ship tip
Don’t decide that mostly minor mistakes are going to be something that ruins your cruise. The crew are just people and people make mistakes and ultimately they want you to be happy and have a good time. Too many people that post reviews here seem to go out of their way to let anything ruin their cruise and complain about it in their review, but most things can be easily fixed with even just the smallest amount of patience.
Almost three full days in port was great. Coming and going from the ship as we pleased. Plenty to see and do on the island and plenty of time to get to the furthest away reaches during our time there. Got a two day bus pass for $31.50 each and it worked great. Gets you anywhere you want on the island and includes the Dockyards-Hamilton ferry. Add in the free NCL Dockyards-St. George’s ferry and there was no need to book any excursions.
Not really a city tourism kind of person so we just drive straight to the terminal and don’t visit the city at all. Besides, my opinion is that the best way to properly see NYC is by sailing down the Hudson so our sail away as the sun was setting and the city was lighting up for the night was great.
Disembarkation is always going to be a bit of a mess. No announcement was made that self disembarkation had started and once we got down there the line was already snaking half way across the ship with people trying to join the line from multiple directions. The line kept moving the whole time we were in it, which was nice. They also had a separate area off to the side for people who hadn’t settled their account or had other issues so they wouldn’t hold up the main line. Probably the smoothest disembarkation I’ve had but it still feels like there’d be better ways to do it.
Tip:In NYC disembark via the aft staircase instead of the forward. The entrance to customs is right off the aft exit so it saves you walking the full length of the pier from the forward exit.
And before anyone comments I notice I mentioned the sofa package we had. My phone autocorrected soda to sofa and while I noticed it later it made me laugh, so I decided against changing it.
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