NCL....going downhill

Embarking was a breeze. Once we completed registration and received our room keys, we were able to board the ship.

The buffet was good. A good variety of offerings, but pretty much the same everyday. Breakfast was decent, however they do need a few more toasters to make the lines move faster. The omelet station was very popular. The cloth napkins need to be replaced, many were frayed and edges were stringy. The main dining rooms Magento and The Grand Pacific offered the same menu daily, so basically there was only one restaurant. Both menus offered a fixed menu along with daily specials. We ate at the Magento several times and always had a good meal. As for the speciality restaurants, they were ok, but all but two have gone to ala carte. Cagney's Steakhouse never disappoints, and the double cut lamb chops were to die for! La Cucina was disappointing, as I remember several years ago the menu offered a much bigger selection of pasta and sauces. Teppanyaki was a dinner and a show, and was extremely loud with 4 cooking stations cooking at once.

Stage shows: Stompin' Boots was good, with a good selection of music; Destiny Duo was amazing with their acrobatics; The comedian Tim Kaminski was ok, if it wasn't for the audience members on stage, he wouldn't have a show; The magician JP, was funnier then the comedian, but his whole show was based on a deck of cards; El Gaucho was entertaining.The music on the pool deck was ok, gone is the Caribbean and steel drum music from long ago. The music in the different bar areas of the ship was mediocre at best.

As always, our room steward was terrific. The hostesses and waiters in all the eating venues were friendly and accommodating.

The common areas of the ship were clean, however the bathrooms were something to be desired. There were doors that had latch locks because the basic door lock didn't work, the floors in some were littered with toilet paper and paper towel pieces, some had very little or no hand soap.

We had a mini-suite with balcony, which was spacious and clean. The bed, was another story. The most uncomfortable bed I have ever slept on. I think its time that NCL replaces the mattresses, I would have slept better on the floor. The bath towels were descently soft, even though many were frayed and should be replaced. Several years ago you would never see a towel with frayed and worn edges.

What a nightmare! You would think that after all the disembarking that NCL has done, they would have it down to a science by now. Those that carry their own luggage off ship are allowed to disembark first, however those that chose not to apparently never got the message. Per directions those who self-disembark would be able walk off the ship between 9 and 10am, with the others disembarking when their ticket color was called. Yeah right! We carry our own luggage off and once we got an elevator (waited nearly 20 minutes due to them being packed with people who weren't carrying their own luggage off), we encountered the nightmare. We were instructed that the disembarking would be through the Bliss Lounge at the back of the ship, and that we had to go to the back of the line which by now was at the front of the ship in the shops area heading towards the Stardust Theater. Ship crew would walk by and questions were asked about the disembarking and their only answer was a shrug. We stood in that line for an hour before we started moving. We moved to just before the Orchid Restaurant and waited another 30 minutes, before someone came from behind and told us we could disembark through the front by the Stardust Theater, where we just moved from. So after waiting 20 minutes for an elevator, over an hour in a line that was getting longer and more congested, there was light at the end of the tunnel. We disembarked within 20 minutes! As we were walking the gangway, we saw all those poor, unfortunate souls who were stuck in limbo, having to disembark through the Bliss Lounge. That line was still winding from mid-ship, through the lounge and then back outside the ship. With more and more passengers choosing the self disembarking process, disembarking is only going to get worse. Since they had 2 ways to disembark, you would think that those passengers who were in the back of the ship would disembark through Bliss Lounge, those in the front would disembark through the Stardust Theater, and those mid-ship would be alternately directed towards the Bliss and Stardust. This would not have prevented those not self disembarking from clogging up the areas, but would have made the whole process a little easier.