We had very bad experience from the tie time we booked the cruise. The waiting time for call to be answered was minimum 40 minutes, and even when some one pick up, you cannot be sure that the agent will be there to complete your request. We were two families, We called the shore excursion agent to book the excursion. We booked the same excursions for us and our brother-in-law. Traditional History and City Highlights fo Helsinki. They booked the wrong one for our brother-in-law, and goofed by booked them for Helsinki by land & sea. Then even that ticket was not in the cabin. We had to go back to the shore excursion desk and have it changed. The clerk was kind enough to get us accommodated on a nearly full bus
Embarkation
4 out of 5
Embarkation was good, they had many counters and the waiting was less than 10 minutes
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
The buffet was good, the waiter raoming around wer not that helpful and you never found one when you need them, . One waiter came along and when i asked him to get me water, he did not want to get and pointed to where I can get water. We. have taken many cruises on Royal Caribbean and Princess and this never happened to us. We had reserved our dinner for 7:30 PM every day. Two of these days were in a different restaurant. It is a farce, because you don't get the same table and waiters everyday. You still have to wait for your table,even though you are there at the specified time. I ordered New york Strip steak on on day. it was the toughest meat you could ever find, and when I complained, they did get little scared and the dining room supervisor followed me for rest of our trip, trying to calm me down
WE have always booked Balcony room. The room was smaller than other ship, and the balcony itself is a joke with two small chairs and tiny coffee table. No space to stretch your legs or lunge in the balcony. you have to sit straight
The ship tries to make money by attracting people to many speciality dining rooms and bars are a galore, turn any side and there is a bar, so much so that the swimming pool is just a little better than kiddie pool
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
Entertainment
2 out of 5
They had only two shows for the entire 9 dyas, with each of them being repeated. They also had show for which the passengers have to pay. We never saw the cruise director introduce the show. He was MIA
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
The waiters in the Garden Cafe "buffet" were not that helpful unlike other cruise ships we had taken. Room stewardess was okay but we probably saw her only 4 times during the whole 9 dyas.She was polite and helpful
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Wehn compared to other ships we have been on, the lay out is not that great, but oaky
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
The cabin si smaller than the other ships we have been. the balcony is a joke, with tow chairs and you could not lounge but sit straight and the coffee table is a joke, may be 12'x12" size can just hold two coffee cups.
Our tour guide took us to all the important and historic places such as the Berlin Wall, Check point Charley. We had close 3 hour train journey to Berlin and back to the hsip
We took the Pushkin and Hermitage tour, which ws for about 7 hours including lunch served in a restaurant in parks of Catherine place. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and caring
I would recommend you do your homework on the ship before you sail on it. You can find all the room specs on their balcony size etc. As for the water issue I understand however maybe stay with your other cruise lines.
You scared the restaurant manager?! Wow!
When you make excursion reservations on the phone they email you the confirmation, you can check it out for errors. They are also listed in your summary in your account on NCL.com. There are many ways to get prepared for the cruise. One of them is to go to the ship webpage. Plenty of information there.
We cruise regularly and love NCL . We have done escape, getaway twice and are doing breakaway shortly. I think everyone has different preferences and expectations. You need to find what works for you. We tip our bar and wait staff regularly and try to get to know them. We have had excellent service over all. We tried Royal again 2 years ago- ships are nice and main shows are great but we were bored stiff in the evenings and our kids/teena prefer the atmosphere of NCL. We like the flexibility of freestyle dining . I also try to remember that I am on vacation. Even if it isn't my fav ship I focus on the fact that I'm with my family and there is no working cooking cleaning or shopping !
I sailed this ship twice and had a wonderful time. Yes, the cabins are smaller. I found my preferred line is Carnival, and I’ve sailed RCCL also. I found that to get what I want, I always book my cruise and excursions myself online. No third party involved. Very easy and much more satisfying as I KNOW what I’m getting.
1. If you want good attentive reservation service, I recommend you book through a travel agent. Whenever I have issues, the travel agent resolves it. 2. The “servers” at the buffet are not there to serve you. It is a buffet. They are there to clean up after you. If you want table service, go to a sit down restaurant. 3. NCL has freestyle dining, not set dinner times and set tables. It sounds like a lot of your disappointments were due to lack of research and lack of preparation. In the future, I suggest you go with a more traditional cruise line, like Princess.
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