Getaway to Western Caribbean

The port in New Orleans seemed a little disorganized and crowded. Could not hear boarding group announcements while waiting in the large noisy room with 1,000+ others. I asked an NCL employee what was said during an announcement regarding boarding and his response was "I have no idea."

The food and dining in the dining rooms was good. We tried La' Cucina and the American Diner that opened during our cruise replacing Margaritaville. We were surprised by how good the food was in the American Diner. The only drawback to the American Diner is the seating is under cover, but open to the outside along two sides which made it windy and somewhat cool during our cruise. We had dinner one night during the Cirque Soleil show - the show was great and the food was excellent. The Garden Cafe (buffet) was crowded, but no wait and seating was always available. We had room service breakfast most mornings and the food was still warm and delivered during the time frame requested.

I personally did not use the pools, rock wall, or rope course. My wife enjoyed the rope course including "walking the plank" a few feet beyond the edge of the ship.

The stage shows were all good. Burn The Floor had some decent dancers and Million Dollar Quartet was good for if you like Johnny Cash, Elvis, etc. There were comedians and a number of bar shows/singers and all seemed ok. One possible issue is the main theater sound system or acoustics may be a bit of a challenge. The performers are good, but the sound is not clear. The Cirque Soleil show was great.

We had no children on the cruise with us.

All ship's staff were professional, cheerful, and very helpful. One concern for me was with Guest Services when voicing a concern with live music in a bar on the next deck down, directly under our cabin (see cabin review).

The ship seemed to be well maintained and clean. The layout is easy to navigate and after a day or two, everything is easy to find.

Bottom line up front: Stay away from selecting cabin 9238 and any in the surrounding area on the port side of the ship. Cabin 9238 is a typical mini-suite with almost a full size bathroom, double vanity, and standard size walk-in shower. The cabin was clean and didn't appear too worn, except for the bed which was terrible. A major problem with cabin 9238 and surrounding area is the Sugar Cane Bar directly below on Deck 8. The bar hosts live music each night from around 8 until 10:30 (until midnight on last night of cruise). The live music/singing and the sound is loud throughout performances and will rattle the walls and floor in the cabin. We complained on the first night and someone from housekeeping management was sent up to investigate. We got the sense he already knew about it when he said heard the problem on the way to our cabin. Apparently, I was not the only one to complain. On the fifth night of the cruise, wine and chocolate covered strawberries were delivered with no explanation of why, even when I asked. The person making the deliveries had a cart full, maybe 10 - 12 of the same for other cabins. On the last night of the cruise, the bar had extremely loud salsa music until midnight. The cabin's floor and walls were vibrating with the beat of the music. I called guest services (third time during the cruise) to complain around 11 pm and was told "I will check and see what they are doing." Needless to say, nothing changed and the music seemed to get even louder. At 11:45 pm, I went to guest services to complain in person explaining this had been a recurring problem the entire cruise and nothing had been done. The gentleman behind the desk seemed indifferent and showed nothing that could be interpreted to mean he cared at all. I requested contact information for NCL corporate to file a complaint. He went into the office for about 15 minutes (maybe hoping I'd leave?) and then returned with a business card. He had written a case number on the front and told me everything is documented in the file referenced by the case number. The card included contact information which I used as soon as I got home to send NCL a lengthy description of the concern and how disappointing the cruise was and, in my opinion, it was poor planning to have live performances with sound systems directly below cabins. I received a fairly quick response with an attached letter. NCL gave each of us $300 discounts ($600 total) to be used for a cruise within 12 months. The NCL letter mentioned wine and strawberries had been delivered due to the problem, so this is how I found out why those were sent to our cabin.

Very confusing. We did self-assist along with about 1,000 others. Printed documentation, crew members, and announcements were different regarding the process and where to start, etc. It went ok after we started moving.