Could've been worse. Glad it was only 5 nights. Sorry that it was my boyfriend's first cruise experience. Glad it wasn't my first cruise. I've had more fun on a Carnival, and experienced the standard and expected on Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. Will never be cruising on Norwegian again.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
It was nice to have a specified time to arrive, but this also came with long lines outside just waiting to get verified that we did our covid tests before even getting to security. Security had makeshift lines made out of strategically placed chairs. Not a good look.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
The buffet was always meh with the food being no better than a Golden Corral. The main dining rooms had ok food as long as it was the food for thr night and not the food they offered all cruise. Ridiculous to wait almost an hour to have dinner at a complementary dining room where reservations are not offered.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Offerings were good. We spent time wasting money in thr arcade and casino. Lots of trivia opportunities.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
We only went to the "Burn it Up" show. Talent was very good, but there was not storyline to be seen.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Staff was phenomenal. Extremely friendly would have conversations with you if you took thr time.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
Ship was always clean. The design didn't seem great. The design of the dining rooms seemed clumsy and didn't accommodate for all guests to eat when they wanted. The hallways with cabins were exceptionally narrow compared to other ships. A lot of room was set aside for pay-to-dine restaurants which seems odd to me.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Decent sized cabin, small balcony with two chairs and mini table.
Ship tip
Don't. But if you're already booked, always go down early for your excursions before they even announce it. Otherwise you'll miss it.
Barely had any time here from 10:30-4:30. No organization for getting off the ship. We had an excursion meeting at 10:45 and weren't able to get off the ship until after 11. This left us with 15 minutes of snorkeling off a boat and then 30 minutes on a beach before getting back on the little boat to get back to the ship in time. Been here probably 15 times, never had to deal with something like this. Getting back on the ship was a nightmare too.
Truly a nightmare for my anxiety stricken boyfriend. We waited in a huge line halfway through the ship to get off, he had to wait in another super slow moving line to be seen by the singular person checking those with birth certificates, and then we have thr news broken to us that Disney essentially always gets what they want so we couldn't even dock at our original pier. So to another ginormous line to get on a bus to drive to the parking garage. My boyfriend was in tears. By the time we saw the line for the elevators for the parking garage we decided it was better to just carry our 40 lb bags up thr flights of stairs to our car.
We were on the Getaway in Europe and it was one of the best experiences we have ever had. The itinerary changed but the cruise was fantastic.
I think different cruise lines have different personalities. We prefer NCL and Celebrity to Royal and carnival. We like the speciality dining and included drink package on NCL.
For those wondering, we were in the last group to get off the ship. I arranged this because we didn't have anyplace to be other than driving home. It wasn't that we were in a hurry. I figured the last group would be best so that we might reduce time waiting in line. I've reassured my boyfriend that this experience isn't the usual on ships and he seems pretty open to trying out different lines.
I was on this cruise and everything you said was accurate AND nothing for kids opened until 10am and no activities either. So for parents with younger children who get up early, it was alot of time with not much to do. We made it work but my kids mentioned that they liked other lines better because they were bored alot on this one. The mini golf and rock wall are no longer there which we did learn before boarding but after booking which was annoying. For those saying you should have waited to get off...that was worse because the lines for the buses to get back to the parking garage just continued to get longer. We were one of the first off because we carried our luggage off (and again we are early risers) so we did not have much issue with the bus line, but the later you got off the worse it was.
Unless you're rushing to catch a flight, why not just go grab a drink and relax while the majority disembark?
Also, you can make reservations at all main dining rooms months in advance to avoid longer waits. We just made them for November...
Thanks for the review. Hopefully your boyfriend will be willing to try a cruise line you like better. Was there some reason you had to hurry getting off the ship and back to your car? If I don't have to hurry to a plane, I'm fine with sitting on deck. I enjoy the last hours while the others wait in line then mosey off with the last group. No sense stressing to embark to only turn around and stress to debark.
*Cruiseline.com is not a booking agent or travel agency,
and does not charge any service fees to users of our site. Our partners
(travel agencies and cruise lines) provide prices, which we list for our
users' convenience. Cruiseline.com does not guarantee any specific rates or
prices. While prices are updated daily, please check with the booking site
for the exact amount. Cruiseline.com is not responsible for content on
external web sites.
Contact us
Submitting...
Need help from a personal vacation planner?
Loading...
Find the perfect cruise with weekly tips and cruise deals for as little as $30/night!
Sign up for weekly cruise deals
Join other subscribers and get the best
cruise deals of the week in your inbox every Thursday.
