Norwegian needs to take care of their customers better when things go awry. Don’t tell your customers “sorry there’s nothing we can do”.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
Too many people, long lines.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
Food was average. Specialty restaurants were good.
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
The activities were fine but lines, lines, lines. Everywhere you go there’s a long line to do anything. The Pool was tiny for over 3,000 people on board. There was no room at the Pool.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
Shows were average.
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
The room stewards and waiters were good but guest services was not helpful at all. They cancelled our port stop to St Thomas and claimed they didn’t know what. Total BS. The captain absolutely knew the reason but said “I don’t know”. This tells me that the reason we didn’t stop was probably because Norwegian didn’t have their paperwork in order. They refused to do anything to compensate us. We had to spend an extra day at sea which meant we went extra slow so the boat was rocking back and forth a lot.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
It was clean but these rooms are very claustrophobic. Thank goodness we had a balcony.
Ship tip
Don’t go. This was our first and probably last cruise and it was not a good experience. There were several people we spoke to on board who had been on several cruises and said that this one was the most disappointing. They recommended Royal Caribbean or Celebrity cruises.
They took us over on smaller boats to the island so on the way back we waited for 2 hours to get back on the ship. The island itself was beautiful and the water was beautiful.
The excisions would’ve been ok if there weren’t hundreds on people all crammed together in a little trickle of a waterfall and river. We had to stop and wait multiple times because there were so many people
Why don’t you take the recommendations you said other people gave on your cruise and try Royal Caribbean or Celebrity? Just in case they have Olympic size swimming pools all over the place, no queues, no need to tender anywhere, and are able to come out of the sea and move on land so that you have no need to travel for an excursion.
I will admit, Guest Services for NCL are NOT what they used to be pre covid.
I actually got frustrated with them at one point where I told them they were no better than Carnival.
I'm afraid your complaints may be the same no matter what cruise line you choose. St. Thomas chooses what ships come in and your contract states that the captain has the discretion to change/ cancel ports. Cruising in summer is always difficult with all the kids. Cruising may not be for you.
I would suggest a small luxury cruise where you pay a lot more, but there's less people and you get more personalized service.
Also, review your cruise contract. I don't think there is a guarantee that you'll see all or any of the ports.
Thanks for the review. It sounds like cruising is probably not for you since you did not enjoy most of it. Cruising during the summer when school is out is never a good idea if you want less crowds in a more relaxed atmosphere.
I wish I "had to spend a day at sea" instead of going to work today... Cruising is probably not for you. Lines, small pools, tender boats, missed ports, etc. those are all typical negative aspects of cruising. If you can't see the positive aspects then it won't be enjoyable.
Wow San Juan Puerto Rico is one of our favorite ports there's plenty to do and see and so much history in Old San Juan so sorry you didn't appreciate that
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