First cruise since 2019 and lots has changed. Less staff, poorer food and lots more nickel & diming by NCL. Can I nitpick endlessly? Yes. However, a cruise is what you make it and we just spent 12 days floating around the Caribbean with good friends, lots of food & drink and some else doing the cleaning. It’s not the same as it was but it’s still not a bad way to spend a vacation.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
As usual, the Manhatten cruise port is crowded but embarkation wasn’t bad this time. About 45 minutes from streetside to boarding.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
The quality has really declined. The buffet actually had the most consistent food of the trip and it was better than Savor and Taste most days. Tropicana seemed to be better organized and have better service. Service was hit and miss, food typically arrived warm, not hot and the understaffing situation really slowed things down. Had the prime rib at Cagney’s and while the meat was excellent, the sides arrived cold. As it was included in the specialty dining package, I didn’t get excited but if I’d had to pay $200 for that, I sure have been escalating that to a manager or customer service!
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Lots of stuff to do for the young and old. Pools, slides, ropes course, trivia, bingo and all the evening entertainment.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
Lots of choices and some excellent productions. Like I mentioned before, plan ahead and be prepared to wait in line though.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Terrific staff! The ship is understaffed and they are all working way too hard but they were all very friendly and upbeat. A shoutout to our room steward Paulwyn who took very good care of us all cruise!
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
Not crazy about the layout. The casino monopolizes are large part of the center of the ship and as smoking is permitted, the rest of the immediate area stinks. Thus the atrium area is smaller than it should be and not able to adequately accommodate the crowds.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
The cabin was a typical balcony room. Lots of storage, comfortable bed and very clean. The balcony is tiny. It was a tight fit for my wife and I to sit comfortably outside together. The bathroom was well sized and laid out. The only real con was lack of power solutions. There are no bedside charging ports or plugs. The only plugs are located just above the little desk in the middle of the room. This was also a problem for my friend in an adjacent room who has a CPAC machine. The room steward provided him an extension cord that ran across the room and ended up being a trip hazard during the night.
Ship tip
The entertainment venues are nowhere near large enough to accommodate a full load of passengers. Be prepared to line up for Sid Norman’s and Headliners. They are designed as small intimate venues and they are very nice if you can get in but be prepared for lineups and get there early.
Didn’t stop due to weather on the east coast. Turned out to be the right call as we had 18 foot seas on the second sea day out of St. Thomas but 3 days at sea when it’s cool outside meant the interior of the ship was absolutely packed all the way back to NYC and that wasn’t fun.
We did the snorkel with the turtles cataman excursion. It was a high point of the trip for us! A quick bus ride over to the local marina where the crew was all ready for us. We went to a nearby beach and snorkelled for about an hour or so and saw sea turtles, a stingray and an old wreck with lots of fish. After that, we motored over to another beach about 45 minutes away while enjoying rum punch and the included lunch which was delicious. Then spent another 2 hours anchored up and some people snorked and swam while other relaxed on the boat enjoying their the rum punch and rum cake.
Did the the NCL beach break excursion. It was meh. The beach was just ok, the bathrooms were filthy and beware that if you choose loungers with an umbrella attached, the local vendor will charge you $10.00 cash extra for the use of the umbrella. I checked the fine print when we got back to the ship and sure enough, you are paying for 2 loungers and a complimentary arrival drink. No umbrella included. Most people were unimpressed but ended up paying anyway because it was really hot in the sun.
A great port with lots to but very limited time. 7am to 2:00pm. Great except most of the port stores don’t start opening untill between 8:30 - 9:00 am and all aboard was 1:30. Not nearly enough time in one of the major port stops. This seems to be happening more regularly with NCL lately, less time in ports and more sea time.
They cancelled and we ended up in St. Marteen instead. We thought this was a bonus. The reason given was there was no spot for for us at the pier so we would have been tendering. The captain did say at a q&a on board that tendering almost 3800 guests in the limited time we had at the port would have been undoable.
We arrived in the late afternoon so most of the stores and attractions closed soon after we arrived. However , it was a pleasant evening walking around the port area after 3 sea days. Looking forward to going back for a full day.
Another beach break afternoon excursion booked thru the ship. A better beach and tour operator than in St. Kitt’s but beware of the umbrella scam here too!
A complete gongshow! NCL decided that the Gem would also be turning around that day at the next pier. As a result, the terminal was overwhelmed by almost 7000 passengers trying to disembark and find their transportation with no one from NCL or the port to be seen with crowd and traffic control, it was a free for all and complete chaos. Never again! I’ve also cruised with RCL across the harbour at Bayonne and by comparison, it is a well oiled machine to Manhatten.
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