By far this wasn't my favorite. I think perhaps with the free at sea option, NCL sailings may be turning into booze cruises on many of its ships. There is nothing wrong with that, it's just not what I'm looking for in a cruise.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Super quick and easy. We were on the ship within 30 minutes of arrival.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
The food in the main dining rooms was very good. I didn't have a bad meal. The breakfast buffet was like most others I've had. I wasn't crazy about the layout of the buffet but that's personal preference. O'Sheehans was good for lunch. Breakfast there was just ok.
The wait times for drinks was ridiculous. They need to have a better system for the line at the bars. The Mixx bar was the best bar on the ship but not open all the time.
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
The pool area is entirely too small for the amount of people. We had to go all the way 2 levels up from the pool to find a chair and even that was a struggle. There were no bars so we had to walk down 2 levels, wait 30 minutes and go back up to our chair. Why there is no bar up there is beyond me. The Waterfront they brag about is beautiful but there is very little seating. Many activities were held in the Atrium which has seats for about 30 people.
There was little to no activity around the pool. There wasn't even music most of the day. Spice H2O stunk from fumes and again, there was absolutely no music back there.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
Burn the Floor and Million Dollar Quartet was excellent. The comedians were good but their shows were very short. Musicians and DJs were basically non-existent around the pool as stated earlier. Alvin, the cruise director is terrible.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Our room steward was fine. All other staff was excellent. I feel bad for them because they are so short staffed and are doing their best. People can be extremely rude and the bartender in Spice H2O had to reprimand people and remind them to show some respect.
Ship Quality
2 out of 5
I hated the layout of the ship. It's very disjointed and a poor use of space. Rather than having so many small venues, they need fewer but larger spaces.
The common areas were clean as were the restaurants.
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
The bathroom was the largest I've had on any ship. The bed was comfortable and there was plenty of storage for us. The balcony was a joke. It was so tiny, I had to move the chair to close the sliding door. There were paint chips all over the balcony.
Ship tip
I would look for a different ship. This wasn't my first NCL cruise but it was my first on a mid-size ship. Maybe a larger ship makes better use of space or maybe this size isn't for us.
If I could give zero stars for this I would. It was a complete disaster. They locked the elevators so they wouldn't go down to 7 where you needed to be but they also roped off the stairs so we were all stuck on floor 8, unable to move and the cruise director kept calling more luggage tag collars, increasing the problem. This was an NCL problem, not a customs problem because once off the ship, it was fine.
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