Great itinerary - horrible management, especially of queues-getting on/off ship and at restaurants even with reservations We are seasoned cruisers (10+) and our fourth (and last) with NCL.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
Boarding in Southampton was efficient. That was the last time there was any efficiency with embarking or debarking. Horrendously long lines (often over an hour) to leave the ship, even in non-tender ports. The tender ports were worse.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
The food was fine. There was enough selection and variety. The buffet (especially at breakfast) could have been better but the main restaurants were adequate. I'm not expecting Michelin star cuisine!
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Not a lot of variety and most held in the atrium which was extremely busy and loud.
Entertainment
2 out of 5
The main stage entertainment was adequate. What was terrible was the sound engineering. Whoever was in charge of sound felt that louder made it better, to the point of distortion and overdriving the speakers. We honestly couldn't stay in the main theater - even tried ear plugs - the sound was painful.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
The front-line staff was fine. They were working as hard as they could but it was obvious they were understaffed. The management was terrible.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
The layout for all common spaces was very interior. Not many places to get away from crowds, without being on deck - which is tough in September on a Northern European cruise. What was abysmal was the lack of attention to health and sanitization. There was no attention paid to suggesting that guests sanitize their hands before entering a main dining room or public venue (theater). There was no sanitizer by the elevators. There was one, maybe two staff members with spray bottles at the buffet but you had to know to ask to have your hands sanitized. Not surprisingly, there was a lot of illness of this cruise, including amongst the crew. There was no information given in the stateroom about what to do if you showed signs of illness, nor were masks available. The line for the medical center, at one point, was the length of the ship. People were asked to not test (Covid / flu) because if the test was positive they would have to be confined to their stateroom for up to 10 days. Cruise ships are notorious for disease transmission. Other cruise lines (even pre-covid) were much better at trying to reduce illness transmission.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Adequate balcony cabin, centrally located. Small balcony (basically the width of a deck chair) but that was standard for most of the balcony cabins, regardless of location.
Ship tip
Don't, at least until management can figure out how to get people on and off the ship or how to adequently handle queues.
Getting off the ship was a nightmare. Port delayed clearance and captain only had one gangway open. Many people missed excursions. We, fortunately, had arranged for tickets at the Van Gogh museum for 2.5 hours after the stated arrival time and were, barely, able to make it. Fabulous museum. Took public transportation to the museum.
Took Uber to Bruges - much easier and faster than using public transportation or a ship's excursion and dropped us off at the Markt, rather than the bus car park which is a 20 minute walk from the town center.
Again disembarkation issues, even with an NCL excursion. Shore excursion staff directed all people in our 'group' to the wrong end of the ship meaning that we missed our assigned bus. Fortunately there was another - but stilll... Rouen was great as was the tour guide.
Tender port and a nightmare. First tenders were only for Haven passengers or those on an NCL excursion. Had a private tour (Butlers Chauffer) which was wonderful. Over an hour wait in cold and rain to get a tender back to the ship.
Another tender port - with too few tenders. But, Lerwick is amazing. The Shetland Museum (free) is a 10 minute walk from the pier. The tour of the south coast was incredible.
Again, weather but this time we were at anchor with the harbor pilot on board with an 8:30 time to begin tendering. At 8:35 the captain canceled the port.
45-60 minute wait to take a bus into Portland / Weymouth. These busses were mandatory if you wanted to leave the ship as it was a secure port, although what we wanted to see (the castle and the D-day museum) would have only been a 10 minute walk. Two ships in port, both over 4000 passengers made this insane, although we are glad we waited. We toured the museum / castle and caught the bus to go to Weymouth. Opted to stay on the bus as the lines to return were at least 90 minutes long.
Ours was okay because we elected to carry off our own bags. Talked with other people who experienced long lines, delays and disorganization in finding transportation (paid) to the various airports.
We where on this cruise and found the lack of organisation, there was a lack of communication about ports and disembarking, having to queue for nearly everything we enjoyed the places we docked at and it was a shame to miss Ireland, we didn’t like the ship it was all about gambling, this was not for us I think we will be giving NCLa miss in the future.
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