Overall, my group enjoyed the cruise but none of us wish to return to Israel due to traffic issues and bad tour experiences. I will note again, the professionalism of the ship's officers and their availability to travelers.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
We were very early but were able to check our bags right away. The downside was my sister who checked in 2 1/2 hours later got her bags before me! We had to have our Cabin Steward go find them after we had been aboard over 5 hours. The man at Customer Service when I went down to see if there was an issue was rude and seems like he didn't care.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Overall, the food was very good. We were not able to use our credit for any specialty restaurants due to them being unavailable. Poolside buffet was good and nice to have on our sea day. A bit disappointed our drink package did not include coffee or sodas! Also surprised they did not offer unsweetened iced tea in the buffet area. Many of us watch our sugar intake for health reasons and the machine was all sweetened drinks.
Alcoholic beverages across the ship were inconsistent. One place made the selected drink very well while another one - it was awful. I will say the staff were super friendly and helpful
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
I used the spa services and while my services were very good, my husband's haircut was atrocious. It looked like it was never cut!
Entertainment
5 out of 5
Great bands, high energy.
Children's Programs
I did not have children
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
With the exception of the 1 customer service agent, everyone on staff was amazing and you could tell they were focused on you having a great experience. I was truly blown away by Ship's Officer Vesna. I got to speak to her on a few occasions and she truly listened to me. From the taxi incidents in Ashdod Port (I could tell she was going to follow up with the Port Authorities) to letting her know a new tour operator had provided a great tour in Limmisol and it was worth continuing. Tiki, our Cabin Steward, always greeted us and made sure we had everything we needed, kept the cabin spotless and wished us a safe journey home. Elvira in the spa was the lady that gave us a tour of the spa. We both signed up for the thermal spa package. She also gave me my massage and did an excellent job! Che did my facial and another massage and she also did an outstanding job.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
For as large a ship as this was, the staff kept is pretty clean. A little confusing layout in some areas you had to go outside to get from one end to the other.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Cabin was comfortable with lots of space to store our clothing and things. Only thing I was disappointed in was the high tub/shower. It was hard to get in and out of especially if there was any rocking of the ship. And if you are an older person.
Ship tip
Explore the ship as soon as you can. I accidently found the room behind the bridge and loved it but the people I met and told them about it, didn't have any idea it was there. And check the pricing of any activity that has a cost. We were a bit taken back by the cost of a wine tasting.
We actually arrive in Athens 3 days prior to our cruise and stayed in the Plaka district on our own. Highly recommend people doing this. It allows you to adjust to any time differences and it is a wonderful city with lots to see and do!
Easy to disembark and appreciated a currency exchange right as we got off the ship. Vendors in the ship side market were a little aggressive and that put me off on purchasing anything. I mean, we had just gotten there! I was not ready to make purchases 2 minutes off the ship! We went further into the city and enjoy it much better.
We had rented a car in Ashdod and could not get the 2.3 miles to the site. We weren't allowed to walk out of the port (I understand it was security). But NONE of the taxi drivers would take us. It took us over an hour to find someone (and that involved multiple port officials - who were not helpful) to find anyone. Then the guy charged us $25! The return taxi was only 40 shekels. Huge difference. It really spoiled our experience there. I would recommend a Dead Sea and Jerusalem tour as that is what our group wanted to do. But this combination was not offered which is why we rented a car. And the taxi driver kept warning us about safety and how hard it was to find parking. We never felt unsafe in any of the places we visited, nor did we have any issue finding parking. I don't like dishonest people.
I would NEVER visit this port on a Thursday. Traffic was horrific. Our tour was terrible. I thought we were going to stop in Tel Aviv. The Tour Operator's English was not good, and it soured the experience. She did offer to stop in Tel Aviv to see where the Prime Minister was assassinated. She went to hustle us back on the bus and I told her, no! Many of us needed to use the bathroom and would have liked to get something to drink. I had crossed the street and gotten drinks and snacks for my group during her explaining about the Prime Minister. I reminded her many people has not eaten breakfast or it had been many hours since we had. She seemed surprised that people did want to sit on a bus for 4 hours. Once arriving in Jaffa, we left the group and explored on our own as did many people. She said to meet a 4 pm and I told my husband we needed to leave earlier due to traffic. I wish we had. The other bus left a 3:30 pm and was back at the ship by 5:30 pm. We left a 4 pm and barely made it back on time. We pulled into the parking lot at 7 pm and rushed to check in.
This lovely island needs more time there. The Ancient Wines tour was a new offering and I highly recommend Norwegian keep this tour. I wish we would have had more time to perhaps see downtown. As it was, all of us crowded into the duty-free shop (the line was out the shop!) and the poor owner was overwhelmed. We just made the 2:30 departure time.
Need more time at this port. Especially if arriving in the afternoon. Last time I was in Santorini, I had tendered in about 10:30 am and we did not leave until 9 pm. Left lots of time to visit both Oia and Santorini. By the time we got to Oia and back, there was little time to do anything else as shops were closing. And the lines to get on the cable car were very long. Nothing Norwegian can do about that but add maybe another hour to offset the times to get from bottom to top and back again.
Since we were staying an extra day we chose to keep our bags. Wish I had been aware of the transport / hotel stay Norwegian offered. I would have done that instead. My fault.
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