Choose your ship wisely!!!!

I  apologize for not completing this survey much sooner.....I have been on a couple of short vacations since my return from this Alaskan cruise.

We loved Alaska and plan on returning someday.   However, it will never be on a ship that is rated less than four stars.  If you pay a four star price for a vacation then you should be provided with  top rated services.

My stay in Seattle, where we cruised out of (we had visited Seattle many years ago) was very nice.  We stayed at the Doubletree Seaport, which was a  perfect location for our travel. 

On my own I secured an affordable mode of transportation to and from the port.  Check-in and disembarking with Norwegian was perfect.  Norwegian has it right, and all other cruise lines should use their operating procedures for efficiently moving people on and off of a ship.

Then reality sets in:

First of all.....the only reason I went against my better judgement and selected a three star ship is because everyone assured me that this was Norwegian and that all of their ships were wonderful.  Well, nothing could be further from the truth. 

We all had to wait on the pool deck or in the one open dinning room, with limited food choices, until it was time to sail.  We were subjected to cold hard buns for the hamburgers and hot dogs (I asked that my bun be placed on the grill before eating), and condiments that were exposed to the sun to long.  Also, the food selection area was messy (even at the buffets), the food tasted just like it looked (processed) and they ran out of drinks several times....and was slow to refill the canisters.  Most of the free dining  that was included with our travel package (even in the restaurants) looked good but had absolutely NO taste.  Definitely not worth asking for seconds. 

I am a people person and I found that most of the ships sailing crew was just cordial....not really friendly.

I have been on many cruises i.e. RC's "The Allure", Celebrity, Carnival just to name a few, and for the money I paid  on this cruise (I had the a room with a balcony) the value was not there at all.  This ship could never compare to any of my previous cruises.

This takes me to our cabin.  The ship, as well as my room was very clean.  The entire ship is dated (except for the Casino).  My room was much to small for the money, the ceiling  of the balcony needed to be washed down, the flooring on the balcony was either missing or peeling and needed to be replaced,  the glass guard rail needed to be cleaned, the cob webs remove and  balcony area needed to be painted.  The two little chairs on the balcony look as though they had come from someone's backyard.  Most of all, they should invested in standard toilet seats as oppose to those European seats that everyone detests.

The biggest disappointment was the time we had to tour each of the the Alaskan towns.  Although, we loved Victoria, Canada, that time their could have been spent in the other three Alaskan towns.  We paid to see and tour Alaska!!

I truly felt that  we  were treated like cattle with money.  That the cruise line would assume that we would eat anything and like it or pay any price and be satisfied with the accommodations, is appalling!!!!

Shame on for not having scouts to travel the tours that they sell before advertising them.  I guess it is all about money.....and my opinion really does not matter because that cruise  "sold out" every seven days....and that is really all that is important.

Sincerely,

Mr. and Mrs. Donna Banks