A very underwhelming cruise compared to the others that I have been on. Alaska, Canada and Seattle were all beautiful, it was strictly the experience on board the ship that was bad. I decided to try NCL again after bad experiences on the Star in 2013, but after a repeat of the same issues I had in 2013 this time, I will cruise with Carnival and Holland America in the future, never NCL again.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
The shore side employees did a great job getting us onto the ship fairly quickly and the Port of Seattle was very easy to navigate around.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
We had quite a few issues with the food on this ship. First we set up three reservations for specialty dining as soon as we got on board the ship in Seattle. The next day when we went to Teppanyaki we were told that all of our reservations had been cancelled. Later was told that the reservation team accidentally cancelled our times and never told us. So we ended up not being able to get reservations for the locations we originally wanted due to them now being booked. The main dining room left much to be desired compared to Carnival and Princess. However the buffet was one of the better ones I have been to.
Onboard Activities
1 out of 5
Not a whole lot going on except for little seminars or best shopping locations. Definitely geared towards the older less active crowds. So being 23 years old I was extremely bored most of the time on the ship.
Entertainment
1 out of 5
Was very disappointed that there were really only two shows in the main theater. Every other night just had mediocre magicians or comedians. Better than princess shows but not as good as pre-Playlist production Carnival shows.
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
First off, there were some very incredible staff members. Gabrielle Turner from the cruise staff was awesome, after NCL cancelled our excursion just a few hours before it was to take place and offered no other options, she called a friend on shore that helped arrange a tour with M&M tours in Skagway. My main issues were with the Excursion staff that refused to refund us our tour cost after we cancelled once we found the original tour we want through M&M that they cancelled on us (If that made any sense). Edward from Columbia was very rude and finally throw a paper on the floor and said "whatever, fine, I'll just give you the money back" after almost 30 minutes of trying to cancel only 10 minutes after booking it. Another problem was the security team that closed all gangways without notice just to move the ramp. I understand them moving it due to the tides, but they closed all 3 at the same time and offered no way off the ship for nearly 45 minutes. When I asked security how long it would be because our tour started in 15 minutes, security officer Navjyot from India yelled at me saying there is nothing that I(myself) could do about and don't bother him with any questions, if I don't like it talk to customs and not him. He said this by yelling in front of several dozen people. Then was told by guest service when I brought this up that there is nothing they can do about it, they wouldn't even talk his name.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
The ship was decently clean, much better than the NCL Star I was on a few years ago, but the layout was still very confusing with lots of dead ends that most ships in other cruise lines don't have.
Cabin / Stateroom
1 out of 5
The actual cabin wasn't too bad but the bathroom was horrible. They seperated the already small cruise ship bathroom into 3 smaller rooms, room with sink, shower stall, and toilet room. The room with the toilet was so small that I could not sit in there without having the door open and being sideways. I'm 6'1" and my knees were crammed against the wall. You had to get up and go to the room with the sink just to pull you pants back on. Also our room steward would not pick up our dishes in the room. And it was not like we had a lot every day. We received 2 plates on the first day with chocolate and strawberries and it was not picked up until the last day. Even after asking them to pick it up several times throughout the week. By the last day the strawberries looked like a science experiment.
Ship tip
I would stay clear of Norwegian Cruise Lines. I have sailed around 15 times with Carnival, Princess, Holland America, and twice with NCL. Both times on NCL were less than we came to expect from Carnival Princess and Holland America.
Our room steward began knocking on our door around 6:45 in the morning asking if he could start cleaning, and then continued to knock about every 20 minutes until we left at 8:15, which was 15 minutes before they wanted everyone out of there rooms. After waiting in one line to leave the ship for around 15 minutes they decided to change the line and make it wrap around deck 7, so we had to get out of line and everyone that was behind us was now in front of us. It wasn't horrible but I have seen disembarkation done so much better in the past.
First cruise on NCL was back in 2011 on the Jewel out of NY. Had a great time. So much so that I booked the Escape for next year. Sorry to hear your experience wasn’t up to par.
My first cruise was on the jewel to Alaska, 2 years ago! We had such an amazing time that I'd go back at any given moment, on the jewel! I loved the smaller ship. I'm sorry you had a bad experience
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