A great cruise, but a few disappointments which I’ve outlined in my review.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
Busy and slow
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
Food in Tsar’s Palace main dining room was a bit hit and miss, and service to get a glass of wine isn’t quick. On the last evening we booked for 9pm as we’d had a late lunch, and were subject to the wrath of a very rude waitress who questioned why we arrived ‘so late’, food was extremely rushed and not good. Selection in the Garden Cafe a little lacklustre and uninspiring. Ate in Moderno one evening as part of our free at sea upgrade. If I paid an additional $60 pp for this I’d be extremely disappointed. Really not worth the money in my opinion. Wasn’t blown away by the food. Bars were all good.
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
Didn’t do anything. There isn’t really an awful lot to do on this ship.
Entertainment
2 out of 5
Live music was all a little uninteresting and repetitive. Only good bands to listen to was house band, d-Revelation, and Drake Allen. Didn’t visit the theatre for any shows as not really our thing.
Children's Programs
2 out of 5
15 year old signed up for the teen club, Entourage, but she didn’t enjoy that many of the activities so didn’t go much, just did her own thing with new friends.
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
Bar staff were great. Room steward wasn’t so good - quite inattentive, didn’t introduce himself, and we were never provided with disembarkation information on the last evening.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
Most of the common areas seemed clean. However we were surprised that as NCL advertise that they have ‘enhanced cleaning procedures’, we never saw anyone cleaning handrails, buttons etc in common areas. Also wasn’t much encouragement to wash or sanitise hands. Ladies toilets in common areas were often unclean, run out of soap or hand towels and smelled of urine.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Three of us sharing the cabin - two adults and a 15 year old. We slept in a large queen and our daughter had a pull-down bunk which she said was quite comfortable. Queen bed was comfy and cosy with a thick, warm comforter and good quality pillows. Cabin was clean and reasonably spacious, with good storage space for three of us. We were a little concerned about what the ‘obstructed view’ would be, especially as we couldn’t find any picture online, so I’ve attached one here. We had two narrow, long windows obstructed by lifeboats, but the obstructions till let enough natural light into the cabin to make it feel comfortable and non-claustrophobic. Walls a little thin and we could hear rowdy kids screaming and playing on both sides of us, but we went to bed much later than them! Was a little noisy early in the morning though. No noise from above or below.
Very poor disembarkation process, not helped by authorities wanting to do a full emigration check in San Diego upon return! We chose easy walk off, and so glad we did, as others were waiting for two hours to disembark but we just ignored the instructions and remained in our cabin for longer until the queues had cleared. Disembarkation process was not made clear, no instructions left in our cabin as per previous cruises, so we were reliant on our previous knowledge of what we needed to do. Very poor experience.
*Cruiseline.com is not a booking agent or travel agency,
and does not charge any service fees to users of our site. Our partners
(travel agencies and cruise lines) provide prices, which we list for our
users' convenience. Cruiseline.com does not guarantee any specific rates or
prices. While prices are updated daily, please check with the booking site
for the exact amount. Cruiseline.com is not responsible for content on
external web sites.
Contact us
Submitting...
Need help from a personal vacation planner?
Loading...
Find the perfect cruise with weekly tips and cruise deals for as little as $30/night!
Sign up for weekly cruise deals
Join other subscribers and get the best
cruise deals of the week in your inbox every Thursday.
7 Comments
Cruisers4Lyfe 5 months ago
AuntPinkie 1 year ago
javawoody 1 year ago
Gwbigdog 1 year ago
cruising2004 1 year ago
Ship2Shora 1 year ago
javawoody 1 year ago