The food on the ship was very good. Lots of choices for food venues. Ship design is a bit odd. Our cabin was very comfortable. We enjoyed the larger cabin balcony and the more comfortable cushioned chairs on it. In spite of some of the negatives, we still enjoyed our cruise.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
Our time to show up was 9:30 to 10:00. We got there on 10:15. We parked at the terminal, porters were right there to take our luggage as we drove in. It was a great help. There were long lines checking in inside the terminal already. The wait was quite long. Certainly did not have enough staff for checking in. Did not start boarding until 11 for anyone. We were group 16 for boarding!!
Rooms were not ready until after 2pm.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
The food on the ship was very good. We had dinner at the Hudson’s, Commodore, Paloma and Food Republic. We also had breakfast at the Hudson’s dining room to avoid the crowd in the morning. It was more relaxing.
Surfside Café & Grill
4 out of 5
Surfside Cafe and grill was always busy. Finding a seat was not easy. They had quite a bit of food choices. Food was good in general. Cafeteria staff cleared out tables quickly allowing others to take the table. They worked hard.
Indulge Food Hall
5 out of 5
We liked the variety of food you could order in the Indulge Food Hall. The problem is finding a seat. I saw people grabbing seats by 11:30, half an hour before the 12pm opening time. Anyone going in by 12:00 would not be able to get a seat for a while. They closed at 2pm. Dinner time was from 5:30 to 9:30. We walked by there around 9, there were plenty of seats available. Breakfast at Indulge was self served, with very limited choices. So, it was not busy at all.
Palomar
4 out of 5
Food was very good at Paloma. We enjoyed the food. Unfortunately, service was extremely slow. It was clear that they did not have enough staff to handle a full restaurant. We waited and waited for our food after each course. It was unacceptable for an extra pay venue to have such subpar service. It was no fault of the wait staff. They were all busy.
The Commodore Room
4 out of 5
Food was just as good as in the Hudson’s dining room. It had the same menu as in the Hudson’s. We found that the room seemed noisier, since it’s ceiling is lower than the Hudson’s.
Hudson's Main Dining Room
5 out of 5
We enjoyed the food in the Hudson’s dining room. With the same menu everyday, we tried different items on the menu each night. Many said it was quite restrictive on what you could choose from. That is true. Service was still good. The wait staff was really hopping.
Food Republic
5 out of 5
We enjoyed dinner at Food Republic. We had the specialty dining package. Between my wife and I, we got to choose a total of eight items on the menu. The potions were quite large. We could not even finish all the food. Service was excellent. Food came really fast. Highly recommended.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Didn’t participate.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
This was the first cruise ship we ever went on that did not have a piano. So, no live piano music.
Also, this was the first cruise ship we ever went on that did not have a live band on the pool deck. Just a DJ!! Appeared cheap.
Cost cutting is evident.
The 90 minute Donna Summer Musical was very good. Make your reservation as soon as online check-in and reservation are opened up. The show was only available 2 days in the week. 6:30pm and 10:00pm on each of the 2 days.
We did not go to those small venues, such as Syd Norman’s and Improv at Sea. You could not make reservation, you had to queue up before any shows. And they could only hold a lot less than 100 people.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Every staff member on the ship was very friendly. Wait staff was very good. Except the slow service at Paloma. They just were short staffed.
Our room steward was very friendly. He did a nice job keeping our room nice and clean. NCL had reduced the room clean up to just one time a day. No more towel animals.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
The ship was well maintained. It was clean. The layout is a bit confusing. When you get off the lift 😊, there should be obvious signage showing which way is the port side and starboard side to avoid confusion.
The main pool is very small, so is the pool deck area. It had been mentioned in almost every review.
There is no jogging track on the ship. None on the lido deck. You cannot go around Ocean Boulevard without running into bar sitting area, and sun lounge chaises.
There are 2 infinite pools and deck areas on Ocean Boulevard on deck 8, one on each side of the ship. So depending on the time of the day, one side would be in the shadow.
Everyone would be congregated on the sunny side. Then when the sun moves, everybody would migrate to the other side.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
The cabin design is much better than the Breakaway class ships. It is brighter and seems bigger. The balcony cabin shower is bigger than those in the Breakaway class ships, but a bit smaller than those in the club suite balcony cabin. That is a big plus.
The balcony is deeper. You can actually set the chair facing out.
The TV is fixed facing the bed. No angle adjustment. Not quite comfortable watching sitting on the sofa. That was fine. We were not there to watch TV anyway.
Ship tip
Book the show and restaurants as soon as check-in is open 21 days before the set sail date. We ate breakfast in the Hudson’s dining room to avoid the crowd in the Surfside Cafe.
Disembarkation was very typical. Long line heading out. They had color tags for luggage, but it did not seem to matter when calling which color tag to disembark. No one had the color code with them anymore. The luggage with the tag were gone the night before.
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