Any vacation is enjoyable if you are with those you love. The ship is beautiful. More service and organization is strongly recommended. The low staff and self service if by design should be called out to guests. Unfortunately we will not do another NCL cruise.
Embarkation
2 out of 5
Inefficient. We boarded 2 hours after our designated time.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
Drinks and Specialty restaurants were good. The complimentary food hall was a nice idea but you had to self order on iPads with no option to scan a QR from a lounge area and do it from more areas. Main dining room was fine. Food was adequate. The buffet was rough.
Onboard Activities
1 out of 5
Almost everything was sold out or set to wait in line for 2 hours with first come first serve. Only 1 real pool on-board was a challenge and few spas. No adults only section and we felt like second class as the best was reserved for Haven guests.
Entertainment
All sold out or wait in line for hours
Children's Programs
Traveled with no kids
Service and Staff
2 out of 5
This ship felt like NCL was experimenting with limited staff and more self service. It was felt. We never had a drink order taken from a lounging area. Dining room was rushed and impersonal. Room steward Jon was great.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
The ship is new and was very clean. The layout is the problem. When we boarded, we were not greated by anyone and were dumped at the elevators on a lower deck. We spent hours trying to orient to the ship which we never got comfortable with where things were. The ship felt chopped up with no indoor large open areas like the Royal Caribbean Oasis class ships.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
It was great. The bed quality was not as good as other ships but the size and layout of the cabin was great.
Ship tip
Skip this ship. This was our first and last cruise on NCL. We talked with many guests who felt the same. Many NCL loyalists on the ship begged us to try any other NCL ship.
The terminal is chaotic at the entrance. Took over an hour to get to a shuttle to get our car after the WORST disembarking ever. NCL weaved us through the casino across 3 floors which took 2 hours in line. We hit the terminal as the crush of the next sailing was coming in.
Four ships arrived at the same time. We were only given 6 hours and arrived at 6am. We avoided the port as the weather was bad and too many people at the same time.
We love Roatan but too few excursions that leave from NCL. We went to Little French Key which we loved but we had to exit the cruise terminal into the chaos of the excursion mafia. Many felt unsafe.
Utter chaos. As if they had never done this before. Leadership on the ship was nowhere to be found. Many of the crew said the process is broken but leadership wont listen. They kept calling groups to deck 6 but we had to start on deck 7 or even 8 at times. Letting guests take their luggage off themselves (assuming to save labor) was a disaster.
Thanks for sharing next time. You might want to not compare and just relax and enjoy the good times every ship has its good and bad. Being disappointing on a vacation is something you don't want to pay for.
Currently at cruise and 100% agree with this review.
Did my 1st cruise last year December with RCL and as compared to that this is lacking a lot in many ways.
Service, food quality and options, less staff, and not too engaging and interactive with passengers.
NCL is more about charging money for everything on board.
Drinks are included in my package (soda) but its not available anywhere (need to go to bar to get it). In Royal Caribbean soda machines were everywhere.
Overall not too impressed
*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.
