Overall we enjoyed this vacation with our friends but would not book this ship or class of ship again. It was a very expensive cruise and we did not feel we got our $ worth. We had reservations about booking an older smaller ship through Norwegian however we really wanted to go through the old lock system and there are very few ships to do this itinerary. It was a once in a lifetime destination trip but the accommodations were lacking.
Embarkation
1 out of 5
This should have been the sign as it really set the stage for what was to come every time we needed to get on or off the ship. Slow lots of standing in line and disorganization from ncl staff
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
So this is like a 2.5 when it was good it was REALLY good (but only in the specialty restaurants) but it was mediocre at best the rest of the time.
Let me also state that the staff in the dining room and the buffet are super friendly. There is definitely a kitchen issue not a service issue with food and beverage.
MAIN DINING
Main dining breakfast seamed to be the only thing the MDR did well. Lunch service was ok but the food quality was cafeteria style at best. Dinner quality was not fantastic and it was so SLOW first night it took 3 hours to have dinner we even left with out having dessert. 2 hours for dinner is fine with 3 courses but anything longer then that is just too much.
BUFFET
breakfast was decent normal breakfast selections
lunch and dinner however really left a lot to be desired. Now this boat has been recently redone and it is beautiful however they obviously took away some of the buffet area to add the local, and la Cucina. There was only one small indoor buffet station and then there was another at the back of the ship the one at the back of the ship had hamburger hotdogs etc. the one inside was serving what seamed to be dinner leftovers and a pathetic salad bar. And it was always crowded.
The Local was not open for lunch so your only option was either the MDR, buffet and the pizza set up in La Cucina for 3 hours only
La Cucina was good for dinner but an up charge.
Buffet also closed at 9:30 pm no pizza in the evenings so your only option after 9:30 for food is the local. It’s small and they can’t keep up with the crowd. Or room service for a charge.
We were on this ship for 11 days I would NEVER book sky again and never recommend this class of ship with ncl for anything that was longer then 4 days. We generally love smaller older ships but not this one
Le Bistro
5 out of 5
This was our best meal of the two weeks. Sad we had only booked this once but getting a reservation for this one was very hard. Fantastic filet with four gras, this was also the only place to get escargot (it’s no longer on the MDR menu) husband had the tuna tartar and the tomahawk. Also fantastic. The service in this restaurant was amazingly over the top!
Cagney's Steakhouse
3 out of 5
This is usually the star of ncl ships but not this time wait staff was fantastic but the food quality was just not there for the $$ spent. I had the filet ordered rare the outside was black inside was rare but it was hard to cut and chew just a bad cut of meat. Husband got the surf and turf same issue with his filet and the lobster was very small 3 bites at best.
Palace Main Dining Room
2 out of 5
Slow service mediocre food.
Crossings Main Dining Room
1 out of 5
We only ate here once it smelled very much like mold. Food was not good and took way to long to get.
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
Sky Club Casino
1 out of 5
Casino staff was rude and would rush betting we didn’t go back after the 2nd night to play. I’m a roulette gal and usually play every evening dealers were closing bets very quickly which was odd especially since the casino was dead. We also had an issue because my husband smokes which they allow in the casino as long as your playing we were both at a roulette table with 2 others. He had stepped back off the table to smoke to be courteous to the non smokers at the table and the casino mangers told him he needed to either put it out or leave the casino. Luckily I was up quite a bit we both cashed out and never went back.
Entertainment
2 out of 5
So there was not much in the form of theatre which was sad since we were on board 11 days
Only two theatre shows with the full cast over 11 days. We missed both because if you go to dinner it takes 3 hours
Most of the entertainment was small bands and singers in the bar venues. Bingo and trivia game shows etc. we’re also in small venues. The problem with this is no room to sit, the bliss lounge, which hosted most of the entertainment was overcrowded with chairs but still couldn’t accommodate the crowd.
The cruise director and staff were friendly and very active and engaging but the lack of space usually forced us to leave activities you really had to get there before dinner time and camp out if you wanted to sit for the entertainment.
The spinnaker lounge which was beautiful and spacious only hosted karaoke at night and nothing during the day hours. It was definitely an under used space.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
The staff especially on the pool deck were amazing and friendly.
Cruise director Jeffe was fantastic. The waiters were trying to make the dining experience wonder fully but the time it took to between courses and the food quality made their job difficult.
They have gone to once daily cabin service I’m not a fan of this mainly because our room usually didn’t get serviced until right before dinner. I also had to constantly call for clean washcloths and towels. I’m good reusing a towel but the cabins stayed so damp that the towels wouldn’t dry hanging on the rack I’ve never had this issue before but this whole ship just felt damp
The spa staff was also amazing but there is not a thermal suites area and the spa is in the pool deck so it’s loud
Ship Quality
2 out of 5
The ship is clean and been recently remodeled however there are areas of the ship that smell moldy.
There are very few public restrooms most only have one or two stalls and are far from the dining areas and very hidden
The layout is a bit odd lots of dead ends
Cabin / Stateroom
2 out of 5
Cabin was very small with very little storage. A small closet with 3 very shallow drawers we ended up leaving a lot of our clothing in the suitcases under the bed. Which was a hassle to pull out as there was no floor space. There was only one night stand and one electrical plug. There was usb chargers in the lights by the bed but they were in the middle of the wall where your pillow would go very strange. We had a balcony room so a small “sofa” but honestly to small for 11 days
Ship tip
Don’t do it for anything longer then 3 or 4 days. And book specialty dining for dinners and take snacks. I really wished I had taken some granola bars as getting food in the off times was impossible. SMOKERS Also a note for smokers my husband and a few of our traveling companions smoke. This ship is not smoker friendly there is only one smoking area on deck 12 it has no cover or shade. There are tables with umbrellas but they can never put the umbrellas up because of the wind so if you’re smoking you were smoking in sun or the rain which ever is happening. There is no cigar lounge on this ship and you can only smoke in the casino while you are actively playing at a table
We enjoyed the process of going through the canal and we booked the two oceans by railway excursion. The actually train ride was fantastic. However they had us go get in line at 10:15 at the Stardust theater to get our number to disembark the ship for the tender. That itself was a little cluster of disorganization once we got seated with our tender number they called them out and we got in line. It was noon before we got on a tender. They then put us on the bus and took us to the aqua Clara Lakes center. Which was supposed to be a museum and observation area. It leaves a lot to be desired. Yes you can observe the boat floating in the lake from their observation area. At this point it was almost 1 o’clock we had had breakfast at 9 AM in order to get in line to get off the boat on time for our excursion. There was nowhere to purchase food at the observation center they did have a vending machine but there were six other buses there and you couldn’t get near it. Also the bathrooms were unusable at the center they had no running water to wash your hands and the sewage was over pouring from the toilets. After an hour there we got back on the bus and headed to the train station. We loaded the train at about 130. They did give us a snack which consisted of chips and peanuts and a cup of coffee you could also purchase other snacks and bar beverages. The train ride was about 45 minutes and was very beautiful the highlight of the day for sure. Once we arrived in Panama City we were met by our bus driver who took us to a shopping market and gave us 30 minutes. It’s now 3:30 and we have had chips and peanuts. With no place to buy any food. There is a small convenient style store next to the shopping market where we were able to get more chips and water. As we’re getting back on the bus we get handed a “sandwich” which is turkey I think on a hotdog bun. We drive another 30 minutes in the bus stopping so people can get out to take pictures of whatever landmark they are pointing out and we are all starving. At this point I have a headache from no real food. We then get taken to a duty free shopping area there is a restaurant but we only have 30 minutes of time before you have to be on the bus and you’re told by the restaurant they can’t guarantee that we will get our food that quickly especially since there were five other buses there. I honestly would’ve been fine with the train ride and going back to the boat we were actually 30 minutes late getting back to Colon and had to basically run to the ship. At this point it’s 8 pm in the dining room and the Buffay are closing in an hour and a half so no time to freshen up just go get something to eat quickly.
What should have been an enjoyable day was not because of lack of food.
We had an excursion booked through ncl the barefoot fish cookout. We pulled into port at noon and were able to walk off the boat fairly easily our meeting time for our excursion was 2:15 at the pier we went to grab some lunch and do a little shopping we got back over to the pier at 2 o’clock we sat at the meeting area until 2:30 when the shore excursion crew from NCL finally told us that our excursion has been canceled. Had we known that it was canceled we could have made other plans but telling us after we waited and it was half way through the day left us with nothing to do and no time for anything really.
Overall we were extremely disappointed with all of the shore excursions we booked through NCL
So this was the worst day for disembarking. We were told to meet at the Stardust at 9:50 we had booked a luxury beach villa. We were supposed to disembark the boat at 10 o’clock we were still sitting in the theater at 10:30 waiting for our number to be called by the time we were called we spent another 45 minutes in the hallway to load the tender boat. It was 1215 before we got over to the island into our villa. We had to be back on the boat at 3 o’clock so we had two hours and 15 minutes to get lunch and cocktails and enjoy our beach villa. The cost of the villa was $899 for the day. It was not worth it had we’ve been able to get off the boat at 10 o’clock and gotten to the Villa by 1030 it would’ve been OK but still a very short day for the amount of money that it cost I would not recommend booking this unless you know you’re going to be able to utilize it for several hours.
If you don’t book an excursion be sure to grab a cab and go to playa Bonita Beach. We had a lovely time there great restaurant and beautiful weather it was five dollars a person for the cab ride there and our cab driver came back to get us three hours later and was on time. The food was wonderful we had a nice lunch and cocktails on the beach it was a very inexpensive wonderful day.
Once we got off the ship the city is beautiful. You will need a cab if you don’t have an excursion booked. We were able to change dollars for pesos at the port but didn’t need them the cab drivers gladly will take US $
So every time we had to get off the ship in port it was a nightmare. They would have everyone who was scheduled for a skirt short excursion meet at the Stardust theater. I would guess the majority of the guests on board had a short excursion for every port getting off the boat would take at least an hour sometimes two lots of standing in hallways and stairwells trying to get off lots of waste of time. Especially in ports where we did not have more than four or five hours. And very little staff to answer questions or direct traffic flow.
I’m really shocked they continue to use this ship for cruises more than 3 or 4 day voyages. I loved this ship the first 2 times I was on it but that was close to 10 years ago.
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