Norwegian Sky Cruise Reviews - Reviews

I booked an excursion through , and I left the ship to meet our tour operators across the street in the a nearby square.  When I arrived to our tour operator, I checked in, and moments later a police officer was tapping me on the shoulder.  I asked him what was wrong, and another man was standing behind him.  The officer proceeded to ask me why I was refusing to give this man the $65 I owed him.  I told him I had no idea who this man was, and he was one of a dozen or more classic car owners standing outside of the cruise terminal soliciting his services for a tour of the city in his car.  I politely declined his offer, and proceeded to cross the street to meet with my tour group.  The police officer then proceeded to state that the man said I owed him $65 for driving me around the night before. I opened my photo app on my phone and showed the officer pictures of the taxi I was in the night before, as well as my driver's information, to prove that not only was I not in a taxi with this man, but that he was making up a story to try to shake me down for some money.  All the while, the operators of this tour were within earshot and refusing to help translate or assist me with getting this shady character to back off.  Instead, the tour operator said that the police has a procedure which involves driving me to the nearby police station for interrogation and the issue would be settled there.  I told them I didn't feel comfortable going anywhere with the Cuban police officers, and they insisted that it was in my best interest to go with them so that they could carry on with the tour.  I asked if one of them could come with me to help translate and prove that I was not with this man since I had receipts and pictures to prove that I was not with him the night before, and they refused to assist stating that they cannot get involved.  Before I knew it was being driven to the police station in the back of a Cuban police car only to be interrogated for upwards of 2 hours.  Despite having receipts and photos to prove that I had never seen this man before, the officers at the station insisted that I give him $65.  The man was greeting all of the police officers in the station, and greeting the female officers with kisses on the cheeks, so I could tell right away that this was not the first time this man had pulled this stunt on an unsuspecting tourist, and that he had a relationship with the Cuban police force.  I had to go all the way back to the cruise ship to find an ATM to pull out cash to give to this shady character.  Meanwhile, the tour operator did not wait for me, ask if I was ok, call the ship to let them know what was going on, or anything.  I was in a black hole in Cuba, without access to phone or internet, and the cruise ship had no idea where I was.  It was BEYOND unbelievable that they treated the situation with so such disregard for my well-being and safety.  I was horrified, and it absolutely ruined my entire trip.  

Cuba was fantastic.  Even though we had 2 full days, I wish the cruise visited other cities in Cuba, and expanded the length of the cruise.  Free drink package was nice, but some younger people tend to over indulge.  Norwegian Sky was a very nice cruise ship, it had everything and was well kept.  Nice crew and food was very good.   I would of liked a full day at the beach island, got there at 11:30 and had to leave it by 4:30.  But overall had a great time on the Cruise.

The cruise experience was very good. The staff was friendly, the activities were fun, the ship was very clean including our stateroom. The cigar and rum excursion we choose in Havana was amazing and the guide was knowledgeable. The only thing that prevented me from giving five stars was that the excursion bus left us as we were buying art at one of the stops. The locals ran down the bus before it got too far and allowed us to get back on. This was frustrating for me because there should be a system in place, head count, to prevent this. 

The ship was great, bed was comfortable, food was good and specialty dining even better and so reasonably priced.  The all inclusive was an excellent deal!  The excursions into to Cuba were great, well organized and in comfortable air-conditioned buses.  Although we booked the Rum and Cigar Factory tours, it was changed to Rum and Cigar tasting at Government owned shops and bar/restaurant.  It was well done though and worth the while.  The other was the Hemmingway House which we were not allowed to enter but all the doors and windows were open for viewing.  Again...very nice...kinda expensive for what you get.  Tours were in English and all the guides and drivers were so very nice.

Ship was very good however,  the service was no the best.  Room was not clean properly and the service at dinner was very slow.  Food was okay. This was our second time on Norwegian and we were not impressed by the poor service they provided.

I'm a loyal Norwegian cruise line client but this time dining, staterooms, onboard activities, and shore excursions was bad. not a pleasant experience,

My daughters and I had a fantastic time on our 4 day cruise to Havana, Cuba.  It was the first time I was traveling on Norwegian Cruise Lines and specifically, Norwegian Sky.  I was very impressed with my cabin...very roomy and clean.  I also enjoyed the fact that we could eat in a different restaurant every evening where the selection of our dinners were excellent.

The trip into Havana was exceptional.  My daughter had hired a driver and a guide for a four-hour tour of the city in one of their old convertibles which was fantastic.

I would recommend this cruise to anyone who wants to see Cuba the way it was back in the 1950's...one word--fabulous!

Cuba itself was nice. Very interesting..But.. If you're looking for a nice mid range cruise.. This is NOT the one.  We called this ship the S.S. Minnow.. The boat is old and very outdated.  We booked a top deck balcony room. Thinking it would be nice. It was so tiny we didn't even have room to unpack.  I felt sorry for the room attendant.There wasn't any room to clean.although he did a good job for what he had to work with. The balcony would of been nice..but they were scraping and repainting the ship two days we were docked. Paint chips flying everywhere.

The food was the same every day.. breakfast was good. Lunch and Dinner was horrible. So bad we ordered room service off the kids meal. The staff was friendly but for the money the over all cruise was not worth it. Wait until a different cruise line goes to Cuba.. You'll be happy you did.

I would not recommend this Cruise Line to others. The staff although very nice was very disorganized. The only food that was good was the food in the specialty restaurants. The food in the buffet areas was always old & flavorless. The last Cruise we went on with a different  cruise line was so much better. Food was much better, communications were much better & activities were more numerous. This cruise line left us feeling dry disappointed 😢

All employees were excellent, gave very good service. Everything was included, that was pretty nice.

I would recommend this cruise to others.

There is a $19 tip per person per day added on to your bill at the end of the cruise.I  think that should be taken care of in the beginning soy walk away owing nothing.Also, make sure to check you bill before you leave the ship. We were charged for numerous guest phone calls we did not make totaling about $85.00.

All in all, it was a great cruise!

Karen

We thoroughly were engaged by our time on the island of Cuba and would go back in a heart beat. The excursions were very expensive, but we are glad we did them for our first trip to Cuba. The people are welcoming. You need to convert American currency to the Cuban peso (CUC). There is a place right at the dock to do that. They will take dollars in the stands, but do it reluctantly. 

My recommendation is to read a bit of Cuban history before you go. Pick up a travel book or read Wikipedia. There were so many people on this trip that didn't have a clue about the significance of Americans being allowed freely in Cuba. The history is incredible. If you're a history buff this is really a jewel with 15th century forts, churches and post-revolution block construction.

The cruise itself was fine. This is a smaller ship and we did enjoy that. Just enough to do. It was overnight in Cuba so we were able to leave the ship and enjoy Tuesday evening at the historic Tropicana Club. We could go easily on and off of the ship after we had entered the country for the first time with our Cuban visas.

Norwegian ships are densely populated. This cruise included the drink package and many took that opportunity to over indulge. It made enjoying the entertainment in the bars challenging because often times there was a lot of rowdy and disturbing noise over the entertainers that people were trying to enjoy. It is perhaps why they play all of their music so loudly, but that in turn just makes people yell more. The free style dining is a nice feature, but they allow shorts and flip flops in the dining rooms; a little too casual for us at dinner time.

We had a port hole room. It was clean and well maintained. We were on Deck 6A. There was no elevator access to this floor so if you have physical limitations this would not be a good floor to choose but I think it was a pretty quiet area. To access 6A you need to exit on deck 7 and walk down to the rooms on Deck 6A. There is a lot of up and down stairs to access the rooms. It is a great way to work off some extra calories though if you don't have any physical limitations.

There is no quiet place on the deck. Even on the quiet decks the music was extremely loud. There were deck chairs stacked all over the ship and not enough around the pool deck. This is the second Norwegian Cruise we've been on with the same issue.

The food is good in the dining rooms and at the buffets. The service in the dining rooms was excellent. We did not do any of the specialty restaurants on this trip. The public areas were clean. Entertainment was good and just enough for a 4 night cruise.

This was a great trip because of what it afforded us to experience - to see Cuba easily. The ship was more of a means of getting there and the overnight stay in port was really great.

was on the same ship same time last year the piano player was amazing unfortunately on this trip we did not enjoy the piano player at all spoke with several other passengers in the lounge they felt the same way many had been on your ships before The rest of the of the cruise was wonderful 

Unfortunately I can not write a good review because our cabin 9339 turned out to be a disaster with 4 days of electrical problems. our lights in the bathroom and main ceiling lights kept going off and not working when the lights were off the air conditioner would also go off. We had to have electricians come to the cabin nightly and daily to reset a circuit breaker somewhere down the hall and then try to troubleshoot the problem.to no avail until the last day when it was finally fixed. in the meantimethe bathroom was in the dark for showers and toilet use. No air made the room uncomfortable for sleeping. The water from shower was cold entire cruise. Some of the womens public restrooms had toilets out of order and overflowing. Unfortunately these issues ruined our cruise, as the rest of the cruise and Cuba were good

The Norwegian Sky is very old and outdated. The value of all inclusive drinks is nice but this should also extend to all restaurants on the boat. Unfortunately, the weather was bad and we could not go to our last stop (Grand Stirrup Cay). There was no contingency plan for this so we were forced to stay on the ship. As you can imagine the patrons were not happy about this.

Norwegian sky is an older boat but is in great shape.  Cabins are a bit small.  Food in cagney, and bistro very good.  Bring cash to cuba. Credit cards nor accepted.  You can change money at the port.  Classic car excursion  through vacation outlet was nice but not much of a guided tour.  Buena Vista social club excursion through ncl was excellent. Carriage ride by Rudy at Port was very good. Cross street to San Francisco square and ask for Rudy.   Do have a mojiyo, drink at hotel ambrose,  rooftop bar.  For $2 you can view Hemingway room

We loved seeing Cuba but Norwegian was lacking. Our first issue was with shore excursions. We booked a tour that was supposed to show us Havana then take us to a cigar factory to see cigars being made, then to a rum factory....Norwegian changed our tour to a 3 hour bus tour with no cigar factory or rum factory and didn't even notify us. Once I called they were extremely rude and non-apologetic. I ended up switching our excursion to the Cigar, Rum and Art tour. The description said that we would visit a rum factory to see and learn about rum production then go to one of the oldest cigar stores in Cuba to learn about cigars....the tour actually just brought us to a closed rum factory that had a store where you could buy cigars....since the factory was closed so we didn't get to see any production or learn anything about it and the cigar store was just a store...not the oldest in Cuba....no education...just merchandise. I just wish the descriptions were more accurate, I felt duped. Also beware...a three hour tour actually took 5 hours, bring a snack. Lastly, we were supposed to go to the Bahamas on the last day which was cancelled...again no apologies or compensation (other than port tax) from Norwegian, just an attitude of "oh well, things change". We paid thousands of dollars to go on this cruise and although we enjoyed our trip, it was nothing that was described. They just collect your money ahead of time and then change everything with no apologies. Cuba was amazing, but I recommend seeing it with a different cruise line. I have cruised Norwegian before and was a loyal customer but I will be exploring other companies for my next cruise.

I want to say that we had a blast! The employees were really welcoming and helpful! Our room was clean and my wife said that the bed was comfortable! The drink package was well worth it and the food was good! I want to recommend Mimi wright from cruise only.com because she gave me the best cruise deal and catered to our needs!  

Embarkation/Disembarkation:  Could not have been easier….NCL knows how to do this….when we first entered the room I thought "whoah" Disney lines….but we were moved right along and 15 minutes later were boarding.  Disembarkation:  Just like the Epic….was in wonder when we asked about it and was told once declared cleared just take your luggage and "walk off"  hello?  That easy no rooms to go to no lines to stand it….NOPE and it works…..we just walked off and in approx 5 minutes were walking out the door at the port….no customer paperwork to fill out UNLESS you have something to declare, and the customs officers are standing at the end of the line and just check your passport and off you go!!!!!

Room 9064:  right next to elevators aft this was really handy for going straight up to the buffet area, and got no noise at all from hallway that bothered us:  small room but bed for third person NOT GOOD on most larger ships the couch is the size of a regular couch but on Sky it’s a very small couch;and on the Sky balconies have a large round window adjacent to a single glass door; balcony good size. 

Main Dining Room:  Loved being seated right away each time we went whether breakfast or dinner (did not eat lunch in main dining room at all).  Breakfast was great…everything we tried was delicious and they had regular home fries (they called them country potatoes) and not the deep friend hash browns other lines serve.  Dinner had the usual fare and again excellent service and no complaints there, how can anyone complain if you don't like it…..they will go above and beyond to make it right ….. 

Casgney's Steakhouse:  We sailed on Mother's Day weekend so my daughter splurged on specialty dining for the three of us…..WONDERFUL…..I had the ribeye, daughter NY strip; granddaughter filet mignon…..all excellent!!!!  And Dessert lets not even talk about how good that was.

Music:  Did not attend main shows, but the music we listened to:  Aldo/guitar was excellent he could sing anything;Al/:Piano Captain Cook's excellent;El Sol very lively.  Loved the Plantation Club on 12th floor hidden gem, where they held Karaoke, my personal favorite, and it was fun!!!!

Bartenders/Bars:  OK Sky is a 3 night cruise on the weekend and everyone on the ship has "open bar pkg" no cards to show, nothing to sign, everything (except top shelf there is an upcharge for those) Crown Royal, Titos,  included in our pkg……so no worries the stuff wit the upcharge is REALLY top shelf…..and the service never begged for any drinks service was above and beyond!!!! 

OK hope any of this helps and I have just gone back to NCL again and as far as I'm concerned I will continue to sail with them as one of my preferred cruise lines!

The ship was a perfect size for this cruise.  We took the classic car tour on Tuesday.  It was fantastic!  We chose a 1950 Cadillac and our driver spoke very good English and gave us lots of information about Havana as the parade of cars drove around the city.  One stop was at a cemetery where a guide took us around. It's gorgeous!  Next we drove through a beautiful forest, then to Revolutionary Square where all the old cars parked and we had the opportunity to walk around and take pictures off them.  We ended up at the Hotel de Nationale and were treated to mojitos.  Instead of the tour lasting 3 1/2 hours they spent nearly 6 with us.  It was worth the whole trip.  On Tuesday evening we attended the Parisian cabaret.  It was colorful and entertaining.  We were supposed to take a bus tour around Havana the next morning but read that we'd be going to the same places so we opted to stay on the ship and enjoy the pool.  We didn't go to private island but I sat on our balcony and watched people coming and going and they all said they had a great time there.  The specialty dining didn't disappoint on this cruise either.  We went to Le Bistro one night and to Cagneys twice.  We ate at the buffet twice, the Garden Cafe once, and the Main Dining Room three times.  We only had one meal in the MDR that wasn't quite to our liking but the rest were superb.  We enjoyed the casino each night and my husband came away a winner.  There are bands in different places around the ship in the evening but no big stage shows.  I signed up for unlimited internet prior to sailing and got a good deal on that.  The fellow at the Internet cafe is very helpful.  I also prepaid the gratuities and took the 3 meal specialty dining plan.  All in all, we had a great cruise.  Go to Havana while it's still like stepping back in time.b

Enjoyed the port of call in Havana.  Did not enjoy the less than friendly faces of the majority of the bar staff at the poolside bar.  Perhaps the fact that we are all billed for their tips they see no reason to go out of their way to please the customers.  The all-inclusive drink service keeps them busy but, apparently unhappy.  

Someone needs to reorient them to the proper way to engage a customer especially if you want the customer to be a return customer in the future.