Worst cruise ever
Norwegian Spirit Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern
7 Night Eastern Caribbean (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)
Sail date: November 21, 2015
Ship: Norwegian Spirit
Cabin type: Inside
Cabin number: 6011
Traveled as: Family (older children)
Reviewed: 8 years ago
Review summary
My family and I love to go on a cruise for Thanksgiving. It gives us quality time together; allows the adults an opportunity to relax and unwind; and usually offers a wonderful dining experience for my eating restrictions (gluten intolerant). However, that was not the case on this cruise.
First off, the crew was way understaffed. We had heard through other guests that a good portion of the crew had to remain in Europe because they did not have the appropriate documentation. It was also said that this ship had not crossed the Atlantic since 2010. It was evident in that the gift shop was geared for a European audience when you had several items that said Europe all over them. This cruise didn't even go to Europe. Plus, they only had Eurpean shirts to sell when it was a Caribbean cruise. The staff stated that they didn't get the supplies requested and they were doing the best they could.
The seas were extremely high and forced a lot of activities, especially outdoor activities, to be cancelled. I can not blame Norwegian for the weather. It just added on to the poor experience. My family had motion sickness so bad that we didn't get rid of it completely until 3 days after the cruise was over, and I never get sea sick!
The dining experience was the worst. I am gluten intolerant, and normally have no problem. However, on this ship you have to track down one particular person to order all your meals from 24 hours in advance, and give them the location and time you will be there. This is NOT freestyle cruising. Plus, if you have questions about a food in the buffet line, they will not answer and tell you to talk to your special diet coordinator. When my family and I ate in the complementary dining rooms, the food was aweful and the wait was at least an hour after you were seated at the table. The experience was so bad that my family refused to eat dinner with me in the "Windows" the last night of the cruise. Their rationale was that if the food wasn't that good, they certainly weren't going to wait forever for it. They ate in the food court, where the chefs won't answer questions.
There were several other things that went wrong, but all in all it was the worst vacation I ever had, and I don't care to ever cruise with Norwegian again.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Children's Programs
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Ports of call
Tortola, British Virgin Islands
9 Comments
askeegan 8 years ago
Kennicott, not really no!
dutchgirl8 8 years ago
I cannot agree more with this reviewer, because we were on the same ship, and there was 9 of us in our party. NCL was not ready for this cruise, bottom line!
csharon54 8 years ago
The star rating was a one star. I do not know how it managed to change to five stars. As far as nobody taking this review seriously, I don't care if you believe me or not. Go ahead and pay the money for this cruise on this ship and find out for yourself. You may want to check the reviews on this ship on other sites with the same sail dates. You will find that I am not the only one with this experience!
I am am trying to get the help desk to change the erroneous 5 stars.
Johngold 8 years ago
When we were on the Dawn, the food was institutional. but we were ready for that when we travel anyway. It is very difficult to please every person on board. That being said, the quality of the buffet on Princess I found superior to NCL, and according to my son. The other lines like Holland have some standards that are higher. I would like the reviewer to expand on the entire cruise and not his own dietary concerns, But I'm guessing that he was just worried about his own situation.
noname111 8 years ago
Concur with prior comments. My guess is that the reviewer did not proof his/her comments, nor pay attention to the star rating selection.
In any event, NCL is not our favorite cruise line and many of the reasons cited in this review are why we are not bigger fans.
Ewoodspark 8 years ago
The main problem with anybody leaving their first review, is that they don't come back on to answer any questions as already raised by Dawnf and Kennicot. I doubt if we will ever know as to why the reviewer gave a 5 star rating when they were unhappy about their cruise. However, I do find it curious that the OP says it is NOT Freestyle cruising just because he/she wanted special dietary meals
JusMe 8 years ago
After Cruising on NCL, Yes I can believe the bad slow service in the MDR and the food not being good. We had the staff screw up one or two peoples dinner almost every night in the MDR and the extra pay dining (We were a party of 6 to 12 for dinners) Dinner service was so bad they gave up comp to the extra pay dining, they screwed up the orders so 8 of 10 got dinner and the other two had to sit for 15 min to get our dinners even though we ordered at the same time.
On one of my cruises on RCI a table mate was also on a no gluten diet had to order dinner 24 hours in advance every night.
I can understand and believe the bad review but not the 5 stat rating.
Kennicott 8 years ago
Okay, I'm going to be polite and respectful. Does anybody out there really take this review seriously?
Dawnf 8 years ago
If the cruise was so bad, why the 5* rating?