We understand that this was a trial run for Norwegian Cruises. The routing was good, except maybe Cyprus, which seemed to be a surprise to the islanders, as only a few of the shops and no banks were open. The big flea market was not open.
The cruise line did offer buses to a central location in town at a couple of cruise stops for $15 each, which we appreciated.
The game that plays with the OBC borders on fraud. I'm sure they are proud they are able to swindle so many of their customers out of the OBC by using fine print in the booking. I can see people moving more to booking directly with these games!!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
1 out of 5
Cruise lines in their efforts to take all the personal service out of cruising, make basically the same meals for all complementary dining. Taste and quality is abysmal in the regular dining and the buffet. It is a shame. I guess a sucker is born every minute because we keep cruising with the quality going away!! And, making the customer pay both a fixed service charge and 18% on all other purchases is robbery by cruise.
Onboard Activities
1 out of 5
Casinos should be eliminated because they are so anti-customer in pay out. Games of golf, bean bag toss, etc. seem to be disappearing. Line dancing was learning to wave your arms in unison? And, now they are using a reward card instead of reward at each event - again reducing the number of awards being given out!!
Entertainment
3 out of 5
Again, I believe the cruise lines are dumbing down on entertainment - quality was poor - with 2-3 exceptions. It's too bad. The barricade boys were good but the crew presentations were bad. The Russian pair acrobatics was noteworthy also.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Several crew members were recognized by us at the end of the cruise. Mark from the Philippines on the 9th level was exceptional in both service and personality.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Typical balcony cabin, yet maintained well.
Ship tip
Window seats during the November - December can be cool. Be careful requesting one unless you are dressed well. In our case the Matre Di at the Windows restaurant had pretty poor customer rapport. We finally began avoiding that restauant after being given the cold shoulder at our requests.
Venice demands walking or riding a boat - no motorized travel otherwise. The main site here is San Marco and Rialto bridge - worth the visit. If you are using a boat, see if you can request a round trip, if feasible, or a 2-3 card. Glassware from Murano and tapestry from Italy worth looking at.
Used the hop-on/hop-off bus. Would not recommend driving as streets are crowded and jammed. Parthenon was great; but, plan on walking steps. If you have time, visit the shopping area with street markets, accessible from the hop-on bus. Everything is sold there.
The other trip from Haifa, is to Nazerath, Capernum, Beatitudes and the Sea of Galilee - try an excursion here too. Streets in Nazerath are unmarked and tough to negotiate. Local tour groups can pick you up also and save a few bucks.
The museum of archeology is very good. And, the reading material for this excursion does not give credit to the size of the first olympic site. It needs to be visited over 3-4 hours for best effect.
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