This was our 2nd and will be our last cruise with NCL. We did not enjoy our Alaska Cruise with them but thought we should give them another shot; that was a mistake. NCL has managed to take the joy out of cruising and make it entirely about squeezing every penny from its customers while spending the bare minimum on food and entertainment.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
Painless enough, just a lot of waiting between steps.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
Ate at the main dinning and buffet, no specialty restaurants. I don't think I ate a hot meal the entire cruise, everything except eggs cooked to order is served luke warm. I watched in the main dinning room where our meals set for 15 minutes at the bussing station before being delivered to our table. I think NCL may be reducing the quality of "complimentary" food to push you into the overpriced specialty restaurants.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
The pool was only about half full the entire trip and the fitness centers although small it had adequate equipment
Entertainment
2 out of 5
The shows aspire to become "B" rated, they kept repeating the same performers "by popular demand". No one I talked to wanted to see them again.
Service and Staff
2 out of 5
I think the problem here is the mandatory tipping of NCL. The workers are going to get their 20% tip no matter the quality of service. I do wonder how much of the "tips" are kept by NCL as a profit center.
Ship Quality
2 out of 5
Older ship and need to be updated but generally clean.
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
smaller than other balcony cabins we have stayed in.
The views from up top were real nice, looking back I wish we had rode the donkeys back down instead of the trolly. the ship discouraged using the donkeys.
Huge disappointment the overnight stay in Venice was the reason we selected this cruise, but due to flooding we never even entered the port. The best thing about the alternate port was you could connect to the ports free Wi-Fi from within the ship.
Wow... we were on the same cruise and thought it was amazing. The service was spectacular, the ship was clean and all of our meals were hot!! We enjoyed every port as well!! We try not to be negative about things in life and it definitely makes everything more enjoyable!
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