I must say that this was our 4th Norwegian and probably our last. The price was great and the perks were really good, but it seems like it is almost self- serve when you go on Norwegian compared to Holland America, Princess, or Celebrity. We are going on a Carnival cruise in December and will be able to judge them, (we have been on 5 Carnival cruises, but not in the last 10 years). I must say that the food has always been better on the other cruise lines than Norwegian.
Embarkation
2 out of 5
The embarkation was not all that bad even though there was a torrential thunderstom going on while trying to check in. They need to build more covered areas for the unloading of luggage. Our room steward said that over half of the luggage was so wet that the laundry on the ship ran out of hangers the first couple of days trying to get all the clothing dry from being soaked during the loading. Once you got into the terminal itself, check in took only about 30-35 minutes. One suggestion- DO NOT TAKE THE TRAIN from Rome to the port. Spend the extra money and have a driver take you. Our's was $150 including tip. (Well worth the cost).
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
The Star's main dining rooms were okay. The Aqua was much easier to get in and out of. The Versailles seemed to being having seating issues every time we went there, (and we had reservations every time). The food was good not great in the dining rooms. The buffet truly lacked quality. The best item on the buffet were the mashed potatoes. They ran out of lettuce with 3 or 4 days left on the cruise. All the ice machines broke down one day at the buffet. The hamburgers at the grill were not very good at all. The pizza at the buffet was okay. At the specialty restaurants- Cagneys, Le Bistro, Moderno, and La Cucino, the food was good. One complaint- at Cagneys there are no baked potatoes!! Most steak houses serve baked potatoes, and I know they do on the Escape.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
We played trivia everyday and enjoyed that. My wife went to the bridge classes and thought they were very good. I went to some of the lectures about the Mayan culture and pirates and found them very interesting. One note - the slides at the pool were only open a couple of days.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
CON; The music in the atrium was way TOO LOUD!!! The band was very good, but too much volume. The singer in the 5 o'clock somewhere bar was very good also.
Children's Programs
no kids with us
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Flavia- our room steward was fantastic. She went out of her way to make sure all our needs were taken care of. Anna Rogas, the bartender in the Mojito Bar was also great. Artuaro, our cocktail water at Gatsbys was also wonderful.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
Lots of the public bathrooms were either closed or needed to be attended to from time to time.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Our room was nice. Only problems we had- the TV didn't work correctly for about 5 days and it took two repair visits to finally fix it. Also, we had issues with our toilet not flushing a couple of days. These issues were taken care of in a timely manner- thanks mainly to Flavia, our room steward following up on these problems.
We take our luggage off ourselves and wait stand outside on the promenade in line for over an hour. Once we got into the terminal, it was a breeze- no more than 15 minutes!!!
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