The cabin price was great, which made up a little for the extremely expensive norway tours, which in addition to being short and costly, also seemed prone to being canceled, which was disappointing. I did enjoy all the tours I went on as well as the free time I spent at some of the ports. The ship was a nice, comfy home base to come back to everyday after chilly days out.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Ncl transfer was good, boarding process was smooth
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
The food in the complementary venues were all fine. My only complaint is the need for a lot more seating at the garden Cafe buffet. The outdoor tables are really too cold and exposed for anyone to be comfortable using. We were in the arctic! At least put out some heaters and maybe a blanket at each chair.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
I cruise for the food and tours so I don't really care too much about ship activities. I assume they were fine.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
My past ncl cruises had featured fantastic Broadway style entertainment. The ones on offer weren't nearly on par. They didn't seem interesting enough to bother with. I only went to one and it was mediocre as expected. I didn't bother with any other shows after that and felt like I missed out on nothing. The piano man was good tho.
Children's Programs
No kids
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
The waiters and stewards were friendly and always helpful. The starbucks staff at the atrium Cafe were all awesome!
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The ship looked in good shape and everything was constantly being cleaned.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
The cabin was nice. It was a windowless inside cabin but since the sun literally never set during our cruise, that turned out to be a good thing. The bed was super comfy and the bathroom was surprisingly roomy.
Ship tip
Most of the activity was on deck 7. The window alcove seats on that deck are a great to have a view of the ocean while being comfortably indoors and still be among the bustle of people walking around.
Took the all day excursion to alta, so I wouldn't have to bother with tendering to leave the ship at alta (lol I know laziness is a big motivator for me). The rock paintings were cool.
Signed up for a Sami related tour but that was canceled. I ended up on a bird tour. I'm not a birder but I still found it interesting. We saw tons of puffins, garnets, eagles, even seals.
I signed up for the walrus safari but that got canceled. I ended up on a short tour of longyearbyen because there wasn't much left to choose from by the time my first tour got canceled. Longyearbyen is definitely worth exploring, with or without a tour. You might need a tour to get to where the global seed vault is though. It's outside the town proper and you're supposed to have polar bear protection (i.e. a rifle) to get there.
Took the day long jewels of the north tour. We went to see the crater lake, dimmuborgir, a high temp geothermal area, and godafoss. We also had a delicious lunch or arctic char.
I took a great new tasting tour that showed off some local products, like dried haddock snacks (basically fish jerky), chocolate with local blueberries, flavored sea salts, happy marriage cake and mango milkshake beer. We also got to pet a 4 day old lamb!
Got my colored tags with instructions a few days before disembarkation. There were regular announcements to keep everyone informed on what was going on. The weather wasn't great but I think it went smoothly
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