Take the excursions for the rare landmarks and wild life even though the price adds up. Get a camera with good zoom as whales are a bit away from the ship. The seals and penguins might swim close though so don't forget to look near the ship too.
Embarkation
1 out of 5
At port, we had to stand in line with all of our luggage for 30 mins with no idea what was going on. They did not control the lines and let anyone getting off later buses cut the line. Then waiting in another line for an 90 minutes for a shuttle to the ship. No one told us there was a sitting area then some jerk walks up to the line, uses a bullhorn, and yells at everyone for standing in line instead of going to the seating area which no one could even see, let alone reach, due to the crowd in front. He then yelled at everyone for not going around the crowd. He should have told the front of the crowd to go sit down, but I guess he was too lazy to walk that far along the sidelines. i don't plan to cruise on Norwegian again. After the bus to the next pier, security check was quick, but then the NCL checkin line took another 30 minutes, followed by another 30 minutes in the immigration line and then another bus ride to the ship. I think that's 3 hours just to get on the ship from first drop off to actually boarding. One group of people kept cutting the line at baggage. Then they were trying to cut the line for the shuttle, which was pointless since we were all ticket numbers. Caught them cutting lines throughout the whole trip; at meals, at excursions, at tender, etc. Passengers and crew called them out, but they ignored them every time. They made a lot of comments in their native language about it and were proud when they got through and argued with each other when they didn't. The only time they spoke to anyone in line was if 1 person was able to cut, then they'd rush over to say they're together. These were Filipino-Canadians, probably 40s-70s in age.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
About average flavor and texture at buffet, main dining, Ginza, O'Sheehans and specialty dining. Best item was the foie gras at Le Bistro. On the Sun, the Hawaiian Pork Belly was my favorite dish and was the most tender item, but on the Star it was so burned, the table next to me had to ask for a steak knife to cut it. No drink menu for Sake bar so I didn't know they had Sapporo and other brands there till late into cruise.
Versailles Main Dining Room
3 out of 5
They gave me a burned, not charred, but burned hamburger. Their service was about half the pace of Aqua.
Blue Lagoon Cafe
4 out of 5
This is now Le Bistro. Food is decent, even if you have the meal package they upcharge for the tiny lobster thermidor and foie gras.
The Red Lion Pub
5 out of 5
This is now O'Sheehans. Food is mostly good, decent variety, and service is very creative when needed.
Ginza
4 out of 5
Decent food, not my favorite, but only place with decent rice dishes. Menu is always the same, nothing is actually Asian, just Americanized Asian themed with Norwegian spin.
Topsiders Bar and Grill
5 out of 5
Only went for the ice cream. Usually one special flavor each day like Mango, Rum Raisin, Dulce de Leche and such.
Bier Garten
4 out of 5
This is now The Sky High Bar. Basic drinks, half the bar is smoking, only open when weather is good since it's on deck 14.
Garden Cafe
1 out of 5
One day i opened a napkin and a live cockroach came out.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
I used the Thermal Spa (sauna, steam room, Jacuzzi, hot tub, therapy pool, indoor lap pool, heated seats, and relaxation rooms) daily. My days start with workout then spa unless I have early excursion then I do workout and spa after getting back to ship. I did not use any of the sports equipment such as golf driving range or ping pong. The spa opens at 8am, but if you want the sauna or steam room, it won't be warm until at least 8:30am. There's a relaxation room on each side of the spa.
Barong Juice Bar
3 out of 5
This is now the H2O Spice Bar. Basic drinks. One bartender called a customer's order a baby drink since used sweet ingredients.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
Theater had movies and bands throughout the cruise. White Magic was okay. Aerial duo was okay. Production cast was okay, and sounded better in bliss than in stardust du to echo. Seating at Stardust balcony are weird. Some seats don't face the stage and some of the higher elevate seats aren't high enough to let you see the stage. The game shows trivia, karaoke and dance lessons were okay. The singing lessons were okay, the science lectures and hospitality desk were great
Spinnaker Lounge
5 out of 5
This is now Aqua. Much faster service than Versailles.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Proof was the only bar with my 2nd favorite NCL drink, Glass Clippings, and Jayapal was awesome. On the first night, a bunch of passengers swarmed the host desk for O'Sheehans and Maricel did very well to organize them and address who had arrived first/been waiting versus who just walked up demanding service. Another night, there was child at O'Sheehans by himself asking to have his soda cup washed. The host seated him and conversed with him while one of the servers went to wash the cup and filled it with water too. Putu at O'Sheehans was great with practical ways to accommodate my one-off requests like making a sloppy Joe/chili burger or getting a paper cup to take my drink to go instead of a glass cup. The Latitudes event was pointless. They called out each tier level and gave us unlimited drinks and cheese cubes, but since it was during dinner time, we all have to wait in long lines for dinner after. Everyone at Ginza was great, Edralyn and the whole staff. I noticed a trend on Norwegian that when the M'tradie/restaurant managers offer services such as getting drinks, they only return with drinks for the white passengers (this happened on Sky and Sun too). Julius was an awesome server, he was at every event from Bliss to Stardust and was awesome with everyone. The NCL app is the worst of all the cruise lines. They don't even post bar menus and the deck map is stuck on deck 8. Aqua is way faster than Versailles. Edwin at H20 called midori a baby drink.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Nicest ship I was on with Norwegian, but there were odors of smoke/mold in some areas such as walking into the Bliss. NCL needs enforce adults only areas, even if an adult is escorting the kids. At one point the adult hottub was full of kids with no parents in sight. I hate the style NCL uses for their aft main dining: having to use the stairs down from the floor above since there's no walkway on the same floor to reach it. Smoking areas in the casino are scattered, deck 12 smoking area are for walking impaired, and half of Sky High bar was for smoking, assuming they even open up due to weather. At the buffet, I opened one of the napkins they wrap utensils in and there was a live roach. I reported it to one of the staff at the buffet and said 'okay' and put it in the dirty dish bin. I also let guest services know and asked if I told someone at the buffet, which I did. None of them seemed to care, took notes or reported it.
A Chinese woman asked me if the hottubs were open late. I told her i had no idea and she asked 'don't I work here?' I told her that I don't work here and she apologized. This is the 2nd NCL cruise that a Chinese woman assumed I was crew asked for service (on the asky they asked me to bring them water during main dining). No fault of Norwegian, but soured the experiences. Seems mid-February was too late to see most wildlife around the places we cruised. Better luck in Nov-Jan.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Spacious enough for my needs with plenty of storage space. If you're in the cabin during the day, you can hear the laundry machines. Walls are a bit thin so you and your neighbors can hear each other talking.
Ship tip
They do karaoke in Proof which isn't that large. If you like karaoke, get there early or you won't have space.
Chilean Fjords: calm, views of Chile and Argentina landscape. Nothing crazy.
Port: must tender to port, ~25 mins. This is usually the gateway city to Antarctica for flights. A short walk from port leads to shops, stores, parks and such. I took a tour going to the cemetery, museum and more.
The same group of cutters from embarkation left Stardust early to try and catch an earlier tender, but were not let on. They then waited in the gangway hallway until their excursion group # was called instead of going back to Stardust. On the way back to the ship, they walked past 50 people to get on the tender even though the crew and passengers told them it was one line. The crew member doing the passenger count paused the line at one point and it split their group up. They immediately jumped onto the gangway anyway. When the crew said they were counting and not to mess up the count due to the tender limit, they bawled about being in the same group so they should get to go on the same tender and did not clarify who he had and had not counted yet in their group. Again, these were adults, 40s-70s in age.
Port is quaint. No data or Wi-Fi unless you buy a prepaid card at the supermarket. If you want local lamb, go to Malvina and order the Slow Braised Local an Shoulder. It wasn't fall apart tender, but it has a nice flavor with the herb seasoned lamb ju. Tour bus windows were dirty and had no a/c. Very dusty, gravel roads, none of the stops were worth what we paid. All of the excursions are overpriced in the Falklands, but spend the extra money and do one with the penguins, dolphins or more adventurous excursion.
Decent port, took a tour, but had so many spots we only had 10-15 minutes at each of the 4 stops. Tried to explore afterwards since the tour allowed dropoff at the market/shopping area that was about a block from the port. I didn't explore much on foot since there was so much dog poop everywhere, had to watch where I was walking rather than the actual attractions, eateries, and shops in the area. I saw so many people dragging the dog poop since they were looking around instead of the ground.
Port area isn't much, you need to get a ride or excursion to do anything. I stayed in the city a couple of nights before the cruise so I didn't do any excursions here.
Short day and my excursion ran the entire time at port. Late to ship about 30 minutes, but since it was NCL excursion,the ship had to wait for us. The town itself is quaint. The excursion was a catamaran sailing to the Tierra del Fuego National Park dock, then bus to the end of Post Office at the End of the World and railway station then train ride out of the park with bus back to ship.
I can't believe I skipped this cruise with you! Even with the issues, this still seemed like an amazing time! I'm definitely going on the next one we plan!
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