Unforgettable

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Reviews: 3

Helpful Votes: 14

Review summary

This is the first time I have cruised with NCL and I am comparing it to my cruises with Carnival and Royal Caribbean. The crew was very friendly and helpful; they play a big part in making the overall experience pleasant. We truly enjoyed the ports of call. In Honduras I recommend booking an excursion because there is nothing to do right at the pier. We did a city tour which was very nice. In Belize we visited the Mayan ruins, the tour was very educational. Cozumel had great shopping. I was highly impressed by NCLs private island. The water there was crystal clear and very clean, extremely pleased! Heard others complain about some of the ports. Remember these are poor countries, enjoy the culture and do as they do when visiting their homeland. Another contributing factor to the overall experience is the dinning. I was not (nor were the other six I traveled with) impressed with the food on this ship. It is defiantly not up to par with the other cruise lines. The quality and variety of the food was lacking significantly. On other cruise lines they had a part of the menu that remained constant every night so if you did not like the new meals for the night you knew there was something to please you. It also took us two hours to eat in the main dinning room so take that into account if you want to attend other events. I thought the portions were rather small and although you can order as much as you like the waiting time is too long. Did pay the cover charge and tried the steakhouse. Not impressed, not worth it, would never go to a specialty restaurant again. Breakfast at the buffet was always the same, never changed. The concept of freestyle cruising was something new and we did like the idea. It was nice to eat when you want where you want. On other cruise lines you have to be there when they say and they get mad when your not there on time so this is a very flexible eating style. Sometimes we missed not having the same waiter every night. Since you dont eat at the same time every night and you dont have the same waiter there are no shows put on by the staff which is always enjoyable on the other lines.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Entertainment

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Pros: Crew, ports

Cons: food

Recommends Norwegian Sun? Yes!