This is the cruise to beat. I was sick the entire time and it's still the best cruise I've ever been on, and it's really sold me on Norwegian as a brand. My wife and I still intend to cruise with all the different cruise lines we can realistically manage, but NCL is a hard standard to beat. While I can laud the virtues of the ship, the food, and many other things, at the end of the day it was the staff that made the difference. I've never felt so taken care of and pampered in my life as I did on this cruise.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
We had priority boarding and I couldn't believe the difference it made - skipped ALL the lines and were onboard the ship in minutes.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Everywhere we went the food was superb. No real flops this trip but the absolute standout was by far Le Bistro, the ship's French restaurant. We were thinking about skipping it, but were persuaded to give it a try and it was one of the highlights of the trip.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
This is a bit of the ship's weak point. Aside from Entertainment, there's really not a whole lot to do, though what there is is fairly solid.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
Their main theatre's variety show was a bit lacking, but the onboard comedian (Flip Schultz) was so good we bought his CD. Met the man afterwards and he couldn't have been nicer!
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
From the SECOND we walked on board our every need was seen to, often before we were even aware of it. There were constant surprises in the cabin, surprises during meals, staff waiting for us and escorting us from location to location to make sure we found our way when deadlines were tight. Everything on this cruise was fantastic, but it was the staff that took it from a great cruise to my so-far favorite cruise ever. I cannot rant and rave enough.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
The ship was a bit older and laid out awkwardly. However, given that, it's been remodeled and is kept so clean that that almost adds charm, rather than is a negative.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
The suite was gigantic - enough room for my wife, myself, and my teenage daughter to comfortably share the space and have room to spare. The only downside to the room was, due to being at the front of the ship, the balcony was metal rather than glass (thus not see-through), but the rest of the room was so immaculate and wonderful I just cannot bring myself to care. The bathroom is equally gigantic, and the tub(!!) was large and wonderful to lounge in.
This was a surprise to me how much I loved Great Stirrup Cay. There was some shopping on the island so we could take care of souvenir needs here rather than having to go into town in Nassau (which we loved), the water was gorgeous, I felt extremely safe, and just the entire environment lent itself perfectly to rest and relaxation.
It's Nassau. Even the comedian on the ship nailed it in his joke "You know why they call it Nassau? Nah, Saw it". Once you've done it once that's generally quite enough. We took a boat tour this time and that was definitely preferable to going into town and wading through all the high pressure markets, but Nassau is just not a great port unless you're going and doing the water parks.
What a wonderful review we have been on 10 cruises all of them Royalcaribbean we’re a little frayed to try a different cruise line that we are satisfied with the cruises we have taken but your review would make me think about doing NC L again thank you for the review keep on cruising I love to cruise
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