Overall, this was a better experience than the Sky from September. Each had it's plus and minus, but I enjoyed the food more on this one and that's way more important than the spa and such for me. Hopefully my next NCL cruise in Feb will be even better
Embarkation
1 out of 5
Delayed 2 hours, waiting outside of the terminal in the cold. Then go through security checkpoint only to be stopped by a cruise agent in front of the checkin desk line who asked everyone to show their boarding pass and passport, but she was not actually checking them. She just wanted people to pull out random items so she could feel big about herself. Her line was longer than security and checkin desks.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
90% better than the NCL Sky from September. Most of the food wasn't overcooked, tough, or dry so it was reasonable cruise/hotel quality food.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
The drink tastings are nice, but should be free if you have any alcoholic drink package. They do 20% off for basic and 40% off for premium.
Trivia and game shows are hit or miss with the older crowds.
Most of the karaoke crowd are geared towards older music which isn't a surprise with an older crowd, there were lots of technical issues with microphones/audio throughout the ship and events.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
Longer cruises on older ships seem to gear more for older crowds. The entertainment are an assortment of bands, main shows are a cover singer, one of the onboard bands doing a stage show, comedian and magicians. There's also 1 theatrical show.
All of the onboard bands are cover artists already, so I dislike the main show being more cover artists. The theatrical show and comedian are fine. I'm not really into cruise magic shows.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Mostly good, lots of errors with custom orders e.g. no onions still came with onions 8/10 times. One of the Maitre D in the main dining room checked on us twice one night, asked us if we needed anything, we said water both times, but never did nor sent someone to bring water either time. Seemed so superficial and our water was never refilled that night.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Crew/staff didn't care if anyone smoked marijuana on the ship. One group was sitting on the pool deck and all of their smoke blew into the elevator area one afternoon and lingered there for a while.
Since the casino allows smoking again, I try to avoid the 7th floor as I don't like the smell or taste of tobacco and smoke.
The main headaches on this ship and the Sky are for people on 6a that have to go to floor 7 then walk down stairs and the awkward access to the aft main dining. The room numbers on the 11th are awkward too, I had to help a gentleman find room 10## which was behind the spa on the 11th floor.
The sauna and steam room were small and the spa relaxation area was accessible to the public so regularly filled with non-spa cruisers reading, sipping on tea/water, or just using the 3 recliners.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Spacious enough for us, would prefer to have a small drying rack in addition to the clothesline in the shower since swimwear can pile up. We needed maintenance once to fix the bathroom light and they did it right away with no issues.
As with many other ships, many cruisers will clog toilets/pipes and cause issues for everyone so you'll get an odor or issues with flushing the toilet at times.
Ship tip
Even if you go to a warm destination, bring clothes for cold/windy weather especially on sea days.
If you drink, branch out with the various choices they have at the different bars.
Should have something for everyone. Beaches, Yoda creator and his home/museum, beaches, etc. Flying Dutchman if you want the steepest Zipline in the world.
This was probably the best port, which had a great pool/beach club right at the port including a free lazy river.
We did the wild truck excursion which spent 1 hour at a tiny shop for cigars, a sip of coffee, hot chocolate or mixed... Then a 1 hour stop at a local hut... Then 45 minutes for lunch and the beach. Lunch was good, but they need to cut down the time at the first two stops to 30 min and 10 mins so you can enjoy the beach. We understand that local businesses need help and our money, but 1 hour at each was overkill. If you want to shop at either local stop, please bring cash or else they will use even more time to drive to the home of the shopkeeper to try to use WiFi for their card reader
Mostly a tourist trap for me. People hustling for pictures with their monkeys at port, not a great scene outside of port unless you get a ride or excursion.
Another 2 hour delay...for the first time in a cruise, I used the service to have my bags brought to port so I wouldn't have to carry them during the morning. One of the bags was unclipped and unzipped. Several souvenirs such as magnets were taken from the bag in an awkward count. For example if I had 4 turtle shaped magnets and 4 shot glasses, 3 magnets and shot glasses were taken, leaving 1 of each.
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