Such a beautiful Hawaiian setting , too bad NCL drops the ball with poor execution amd strict policy on almost 13 year olds not being able to play with 13 year olds.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Easy check in
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
1 out of 5
Aloha cafe was swarming with what seemed like the entire complement of 2600 passengers every single morning. There was not enough tables for everyone to be seated resulting in some people eating standing up. The wait staff couldn't keep up with cleaning the tables and supplying utensils. Choice of entries was limited and there was little variation from day to day. Cadillac lounge food was on par with McDonald's. Liberty and skyline restaurants shared the same menu and offered little variety from one day to the next. East Meets West restaurant was always booked with only available times being 915 or 930pm.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
There was not much in terms of onboard activities that interested us. We'd circle 1 or 2 things every night as opposed to Disney cruise line where we had a hard time deciding what to do because there would be 2 or 3 things going on at the same time. Thank goodness for excursions.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
The shows were ok but nothing like the elaborate presentations that we were accustomed to on DCL.
Children's Programs
1 out of 5
My 12.5 year old daughter had a terrible time playing with 5 to 7 year old children (no 10, 11, or 12 year olds showed up to the splash academy. My 13.5 year old had a blast in the entourage club. We could not get our younger daughter to join her older sibling. We were told that even if she was 12 years and 358 days old she couldn't attend that club. Terrible policy. Unlike DCL where we could just sign a waiver and everyone would be happy.
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
For the most part the staff was very good with the exception of our cabin steward who never seemed to do much in our cabin except get us fresh towels. The kids beds were never made and we didn't realize until the last night that one of our daughters was missing sheets on her bed until we found them neatly folded under the nightstand.
Ship Quality
2 out of 5
I'm not quite sure if this particular group of passengers was exceptionally messy but there always seemed to be popcorn, sand and dirt in the stairways. Also the buffet's tables had pieces of food stuck to the utensil holders and the floor was quite sticky on a few occasions. I can't for the life of me understand why the two main pool deck showers were placed in such a location as to block the view of the stage. I've seen these showers used twice in the 7 days we were on the ship.
Cabin / Stateroom
1 out of 5
Very cramped adequate for two people not four. The cabin steward didn't keep up with upkeep of the cabin taking 2 days to provide us with a box of tissues (luckily we brought our own) 5 days to replace a lightbulb etc.
Ship tip
Please lower your expectations when booking this cruise. Book a lot of excursions- they will make your cruise memorable, the ship itself is very forgettable.
Although our excursion to see mount Haleakala at sunset was canceled because of impassable road due to a car accident? We were still able to get there utilizing über. (Half price and riding in a BMW!!). Loved the Lanai snorkel sail.
Carnival were a lot more open when we took our granddaughters and let them stay together only two years difference but they should of been seperate groups but they said they were fine and the girls just loved it made many friends who they still keep in contact with 👌
You must be talking about the designated youth areas? Most cruise lines have the areas separated by age groupings. I do not have young ones that use those areas. Did not realize that closely monitored. But, rules are rules.
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