We selected this cruise as it was the only available cruise to do inter island Hawai’i stops. It was worth doing as it was far easier than flying to each island. Ship needs updating and food quality even at specialty restaurants wasn’t great. Officers and most staff were friendly, but there was some spotty service. Pick rooms away from entrances to stairs and elevator- which can be a bit hard to tell from diagrams. Cruise should offer guests at least one free exercise class in gym- classes are pricey. Entertainment needs significant upgrade.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
Food quality was so-so; mediocre. Most items weren’t particularly tasty. The specialty dining on the Norwegian Joy for our Alaska summer cruise (and on a prior Norwegian Caribbean cruise) was far better. The specialty dining on this cruise was quite disappointing, and even the desserts were bland and not tasty. For example, the panna cotta on the Joy was fantastic, while the same dish in this ship’s Italian restaurant tasted almost like pudding from a box. Perhaps they don’t try hard because they don’t have competition on this route.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Entertainment
2 out of 5
The quality of performers and entertainment was abysmal. The Beatles show was a man and a woman(!) (how about 4 men like the group?!!), and they didn’t sound at all like the band and had bad voices. The Guy singing in Pink champagne lounge was also bad. The large shows were no good either- all seemed to be musicals.
No big new game room with the 3D and fancy Jurassic park style VR Jeep’s like the Joy.
Children's Programs
No kids
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
Sonpme servers, such as a girl in Libert dining, were not friendly and made mistakes. Train all staff to say hello and be friendly. Norwegian Joy staff had more consistent friendly service.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
The officers on the ship were always friendly. The lock was missing from one of our suitcases when we received it, and the front desk handled it well.
Plates were not picked up as often as needed from halls. For example, a plate sat on a banister between floors 7 and 8 midship for hours and even overnight, I think. Glasses from our room were left in the hall all day, and were in the way on our final night when we went to leave our suitcases in hall.
The ship, while apparently updated, seemed quite outdated. Our room’s do not disturb was manual, unlike newer ships with buttons and lights to turn on in the room. The balcony room was significantly smaller than Norwegian Joy and the overall look of the ship was outdated. Maybe the Brazilian restaurant was the only area that seemed updated- that one was the best restaurant on ship and had very nice decor and good servers.
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
Small. Terrible location which opened right into a noisy major staircase. The view looked right out onto a lifeboat below. Why the rep picked this area for our 3 rooms was incomprehensible. Midship is good- opening into elevators and stairways like two of our rooms did was a bad recommendation.
We did view the port from this room far more often than the last Alaska cruise when this same rep told us we would face the port each time and we faced it only once.
Ship tip
Book room midship but away from elevators and stairs. 8th floor is generally good location. Try to find a room port side that isn’t right over life boats.
Excursion to Molokini crater for snorkeling. We took the longer and less expensive of the 2 tours to this location. We ended up at the crater as the only ship there, as we went to the turtle area for snorkeling first, so it was good to be the only ship at the crater. Snorkeling was far better at crater than other area as it was low visibility at first turtle area. Overall snorkeling was just OK as we were far above most fish. View of crater itself was ok, not necessarily beautiful
Lunch on this tour was pretty good. Breakfast was not too good with plain banana bread without butter and rolls that weren’t tasty.
Good tour overall.
Drove in rented Caron day one of port. Mostly spent time in Lahaina and at Ocean center.
Glad you enjoyed Hawaii, if not the ship. As you stated, this cruise is primarily about the itinerary and not the ship. As long as you aren’t expecting the latest and greatest amenities on the ship, it is a good way to see Hawaii.
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