 |
Average, casual dining was nice. by
Dick and Donna from Twin Cities, MN Sailing date: Mar 2011Pros: Buffet, shows Cons: Felt very rushed, It was our second cruise. Everything was average, nothing exceptional. The price was affordable, but of course everything was extra (normal for cruises). Ship Quality
Dining/Food
Stateroom Quality
Ship Staff Quality
Entertainment & Activities
Collapse List of Ports
Belize City, BelizeDid the tubing through the caves. It was fun for me, but my husband could not make the hike up, so he was left out. The city is dirty, trash everywhere. Tethering off the ship was a nightmare, as our tour was very early.
Costa Maya (Mahahual), MexicoThe swim with the dolphins was very sad, as the dolphines were in a very confined area with too many people. Lots of drinking in the port town, but take a golf cart and go out of town to a private beach for the afternoon like we did, it was pleasant.
Key West, FloridaUnbelieveable hustle and bustle...visit Sloppy Joe's. Lots of drinking here.
Roatan (Isla Roatan), Bay Islands, HondurasPenny was great (our tour guide). Ziplining was awesome. The mangrove tour was less than fair, the country was beautiful.
 1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Did you find this review helpful?
  1st and last cruise by
A Traveler from los angeles Sailing date: Jan 2011Pros: Eating any time you want. Cons: Having to look at my watch every time we got off the boat. Were a couple in there early 30's, active and easy going. If this sounds like you don't go on a cruise. We heard the saying "just married and almost dead" many times on the cruise it was more of the later. It was almost a retirement home, no one awake after midnight. When you get off the boat, they don't tell you that it take awhile if there is no dock. Small boats take people to shore. At times we only had four hours on shore/ not relaxing when u think u might miss the boat. 2 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
Did you find this review helpful?
It's ok, but I am done with NCL....... by
Alex V from Boston, Mass Sailing date: Dec 2010Pros: Clean ship, some atcivites here and there Cons: Too crowded, too many kids, medicare food, lousy crew, bad disembarkation process The ship itself is fine, but the food, crapy night life, the uhappy misreable crew, the embarkation and worst of all the disembarkation process, places you visit (Samana, is a dump! St. thomas is allright, tortola it's ok and the prviate island is nothing to brag about), surrounded by tons and tons of kids (Good luck trying to use any jacusi during your trip., unless you want to spend additonal $100.00 dollars for less crowded jacusi) and it's not exactly you thought it would be............... By the way I am not picky person at all and very easy going NCL pride itself as free style, all that really means is you don;t have a set time for main dining room that's all and nothing else! Comparing this with Celebrity cruises or Royal Caribean, and well you set yourself up for dissapointment., Ship Qualityhip itself is laid out well. No compalin about that. very collor full and nicely decorated. over all looked very clean
Dining/FoodMain bufffet is mediocare to say the least!! there is nothing there that makes you want to go there! no exotic fruit or pastries, always out of crossants, afternoon buffet is even worst (all you can get is hot dog and hamburger bascially!) bunch of resturants all requiring reservation and payments from $10 to $25 dollars per person.
(After you have coughed up 2500 dollars excluding air fare, you are not exactly lin a mood to pay additional money for food.......................
Main dining room is good but very limited selections, Le bistro resturant is good, but at $25.00 dollar per person, well it ain't exactly a bargain. Stateroom Qualitydecoration is basic but fine, size of a room is a typical of any cruise ships. Beds are exceptionaly comfportable. T.V is very small. Majority of channels are dedicated to NCL advertising. The only channels you could get were : ESPN2, CNBC and E and that's about it! No pay per view option, NO DVD.
Ship Staff Quality
Pittyfull! with an exception of some people here and there, the crew looked misreable, not exactly there to help you or even pretend. For get about any one of them going an extra mile for you. Just about the worst part is the disembarkation process! instead oif having people situated in different locations directing traffic, they had one short girl standing at the door trying to answer questions.
Hint: Check as late as possible! no point chekcing out early because it will take you some time any way. Entertainment & ActivitiesGood entertianments pretty much has a cost associated with it (Wine tasting, beer tasting,pub crwaling, etc) lot's of seminars to seperate you from your money (buying craps that you don't really need), bliss lounge which acts as a night club plays meiocare music and despite signs for 18+ audiance, it was full of teenagers and kids.
By the way instead of having multiple tenders ready after another to take you to an island, they will only use two, which will take you some time before you get on them, unless you want to wake up early and be first in line.
Children's Programs
For kids this is probably good cruise but other than that for two adults there are better otions out there.
Collapse List of Ports
Road Town, Tortola, B.V.I.It's ok, may be better if you had more time.
Don't Miss: N/A Great Stirrup Cay (Cruiseline Private Island), BahamasVery small (reminds of you some of small beaches in New England)
Don't Miss: Nothing to miss Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S.V.I.Nice island but you probably need more time to enjoy it.
Don't Miss: N/A Samana, Dominican RepublicPoor, poor place! the water fall is ok but I won;t go crazy over it, beaches are full of people traying to sell you crap
Don't Miss: Nothing 9 out of 12 people found this review helpful.
Did you find this review helpful?
An amazing trip! by
Jason B. from Sanford, FL Sailing date: Nov 2010Pros: Flexibility - No waits, no fuss, everything was easy! Cons: Switching times during sailing - the ship time should stay the same. Ship was very well maintained. Everything was always clean. The staff was exceedingly nice and helpful. Ship QualityVery easy to get around the boat. Wish NCL rented on-board cell phones or text devices so that you can find others in your party. I would recommend bringing good set of walkie talkies. Dining/FoodFood was great. Drinks weren't too expensive. The main dining rooms were excellent. Cagney's was not worth the extra price. Stateroom QualityVery clean although small. Balcony was nice. Ship Staff Quality
Entertainment & Activities
Children's ProgramsStaff was friendly. Room was not great. Disney has much better kids program, but we didn't pay Disney prices.
Collapse List of Ports
Belize City, BelizeA lot of things to do, but a very poor country overall. Stick with a tour. Cave tubing is a neat experience. Roads can be very rough.
Costa Maya (Mahahual), MexicoRuins were worth the trip. Roads were very comfortable. Even the port itself was a great place for a cruise industry creation.
Key West, FloridaStop way too short. Don't even get to see sunset which is the most famous part of Key West. Very safe city to stop in, but get the least amount of time. We didn't even get off of the ship.
Roatan (Isla Roatan), Bay Islands, HondurasZip lining and beach were great. Beach was clean and relaxing with crystal clear waters.
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Did you find this review helpful?
A wonderful Alaskan Cruise by
A Traveler from Oak Harbor, WA Sailing date: Sep 2010Pros: The scenery was always changing. We saw seal, whales and a bear was spotted on the shore. Lots of choices for shore excursions in most ports. The train ride in Juneau got rave reviews. Cons: The ship was beautiful, but our stateroom was the smallest we'd ever had. It is a beautiful ship with wonderful splashes of color. The Spinaker Lounge has new types of interesting seating like two person lounging couches with sofa pillows, you could lay together facing the same direction or towards each other. They also had big round leather donut hole chairs that were tipped toward the view windows, and a big canopy bed in reds/gold for a bunch of friends to visit on?! The Summer Palace dining room was very pretty and bright. The Indigo was much darker and was more convenient to the casino and shows. It's an easy ship to get around except when folks were trying to find and look at their ship photos as that causes a traffic jam in an ordinarily passageway. We had a great time. Stateroom QualityStateroom was smaller than we anticipated for a handicapped room. Ship Staff QualityService was great Entertainment & Activities
Collapse List of Ports
Juneau, Alaskatrain ride was good
Ketchikan, AlaskaYou can do your own tour very easily here.
Skagway, Alaska
5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
Did you find this review helpful?
a very memorable criser trip by
HsiaoLung L. from Columbia, SC Sailing date: May 2010Pros: freestyle mealing Cons: hair blower is not located in the bathroom, LCD TV screen size is too small very professional staff, excellent programs, 7-days round trip is wonderful Ship Quality
Dining/Foodadd more choices, if possible, in daily routine dinner menu
disappointed that didn't have Alaska snow crab on dinner manu Stateroom QualityTV screen should be bigger, say 32" or larger
hair blower should be located inside the bathroom
should have more wall receptors Ship Staff Qualityeveryone iwe met or talked to is very friendly and cooperative Entertainment & Activitiesnight show in the stardust theater should be a little bit longer, say 1 hr 30 min.
Collapse List of Ports
Juneau, Alaskaglacier view was so impressive, the NCL-offered erercion cost is kind of high
Ketchikan, Alaskaself-guided city walking tour was nice
Skagway, Alaskawe took the white pass mountain railroad train trip, was disappointed that we dinn't get off the train when reached the summit (at 2888 ft), should let all pasenger off to take pictures or just standing there for 10-15 minutes or longer
Victoria, British Columbiaarrived port at 6 pm and ship departed at midnite, kind of rush, did visited the chinatown and ate a nice dinner there
3 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
Did you find this review helpful?
I would go again--the best compliment by
Deanna D from Sacramento, CA Sailing date: May 2010Pros: Freestyling, friendly staff, cleanliness; many tables for 2 in dining rm Cons: TV channels, need more info on the towns rather than so much on shopping The best comment is whether one would repeat the experience. Ship Qualityexcellent accessibility. Loved the atrium seating (unique foot stools.) Dining/FoodAbsolutely wonderful dining room food. Perfert portions and seasoned to perfection. Stateroom QualityLoved the shower. Cooling/heating worked perfectly (sometimes unusual on a cruise.) A bit smaller than other cruise lines but adequate. Ship Staff Quality(Almost 100%) very cordial and seemed very happy with their jobs. Entertainment & ActivitiesEntertainmt not quite as professional as other cruises but OK. Info about ports: would have liked some info about the town itself (historical) rather than 99% on shopping. Not all cruisers cruise to shop!! TV channels: should be a single channel with the TV schedule. Always had to view the (commercial) casino/spa/restaurant stuff every time to FINALLY get to channel selections. 6 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
Did you find this review helpful?
Exceeded expectations by
A Traveler from Tampa, FL Sailing date: Apr 2010Pros: Dining room food and quality of entertainment Cons: The tendering system - very slow!!! We took this trip as a last minute deal, so our expectations were not high (we are frequent cruisers). This ship/staff/trip exceeded our expecations! Ship Quality
Dining/Food
Stateroom QualityWe had an inside cabin which was small, but they always are. Ship Staff QualityOur stateroom steward and waitress were "the best". The front desk staff brought down the rating to just "good". Entertainment & Activities
5 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
Did you find this review helpful?
Fantastic cruise! by
Tom B from Colorado Springs, CO Sailing date: Mar 2010Pros: The ship and ports were great! Cons: The same DJ music over and over This was our 2nd cruise and it was fantastic. We loved the excursions, and BV islands! The weather was fantastic! This was our kids (14,20,24,25) first cruise and they had a blast too! Ship Quality
Dining/Food
Stateroom Quality
Ship Staff Quality
Entertainment & ActivitiesWe loved the singing group "Oh What a Night" tribute. All of the shows were great! 4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
Did you find this review helpful?
Didn't want to leave! by
WilliamF from Minneapolis, MN Sailing date: Feb 2010Pros: Beautiful, clean, friendly ship. Supurb food. Good entertainment. Great service. Cons: Surprise tender day in Tortola, tough beef at all resturaunts. This was our first cruise, but I researched extensively. The whole industry has a "Mickey Mouse" approach to liquor on board, but no different anywhere else. Super service, room steward and maid really a "cut above" any others. Only negative was that an implied docking at Tortola turned into a "tender" transfer for unknown reasons...they had to use the ship's own launches, which was time consuming and blew most of the day ashore. They did their best to work it out, and were very efficient in the face of this minor adversity. Food quality and cleanliness were excellent...only some tough beef (forget the "included" resuraunts for steak, prime rib, etc.) I heartily recommend this Cruise Line, this ship, and intend to go again! Ship Quality
Dining/Food
Stateroom Quality
Ship Staff Quality
Entertainment & Activities
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
Did you find this review helpful?
|
|
