This was my first time ever being on a cruise ship. I am a seasoned traveler for diving and was not sure how I would enjoy being on a cruise. The vacation was great overall but there were some troubles on fault of both NCL and Delta Airlines that would have completely shot this vacation to the worst in history.

To start off the vacation I live in Arkansas where it snows maybe twice a year. Well it snowed 8" the night/day we were scheduled to leave. Delta airline in anticipation of cancelling flights they rerouted us to Detroit. We were initially suppose to fly into Atlanta and then Miami. The flight to Detroit was an hour and forty minutes late due to de-icing and running out of de-icing agent. That delay made us miss our connecting flight to Miami by five minutes. There were no other flights to Miami that day. We worked with our great travel agent and the airlines and was placed on stand-by for a flight into Ft. Lauderdale. With five people traveling in our party we were unable to get onto the plane as they only had two seats available. We than made a flight to Ft. Myers and planned to rent a car to Miami. When we arrived in Ft. Myers we only had one of our six checked bags arrive. Delta had trouble tracking down the rest of our luggage and didn't know if it was on its way to Miami, Ft. Myers, or Ft. Lauderdale. Finally after 3 hours of tracking and waiting in Ft. Myers the airlines told us that our luggage was on its way to Ft. Lauderdale. We drove across the state and finally got our luggage. We spent the night at the Marriott near the port of Miami. For $200.00 a night the hotel was not that impressive. There was no free internet and the rooms were small.

When we arrived to the port for the cruise everything was running smooth and as planned until we went to check in. One of the ladies in our group was 22 weeks pregnant. We had asked the booking agent for NCL, prior to our arrival in Miami, if her being pregnant was going to be a problem and he stated that it won't be and there are no restrictions for pregnant women on cruise ships. We found out later that this person was fired from NCL. However, the new booking agent also didn't mention any restrictions for pregnant women. When checking in at ship side they have a health questionnaire and it asked if you are going to be more then 24 weeks pregnant during the cruise. The pregnant lady in our group stated no as she was going to be 23 weeks at the end of the cruise. When we at the counter a person acting in a supervisory position, just walking by, noticed we were talking about her being pregnant. He asked if she was pregnant and stated that she had to have a doctors note to be able to cruise. He was not going to let her get onto the ship. We were escorted to another area of the check in and attempted to get a hold of her doctor for a note to be faxed. With it being Saturday the doctors office was closed and we were unable to get a note. This supervisor named Carlos pulled out the rule book on pregnant ladies traveling on NCL cruises. The way that we understood the rule is that if you are 24 weeks or over you are not allowed to cruise and you must provided a medical doctors note if you are over 24 weeks. Carlos was very rude and unhelpful in helping us provide a solution for this problem. It was after we stated that pregnant ladies were part of a special class and we would file a discrimination law suit against NCL and Carlos that another supervisor step-in and was very helpful. The pregnant lady was escorted to the medical bay on the ship and the ships doctor had no problem with letting her cruise at 22 weeks. There was no compensation from NCL for our troubles. Read more