While I didn't consider Norwegian a bargain basement cruise line, based on the poor service, facilities, practices and quality of food, it had all the characteristics of one. We had several issues with this particular cruise:

1) We took the "beverage package", which meant we had unlimited drinks. The catch was - you had to actually get a bartender to serve you. Forget service at the poolside bars - the average wait was 25 minutes. Then, after you are served, your card has to be swiped and you have to sign a slip, which shows that Norwegian automatically tacks on an 18% gratuity for their crappy service. Lovely. We saw staff slamming bottles down in frustration, ignoring passengers completely, and being rude and abrupt. You'll have more luck with the indoor bars, but either the staff isn't trained or they simply don't care to move any quicker. It really seemed that the beverage staff was inexperienced and had no idea how to handle a crowd.

2) On our second day, a 10-year old child drowned in the adult pool. A guest (an EMT) started CPR at poolside. It took 7 minutes for staff to find and bring a defibrillator to the pool deck. I'm not saying that may have changed the outcome, but how can you run a cruise ship without a defibrillator on each deck, especially at poolside. Later in the cruise, we went to a "Q&A" with the executive staff. The captain was asked about the incident and one of his responses was that he was dumbfounded that with all the people in the pool, no one saw her go under. Captain - since when is it the responsibility of your guests to monitor passenger safety? Had there been a staff member present at poolside (as there was in the following days), perhaps the child could have been saved. This was not the first child who drowned on a Norwegian cruise. Needless to say, Norwegian does not employ lifeguards. Parents-take notice. Read more