This was our 3rd cruise on NCL. Our first on NCL was dreadful so we did a second in case the first was just bad luck. The second was equally bad – actually it might have been worse – I forget – so an opportunity to try Escape at a good price £899 for balcony cabin, night in Miami and included drinks package seemed like a chance to see if NCL could redeem themselves. Alas, it was not to be.
We got off to a bad start in the departure lounge. We arrived there about 11am. Our two previous cruises on NCL afforded us no advantage so we expected to have to wait. No problem with that. However, it is nothing short of damned annoying when they call you up to join the queue when clearly you are going to be standing queuing for some considerable time. There were plenty of seats to remain seated. We were called up and joined the queue. We waited and waited and waited. At least 40 minutes. Oddly, we were hardly moving and two more sections were called out to join the queue. Why not leave people seated until you know they can go pretty much immediately up to the check-in booths? There was a lady at the entrance demanding to see our ESTAs which we had to find in our hand luggage. I protested but she insisted. All she checked was that the top of the paper said ESTA. No way could she possibly have checked that they were for us. As we snaked around the queue, we arrived near to where she stood. By then the queues were so bad she was just waving passengers through. What was that all about then?
Muster practice – to me – was worrying. We didn’t have lifejackets with us – they are not stored in the cabin – and crew members demonstrated how to put them on. If you’ve done a few cruises you’ve probably had a good stab at putting your lifejacket on but the lifejackets are the new standard (which will become law in a few years so expect them across all cruise lines) and my bet is that the vast majority of cruisers, in a panic, in a confined space, maybe in poor light would find it pretty tricky to put them on. We noticed that the crew member had partly prepared his and slipped it on like he was dressing for dinner. It ain’t gonna happen like that, believe me. I think everyone should have had a lifejacket to try. I did raise this later when we had an opportunity to ‘meet the officers’. He listened to my concerns but frankly NCL have made the decision to do it their way and it ain’t going to change anytime soon.
We stayed overnight before the cruise at the Grand Harbour hotel.