My wife and I have been cruising NCL for ten years. We are at the Platinum Level of the Latitude Club. Our most recent cruise was just bizarre. It started with an hour and one half check- in. And we were in the Latitude line....the one that is supposed to be priority check-in. Upon giving the clerk our credit card, we were then given a "revised" itinerary. Upon reading it, I noticed that we were not going to leave at the usual 4 p.m. departure. We were going to spend the night in Tampa while mechanical work was going to be done to the ship. We were told we would leave at 4 a.m. Once on the ship, we were greeted with our complementary bottle of champagne and chocolate strawberries. The strawberries were mostly green. Ugh. The ship finally left port at 5:30 a.m. and off we went. The stateroom "tipping fee" is now $27 per day per cabin. The gratuity for a bottle of wine is %18. So, a $50 bottle of wine now costs $59.

We decided to purchase wine for dinner by the glass. We liked the Louis Jadot Pouilly Fuisse served by the glass and had it every night. On the fourth night, we ordered it again. The waitress brought us each a glass. Once we tasted it, we knew it was not the PF. We explained to her we thought we were being served something different. She told us that it was a new bottle opened, and that she personally saw it being poured as PF. We decided to send it back because it was either a bad bottle or the wrong wine. She totally freaked out. She went to her manger and they both huddled and finally returned with two glasses of the "real" PF. Our gut feeling was we got the "bait and switch" so NCL could make a few extra bucks.

On another night we went to the Sushi Restaurant. They display large carafes of sake in their display case. However, when we ordered a large carafe, we were told they only sell the small ones. So, we ordered a small carafe of sake which holds seven ounces. However, when we were served the small carafe, it was only half full. When we questioned why it was only half full, we were then told they only put three ounces in the small carafe. This was the next night after the the PF incident. Things were getting worse as each day passed. Read more