Theis ship is horrible, the service is so bad there is no excuse for it. It takes ages for a waiter to come to you for drinks in the main buffet even tho you have a bell for colling them, one time the waiter came to the table canceled the call and just walked away without takeing our order, when we asked him why he did that he came with such a dumb excuse, and thats is all the staff have for you is excuses. When you want to go to shore there are harbors with only steps as gang walks so disabled people cant disimbark, on the ports that disabled people can disimbark you will go thru hell when you imbark, first of all they will make sure that you know that they doing the disable people a big favor if they let 1 person to acompany the disable thru security, we had 1 person with an oxigen mask on her and security made her stand in line for 10 mins for security, they made me choose betwin my disabled father and my child ( who didnt speak english) so i had no choice but to wait for my child, so my father had to wait for me and my child and they put him near a trashcan so god forbid he will interfere the other guests, when we whent to complain about it, the costomer service made me feel like I was the one to blame, he didnt wrote my complain right and ofcourse the complaint was nulled with the excuse that you cant expect them to let 3 people cut the securety line (and I remind you 1 person is disabled and one is a child) and leting the other guest wait. The dishes in the buffet was dirty we got glasses with lipstick marks on them, plates with pasta still on it. On other ships at the evenibg of your first imbarkation the person in charge of cleaning your room comes and introduce him/her self to you and tells you that every thing you needs room wise to come to him/her, on this ship we saw him only on the last night of the cruise. The one bright light on the ship is the food, it was tasty and good and you had a large choice of dishes to choose from in the buffet, and every day was diffrent dishes, too bad you couldn't had plates to put those delicious dishes. We took an excurtion in kiel and asked the woman who booked us the excurtion if it takes us to see the city itself including the city center because they had 1 tour only for the harbor and the tour we took, at the end both of the excurtions was only for the harbor and we didnt saw the city at all. Pass these ship there are other ship lines that are much better with the same prices as this one. Read Less

I would just concur with the poster who wrote "Marginal and Loud" as their headline. If you like really big, really loud, really overcrowded, and really under-serviced ships, then this ones for you. Otherwise I would run and "Getaway" as fast as you can. The ports were great though. The room attendants were friendly and spot on, so I will give kudos where due. The Starbucks was great. The sushi restaurant was not half bad, and the steak place was downright good. The rest, well...just mediocre to bad. The wait times for tables, the feeding troughes at the buffet (literally not to be able to find a table at the buffet and having to eat outside where its 50 degrees is unacceptable for any ship), the nickel and dime fees for everything, the cacophony of noise in the main sections of the ship. I waited 3 days for them to bring me a case of water I purchased the minute I got there, which I'm pretty sure is the same water that comes out of the tap but that's besides the point. At some point at day 2 I had to buy liters of water at the bars because I didn't know if I was ever going to get it. Water, you know, it's kind of important to some people. I recommend buying the bar water btw and not the case water, the bar water is actual good quality bottled water, not their crappy filtered water. I have become used to smaller ships after many years of cruising and don't like crowds, so this just wasn't the ship for me. I chose this ship because we were traveling with 4 teens and I wanted them to have more activities like the ropes course and slides etc. But with 5K people and very limited hours that these facilities were open, no one used them from my group anyway. The only saving grace for my group was the Haven which is worth the money if purchased on day 1. It's the only area of relative quiet and the pools and saunas are nice. All in all this felt like a Carnival ship sailing in the Baltic. So if you like Carnival, you'll like the Getaway. Read Less

9 day cruise from Copenhagen, daparting on Sun w/ scheduled stops in Germany, day at sea, Estonia, overnight in St Petersburg, Finland, Sweden, day at sea and return to Copenhagen Tuesday. Unscheduled skip of Warnemunde, Germany so over nighted in Copenhagen with a 1:30 departure the next day ( so no time to go and see Copenhagen), day at sea Tuesday. Tallin, Estonia on Wednesday as scheduled, overnighted in Tallin and extra day there because couldn't get to St Petersburg. Arrived in St Petersburg on Friday one day and 3 hours late. Lucky our tour operator made adjustments for us, but still missed one site because of arriving late. Saturday in St Petersburg. Was told because of the distance to cover, 2 day at sea Sunday and Monday, with no Helsinki, Finland or Nnynasham, Sweden. Food was just ok, not good but just tolerable -way too much pork and seafood on the menu, also little options if u want to eat healthier or you have other dietary restrictions. When asked about other options for food or making substitutions they were less than accommodating. Was told could go to buffet or another pay dining venue. Service in dining rooms was generally very slow and not attentive at all. If you want something (like coffee with ur dessert) u have to specifically ask for it. Morning complimentary room service was consistently late and one day did not arrive at all. The hangers in the closet would not stay on. Overall poor planning on ports/weather/wind. This was my wife and I's first time on NCL and we were not impressed. Burn the Floor and Rock of Ages shows were great. Breakaway seems like nice ship, but with no heated pool or heated water for waterslides not a single person did either of these activities. It might be a better ship in the Carribean??. Because of the height of the ship, it must sail aound the island and is too tall to go under the bridge between Denmark and Sweden. Embarkation and disembarkation went smooth enough. Long lines for passport check in Russia ( I would take a smaller ship next time) too many people on this one. Of the $184/pp in port/taxes NCL only reimbursed $44/pp in taxes on the onboard account. We do our own thing for shore excursions. Old town in Tallin is great. We had no complaints with our stateroom attendant. I realize one cannot control mother nature was this one just seemed like the worst planning of any cruise I have ever been on. No additional reimbursements beyond the $44 mentioned above. Definitely did not get what we planned on and paid for. Read Less

Booked this cruise two years ago for the itinerary, my party of eight traveled from Canada and USA for this once in a lifetime opportunity to see some parts of the world we only dreamed of visiting. We all arrived a couple of days ahead in Copenhagen and enjoyed the city pre-cruise. Boarding day I met a crew member in the check in terminal and during conversation he mentioned that they had bypassed Sweden on the two previous sailings... that started my anxiety which became a little more a few minutes later when on checking in were informed that we we not going to stop in Germany due to weather.. it came to my attention that this decision had already been mad 2-3 days prior on the previous cruise so the decision based on weather became questionable. So we get to Tallinn, Estonia on schedule and once back on board after our tour were informed that due to weather we were going to spend another night and day tied up in port taking us one day late into St Petersburg, Russia, no problem getting there and unfortunately we will be bypassing Helsinki, Finland and Nynasham, Sweden due to weather. While we cannot control the weather and it is best to be safe than sorry.. and also understanding the fine print when we signed up, I believe NCL should have offered some kind of compensation to its guests in the form of future cruise credits (they did refund the port charges). I called NCL guest relations at head office and the person on their end could only keep spewing a generic apology and ending with unfortunately ba, bla weather bla bla you signed bla bla.. NCL you won't be seeing me anytime soon. Ship:Sailed on the escape last year same layout .. Food: Buffet food .. boring.. same breakfast every day, had to really search for something interesting on other occasions for lunch and dinner. Main dining rooms,, food was good and bad hit and miss..speciality dining rooms Cagney's very good, La Cuchina very good.. Le Bistro not bad but not great.. Shows.. was disappointed with change in itenarary so I did not bother going to any shows.. My biggest peeve is with the use of the atrium lounge for the activities.. not big enough and always too crowded .. same on the Escape.. I came to the conclusion that it was because of the proximity to the Atrium bar and O'Sheehans bar above is why they have these nighttime activities in the atrium. Room: Spacious and well done with ample storage but smaller balcony. Read Less

I departed from Copenhagen, Denmark, on 9/21/2018 for my FIRST ever cruise. The itinerary included stops in Estonia, Finland, Germany, Russia and Sweden. Since I am a planner, I booked the trip over a year in advance due to the positive feedback I received from co-workers who had done the exact same cruise in the past. Throughout the course of the year, two ports changed from one city to others, which was fine, since I received advanced notice. Upon arriving to the port on the day I was set to disembark, I received a notice stating that Germany was no longer a part of the itinerary. Later on that day, I learned that passengers that were due to join the cruise in Germany were given notice and had to rush to Copenhagen to board the ship. They were given approximately 48 hours notice. Everyone else learned the day of. The ship didn't leave Copenhagen on 9/23, but rather stayed at the port due to weather as we were told, for another day. When we arrived to Estonia, we were told to be back on board by 4pm as we only had a day scheduled, but we ended up staying there for two days. We arrived in Russia a day later than scheduled and completely missed Finland and Sweden, again due to weather. Now, I am not here to complain about the weather, as we all know that is clearly out of everyone's control. My issue is with the lack of communication from NCL staff in a timely manner. If NCL made the call to cancel Germany two days prior to departure, I could have stayed in Copenhagen for another day rather than being stuck on the ship. This was the first time I have ever been on a cruise and I was sorely disappointed by being stuck on a ship for 5 days. There was absolutely nothing for me to do. Although they sent a newsletter with "events" I felt that some were geared towards certain age groups, that did not include mine. I was bored to death, and it was bad. I was so bored and disenchanted that I wanted to get off in Estonia and fly back home. I missed 60% of my cruise and that is time and money that I will not get back. Staff on board made it clear that the call to cancel ports was a corporate decision, and that the chance of any compensation was slim to none. The only silver lining was the staff. They were all amazing. I will NEVER go on an NCL cruise again. If I could get my money back, I would! Read Less

This cruise should not have been scheduled in the first place. This was the only cruise ship that sailed in this time of the year unlike other cruise ship who were wised enough not to schedule due to unpredictable weather condition thus resulting to missing 3 ports. THREE!!!!!!!!!!!! NCL should know better! And NCL should have Plan B in place if incidents like these happens. Instead it was business as usual with no effort how to keep your passengers happy, entertained despite being on the ship more often than on shore. The entertainers where cheap and boring! I donot see the different between Taste and Savor specialty restaurants! They always have the same menu so what is the specialty with that!? To top it all, getting off the ship on arrival in Russia what a complete total chaos!!! As if this was their first time to dock in Russia! We were supposed to be out of Immigration area by 830am but instead we got out 1130am!!!! UNACCEPTABLE! This is my 2nd time with NCL and I have never been so tired of being bored! Why NCL Why?!!!!!!! So disappointed and will never sail NCL again! Would not even recommend NCL in a heartbeat! All the people I spoked to on the ship were totally disappointed! The only good thing about this experience were your Room Steward and Waiters and Waitresses. They were friendly and totally above and beyond customer service! Read Less

Chaos in itinerary. Bad servise. Terrible transparency and attitude. Weather was utilized as an excuse for cutting the ports by 60% while other companies were operating. Service was less than moderate dis embarkment at St Petersburg was chaotic followed by discrimination of passanger who did not use the ship excrusions. Nobody at the company headquarters was willing to pay attention to complaints. The senior crew and company ignored complaints and when answerin the complain letter it was very obvious that nobody went over it thoroughy. I have been cruising like 10 times never before i felt so mis treated. According with the circumstances the company should have apologized and offer som compensation. Pretending that every is ok when all was wrong and most passengers felt alike is notva solution. I certainly will not cruise again with NCL and i will make sure that all my social network will learn about our bad experience. Read Less

We cruised the Baltic with the the Norwegian Breakaway expecting a quality of service similar to Carnival or Royal Caribbean. Despite it being my 8th cruise, I am disappointed to report that I have never been on a more disinterested ship in my life. I really expected more of Norwegian. You'll find that the statistics of the ships size are deceiving, as most of the space is used to onboard 3600 passengers over the provision of passengers amenities. By far the worst factor is the disinterested service. We don't have any special requests, but don't expect anyone to smile, or to act mildly enthusiastic. Shows are basic without any effects, and the cruise often tries to upsell you with paid shows for 50 USD a person. At St Petersburg, our tour operator sadly confirmed to us that Norwegian is notoriously one of the most inefficient Cruise lines in off boarding their guests, reportedly because the cruise line wants to discourage guests from taking outside tours. While the staff blame it on immigration, our immigration officer told us that celebrity, regent and princess guests are often off board in no more than 30 minutes, whereas Norwegian guests can be made to wait over 2 hours. I'm sad to say that the ship kept us waiting in the theater for over an hour blaming it on immigration. Food is deliberately cheap to encourage you to spend in their myriad of onboard resteraunts. Cabins are about 20% smaller than normal size so they can cram the ship with more guests. Bottom line: we chose this ship because it was mildly cheaper than our usual choice of princess. We're regretting it everyday. Read Less

Norwegian Breakaway 9-day Baltic Cruise June 16 – June 25, 2018. Issues: Port of Rostock Ship docked in cargo port in Rostock Germany, not the tourist port. Shuttles (fee paid by guests) were needed to get to Rostock for a promised several hours of shopping. All businesses in Rostock were closed for Sunday. Very poor planning by NCL. Excursions were sold by NCl for Berlin trip (over 1-hour bus trip each way). Again, most businesses and attractions were closed because it was Sunday. Very poor planning by NCL. Port of Stockholm Ship docked in Nynashamn instead of Stockholm 1-hour bus shuttle (fee paid by guests) to Stockholm Reduced time in Stockholm Chaotic bus logistics for the return to the ship – exhausted seniors told to wait for 2 ½ more hours for the “correct” bus transport to return to ship, even though seating was available on the existing buses. Ship docked on Saturday following Midsummer Festival kickoff – most shops and stores in Stockholm were closed. This is an event known to occur at least 1 year in advance. Extremely poor planning by NCL. Port of Helsinki The captain decided to bypass this stop. The first reason given to the passengers was the Baltic was too stormy to allow docking in Helsinki. After the crew learned the passengers had checked the live feed from the Port Authority of Helsinki online and saw the Royal Caribbean ship Navigator (which had been docked in St Petersburg next to our ship and left approximately the same time the NCL Breakaway did) safely docked in Helsinki, the story from the captain changed to “abnormally low tide” in the port. Once again, tidal charts are available years in advance. The suspicion among the passengers was a business dispute between NCL and the Port of Helsinki. NCL has gone to the same business model as the airlines – charge for services and conveniences that were previously included in the base fare. I find this highly distressful. Charge a fare that covers all these items and don’t “nickel and dime” your customers. This added a layer of stress and aggravation to the cruise experience that was not needed. I will investigate this policy with the utmost scrutiny on any future cruise. This cruise was marketed as being sold on primarily North American customers. Among the 4,000 passengers barely 40% were North American. The majority were South Asian (Indian) and Chinese. The usual North American societal norms of behavior (no pushing, wait your turn, the concept of “indoor voice” vs “outdoor voice”, observe disease prevention protocols when dining) were completely foreign to these passengers. There was no venue on board to escape the constant noise and pushing and shoving of this demographic, other than to hide in our cabin or try to drink ourselves into a stupor. The food, usually a selling point of an expensive cruise, was bland at best. There was no effort to provide any good fish dishes that we had been looking forward to. The Director of Restaurants was Indian, and most of the dishes offered were either Indian, Chinese or fast food American style. Extremely disappointing. I would have no desire to book another cruise in the near future. I will never book another cruise with NCL – that door is closed forever. As this event required air travel to and from Europe, 2 weeks vacation and significant other expenses and efforts, my expectations were understandably high. I paid for an NCL experience and got Carnival service. That business model is not long term sustainable in my opinion. Read Less

We have sailed on Norwegian numerous times in the past. On this cruise we purchased a balcony and studio cabin. Embarkation took about an hour. Both rooms Had scratches on the walls and dings and dents in the walls. The studio actually had a pair of men’s dirty undergarments still in the closet. Mid cruise they removed and repoured are balcony floor for routine maintence that should have been done in drydock two weeks prior. This was done without notice and while we were on an excursion. This left our room and personal items full of dust. The food was below average and we couldn’t get refills even at the speciality restaurants. The cruise was far from relaxing due to music blaring in all areas from the manhattan room to the customer service desk. If you wanted to attend shows you had to pay to enter. This was a first for us. Entertainment used to be free with NCL. Overall this was a let down and Norwegian could do much better. We will be looking elsewhere in the future for our cruises. Read Less

We chose Norwegian Getaway for its Baltic itinerary in July because we wanted to bring our children and grandchildren (6 of us altogether) to a cool place for summer vacation, away from the sultry weather in Taiwan, visiting such historic and scenic cities like Copenhagen, Berlin, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallinn and Stockholm. We derived great pleasure from this itinerary. Furthermore, the ship is very new equipped with excellent facilities and provides tasty food with great varieties. (The free-style dining was especially convenient for us, not restricting us to one or two restaurants.) The entertainments such as the Soul quartet and the Latin dance were very enjoyable. My grandchildren had a lot of fun climbing the wood framework and playing basketball on top the ship.The crew were friendly and helpful, always wearing a smile on their faces. All in all, we had a great time onboard the ship and also during our shore excursions. Read Less

My family and I sailed on the Norwegian Gateaway on June 12, 2017 for a cruise in the Baltic I wanted to book this trip on Holland American but my daughter convinced otherwise. HUGE MISTAKE !! For starters this ship is very large (it carries nearly 4,000 passengers) and as a result it took a considerable amount of time to return to the ship after shore excursions. Then, we could not get into Warnermunde in Germany as scheduled and had to wait in the open ocean for a day and a half due to weather conditions that would not allow the ship to enter the harbor (smaller ships from other cruise lines did not have this problem). As we docked in Warnermunde a day late we missed our tour there to Berlin already booked. Having wasted a whole day at sea due to the weather you would assume the cruise line would somehow compensate the passengers for this big inconvenience by maybe offering free drinks or at least provide some extra entertainment and/or activities. FORGET IT, Instead they had lots of stupid game shows. The most boring day ever on a cruise. And to make things even worst, then we skipped the port of Tallin. On board the ship no night life they only had two large scale entertainment or shows, one pretty good and the other one mediocre at best. This for a 9 day cruise. At the main dining area located on the twelve (12) floor the food was terrible and the quality as poor as some of the buffets you may expect to find at a low end restaurant anywhere in the world. The food at my high school cafeteria was 100% better than this food. At the restaurants it was decent but not great. Additionally, they do not have a dedicated area for disabled people in the cafeteria for a ship carrying so many passengers, so if you are disabled be prepared to spend lots of time circling around until you find a place to eat. To completely ruin our vacation in Sweden Norwegian changed the port from Stockholm to Nynashamn, a small fishing village, more than an hour driving time to Stockholm meaning than between disembarking, travelling to and from Stockholm and boarding back the ship about three and a half hours were lost leaving you the poor passenger very little time to explore this beautiful city with so many attractions. And guess what ? this company that has a complete disregard for its guests will charge you $15.00 per person to transfer you from the ship to Stockholm and back to the port. Norwegian is by far the most unprofessional cruise company you will ever come in contact with. This trip was the biggest disappointment I ever encountered on a vacation. I strongly suggest you read all reviews about NCL and to explore other cruise lines if you plan to have a stress free cruise vacation. I will never ever get back on a Norwegian cruise again. And if you contact the Guest Relations department to complaint you will receive a form letter informing you "that under the terms and conditions of our Guest Ticket Contract, Norwegian Cruise Line in its sole discretion may cancel, postpone or delay any port of call without prior notification." They will make absolutely NO EFFORT to accommodate you if any part of your vacation is ruined by NCL. Good luck if you take a chance on Norwegian. Read Less

We chose this cruise as my family was a regular on Royal Carribean. They never take any other cruiseline due to the points. But they should try other Cruiselines too as I have. Royal Carribean has become a huge disappointment and I never plan to waste my money and more importantly my time on the Cruise Line ever. If you are free and have nothing other to do with your time and money they take this Cruise Line. Very pathetic quality of food and entertainment. It is only good for the ignorant. Don't expect them to go out of the way for you forget the basics. Same type of shows every day. They don't plan the stops carefully. We ended up at one of the ports on a national holiday which made that stop useless. They definitely need to step up the training on their staff. Specially the speed and food quality in the main dining rooms. Read Less

The reception desk clerk was rude when we complained about the cabin during embarkation,she stated that it's only for sleeping and the other clerk said that's what you paid for, $5,300 including taxes for an inside quad cabin with 3 beds only and unable to put our luggages under the bed. They're going to put a cot in between the 2 beds to make us no space to move around,as they applied that they were approved by the American federation safety regulation. We waited for 6 hours for them to show us another quad room, we we're stressed already from flying in and then from arguing with the clerk. No comfort at all except for our cabin housekeeper that was very good and accommodating. The food at Versailles was no extraordinary and sometimes the service was sloppy since they tend to forget stuff and menu was redundant and you'll have to pay extra $ for a rib eye steak or lobster. The Aqua dining area was so ordinary looking liked a cafeteria dining area. We had to sucked up for 9 days for the comfort of what we paid for. Breakfast buffet was the same menu daily. I've been a cruiser 15x that me and my friends will never sail Norwegian cruise line again. Public toilets wouldn't flushed and disgusting. The only consolation was their very good entertainment and the shore excursions. You can't even use the lap pool for free, had to pay. Read Less

First, It was very disappointing to find out before my cruise that the price of my cabin was lower that what I paid for more than 800 US dollars plus extras like the wine package. Customer service just gave me an upgrade to a cabin with bigger window. :-( The food was not extraordinary at all as other had commented for this ship, in fact sometimes the food was better (or looked better) at the Market Café Buffet that in the Versailles Main Dinning Room. It is said that the O'Sheehan's Bar a& Grill restaurant was always open but in fact there were times, around 11am and 5pm, that we were told the kitchen was changing shift and it was going to be close for 30min. We even waited more that that in some occasion and not drinks were even offered. One friend took the liberty to ask a waiter for a cup a coffee and he was rude replying that we had to wait for few minutes. So, it is a lie that it is always open. The two slides in the main swimming pool were not functioning, we were told they were broken and they never work in the 9 days of our cruise. I wonder how a simple thing can not be fix by the magnitude of the ship, but later there was a mechanical problem with the ship, so I guess this talks by itself of the "maintenance on the ship" . The ship suffered a mechanical problem at the Stockholm port that delayed its departure for more than 8 hours, we were talk that the arrival time to the Copenhagen port was going to be 3pm the next day but at the end we docked around 5pm. Due to this a lot of people lost flights, excursions, etc. It was a complete chaos the day at sea that you can even enjoy it. By the time we reached the Copenhagen port (5pm), it was a completely chaos, lack of organization and communication. The captain never gave any announcement anymore, not even when we docked at Copenhagen. The staff was given misdirection and people were angry, mad and frustrated with their service. In my case, due to this delay, my own excursion in Copenhagen was missed and the NCL company of course does not cover this, neither rushing into the airport for my flight and the expensive cab due to the high demand. In my opinion, this company/cruise/ship does not deserve to be sailed again, there were too many negative things than positive so i would not sail with this company in a future neither i would recommend it. Read Less

Over the past 12 months, this was our third cruise with NCL. Although the itinerary and destinations were great, the service onboard was terrible. At the end of our journey, the ship experienced "technical difficulties with the engine" while docked in Stockholm. We were then informed that our ship would arrive late in Copenhagen (10 hours behind schedule) on July 4th. As a result we missed our flight to Canada, no support was offered from NCL staff in regards to booking or indemnities. We are hopeful that our travel insurance will cover part of the 4100$ my husband and I had to spend to return home. NCL offered up to 250$ for a one night stay in Copenhagen and up to 300$ for flight change fees. Due to a shortage in rooms available in Copenhagen, we had to sleep 4 people in one bedroom with 2 twin beds at 370$ a night! On top of that, the only flight that could bring us home to Canada before the following weekend was through Ataturk Istanbul (only 4 days after the attack). Nonetheless we understand that unplanned event like these happen but the way it was mismanaged by NCL is what disappoints us the most. During our last 2 sea days, we felt anxious, stressed and helpless with our situation and it ruined an otherwise great vacation. The staff was in no way compassionate or good communicators. Good costumer service is always expected from travelers, NCL (Star) was not able to deliver that. Ship is functional and has a mix of dated rooms/décor and redone areas. Not luxurious or anything but good for the price. Food/dining was okay. I would definitely recommend a cruise on the Baltic Sea but with another company! We will continue cruising but are done with NCL for now. Read Less

We chose this cruise as we had been on the same cruise and ship a couple of years ago, and having had our first child, and first grandson for both sets of grandparents, we wanted to celebrate by doing a family cruise. The Garden Villa is unique in providing a suite with 3 bedrooms, and was ideal for this purpose. The itinerary is really good, especially the stops in St Petersburg and Tallinn. Unfortunately, 2 problems arose: Firstly, we booked and paid for the premium drinks and dine around package but these were not provided, and we are having to take legal action to recover the money paid. Secondly, and the reason why I would advise anyone who reads this not to travel with NCL, is that the ship broke down in Stockholm and was around 10 hours late back to Copenhagen, which unfortunately meant we were to miss our flights. This should not have been a problem, but NCL's solution was to provide customers with an hours 'free' internet access in the middle of the Baltic with no connectivity. They provided no assistance in rescheduling flights, and most alarmingly, despite knowing there was no accommodation available in Copenhagen due to a Jazz festival, and no flights out that night, thought it quite reasonable to dump a family with a 6 mth old baby on the dock side with nowhere to stay and no means of getting home. There were others worse off - people whose medication had run out, a lady in a wheel chair on oxygen who had collapsed due to the stress etc (they offered her a taxi to the airport for a price of $120, and suggested she slept on a bench in the airport until her rescheduled flight 2 days later). NCL refused to acknowledge our complaints or concerns, and it took 4 months to get most of the out of pocket expenses and service charges refunded (despite a promise of 2 weeks), and took repeated letters and emails. This was to be a cruise of a lifetime for our new family, but is now one that I can't even bring myself to look at photos from as the whole experience was so stressful and unpleasant. NCL could have rearranged flights and accommodation for its passengers given it is a global travel company with land based offices, but instead treated passengers with contempt. You may be lucky and have a cruise without problems, but do you really want to risk travelling with NCL when this is how it treats you? Read Less

My wife and I chose this cruise based on Holland America's reputation for excellence and because of the ports we would be visiting and the excursions available. We explored Copenhagen prior to embarking and particularly enjoyed Tivoli Gardens. Both embarkation and disembarkation were handled very smoothly. Flex dining in the Vista Restaurant was well done at all meals. Our balcony room overlooked the stern of the ship. Upon our arrival we noticed the toilet would not flush; the lighting in the bedside table lamps was poor; the balcony chairs and ottomans were covered in soot; the balcony was very rusty and also had mould. The toilet was supposedly fixed during our lifeboat drill on the first day. However nine days later due to run-on the bathroom floor was flooded at 3:00 A.M. Ten days after leaving port and although the issues had been reported, the toilet continued to run-on and the temperature in the shower fluctuated between hot and cold. Over the next three days the wake-up call service was inoperable; the toilet continued to run-on and although requested we did not receive our wake-up call. Our thirteenth day brought a notice that the balconies were being flushed to keep them in pristine condition. This was laughable and I reported to the front desk that our balcony had rust; our wooden rail was down to bare wood, and there was soot everywhere. On the fourteenth day during the night the toilet overflowed again. Finally again, a plumber arrived who guaranteed us he had fixed the toilet. The same day the wooden rail was replaced and the balcony painted. Over the next few days we were charged for a bottle of water we had not consumed; breakfast was delivered half an hour early and prior to our wake-up call. On our second last night while leaving Newcastle upon Tyne the door between our balconies blew open and was banging in high winds. It was re-attached the next afternoon. Read Less

Is all the staff outsourced? After our 20 hour traveling to Copenhagen to board the ship we found our stateroom dirty and disgusting. Calling the Stuart who came with the person responsible for cleaning the room I pointed out the obvious spills on the carpet, dust and wall smudges from the previous guest who apparently had sever gel on his/her head while leaning against the wall in the bed. The sofa in the room was so dirty we asked for towels to cover it. The curtain was torn, The bathroom smelled and again dirty. Do they REALLY clean the room when new guests arrive? We were asked to leave the room while it was cleaned! long story short, we placed towels on the sofa a purchased slippers to use while we were in the room. While the staff is very pleasant and certainly try to accommodate I don't think they are trained in their specific jobs and specifically cleanliness. They, when asked, are on a 8 month contract and it seems even the department heads or Executive Staff. It seemed that there was really no NCL Executive Staff on board other than the Captain, they all seemed to be outsourced. SANITATION rules NOT applied. The guest even on the buffet line reached over two buffet items and then placed the tongs in the food bowl for the next guest and so on Yikes! When arriving back to the ship after shore excursion the person with the hand sanitize-rs was so timid, most of the guest ignored her. EXCURSIONS-purchased St. Petersburg Hermitage Museum Tour. We received the Hermitage ANEX Building NOT THE ACTUAL Hermitage Museum, the guide was great and very knowledgeable but at the end of the tour we all had to walk down 3 or 4 FLIGHTS of Stairs in the complete darkness - no light or flashlight - we all use our cell phones to get down. The City Tour - We were dropped off Their GIFT Shop - not in walking distance to anything just surrounded by street construction. On the way back we saw the main shopping street with cafes and shops and restaurants. Shame on them! FREE STYLE CRUISE - is really a buzz word stating that they do not have a "Captain Night" whereby you meet their Executive Team - because they did not exist - they were all outsourced. Considering the air expense, time it took to get there and cost of the cruise this was the most disappointing vacation we had ever been on. Read Less

I would like to share with you my recent cruise experience on Norwegian Star sailing from Copenhagen, on August 19th Traveling from San Francisco, Ca. approximately 20 hours on the road, I was more than anxious to go to our stateroom. My sister and I shared a cabin. After many many cruises, this is the first note of this sort that I have ever been compelled to write. Stateroom: Upon entering our stateroom I found it to be utterly dirty (not to mention extremely small). The carpet edge by the wall was covered with a white layer of dust encompassing the entire room – the carpet was dirty with very, very noticeable spills. The Coffee pot, TV Shelf etc. was covered with a very visible layer of dust. When one sits on the bed and places their head against the back mirror/wall a large grease stain from apparently a previous guest was there. The Formica walls & mirrors had various splashes and were not cleaned from previous guests. The small sofa in the room was so dirty that the Stewart stated that he would have it shampooed. The bathroom floor, shower door was unclean, specifically in the shower door track there was a layer of crud build up, the floor was sticky and the bathroom smelled. The black-out curtain had a large tear. My room was obviously not thoroughly cleaned for new guests arrival. Overall my room, as well as the corridors, smelled unclean. I called the Steward who arrived with the person responsible for cleaning the room and I pointed out the various dirt spots and dust. This put me in a very uncomfortable position. I apologized for having to do this and felt sorry for the gentleman that is responsible for cleaning the room. My sister and were asked to leave the stateroom and we were assured that he would clean and he stated that the sofa cushions would be cleaned. Leaving the stateroom after traveling for 20 hours is exactly not what we wanted to do. Outcome – we were stuck – I placed towels on the sofa during the duration of the cruise, purchased slippers to use while in the stateroom and hoped for the best. This is definitely a problem of training and supplying the appropriate tools and clearly defining the expectations and duties of the staff and supervisors. Hand Sanitizing, Restaurants While there were hand sanitizers available on the first day each hand sanitizers were approximately 4 – 5 feet from the door of the restaurant on either side and the guest just walked in without sanitizing their hands. Morning Breakfast Buffet area on the 12 floor, a young lady would appear with a hand sanitizing bottle well after the people were already in the restaurant, and not all doors were covered. This was the same in all the restaurants – mainly a hit and miss – but more of a miss. Some of the items on the buffet, especially the salad area, were 2 deep and one had to reach over the front items, and the tongs were placed/left in the food. The staff that wiped the Formica tables and chairs only used a dry cloth to wipe the crumbs, but syrup and food spills were well neatly smeared around. It clearly stated on the Drink Dispensers “Not to Fill Your Own Water Bottles” in English. Many guests and staff do not or could not read the sign or simply ignored it. A lot of the cruise passengers filled their water bottles from the water and juice dispensers without any sanitation concerns. The staff was either totally oblivious and/or too timid or unconcerned about saying anything. Shore Excursions: When entering the ship after shore excursions – the person waiting with the hand sanitizing bottle was so timid that most of the passengers just walked by without sanitizing their hands. The hand sanitizing situation hit or misses – mostly a miss. Outcome: My sister came down with flue Shore Excursion Tours The Hermitage (Annex): St. Petersburg - We purchased tickets to The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg 7:PM NOT the Hermitage Annex. We were sold the Hermitage Museum but received the “Hermitage Annex” tour we did not even see the actual Hermitage. Selling passengers tickets for walking tours that had extreme difficulty walking was uncomfortable for everyone else on the tour. At the end of the tour we had to walk down at least four flights of stairs (each flight was at least 15 stairs) in a completely dark hallway – no lights at all – we all took out our cell phones to light our way. St Petersburg - City Tour - We were taken to the “GIFT SHOP” instead of the main shopping district of St Petersburg. We were told that they would have coffee and refreshments for us; really!! That is why we took the tour for coffee in a gift shop!! Actually in the basement of gift shop there was a table with BURNT coffee served in a small plastic cup, the kind of cup that dentist use to rinse out your mouth. There was only street construction around and nothing else to see or do except go to gift shop. On the way back to the ship the bus passed the shopping district on the inland water-way with shops and cafes, the perfect place to go too bad we never saw that on the tour. Disappointed and sad. I know that my sister and I will never have the opportunity to go back to see the Hermitage Museum and St Petersburg I truly cant believe the level of outsourcing. Read Less

Very unorganized cruise Poor English speaking staffs Cabin carpet needs cleaning Charged water at restaurant Few choices of the food Poor entertainment activities for kids, only 1 ping pong tables and 3 football tennis tables Poor show arrangement Messed up excursion Worst disembark experience! Had to go back to port to pick up missing luggage. Unresponsive staffs!!! Costa --- first time and last time!   Read Less

We have previously cruised with Princess 31 days. We have chosen cruising over land tours due to travel traveling between destinations is done while we eat, dance, and sleep. This time I chose Oceania because of a special they were running: free airfare, free unlimited Saint Petersburg excursions, free internet, free gratuities, $100 shipboard credit and more. The Saint Petersburg excursions were available on line to view. We chose our excursions; savings about $1,200. Free internet I was not of value to me, but to my wife it would save her time trying to communicate with family; leave the computer at home and enjoy yourself. When I finally went to book, I thought I knew most of the costs or had a good idea what they were. Oceania in their flyers seemed to be upfront, but what I found were way too many hidden costs you cannot find out until after you book and then it is too late. It took many attempts to learn the location of the port of embarkation and disembarkation. Oceania was unable to provide any details as to how one might get to or from the ports. On Princess, they always provided a map and directions. Copenhagen identified the pier and from all indications it was within walking distance 100yds of public transportation. However, Oceania was unable to provide directions. What we found out was there was construction being done on the water front. Public transportation could get you close, but no cigar. We walked a good mile. In fact taxi cabs had difficult finding the pier. Oceania could easily have sent a map of the location and directions, but they did/would not. Free airfare I find out is not worth it. I do not live near a gateway city and therefor, I have to drive or fly. We decided if we flew we could leave a day earlier and spend a day in Copenhagen. This meant we could spend three days in Stockholm after the cruise. We called our travel agent, presented our dates and then waited for Oceania to give us their free flight info. By the time we got it, our air fair had gone up $46 each. Ok, not to bad, so I ok'd the flights. What we learned after landing in Copenhagen was that our bags never made it out of Chicago. We did not have seamless airline reservations, but a stinking voucher from Chicago to Amesterdam then to Copenhagen. We were not alone, there were well over 40 bags that did not reach the ship. $0 were delivered in Helsinki, day four and our two bags arrived in Tallinn as we were leaving port, our last day. In the end I could have purchased round trip tickets for two for $100 less than the cost of the Free Airfare from Oceania, plus $$175 air deviation fee each, plus $100 air increase fair each, plus $50 times two for bags plus the $296 round trip air to Chicago each. In simple terms if our not a gateway city, the free air fare most likely will not save you any money. To us it is worthless. We tried to buy clothes in the botique, but it was too small and as I guy I have more selection than they did. With so many missing bags, there were not enough clothes. Only one pair of pant's, $125 and it would need to be hemmed. Shirts started at $125. As for the food, Red Ginger did not go ever well at all. McDonald's would have been much better. As for the other three dinning venues, they were ok, but no better than we were experienced with on Princess. Breakfast was better on Oceania, only because they serve you, instead of people trying to serve themselves. You stand in a line, order what you want, it is cooked, served to you standing there. the Terrace Cafe was good. they served to order grill food fast. We had a problem with our wine. An unfinished bottled went missing, but they provided another bottle, though less full than what we had left the evening before. This is the first time a bottle on any cruise had gone missing. I had reserved our four nights at the "best" venues "Polo", "Jacques", "Red Ginger" and "Tuscana" online We like to share a table, but the online reservation would not allow me to select sharing without having the names/booking of those we wished to share with. One of the pleasures of dining on a cruise ship is meeting others from around the world. We found out upon boarding the ship we were setup not to share. It was too late to change our first venue, but the other three we were able to change to sharing. We found the veranda stateroom nice, same quality as on Princess. The tub was a nice touch. We found that we could never go to the shows because of meal times. On Oceania they begin a 9PM. They really need to start later at 9:30 o 9:45 so that those who eat, can go. I found a smaller ship was nice, not as much walking, but this small convenience was not worth the cost. We found the excursions nice, but very pricey. On Princess they always had maps of where the ship would be and a map of the surrounding area. Oceania only did this once and provided as we were going ashore. I booked all our excursions online. When I tried to make changes, the online website went down. On line there was a notices stating that Saint Petersburg Free Excursions would be adjusted for after final submission. A month after booking our excursions I got a bill for over $1,000 for Saint Petersburg Excursions that I thought were supposed to be free an unlimited. Free soda and water is not a selling point. I liked to have a coke when I came back, but there would only be one in the frig. I do not know why they could not have had four or even more. At disembarkation, we left from deck five. This required we walk down steps with luggage. Deck four had a ramp which would have made getting off the ship easier, safer and faster. In Summary, Oceania is 50% more expensive. The free airfare turned out to be a nightmare. Food was not nearly as good as I was expecting. I wasted my wife's seven vacation days. Read Less

We have been on many cruises, but never have I seen such horrible service and lack of quality and food!!! The buffet always had the longest lines for food for breakfast and lunch. It felt like a school lunchroom. They were always short of something, no more croissants for breakfast, or no more fries at lunch. When the workers would give out food it was a limited amount, like they were on a tight budget. The workers were completely incompetent and slow. The only good service we received was from our room steward, he was excellent! The first cabin we were in was directly underneath a bar which was very noisy night and day, so we asked to change our cabin. The girl who assisted us was very unpleasant, pretended to do us a huge favor by changing our cabin, no opologies, no upgrades, just a very nasty attitude. It is very obvious this ship is run by very poor management. We will not be sailing the NCL again!   Read Less

Big disappointment. While the ship itself was fine, the food was awful. Wine list surprisingly bad. So many corners were cut on the guest experience you wondered if management ever cruised on their own ships.Previous reviews were accurate. Bathrooms are small with leaky showers. Bring your own hair conditioner as you will only find liquid shampoo and liquid soap. Coffee drinkers beware, coffee at lunch and dinner is hard to get and is an extra charge. Cabin staff are invisible and do nothing to make your experience memorable. Pooled tips in this instance seems to have demotivated them. So many languages need to be spoken that there is very little time to get anything done. Shipboard activities as a consequence were paltry compared to other cruise lines. On deck the jumbo screen runs silent ads all day. Did they run out of entertainment content before I boarded? Forget having a midnight buffet, for the most part, food service ends at dinner. Maybe it's me, but I hate finding on my bill a charitable contribution I didn't agree to make. The accounting staff was surprising rude when I asked to have it taken off. If you need a wheelchair bring your own as you will wait a long time to get one of the ship's. I wouldn't waste my cruise vacation time on another trip on the Poesia. Read Less