Although the itinerary was a dream come true for me, the ship itself and its management had a lot to be desired! I know it’s was a repositioning longer cruise than usual, but the staff and management were so unprepared and disorganized constantly that we cannot recommend this ship! First, they ran out of a lot of staple type food items, like Iced Tea, Orange Juice, Lettuce bananas. Second, the venues were too small for the size of the ship. Every show was standing room only and that was only if you got in line AT LEAST one hour in advance of the show! Third: something happened that prevented us from being able to go to Portugal. We looked at it from our balconies but were never allowed to dock!!!! Fourth: They herded is like cattle everywhere!!!!! Line upon line for TWO plus hours each time we had to disembark or Renee the ship!!!! In Miami it was FOUR hours!!! Fifth: Shore excursions: NOT what was described in brochures or on line... drove three hours to spend two hours than given 15 minutes to shop when the brochure said 6 hours in that location! Also several times the excursion said meals included and they were NOT! Seventh: the Bahamas Private Island was a joke! It took FOUR hours to tender everyone off the ship only to have another ship there first and all the beach chairs taken before our ship arrived and again ran out of food and drink. Sixth: Dining room food was cafeteria quality and service was so slow it took three hours to dine. Apparently that was caused because immigration in Denmark did not allow several hundred crew members to renter the ship!!!!! Seventh: tithe rooms were the narrowest I’ve ever had on any cruise line ever! NOW in all fairness, the specialty restaurants were mostly good ( except Cagney served a mushy lobster in shell) Le Bistro is outstanding, Ocean Blue is also! The buffet food was unique and very good with lots of specialty options, Peking Duck, Prime Rib and A Cheese selection that was gourmet! The ship was pristine and immaculately clean in all areas! The stewards and wait staff were very friendly and professional. If I had to do it all over, I would pay the extra for The Haven as their area and service was fantastic. They had use of private pools and spa, concierge service and never had to wait in line for anything! If I had known the difference in the service on that cruise, I would have booked The Haven!!!! Read Less

Reposition back to home state. Price was reasonable. Had mini suite, size good, bathroom wonderful, high marks on this. Food in specialty restaurant was very good, main din8ng room food average, nothing’s special. Buffet had wide assortment, breakfast really good, as well as some lunch entrees. Activities were always offered but spaces to participate or view was limited for size of ship and number of passengers. Lounges were always packed or you could not get in even going 20 minutes early. Million dollar quartet was excellent, rest of shows take or leave. All staff was excellent and friendly, savor restaurant staff outstanding. Tours very pricey, don’t do Van Gooh Musuem disappoint, not musuem but tour! Just dropped you off and told to meet in 30 minutes where we had more time to walk the narrow streets but tour guide did not seem interested . Blarney Castle was also surprise. The castle in in rubbles and you can go in, the only thing you can do is wait in line for about an hour to climb the 100 plus stair to try to kiss Blarney Stone. Read Less

First the positives: excellent entertainment- if you can get a seat to participate Great staterooms Our room steward Narendra was fabulous Cirque Dreams and Steam was amazing Burn the floor dancers show was fabulous The rope course was great and so were the attendants The water slides were fun The grilled shrimp in the garden cafe was excellent consistently Ports of Rotterdam, Southampton, LeHavre, Portland, Cobh and Bermuda were great. The drawbacks: -Too small Cabin deck - one person would have to get up to allow the other to get into the second chair. A book and one glass could fit on the outside table. -TERRIBLE dining service. Even Cagney’s their very expensive steak house the steaks were inconsistent and the side dish came long after your steak and the wine delivered twice was wrong. Mostly the dining staff were disinterested, the meal timing was bad and more then not there were long waits between courses. -The brand new rock and roll venue Syd Norman’s was probably the most popular and grossly undersized for the interest. This bar very small and was full more then 1-2 hr before the band went on stage holding 1/5 of the persons who attempted to attend. -Popular events were held in the atrium instead of the theater. This area also was very small holding a very limited number of people. -Very disappointing not to be able to dock in Azores but this was a weather issue. -What was inexcusably the worst planned shore event was Great Stirrup Cay - if you didn’t pay for a shore excursion you had to sign up for a tender after those with an excursion we’re given priority. The ships staff appeared to make no attempt to monitor who signed up for which tender. Our tender number 10 left almost two hours late - at almost 2 pm getting us to the island when all the food venues closed at 2 pm. First excuse was “it took a long to get people on and off tenders” the second excuse was “the swells were slowing down the tenders” and the third and finally more honest was “we are sharing the 3 tenders with another ship”. This was exceptionally poorly done and what could have been a 4 hr day on the island was reduced to 2 hungry hours and 1 hour if that in line to get back in a tender. The island does not have the capacity for 2 large ships as we experienced. -excuses aplenty on this ship and they kept morphing. -Miami our first domestic port- everyone had to go thru customs. We disembarked to end our cruise here. We received a typed letter from NCL to congregate in an area at 7-7:15 am to depart FIRST as a group. The night before customer service indicated this would be at 7:30 am and we made travel arrangements accordingly. After what looked to be about 300-500 passengers and their luggage arrived we were told we would be LAST to depart! This was via elevators- for staff - some not working into the port where we stood for an hour in line on a hot stuffy gangway. We finally got to the curb at 10 am long after travel planned. This was our 4th Atlantic crossing. Weather is an expected issue. NCL’s inability to handle a crowd of 3600+ passengers was not expected. Yes this ship can sleep that many but it cannot seat in entertainment venues, feed or disembark in a timely manner this many. Every member of our party contracted a respiratory illness at one time or another and hacking coughing and I’ll appearing persons could be seen and heard throughout the ship. I will not travel a Norwegian ship again. No matter how nice and talented the ships captain is. I recommend Celebrity or Holland or Disney for Atlantic crossings. All were smaller ships with consistently fine service. Read Less

First, read the Danforth family review. No need for me to repeat everything there. It is ALL correct - even a bit mild. Overall, organization was lacking. Processes were disorganized; we heard the word "cluster" quite a few times. The biggest surprise (of many) was the churlish attitude of most of the staff. Few smiles, uncaring (even after pouring coffee on my wife's lap!), angry that we asked for a new table when the tablecloth was soaked with said coffee. Excursion staff - not helpful and clueless (multiple different or non-answers to the same questions). Our cabin steward, Arnold, was excellent, though. The rumor mill had it that our crew was stripped in Southampton to staff the new ship being launched the following week. Not sure if it was true, but many of the staff acted like they had no previous experience with what they were supposed to be doing. The tendering at Stirrup Cay was a clown show. Compared to our last visit with another cruise line, when the lines got too long, they launched some lifeboats and got the people moved quickly. Clearly Stirrup Cay can not handle two ships at once, with only two tenders and one small auxiliary (used to move crew and food service). When the tendering fell 90-120 minutes behind schedule, no adjustments to food service were made. Passengers simply got disgusted and skipped that "experience." Excursions. Terrible. London - 2.5 hours by bus, 3 hours in London, 2.5 hours back. Waste of time from Southhampton. Paris - 3 hours by bus, 3 hours in Paris (along with a terrible guide whose English was VERY weak and who knew nothing about Paris, and who got flustered with any question she was asked). The "port briefings" provided no information about the port; they were simply an effort to sell excursions. Questions about non-excursion topics were not answered. (NB, Holland America does a MUCH better job in this arena). Not mentioned was the appalling "out of food" situation when we missed the port stop in the Azores. Ships missing that stop is not uncommon - some lines report as much as 60% of the time they are unable to get in. SO - the ship should be prepared for not being able to re-supply in the Azores. But no - after that, we were out of watermelon, bananas, lettuce, mushrooms, orange juice, iced tea, lemonade (the only FREE drinks available), milk of any sort - for the next 7 days. Even after we landed in Miami (plenty of time to place a grocery order), there was STILL no orange juice available (doesn't orange juice come from Florida?). Some dining staff told us that they "couldn't find it" in the load they took on in Miami. Absolutely ridiculous. In general, the food was mediocre - Buffet food overcooked, over-spiced (and not labelled as such), over-curried, over-salted. Restaurant food cold by the time it got to you. Typically took 75-90 minutes to get breakfast in either the TASTE or SAVOR restaurants, with courses arriving out of order. The first day - lunch - in a sit-down restaurant. Waiter brings the menu, later comes back to take our order. 25 minutes later, no food. The waiter returns and tells us that we had been provided the wrong menu and we'd have to re-order. OK, can we have the correct menu? Sorry sir, we have to wait for them to be printed! We attended a couple of extra charge dinner-shows (Cirque, Dreams, and Steam, and the "Wine school." After both, we were, via the PA system, unceremoniously told to leave immediately, even though we had not had the opportunity to finish our meal, dessert, and drink our wine. Then, the immigration situation in Miami. 4-5 hours to unload and get everybody checked, THEN 4-5 hours to get back on board. Fuss at passengers about being back in plenty of time, THEN make them stand around while the crew flounders. Disorganized, no staff help (there were two security guards from the terminal - nobody else to help). The captain blamed it on the "local authorities" - who did the same thing that they always do. The CBP staff had left for the day, and we were still standing outside. Miami is the USA headquarters for Norwegian, and their offices are right down the street. If you are going to have, or are having, a disaster (which this process was), get your office staff out from behind their desks, go to the terminal, bring (or buy) some coolers, ice, and bottled water, and help the customers. People were sick, exhausted, overheated (the outside sidewalks have no protection from the sun), Really ANGRY, there were no medical staff present, no cold water, etc., etc. On another occasion, myself and one other gent were lifting weights in the fitness center. A female member of the Spa staff entered the room and literally screamed at us that we must stop dropping weights. NOBODY had dropped any weights for the time I was there - about 20 minutes. She ungraciously informed us that her customers downstairs were complaining, and if they complained she was "working for free." Totally inappropriate. I complained to the fitness staff, whose response was, "We all know that she is crazy." The spa, despite paying a lot EXTRA for it, was almost always out of robes. Not a real problem for me, but the ladies were quite unhappy about the situation. My last noteworthy comment involves my wife's effort to get a glass of tomato juice on the last morning (no orange, remember - even though we had just taken on stores in Miami). She went to the bar where the mimosas and bloody Mary are made. Guess what? Can't find tomato juice! Once located, can't find can opener! Once located, didn't know how to operate it (you have to make two holes, one to pour and one for makeup air to enter). 25 minutes to get a glass of tomato juice, at a bar that specializes in Bloody Mary and Mimosa. Unreal! In general, the public facilities (restaurants, entertainment venues, even the buffet dining area) are not big enough for the number of people aboard the ship. Particularly a problem when the weather is cold and the outdoor pool/sunning areas can't be used. We suspect that the overcrowding of entertainment and dining venues, as well as the extensive queuing (passports, embarking, disembarking) contributed to the rampant spread of upper respiratory infections throughout the passengers. Almost everybody was sick! My background is in part in the US Navy. If a Navy ship had so badly failed in its core mission, the boss would have been waiting at the pier, the captain would have been relieved and replaced on the spot, along with the hotel "general manager" (who was so conspicuously absent), the restaurant managers, and the person responsible for purchasing and warehousing food. Nope, blame it on the local authorities, ruin another whole day for the passengers, and move on. Sincere-sounding apologies don't make it acceptable. It will require a lot of convincing before I will do another cruise on this line. Read Less

We chose this trip because of it's itinerary. My wife wanted to see the Eiffel Tower and the Arch of Triumph in Paris, France. Also, she wanted to visit London and see Buckingham Palace. London has so many historical and majestic sites. Big Ben was under renovations. The House of Commons and Parliment had many protestors for and against Brexit. Westminster Abbey is very beautiful. Buckingham Palace is a very eloquent structure to see. The Eiffel Tower was erected by Gustave Eiffel to commenorate the centennial of the French Revolution in 1889. He also built the metal framework of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. The Arch of Triumph is a hugh monument. Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England, two miles west of Amesbury. It consists of a ring of standing stones, each around 13 feet high, seven feet wide, and weighing around 25 tons. How it was built no one really knows. We had the opportunity to dine in several Specialty Dining resturants which was a nice treat. It was a pleasure to dine there. We saw several great shows. There was plenty of activities and entertainment around the ship. The ship was recently renovated so everything looked new. We had a balcony cabin which was very nice. The staff was very helpful. We socialized with several other passengers on tours and during the many activities on the ship. We had a wonderful time and my wife had an opportunity to see some of the places that she always wanted to visit. Read Less

Chose this cruise because of its itinerary and that the "at sea" portion would be no more than 4 days at a time. Would not accept on-line reservations for complimentary dining rooms. A Maitre'D and Restaurant Hostess were wonderful in helping us with that problem. The tendering process for Great Stirrup Cay was a mess mainly as a result of the Cruise Next Manager who was tasked with informing Latitude members of the process. So was the passport inspection in Miami with some passengers being held hostage in the terminal for up to 5 hours. Although this was blamed on the U.S. Border Service, NCL should have known about the process, asked for changes or at least informed the passengers. Dining service in the main dining rooms was disorganized. Staff needed floor plans of the room to seat people. Food was brought to the wrong tables and orders misunderstood or misinterpreted by the galley. Air Canada deprived my spouse of her luggage till day 7 into the cruise but we were greatly assisted with this distressing matter by Guest Services staff. Beyond the ship's control was the stormy weather for days in the North/Mid Atlantic and the ship's inability to dock in the Azores due to wave conditions and Harbour Master blunder. Individually, there were some outstandingly helpful staff members. Captain was informative and truthful in his daily comments and for his part apologized for the various things that went wrong. Cruise directors wear on us. This one was no exception...too off the wall! Passengers were generally compatible and courteous with few children onboard.[ Read Less

I've cruised on Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and NCL. I've cruised 11 times. This is the most mediocre cruise line I've been on. Let me tell you why... Poor Customer Service at every level - the biggest problem with NCL is their lack of interest in their "staff culture". There is no one setting an example for how to treat customers. On most cruises I've been on, I felt special and pampered. Not on NCL. After a 19day cruise, my cabin steward never introduced himself and I never figured out who he was. Once I opened my door at 8:50pm and one of the stewards was with his cart outside my door. I figured this was probably my guy. I asked him for a bucket of ice. I've done this on every cruise I've ever been on. He said he couldn't get it as he was off but I could call room service to bring it. In all restaurants, including the specialty restaurants like Cagney's, service was SLOW. I am unable to say whether it was because they were understaffed or what the problem was. There is an annoying casualness to the wait staff approach, as if I was an afterthought, perhaps even an inconvenience. In the dining room "taste" I asked for a glass of club soda and was told, "I will bring it when I have time." Staff constantly stepped in front of me or cut me off when I was walking places. The Captain of the ship even stated he didn't want to hear complaints about the hotel staff at a Q & A which tells me that this is a systemic problem, a culture of "that's not my job." O'Sheehans was the same with slow service and lack of attention to customers. There were few exceptions to this mediocrity. The staff at the Starbucks store were excellent. I have no idea if they work for Starbucks or for NCL but they were friendly, remembered my orders, and made me feel like their special customer. Food: in the dining rooms (Taste, Savour and Tropicana), the food was average. My husband thought the wine selection was ok. I was disappointed in the food at Cagney's. I remembered that when I was on NCL one other time, Cagney's was consistently excellent and I thought I could just dine there and be happy. Not so this time. My favorite steak, Ribeye, was not tender or flavorful. I did have a good Filet twice. Sides were so so. Food not brought out together...sides much later than steak. Desserts were good. Jimmy Buffet's was a letdown on several occasions. On a good day, food was average. But there were several times when I just gave up. The buffet was as expected. The dinner with the Cirque show was average with overcooked sirloin but the food was served hot. Terrible dessert! Room service charges $7.95 per delivery. I think that's service charge should be eliminated. Entertainment: NCL did better with this. My favorite was the house band at Syd Norman' Pour house. Excellent, engaging, talented. Lots of fun. The venue was too small. The Cirque show was excellent. A steampunk version of a Cirque du Soleil and really fun to watch. So glad we went to this. We also enjoyed the Burn the Floor dance group very much. Good choreography especially given the stage was small. The magician gave me the creeps. Ship condition: very good. It was kept clean and is beautiful. Cabin: my biggest problem was the steward who forgot to bring us beach towels (these were to be provided to all guests), forgot to bring a new version of a bulletin that was delivered to all guests, didn't get around to cleaning our room, had to leave notes for him to remove used glasses/plates. Ports: we never take the cruise line excursions and this cruise was no exception. I enjoyed the ports quite a lot. The exceptions was the Bahamas where we had to tender in to the island. We were asked to sign up for a tender time but they were 2 hours late. I spent much of my day sitting in the theatre waiting for a tender and then when I did get to the island, the lunch stands were closing up!! Lines very long. Shopping was just plain awful. A bunch of junk. A waste of a day. If you like a place to read and be quiet, this is not a good ship. There just aren't enough places to "hang out". Overall, this cruise line blew it. I will never cruise on NCL again. They need a complete revamping of their customer service culture. What a dismal cruise experience. Read Less

We chose this cruise because we had done an LA to Hawaii 15 day on Princess and wanted to do a transatlantic. The ship is beautiful but it does lack places just to relax. I Think the ship is fine for a Caribbean itinerary but Norwegian did not understand that a longer cruise in the fall with older clientele is different. Prior to the cruise we spent 4 days in Iceland and 5 days in Copenhagen. Embarkation and disembarkation were smooth. We had balcony cabin 13254 which was very nice, we were provided with a shower chair and a sharps container. Our Steward, Mark Anthony was top notch. We dined at Wasabi, which could use more variety. Cucina was good but not fabulous, staff was surly. Tepanyaki was really good but our preparer was lack luster, part of that experience is the chef putting on a show but our chef was meh! One restaurant we really liked was Shanghai Noodle. We also enjoyed the Tropicana and Savor, we experienced some great and some haphazard service. And then comes the buffet... very disorganized. Plates on both sides of a station so people come from both directions. Items were not placed logically, for example nuts were near the scrambled eggs when they should have been near the oatmeal. It was not clear why certain foods were placed together. Foods were often cold. It was apparent the buffet food was left over from prior restaurant meals. We did enjoy the ice creme. The two main shows, Burn the Floor and Million Dollar Quartet were very nice. Our first shore excursion was in Rotterdam going to the Kinderdyk and that excursion was fine, we enjoyed it greatly. Our second shore excursion was at Portland, UK going to Bath. We were late getting into port so our excursion was greatly abbreviated, 2 hours to Bath, 2 hours back with 40-45 minutes to see a world UNESCO site that normally takes 2-3 hours to tour. We should have been given the option to cancel the tour without penalty. Our last excursion was in Corb, Ireland going to Kinsale, again the tour was cut short so we had to rush to see anything. We unfortunately had to skip the Azores due to weather. Right after Bermuda my husband and I both got sick with upper respiratory illness. The ship sells Tylenol but no cold or cough medication, the medical staff charge a minimum of 150.00 to see a patient plus medication. One woman I met was charged 3,000.00 to be seen for pneumonia. Many people were sick, in addition to hand washing stations masks should have been provided. The illness kept us in our cabin for the most part ordering room service. Room service is really haphazard and you are lucky to get what you ordered, they are very prompt to bill you though and charge for juice and soft drinks even if you have a drinks package. Bahamas, Sharing a tender with the Norwegian Sun made visiting Great Stirrup Cay a nightmare I had about one hour on the island before I had to return to the ship. Our plan for Miami was to stay in our cabin and get well, however everyone had to leave the ship to go through passport check. We were off the ship by 9AM spent 2 minutes chatting about Oregon with customs and then were herded to the left of the xray machines with all of the other people in mobility scooters and wheelchairs. We were told "the elevators are broken" so that why we couldn't move on. We were then told "elevators aren't broken but we couldn't go up until ship was cleared." We saw non handicapped people going through the machines and were told "they can use the escalators". All of this was being spewed by port of Miami personnel acting as agents for Norwegian. After people started getting on the ship we went through xray and were again herded to the left of the room. After everyone else was on the ship a Norwegian supervisor came by and said use the elevators. I pointed out to another employee that people were waiting for wheelchairs and that there had not been any. We knew we had to wait until the ship was cleared but being lied to and given contradictory information really made people angry. Better communication should have happened. In general people were not told that there is nothing to see or do in the Port of Miami, one person paid 75.00 to go to WalMart. Better communication all around should had happened. Norwegian blamed the US Immigration people and took zero responsibility. Norwegian does not seem to understand the value of small perks, providing a bottle of water for excursions instead of offering it "for sale". Things like that go a long way in building customer loyalty. Norwegian is likely going to nickle and dime themselves out of business. Would we sail Norwegian again? We would have to think very hard before sailing Norwegian. Read Less

I have wanted to do a transatlantic crossing and this itinerary was outstanding. I traveled with two friends. We left home on Wednesday morning and arrived in Copenhagen around noon on Thursday after three flights and a sleepless night. Copenhagen is a great city to explore and I definitely recommend at least a couple of days to explore. We opted for the Hop on Hop Off bus which made it easy to get to the major attractions. This also included a harbor tour which was a different but equally enjoyable way to view the city. We took a taxi to the port. The embarkation area was already busy with a long line of eager passengers but the line continued to move. Luggage was loaded for delivery to the room and we were on the ship within 30 minutes. For the number of passengers we thought embarkation went well. The ship is huge. It looks like a building when you first encounter all 16 stories. Exploration of the public spaces quickly made me realize that there wasn't a lot of room for the 3700 people who boarded with me. My overall impression was that the space is cramped and closed in. There are very few locations to see outside when you are inside. There were no quiet spots when everybody was out and about. Remember that the only public space is located on decks 6,7,8,15 and 16. This includes all dining options, shops, a huge casino, bars, clubs, spa, gym, thermal spa, outdoor activity areas like ropes course and mini golf, and you soon begin to understand why space is so limited. It was the public space of a smaller ship with the rooms and passengers of a big ship. Many of the activities were held in the atrium which was not large enough or have adequate sound to overcome the noise from the atrium bar on the lower level or O'Sheehan's on the upper level. The clubs and lounges which had performers would fill early which resulted in people standing in line up to hour to secure a seat. Many people were turned away. After a while you stop trying unless you get there really early. The outdoor public spaces were very nice with the waterfront but for the majority of this cruise they were blocked off due to weather conditions. This ship does not have a promenade that circles the entire and I realized how much I missed this. The quality of the headliner Entertainment was outstanding with The Million Dollar Quartet and Burn the Floor. Unfortunately I heard people complain about not getting to see these because they had not made reservations beforehand. The theater is small for the number of passengers and the show was only offered a few times. If you are willing to pay extra then the Cirque Dreams show and the Wine Lovers musical were also excellent. We thought the meal at the Wine Lovers Musical was better than the meal for the Cirque show. Both are set menus so I would not recommend for picky eaters. The Staff and Crew were all very pleasant but seemed to be overworked. They never complained and were constantly on the move but meal services were extremely slow. Failure to allow 2 hours for a meal would result in missing entertainment or the desert course. Personalized service was not an option because they were so busy trying to keep up. I hated to even ask for a drink refill (which was not offered). Complimentary dining options included main dining in one of three restaurants (Tropicana is the largest with Taste and Savor being smaller), the buffet, or O'Sheehans. The noodle bar was always booked so I cannot comment on it although I would like to have tried it. Tropicana, Taste and Savor all serve the same menu. We learned to check if one seemed extremely busy because we could often get into another sooner. Since I have been cruising with NCL they had made and seem to be continuing to make cutbacks on the quality and variety of items offered on their menu. Breakfast is pretty much the same thing everyday with a few daily selections swapped out about every third day. While on an extended cruise I expected to see repeat menus but I did not expect to see the same one on back to back days or so often. The food was average-nothing really special. We prefer the more relaxed sit down instead of the hustle and bustle of the buffet but the menu did get old being so limited. The garden buffet seemed to have more variety if you didn't mind scavenging from station to station in search of what you wanted. The seating area also had the most glass windows for actually seeing outside. The view directly out of the rear dining area is beautiful and slightly less hectic. O'Sheehan's is good for a quicker meal or if you need a fast food fix. The spinach and artichoke dip is additive. NCL advertises open 24/7 so I was surprised to go down for breakfast at 5 only to find a plate of stall sandwiches and self serve coffee/hot water for tea. They did open for breakfast at 5:30. The fitness and spa area is very generous in size. Services are pricey, even with specials but everyone is very professional and do an excellent job. My overall memories from this trip are mixed with both positive and negative. It was a great itinerary. The length in port was often too short. We ran into some glitches that were out of anyone's control like two hurricanes which rocked the boat and cancelled a port. We also had some glitches which seemed to be created by NCL: long lines, extended waiting, being herded around like cattle, a lack of activities, inadequate public spaces, poor planning, and a relentless and constant up-sale mentality that was tiresome. I have dubbed this a trip of Endurance because we endured a whole lot. We met some wonderful people who share our love of travel, chose to make the best of the situation and still managed to have an enjoyable time. There also seemed to be a large contingency of loud, obnoxious, complainers who were quick to find fault and managed to make everyone around them miserable. I did not lodge complaints on the ship but I will allow my travel dollars to speak for themselves. If this is the direction that NCL is going then I will be exploring other options. Some overall comments about the ports. While we arrived at the stated time, we were never close to being cleared so it seemed our days started late. It often felt like a hurry up and wait. There were times when NCL seemed to manage the large crowd efficiently but more often I saw a lot of people with limited mobility forced to cue up in long lines, stand on feet and ankles that looked swollen and painful, hurry to try and keep up with a group. I saw a woman almost knock down an older person so she could get the set at the front of the bus. There was also a lot of grumbling about passengers on NCL excursions being given priority. I know those excursions are more expensive but this is one of the reasons we chose to book mostly NCL tours. I consider the door to door service as part of the tour. If we chose to go independently we knew we would be exiting later and planned accordingly. Rotterdam-NCL Clogs, Windmills and Amsterdam The living museum is a controlled environment to see what life used to be like, its a beautiful area and we had a quick tour of Amsterdam and enough time to grab a quick lunch. South Hampton-NCL Panoramic London, it was a long day but we managed to hit many of the sites. We had a 1 hour stop with enough time to get lunch in a pub. La Harve-Paris, another long day but again we covered a lot of territory. We had 2 hours to explore a little on our own which also allowed time for lunch. Portland-Stonehenge-a beautiful drive through the country. The area was drizzly with rain and the wind is biting but definitely one to see. Cobh- Jamison Experience and City Tour of Cork, an interesting tour of how Whiskey is made, cork is not easy to see through bus windows, everything is very close to the street Azores- cancelled due to wind Bermuda- independent taxi tour, it is a beautiful island Great Stirrup Cay-explored on my own, if you are able to walk a little, you can find plenty of loungers away from the crowds Miami- city and harbor tour The tours were interesting especially if you like celebrity talk. This was certainly better than staying in the terminal while the ship was cleared Would I go again? Yes, I would take a Transatlantic Cruise. I do not have a desire to go on NCL's large ships if this is the format and if NCL continues to cutback more and charge extra for less then cruising with them will not be my first choice. Read Less

My husband and I are seasoned travelers but have only taken three cruises all with competitors (Carnival, Princess and Cunard) prior to booking this cruise. We were attracted to this cruise because of our desire to experience a transatlantic cruise, the specific itinerary and the fact that it debarked in New Orleans. Their “free style” sales pitch also seemed to resonate with our travel philosophy and so we booked our cruise in April, 2018. Unfortunately, our experiences both before and during this cruise made me question NCL's commitment to customer service. Pre-Cruise * Technical problems associated with setting up 'My NCL account” Two phone calls and one hour later technical support was finally able to establish the online account.. * Purchased a 4 dining package through 'My NCL account”; set up all reservations the same day; mysteriously 3 of the 4 were auto deleted except the Cirque Dreams perhaps because I had to attach my credit card to complete this particular reservation. Was told I must have done something wrong and would have to rebook the other 3 on the ship even though I had a copy of the "Payment Statement" generated at the time I had made one of the Le Bistro reservations. *Pre-purchased Thermal Spa passes which was one of the saving graces of our NCL cruise experience. * Problems with having my NCL's Shareholder Benefit posting to "My NCL account”.requiring multiple email and followup calls before begin resolved. During the cruise, I realized this is the attitude which permeates NCL's business model, no one is ever responsible for taking on an issue and ensuring that it is resolved; they simply dump it back on their guest. Internet We wanted to use the Group Chat functionality of their Mobile App so shortly after boarding I headed to the Internet Café area in the Atrium and stood in line to purchase. Niether the clerk nor the Manager could provide the cost of this product even though their website sited a one time flat fee of $9.95 per phone. Finally after an additional nearly 30 minutes wait the Manager confirmed that I was indeed correct. This was a nice feature which worked well. Dining * Long lines at complimentary dining options, ate at Taste and Savor for breakfast and lunch several times each time wait staff was incapable of providing ordered items without having to request multiple times before the correct food or drinks were served. Taste staff seemed to be even less capable than Savor staff. First breakfast eaten at Taste ordered Eggs Benedict which came with “complimentary” egg shells included! * Tropicana food was consistent and wait staff was much better. The efficiency of the dining room was amazing and all staff there should be acknowledged. * Compliments should also be given to Garden Café staff for quickly turning tables. * Also hostess, “Abby” at Le Bistro was outstanding and very easy to work with; any request made of her was always accommodated and she always greeted us warmly anywhere she saw us on the ship. * As others have noted during our crossing, the ship ran out of many food items, not to be considered luxury items. Premium Beverage Package * We selected the Premium Beverage Package and for the most part were pleased with this selection except for the very limited selection of wines which were offered with this option. * Also, the wine list consisted of wines which were not even available on the cruise! Entertainment * Atrium seating is so limited to make it next to impossible to enjoy anything. * To say the entertainment provided by Cruise Director, Vincent and his staff was “cheesy” is to be quite generous. * The requirement to “reserve” seats at most “major” talent performances is also laughable. In order to get a good seat one must get in line one hour prior to a performance as there are really no “reserved seats” instead just a “reserved number of people”. That said, Burn the Floor and Million Dollar Quartet were very enjoyable performances. Guest Services * When I visited with the Guest Services’ staff about an issue I hoped could be resolved in Bermuda, I was told that we weren’t going to Bermuda on this cruise. I inquired if the itinerary had changed and was told “no, we were never scheduled to go to Bermuda.” I had to explain to the Guest Services agent that Royal Naval Dockyard was indeed located in the country of Bermuda just as stated in their itinerary. *On day 10 of the cruise we missed our planned stop at Ponta Delgada due to weather. (Our Captain and his staff were extremely capable and took good care of the ship and all souls onboard.) When I inquired at Guest Services if the port fees would be reimbursed to us as a credit to our credit card or added as an onboard credit, I was advised they did not know if any reimbursement would be issued and it was something “headquarters” was looking into but we would be informed. At no time were we advised, but out of the blue sure enough two small non-refundable onboard credits appeared on our account without any explanation. * The interactive TV account information overview and detailed statement are not well presented and confusing, I had to have a calculator in order to ascertain the correctness of the statement detail. Lines, lines and more lines * English Immigration officials: someone on the Hotel Manager’s staff decided all the guests would be called by Deck and would be corralled into the inside seating area of La Cucina to have our “face to face meeting with English Immigration”. While in line, many prior Latitude guests complained saying on previous cruises this was done in the main dining room which because of its size allowed guests to simply queue through the dining room with no standing endlessly in line. * All aboard at Portland, England was a nightmare of standing in an endless line in the cold and rain outside the cruise terminal for over an hour. * Our port stop at Great Stirrup Cay was a joke. First, Cruise Director, Vincent announced that guests had to book a tender reservation. Cruise Director Vincent said this reservation could be done on “your interactive TV”; in fact there was no ability to do so. Also NCL logistics staff decided to allow the "Sun" to also dock the same day and time. There were 2 tenders to transport the nearly 6400 guests from these two ships! By the time we arrived at 1 p.m. on the island all we could do was run to the buffet line before it closed it at 2 p.m. then scramble to the edge of the island and grab a lounge chair to catch a few rays of sun before we had to make our way back to re-board a tender. * Our last port stop, Miami: We had gotten wind that nearly 200 Florida residents decided they were going to debark in Miami instead of proceeding to New Orleans. In fact the number ended up being even greater. As this was our first U.S. port entrance, everyone crew and guest had to present themselves to CBP staff. In the Hotel Manager’s infinite wisdom, guests were only allowed to present themselves when their deck was called. We did not clear Immigration until 11 a.m. with an all aboard time of 1:30 p.m. The ship agent and the Hotel Manager should have met with the CBP chief to establish a better way to accomplish the task. Because the all aboard time in Miami was 1:30 p.m. we returned to the terminal at 12:45 p.m. only to stand in line outside in the terminal in excess of a half hour in the heat. Once inside the terminal we learned that the last of the guests had not been processed by CBP until after 1 p.m. but boarding had still not been announced. There was no communication with the guests who were sitting and standing everywhere including on the floor and the stairs we were simply handed a boarding group number. When it was time to board, the first ones called were Haven guests followed by Platinum and Platinum Plus guests. The roar of disgust from those holding Group 1, 2, etc. was the result of a total lack of communication. This discontent could have been averted had there been announcements giving an update on when boarding was anticipated and the order of boarding had been shared with the guests. We entered the ship after 1:30 p.m. and of course, lunch service was already completed by that time; no matter that not all guests were aboard. Disembarkation: And now to the nightmare of debarking in New Orleans. There was a total lack of understanding of the type of resources needed to handle the disembarking of nearly 4000 guests and all their luggage from a 19 day transatlantic fall cruise. The number of porters, the number of taxi drivers, and the number of buses needed was totally underestimated. The anger of the debarking guests was not only palatable but also vocal. Two and a half hours after we were to vacate our staterooms, we finally made our way out of the terminal to a taxi, but this “swift” exit was only because we had paid a porter who led us to the front of the taxi line. Our last cruise impression was of a madhouse of travel weary folks schlepping through the terminal with their luggage. Such a shame because this cruise could have been such a great experience. As you can see there were things which I had problems with but we enjoyed the “free style” flexibility and many like-minded guests who convinced us that this was not indicative of their former NCL experiences. So therefore, we booked another transatlantic cruise (not anytime soon) but on the April 11, 2021 San Juan to Barcelona again, the itinerary was an important element of this choice. We were also told that the weather is generally better on spring TA crossings, fingers crossed. Ports and Shore Excursions Copenhagen: stayed at Absalon Hotel for 3 nights; great hotel in a superb location; purchased the Copehagen Card good value used for Hop On/Hop Off bus, canal cruise tour, entrance to Tivoli and Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. Great food at Frk. Barners Kælder, Paté Paté, Restaurant Kronborg and Cafe Gammeltorv for smørrebrød, the Danish open faced sandwiches. Rotterdam: walked across the Erasmusbrug bridge. There is a Waterbus stop next to the Spido boat tours at the bottom of the Erasmus Bridge. Took the Waterbus to Kinderdijk, a World Heritage site with 19 windmills dating from the 18th century. Took the Cruiser boat tour of the canal then walked along the canal and visited one of the windmills. Southampton: met extended family and spent day in medieval city of Winchester. Le Harve: took the shuttle from port to city center and caught the Bee Le Harve Honfleur Tour. The old harbor is lined with 16th- to 18th-century townhouses. Nearby is 15th-century St. Catherine's Church, a vaulted timber structure erected by shipbuilders. Portland: took shuttle to Weymouth where we picked up a lorry (taxi) for the day - would highly recommend lorry driver Barney. He can be reached at 07740360090. He took us to the highlights along the Jurassic coast. Spectacular sights. Cobh: Took taxi to Jameson Distillery Midleton for tour and whiskey tasting. Fun and enjoyable Reception staff called for a taxi for our return to ship. Miami: took a taxi to HistoryMiami Museum, a Smithsonian Affiliate. Nice museum suggested by the CBP officer due to the fact we only had 2 hours to explore Miami. Read Less

We went on a back to back cruise and this one was going to great places as well as across the Atlantic. Something we were looking forward to doing. Ship too large and it seemed like many of the staff were in training, especially in the dining areas. The hours that were scheduled for areas like internet and toys were not only too short and not always convenient. Lines were always long. At times we stood in lineup to 45 minutes. The theatre is wya too small for the size oh the ship. Many times they only had one showing of the entertainment and could not get in even with Sro. Syd norman’s Way too small and the same problem as with the theatre. Not enough areas to play cards etc. especially when going on a cruise with many sea days. And then when using the area on the 15th floor during off hours were told to leave. Officers did not get back to us with issues we had. Problem with moving about due to no center elevators. Miami was a bust. Not being able to stop at the azores was depressing. Something should have been done about this to compensate us. Being a platinum member we did not expect this. Read Less

We chose this cruise because we were excited to go to Europe and see London, Paris, Stonehenge, Ireland, etc. Embarkation and Disembarkation were very smooth as had been our previous cruise with Norwegian. We had sailed on the Breakaway earlier and chose this ship since it was the sister ship and we knew the layout. We had a family midship oceanview cabin. The room was nice. We always ate at the Garden cafe which was nice, but nothing special. The Breakaway was decorated every night with something special which this cruise was not. We saw several shows on the ship and all were great especially the Cirque Steams. Our room steward was horrible! We could not get Kleenex or bathroom tissue. We called several times and he would laugh and say he forgot. We couldn't get clean towels and our trash wasn't emptied. We went to guest services and I spoke with two officers on the ship. They were supposed to get things taken care of. Didn't happen. We still didn't have our soap replaced in the room, clean towels, etc. I went back to guest services and spoke with a different officer. He came to the room saw what was happening and finally replaced our room steward on day 15 of a 19 day cruise! They gave us a bottle of wine and four chocolates to try to smooth things over. It didn't work. We don't drink wine and I didn't want the candy! We did enjoy the ports, but we were not able to stop at Ponta De Gada Portugal. We arrived and there was a smaller ship having problems so we were stopped from entering port. As we sailed around to wait to enter port the winds picked up and we were told we couldn't dock. When we got to Miami, we had to go through immigration and we couldn't do anything. Once you were called off the ship, you couldn't get back on until the ship was cleared by authorities. Some passengers were called off around 7 a.m. and we didn't get back on until after 3 p.m.! It was a real mess! That shouldn't have been this way. When we had to meet with immigration to go into Ireland, immigration was on the ship and things were smooth! Overall, we enjoyed the ports, but not the service. I am writing a letter to Norwegian Headquarters with everything that happened. I was told by guest services to do this. And we had an unexpected visitor on board....Hurricane Pablo made a visit! The captain said we would have rough weather and I kept watching the TV screen. It would tell the wind speed and what it had to get to to become a hurricane. Then it happened, we went above the wind speed. That screen then disappeared! The captain said when we docked in New Orleans to get off the ship that we are all seasoned sailors. He said we went thru a hurricane and the ship didn't get damaged. I never like to come home from a trip, but I was glad to come home this time! Read Less

We were looking for that “once in a lifetime” experience and thought this cruise might be it!! It ended up being an endless experience of trying my patience. As this is a HUGE ship and we were told the passenger list was around 3700, the number, length, and time spent waiting in line was ridiculous. We are not seasoned ocean cruisers and this ship seemed like it was full of people who do nothing else but take long cruises - we started to call them a “cruise cult”. So, of course, they knew how to get all the best reservations for the shows, special dinners and just about everything else. If you’re not the type who wants every day planned ahead of time, don’t bother with a cruise like this. We weren’t able to see one of the shows (that we essentially paid for), as they were all booked well in advance. The specialty restaurants were pretty much the same. The steakhouse that we finally did get a reservation for was probably one of the most disappointing things we experienced on the cruise. I’ve been to many top-notch steak houses and this didn’t come close. Both of our steaks were cooked the wrong way (overdone and underdone) and the filet I ordered was about 2 forkfuls. The staff was so busy kissing up to one of other tables that we were pretty much left to fend for ourselves. There are just not enough characters available to tell the whole story of this rather sad “adventure”. Basically, if you like to sit, play bingo and drink, then this is the trip is for you. If you’re a fairly active person, I would suggest a different type of travel experience. P.s. And seemingly everyone on the ship had an upper respiratory infection!!! Read Less

Value and prospective ports. Length of some port stay were short. Excursions for some ports were to short or two long of bus ride verses walking around. Miami was a nightmare. Was not able to have any time to explore. Some parts of the ship were cold. We not attend functions in the forward theatre, because it was too cold. I would think Norwegian would have a different port to stop at other than the Azores. I think the port’s entrance is to small when weather is problem. Schedule of trip should not end up to have seven straight days at sea because of weather and port entrance. Some on board functions are to limited and not interesting. Ex. Cup cake making, art and jewelry selling and some sports that are not geared for senior citizens. For our likes the ship was a little to big, thus to many people. It get too crowded when attending functions or eating. Ex. Dealing with returning to the ship in Miami after immigration. Norwegian must have known of this problem before hand Read Less

I have gone many transatlantic cruises but this was one is one for the books. They were understaffed. Took forever to get dinner, lunch at the restaurants. The ship was not prepared for this cruise. I will never do ncl on a transatlantic again. Entertaining was good if you were a sardine and squeezeed into small rooms. Everyone was hacking or sneezing. Wasnt for the drink package it would of been a total wipeout. Room was never done on time. Come back at 2:30 in the afternoon and room still not done. Then we went threw customs that I have never experienced. Everyone off the ship and no one allowed back on until the coast guard cleared us. Old people sta ding and sitting for hours and were was ncl with drinks or food. Nothing from them and they said they had no control. This ship is not meant for transatlantics. Keep it in the US. Read Less

We chose this cruise because it ended in New Orleans, right across the lake from our home town of Slidell. We have never been to Europe and thought it would be a good opportunity to see our roots, and loved the idea of a transatlantic crossing. We flew on our own to Copenhagen two days early, and thank goodness we did because our flights got delayed due to weather and took many more hours to get there. We really liked Copenhagen, clean, lots of history and bikes everywhere! Getting onto the ship went very smoothly, getting off the ship in New Orleans was complete chaos. Everyone getting off at the same time despite being organized by color tags on our luggage the day before. Then people getting onto the ship showing up way too soon and adding to the chaos. We took our four large suit cases and walked blocks away to catch our ride home, We loved the ship! Very large but with 3,774 passengers it did seem crowed in the common areas at times, but we expected that. Lots of outside areas to sit, walk or just hang out to watch the sun set. There are two decks to walk on which were very busy in the mornings. The ship was spotless! I saw cleaning being done at all times and lots of hand sanitizer and crew members ready to spray your hands as you walked into the Garden Cafe. First two weeks I didn't hear a cough or a sneeze, but then it started and an upper respiratory illness started to spread despite all the effort by the ship to prevent it. I caught it, but my husband didn't. I didn't need to get medical treatment for i, just over the counter meds for two weeks. I don't blame the ship company or crew for that, it just happens when you have that many people held together for a long length of time. Service for us was excellent, Our favorite place to eat was the Garden Cafe, good food, lots of variety, fresh and no waiting for service. They did run out of tea, orange juice, butter,and coffee creamer, and for some reason didn't get several of those replaced We LOVED the ice cream!!! It was real rich ice cream that you just don't get in the stores any more. We enjoyed eating at Tepanyaki the most! We enjoyed Cagery's, Le Bistro, and Moderno's specialty restaurants also. We thought it took way to long to get service and food in Taste, Savor and Tropicana, so we didn't eat at those more than once each. Shores excursions had a lot of issues. Not enough time to really see or experience a place, too long on a bus to get there. You got to see a lot of the general area from the bus which to me was a plus, but then no time to see London, Amsterdam, or Miami. Couldn't eat lunch in Miami, but back to the ship an hour early only to wait two hours to get back on the ship. Customs caused that mess, but the company didn't help easy the wait. We loved the staff!!! They were so nice, seemed to know their jobs well, worked so hard to please, serve or help and keep the ship clean! They worked hard at helping disabled passengers get on and off the ship in all the ports, even helping get their food at the Garden Cafe, all you had to do was let them know you needed help. We can't believe anyone would have complained about the crew! We didn't experience much of the entertainment, but heard a lot of good comments about it and wished we had signed up to see a show or two. Overall we enjoyed our cruise and would recommend this cruise. We will do another one to see some new sites one day! Read Less

We chose this cruise to visit places we had never been. We spent extra time in Copenhagen and enjoyed our visit there. The ship was very nice, clean and well maintained and all of the crew were gracious and helpful. The restaurants on the ship were good but the food in the buffet was so good that we chose to eat in the buffet most of the time. The excursions are not worth the money or effort. We spent far too much time riding buses to get to and from the excursions we chose and not nearly enough time visiting each site. The Bahama stop was a total waste of time. By the time you reached the island by tender, it was just about time to get back in line to get a tender back to the ship. We had about 1 hour on the island and then spent a good hour waiting in line to get back to the ship. Miami was worse, we were rushed through our excursion to get back to the terminal over an hour early and sat for 2 hours because Customs and Immigration would not let anyone get on the ship until every passenger was off the ship. We did get some free time in Ireland which we used to visit a beautiful cathedral and the Titanic museum. All in all it was a good cruise but if we did it again we would skip the shore excursions and just stay on the ship because they are not worth what you have to pay. Read Less

This was the worst cruise we have been on, will never travel Norwegian again. Up until Cork Ireland it was good from then on it just got worse. Went through hurricane Pablo and subtropical storm Rebeka, missed a port hence instead of two days at sea a day in port that we missed then four days at sea it became seven days at sea. They took this large ship and made everything in it smaller from rooms to finding a quiet place to read, library is a joke no space to sit to read. People went to margarita ville the service was so terrible it ended up to be complimentary because orders were all wrong coming from the kitchen. The stop in Miami was a joke spent all our time in immigration, some people sat in terminal for five hours before being allowed to go back on ship. We ran out of some food before and after picking up supplies, some of the waiters etc did not know what they were to do as if they had never done this before. While dining in the main dining room the music for dinner was so loud you couldn’t hear what the person across the table was saying so we don’t call this dinner music. Captain kept apologizing for the cruise all the way up to when we disembarked in New Orleans. On disembarkment people were looking for their suitcases come to find out they were still on board ship and had never been taken off which made for huge delays leaving. Read Less

As a recommendation from close friends we were convinced that this would be the prefect way to get "out feet wet" with cruising. Our friends had been on many cruises before this and certainly knew the ropes. What we found was endless lines of people for every event ranging from mandatory passport inspections, to dining (even with reservations), to entertainment, to going to our planned excursions. There was a total lack of organization. There was obvious lack of respect for the captain evidenced by the crew and service people during the captain's morning announcements. Some were extremely important! However, you could certainly hear the announcements from Vincent the cruise director made several times a day. All of the entertainment venues were so loud that they could not be enjoyed without earplugs or one would have to endure ringing in their ears or possible damage to their hearing. There appeared to be little consideration for the average age of the clientele on board when it came to the music that was blasted throughout the ship, while waiting for a performer or on the TV as background for the ships log etc. The first night we dined in the Tropicana at 6:00 the "dinner music" was so loud you could not carry on a conversation much less enjoy your meal. The food at all restaurants was good to excellent and the service people in general were good with the exception of our visit to Margaritaville. There we were among the first to arrive. We waited about 20 minutes for our drink orders only to have half of them delivered. Had to wait longer for the rest. Again a long wait for our food which was delivered piecemeal and cold. During our wait, the wait staff and the chef and his assistant argued loudly. Ease of using the WiFi was poor and frustrating most of the time. The server went down rendering us unable to use for more than 24 hours. Most of the NCL provided excursions that we were able to get were good. However, our snorkel trip in Bermuda was cancelled just an hour before we were scheduled thus leaving it up to us to go to the dock to try to find another. This lead to over crowding (some had to stand or sit in walk ways) and the captain blasted music so loud it made me want to jump overboard. Our captain did a superb job of handling the ship especially when skirting the two hurricanes that we encountered. Even as a newbie I was at ease throughout the entire trip and proud to say I did not get sea sick! In general, the negatives outweigh the positives. Don't think we will cruise again. Read Less

We choose this cruise because of Itinerary and value. The food was very bad and specialty restaurants were no better then main dining room. Tendering from the ship was a nightmare we were bearded like cattle. The timing at port of Miami was nothing but a convenience for NCL most passengers had no time to enjoy Miami because of the lack of organization. Disembarking in New Orleans was again poorly handled. No supervision from NCL. Insufficient number of buses taking people to airport passengers disembarking and new passengers embarking were mixed together. The entire cruise was a great disappointment and we are in a customer service nightmare right now with NCL. Our room steward was excellent as were the bartenders. The theater personnel were terrific and the Syd Norman pour house rocked. The 2 main shows were excellent however on an 18 day cruise it just wasn’t enough variety Managers and Maitre D in the speciality restaurants and main dinning room tried to accommodate however the quality of the food was sub par and out of their control Read Less

This was our 12th NCL cruise in the past 17 years and I must say the level of customer service has dropped considerably over those years. Much of the shortfalls on this particular cruise had to do with the weather which, of course, NCL could do nothing about, especially our having to be caught in Hurricane Pablo and a Tropical Storm! What I would have expected though is that they have a lot of experience with the repositioning of their ships from Europe to North America and therefore know what the possible weather issues might be. Fully, the first 10 days of this 19 day cruise had us sailing with temperatures in the 50's, cloudy, EXTREMELY high winds, sometimes rainy conditions and a whole lot of SERIOUS ROCKING of this big ship!....not really the type of weather for being out on deck! This forced the 3,700+ passengers to stay inside except for the 5 port calls we made in those first 10 days where you might have been able to take a shore excursion for a few hours. These circumstances promoted the spreading of sickness to many of the passengers since the public areas of the ship really are not designed for 3,700+ passengers to spread out. The main public area of the ship is the Atrium...one of the most poorly thought out areas on any modern cruise ship. While the ship's theater could seat probably 1,500 people at a time, the Atrium can seat about 50. With many of the daily activities conducted in this area....figure it out, how do 3,700+ passengers interact with this small space! I'll tell you....NOT VERY WELL! Now let's add to the way this critical area of the ship is used; ALL SHIP SERVICE DESKS are located in this open air area! Can you just imaging the noise and confusion going on in this space! OH, let me also point out that this is where the biggest bar is located and the Starbucks coffee counter. The more I write about this, the more upset I get about how poorly NCL has evolved in providing a truly satisfying cruise experience! I have seen a reference to the fact that the average age of the 3,700+ passengers was 67. I believe their were a total of 11 children and some of those were very young. So like I said earlier, why wouldn't NCL know about the possible weather issues and the average age of the passengers in advance and ensure that the planned activities would provide maximum customer satisfaction? NCL promotes a theme that states "Freestyle Cruising is about having plenty of choices." If you really breakdown the Freestyle Daily's offerings on most days you would see that for this particular cruise, after you cross out ALL outside activities (because weather prevents you from going on deck), ALL casino (gambling) activities, ALL spa sales activities, ALL gift shop sales activities, ALL art gallery sales activities, ALL family (children) activities and ALL box office sign-up hours THERE IS ALMOST NOTHING TO DO THAT DOESN'T REQUIRE YOU TO BE SUBJECTED TO A SALES PITCH OR TO ACTUALLY SPEND MORE MONEY. So now I have hit upon the key motive of NCL in the way they conduct their business......MAXIMIZE REVENUE at the expense of maximizing true customer service. Another point I have to drive home is the TOTALLY DEPRESSING stop in Miami! Without much prior warning you find out that YOU MUST get off the ship and you will NOT BE ALLOWED TO RE BOARD until the "authorities" allow it. What does this mean in reality??? You get off the ship at say 8:00 am and then have to wait in the terminal until 2:00 pm to get back on the ship! PEOPLE - THAT IS SIX (6) HOURS sitting in a CROWED TERMINAL with no real services or amenities offered! WHO WOULD BELIEVE that such a travesty could occur in AMERICA to AMERICAN CITIZENS! I am going to end this review with this final bit of disappointment...on the last several days of the cruise the dining venues were out of several food and beverage items to include; orange juice, ice tea, milk, half and half, some fruit, yogurt and various other items. ARE YOU KIDDING ME! My advice........if you can avoid sailing on NCL's newer, large ships such as the Getaway and Breakaway - DO IT! I have not been on their newest ships, the Joy, Bliss or Encore but I can't imagine that they have learned from their mistakes so I would not hold out high expectations for them either. Sorry NCL, I am being quite honest in my review of this cruise and I still had more I could criticize but just am too tired. Read Less

We went with several couples. This ship is too large to be organized. I sensed some of the crew was not trained in their jobs. Have only been on one other NCL cruise. This cruise was the worst of the 10 cruises we have been on. Would not recommend a large ship. Staff was generally good although the Margaritaville restaurant experience was as bad as any restaurant experience ever. Horrible service, food was served burnt, raw, cold and incredibly slow. Server did not know the menu as well as we did after one viewing. Every table in view had the same problem. All 6 tables left and were comped. They actually charge for this restaurant. Amazing. It apparently opened for the first time in months due to weather on previous cruises. We also had 2 hour lunches two other times in their regular restaurants. All the other specialty restaurants were outstanding on service as well as food quality. We were advised the day before arriving in Miami that we had to leave the ship for an inspection. For some of us that was a 6 hour delay. They were not prepared for all the passengers that decided to wait it out in the cruise terminal. Would have been better to be told ahead and we would have ended the cruise in Miami and headed home form there. We lost a half day. Totally unprepared for people to get back on the ship in some organized fashion. Took two hours from the time we left the ship to get on a bus to the airport. We purchased a bus ticket on the ship thinking that would be the best way. New Orleans cruise is totally disorganized in handling the volume of passengers from the Get A Way. I blame Norwegian for not preparing New Orleans for their arrival. The Internet charges and speed of the Internet on this ship is ridiculous. They charge $6 for bottle of water and it appeared the only place you could get a water bottle filled free was in the buffet on the top deck at the back of the ship. That was discouraged although no one stopped us. I would negotiate free Internet next time or not go on NCL. You get the idea that NCL is always trying to get in your pocket for something on this ship. There were many nice staff personnel as well but when they were bad, it was the worst. We only took one shore excursion through the ship and that was the worst of all the excursions and the worst value for the money. We were with people who take about 3 cruises a year and they are excellent planners. Thank goodness. We had shore excursions planned out a head of time. If you didn't do that and waited to get on the ship, you would have been disappointed Read Less

I'm not a fan be of "freestyle cruising." The food was just okay. The ship's layout was weird with few lounges to read or socialize. The floor in the Thermal Spa lounge area was dirty. Obviously not swept and mopped. It felt like we were nickeled and dined for the smallest things. For example you had to pay extra for premium TV or movie channels in the cabin. Normally, I wouldn't be watching TV, bit I got the terrible respatory cold that went through the ship and was sick in bed for three days. I had a solo cabin so paid 1.5X for my cabin, but did not get the same services. No complemtery laundry, no mini fridge. My cabin Stewart did not speak English. I have never been so sick from a cruise. Had to go to the doctor after getting home for anibiotics. I will never do another NCL cruise! Read Less

The lines, noise and crowds were terrible. For example, the organization of the immigration clearance in Miami was terrible and unforgivable. We shuffled in line for an hour and a half, for no reason, to get to the immigration desk. I calculated about 400 people in the queue in the main bay alone. Why, when they were only processing about five people per minute? Why run a line from the Tropicana aft roomt to the forward lobby, to the outside deck, and aft to the gangway before even getting off the ship? We could have stayed in our cabin or a lounge for an hour and a quarter and then had a leisurely walk to the immigration desk without compromising the process at all. I understand that nothing could be done about getting back aboard before the Coast Guard gave permission, but at least there should have been enough seats in the waiting area. Instead many had to stand or sit on the floor. And food and beverages would have been nice since we were stuck there from mid-morning until mid-afternoon. The noise in the atrium was often so loud that we couldn't enjoy our meal in O'Sheehans. The first show we went to in the theater was so loud that we left after a few minutes. I never went to another, although my wife did another and stuck her fingers in her ears for the duration. At dinner in the Tropicana room, where we had an excellent waitress, the band started and we rushed dessert to get away. From then on we went a half hour earlier. Later a friend gave us earplugs which we kept close at hand for the rest of the cruise and used frequently. And we had to stand in line so frequently that we stopped going to many places on the ship because they weren't worth the aggravation. Tropicana, O'Sheehans and the buffet were our favorite dining places, but we had to arrive early to be assured of getting a seat without standing in line. The best part of the on-board experience were sea days when I could sit in the quiet of our cabin or on the balcony and read in peace, but for that I could have stayed home, turned off the phones and saved many thousands of dollars. Our cabin steward, Mohammed, was excellent. Riu Liu at table 117, our waitress in the Tropicana, was outstanding! And the Maitre’d accommodated us by sending us straight there when we arrived at the desk. The captain was also very good, but we were annoyed that when he gave his daily briefings we couldn't hear them in any public spaces because of the noise; even the crew failed to give him the respect he deserved. If the cruise director was running something in the atrium he kept going through the entire briefing. Our shore excursion on Bermuda was a poor experience. Our catamaran snorkel was cancelled at the last minute, supposedly due to engine problems. A friend greased the palm of an excursion director on the pier to get us onto the Rising Sun, which was then overcrowded. And the crew played music so loud that our ears were ringing. Later we heard that the cancellation wasn’t due to an engine problem at all – there was a golf tournament on the island that was more interesting to the crew. We went with a friend who is handicapped – two artificial knees, two artificial hips and two artificial shoulders. When we were stuck in long lines he asked for a wheelchair and was sometimes told there were none available. Then we would see staff pass us pushing someone in a wheelchair. And they were always pushed to the head of the line in comfort while the rest of us had to stand. There should be enough wheelchairs available that they can stay in their place in the queue. Then perhaps there wouldn’t be so many asking for them. On my tour of the Normandy invasion beaches (The best and most worthwhile part of the whole experience) there was a problem; my tour bus left Colleville Sur Mer without me, although I got to the parking lot with six minutes to spare. Fortunately there was another Norwegian tour bus still there on which I hitched a ride to the next stop. There our guide apologized profusely and said that she had counted three times. She should have counted four times. Although good efforts were made to prevent the spread of coughs and colds, they were rampant anyway. Everywhere we went there were people coughing around us. And we often saw crew members enter the buffet area bypassing the hand sanitizers. A niggle - To connect to the internet requires entering "logon.com." To get off requires entering "logout,com." Not logon/logoff or login/logout. The first time I used it I did logon/logoff and turned off my tablet, which used the entire 240 minutes. It was graciously restored but only after standing twenty minutes in line at the Internet Cafe desk. And another annoyance - it seemed like were solicited several times daily to spend additional money - buy a raffle ticket, play bingo, buy a schlocky piece of so-called art. It was unseemly. Overall the experience was not the relaxing vacation I had hoped for. Instead the outstanding memory is of standing in lines and crowds with a constant dim beating my eardrums to a pulp. This was our first cruise, although we’re in our early ‘70s. After this experience it was almost certainly our last. In my weakened state while composing that into the Norwegian cruise survey website I forgot this event, which was one of the highlights of the trip. You can’t make this up: I always carry a knife or two – my little Buck pocket knife and my big Buck lock-back. Not wanting to be without them for an extended time I checked Norwegian’s forbidden items list, where it says that knives with a blade longer than four inches are prohibited. My lock-back has a three and a half inch blade, so they both went into our checked baggage along with my Victorinox McGyver tool. (And I did use all of them several times on the cruise.) All went well for the first few days from Copenhagen to Rotterdam. In Rotterdam the rest of our party took a tour while I went on a quest walking around the port looking for some Limburger cheese. No joy, but I had a swell time wandering around the harbor area, talking to a nice lady walking her dog, studying some old boats tied up along the quay, and watching the re-provisioning of the ship. Getting back aboard is like going through airport security – jackets and metal items into a basket for the x-ray, and a walk through the metal detector. I tossed my knives into the tray and walked through. On the other side a security guy grabbed the lock-back and asked “This yours?” “Yeah” I said, reaching for it. “I’ll have to keep it. It’s prohibited.” he said. I calmly told him that it wasn’t, that it had a three and a half inch blade and knives were prohibited only if the blade was longer than four inches. After running around that fencepost for a while he explained that the ship has its rules, but we were in the Port of Rotterdam, which has its own rules, and the big Buck was prohibited. I asked that, if it was prohibited in the port, why would it be confiscated on leaving the port instead of on entry. And if he’d give it back I’d be out of the port and on the ship in a few seconds. He could even walk to the gangway with me and turn it over there. No good. He said that he’d turn it over to ship security, who would bring it to my cabin in short order. “What’s your cabin number?” I gave it to him, gave up, went on board to our cabin and read a few chapters. No knife, so I went searching for Security. Finding that it’s on Deck Four I got on the elevator and pushed Four. The light went back out. Deck Four is crew only, so I went to Deck Five. At the stairways there are two sets of stairs going down to either side of a landing, and one set between them going from the landing to the next deck. There was a fat blue rope across the right side, but the left side was open, so I went down that way and wandered around a while. A crew member asked what I was doing there and I said “Looking for Security.” He opened a door for me and pointed the way. I knocked on the door several times but got no answer. Then I noticed a sign with a phone number. I found a phone and called, and finally learned that my knife was at the security station on the boarding deck. But then I was locked in the bowels of the ship. Finally a crew member came by and asked what I was doing there. “Trying to get out.” I said, and he unlocked a door for me. At the security station I told the officer that I was there to get my knife. “What cabin number?” He picked up an envelope with my cabin number on it and tore it open. My razor-sharp knife was in the flimsy business envelope with the blade open! I said “That’s no way to handle and store a knife!” He said that they couldn’t get it closed. Rolleyes. I closed it for him. He told me that I couldn’t have it on board, and he had to keep it until the end of the cruise when I would get it back. “Nonsense! It’s allowed by your own rules! Knives with a blade longer than four inches are prohibited, but this has a three and a half inch blade. Should I get my copy of the rules from my cabin? Do you have a measuring instrument? We’ll get this straightened out real quick.” Finally he said that he’d have to get his supervisor, which eventually happened. After running around the same fencepost for a while with him he told me that he had to keep it because it was “scary looking.” “Scary looking” became the catch phrase among us for the rest of the cruise. Finally I gave up and told him that he could keep it but I wanted a receipt. He said that was no problem and told his Minion to write out a receipt. Minion said that he had no receipts, and was sent off to get a book. While waiting I mentioned that I had seen in the Daily Freestyle that very morning that bringing food or dairy products aboard was prohibited, but there were vendors in the terminal selling wheels of Gouda to the passengers. He said that he’d checked that out and decided to allow it because this was Rotterdam and, after all, Gouda is a Dutch institution, so the cheese was more like a souvenir. “So at your discretion you allow a specifically prohibited food dairy product on board, but confiscate a specifically allowed knife because it’s Scary Looking?” “Well, yeah.” So we chatted pleasantly for a while. When Minion returned and started writing a receipt the officer said “Forget it.” and handed my knife back on the promise that I wouldn’t take it ashore any more. And for the rest of the cruise I had fun telling the story. To leave the ship one presents a key card which is scanned, causing a “Beep,” and putting a picture of the face of the passenger on the screen. The security officer looks at the picture, the face, and hands the card back. Getting back on uses the same process. I didn’t notice it, but my wife said that every time I presented my card on boarding, the terminal said “Beep-boop,” but everyone else just got the “Beep.” She claimed that I was a marked man, and Big Brother was watching me. Maybe so. Then, to add very expensive injury to the insult, although it was on the dresser the day before, my McGyver tool was missing from our cabin when my wife was packing to leave. The knives were in my pockets and made it into a suitcase, but they were gone when we got home. That’s over a hundred dollars of hardware I’ll never get back. Read Less

I did a back to back and cruised the Baltic capitals and continued with the transatlantic. The cabins are exceedingly small, the food was only OK, and unless you had hours to spend in the restaurant a lot of the meals were eaten at the buffet. The specialty restaurants were a joke. All they were were overpriced OK restaurants. I will say though, the activity hosts were awesome and they made the cruise enjoyable. There were specifically four people, Lester, Vivian, Fernando, and Junior that ensured that we had a fantastic time. I didn’t particularly care for the cruise director and I really wanted to slap him every time he said “I’ll see you when I see you” because he was MIA most of the 28 days I was on the ship. You only saw him if the officers were around, if cameras were around, or if he was selling something. If I were going to cruise again and he was the cruise director I would cancel it. The worst part was having over 4000 people crammed into that space and having the worst numbering system for cabins I have ever seen. I was on the ship for 28 days and never learned the layout. Read Less