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Riga

I chose this cruise based on port. I traveled by bus from the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania. The transportation I arranged was with Trans Bridge Bus line. It was effortless to and from the pier. The only thing I would have improved is there is no area to wait at the pier for Return transportation to arrive. I had to wait outside about an hour an a half in colder temps. The embarkation and disembarkation were effortless. There were practically no lines either way. I traveled solo and found the solo traveler meet-ups to be fabulous. There was a big group of solo travelers and activities we could participate in. I extremely enjoyed the standing 5:30PM Tropicana room reservation for dinner for the solo group. The bar and restaurant staff provided great service. Bartenders remembering your name from visit to visit. I would have preferred to see a little more variation from day to day on the buffet for lunch. Dinner selections in the Tropicana room were ample and all delicious. Entertainment was varied and all very good. I enjoyed the Howl at the Moon dueling pianos and the comedy shows. The Atrium bar area can be very crowded for some events, limited seating for the bigger events in this area. The casino area was large with many choices for gambling. The only disappointment in the casino area was the amount of cigarette smoke in this area. I enjoyed the Spice H20 area during the day as a solo traveler with it being over 18 until 6PM. My overall solo experience was good and I look forward to doing another solo trip in the future. I left the trip with numerous new friends.

I enjoyed my first solo traveler experience.

What we liked -

1. Overall Haven experience onboard was good

2. Embarkation/Demarkation was quick and hassle free

3. Priority seating at shows and restaurants

4. Amazing room steward, he was better than our butler


What we disliked -

1. Our room "Haven Penthouse Suite" was creaking whenever the ship was rolling. We had to complain to the Haven guest service and they sent carpenters who did a patch up that reduced the noise, but a few days later when the seas got rougher the noise was back. The carpenters told they had already informed the guest services previously that there is nothing more could do and this issue can only be resolved once the ship goes into dry dock in May 2024. We managed to get another standard room to sleep

2. Buffet food was ordinary. My wife is a vegan and relishes Indian dishes but the food was ordinary & repetitive. This despite the Chief Chef was an Indian

3. The cruise director and his staff were ordinary. The staff couldn't even pronounce simple english words making us guess what they are trying to explain

4. Haven guest service can only co-ordinate but nothing beyond that. For ex - we wanted to change our booked excursion for one of the port which was well over 48 hours and they checked with the excursions teams and told "sorry we will not be able to change as the tour you want to go is all booked" 

5. Butler service is really a hit and miss, our butler was just ok. Didn't go over and beyond to make our vacation experience magical. We asked if he could help us get bath salts to use in our room hot tub and he simply declined. I would have been happy if he could have atleast tried on his behalf. Morever, I felt he was a bit of a slacker.

6. We had onboard credits and as per NCL policy we have to get that cashed on the last day. Now the information given to me was half baked, I was told to come to the guest service desk anytime on the last day. I managed to reach the desk by 7 AM to avoid the crowd and then they tell, you'll have to come after 9 AM. Also the guest service only handles cash payout for less than $100 anything over, the "Onboard Credit" team takes care. So I go to the "Onboard Credit" just after 9 AM and there was a huge line, with just 2 people handling such huge crowds. I complained to them why can't they deploy more people and open up the counters earlier? But guess, they were uninterested to answer and just apologized. I took my money and got off as there were lot of people waiting to be served

7. Our ship departed NY ~90 mins late and it affected our arrival time in our first port. Our excursion was cancelled, thanks to this issue (we were refunded). The cruise also cancelled the "Behind the scenes tour" (which was also refunded). Finally, we had to skip the last port due to inclement weather approaching Florida and the captain wanted to avoid

Overall experience

The quality of the shows, food & entertainment has declined over the years. We were avid NCL cruisers but now will start exploring others too. NCL is looking to just make money (thats understandable after Covid loss) but now when the cruise industry has picked up there no need to cut corners. Haven experience was good, the bar & restaurant staff were excellent. The food served was repetitive in the restaurant but you could pre-order meals, we did just that and got our butler deliver in our room. Ports of call were good, if only NCL could have spend a day each in Aruba & Curaçao instead of 6 hrs each and spending a whole day in "La Romana" in Dominican Republic. I'd give this cruise a 2.5 out of 5 (5 being the highest)

Average cruising experience on Haven Penthouse 

Kusadasi

Booked a European cruise that sailed out of Southhampton in October. First the good. The meals were good. The Garden Cafe buffet was actually good with a variety and selection that pleased multiple tastes. We also enjoyed the the food at Cagney's and Moderno. They make good food for specialty diners. The crew were very friendly and attentive to doing great service in housekeeping, food, entertainment, guest services. The entertainment was very good for a cruise ship. We saw all the shows that were offered in the theatre and they did a great job. Entertainment was limited to inside the ship due to cold and rainy conditions.

The bad, we bought the Thermal Spa Package, because we wanted to do something special together to celebrate our 25th Wedding Anniversary. The first few days the Thermal Spa felt great but we noticed rashes were developing on our bodies. We decided to check it out and the Thermal Pool was so nasty with mold and mildew that it was unsafe to go back in the pool again. We also noticed that some days in the evening we noticed there were a lot of used and dirty towels and robes they provided were laying all over the benches and furniture and had not been disposed of, which was very unsightly. The ladies who ran the front desk and the manager of the spa had attitudes as well. You would think that for the price you pay at $300 a person they would step their game. Another downer was when we could not port into Amsterdam because of high winds. That added another sea day to our cruise. This cruise was maxed out with cruisers on board. I personally hate sea days because you have to contend with crowds constantly while on ship. You could tell people were not happy with missing excursions in Amsterdam. I was really hoping to see windmills and the town of Edam. During a Q&A session the day before we disembarked at our final port at Southhampton Captain Luigi was asked which port of call did he like the best and he said Amsterdam. You could hear the groan from the crowd. Might have been his way to jabbing back from complainers who wanted to see Amsterdam, perhaps. Another point while I'm complaining is do not do the Paris on your own excursion. All it is is a shuttle bus to Paris and they drop you off a mile from the major landmarks. The drive to Paris was 3 hours. Once you got there you had 5 hours to see Paris, which for us was to use a Viator excursion to Skip the Line at the Eifel Tower. We really enjoyed see ing going up the tower. It was such a bummer to not see any of the great landmarks of Paris. We only had 5 hours to do any excursions. So that left us with regrets with NCL's length at the Le Havre port of call. Another was the port of call at Hamburg. The Getaway Was be docked at at Hamburg for one night and the next day. Hamburg was a dreary city that offered very little in entertainment and sights to see. We made the most of it by to take up the offer of NCL being docked late in the evening and to go on their own, which we did. We shared a Uber with another couple which was nice because we made friends with someone. One thing to consider is that Uber is consolidated into a taxi service called Hansi Hansi. And it's not cheap. We went to Blockhaus Brewery to consume German beer and food.  The next day we we took another Uber to St. Pauli Brankensburg and hopped onto a Big Bus Tour that lasted 2 hours. Hamburg does have a few beautiful buildings but it's no Bourdeaux, Bruges or Paris. The peole there are not the friendliest. If this review can help someone I'm glad I did it. Finally we found out the hard way that booking your airfare through NCL is one of the worst experiences that could happen to you. NCL initially set up our travel to London through United Airlines for a redeye express. Not a problem until the end of our cruise  when they changed our airline from United to Avianca airlines by way of Bogota Columbia with a very long layover. Needless to say this was not acceptable. When we complained to NCL Guest Services out of Miami they acted like they could care less. In other words the it sucks to be you mentality and attitude was directed at us. To further complicate our return home the night before our departure Avianca changed the flight to be the day after we disembarked which really screwed up things up and we had to book a room at the Holiday Inn near Heathrow. Then Avianca continued to mess up our return home by delaying our flight to home another day. Trually frustrated we ended up having to purchase other airline tickets to get home. Be aware that NCL utilizes the cheapest airfare when it’s included into their package deals. We have cruised numerous times with Norweigan and enjoyed it. Needless to say we will never cruise with them again!

The Bad and the Good

This was our sixth transatlantic cruise, the second on the Getaway and our eighth overall on an NCL vessel. Our cruise and the Getaway were par-for-the-course meeting expectations. No surprises or unexpected disappointments...It's one of the big ships with all the competitive bells & whistles. The staterooms & bathrooms are clean, somewhat spacious, comfortable and practical. A shortage of ubs outlets is most notable these days...Public areas are clean and attractive, good passenger flow and elevator availability. This ship is nine years old and well maintained, however some features of the newer cruise ships were missed. Features such as an observation deck, more leisure seating areas in the bars and public spaces, attractive & impressive dining rooms and furnishings. The Waterfront Deck 8 remains a great feature.

The food quality in the dining rooms and buffet has slipped. Food cost savings measures are notable. The Speciality Restaurants however are most outstanding, some of the finest meals I've had anywhere. The quality, selection and preparation are among the best (unless you're a snoot)...Overall, the ship's staff were pleasant and present. No real service issues or attitudes. Dining Room staff were a blend of very good and very inexperienced...Shore Excursions and Entertainment were the usual hits and misses...Embarkation was smooth, timely and efficent. Disembarkation procedures and airport bus transfers were so unpleasant, frustrating and highly disappointing.

Two significant side bar notes. NCL's Latitude Perks, once you reach Platinum level, are outstanding and highly appreciated. Also valued and pleasing are the Free At Sea promotions.

Met Expectations

NCL has been the company of choice in the past due to it's freestyle policy and overall quality and after a patient wait following 3 cancelled cruises due to covid and the war in the Ukraine we were eager to sail again. Over this time costs have inevitably gone up as have the gratuities (more than 100% since our last cruise in 2017). Now we more or less expected this under the current climate but we did have an expectation that quality and service would not be affected as a result and it's to this end where most of our disappointments lay

Service  - whilst great in some areas, key positions such as stewarding of the cabins and food service have clearly been cut back. Whilst there were no complaints from us we could clearly see our cabin steward was under pressure making it impossible to provide the same level we have encountered before. Gone are the personal touches such as folded towels and warm greetings. They just did what they had to do. Accordingly table service in the standard restaurants was inconsistent. One day we got a fast, friendly efficient service with a smile. Another day was met with uninterested  waiting staff with not even a smile. On a positive the speciality restaurants do seem to have retained their overall quality. Whilstvthere was clearly a reduction in choice, service levels far exceeded that of any other areas so it's clear that where you paid extra they were happy to serve!

Ship - This was the largest ship of the NCL fleet we have been on. Again due to the size we had higher expectations that were not met. Our largest disappointment was that there was no forward facing public lounge. The haven and spa seem to have taken favour for this space. The atrium lounge was overcrowded most of the time and lacked enough seating proportionate to the amount of entertainment and activity set for this area. One of our favorite activities on board are the daily quizzes and we found it almost impossible to pop into do this for the lack of seating available. The choice of location for the Casino is also very odd backing onto the central atrium. Fortunately there not that many smokers but had there been the smoke would have wafted through to many of the public spaces. The activities on offer on the ship were very good. Ther ropes course and waterslides were great and hot tubs were available most of the time. Outdoor deck space was good however and open for most of the time surprisingly for a Transatlantic crossing

Entertainment - The Headline acts of Burn the floor and the millionaire quartet were fabulous. The remaining acts in the theatre were little to be desired. One act in particular - a musical impressionist was simply awful. Smaller acts around the ship were ok and the comedians were great fun. One tradition as we knew it for NCL is their white partys now known as glow parties.  Seasonal weather meant that this had to be indoors however they chose the smallest place possible for this in the Bliss lounge meaning it was very cramped on the dance floor and dominated by a certain demograph. The 80's Halloween party was great fun however this only ran for an hour or so in the Tropicana room - an area much more suited to large fun parties. The party extended into the later hours in the Bliss lounge which again was far too small and cramped for the numbers attending and seating was limited.

Shopping - The gift shop and boutique was probably the biggest disappointment. Previously we have bought clothing a good rates ie nautica Guess etc. We also liked to buy a small memento of the ship in the form of a small model and/ or fridge magnet. None of this was available other than the odd tacky t-shirt or an oversized model for a vastly overpriced cost. The photography area however was excellent. Plenty of places to get photos without too much pressure and the service was superb. There were great deals to be had especially as a latitude member  and the end result was brilliant.

Finally the jewelry section was surprisingly good. Some great offers and raffles in abundance and the staff were fun and friendly.

Overall this review may come over as negative but we did have a good time and would use NCL as our preferred cruise company. I think the overall feeling was that it simply was not as good as the excellent cruises we have had before. I think if  further cutbacks were to be made in the level of service provision and entertainment we would start to look elseware. We really did consider asking for a partial refund on the gratuities ($40 a day for us both) but in the end decided this was perhaps unfair to the majority of the crew)

Good cruise - Service and quality lacking in some areas

Hadn’t been to 3 of the ports, and 10 nights sounded good.

Didn’t anticipate having to constantly pay for transfers from the ship to the destination!

It’s a big ship and therefore had to dock in commercial docks, 

Entertainment - the shows were first class but during g the day was pretty poor

Food was excellent- although busy on sea days!

Definitely take the drinks package, great value for money and service charges included

Sadly didn’t get to one of the ports due to high winds - no alternative port was advised which was surprising as these ships know well in advance what the weather will be like no alternative but a very very slow sail home!

Make sure you check the destination times as one destination we waited 50 mins on a taxi and the ship left early afternoon so not enough time and went back on board!

4 sea days wasn’t what we planned!!!

Nothing fir children u set 3 except a room with a few toys!

Extra charges

Dining: There appears to be a variety of dining options but it feels like they serve the same food with different presentation. The food itself is alright but they ran out of hash browns on the third or fourth day and never resupplied. Also either ran out of Drambuie and Shiraz or never had it on board at all despite both items still being on the menu. The beer selection was uninspired and the sustainable cocktails were hit and miss. The wines that they did have available were nothing to write home about but at least were made for easy drinking. The curries were excellent which I attribute to head chef Ashok.

Embarkation: The experience was a confusing mess for a first time cruiser. We were told to head to our mustering station but nothing beyond that. We spent hours hanging around before we realised we only needed to get marked present before we could head to our cabin.

Entertainment: The shows aboard were excellent and we thoroughly enjoyed the guest performers. I would've given five stars in this category, but I remembered the rest of the entertainment options. There was practically nothing to do during the day except eat, drink, gamble or shop. The other free entertainment options consisted of trivia, 15 minute sessions learning minor things (origami, balloon animals, etc) or advertising sessions trying to upsell you. It left a sour taste in my mouth because it felt like the cruise wanted me to splurge more and more to enjoy it fully. Special mention to the art auctions that try to imply that they're selling an investment when all "appraisals" are done by the company themselves.  

Family: My son did not enjoy the activity schedule for the Splash Academy. There wasn't a lot of options catering to a variety of interests and no option for undirected play. Also the one-strike rule for any accidents is needlessly harsh. Certain rules (eg requiring that children be able to wipe themselves) also effectively bar younger children from entry despite supposedly taking children from ages 1-12. 

Fitness and Recreation: I didn't experience any of the outdoor recreation because they were either closed due to weather or it was too cold and windy.

Public Rooms: The smoking section being right next to the pool and on the way to the Garden Cafe is a terrible location. It made an entire section of the deck a no-go area because it wasn't fully enclosed and the whole place stank of smoke. It should've been a closed room like the cigar lounge or moved to an out of the way area.  

Service: The staff was the other high-point of the trip. They were all friendly and looked like they were happy to be there. They were very helpful and a pleasure to be around. Deserved every penny I tipped them.

Value for Money: Overall the cruise would've been a terrible experience had I not gotten the basic drink and dining package. The speciality restaurants were overpriced and that's before they tack on the 20% service charge. Internet being $30/day is ridiculous especially since you're required to purchase internet for every day of the cruise which means shore days are completely wasted. Also access to streaming services costs even more. Excursions were also overpriced and underwhelming. Laundry cost an arm and a leg and the cheaper "bulk laundry" bag they provided was only big enough to fit one person's load. There was also no coin-operated laundry room aboard so you better bring enough clothes to last the entire cruise.

Misc: 

- Medical centre was only open 4 hours a day and they wanted a $145 consult before they would dispense seasickness meds. I would like to thank google translate for helping me buy seasickness meds in port so the rest of the cruise wasn't even worse.

- They put up signs discouraging you from refilling your bottles at the water dispensers to try to force you to buy water packages but it turns out no one respected the signs and the employees don't stop you anyway.

- No proper coffee on board so they don't step on starbuck's overpriced toes.

- Children not allowed to sit at bars even when they also ordered a drink, but they're allowed to stand there.

- Bad communication. We weren't informed of any shuttle services until the day we were in port. We were told we weren't allowed to bring alcohol back on board from excursions but it turns out we could, we just had to surrender it till the end of the cruise. We were given multiple conflicting instructions on how to retrieve said surrendered alcohol. 

- Some ports of call were disappointingly far from the major cities advertised (eg Le Verdon and Bordeaux).

- Cancelled an excursion without informing me.

- Casino was smack dab in the middle of the public area making it annoying to get around if you wanted to avoid the stink of cigarettes.

- The whole thing felt very rushed as they hurried from port to port with only short stop overs at every port.

Wouldn't Sail Again

I have been on quite a few cruises and never had poor enough experiences to feel the need to write a review to inform others of what they might be getting into, until now. With other cruise lines, they personalize your experience and make you feel welcomed aboard like you are part of their family and they have been expecting you. This was not the case with Norwegian. They could NOT care less about who you are or what your needs may be. I traveled with a family member who, unfortunately, has food allergies out of their control. Nowhere on the ship was able to accommodate for this and we were consistently told we should have made arrangements prior to the cruise. However, nowhere on our booking or their website did they explicitly state or disclose we needed to inform them of such allergies. Even though we were limited in menu and dining options, the few choices we did have were a major disappointment. I do not expect much for your average buffet food, but I do expect the food at restaurants on the ship to NOT be the same exact food you find at the buffet, with the same quality as well. 

The poor food was not even half of the problem with this cruise line. Every cruise I have been on has provided passengers with a plethora of activities to keep you busy and enjoying your days at sea, especially if one is unplanned due to port cancellation due to weather conditions. This was not the case for Norwegian, as they provided the same activities every day with staff who were completely unenthusiastic and couldn't even be bothered to at least smile. However, there were some activities which seemed fun and worthwhile, if you paid the extra charge to do them. Activities that were free consisted of sudoku puzzles and basic trivia games, in which half the crew and passengers appeared to be falling asleep at. In addition to charging for onboard activities, they thought it would be best to charge extra service charges to our room. Now, I understand service charges being like tips to the crew members, but they would automatically charge us and try to sneak in some double charges on the same day as well, even if we have been tipping separately the whole time. These service charges can be easily removed if you go up to guest services and simply ask to have them removed. 

Noise was also another problem on this cruise. We were unfortunately stuck with a room on the deck directly below one of their theaters. I am not normally one to go to bed early, especially on vacation, but I do like to get my sleep when I have an early day planned the following morning. This was extremely difficult to do with the loud base, dancing, and music coming from the theater directly above us, where every night they had some performances going until well past midnight. We had complained on multiple occasions and were told there was nothing that could be done about the noise. Luckily, we were able to be moved to a much quieter room, but it was also much smaller. Having activities late into the night on a cruise is a wonderful idea, but if a cruise line is going to do so I expect the walls of the ship to be thick enough to allow their passengers to get some rest in their rooms. 

Last but most certainly not least, was the deceitfulness of the entire trip. The cruise line made it seem like we were porting in or close to some major cities of attraction like Paris, Bordeaux, or Brussels. In fact, we did not port anywhere near these cities and bus rides to get to them were upwards of two hours long! Don't waste your time buying one of their shore excursions either, as they will not give you any time whatsoever to explore the cities. We did a "Paris on you own" shore excursion in which we got to the city by about noon and were told to be back on the bus in two hours to get back to the ship. I understand the importance of being on time to the ports, but we should not be charged a few hundred dollars for not even a half day of exploring the destinations.

Never Faile to DISAPPOINT

I chose this cruise because of the ports it advertised to visit: Paris, Bordeaux, Brussels and Amsterdam, also included Hamburg. Once I booked and tried to get excursions, I was told they were full, no longer available. For Paris, I had to book with an outside travel site because they had nothing available. During the cruise, they canceled on the actual day 3 excursions to Brussels, Hamburg and Amsterdam. We never even made it to the port in Amsterdam. The Captain due to high winds, decided to stay in the middle of the ocean, looping the ship around instead of maneuvering the ship to port. Out of a 10 day European cruise, had to spend 5 days at sea. I wouldn’t have flown to Europe from Miami to spent 50% of my time at sea. Extremely upset and disappointed. Tried to address my concerns at the conclusion of the trip, but I was invalidated. They offered me 10% credit for a future cruise. I am smarter than to book again with NCL. If your interest is to visit ports, then NCL will not be for you. The food was not good. The internet was fair. If you want to stay on the ship, drink and eat mediocre food for a reasonable price then it might be the cruise for you.

False Advertising about Ports/Excursions 

We chose this cruise based on the ports visited. We have cruised many times before but this was our first NCL experience.

We opted for a suite within the Haven which was the best decision we made.

The suite was comfortable and spacious, our butler Bernie was always reachable but not in your face.

We enjoyed the perks such as being escorted on and off the ship, also priority seating and escorting to the theatre. The concierge used the service lifts to move us around the ship without getting stuck in crowds.

NCL is a little unorganised, and the timings at nearly each port changed. The ports were also a little way out of town and shuttles came at a cost. 

When we cruised with Celebrity earlier this year we always docked close to the town or FREE shuttles were provided. However, that cruise was a completely different price range to NCL - I think this is just a case of "you get what you pay for"

The Haven - its fabulous. It really is a ship within a ship. We had a lovely bar where the bar tenders knew your name and favourite tipple from day 1. The restaurant was excellent, both food and service (providing a black napkin rather than a white one to match my dress was a thoughtful touch) One small niggle was the menu did not change for the whole cruise. Prime rib, Lamb and Lobster were on menu so it really was only a very minor niggle.

NCL Main Ship - we did try to make an effort to go out and see the rest of the ship. There was always a lot going on and I'm sure our kids would have loved the high ropes and water slides. We did visit the buffet but didn't eat there. It was busy but there seemed plenty of food. 

All in all we had a fab holiday but this was down to being in the Haven. Once the door closes behind you are very reluctant to leave!

NCL Haven Suite

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