Our cabin was small but comfortable. There was a problem with the heat, it was either too hot or too cold, we finally decided on cold and slept with extra blankets. Our cabin steward Tutu kept it clean for us, and made sure we had ice water everyday as requested. The first day of the cruise we were served drinks on the pool deck, and the waiter had his hand out for a tip. My understanding is that tipping is not required (we did the pre-tipping). I don’t mind tipping at all, but this seemed out of line for NCL. The last night of the cruise, the service in the Palace restaurant was EXTREMELY slow and our food was cold. My steak was over cooked (I requested rare and got well done) but I didn’t want to wait for another one. I have no complaints about the server himself. The shore excursions were wonderful and we really enjoyed them. The prices for the most part are reasonable. Almost every person we came in contact with was friendly. I did have one occasion where I couldn’t find my room key card and the person letting us off the boat got very impatient and rude with me. I found it stuck in my passport. We enjoyed the entertainment on the ship. We had no problems getting on or off the ship. For the most part, I really love NCL. I had a cruise planned this week but had to back out due to a severe foot injury. My roommate (who is a travel agent and also a Cruise Critic) was able to flip another friend in my place. I have a cruise planned in Oct to Russia/Estonia/Finland/Sweden/Germany for my husband and I for our 25th Anniversary. We are paying to stay in the Haven, and believe me, I will be watching everything there too and writing about it on Cruise Critics. My biggest complaint is the internet. It doesn’t work half the time, and when my roommate requested assistance, she was treated like she was an idiot, and the people were not helpful at all. That was disturbing. I want to give a shout out to Tutu, he is a hardworking man. We left money in the room and he didn’t touch it. I also accidentally left the safe open one day, and he did not touch the money in there. We left him a nice extra tip as a thank you for being honest and hardworking. Also a shout out to the entertainment director who was very pleasant when we ran into him, and the gentleman who was working in the cruise next office. He was extremely friendly and helpful. All of our wait people were awesome in the restaurant the Palace. We ate there out of convince almost every night because it was close to our room and we liked it. Other than the one night when the service was slow and the food was cold, the food was delicious and the service was excellent. The Garden Cafeteria had a nice selection of food when we were in there. We did try to book meals at the other restaurants, but they were completely booked. Overall, it was a very nice cruise. NCL does a great job with the excursions for Cuba. I was thrilled to be there as my dad was stationed there in the Navy in the early 1950’s and always talked about what a beautiful country it was before Castro. This was my 10th cruise and my 5th with NCL, it’s actually my favorite cruise line. I plan on booking more cruises over the next several years. Other than the few small complaints I had, NCL does a wonderful job. Read Less

Aboard the Norwegian Sky, you are likely to find inconsistencies in guest service which in turns feels like Horrible Guest Service. The Buffets lack a variety of choices of food daily/the same foods are served on the buffet for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with little to no change every day. The late arrival in Key West causes many excursions to be closed for the day and pre-booked excursions that feel rushed because of the late arrival. The late arrival also causes all guest rushing to disembark the ship all at once which causes all guest to wait in long lines for several hours before actually getting off the ship. Don't hold your breath if you need something from housekeeping, it will be a hit or miss if you actually get it...The daily entertainment and activities are mediocre at best. On the other-hand, the complimentary fine dining options and open seating/dining times are great. I would recommend choosing a different cruise line with a similar itinerary. It would not only be worth your money, but worth your vacation! Read Less

This was our 5th cruise on NCL, the 4 previous have been cruises in Europe. We took this shot cruise with family as it went to Cuba. We had a third in our cabin and it was ridiculously crowded as the sofa when made into a bed blocked access to the bathroom from the main bed! I would tell anyone to avoid a third in a cabin on this ship (SKY)!!!! There is no way the third person in the cabin should be charged full price, at least then it might make the cabin cost more appropriate. Cost/day was relatively high which I attribute to alcohol included and going to Cuba. Service in the main dining was extremely slow...over 2 hrs for a dinner; some nights up to 2.5 hrs. Not sure why; we did complain and it got slightly better. Seems some of the servers were new/not well trained. Food was OK (not as good as our other NCL cruises). Not sure if this cruise is an indication of declining service and poor cabins (not by specific choice but chosen by itinerary/value, all our other NCL cruises were on the Jade so hard to compare to the other NCL ships). If it wasn't for the opportunity to travel with extended family I would have been very disappointed in the cruise. We have taken over 15 cruises with 6 different cruise lines and this was by far the most disappointing. I will probably stay away from NCL in the future unless fantastic value/itinerary offered Read Less

While they did a good job of refurbishing most of the ship this year, there still seems to be a problem in some cabins with an ammonia-like smell, and some parts of the showed the obvious age of the ship (like the rust on the corners of the bottom threshold of the bathroom). I had an inside cabin, and I spoke with several who had a similar cabin on this cruise and they all reported the same thing. While the food and entertainment were acceptable, they seemed a bit below the typical I've experienced on 5 other NCL cruises. I did not pay for any of the specialty restaurants so I can not offer any comment about them. The Crossings and the Palace restaurants were generally about the quality that you normally get on NCL ships in these dining rooms. The buffet seemed a little sub par for buffets on NCL, and was about half the size I usually see on ships about this size. The best reason to go on the Sky is the itinerary. Having the opportunity to go to Havana, and on this particular sailing have two days there, made it all worthwhile. Read Less

We chose this cruise because the Norwegian Sky departs beautiful Miami, so we took the opportunity to stay in Miami several days before and after our cruise. Fun city! We liked the itinerary for this particular cruise because it enabled us to be in Cuba for two days and a night. We also liked this itinerary because we went to Key West and Norwegian's island for a day. We are used to more entertainment on the ship, however, because the cruise was only for 5 days I understand that there wouldn't be as many choices. The comedian on board was funny, and the dancers were excellent. Some of the shows were too similar. I guess I am used to more variety. The service was outstanding, just as all the other Norwegian cruises we have been on. The employees work very hard pleasing everyone, and they succeed! We also thought the food was very good! Read Less

This was my 7th or 8th cruise, and I have previously sailed on the Sky before. We choose this cruise for the extended stay in Cuba, which was the main focus of our trip. We traveled with extended family most of whom had never cruised before. Overall, I would rate our experience as very good. Our cabin was clean and more than adequate for our needs. Our steward, Christopher, was excellent and very attentive. He and his team were constantly visible and very hard working. The food was quite good overall, the buffet better than some I have experienced in the past. It should be noted that reservations need to be made in the main dining rooms if you don't want to wait for a table. This was something we didn't realize until after the first night when we had to wait an hour for a table. Once we understood the system, making reservations was very easy, especially if you download the NCL app. Couple of clicks on your phone and you are all set. With the reservation we were able to get right in at our requested time with ease. Main dining room food was very good and the service excellent. I would agree with some other reviews that mention a more varied selection might be a good thing though. The open bar can't be beat, and the quality of the cocktails were very good. The main pool bar occasionally had short lines, but most other bars were easily accessible with little wait. The ship is smaller, but easy to get around and has a lot of pleasant areas to gather. There were no bad smells that we experienced anywhere, in fact the only smell that I remarked on was the smell of new carpeting and the recent updating was apparent and all very nice. We did not attend many of the shows or activities, but what we did go to was entertaining and well done. In regards to the ports: Great Stirrup Cay was lovely, and a pleasant way to start vacation. The island is accessed by tender. The process was easy both going to and returning from the island. We rented rafts and enjoyed the beach and floating in the sea with view of the ship in the distance. When returning the crew offered cool towels and fruit Popsicles, which were a welcome treat after a hot day on the beach. Key West was an absolute fiasco start to finish. When we booked our cruise the Key West stop was advertised as 3 am - 10 pm, which was another reason we were drawn to this particular cruise. That is a very long time in port and we were looking forward to exploring Key West at a leisurely pace throughout the day. I am not sure when the itinerary changed, but we were not aware, until our second day on board, that we were not going to arrive at Key West until 3:30 pm with departure still at 10 pm, effectively cutting 12 hours from our stay in port. We were disappointed, but what can you do....gotta roll with the punches sometimes. The ship actually arrived in Key West closer to 4 pm, and it was at that point that chaos ensued. All passengers were required to see the customs agents before disembarking and with time off ship so limited, everyone was trying to get off all at once. The result was a line of epic proportions that wound its way from the front of the ship to the mid-deck atrium. The worst thing about it was the utter lack of information or direction from the ships crew to the passengers waiting in line. No announcements, no visible crew members etc. We stood in line from about 3:30 until close to 5 pm when we finally got off the ship. Only one NCL crew member was effectively directing and interacting sympathetically with the passengers who were by this time pretty frustrated. Her name was Gabrielle and if you are reading this Norwegian, you should promote her toot sweet! Once off, those who had not booked tours with Norwegian were out of luck as most attractions including the hop on and off trolley tours closed at 5 pm. Key West itself is a beautiful and vibrant destination, which we came away from wanting to revisit with a few days to explore all that it has to offer. Cuba was amazing! Disembarking in Cuba was a much simpler process than we expected, especially after the difficulty in Key West. We were able to get through customs, security and exchange our money within 15 minutes, and found ourselves in Havana with 45 minutes to spare before we were scheduled to meet our guide. We booked a tour with Cubaoutings and I can not say enough positive things about our experience. We had dedicated driver (Javier) and guide (Olevis) throughout the day who customized our tour based on what we were interested in seeing and doing. It is a little unfortunate that Norwegian focuses only on 'group people to people' travel to Cuba, making those who fail to do their own research feel as if the Norwegian excursions are their only option. We had an amazing Cuba experience for less than half of what we would have paid going through the cruise line. After touring via classic car and on foot, a delicious lunch at a 'paladares' (home based restaurant), visiting a cigar factory, Hemingway's favorite haunts and so many other fascinating stops we were brought back to the ship to rest, change, eat and drink a bit before meeting our guide and driver once again to see some of the city at night and attend a show at the Tropicana, after which we were once again delivered back to our ship. On our second day we had nothing booked and simply got off the ship and walked to a street in Havana that our guide had directed us to the previous day to shop a bit and enjoy lunch before returning to the ship by 4:30 pm. Disembarkation back in Miami was a breeze. Overall, the little hiccups aside, this was an amazing trip which I would highly recommend to anyone who has the opportunity to go. Read Less

Our cabin was very clean and comfortable. "Jake " was our stateroom attendant, and he was very accommodating. He made us a monkey to hang in our room. We love the "freestyle" cruise idea. The drink package was great, except water was not included. That should be included no matter what package you choose. We received flyers promoting massages. However, when we checked out the prices at the spa, we were told our information was not correct. The spa charges were higher! That was disappointing! Our dining experiences in the "Crossings" and "Palace" rooms were very nice. However, we were not served any lobster. And, our beef strips were fatty with a lot of gristle. Our waiter, Bryan Wilson, was a delight! He was upbeat and very attentive. Our Key West excursions had to be cancelled due to arriving later in the afternoon. We left the cruise ship after 5:00 and had to be back onboard by 9:30 pm. Our number one complaint was the LBGT people reserving the best bar and lookout area at "Spinnakers" for their private parties! We were there twice and our party of eight was asked to leave! THAT IS NOT RIGHT! With over 2,000 passengers onboard, how did this group manage to block the straight guests and why? More entertainment was needed in the "Stardust Theater." Our favorite bartenders were Anita and Giselle. And, our best waiter around the pool deck was Anthony Mendoza. He was exceptional and always smiling! We booked our Cuban excursion through "Trip Advisor." We did the "I Love Cuba Tour" where our guide, Damien, used one of our SD chips and he took photos for our group while visiting the sights. We were in an air-conditioned van for 3-4 hours, then we were in a 1956 Buick convertible for another 1-2 hours. We topped off the tour with a stop at "Casa Fuster" and then a cigar and rum store. This cost half of what NCL was charging! Read Less

5 day cruise out of Miami: Great Stirrup Cay- Key West- over night in Havana. I am a seasoned cruiser with 15 cruises under my belt. NCL is easily my least favorite cruise line. After my first cruise with NCL I vowed never again. After this cruise I can assure you NEVER AGAIN. Customer service is a joke. The lines getting off the boat especially Key West was beyond ridiculous. People spent 2+ hours of their “Key West” day trying to get off the boat. I did experience the “bad smell” on the boat but I could get over it. Someone on deck 8 down the hall from us was complaining about as we walked by. Food was okay. Service was okay. Entertainment was sub par. My biggest complaint is... if this is your job, if this is what you do every day why is it so hard to organize where and when people are to be moved on and off the ship. Disembarkation for Key West didn’t happen until 5pm for most people and back on board by 9:30... Also, being an alcohol included cruise you can totally get the vibe that bartenders just aren’t as into it as other cruises. Over all Great Stirrup Cay, Key West and Havana are amazing each for their own reason. My advice would be to chose another cruise line. Read Less

We chose this cruise because it did a over night in Cuba. All of the stops were great. worse part was they went to Key West before Cuba so we had to go through customs 2 times. should of went to key west first would of saved us lots of time.Do not stay on deck 4 in area of 4219, hallway had a bad mildow order! not really any good show, just singing people. everyone was very nice from staff to people we met on ship. Food not so good. Ship was just updated but you would never know it. Casino was nice. They did away with straws with your drinks, so if you like to use, i would bring hard plastic straws with you to keep reusing. all in all it was fine for what we paid just dont exoect too much, we wanted to go to cuba over night and this worked. Read Less

No, I am not a “one-issue voter.” But barring the LGBT get-together, which was printed on the Day 1 schedule, from taking place so that some other group could monopolize the Spinnaker was waaaay not OK. Really bad, and the “It was a typo” thing just added insult to insult. The 1-1/2 hour (at least) line to get off at Key West was a fiasco and a clinic in inept crowd control. We didn’t much feel like a multi-hour walking tour after that.... Cuba matters were handled reasonably well, though we had to dig a bit for some info about what to do and so on. But complexity surrounding visiting Cuba is hardly NCL’s fault. Still, odd that it was much easier to get into Havana than into Key West :-) Food was very good. No issues there. Our steward was excellent and the cabin suited us perfectly. We did the pay as you go internet and it worked very well. I wish the sauna and steam had a relaxation area attached but hey! this ship is smaller than the Gem and it’s not its fault! So not a disaster (I mean, really, I hope I have some perspective) but to be honest, if this had been our first NCL cruise we would probably have shrugged NCL off and not returned. But we’ve been semi-regulars for several years and we’re rooting for this to have been an anomaly. Read Less