The cabin was extremely cramped. The beds were maybe a foot or two wide with half of one of the beds being covered with a bunk bed. For the price this was expected. Our bathroom toilet stopped working in the room and upon complaining I was told I would have to wait my turn as over two floors did not have working restrooms. We had around 7 rooms between all of our family, all of which had issues. I guess I was the lucky one with a very intermittent toilet issue. Most of my family had a working toilet for only the first day and then had to use public restrooms for the rest of the time. Of course at night they basically shut down all of the public restrooms so a nightly pee break turned into a scavenger hunt. Also someone on the ship was extremely dedicated to urinating into as many restroom cup holders as possible which made for a pretty disgusting atmosphere. My grandma's room flooded due to water pouring from the ceiling. For the inconvenience they offered her a box of chocolates which they never ended up delivering. They awarded everyone $20 back due to not being charged port fees in maztalan. What they failed to mention was that if you had no fees on your room you didn't get the $20 back unless you specifically walked up and asked for it. This was only discovered after asking guest services about the refunds. And yes, you were charged for all of the port fees before the cruise was booked so they should have gave everyone back their money. The shore excursions were hit or miss. My off road mountain biking excurision took place solely on roads which I felt made it a misleading title. The options on the menus were extremely limited. We had a vegetarian in our group who was told she would always have two food options on every menu. The first day there were zero and upon retrying on the last day there was one. On the last day we sat at two tables. The waitress at the one table was top nothing and half our family enjoyed their meal. The waitress at my groups table was slow and kept missing orders. Even though we sat down at the same time, we finished an hour later than the other group. They will nickel and dime you on every last thing they can. A typical alcoholic beverage costs $14. This was expected since it is a cruise, I'm just bringing it up so you can price compare with other cruises and get an idea. Norwegian is significantly higher than other cruises in this regard. All in all we did have fun, even on an aging ship that's falling apart with failing facilities. For the most part they had very friendly staff and we only had issues with two wait staff out of the 20 or 30 webdealt with. Read Less

This was a family vacation and overall we had a lot of fun. We made the best of it even though there was a few downsides. The ship was really cold so we froze in the halls, eating areas and restaurants and we hadn't prepared for the cooler weather as well. We explored all of the ship and enjoyed all the great entertainment which was wonderful. We felt there wasn't a lot for the teens to do. The cabin was smaller than planned we had planned 4 in our cabin but the 4th bed would have been in the middle of the floor which didn't make sense and wouldn't have been convenient so we ended up having one of our sons stay in grandmas cabin. But our housekeeper was amazing and very accommodating. We loved him! The food and service was great in all areas especially in the main restaurants but the service when sitting by pool decks REALLY LACKED. The best service we got was when we were in the 5 O'clock bar there was one server that was always helpful and attentive. When going on vacation you want to be served drinks not have to get up and go wait in line for 10-15 min. to get a drink. I would suggest more servers. We did have a server come by twice in the 2 days the sun was out but it took them 20 min. to bring back our drinks and cards which one time we were given back the wrong card with wrong name. The ports were great and we did one excursion, the prior one was cancelled so we went on a similar it was ok but really was sad we couldn't do the other one. Overall we had fun but will not go on Norwegian cruise line again. Read Less

Arrived a day before embarking. Traveling from Hawaii, it gave us a chance to rest. Stayed at Crowne Plaza which was close to port. Ship information prior to cruise was helpful, but reading review blogs were more useful for packing tips. Getting on the ship was crazy but organized. My son had to use a wheelchair to get on (and off). The staff was wonderful! Preferred to eat at O’Sheehans for our meals. Food was consistently great and the service was, too. Had breakfast at Versailles one morning, and had to wait almost an hour before our food came. Food at the buffet was average. The Asian and Seafood buffet was awful. The Indian buffet was good. Breakfast was better but one of the chefs at the omelette station would overlook them. Desserts were good. Casino was fun, but too smoky, The cashiers were not friendly at all. Not enough waiters on the floor for drinks. Deal or No Deal was expensive and chances of winning anything low. Our family purchased 4 cards, but the numbers were ALL low. Lots of opportunities to get excerise. Evening shows were outstanding! Especially enjoyed the Vegas and Magic shows. The public bathrooms started backing up towards the end of the cruise. The bathrooms in the casino were the worst! They were always messy and doors did not close good. There was water leakage on the floors; slip danger! Had to use Medical Center to store medicine in freezer. They were very accommodating and friendly. Enjoyed the port stops! Disembarking was also crazy with the long line to exit. If we didn’t have my son in a wheelchair, I don’t know how long it would have taken. Overall a good cruise. My sister and niece who were with us said compared to other cruises they had taken (11) the ship was “older” and in need of an overhaul. Read Less

I choose this cruise becasue of the port it left from and the timing of the actual cruise. I had never been on Norwegian but have cruised multiple times before. I have not expereinced the Freestyle cruising that they have and abviously did not do enough exploration into what that meant prior to the cruise. In the end, it was a lack of that knowledge that most likely made this a poor cruise. From the beginning we were asked to upcharge things. The first thing I noticed was a request to "bid" on an upgrade of our stateroom. I did not participate. WE had the option of slecting a package with unlimited adult beverages (which was very nice) , along with either 3 $50 credits for shore excrusions or 3 free meals at the specialty restaurants. Having cruised many times on Princess, where the food in the main dining hall was outstanding, we elected to get the shore excursion credit, thinking we would enjoy the main dinning room as we had in the past. This was a mistake. Freestyle cruising gets you the main dining or other "free" dinning halls. There was a wait for these places as we were not assigned a time for dinner in teh main dining or other free dining halls. The service was poor on most occasions as we had different staff at each meal. The food was marginal and not hot. It was very much like a poor convention type quality food and not gourmet in anyway. One evening we waiting 2 hours to get a table and then we were sat at a bar. Our order was incorrect and service was poor. For that issue, we were offered a "free" meal at one of the specialty restaurants. It was then that we realized THIS is where the food and service one expects from a cruise was occuring. And the cruise line was getting money for the "extra" service that is included in other cruise lines. Room service was limited to just a continental breakfast for "free". Any other items were an extra charge. We were charged for general exercise classes that were no better than the group exercise classes other cruise line offer up on the basketball deck. We could not use the $50 credit one day and that was lost. I would have thought since there were two of us we would have both recieved the credit for the shore excursion but the amount was given to the cabin only and was not transferable. Staff were not always helpful. There were of course those exceptional people that we recognized and thanked, but on the whole I did not feel very welcomed in many places on the ship. There was only one pool and since this was spring break it was overtaken with children. On Princess there was an adult pool which I appreciated. The spa had an indoor space you could purchase a membership from, much like on other cruises but it was all enclosed without any deck area outside. The ship is old. The chairs in the spa waiting room were worn and had holes in them. The stateroom also needed updating with a small poor TV and a worn out sofa couch. T The shore excursion I took were some of the best I have had. I went on a true sailing vessle in PV and did mountain biking near the coast in Cabo. I did not find anything to my liking in Mazatlan. The spa services were good but expensive. They had a sliding scale that was a little hard to follow. I signed up early inthe cruise but should have waiting for specials offered as the cruise went on. I also purchased some product and one of the vials of lotion was dried up and empty - now what do I do? It was $55! The stage entertainment was very good however the small bar entertainment was dated and second rate in comparison. The one gathering place for may events that the cruise staff hosted was old, dark, dated and cold. Becasue of that I did not participate in those events like trivia, bingo etc. The casino was smoke filled and again old. Shopping was limted and not worth the time. There wasnt much in the ship store to buy and the other area had limited supplies (my purume was not carried by the store for instance). Most of the public restrooms had only one stale working - all others were out of order. The web site infomration prior to the cruise was not helpful and hard to navigate. Both myself and my friend could not find a packing list or what to print before the cruise. We therefor showed up without luggage tags or even knowing our room assignment. I would not recommend this ship or this cruise line in the future. Read Less

We chose this cruise because our friends were planning on this trip. The public bathrooms were horrible - always at least one stall out of order. This was common in all the bathrooms. The fitness room was well equipped. However, I took a fitness class and the instructor did not show up and a replacement came 15 minutes later. I was overcharged for a "manager's special" at the Spa. The service in the dining rooms was slow and the servers require more training. Dirty plates were left in front or us while they cleaned empty tables next to us. They changed the itinerary for the ports without telling us in advance. This may have been a problem for those who had shore excursions not booked through the ship. Entertainment was adequate. They need to put the karaoke entertainment in a bigger bar - the 5 o'clock bar was way too small. The shows were fun. For the money, this cruise was okay but as a veteran cruiser, this ship has a long way to go before it reaches "excellent" status. Read Less

Let me start by saying I LOVE CRUISING and HAVE LOVED almost everything on all cruises I have been on. I have cruised over a dozen times on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, MSC, Holland America, Princess, etc. This was our first (AND LAST) NCL cruise. I chose this ship and itinerary because the cruise date coordinated with school vacation and it departed LA. I chose it, unfortunately, in spite of poor reviews of the ship. And those poor reviews were so correct! The ship is old, poorly designed and completely lacking in comfort: no comfortable lounges (ie, nowhere to sit in Atrium except in small and uncomfortable Java cafe), small and noisy bar areas (ie, 5 O'Clock somewhere) etc. From the moment we stepped aboard in San Pedro (port of LA) we saw terribly worn, dirty and tattered carpeting and upholstery. The first impression of the Atrium and then the Market Cafe was not good and the disappointment continued from there on. For the most part our cabins were OK - except for one balcony cabin that had a balcony door that didn't close properly and wind whistled through all of the time. The bathrooms on interior and balcony cabins were fine and the showers were comparable or better than on most lines. The mattress was the most uncomfortable we have had on any cruise. One of our cabins (Interior 5087) was noisy all night (it sounded as if furniture was being moved directly above us all night long). The dining in all venues always seemed chaotic and noisy and extremely slow in some-ie, first night in Versailles. Production shows and technology in shows and games was well executed but it didn't seem the caliber of the show matched the caliber in the execution. Service throughout the ship was adequate but seemed no crew really were enthusiastic (except Jose, on Cruise Director staff). Read Less

The embarkation and disembarkation were smooth. Cabin was clean and kept clean throughout the cruise to the Mexican Riviera. The ship was always being worked on, cleaning and painting was continuing throughout our cruise. Dining was fair. The buffet was always crowded and busy. The restaurants on the ship that were included in the price were fair, and only a few of the staff working in the restaurants were exceptional. Many of the crew, who's only job was to help make the cruise exceptional and enjoyable, seemed like they were being put out to serve the passengers. Several of the meals came out wrong three times until the crew who was serving us brought out the correct meal that was ordered. Shows were fun to see and had very good entertainers. The children enjoyed their cruise and were always having fun with some of the crew members. Ports were lovely and we enjoyed our shore excursions. I don't think I would travel on Norwegian again. Old ship and crew was not inviting. Read Less

Choose this cruise because the dates worked for us. First time on Norwegian but 9th cruise. Ship was ok but nothing amazing. Staff were usually friendly. Entertainment staff were ok - Jose was rude and condescending too younger cruisers during bingo - he needs more training. Some constructive to NCL. Your electronic app never matched actual paper copies. In today's age if you can't make it accurate don't offer it. Same on your official pages. O Sheehgans pub on deck did not offer menu items you promoted. But a great concept overlooking Atrium to people watch amd open 24 hours. What we did order was good. Atrium bar did not offer wine as you promoted - even as we cruised. Apparently it was discontinued a while ago. Not a big deal but again wrong info Never met room steward personally until day 3. He did bare minimum. Ladies public bathroooms always broken or onestall out of order or flooded. Our toilet rarely flushed in our cabin. Walls were thinner than other cruise ships for sure. Spinnakers lounge doubles as night club and being one floor above you heard it all. If I have alternative choices I will probably not choose Norwegian again Read Less

this 2 week cruise seemed to be a great deal until... Embarkation was a nightmare....longer lines than ever experienced & we had paid an upgrade fee & were assured at checkin our bags would be delivered properly since our room had changed.NOPE! After hours of waiting around, my husband went to find them himself & brought them to our cabin. We weren't able to get any sleep the first 3 nites of the cruise...a loud banging behind our bed went on constantly & with numerous calls & visits to customer service we were told sorry there was nothing they could do...no rooms available on this huge ship...not one! On the 4th exhaustive day I lost it & insisted someone come take apart the wall if necessary so we could get some needed rest...after all, don't u go on a cruise to relax!?! Finally someone with a brain came to the room, heard the banging & said it was unacceptable of course & miraculously another room appeared....it had to be available all along since we had sailed days earlier but they weren't willing to give it to us until we lost it! Would've been an easy fix! The food was either pretty good or terrible...most of the staff was very nice but not well trained at all...don't think they're paid as well as other cruise lines because the daily service charge is higher than on other ships so they must charge customers more to subsidize that! The drinks were also higher especially for the brands they poured. Overall after paying for beverages & wifi etc the cruise cost more than many we've taken on MUCH nicer ships! They do major maintenance on the ships while sailing so you get all the toxic paint smells while sitting out reading or sunning & even on our balconies! Many of the seats in the theater were broken & could not be used for the shows Read Less

It was the first cruise taken by my mother in law and I and we enjoyed it so much. We did not do any of the shore excursions as we were not sure what to expect. There was plenty to do onboard and at each stop. We will plan for shore excursions next time, but this made for a wonderful first cruise. The crew was amazing, kind, generous and very helpful. We enjoyed most of the food locations. Definitely happy that we decided to get the beverage package, it was truly worth it. The specialty dining packages were amazing as well. If you are looking for savings, purchasing a package would definitely do it for you. Our rooms were small but larger than what we expected for a boat cabin. The only complaint was that the restrooms in the public areas were not all working properly. There were more out of order signs than we would have like to see which caused long wait times or heading back to your room just to use the restroom. Other than that, it was great. Read Less