NCL knew before the Dubai leg of this trip to Cape Town took place , that the Corona Virus would prevent us reaching any ports other than the UAE. and one of them was awful. The Captain did not communicate any useful information to us and on several occasions told lies about what was to take place at each port of call. This is by far the worse cruise we have ever taken on NCL (This was our 16th cruise with NCL) and we will never go on the NCL SPIRIT again it was that bad. The Captain should be sacked and NCL need to hire real officers who are able to communicate with passengers and not hide at key periods of crisis and leave their front of house staff to take the flack from frustrated crowds. The poor German's on board had only one point of contact at the front desk, which caused heated exchanges, again no Officers to inform anyone or Captain to quell the crowds. The Seychelles local paper had already banned ships as did the port authority in Mauritius Madagascar was off right from the start as we got notice of that cancellation two days before the sail date...too late to pull out. Got a series of letters from the ship about Compensation and latterly one online from the CEO of NCL SAYING WE WOULD GET 100% of our money back ( I wonder how long that might take) and how good Mr.Sommer is at keeping his promise????? I understand that the COVID19 caught everyone out , including cruise companies. Miami HQ knew this as all the ship were under pressure and looking for information...our guy must have forgotten to call them to ask what to say to us, but the Captain definitely knew about the depth of the ocean , air temperature , and sea temperature as this was his key information at times of crisis ...no bloody good Inside Cabins were fitted out for four people bunk bed on wall , sofa square seat /fold down bed took up and blocked one side of the bed , so you had to climb over it when leaving or going into the bed, hopeless if you are not fit ...we got ours removed.This breaches all Health & safety guidelines that I know from my experience of Hotel management. Cabin staff were very good Children's activities were awful and consisted of the pool, only that went out of action for days...so colouring in was the activities DO NOT BRING CHILDREN ON THIS SHIP Read Less

Overall Summary: - Despite the extraordinary complication noted below, we would be glad to sail on the NCL Spirit in the future. Although we did not visit all ports, we believe this is a great itinerary. - Dubai is a great city to explore in advance of embarkation and although we were prevented by local authorities from visiting Cape Town, we had planned five days of exploration and enjoyment. Extraordinary Circumstances - Most fortunately, we departed Dubai with healthy passengers and crew and high hopes for a wonderful cruise. We successfully visited Abu Dhabi, Fujairah and Muscat. The Covid-19 pandemic precluded entry at all other ports (Seychelles, Reunion, Mauritius and all in S. Africa). - Resupply of the ship was impacted by rejection at several ports. Ship Captain & Leadership - The Captain's poor and insufficient communication was undoubtedly affected by unprecedented pandemic implications impacting the ship's leadership and created excessive and prolonged anxiety amongst passengers during the latter part of the voyage. Ship Condition - Overall, the renovation was very nice. The dining venues, theatre, public areas, bars, etc. reflect a modern and attractive design. - The Promenade deck and upper level are excellent for walking and great views. - All public areas are spacious and comfortable. Inside Cabin Review - Refurbishment is attractive, however storage is limited and the chair/pull-out couch is too big to permit easy movement on one side of the bed. - Bathroom is well-designed and size of shower is excellent. Could use more towel bars and additional airflow into/out of shower (for air drying clothes). Dining (Buffet for Breakfast/Local for Lunch/Taste & Silk for Dinner) - Buffet food selection and quality was quite adequate for breakfast. - Service staff was fabulous at all venues. - "The Local" sit-down restaurant was excellent for lunch and snacks. - "Taste" and "Silk" were very good for dinner. - Desserts were wonderful at all eating venues!!! Best ever on any of our 30+ cruises. Entertainment & Activities - NCL provided top-notch entertainment in the theatre and at bars throughout the ship. - The destination lecturer was excellent. - Library is underwhelming, given ship is designed to primarily cater to adults. - Ship design and features do not cater to children or teens. - Recommend TV be enhanced to provide on-demand selection of movies. Service Staff - Our room attendant, food service throughout the ship, excursion staff and future cruise coordinator were outstanding. Ports & Shore Excursions - We undertook ship excursions in Fujairah and Muscat and were fully satisfied with the quality and value of our excursions. Read Less

My wife and I are seasoned cruisers, having over the last 20 years plus enjoyed 41 previous cruises all around the world. None of them will be remembered so vividly as this one but sadly not for the right reasons. This cruise on the Norwegian Spirit was our 1st with N.C.L. for 18 years, the last time cruising the Hawaiian islands on board the Star. After this experience it will most certainly be our last. As is normal for us we did a pre- cruise stay in Dubai. We really enjoyed our 2 night stay there and then on to the ship. We embarked the Spirit at about 5.30 p.m and went straight to our cabin, we were never offered a Muster drill, which we found odd. From that point things started to go down hill (slowly at first) but boy did it pick up speed. It was only when on board that we learned that Nosy be (Madagascar) had been cancelled. I inquired at the Guest Relations desk if there were to be any more problems en route and was told that they had no information about any more cancellations and indeed to make up for the loss of Madagascar from the itinerary that N.C.L had arranged for us to enjoy an extra stop in the Seychelles. We then settled into our cruise and enjoyed our time in the Emirates looking forward to the lovely Seychelles. After just a few days, remarkably supplies started to either dwindle or even never to be seen again. Orange Juice, Fresh Berries, Lettuce, Mushrooms, various Vegetables, Muesli, Yogurt, Butter and later on this 'LUXURY' cruise ..Milk.. One morning i waited 55 minutes for Muesli to be made, when i complained to the restaurant manager she shrugged her shoulders and just stared at me. Hardly the way to treat a paying guest. It soon became obvious that was to be the N.C.L.way. Drinks also began to run out, White Wines, Beers, Prosecco...etc..etc. As i had paid for a Premium drinks package you may understand that i was not impressed, or too pleased. Add to all this they even had the audacity to remove drinks from all cabin mini bars, but i have since learned that this was not unique to our cruise, as this has been done before on other N.C.L 'LUXURY' Cruises. None of these problems had anything to do with Covid 19, but everything to do with rank bad management. From a container being left port side in Dubai through to a very poor guests relations desk that often erred on rudeness. The word sorry never passed their collective lips...ever. On a brighter note we found the evening shows and other entertainers on the whole were good. Especially one show called Elements, probably the best we have seen at sea. We also found that the waiting staff, bar staff and cleaners all worked hard and tried to remain cheerful throughout this challenging cruise. We were told from the beginning of the cruise that it was a clean ship with no Covid 19 on board. Then why was all the activity equipment removed i.e. ..Shuffleboard..Table Tennis ( unless you had your own bat) ..Football...Basketball..Golf Driving..Library books etc. For the next 16 days at sea with no use of any equipment and ALL stops cancelled this then ceased to be a cruise and had become a sail down the Indian Ocean and an expensive one at that. Then there was the captain. I have no doubts about his seafaring ability but this man was no cruise ship captain. His only communications to the guests throughout this cruise was his daily report on the depth of the sea, longitude and Latitude, positions and the strength of the wind and that was it. We were all waiting with baited breath for some guidance and information from him about our situation. Nothing ever came. All this was adding to the worry and stress that people were starting to feel......Talk about Nero fiddled whilst Rome Burned.... It is of my opinion and that of other guests that N.C,L knew a lot more than we were being told of what was going on. I think it was in their best interest to cynically continue on to Capetown even though they were fully aware as to the rapidly deteriorating situation that was occurring worldwide regarding Covid 19. At the time of writing this, N.C.L.have offered to us a poultry 50% refund from the debacle of this so called LUXURY cruise (cruise cost only)...Rather insulting. The days leading up to our eventual debarkation in Capetown saw our stress levels going off the scale. We were requested to make our own arrangements regarding onward flights and as there was only one telephone made available for some 2,000 passengers to use you can just imagine just how hard and stressful that was. Eventually other phones became available and after spending 6 hours plus in a queue to use one. Other arrangements could then be made ( at some considerable personal financial cost)...All this was in vein as flight after flight was subsequently cancelled. We eventually took a charter flight out arranged by N.C.L.back to the U.K to Gatwick. Only finding out about this flight by word of mouth from other passengers. From Gatwick we arranged at some further considerable cost a car hire back home. A memorable cruise experience indeed....but for all the wrong reasons. Thank you NOT. N.C.L...We will never forget you.... Read Less

We were on the doomed cruise from Dubai, 2nd March to Cape Town. Advertised and highly promoted as the cruise of a lifetime, visiting UAE, Muscat, Seychelles, Mauritius, Madagascar, Reunion Island and several stops in South Africa. Yes definitely a trip of a lifetime. This was our13th cruise with NCL - was this a sign already? We had heard via our roll call that Madagascar had been removed with an extra stop in the Seychelles instead - great but Madagascar was one of the selling points for us - we had no confirmation from NCL or our TA so don't know why. Obviously speculation was rife with no one knowing why. We then heard that a Princess ship had had problems at Reunion Island on March 1st with the police having to use tear gas after tour buses were pelted with stones. It also reported that the Sun Princess had been refused entry to Madagascar on 13th February - the day before NCL announce no Madagascar for us, so both these incidents before we had even boarded. Nothing was said on board about change of itinerary, just the usual pushing of tours. We had the visits to Abu Dhabi, Fujairah and Muscat with time changes but no explanations. On the first sea day we had our M&G with fellow passengers and officers and the Captain - yes - the Captain- he did exist. He spoke a bit then gave the mike to Armando, the General Manager, and left. Armando introduced all the staff and made sure we knew who to contact or by all means stop and talk to whilst on board - he should be a comedian - they were harder to find than Where's Wally when it hit the fan!! Armando then opened the floor to questions, a lady wanted to thank everyone on board for all they were doing to make sure the ship was clean and healthy for us us and that was well received by everyone. I then raised my hand ... I did say it was not a criticism in any way but the elephant in the room .... Madagascar, I explained that we do not and still dont know why it was removed from the itinerary - can I ask why .. the reply... 'we don't know, it came from head office' and that was it, he just shut me down and went on to the next question. You're not telling me that the Hotel Manager had not been told the reason.... but then that seems to be how the rest of the cruise went on so why should we be surprised. Before arrival at the Seychelles we went through the farce of having our temperatures taken, forms filled in, picking our passports up to go ashore and then surprise surprise they wont let us dock - but we can have 25% cash back and FCC off future cruise oh and $200 non refundable per cabin - is that the port taxes and charges we paid CASH for that we didn't visit and haven't been refunded yet? A memo from NCL dated 13th March was sent to the passengers who were staying on for the next cruise to say it was cancelled and what they were being offered. It also said 'Guests on voyages that are underway will conclude and guests will be disembarked as soon as possible and assisted with travel arrangements' bearing in mind this was dated 13th March, so why, as far as we were concerned, still going to Reunion & Mauritius from the 14th. We were then told we're not going to Reunion or Mauritius, now going straight to Cape Town, another letter delivered to our cabins with another money back and FCC offer and that we're docking in Cape Town on 22nd - this was always our arrival date so what happened to 'disembarking as soon as possible' and let's not even go there with the 'assistance with travel arrangements' really dont know if this was a cruise of a lifetime or a cruise of a different joke every day- if it was a film you wouldn't believe it. So many things were so wrong, so many questions unanswered. • Where was the Captain and the rest of his 'Officers' when you couldn't get near Reception desk - where were they hiding? • Why had we been bobbing round the Indian Ocean at a snail's pace then suddenly he hit the pedal hard, especially in the rough seas? ... did hear that was what caused the damage in Spinnakers, we also heard an almighty crash at 3 a.m. • Why was there no communication about what was happening? The lack of communication from start to beginning was disgraceful! • Why couldn't you get a straight answer? • They had the perfect opportunity at the Latitudes party to address some of the questions but the Captain couldn't even be bothered turning up for that ... he was busy ... doing what?? Oh I know - measuring the depth of the water - because that's all he ever told us on his midday talk and then just in case we never heard it, Alvin the CD would repeat it all. • Why had we run out of supplies so early in the cruise but they could waste so much food by serving it cold. We went for breakfast in the buffet at 11, I had 2 poached eggs, cold, so I took them back, an officer asked what was wrong, I explained they were cold, he tapped his watch and said what do you expect coming this time ... it 11.15 by this time, I just stood there dumbfounded, he took them off me and I went for more toast and 2 more eggs that he had ordered for me, got back to my seat .. they had steam coming off them, cut into them - cold, all the 'chef's had done was take 2 already poached eggs out of the bain marie, dropped them in boiling water and straight onto my toast. The officer walked past me and looked, I just said that it was a waste of time and food was still cold, again, he tapped his watch and said it is nearly closing and I came down late, I explained I had to wait to be served tea, toast then the eggs so not exactly late late ... thought this was Freestyle, he was standing over me arguing/telling me off, great example for the rest of the crew to see. My husband was raging and put a complaint in to Armando, who answered with a letter saying F&B Manager will be in touch to ensure it was 'a cruise to remember' - yep - still waiting. • The fiasco of getting flight information off us - who puts letters outside cabins when most people are either out or asleep in their cabins asking for flight details and saying they had to be at reception by 10 a.m. next morning - the stress and anguish this caused some people was totally unnecessary. The letter had an extra paragraph stating passengers would need to have flights out of Cape Town on the 22nd, the day of arrival. The ship had offered 1 hour free internet and a time limited phone call as their assistance for onward travel. We received an e-mail from our TA informing us firstly that NCL had told them not to make any changes to our flights, then a second e-mail to tell us they were re-booking our flights. A third e-mail arrived with new flights details attached, the internet was so poor the attachment could not be opened. • Then told labels would be distributed and luggage out by midnight. My husband went back to our cabin at 10 p.m. labels still not there, we eventually got them at 11.15p.m. after joining the queue at reception for people waiting to pick up their labels. Got back to our cabin, labels were there, totally different colour & time to what we had been given - you couldn't write this! • But the biggest question .... why did we sail when NCL knew there were problems in Seychelles, and Reunion Island putting us all in potential danger from angry residents • I personally don't think NCL have done themselves any favours by letting this cruise go ahead, no amount of PR is going to get them out of the way they carried on. • Bad decisions - Bad management - Bad Leadership from Head Office - Bad Leadership by the Ship's Senior Staff Would I have been disappointed if they had cancelled this cruise? - yes but at least I wouldn't have known how bad they were handling a situation or treating their customers. Would I sail with them again? - I honestly don't know, we have cruise credits but just dont know. I know there are a lot of die hard NCL Cruisers out there who have already booked to go on similar itineraries for next year and that is entirely their right but I dont see where NCL have earned my loyalty on this occasion to contemplate going so soon. Whilst we were on the cruise we never heard once from NCL but we had emails from Princess & P&O letting us know as valued customers, what was happening with their cruises and the future and thank you for bearing with us - wasn't much to some but meant more than anything NCL did - they could learn a lot from Princess. On a positive note - the crew were AMAZING Read Less

This should have been our trip of a lifetime, my retirement gift. Despite being informed of most port closures, NCL took the decision to set sail. From day 1 the cruise went downhill - despite having just come out of dry dock following a 100million dollar refurbishment, the ship had maintenance issues. Ceilings falling in, public toilets not finished, stateroom bathroom facilities missing to name a few. This was advertised as a 20 night luxury cruise - what a joke!! The ship was under provisioned from the onset having left full containers in UAE. After day 4 we never set foot on dry ground until we reached Cape Town, 16 days later during which we ran out of vital food and drink. The captain was invisible throughout the cruise apart from being the voice behind the daily bulletin informing us how deep the sea was and what speed the ship was traveling at. NCL were informed of the refusal of some ports to allow us to dock, sadly they kept the passengers in the dark. What should have been a wonderful cruise turned into a nightmare and all due to NCL not doing the right thing by it's passengers and cancelling the cruise. Read Less

Was to be a holiday of a life time. Well its one we won't forget. Although the outbreak of corono virus around the world the lack of information from the invisible captain was shocking. People were scared and frightened. It need not have been like that. The ship should nor have sailed outbreak at reunion island 1st march should have led to a decesion that we should have not set sail on the 2nd. Truly outrageous that it happened. We floated around the Indian ocean for days. If you are a vegetarian as I am dont go. There is no decent food for you apart from breakfast. Most is lukewarm whatever you eat. The staff are lovely and entertainment is OK. However public places were freezing cold due to us being told it would kill the virus. The virus is and was bad but no information is appalling. A company is only as good as when things go wrong are made bearable or put right. In this case is was awful and would not trust them them again. Read Less

We choose this cruise due to ports of call. But firstly, the CC editor needs to reevaluate this ship. Especially: ‘Bottom Line Excellent value for the high quality of food, service and itineraries’. What a joke! The food onboard was abysmal. Even after leaving Dubai it was virtually the same everyday and got worse as it went on. In the Garden Buffet after day ten you really had to like either chick peas or lentils ‘cause that was the only salad available. The hot breakfast was the only item/s they weren’t short on. No milk, no fruit, no other salad items and no information. $100k refurbishment? I couldn’t see it. Our ceiling had odd panels, bent and held with screws. Lovely new TV...a few $’s more would have made a hell of a difference with a larger one and a better ‘one demand’ content. Tables settings in main dining rooms, prior to implementing sanitising, were never done and poor service only added to the problem. Most staff looked like it was their first day on the job. If you had a drinks package, requests for one was often ignored or your choice unavailable, again even after a few days out. I guess a case of ‘we have your cash, but you can’t have anything’. Where do I stop...I’m sure there are plenty of reviews on this 20 day ‘Exotic Expedition’.. 20 days.. 3 ports? No information whatsoever. Read Less

This was to be the cruise of a lifetime but now it will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. Even before we embarked, the itinerary had been changed. It was only when I contacted a tour company in Madagascar that I found out that Madagascar had been taken off the itinerary. No communication from NCL, though they were quick enough to send communications about booking tours! Little did we know as we sailed from Dubai that passengers on another cruise ship were being attacked by locals on Reunion Island as a result of fears of Covid-19. By the time Norwegian Spirit sailed for Abu Dhabi, NCL management should have been aware of this and the deteriorating situation along the line of our itinerary. Within a few days, we were already running out of wine and draft beer. A few days more and other provisions began to disappear - muesli, butter, milk, orange juice, pineapple juice, salads, fresh fruit, chicken, fresh vegetables. We wondered how this could happen so early on in a trip. Later, staff scavenged mini bars to supplement the disappearing wines. Food from other restaurants on the ship was requisitioned for the main eateries. The published menus grew shorter each day as the cruise developed with clearly adapted dishes being added to make up for the lack of fare. Meanwhile, all remaining destinations were dropped from the itinerary. Little to no information was given by the captain, who seemed happier to tell us the depth of the sea and the wind speed than what was happening to our cruise. He might as well have been an imaginary figure as he was never spotted round the ship. In fact, he didn’t even turn up to the cocktail party for repeat cruisers. Perhaps he knew what reception he would face? Guest services was just as bad as the captain in giving information. They refused to answer questions, obfuscated, and were downright disrespectful at times. Bar and restaurant staff were great, however, doing their best to make up for the rapidly deteriorating cruise experience. By the time we reached our final destination of Cape Town, we just wanted to be off the ship. By this time, passengers had taken matters into their own hands, holding meetings by nationality and contacting senators, MPs and other officials in their own countries. We were allowed into Cape Town harbour but not off the ship until we could be bussed directly to the airport. More NCL-created confusion followed as misleading information was issued at times too late to take action. Some people were left at Cape Town airport for an entire day till their flight took off. Some were told at the last minute to pack and get off the ship and bussed directly from the ship to the back of the airport without going through immigration and health controls. Others took three days to get back to the UK, on three different flights and to the wrong destination airport. We have been greatly let down by NCL. NCL knew Madagascar was closed to cruise ships from 13th February. Their risk assessment team will have warned them about the deteriorating situation worldwide as a result of COVID-19 and the effect this was having on the ports on the cruise itinerary of Norwegian Spirit. This intelligence that should have led them to cancel the cruise. It looks as if Norwegian may have been involved in a major deception in order to cheat the passengers of Norwegian Spirit cruise of 2nd March 2020 – the day that a riot against cruise passengers took place on Reunion Island, something that had been brewing for some time. They would have known that future cruises would be cancelled and would have wanted to hang on to the monies that we had already paid. Norwegian did not meet the planned itinerary on eight separate occasions. Further, as stated above, there were severe and obvious shortages of provisions, meaning that in addition to the itinerary being curtailed, the other aspects of the cruise that we contracted from NCL were not delivered – salads, fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, cereals, milk, the published menu, draft beer, numerous wines, etc, etc - everything that might reasonably be expected on a cruise of this nature, price and reputation. In other words, NCL failed to deliver what they advertised. It was not COVID-19 that ruined our holiday. It was NCL who failed to cancel the trip when it was clear that it could not be delivered as advertised and then went on to make a bad situation worse. We have been offered a 50% refund by NCL. This is laughable. The cruise should never have gone ahead. The stress created, and added to, by NCL merits a 100% refund and additional recompense to make up for the stress that NCL created. It seems that Norwegian Cruise Lines and their new CEO find it difficult to learn lessons. So, I will never sail with this cruise line again. Read Less

We booked a cruise from Dubai to Cape Town on the Norwegian Spirit because it had an interesting itinerary but, after just 3 stops, we ended up with 16 consecutive days at sea. During embarkation we were disappointed to learn that the stop at Nosy Be, Madagascar, had been cancelled but an alternative call at La Digue, Seychelles was scheduled. A few days later, stops at the Seychelles, Mauritius and Reunion were also cancelled and passengers were then informed that excursions to Richards Bay and Port Elizabeth, in South Africa, had also been cancelled. NCL clearly knew that we would not be stopping but did not have the decency to admit it. Throughout the cruise, the Captain and Cruise Director, Alvin, remained in hiding and Alvin was only ever seen after show time in the theatre. Alvin’s announcements were clear, unlike the Captain, but contained no relevant information until we eventually started to dock at Cape Town. Communication was abysmal with no announcements to inform passengers that ports were being closed and we had to rely upon gossip and the occasional randomly distributed note to discover what was happening. It soon became evident that insufficient provisions had been taken on board initially and basic items, like fruit juice and vegetables started to run out after just a few days. We had paid £250 each for a Premium Drinks Package but most dry white wines and various spirits had run out after 4 or 5 days. Food in the speciality restaurants was excellent initially but we had an abysmal meal in Cagney’s towards the end of the cruise. Cagney’s is supposed to be a steak house but had no decent steak or vegetables left. After a few days, service in Windows restaurant had deteriorated to the point where it took 1½ to 2 hours for a mediocre meal, so we were obliged to use the busy Garden Café buffet instead. Protections against the Coronavirus clearly contributed to delays but the waiters were going around empty handed. Service in the cramped Taste restaurant was better than Windows. The refurbished ship looked good, apart from signs of work still in progress and ongoing plumbing issues. However, part of the ceiling in the Spinnaker lounge collapsed resulting in overcrowding elsewhere for several days, whilst major repairs were in progress. Our tiny inside cabin (10067) was extremely noisy, with constant banging from the adjacent service area throughout the night. This may be due to the ship’s age but is totally unacceptable and should have been investigated. Fortunately, there were no infected passengers on board, after 16 days of isolation at sea. It was, therefore, an absolute disgrace for NCL to take us to the airport 7 hours before our flight, which exposed everybody travelling to an avoidable and unacceptable risk. Clearly NCL has total disregard for passenger safety, which was also evident from their shambolic emergency drill on the open deck. NCL initially credited each cabin with 200 USD on board credit and later promised a 50% refund, which has yet to materialize. NCL’s offer of 75% off a future cruise, which is currently conditional upon starting the cruise before 2 March 2021, is a worthless gesture as passengers are still likely to be at risk. A window of at least 2 years would seem more reasonable for any passengers still willing to travel with NCL. We had cruised with NCL back in 2002 and said “never again” but gave them a second chance, as we liked the itinerary. Having enjoyed many cruises with Princess since then, we felt NCL’s entertainment and speciality dining was excellent but in all other respects, including food, Princess Cruises is so much better. To finish on a positive note, we would like to thank the cheerful, hard-working crew who are, presumably, still stuck on board and compliment the resident entertainers for some excellent shows. Read Less

Currently floating around the Indian Ocean a sport after port cancels our ability to land. The crew are not handling this at all well. God knows where and when we shall land. We were asked for a health check so as to land at the Seychelles. The instructions were for half the passengers to turn up at the same time to the disco. Absurd decision. Chaos ensured as queues formed haphazardly and no staff visible at all. Tempers exploded due to the lack of organisation. The cruise directors overall communication is woeful and he treats the passengers as village idiots when most of us are not. They refused to accept my partners credit card because it was a shared account and had same numbers as mine. As such I had to sign for everything. Absurd policy no one could explain. Other gripes. 1. The coffee is a international disgrace. Any non American expects better and the only option is over priced Starbucks that is not included in any package. For goodness sake. Hire some baristas and get some decent coffee underway. 2. You have to pay for water !!!!! I have stayed in thousands of hotels, shops, resorts etc and never had that before. Filling water bottles even via glasses resulted in being jumped upon. 3. Not sure why the adult pool only has half a metre of water in it. I realise most of the guests are over 65 but they can still stand up!! 4 The guest service staff on the front desk need to be tripled in number and have some lessons in client service. Attitude needs to be improved That said the cabin and most of the restaurant staff are terrific. Cabins fine. Gym fine (more stretching mats please) . Entertainers have been excellent. Read Less

This cruise was supposed to visit Athens and Rhodes before going through the Suez Canal. Due to the refurbishment of the ship in Marseilles running over time, NCL cancelled the Mediterranean part of the cruise, and offered those who had booked a full refund if they wanted to cancel, or a 25% refund plus a 25% off voucher for a future cruise if they decided to go ahead with the trip. We did the latter, and enjoyed the cruise, but the refund plus voucher has not materialised, despite attempts to contact NCL. We booked the cruise through a travel professional company, but they say they haven't received any monies from NCL, and therefore are not in a position to pay us the refund. The refurbishment of the ship was not completed in dry-dock, so workmen were still working on the ship all through the cruise. The service was excellent except for the continuous queues at Customer Service, the food was very good, especially Le Bistro and Onda, but the bars were'n't as sociable as on some previous cruises - I thought the 'pub' was going to be great, but it was overwhelmed with karaoke and singers - pubs are for talking, especially in Ireland! We didn't use the entertainment. We especially liked the stern pool, mainly because it didn't have loud music! We did enjoy he cruise, especially the opportunity to visit Jerusalem, but the non-payment of the promised refund leaves a sour taste: I don't think I would sail with NCL again! Read Less

We booked this cruise 18 months before the sail date. The itinerary was great and included many bucket list places for us. Several months after we booked, we found out the ship was going into a major renovation/dry dock. We debated canceling but the itinerary had so many of our bucket list places it was too good to pass up. A few months before sailing, we were advised our 21 day cruise was down to 20 days and leaving a day later. We were given the option of a night in NCL’s hotel or a $300 credit plus we lost a port - Kusadasi. So much for seeing Ephesus this cruise but we stayed with the cruise. 1 day before we were scheduled to leave our home and start our travels, we received another email saying the ship’s departure was delayed another 3 days so we were now on a 17-day Cruise AND we lost 4 more ports of call. We had now lost 50% of our original itinerary with many changes in port times resulting in shortened visits. We were given the option to cancel with no penalty but were able to arrange for extra time in Rome and decided to go for it since we still were going to Israel, Egypt, Oman, Jordan, and UAE. On our travel day there were rumors on Cruise Critic the entire cruise was canceled so more stress but within 2 hours we were able to determine our cruise was still on. Toughest 2 hours I’ve ever spent at an airport! So off to Rome where we had a fabulous time for 6 days. Embarkation day arrives and on check in we are given a cabin different from what we had booked. We were told it was an upgrade. Huh? We were booked in a DOS so there were no upgrades but they told us we could sort it out with Guest Services once we got onboard. Once we were checked in we learned the truth from our Concierge. No suites were completed so we were downgraded into a balcony across from a service entrance and with a connecting door that seriously leaked noise. We were told it would only be for 1-2 days. We moved into our suite on day 13 of a 17 day cruise. I fault NCL for not disclosing this to us when they delayed the embarkation day. They certainly were aware of it and willfully withheld that vital piece of information from us. Yes, had we known the day before we left home, we would have canceled the entire trip and called it a day but we were stuck. We may even have canceled before final check in had we known it would be 13 days before we were able to occupy our booked suite. Now a bit about our travel habits. We are not balcony room people. We travel in OS or DOS’s or we stay home plus we usually only travel once a year. So this was a new experience for us. The room was small but we did find places for everything although we are not used to eating, reading, watching tv, and writing in the same place we sleep - our bed. We enjoy spending time in our cabin when we cruise. We heard noise from the service alley at all hours of the day and night as well as noise from the adjoining cabin. Not the best experience but we did manage to survive in there for 13 days despite toilets not flushing, hammering above our room all hours, room phone not working, workers throughout the ship with open panels all over the ship, and general disarray throughout the ship. Several venues were never completed like the Spa, many were delayed in opening like Teppanyaki, and many cabins were in far worse shape than we were. Some passengers reported no toilet seats, toilets either not flushing or flushing on their own in the middle of the night (happened several times in our cabin - so bizarre), no shower heads and even one person with no door to the room. I’m still wondering what happened to the people who were originally booked in the balcony we were given. Where did they get downgraded to? Personally we found the renovation workmanship to be shabby and cheaply done. NCL should get their money back! We had big dents in our ceiling and we were the first guests in there! Eventually we were able to move to our DOS where most things were done but finishing touches like cabinet shelves above the bar area were still missing, no pictures on the walls - you get the idea - just the basics. Overall though we enjoyed the DOS after being sandwiched in the balcony. And the staff bent over backwards helping us move. It took us 90 minutes to pack, move, and unpack. Yes, we were anxious to get into our suite by then! Quite honestly we got used to only one of us moving in the balcony room at one time and could only laugh after we got beyond our disappointment and anger at NCL for deceiving us. The staff were absolutely wonderful. They were dealing with so many different things out of their control and never complained. Always a smile and good humor. We had breakfast and lunch mainly in Cagney’s and found the food to be very good with enough variety for our tastes. Our specialty dinners in Cagney’s and Le Bistro were top notch but I found Onda a big disappointment. My spaghetti tasted like Chef Boyardee from a can so one night was all we did there. We skipped Teppanyaki just because we were more interested in other venues. The Local is good although I miss their Shepherd’s Pie, always one of my faves. And it was always very cold in there while other areas of the ship were too hot. They definitely needed to work more on that as well as hot/cold water issues throughout the ship. One morning I could only get scalding hot water so my shower was very brief. Others described only getting cold water at times. And one morning in Cagney’s they gave us blankets to cover up with because it was so cold in there. The Captain came in to eat there and left because it was too cold for him! We usually do the shows but missed every one this trip. We were too tired or too frustrated so we skipped them all. The casino is nice and has a smoking section so the main casino itself is quite smoke free. People tried to hide out in the smoking areas to smoke not gamble but they really chased them out unless they were also gambling. The machines were not good to us but we had fun and casino staff were very friendly. I did 2 of the Canvas U Paint sessions and had a great time there. The sessions were not in big demand as I’ve found on other ships so not a lot of crowding. Arriving at ports and debarkation was a disaster due to both people not heeding instructions and delays at getting ship clearance. In Aqaba, we were delayed almost 2 hours so our private tour was shortened but we managed to do everything we planned since we were on a private tour and could move quickly. Another bad thing with this cruise - days we were to be in port changed so we had to change our tours around. Also times in port changed including our port arrival in Abu Dhabi was changed 3 times with the last change occurring 12 hours before our arrival. Thankfully our private tour companies were really responsive to last minute changes. We loved our visits to Haifa and our overnight in Jerusalem, on to Masada, Qumrum and the Dead Sea but due to late arrival in port, we missed getting to Bethlehem, our overnight in Luxor (a return visit for us), our absolutely stunning day in Aqaba to Petra and Wadi Rum, a shortened day in Muscat, the Falcon Hospital in Abu Dhabi (a real treat for us!) and debarkation with 2 days in Dubai. Definitely do a desert safari in either Abu Dhabi or Dubai. It was a hoot. But we did all private tours although at most sights we saw the NCL tour groups so they did/saw many things we did but I’m sure they had to move slower. So what was our overall impression? We loved all of the ports and that was the reason we selected this cruise. We were disappointed to miss Athens and Kusadasi (Ephesus). As to the ship - even if we had been on a completely finished ship, we prefer mid size or mega ships (in the Haven). The ship seemed too small to us plus you add all of the ongoing construction and it was disastrous. The food generally was very good. Service was very good. The staff were wonderful and worked so hard to make it a great experience for us. Did we have a great time? Yes due to those ports and the places we toured. Am I upset with NCL? Yes because they knowingly withheld vital information from us prior to embarkation when we could have changed our travel plans. But they did give us a refund plus a 50% FCC which I’m still waiting for. We were very lucky to stay a few steps ahead of the Covid hassles and were so thankful to get home without any extra hassles unlike the Spirit Cruise right after us. And I don’t care how great an itinerary may be, we will never be booked on the first cruise out of drydock again! It’s just not worth the hassles. So all in all, we made some wonderful memories and despite all of the snafus, we are happy we did this cruise but also learned some valuable lessons and were very happy we returned home without any Covid delays/hassles. Read Less

Wow.. This was a ridiculous experience. First a couple days before sailing from Rome, we received notice that our trip was postponed by a few days.. and 4 ports were removed. Well, we were supposed to board a flight to Rome on Feb. 8 with sailing on the 11th. Now we were sailing late evening on the 14th and 4 major ports were taken away. No advance notice.. NCL said we had the option to cancel but they would not pay hotel or airfare fees. Well.. hmm. No support. So we changed our flights and had to pay an additional $325 per person. We got to the ship and boarding was fine. But what the heck were they talking about??? Dry Dock... what, the ship looked like it needed to be refurbished. NOTHING worked in our room from lighting to plumbing. The only positive was the balcony. Ridiculous! Customer services was useless. The wait staff and hotel staff were amazing though. The shows were great, Food was terrible for the most part. Ended up having salads most days. Due to all the ships downfalls, NCL said they would reimburse us 25% of the cruise fare as well as give us another 25% credit towards another future cruise with NCL. To date - the reimbursement on the airfare, the cruise fare credit nor the future credit have appeared on any of my invoices. I filed a claim as soon as we hit land.. and told it would be processed but no record of such claim exists per NCL. This is my 11th cruise on NCL. Really .. I am a Platinum Member.. For God's sake customer service is the least they can offer. We were thinking of getting off the ship in Israel.. that's how bad the trip was . But I got sick with the flu (not coronavirus I promise) and wasn't able to get out of bed for 4 days. The ship needs help but what needs help more is the NCL management staff. Is this what has become of NCL. I am shocked. Another positive for the ship was the walking decks.. the pools though were a joke. The pool at the rear of the ship (adults only) was 3 ft deep. No joke. You had to get on your knees to basically cover your back. One reason my husband and I sail on NCL is because of their Thermal Suites which I was assured was updated and in working order. We join the spa and are granted access to the suite (paid service). Previously we average 2-3 hours per day there. Guess what.. shocker... are you ready???????? IT WASN'T WORKING!!!!!!!! AND NEVER OPENED UP. This was and remains my #1 luxury that I look forward to with every sailing. What a disappointment! Avoid this ship.. you know what, when the cruises open up again for service... avoid NCL until they get their damn crap together. I was reading reviews from the passengers that stayed on for the next leg of the trip.. sounds like the ship or staff didn't improve much on that journey either. One more positive note.. the Suez Canal was the most tranquil passing I've been through. Not much to see but if you focus on the tranquility of the water.. it would leave you in awe. NCL... This trip was simply disappointing.. and this is coming from one of your loyal (up until now) Platinum members! You lost me NCL... My referrals... My 120 member family that frequents your vessels.. and most of all my trust! Read Less

Almost a year before the cruise, we started researching what was available to visit countries that were a part of our ancient history. Time in Israel was a primary consideration. The initial 21 day Mediterranean cruise was our choice which we booked in February 2019 and booked our air-fare shortly after. And the dollar-coaster ride began. Between February and July there were three price reductions bringing the balcony cabin cost from $188 per night to $140 per night. In September we were advised that the cruise was to be shortened to 20 days and be embarking 2/11 instead of 2/10. Also 2 price reductions bringing the nightly cost to $119. It needs to be mentioned that every time the reservation is rewritten, there is a $100 processing fee payable to the travel agent. In January, the Spirit went in for a 40 day refurbishment. We would be the first to sail on the new Spirit, how exciting! We arrived in Rome on February 5th planning to do some sightseeing before we boarded the ship on February 11th. While we were in the air, NCL sent out a notice to some, but not all passengers on the upcoming cruise that said, because of a dock worker strike, the cruise was being delayed for 4 days and would not leave until February 14? We would also be losing stops in Greece and Limassol. Because of the delay our cruise cost would be reduced by 25%. (The cruise was now 1/4 of what it was initially). There was no assistance offered for the extra cost in hotels, food, flight changes and other ancillary expenses. Embarkation day and no more changes. The shuttle took us to the terminal where the boarding process began. NCL staff was friendly but everyone had a different answer to our requests for wheelchair assistance. Our temperatures were taken, passports traded for room keys and we were on our way. Once onboard, we had lunch in Windows – the main dining room. Wait staff was friendly, professional and fun to talk to. One of our waitresses was from Wuhan China. She told us more than once that she was safe, the significance of her statement did not sink in until later. Lunch was good except french fries were cold – this was an issue throughout the cruise. It appears to be mission impossible to get french fries from the kitchen to the table still hot. For the most part NCL staff were wonderful.. Easy to talk to and very good at their jobs. They would admit to the difficulties of the delay in departure but would only talk about it briefly. I must confess to being uncomfortable about being a “guinea pig” for the refurbishment process. Drains drained slowly, toilets didn’t flush or only flushed partially, some toilets didn’t have toilet seats, handicap restroom doors didn’t open or close properly, stair rails were not attached, there was banging and hammering all night long as the work continued to bring the ship up to par.. The line at customer service was horrible and remained that way for the majority of the trip. Staff that worked the counter were for the most part, attentive and understanding. We had an ongoing issue with a premium beverage package, it took 10 days to finally get it straightened out. As a meet and greet activity for members of our group, we had a Pub Crawl that was a combination of bingo and a poker hand. The Cruise Director and Beverage Manager were great to work with. The Champagne Bar over looks the atrium. Evening entertainment was excellent. Of note was a piano player that played several evenings and he was absolutely wonderful. He had an extensive knowledge of piano classics and it was possible to talk without yelling. But I date myself. The addition of Starbucks was a plus for me, but I miss the towel animals and chocolates that used to be a part of turn down service. Cagney’s Steakhouse and Le Bistro remain my favorites for good food and excellent service. The new Omada was excellent as well. A very nice addition was the certified wine sommeliers. The new color scheme is a modern greys, blues and burgundies. I miss the three color coded carpeting (you knew if you were up front, midship or aft by the color of the carpet), it is all the same color now. I will probably sail with NCL again.although I sincerely hope that I never have to go through the difficulties we faced dealing with the corporate offices and trying to adjust on the fly to the changes we had to work with on this cruise. Despite my disappointment at not being able to visit Greece, Egypt, Israel, Jordan and UAE were all I had hoped for. In addition, the folk on the Cruise Critic blog were the best and the cruise staff is what made the cruise special once we finally boarded. Read Less

Big mistake. We weren't told at the time of booking that the ship was being refurbished but thought at least things will be updated. Nice. Well the toilets didn't work on the first day and few, if any, restrooms in the public areas were available. The toilets worked intermittently for the first few days. Our cabin's heating/air conditioning worked intermittently as well. We stayed in a hotel that lacked hot water but for some reason there was no cold water, at times, in our shower and no way to cool the scalding hot water. The shore excursions desk people were unfriendly and not helpful. They could not or would not answer any questions about any upcoming port. Usually, with any cruise, the customer service desk is busy the first or second day of the cruise. On this cruise there was a line of at least 10 to 20 people every day and the phone system didn't always work and when it did work, no one answered anyway. Only recourse was to wait, often more than an hour, at the customer service desk. Our first port, Haifa, was a disaster. For some reason the crew on the ship was holding everyone and, having been released to go on our shore excursions, had to wait in the stairwell. If their concern was to limit exposure to COVID-19, then holding several 100 people in a congested staircase is a bit guided. The fact that we have been given the runaround on our 25% refund, the lack of involvement by the officers, and overall abysmal customer service tells me that these problems are endemic to Norwegian Cruise Line. Read Less

As several other posts describe a recent NCL Spirit cruise that was supposed to be 21 days from Rome-Dubai, leaving on Feb. 11, I would like to add my observations.The sail date  was changed because the ship was being refurbished and it was not ready. A new date Feb.14 was given, we were not notified until 5 days before sailing, after we were in route to spend a few days in Civitavecchia . Because of this delay there were 4 ports that were deleted. They offered $300 for flight changes. We have trip insurance so we are trying to recover these costs, which is ridiculous as the insurance coverage will not begin to cover the amounts.   The ship was not completely finished and should have never been allowed to sail with passengers.  Work crews continued to swarm the boat as passengers were aboard, long lines of irate customers were at the Cruise Assistance desk and this frustrated and angry line queuing went on for days after the ship was at sea. The nightmare started from the moment I arrived at the ship’s boarding process.  There were nearly 300 people standing in line at the Guest Assistant desk in an over 3 hour wait, all massively complaining about no rooms, or not the room they booked, incorrect financials that were being sent prior to boarding saying people still owed monies for the entire trip and so much more.  In fact a near-riot was being filmed on many cell phones with people screaming NO NO NO when told that we had to get out of lines we had been in for 2 to 3 hours so to learn the safety protocol.  It was the nearest I have ever come to being afraid for my safety, and I truly think this could have gone very very badly if not for one wise NCL security officer who began a number taking process for your place in the line.  Other NCL management staff were simply watching the horrible situation from the balcony above, and much more followed with poor entertainment, problems found in the rooms like closet rods not properly affixed, in room refrigerators not working, shower-stall water backing up in the pan of the shower, and key cards that should be specific to your room only-opening other suite doors. The disappointment continued with poor entertainment on board, nothing in gift shops-as we were told the vendors did not have time to stock their shops, a non-working ATM thru the entire trip so the only way we could get money was thru the casino cashier who charged fees for their service and so much more.    Personally, I was told I did not have a room when I boarded, then was sent to two other rooms which when I arrived found other occupants in those rooms and finally arriving in a room that was much less than I had booked.  Each of the rooms I was given the toilets did not work.  I received a small compensation for this disaster. While on the ship we proactively brought concerns to the ship hotel manager and the concierge.  The concierge staff member was wonderful, the ship hotel manager did nothing but send me a form note.  We never heard a word from the captain.  I wrote two very descriptive notes to the ship upper management with no reply.  When I arrived back home after a less than happy experience, I immediately sent a three-page registered letter to CEO H Sommer and NCL Guest Services manager K Bird, to date no response.  Both the ship concierge and the NCL booking agent said their hands were tied to address issues as well as they could not respond to when we would get the offered compensation back to our accounts as promised in letters from NCL.  I would like to take a moment here to recognize all the hard working NCL staff members on the ship:the room attendants, the food servers, the bartenders, the housekeeping staff,the ship cleaning staff....these people are heroes and worked tirelessly in very stressful situations.  I doubt if NCL acknowledges these front-line staff but they are the ones saving a NCL reputation which is clearly tarnished and documented in recent shared newsletters and stories.  And as to the compensation process, many were offered different amounts seemingly based on the status of the rooms booked.  In my mind we all equally suffered and should be equally compensated.  In asking many of my fellow travelers no one has received any apology from NCL, nor any acknowledgement of the issues on this cruise, nor any updates as to compensation timing or consideration for fair and equitable compensation. I enjoy cruising very much and have previously enjoyed NCL on many occasions, all with great success.  Sadly, this time is so horrible I can’t imagine how NCL could rebuild trust.  It will take a massive effort. As of now I think of NCL as "NoCustomerLove". Read Less

I like cruising and was basically looking for places where I have never been before . I did enjoy most of the ports , loved activities , basketball, games , shows , spa salon and food . Met lots of interesting people from all over the world. Played and won deal or not deal game( one of my favourites) . Went to most of dance classes , where Dan and Bianca where instructors, laughter during their dance class since it was not only a class it was just amazing and funny show. Since ship was just refurbished there was some small stuff which could and was improved almost instantly . Where were tons of dolphins swimming by cruise ship, jumping and people watching. My room was super clean though I was just coming to sleep there. Front desk was overwhelmed since it was the first cruise after it was remodelled and I saw lots of people there. Nice karaoke as well. Did not have time to check casino though it looked beautiful. Will recommend to friends and family as long as they are not too picky and want to have good time. Read Less

looked a decent price for a solo, originally 20 nights it was reduced to 17 nights with a promised 25% reduction and a 25% off the next booking - problems with a refit lead to the reduced cruise nights the rearranged flights meant that ncl put me up in a hotel for one night at fumicino airport. I had to arrange my own transfers to be refunded later which was odd as I was greeted at the airport by an ncl person who informed me of a coach the following morning from rome airport to the port which would cost me 60$ - so either pay 60$ to ncl or arrange my own transfers of 105 euros which ncl said they will refund, makes no sense whatsoever embarkation took over 3 hours, the longest ever, arrived on board for the safety drill which was the longest drill ever covering everything form use handrails and don't forget to tie your shoe laces only to be repeated all again in Italian my cabin, apart from the first 3 days and nights being cold and uncomfortable was very good, a number of suite owners had no suite available for the first 10 days the ship had had a refit which was incomplete hence the delayed sailing date and loads of workmen on board and was not fit to sail there was a staff shortage - entertainments staff should have been 5 was 3 - a lot of staff were unable to sail because of previous close contact with china there were a lot of unhappy people on board but being English we made the best of things and apart from my cold initial cabin and statement being wrong and having to queue every 3 days to sort it which in fairness ncl did sort out I was relatively happy but others who had paid a lot of dosh for suites that were not available were not any sign of the captain or hotel manager apologising or explaining the difficulties er NO, senior staff were conspicuous by their absence, the poor front line desk staff had to take a lot of flak for something that wasn't their fault or responsibility - they were brilliant a pity the senior staff weren't I have had automated replies from ncl but no direct contact from them or my travel agent about the promised refunds which is disappointing especially from the travel agent as there were only 5 of us who had booked from that particular agent, just an e-mail to inform us of the refund situation but nothing in 2 weeks I could have made more of an issue about my cabin and the mistakes in my account charges but I did not as there were a lot of people with much more serious problems like wet carpets in their cabins, toilets that didn't work etc basically the ship was not ready to sail and ncl should have cancelled the cruise instead they went ahead and upset a lot of passengers - I sailed on the star in November and although there were not the same refit issues there was no organisation and again low profile captain and a lot of unhappy passengers, my previous 4 cruises with ncl were brilliant sad to say my last 2 with ncl were far from brilliant - NCL YOU HAVE LOST THE PLOT Read Less

Just recently returned from NCL Spirit cruise that was suppose to be 21 days from Rome-Dubai, leaving on Feb. 11. This was changed because the ship was being refurbished and it was not ready. New date Feb. 14. We were not notified until 5 days before sailing, after we were in route to spend a few days in Rome. Because of this there were 4 ports that were deleted. They offered $300 for flight changes. We had already left so flights was not an issue but they would not offer the money towards hotels if not needed for flights. Which is ridiculous. It took 4 hours to board the ship because they were so unorganized. The ship should have never been able to depart. Toilets around the ship and in cabins did not work. No hot water for days. Flooding in the halls and around elevator, squishy wet carpet everywhere. Terrible smells from carpet glue and other construction. People were sick from the smell. Lights in some cabins never worked. Our cabin door did not lock and close properly. The staff was clearly not trained. No one knew what to do. Lines were huge at customer service desk with no resolve. Took three hours to debark ship at first port because they were so unorganized. We lost half a day in Jerusalem. Took almost two hours to get main entree in dinning room. Finally just ate at buffet. Jets did not work in Jacuzzi's. Games and events around the ship were very poor. They had you carry around a card they signed when you went to the games. After 10 signatures you turned it in for for a bottle opener or deck of cards. Hardly any shopping areas. The shows were very poor except for their dancers which were very good. Said they would give us 25% off cruise and another 25% towards another which I have not seen. I have reached out to them about this but no answer as yet. Read Less

My sister and I worked hard to find the vacation of a lifetime that our family of nine could all enjoy, including our 80 year old physically challenged mother who was gifting us this trip, our husbands, three 20-something kids and my 15 year old daughter. A fabulous experience seemed to present itself in an NCL Spirit 11-Day Holiday Celebration leaving Rome on December 22, 2019 that would take us, together, into new ports and the New Year. We booked our cruise and airfare directly through NCL Group Sales assuming that by doing so we would be ensured efficient and safe travel from our homes in New Jersey to meet the ship in Rome prior to sailing. When the booking information arrived, we were immediately concerned because some of our children were booked on flights different from the rest of us and horrified that we had to figure out ourselves that the flights you booked them on were not even going to put them in Rome until the day after the cruise set sail!! We called more than once as we were very concerned that there wasn't enough time between the flights in Lisbon, especially with a special needs traveler, but were assured all would work out well. We could not leave the day before, as we had hoped, since one of our college students had a final until 7PM that night! Uggh. We were right! We did not land in Lisbon until 6:25AM, at which point there was no way possible to make our connection on the next flight which closed its door at 6:40AM, especially as we had to clear a customs and immigration entry point with an hour long line. We were dismayed to learn that there had been a 10AM flight out of Lisbon all along and, had we been booked on that from the start, it was much more likely that we would have made it to the ship before it was scheduled to depart at 5PM. Of course, the 10AM flight was full by the time we were stuck in Lisbon and could not be accommodated. Utterly disappointed, we came to terms with the fact that we would have to wait to board the ship in Venice, missing the first few days of fun and excitement that the rest of the travellers would have at embarkation. We were rebooked on a Tuesday, December 24th flight from Lisbon to Venice. While still in the Lisbon airport Sunday morning, we tried desperately to reach anyone at NCL to help us and we left urgent messages for our Group Sales agent Shanice, which were never returned. The call to NCL’s emergency numbers took several tries before we finally reached someone at Total Travel Marine named Tania. Tania explained that she was just at a call center but would forward our information via email to NCL and advise them that we would be meeting the ship in Venice. Tania's email, which I have a copy of, clearly states our phone number and asks for someone at NCL to call us as soon as possible. To date we have heard from no one at NCL. We had pre-arranged for a van to pick the nine of us up at the Rome airport Sunday to transport us to the ship and since it was too late to cancel, we were charged for the missed pick up. Luckily we were able to schedule with the same company for pick up at the Venice airport on Tuesday, December 24, 2019, when our next flight was scheduled to arrive. All of these calls and efforts to reschedule our vacation had us at the airline counter until after 1PM. Exhausted, confused and frustrated, the nine of us trudged to the Lost Baggage area of the Lisbon airport expecting to retrieve our luggage. Another two hours later, the search for our luggage began but no one could find any information on them anywhere. By 6PM we finally left, being told by TAP that “there were well over 2,000 bags in their holding” but that ours would be located and placed on our flight two days later to Venice. On Monday, December 23rd, I tried to call our NCL group sales agent again in Florida, at an hour that I assumed the US staff would be working. While I was never able to reach her directly and left several more voice messages, I finally got to a general customer service agent. I cannot tell you how flabbergasted I was when she actually said to me, “had you purchased your travel insurance through us, we would help you but since you didn’t, once your ship left port, you are now considered a closed case”. Is this really how NCL has trained their customer support team to respond to travellers in distress? On Tuesday morning, Christmas Eve, we left the hotel at 4:20AM and headed back to the Lisbon airport to make our 6AM flight. At the Lisbon airport we went directly to the wheelchair area to get mom assistance but were told we would have to wait. We gave it until 5:30AM but concerned at how long it would take us to get to the gate, and afraid to miss our flight, we grabbed a chair and pushed her ourselves. We finally settled into our flight to Venice, exhausted, dirty and stressed but ready to grab our bags and meet our cruise and begin our holiday together. Two hours later, watching an empty baggage carousel spin by with no luggage in hand, we dejected made our way to the lost luggage counter at the Venice airport. We told the agent that our ship would be in Venice until 5PM on Wednesday 12/25/19 and she assured us that our nine bags would be flown to Venice in time to be delivered to the ship before we set sail again. After dealing with this, we headed out of the baggage claim area to meet our driver. It was now just before noon and although our ship was not due into Venice port until 5PM, we figured our best option was to be dropped at the port and wait. We arrived at the gate to the port around 12:30PM only to be advised that the ship had hit bad weather between Rome and Venice and would not be arriving until after midnight and we would have to stay in another hotel overnight and meet the ship the next morning. So Christmas Eve would not be spent celebrating on our special cruise, but instead in a cheap hotel near the port of Venice, cramped three to a room. We were now also on day three in the same clothes and we did not have anything nearly warm enough to wear, nor any toiletries and we could not board a cruise uncertain that we would ever have our necessities. We found a local mall and purchase a few necessities that we believed we would need until our luggage would be brought on board later the next day. Later that night, I called the Lost Baggage Service to track our bags and was asked to email them a copy of our cruise itinerary, which I did. The next morning we were finally delivered to the ship where we boarded and found our staterooms. My mother and children (a 21 year old man and 15 year old teenager) were booked to share a balcony room. Once the beds were opened at night, there was literally no room to move. The floor was nothing but bed and my son had to climb over my daughter to go to sleep! I can’t even imagine that this is not a safety hazard waiting to happen. When we boarded, NCL staff did provide us each with a bag that contained a tee shirt, a tiny toiletries bag and one ticket each for free laundry service (the best part of the bag!). However, the shirts were all one size (XL) which were too big for most of the women and too small for two of the men. Christmas evening dinner in the dining room was very nice, although we thought it would have been even nicer if we had the special outfits we had purchased and packed to wear for pictures since we had a 20 Picture Package that we had chosen as our on-board promotion. That did not seem to be much of an issue, however, since no photographer ever came into a public space we were in the entire time we were on the ship. The two times we had pictures taken were when we got off the ship in a port or if we found the photographer and their backdrop in the main lobby. This too had been a disappointment as we had first been advised that we could choose the Soda Package in our room as our on-board promotion since we do not drink alcohol. I was even quoted that we would be charged $17.49 per person for the 11 days in service charges, to which I had agreed. When I did not see that package on my itinerary closer to sailing, I was then informed that this was not actually a choice I could have made, that the only choice would have been to choose the “free alcohol package” that would have cost me $400 for the stateroom in service charges. REALLY?? Clearly this package was made available to some travellers, why not to us? Of course, by the time we sailed out of Venice on Wednesday evening, our luggage had not been delivered as promised. We were assured it would be flown to Dubrovnik and would meet our ship the next day, Thursday, 12/26/19. On Thursday morning, 12/26/19, we headed into Dubrovnik for a day of sightseeing. Freezing cold without our warm clothes, we bought some more warm things to wear for the day. Upon arrival back on board at 5:00PM, we were advised that two pieces of our family’s luggage had arrive on board, but the remaining 7 bags were hopefully going to be found and brought on board before we left port at 10PM. By 9:30PM the ship had already started moving and no luggage had been delivered. The next day we tendered into Kotor. By now it had been six days without our belongings and little more than a change of underwear and a toothbrush. Our first stop that morning was to a pharmacy because, by now, my husband had a headcold and needed medication which I would have had if I had any luggage. As soon as we got near a local restaurant with free WIFI I checked my email to discover I had received a notice from the Lost Luggage company stating that our bags had been delivered and the case was considered closed. Since we had only received two of our bags by that point, we were quite concerned and immediately had to tender back to the ship, missing any opportunity for real sightseeing in Kotor. Back aboard, we called Lost Luggage again and were advised that all of our bags had been sent to Venice but that seven of them had then been re-routed to Munich for some unknown reason rather than delivered to the ship with the first two! Almost an hour more was spent on the phone with the agent from the Lost Luggage company before he advised me that our bags would be flown from Munich to Pisa where they would be sent by courier to meet the ship when we arrived in Livorno on 12/29/19. So, on top of everything else we had missed already, we missed Kotor as well. We spent the next day, Saturday, 12/28/19 on board the ship in our barest clothing while having our bits and pieces washed at the laundry so that we had clean clothes again to wear when we arrived in Livorno on Sunday, 12/29/19. We spent the day Sunday with a tour of Lucca and Pisa and returned to the ship at 6:30PM, initially excited to hear that our bags were finally waiting for us at our stateroom, then utterly dejected to discover that one bag had been completely destroyed and was being held together with packing tape. Two others had been damaged to the point of having to be replaced as well. We spent part of our day in Barcelona purchasing new luggage in order to repack for the trip back home. We began this trip with the highest of hopes for an unforgettable family vacation. Unforgettable is certainly what we got. We are BRONZE level NCL cruisers who would have been one day short of reaching SILVER level when we disembarked at the end of this trip and couldn’t wait to begin thinking about where that next adventure would be. As of today, because meeting the ship in Rome had been taken away from us, we only got credit for 8 days on the ship and although I assume that we will be financially compensated for the missed days, the cost to my Latitudes account is just one more way we are feeling let down by NCL. Fruthermore, had we known at booking that the Spirit was going into dry dock at the end of our trip for a complete refurbishment, we would very likely have made other vacation plans from the start. What a difference this ship was from the NCL Gem, a previous NCL ship that we sailed on. While their staff, as always, was courteous and professional, we noticed the little touches that were missing. As I mentioned, no photographer throughout the ship. No towel animals ever appeared in any of our rooms on any night. My daughter’s dinner order placed the night before (she has a life-threating nut allergy) was forgotten one evening so that she had to wait for her dinner while everyone else was served. Even the chocolates put out at the dining hall on Christmas were old and stale (they had already turned white inside the wrappers!). We were on the Norwegien GEM from Christmas to New Years Eve so we had a reasonable expectation that the Spirit would be a similar experience. We could not believe that after the hubub of midnight passed on New Years Eve, there was not a morsel of food available to ship full of drinking passengers! Truly not a cracker or a cookie, the buffet room was locked up tight. While the lost luggage fiasco was technically not NCL's fault, the bottom line is that we spent a great deal of money booking our trip as a whole unit directly with NCL because it was our belief that NCL would be best qualified to ensure we were safely and reasonably delivered from our home to their ship. Had we realized how “hands-off” their group sales and travel departments would be as soon as our check cleared, we not only would have booked our own flights, and now know to do so for the future, but we probably would have booked either through a separate travel agent or with a different cruise line altogether. Travel insurance will cover the cost of a hotel or new piece of luggage, but when we were scared and stranded in a foreign country in the middle of a voyage that a company scheduled and booked for us, it is hard to believe that NCL's customer care policy is to "not care". We found out after returning home that NOT taking the cruise line's insurance policy was one of the smartest thing we could have done for ourselves. Frankly, although it saddens me to feel like this, it is very likely good-bye from our family to the NCL family. There are just too many other cruise lines we can choose from who we hope will treat us like we matter. I only hope that when I share this story, it will save other families from making the mistake we made. Read Less

We picked this cruise for the itinerary. It was my pre-PhD graduation present. Both embarkation and disembarkation were smooth at the ship. We had to tender in two ports, which took much longer than expected. We spent two days in Rome before the cruise. We enjoyed all of the ports, but it was difficult to figure out what would be open on the holidays in Venice and Barcelona. Because of the dry dock our cruise was shorted by one day after we booked. We tried to take the offered OBC instead of the provided hotel afterwards and our travel agent didn't notify NCL by the deadline. We got off the ship and boarded buses to the hotel quickly, but it went downhill quickly from there. They dumped about 600 people at a hotel between 7am and 9am with no information, just a conference room to wait in. There was no communication from anyone and there were no NCL representatives present. We didn't get a room until 3:30pm and it was only because we complained that we had been sitting there for more than 6 hours. We were told that we could go into Rome, but it was a 1.5 hour walk or a €30 taxi ride. The did provide us lunch the day we got off the ship and breakfast the next morning, but we were on our own for dinner and had to take a taxi because there were no options that were walkable. We wasted out last day in Rome because we were never given any clear information and were stuck at a hotel far outside the city. NCL had plenty of time to make better arrangements or give us information, but failed. Weather was chilly, except in Barcelona and Monte Carlo, and we had bad storms with lots of wind for the first two days on the ship. The storms delayed our arrival in Venice. The ship was old but in good shape. It headed for dry dock immediately after our cruise. Entertainment was good. They did a special Christmas show one night plus the 3 production shows. Elements was our favorite. The buffet is extremely small compared to what we are used to. There was less variety in what was available for each meal and from day to day. We ate at Teppanyaki, Le Bistro, and Cagney's and all were good. We ate in the main dining room for the rest of our meals and it was good too. We had the beverage package and found it frustrating. We could get any drink we wanted, but couldn't get a can of soda or a bottle of water. This just felt cheap to us, because we could get a full can of soda, but it had to be poured into a glass to give to us. One night my husband was feeling seasick and wanted a can of ginger ale to take back to the cabin to drink overnight, but it had to be poured into a glass. We will be back to Europe, but it is very unlikely that we will sail NCL again. Read Less

Looking for something fun and stress-free as a way to celebrate my 50th birthday, my wife and I booked a cruise on the Norwegian Spirit over the holidays. The itinerary had us leaving Civitavecchia (port near Rome) on the 22nd, spending Christmas Eve - Christmas Day in Venice, seeing Croatia, Montenegro, Florence/Pisa, and Monte Carlo before stopping in Barcelona for New Year's Eve, then returning to Civitavecchia on January 2nd. Because it was a good deal, we purchased the reduced airfare through the cruise line. BIG MISTAKE. Travel to / Embarkation: Delta / Al Italia Departure Flights December 21: - Arrive at LAX, was able to check into Delta flight and check luggage through to Rome, but NOT able to check in for Al Italia flight - Flight from LAX was in Terminal 2, had to check in at Terminal 3, then go back to Terminal 2 - Arrive in New York (JFK) with 1.5 hours to connect - but had to CHECK IN with Al Italia in Terminal 2 - Take shuttle from arrival terminal (4) to Terminal 1, EXIT THE AIRPORT, run to Terminal 2, find Al Italia counter, try to check in - Two of the four of us were checked in for flight to Rome, originally told the other two would not be able to get on the flight (even though our luggage was checked through to Rome?) - After pleading, attendant takes back tickets she’d given to a standby customer and puts us on flight, all separated from each other (not ideal, but ok) - Second attendant rushes us through security, but stopped at screening due to water in daughter’s Hydroflask (She hadn’t realized we’d be going through security a second time, we had to surrender the $40 Hydroflask - enjoy TSA) - Finally get on flight, ten minutes later 13 year old daughter escorted off plane WITHOUT TALKING TO EITHER PARENT. Daughter in tears, afraid she’ll be left in New York by herself. Dad (me) irate. Eventually my daughter was given a seat and the flight departed. December 22: -Arrive in Rome: (Of course) one bag wasn’t transferred, 16 year old daughter left without clothes for what was thought would be two days (bag would catch up to us in Venice, scheduled to arrive there on December 24th) - Arrive at Cruise Terminal, ask to have rooms adjusted (when booked, given two staterooms with one adult in each, even though NCL POLICY stated kids could be by themselves if in ADJOINING stateroom, which we booked) - staff was unable to do so, we were told it had to be done on the ship. - Board ship, go straight to Guest Services. HUGE line of people, apparently a lot of people with issues. - Go to get a couple of beers to enjoy while waiting in line (much needed after the horrible flight/luggage experience). Get a bill (Premium Beverage Package was one of the Perks included in our package). - After 30+ minutes, get to the counter. Representative can’t change rooms, either. Offers to give extra door keys (this was the best they could do). - Representative can’t find any evidence of our perks. - NCL App had LITERALLY showed the perks two days prior, but changed for some reason after we boarded. - Had to fill out multiple forms too have our daughter’s luggage allowed onboard in Venice, including one form twice (?). *Keep in mind we’re dealing with this after 24 hours of travel.* - Representative said she would email their corporate office to see about our perks, but was unable to offer anything else. - Go to room and pay international charges so I can call NCL Customer Service in the U.S. directly. Do so, they assist promptly. December 23: - Go downstairs to verify perks are now showing on my account. At 8 a.m. the line is already forming at Guest Services. Woman behind me is talking to her husband about how she found the email that shows their perks. Must be a common issue. - Get to the counter, finally perks are reflected in our accounts, new cards issued (still in separate rooms). - Decided to get a cup of coffee, found out the $99/day Premium Drink Package doesn’t include coffee from the coffee bar. - Also found out bottled water was NOT included in our Drink Packages either. (Purchase 6 liters for $19.99) - Then found out weather delayed our arrival in Venice until the 25th. (Not the ship’s fault, but daughter would be without her clothes for a third day. (A third day of borrowing clothes from her sister)) Onboard experiences: - Balcony stateroom was very small. Two twin cot-like beds pushed together, a small table as a vanity, a tiny cushioned chair. Balcony was barely deep enough for the chairs. - Specialty dining was OK, certainly not worth any extra $, especially not the Italian restaurant. - Buffet was mediocre at BEST, though the made to order omelets at breakfast were pretty good. I swear they were serving frozen pizza. - Buffet during off-hours was hit or miss at best. - Coffee at buffet was the basic large vat of cafeteria coffee. - Specialty Dining fills up quickly, but we tried three: La Trattoria: Not worth it. Didn't care for the Somelier, either. Cagney's: decent, good steak. Teppanyaki's: Great. Lots of fun, great chef, good food. - Children were EVERYWHERE. - Quiet places to enjoy a drink were non-existent. The main bar/lounge was used for family fun (bingo, dancing lessons, kids vs. adults challenges, etc.). Never less than a half dozen strollers in the bar. - Other bar (Champagne Charlies) was ok, pretty good three person musical group, but small. - Henry’s Pub (mostly beer) was a great hangout spot, but very small. - Shanghai Bar was even smaller, and being situated next to the equally tiny Blue Lagoon 24 hour eatery, seating in the bar was typically in use by people eating. - Only real option for enjoying a quiet glass of wine was in your room - as long as you don’t mind the sound of children running up and down the hallways. Service: Average. Stateroom attendant was very nice and very professional. Also encountered a nice waitress in the main lounge. Service in main dining rooms (Windows or Garden) was very good. Most of the other service attendants were a toss up: some nice, some indifferent, some treating you like you're an inconvenience. Guest services....average at best. First night experience was enough to make me wish we'd chosen differently. Also a bit off-putting when you're competing for seating with the staff. The buffet area was already crowded. Add in workers eating their meals and it gets even more frustrating. Imagine seeing some of the best seating in the main lounge being occupied by ship's staff. Entertainment was good. Enjoyed the Elements and World Beat show. Juggler was probably my favorite (sounds crazy, but he was hilarious). The quartet of singers was also very good. Ports/Shore excursions: The ports saved the cruise. Best, most enjoyable time was when we were off the ship. Venice (Christmas Day) - great city, but still flooded. Very surreal. Very walkable, and since I'd been there previously, we didn't take a shore excursion. Did a gondola ride, a bit expensive but memorable, just COLD. Dubrovnik, Croatia - took the ship-arranged ($15pp) shuttle into town, walked the city walls. Amazing. Inside the city walls was magical, though the wind seems to gain intensity traveling through the small alleyways and blasts you with cold air. Spiced wine helped. Kotor, Montenegro - Ferry drops you off near the small town. Walked through town (on our own) to entrance to steps (1300+) that lead to the fort at the top of the mountain. Guy at the top sells soda, water, and, more importantly, beer. Amazing views from the top. Small town inside the walls was very cool. Cats are EVERYWHERE and very friendly. Livorno (Port City) - we took the Florence/Pisa shore excursion. Pisa was a fun, quick stop, the highlight being, of course, the Tower. Florence was amazing. So much history, so much significance. We will definitely return, preferably when its warmer. Monaco - we took the Nice and Little Train tour, it was okay. Parts of what the tour guide covered were also covered during the Little Train tour, would be good to remove the duplicity in the interest of time. Upon return to Monte Carlo, we had time to see the Christmas village area near the port. Really, really cool. Had Nutella crepes, then the adults enjoyed spiced wine while the kids had hot chocolate. **Return Ferry boarding process was a cluster**** Arriving one hour before the last ferry was scheduled to depart, we spent that hour on the pier waiting. Pretty sure the ship departed about an hour and a half late. Barcelona (New Year's Eve) - Our second time there, so we ventured out on our own. Went to Barcelona Cathedral, very impressive. Spent lots of time on La Rambla. Definitely feels like the center of the city in a good way. La Boqueria Market (Mercado de Boqueria) is a must-visit. So much good food, it'd be easy to pig out, walk around, then pig out again. We determined the New Year's Eve celebration was at Placa Espanaya. Party there was INCREDIBLE. Finished up and ended up walking about two miles back to the ship (catching a cab in the middle of crowd that size was both difficult and impractical), made it back with about twenty minutes to spare. Disembarkation / Return Travel: January 2nd: - Because a port was removed from the itinerary AFTER the flights had been booked, we were given a night’s stay at a hotel in Rome (pretty decent trade off, but Mallorca would have been fun). - We would be transported to the hotel instead of the airport, like our vouchers said. - Asked if transportation to airport was included, was told it was not - 25 buses deliver hundreds of people to the hotel and dump us there. Inside is pandemonium. A few NCL employees were trying to answer the questions of hundreds of people. - Finally found out we’d have to check in sometime after 3, so we stashed our luggage and headed out for sightseeing. - Came back about five, got our room keys. Find out NCL actually DID set up transportation to the airport. - Go to get luggage. NOT THERE. - Hotel attendant tells me they took it to our room. Go to the room. Not there. - Go back down, find out they may have taken it to another person’s room with the same last name…. - Follow the worker to the other room, there’s our luggage. - In the morning, driver was there early and with a van, ready to go. Ride to the airport was the easiest part of travel to that point. (Finally something was easy!) - No issues with return flight. Read Less

Our last 5 cruises in a row have been on various Norwegian ships with various itineraries. They were all excellent. We like Norwegian because it is economical, has great ports of call, have sufficient time in each port and do not have specific dinner times. However, on this cruise we had a few issues. Our toilet didn't work off and on for a couple days, some of the dining room staff in the Windows dining room seem to be indifferent (Garden restaurant was better) and our last port of call Livorno/Florence was cancelled inexplicably because of high winds. The toilet was fixed (the ship is going in for an update soon) but in the interim we had to go up a couple floors to the public washrooms (none down near the rooms). Our room steward was excellent (we tipped her separately) as was some of the table clean-up staff which we got to know and talk to but some the Windows dining staff and some counter staff were terse and short with us. Our last stop Livorno was cancelled because of high winds even though the weather report said it was fine a couple of hours later. We returned to Civitavecchia a day early and had to scramble to find transportation to Rome and find something else to do in Rome (we spent 3 days there at the start). My wife had private transportation booked to Florence (Norwegian transportation and tours are generally over-priced) but couldn't get all her money back. Announcements on the ship were difficult to hear and there was only one live show, the rest were singers singing old songs and acrobats. My wife likes to do the painting classes but they were painting the same picture she did in 2013 and 2016. This was our worst experience yet with Norwegian but is 5 out of 6 acceptable? Read Less

I just came back from a 7 days Mediterranean cruise with my family by NCL. My cabin was very nice and comfortable. The food was the best of the 3 cruise lines. However, entertainment, shopping and customer service were the worst of the 3 other lines. The shore excursions were very expensive. What bothered me the most was the bad smell in the elevator. It smelled dead fish. The embark and disembark were great. When I got home I noticed that several pieces of my jewelry were missing. I cruised many times with different cruise lines but it was my first time with NCL and the first time I had my belongings missing as well. So I decided to google if anybody had the same experience, and to my surprise, It is overwhelming the number of cases of theft in-room cabin. I am hating myself for being so naive. I guess I learned a lesson! I would not go cruise again with NCL. Read Less

Some elevators did not work. The Floors in the buffet are old tile which is slippery when wet, we saw more than a couple of falls, even by crew. We hit rough weather and the captain shut down the midship elevators because he said they were unsafe! Out dated interior cabin. Stains in bathroom. The room Stewart was very nice and did a great job. The Internet cafe worker was rude and unhelpful, he couldn’t waste his time with the passengers. When we received the final billing they had given us our cabin and then part of someone else’s, when we told them they had made mistakes they were rude. The dining room service was unorganized and to many mistakes were made. Even though it’s an old ship it should not be in this condition. The shore excursion team did an excellent job getting everyone to the right buses, and that was the main reason for taking this ship. Read Less