In February, we went on a cruise to celebrate our anniversary and my birthday. This was our fifth cruise in the nine years that we have been married, but the first on Norwegian. Since we returned, we have both agreed that the motto of this ship should be, We strive for mediocrity and we achieve it. Everything on the ship was mediocre, including the food, service, port facilities, entertainment, cleanliness, and casino.
Our first night, we went to the specialty steak house, expecting the gourmet meal that is served in other cruise lines specialty restaurant. The food at the buffet was better than this meal, which cost us an additional $25 per person. They had a Caesar Salad that I expected to be made at the table. All they did was put some bottled dressing on lettuce, mix it up, put it on two plates and add a little parmesan cheese and a couple of croutons. I then ordered the surf and turf, which was listed as a fillet and ½ of a lobster. When it arrived, I was amazed at the tiny size of both the steak and the lobster. I live in a city with quite a few really good restaurants, and can get a much larger and better surf and turf for about the same price, without having to pay $1,000 for the cruise to get it. We ate in several of the restaurants and found the service below par in every one. I had a drink in one bar and then the next day, ordered the same drink in a restaurant. When it arrived, there was about 1/3 the amount of liquor in the glass. When I said something to the waiter, he said, That is just the way they serve it.
The ventilation system in the casino was almost non-existent. The smoke was so bad that I could only play for short increments at one time. There was some kind of leak in the area of the bar, located in the rear of the casino, and the carpet was constantly wet and being dried with blowers. While in port, they changed out part of the carpet, but the blowers were still in place with the new carpet down. My wife caught her heel in a carpet seam in one of the restaurants and they had to replace it the next day also.