BACKGROUND INFORMATION: I’ve cruised 41 times, mostly solo, all over the world,and am an active, enthusiastic, cruise-loving adult traveler. NCL’s weekend getaway cruise from New York City in the dead of winter appeared to be a good change of pace, and I booked a mini-suite for this trip. From past experience, I realized this cruise would be a “party cruise” atmosphere, but hoped for tolerable conditions, and I missed the ocean and needed another cruise “fix”. I used Amtrak’s Acela express to New York from my home town, first class, and it was superb, with return home the same pleasant way.

HOTEL: I stayed at my favorite hotel in New York, the Hilton Garden Inn Times Square, and received their usual warm and royal service. It’s about a 15 minute ride from the Manhattan Cruise Terminal piers. The few minor glitches with the hotel were taken care of to my complete satisfaction.

EMBARKATION: This is where things began to go wrong. The ship holds over 4200 passengers, and they all apparently got there early. The reservations agents I spoke with, multiple times, told me that porters load passenger’s bags for them on this cruise. The cruise line emails an information “booklet”, and it states how to put the luggage tag on one’s bags and they will be delivered to the stateroom. When I arrived at the pier, several surly and grouchy people from the cruise line, presumably, were barking orders at people to just keep moving, keep moving and there was no baggage service. Inside the pier terminal, the heat was going full blast, and the lines of people filled the building, snaking back and forth. Some people had been in the city or traveling long enough to have large luggage, and some were elderly, struggling to push and pull their bags with them because of no porter service. The NCL-uniformed agents kept barking at people to keep moving, keep moving. It was like the old descriptions of Ellis Island and the refugees struggling in lines with their bags. I was in line (and I’m a Latitudes Member in NCL’s loyalty program, which had an “expedited” check-in line) for 90 minutes. Normal check-in for cruises in my experience is 15 minutes. Agents had problems with their computers, and other NCL personnel kept misdirecting passengers to the wrong lines. Security checkpoints were manned by grumpy, surly agents who stood and watched while people struggled to lift full-size suitcases onto the conveyor belts of the scanners. Once through this area, there were unclear, tiny, and poorly placed signs as to where exactly one could finally get on the ship. That took another 15 minutes in the maze of people and locked doors to finally reach the gangway. The gangway was extended into a long, huge zigzag climb at a steep angle. I’m fit and strong, but many people again struggled to climb up the steep ramp while hauling their bags. No help was visible that I could see. Upon entering the ship, no “welcome committee” of crew members, just deadly serious security people at their podiums who scanned the passenger ID cards. Read more