We sailed out of Houston on December 5th for what should have been a memorable experience. It was memorable all right just as a nightmare and not a dream. This was our second trip on Norwegian and our 7th cruise overall. We've also been on Carnival and Royal Caribbean. This by far and away was the worst experience we've ever had. It stared before we ever set foot on the ship. We had arranged airport transfers with the cruise line. The driver forgot about us and left us stranded for an hour and a half which isn't necessarily NCLs fault but they had no communication with the waiting passengers. Just left us sitting there and several of us had to beg to get any information about why the delay. Once we got to the ship and on board it only got worse.

The service on this ship is the worst I've ever had. At the pool it was hard to find a waiter for a drink half the time we had to resort to going to the bar. At dinner the waiters barely ever offered you a drink from the bar (which would include soda) you had to actually ask them. Service was also slow. In the main dining rooms we sometimes set for 10 minutes or more after being seated before anyone would even bring us water. Even in the specialty restaurants service was hit or miss. At the Teppanyaki restaurant my wife asked for a plum wine and the waitress never brought it or came back to tell us they didn't have it and ask if she wanted something else. Speaking of food it was overall very bland and tasteless. We were very surprised given what we have had before how bad the food was. It was very tasteless and lacking in any flavor for the most part. There were a few exceptions Cagney's steakhouse was very good. However, one thing stands out above all else the 5 spice cake at the Jasmine restaurant: the way it looked was so unappealing in the way it looked.. to use the cleanest language possible it looked like a "turd" on piece of wood. It was disgusting.

After having to come back to port early due to weather (still waiting for the mystery fog that the Captain says was the reason we had to come back early) it was just as bad. In port due to some crazy laws in Texas we had a very limited drink menu which was frustrating but even more so when they ran out of some of that limited menu. Really? Read more