Two things marred this cruise for us - Neither of which were NCL's fault. The fact we caught a cold/flu virus - outward plane journey Heathrow to New York - that manifested itself on day 8 of the cruise, and the Norovirus that reared it's ugly head on day 6 after our visit to Puerto Rico.

All credit to the Captain and crew who took extreme measures to contain the Gastro Enteritis bug, and contain it they did. No one was allowed to serve themselves to anything, not even a packet of salt, a coffee, or ketchup (that had to be put on your plate by a plastic gloved server). Even the entertainment crew were recruited to help in the self service restaurants, many standing vigil with the hand sanitizer. All the public outer toilet doors were wedged open so cruisers didn't have to touch the door handles. We never went down with the Norovirus, which I believe was prevalent on our deck (10), and the number affected was 135 out of roughly 4000 passengers and crew. Because of this, we were refused docking at St. Maarten, even though the authorities came on board and it took several hours of 'negotiations' for the verdict to be announced. Again all credit in so far as a Freestyle Daily was printed and circulated with extra activities very shortly after it became clear we would not be able to dock.

So,that's the bad bits out of the way. Read more