I chose NCL based on a great cruise in Europe on NCL we took a couple of years ago. This cruise was very disappointing from several aspects. First, due to mechanical issues, they eliminated one of the Alaskan stops, Skagway, and replaced it with a day in Seattle. We were notified a couple of days ahead of departure date. As we already had flights and hotel reservations for a 3 day visit in Seattle, we had no interest in an additional day at the end of the cruise. Also, we had a private tour booked in Skagway, so lost that deposit. I didn't book a 7 day Alaskan cruise to only have 2 stops in Alaska! They did credit us with a refund equal to 1/7 of the trip costs.

The service level ranged from the "A" team to "C" team. As an example, in one restaurant, I requested orange juice with my breakfast. I had to ask 3 different people before actually getting any. Another meal, after waiting about 30 minutes, the waiter asked if we were ready for dessert....we hadn't even gotten appetizers yet! Bottom line, they did not meet expectations for service!

On the day we docked in Seattle, it took several hours to get off the ship. I've never waited that long....not sure what the issue was. But we were told we could get off at 8am and it was almost 11 before we were off the ship. Good thing we didn't make any reservations for tours that morning. Read more