We have cruised with Norwegian before (on the Getaway, Dawn, Pride of America) and never had a problem. We've been on over 30 cruises total. But this was the worst cruise we've ever taken. It started with an over 1 1/2 hour delay getting on board (we heard over 3 hours for others). The port was under construction, so we had to park in their port but get bused to another port where the ship was. We arrived at 11 a.m. and didn't get onboard until after almost 1:30 (we are usually eating lunch in their pool-level cafe by 11:30-noon). The lines were horrible, and we heard their computers went down around 11 a.m. Whatever the problems, it was a terrible start to everyone's vacation. First-time cruisers were saying they'd never cruise again if this was what it was usually like getting on the ship (fortunately, it isn't).

We had a basic balcony room with the worst layout we've ever seen on a ship. The shower is on one side of the room next to the front door, the toilet on the other, and the sink outside next to the shower. I don't know about others, but I like a sink in the same room with the toilet where I might need it. The shower and toilet "rooms" had their own lights, but no privacy when you turned them on since there were no real "room" doors. Yuck. The couch faced the closet so you couldn't see the TV from it and could not sit on it without making it impossible for anyone to get into the closet. Stupid. The only place to watch TV was by sitting or laying on your bed. You also must insert your stateroom card into a slot inside to use any lights. Of course, if you forget to remove it and take it with you when you leave your room, you're now locked out! Yes, the door automatically locks with your card still inside the room. We had to locate our room steward 3 times to let us in our own room over a 7-day cruise. Absurd and inconvenient for us and them. At least our Room Steward, Richard, was wonderful and always there when we needed him!

We only ate in the main "Manhattan" dining room once because it took us 2 1/2 hours to eat dinner there. When we did finally get it, it was horrible (the veal was so tough I couldn't cut it with my husband's very sharp steak knife). The foursome at the table next to us were complaining to their waiter about how bad their food was too. Fortunately, we had reservations at three specialty restaurants, so that helped and they were great. Of course, you will pay about $60 a couple more to eat in each of them. We've always gotten very good food and service on other ship's main dining rooms, but this was awful. You don't even get lobster even one night in the main dining room anymore unless you pay another $25 per person for it (and there's an extra charge for it even in the speciality restaurants!). Amazing. Read more