We were part of Casino At Sea program. Our itinerary was altered due to the impact of last year's hurricane. Not the fault of NCL. I am not a huge fan of Costa Maya (we consider it a "throw away" port) and while others may love the "resort style" private island in Belize, I find it overpriced and crowded. Would have preferred the actual Belize stop for a greater variety of activities. You are instructed NOT to bring beverage(s) (even water) or food to shore. In my opinion this is to push selling of their food items.

We are long time cruisers (since 1996 with 17 with Princess cruises and 3 with other cruiselines) and I believe that the current trend of "freestyle" cruising has actually lead to a decline in personal service. You do not have the same waitstaff and they are not actually working for that envelope at the end of the week. The ratio of passengers to staff has altered accordingly. I believe that our cabin steward had 16 cabins she was responsible for!

Our service in the "complimentary" dining ares was poor to fair. On our last night, we had no server/assistant for about 10 minutes (no water etc) and it went downhill from there. The manager eventually made his way over and said he would be personally taking care of us....hmmm we saw him once after that. They lost my pre-order (I am gluten free) and other evenings were very slow service. I saw many waiters/assistants hustling about, but not much seemed to get accomplished. Tables were being re-set, but if you don't take care of the people already seated, what does that accomplish? Read more