After months of being unable to cruise due to the moratorium, I was eager to resume sailing. I had booked one NCL cruise but that was canceled. I then booked NCL Epic`s sailing from Rome on 20 Nov 2022. There were several alterations to the cruise identified shortly before I boarded the ship (but subsequent to the cut-off date for canceling with no financial penalty). First, the production of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, had been cancelled; second, one port stop, Ponta Delgada, Portugal was removed from the itinerary. The cruise arrived a day early in New York [no disrespect to the Big Apple, but I would have preferred a warmer port stop earlier in the cruise].

This could have been overlooked (written off to Covid or NCL being “rusty” after being on hold for so long) but what tainted this experience was an incident involving one of the Cruise Directors staff members one morning during a round of Trivial Pursuit. The CD staff member hosting the game overheard a comment made to some guests from Britain by another guest responding to the Brit`s observation that the trivia was “slanted towards the Americans” [trivia questions drawn from American culture not familiar to Europeans]. The guest facetiously replied to the Brits “I`ve got a bad feeling about this” [Star Wars Luke Sky Walker tagline]. The CD staff member [ the American, Zac ?] heard this, then called out the guest, asked his name and said to the rest of the guests, to “Say ‘bye bye’” to that guest.

My group witnessed this exchange and was surprised and bewildered by what had transpired. The targeted guest had not been disruptive or acting in any way to annoy other guests and didn`t merit the CD staff member`s ridicule. Read more