We were so excited to go on this cruise as it was our first family vacation in over 4 years. We have cruised several times before and have always had a positive experience. This was the first time we had gone on a cruise with Norwegian, but we had heard so many good things about this cruise line I didn't expect all the issues we had!

This was the first time I have travelled internationally with my kids. After booking this cruise I was told that because they were travelling with both parents, passports were not needed, and they could travel with just birth certificates. I realize that if you have travelled internationally before, that probably rings warning bells, but for someone who doesn't travel much, I trusted that they knew what they were talking about. I called to verify, talking to multiple people on multiple days and was told again and again, passport was not required, but my 16 yo would need a photo ID, because he was not considered a minor for purposes of travel. When I finally confronted them, asking if they were really sure my kids did not need passports, they acted like I was insane to think otherwise, and somehow they lost the recordings of all my prior conversations, even though I had the dates and times. They did "find" one phone conversation, which I was not allowed to listen to, but they assured me we did not discuss documents in that conversation. At great expense, with less than two weeks before our departure, we barely were able to get the passports. Crisis averted. If this was the only issue I might have overlooked it, but unfortunately this is not where things ended.

My son is Autistic, and they offered us enrollment in their "ACCESS" program, which I did enroll him in, and we received confirmation that we would be greeted on the pier at the time of embarkation, so they could help us through the process (long waits in crowded spaces can trigger meltdowns). We were NOT met on the pier and no one there had ever heard of such a thing, even though I had the email stating that would happen. Thankfully we were able to make it through the process without a meltdown but it was another broken promise of services never rendered. Read more