Just finished this cruise, and I can echo much of what has been said by others. Two of the biggest things that stood out to me were the quality of the food and the service. Neither were good, with very few exceptions. Some bartenders / servers were better than others, but it was a rarity to get really good service with a smile. Many of the servers seemed indifferent to you ... and bar service was really bad. Oftentimes, we'd wait 20 minutes to get a drink (and the bar wasn't particularly busy). I think one problem that NCL has created here is the embedded 20% gratuity. I don't think it creates incentive to do better / to be better, as tips are pooled. This community approach to pooled tips never works well. Many bartenders couldn't make a good drink (and one occasion gave me a completely different drink than what I had asked). One afternoon we were even told that we couldn't have a drink at the pool ???? Huh? Susan Kennedy was one standout in the Madri Gras lounge (give her a raise).

The food was really disappointing, too. I need to eat GF and it was very challenging. Many servers didn't know what was or wasn't GF, and had to make trips back to the kitchen to ask (and it was never a short trip). But, my wife also agreed ... the food was like your average low end franchise chain food (which we don't eat when not on vacation). And, we ate in the specialty restaurants ... not Aloha cafe.

Bottom line here is that I paid a small fortune for this vacation, and I didn't feel I rec'd commensurate value. Not even close. Read more