Right from the booking process, NCL disappointed us. This was my 4th cruise with NCL. I had been very happy I booked directly with them.. My reservation was bungled -- I was promised a number of promotions including an onboard credit. After failing to receive cruise documents or an email, I phoned NCL. ttey had inserted the wrong address and sent cruise documents to a travel agency I used 4 years ago. That was corrected and I checked in online....without promotions showing. Another call and NCL could find no records of prior cruises. I had to send copies of previous cruise photos and an old latitudes card to receive the credit...never received a coupon book.
We used the NCL bus to get us from FLL airport to the Miami port. Three families waited 1.5 hours....eventually we were placed on a carnival bus that had extra seats. We we arrived we barely had time to eat lunch at 2:30pm as they closed the buffet for the muster station review...which was held in the theatre. We were never sure where our lifeboats were situated.
The ship was nice, and the ports were quite nice...tortola, domincan, St. Thomas. Their private island is too small for the crowds...we chose to enjoy the silence of the ship...most people spent just 2 hours on the cay.
Great cabin, full tub, couch was a sofa bed and extremely hard to sit on....it also was broken....the ship is due for a refurbishment in June 2011
Brewed bay beach is a great choice for snorkeling....cane bay garden beach is also very nice.....no need for an excursion for beach time. Take a shared open air taxi to the beaches. Bring cash for chair rentals and beer
If you need a new watch or jewelry, shopping is great. Megan.s bay beach is also a nice day trip. We took the funicular / sky ride as the weather was mostly cloudy. While the cost is steep, the view of the harbor was certainly worth it.
Actually was the dominican republic....take the excursion to the caya levantdo for a beach day...comfy lounge chairs....a nice change from the ships chairs which are brutal for long sun basking sessions.