Norwegian Sky Review

Crossed the Line

Review for the Bahamas Cruise on Norwegian Sky
User Avatar
xo1
2-5 Cruises • Age 30s

Rating by category

Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Rooms
Entertainment
Fitness & Recreation
Service
Cabin

Additional details

Sail Date: May 2011
Cabin: Mid-Ship Inside
Traveled with children

Where to start...Embarkations - was great as it was fast or faster than expected. Went very smoothly, no complaints. Other than the fact they had no greeting champagne but that's alright with me. Rooms - out of the 4 days on the ship, never seen the stateroom attendant once, never was introduced to the room attendant, never got my wine glasses replaced or cleaned, had the same dirty wine glasses for 3 days. Finally got fed up on the third day when i actually wanted to drink my wine and took so long to find someone to clean my wine glasses only to get this response "sorry, I can't help you, because im not your stewardess, you have to go find your own"Food - The food was OK, buffet would be the best choice if your going on this cruise. Avoid the freestyle dining as the service goes from OK to worse as the days go by. 1 dinner my group waited 45 minutes for our starters and another 1.5 hours for our entree. Not even going to mention the desert. This was completely unacceptable in my opinion. Server just came back and said "sorry for the delay, the supervisor is speeding it up". Had the steak for one night and it was completely well done (asked for medium rare) wasn't going to bother asking for another one after having to wait hours for it. Good thing is, you can always head to the buffet after dinner if the food wasn't to your liking. As for deserts, the ship has the least selection available. No food after 11pm. Other than the long boards bar (sports bar) at the back of the ship. But you have to sit down and order, they also prefer you stay there to eat. Kind of strange if you ask me. Only good thing you can eat after 11 is chicken wings (worth eating). Buffet's - make sure you get there early, i found on many occasions that some or i should say most items ran out quickly and would not be restocked. The buffet served hamburgers and hotdogs every single day. They pretty much served the same food over and over again. Tips - $12/day is definitely not the service they worked for. Everyone was rude, not helpful, miserable, and if you get the unlimited drink package be ready to get some bad service. onboard shops - sales were pushy. Some were really nice and some were just completely RUDE. One of my friends asked if you have to wait until the end of the cruise to get cigarettes purchased from their duty free. Sales persons response was "I dont care what you do with them, smoke all of them for all I care". Casino - Now this would be the worse part of the ship. Having gone with a group of 16 on this cruise, about 8 of us went to the casino and 1 person in our group was ROBBED by the CASINO!!. Unbelievable and completely unacceptable. This is where they crossed the line. This happened at the roulette table, after confirming what the maximum bet was, my friend played a few rounds and won a few times. After about 25 minutes in, head dealer steps in and asks him to give them $350 back because they claimed to have overpaid him. They also tried to lie to us by saying that he bet over the max limit when clearly the dealer told us what the max bet was and he was already playing for a while now and was never told he was over max. This whole ordeal took about 4 hours of my night. The entire table (which was full) was furious about what was going on. The supervisor basically told us that we either had a choice of handing over $350 cash or cashing out and banned from coming back to the casino. Everyone at the table advised to cash out and was completely astonished at what was going on, they were trying to steal our money right in front of everyone. After cashing out with the dealer, (approx $450), the head manager at this point tells the dealer to give back $100. Now this is where the ROBBING happens, how can a casino take your chips after you cash out and then give you back $100 and not $450. After that, the manager states his claim and then walks away, not allowing anyone to talk to him. The entire table was furious at this point and telling my friend to stand up and not let them steal his money. Everyone at the table cashed out and refused to play. Surprisingly a few of the table players were past guests and 1 had cruised on the sky 7 times and had never seen anything like this. He was familiar with the casino rules and stated that this was entirely illegal and fought it to the end with us. Long story short, manager had to check security tapes, told us his staff never told us to cash out and instead ONE of our group told him to cash out. so lied right in front of our faces, secondly, the entire table was ready to give a statement and the manager refused to listen to anyone. At the end of the day, after waiting an hour for this guy to talk to his upper manager, they did end up giving back his money stating "because i'm a business man, i'm going to give back the money". Can't believe all that happened, went through hours of grief. Had to go through 3 levels of management. At the end of the day, it was about the ethics, didn't even care about the money, my friend handed it all to the guys that stayed back to fight this nonsense. Ports - the ports were great, best part of the cruise. Really enjoyed Nassau and the private island. Free-port was OK. Snorkeling at the private island is very nice, lots of fish to see. If your heading to Nassau, make sure you check out Atlantis. The ship has the excursion for $150. If you want to save a few bucks, take a taxi cab there $4 each way, then pay $120/pp for a wristband there. You can also get kids in for $80 (age 2-12) but we had a 16 year old get in for that price. Just tip the cashier :P and I must say, Atlantis is worth every penny. Debarkation - went smoothly, taken our own bags off the ship was the best part, easy and you can do it at your own pace. You have until 10am max to get off. I've been hooked on cruising since my first time. This is not my first cruise, have been on celebrity and carnival and would never go back on Norwegian again so i am not speaking as a first-time cruiser and I have very low expectations. I know you pay for what you get, but this cruise is just horrible.

Cabin Review

Mid-Ship Inside

Cabin IC
previous reviewnext review

Find a Norwegian Sky Cruise from $89

Any Month

Get special cruise deals, expert advice, insider tips and more.By proceeding, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

© 1995—2024, The Independent Traveler, Inc.