The staff was the staff that answers your call from your credit card company. Staff: poor attitude, does the least Food: redundancy - bland, fried, salty, boxed, canned and not labeled with ingredients. Lots of nuts everywhere and same tongs for near multiple items. Food stations: salad bar, pasta bar & omlet bar: only one person one station and have you waiting for food for over 20 min. Why not add an additional station to actually accommodate guests? Salad bar was wilted and old veggies. Expreso bar: paid, also waiting Bartenders: no pep in the step to handle more than two people at the bar. Our bartender was 100 years old and working / sharing the same well with another bartender, so they would wait for each other to make drinks....so it was like having only one bartender, since there was another unused well in the same bar that could have been used to increase efficiency. They need a food & bev manager to regulate the staff, since they do whatever they want. One time we waited over 30 min to BUY our coffee from the expreso bar bc the front desk girls came up with an order for the front desk crew of 5 or 6 drinks. And they are on island time when it comes to tasks. Internet is per person in the room and is very expensive for being so crappy and it doesn’t disclose that it doesn’t work in all ports. Overall the staff really was bad. In attitude, in performance of job duties and in customer service. Read Less

Well, this is my 5th cruise, and 2nd time sailing Holland America and believe it or not, my second time on Ms Rotterdam. I had my first ever cruise with her and I loved it and had fond memories of the ship, however this time not so much. I’ll try to just stick with the basics and facts. First, the cleanliness of our cabin was horrendous. One of the first things we had to do upon getting into our cabin was pee, and that’s where I noticed blood on the shower walls from my view whilst on the leu. After that, I entered the main cabin and lamented to my gf there was blood on the shower / tub from the previous guests and that’s where I noticed stained walls from what looked like dried Coke that had sprayed all over the walls behind the couch. And I mean all over, like how could you miss that cleaning crew. So we called to have our room cleaned and that led to a whole other incident where we were locked out of our cabin for 3 hrs. mind you we just got there, wanted to shower and change after a 10 hr flight. So it was not ideal right off the bat. The staff was very laid back about everything, and not in a good way. No hustle to get us situated (that will also come up later) During the process having to walk back and forth over 10 times to the front desk - to see if this key worked and if that key worked they finally resorted to call a locksmith that leasurley came 3 hrs later. Our toilets backed up daily and our room smelled like poop well because there was poop floating in our toilets that wouldn’t flush. At the first port I went to buy some Lysol wipes and wiped the cabin down myself. Being grossed out from everything upon arrival. The blackness that came off everything was nauseating: the phone, the switches, door handles, all black and filthy. I was trying to be a good sport and not complain bc it was my girlfriends first cruise and I wanted her to have a good time. But it just continued to disappoint. The food was not great. Everything was heavy, fried and very salty. The staff in the lido deck didn’t really interact with you and didn’t listen to any requests. Like go light with the salad dressing, they would drench the salad anyway and hand it over miffed and just want to move on to the next person. Customer service in all the food areas were bad, staff had a bad attitude and pretty much just lazy. they had lines at certain stations for 20 minutes or longer, when they had plenty of staff and should have made adjustments for the busier stations, like open another omlet section or salad station. So when having dinner with your companion that ate something different than you, they would be done with their meal by the time you got yours. Never saw any food managers, either. The only thing healthy was the salad bar and the lettuce was often the “last day of lettuce” if you know what I mean. So cleanliness- very poor, food not great, staff - pretty over it and other things like the internet package is 100 bucks for 5 days, but they don’t tell you the internet doesn’t work if you’re in the fjords (that happened to be about 24 hrs or more) and your guest in the cabin has to buy their own internet so it goes by person - definitely felt ripped off that - and when I told them they should have a disclaimer when buying the internet that it wouldn’t work docked in the fjord, she just looked at me like I was speaking another language and had this expression like “oh well” and didn’t do or say anything else. So. Customer service also pretty bad. All in all I was very disappointed with the “management” of the ship. The last thing they messed up was our debark- we didn’t receive luggage tags and had to get them from the long line at guest services. Then they were late delivering our luggage to the luggage drop off center and it caused us to miss our transport bus, that we had to now wait for another bus that in turn had us RUNNING to catch our flight. We debarked the ship at 7:45 am and had a 8:30 am bus, but had to take the 10:30 am bus. So while we waited and waited- we watched the luggage handlers just take their time like no one had anything else to do that day. Very disorganized and very over their “jobs”. New management and new crew ASAP. The ship itself had a lot of cool artwork, and I liked the “antique” vibe - but that’s the best thing I can say about the ship itself and Holland America. There were just a handful of delightful people that do work there with a smile on their face but it kinda sucks the 95% of the bad staff was so bad that those 5% don’t really get the review. Read Less

I just came back from Adventure Of The Seas ... It was my first cruise and it was amazing from the beginning to end ! ... Getting on the ship in Cape liberty was quick ... We got on the ship at 11 by 1 our bags were at the rooms already .. I had a balcony room it was a nice size for two people it had a little couch also and a makeup area. The balcony was my favorite I would deff recommend to get one ... The pool area was beautiful plenty of bars the drinks were excellent!! I don’t drink a lot so I only got the refreshment package but I will deff be getting the alcohol next time .. coco cay is so nice there’s everything on it ... chairs everywhere to sit or u can upgrade and spend money on a cabana .. We did the jet ski tour it was well worth !! The boat brings ur lunch on the beach which was cool and that’s Royal Caribbean’s island so all the drinks were free if u had the package there’s all little huts and hair braiding there’s even a bar in the water ... Florida we went went to the beach with the shuttle it brought us right there and right back bet relaxing... Nassau we did the Belmont island and that was gorgeous!!! It rained on an off but it was still insanely nice the only water you can see crystal clear there was two pools optional swim with dolphins ... the only thing is the food and drinks where a little expensive but we got a few drinks and went back to the boat to eat when we were done ...The main dining room was delicious the waiter Ramil and he’s helper Pablo was the best and the room cleaner edy was great to ...The food was great every day and we did the buffet at the windjammer which had everything... I went with a group of people I am 24 and the ages were 24 to 70 andWe all had a great time it’s a family boat , single people will have a good time and a lot for kids everyone there is something for .... the shows and game shows are awesome ... !I already booked my second one !!! I deff reccomend this ship Read Less

We chose the Oasis of the Seas because there was so much to offer all ages of our group, from age 12 to 68! It did not disappoint! We enjoyed the entertainment, especially the Oasis of Dreams, Come Fly with Me, Frozen in Time and the comedy shows. Our dining room experience in My Time Dining was excellent. Not only was Ikadek a wonderful waiter, he and the dining room staff went above and beyond to provide delicious meals for the two vegan members of our family. Ikadek made recommendations and all ten of us were very satisfied with our wonderful dinners. Our grandkids and sons-in-law all had fun trying out the flow rider, our granddaughter had her first ice skating experience, and we all enjoyed the Boardwalk and Central Park. Overall, this was a great family trip and we all will always treasure the memories of this wonderful cruise! Read Less

Taste - main dining area day 2: My scrambled eggs and cheese were cold and they forgot my toast. Oddly they brought a gravy boat of shredded cheese rather than cooking it in my scrambled eggs. Manager, Moises, sent some wine and sweet treats to our room to apologize. Very classy and we appreciated it. Spa Zero spa shoes Zero lockers Zero access to thermal spa during appt Coed relaxation rooms There was some sort of detox seminar/tours to sell a service which is fine except that they hold it in the the relaxation room which isnt very relaxing for those of us trying to relax. Services were nice but overpriced for lack of additional amenities (like Thermal Spa usage with appt) Lots of upselling after appt with prices excessive for products. Amazon is much better for products over ship pricing. Sky bar has most of the late night activities but it's in n the middle of the casino so the smoke made me leave immediately. Most of the staff seemed very confused when asking where something was on the ship. So much so that after asking 3 people for directions where the sky lounge was, we never located it and missed the singles meet and greet. Not enough chairs on the ship so you have to wake up at the crack of dawn to claim your chairs. Vibe only allows for 100 people and though it has nice chairs, it only has a hot tub and no pool. All in all I'd rank the trip 4/5. Btw, our steward was Harvey and he was amazing. Read Less

We where a group of friends and before we started Ft. Lauredale was great. Once we proceeded to embark I was so empresed with the burst of kindness and friendlyness that guided us all the way to the ship. the check in was a joy fast painless and easy espcialy for a first timer like me. The Ship Is amaizing it is more than I expected and the cabin was just wow. The dining was suburb and the dining room attandents where the best they spoil you and pamper you. There are lots of activities and entertainment the only problem was time to enjoy them all and repeat. The best was the service OMG it was amaizing talk about WOW service especialy to solve problems. The ports where exelent especialyPuerto Rico. I will deffenatly be going again I can say I am defenatly not a Customer but a Fan. I would like to thank the staff for an amaizinf experiance Read Less

First, the embarkation on the ship went very quick. We had an embarkation appointment at 1:00 p.m, but we were with a group and your company called Jett Tours. We arrived early at around lunch time so 12:00 p.m. The embarkation was quick went straight in got through the metal detectors, went and added cash money in my Sail & Sign account. Then after about 15 minuets we were on the boat by 12:15 p.m. upon getting on the ship R41 me and my sisters room was ready by 1:30 p.m. Now, exactly at 4:00 p.m. we left Charleston, South Carolina for a fun sea day. The sea day was just going and basically eating, laying out, looking at Duty - Free Shops, and other miscellaneous things. It was the same for both sea days. I did an excursion on each of the islands we went to which we went to first Eleuthera, Princess Cays, Bahamas. On the first island me and my party went for a Adult Santuary Bungalow. The bungalow did come with food and everything and was really good. Even had soda. The bad part is with the rocks. Princess Cays is such a rocky place and I got cutband hurt many times and I was looking for rocks but they still scraped. The second island was New Providence, Nassau, Bahamas. It was so much better and we went to Atlantis. Other than being attacked by a seagull Atlantis was wonderful and the best and so fun. We had the water park and aquarium for Atlantis. To add they also did have mixers for LGBT guests to meet and mingle each day which was nice and felt very comfortable and inclusive of everyone. The debarktion process was good as well. Very quick and efficient. I was off the ship in like at 8:30 a.m. and by 9:00 was on the Charter Bus. They were no issues at all and all I needed was my License and my declaration sheet for the cigarettes for my mother. Then we were on our way. All in all it was a nice experience and I would definitely sail on the Ecstasy again. Even though it’s a older ship, a little dated, and a little more moving. It was still nice. It didn’t bother me and the staff is always nice. Gabriela at guest services even game me a free drink because I just looked like I needed one. They are nice and everything. I have no complaints really. Would 100% recommend it. Read Less

I read several reviews on this site before deciding to book. I normally stick with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity and have 30 cruises under my belt. I've done Princess, Holland America, NCL, RCCL, and Celebrity. During and after my cruise, I was wondering if I had been on the same ship as the people who were so critical of the NCL Getaway. Granted it's not a top of the line cruiseship, but it definitely delivered great food, lots of fun things to do, a very diverse clientele, great pools and water parks, and pretty good food. So here are the things that I really liked and didn't like about my cruise as compared to what I'm used to on RCCL and Celebrity. Liked: - Self-serve soft ice cream that ALWAYS worked - The NCL mobile app is awesome on board! - The use of lights instead of cards for do not disturb, make up my room, and I'm in my room - Margaritaville - Lots of diverse bars - Quality and selection of food - The spa is definitely worth the extra money--amazingly relaxing and great place to watch - Coffee (which another reviewer said sucked) - Very few wheelchairs and motorized carts (because it's a younger group of people) - Lots of restaurants have alfresco dining on the deck (excellent idea!) - Lots of separate places for adults, children, and teens (even an adults only pool) - Breakfast pizza - 3D movies in the auditorium with free popcorn - Not having to "check out" pool towels against your room card - Harvest Caye in Belize is amazing--so huge and new! - Having the pool to myself while in port - Made to order dessert crepes in the buffet area Disliked: - Poor selection on TV (but why watch TV when you're on a cruise) - Toiletries in the room (bring your own soap and shampoo, which I always do anyway) - Having to get or buy tickets for some of the entertainment shows - Women cleaning the men's restrooms (awkward) - WiFi sucks (but it does on most ships anyway) - Fish and chips in Cagneys (I don't recommend it) I never saw stained towels like some of the reviews mentioned. My cabin was spotless and the cabin attendant was extremely responsive. Onboarding and deboarding were completely painless, smooth, and very, very quick. All in all, it was a great cruise. I booked a week before it sailed as a last-minute getaway from work and traveled alone since my partner couldn't make it. I was offered the opportunity to upgrade from an inside cabin to a balcony for a small fee, which I took and glad I did. Traveling alone worked fine. I don't like the regular restaurants that much anyway, so the buffet worked well for almost every meal. BTW, if you're into snorkeling, definitely go to the Chankanaab Beach Park in Cozumel either on your own (with a taxi) or through a shore excursion. You won't regret it. Harvest Caye in Belize was spectacular. Very modern, clean, beautifully landscaped, great beach, and amazing pool with a swim-up bar. Definitely beats Coco Cay and Labadee from RCCL. Read Less

Miami is a great cruise port: efficient airport security; short taxi distance to the port; vibrant city life with lots of restaurants. Our embarkation went smoothly and we were grateful Celebrity allowed us to board slightly ahead of schedule! Overall the food was good. We didn't notice that the food in the specialty restaurants was any better than in the dining room (lunch or dinner), though the atmosphere was more intimate and the servers were more attentive (probably because they had fewer patrons to serve). The steaks were delicious while the seafood was unremarkable. Indeed, the one night Silhouette (the dining room) served lobster, it was inedible as was the one-scallop appetizer drowning in overcooked spinach. If you want vegetables with your meals, be sure to order a salad as your appetizer. Deserts were middling and occasionally good (lime key pie and lava cake). Cafe Baccio was the only place that served real coffee. The ocean view cafe and dining room said they served Lavazzo coffee, but everyone knew the difference. Shout-out to Satoko. The world class bar served great cocktails: shout-outs to Igor and Santos. The martini bar was loads of fun, but watch out the drinks are seven ounces each! The gastro bar was intimate, a nice place to talk and watch tele. The pool bar traffic was steady, as was the food bars. Classic offerings for average American eaters. We wish Celebrity would realise most cruisers today have a more sophisticated understanding of ethnic cuisines. We did appreciate the East Indian offerings at breakfast, but we would've like to seen more spicy, diverse offerings. It's definitely worth your while to upgrade from the classic to the premium package, if only to enjoy yourself. It really doesn't take long for it to pay off and you are on vacation. As for the evening entertainment, well someone other than Martin should do the hiring. I don't blame the professional singers, dancers and acrobats. We do blame the producers who directed them to scream and execute tired, boring choreography. The three comics were poor. Only the drunks in the audience were laughing when the last one (Al Ducharme) "performed" his toilet humour that keeps "getting him fired". Speaking of Martin, he should develop a different shtick. He's too old for I'm-a-6'5"-Dane-and-Mom-likes-me-best routine. Someone else should also fire Christine who shouts bingo instructions and thinks rude comments are funny. (e.g. Your son was my favourite child on this cruise when other parents with children nearby are listening.) We didn't care for the daily upselling of specialty restaurants and photos. The casino is the pitts, though they have a good selection of slot machines. Sorry, but a two dollar compensation prize for those who lost out in the woman's watch drawing after an hour wait was insulting. As for port stops, San Juan was quaint and fun. Lots of police around so we felt safe. Shop at Majesty Jewelers in Philipsburg, St. Maarten for quality jewelry at the best prices. Charlotte-Amelie had a beach and casinos nearby, but the main street was a disappointment. The shore excursions were nothing to write home about. If you want to see an aquarium, visit Atlanta because Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas will disappoint you. Our guide spent the entire time up-selling us on the Atlantis aqua-adventure park; poor her, it was her job. Also, June 1st is Labor Day every year in the Bahamas. Why were we misinformed about the parade time (noon to 4:30) and the stores being closed? Sapphire Beach in St. Thomas was a disappointment. Not only were two of the three ladies rooms plugged up, the water had too much sea grass to swim in. Worse, most of the coral was dead. There were very few fish. No one saw any sea turtles. (Hurricane Irma?) We had to skip Punta Cana in the D.R. Note to newbies: in ports where the ship is only tethered, only reserve excursions from Celebrity and independent companies who offer full refunds in case the Captain deems the waters unsafe. For those who are environmentally-conscious, you might wish to bring a coffee thermos and refillable water thermos. We didn't really spend too much time on the upper decks because we're bothered by cigar smoke. (Thank goodness Celebrity doesn't allow smoking in their casinos.) I wish Celebrity did a better job at stopping guests from smoking on their verandas as there are security cameras everywhere. We also wish Celebrity reminded guests to be quiet after eleven o'clock at night, but given the extremely-loud sound level of the entertainment, I guess that would be hypocritical. Finally, we didn't realise until the second-last day of the cruise how low employee morale was on board. I've never had so many employees urge and even beg us to mention their names in the guest survey. Some did so repeatedly and handed us slips of paper with their names on them. But, upon reflection, we realised this must've been the case because employees complained of their long-working hours, split shifts, poor accommodations and arduous working conditions. Read Less

Chosen for port of Embarkation and cost. Unfortunately, with everyone telling me how great cruises are, etc. It set a level of expectation that I didn't feel was met. The soups were too salty, the Omelette station was too slow, worse since there were two people preparing them and then oiling the pan AND spraying it. The Cafe Promenade which catered to the out of hours dining rooms featured pizza, tea sandwiches and salads. But Ni's winning smile was worth the trip. The schedule should have been given for the entire length of the cruise instead of daily. It would help you plan your itinerary better when there was an overlap, which forced you to sometimes make the wrong decision if you didn't think you'd get a second opportunity, It seemed kind of silly that the photography gallery was inaccessible when the cash registers weren't open. It's obviously for upselling purposes but if I could have the opportunity to review my images on MY time I might have purchased more, I hate being rushed. The drink and wi-fi sales the last two days were last minute marketing gimmicks which was a waste of time. It might help those of us who don't drink enough to justify a drink package, especially if your partner doesn't drink. Read Less