My wife and my two children (ages 8 and 4) came on this cruise as an extension of a California Disney vacation. We were looking forward to a relaxing spring break family vacation, and certainly expected a similar experience to our prior 6 cruise experiences with other companies. You will be extremely disappointed. This is not a family cruise. Staff is largely ignorant of any cruise activity or procedure, the children activity center is opened odd limited hours, which in turn limits your own ability to book any adult time. The ship is crowded and ill-designed — be ready to wait long lines at any eatery or elevator — the food of poor quality unless you are paying for it. Cabin is smaller than Disney but ok. Very disappointed with our experience and especially for the kids. I will not travel in this boat again. I wish I had read more of the other reviews before I booked it. Read Less

All activities on the ship required reservations that you needed to make prior to the cruise which we never were made aware of. The employees were miserable and had the worst customer service skills. The kids splash academy was full and couldnt take anymore kids as it was a first come first serve basis. Everything costed extra, only food was included. Shows, go carts , arcade and many more things were all extra but they were all full. This ship was beautiful but the experience and sercice was horrible. I will never go on another Norwegian cruise. The pool had little to no entertainment and it was packed with only one pool for families to use. I would highly recommend a Royal Caribbean cruise over this one anyday. To top the cruise off my 10 year had access to charge to his room 1500. On the arcade and the cruise line never flagged the account or notified us .When i found out about charges there corporate office in Miami argued with me stating it was my responsibility to pay the amount. Please safe yourself the headache and disappointment do not go on this ship!!! Read Less

This was my first time traveling on NCL, NOT my first time cruising though. I take at least one cruise a year. I was excited about trying NCL but was let down. I expected more from all the great reviews that raved about the fine dining-I did participate in the specialty dining program and went to almost all of the special dinning restaurants on board but didn’t feel that most were worth the extra money. I did like the steak house, but honestly the rest of the speciality dinning were unworthy( I don’t know about the Temperura restaurants though as we booked a few months before and couldn’t get in) Cruising used to be all inclusive and now cruise lines are nickel and dime us- I get it and don’t mind paying a little extra for better service, but I expect better service and food if I have to pay extra. Our cabin steward was not that helpful and I cannot help but think he was just trying to get out of work. (We are not customers who need a lot of attention just ice every so often - never asked for towels or sheet changing and we always cleaned up our own rooms) and always pre-pay our gratuity-maybe that is why he didn’t work hard....)that being said I did enjoy myself. I just wouldn’t go on another NCL cruise again- unless you book early- you cannot get into shows, or some restaurants. I guess if you are able to pay the extra fee for Heaven (or book early enough to get a room there) then maybe you can bypass the bad cabin stewards and get to eat on the Heaven restaurants instead- but seriously if you are gonna pay that much extra money- go on a different cruise line. And BTW the cabins are so much smaller than all of the other cruise lines I have been on- and we always book balcony or better. Read Less

We chose this cruise for our sisters cruise because the port and sail date fit our needs. Ship was beautiful and large. Embarkation was easy and fast, onboard by 11:15am. Disembarkation was equally easy. Some of the staff were cranky and seemed tired. Elevators were over crowded but it was a good excuse to take the stairs for extra calories burned. Specialty restaurants were very good but buffet was choppy. Public bathrooms in the area of the pool could be cleaner. Singers onboard were the best I’ve seen. Really liked Susan and Siglo. Views and atmosphere from the observation lounge were lovely. This is the first time taking a different cruise line other than celebrity in many years, and would have to say even though I had a great cruise celebrity is still my choice. This ship is for passengers with children for sure, celebrity is for people that would really like to avoid tons of kids. Read Less

We chose this cruise because we traveled on the Jewel 2 years ago and heard about a new boat being built. We love this route as it's an easy one for us to make work and 7 days is just about the perfect cruise length for me. The boat was definitely fresh and new but didn't have that WOW factor we were expecting. Our balcony stateroom had to be the smallest one we've ever had, on NCL and other lines. There seemed to be space wasted in the stateroom, in the name of decorating? The sliding door out to the balcony was framed in oddly, making for stubbed toes! There was a lot of movement (we were on Deck 14), even on days when the ocean was very calm. With that movement came lots of cracks and snaps and noises all night long. I can't imagine being on this boat in really bad weather! The dining rooms were very elegant. The food was good but not spectacular. The entertainment was fun but nothing special, other than the Beatles cover band in the Cavern. Staff was very friendly and mostly attentive. There were a couple of very slow servers but you'd find that anywhere! I was amazed at how they could remember our names and what we were drinking almost immediately! Also, there was a bit of a communication problem at times due to the noise at the pool, or in the atrium at game times and the fact that most workers didn't speak great English. Will we travel with NFL again? Most likely yes, just not on this boat! Read Less

BAD: Hot tub from 2decks above balcony was over flowing on my friends balcony Room near ours (hard for me to believe this never happened before. Crew was very good trying to take care of it but she never was able to even sit on her balcony for fear of getting chlorine hot tub water all over them) Terrible and it was pouring at times Clumps of bacon at breakfast on the haven restaurant. The assistant Maitre-D (Garry Velez) was mortified and spoke to the chef.. They were very nice but even on the last day - clumps of bacon again. I would expect more from the Haven Cagneys Restaurant waited 1 hour 40 minutes for main course dinner. We had apps first and that came out in a timely fashion but wait was horrible - we did say something and they apologized sveral times. The smoke alarm in the cooking area was going off for a good 10-15 minutes - we did tell then about that as well and it was finally shut off Were they not going to shut it off hadn't we said something. Steak was a thin porterhouse like u get at sizzler. I would expect more from a specialty restaurant we have to pay for. Food at haven for my friends daughter plain pasta was ice cold but plate was hot. We have video of it. It was a joke the rest of the cruise. Again this was in the Haven restaurant and we did make the chef and Garry aware. AGAIN, they apologized. Lamb chops were ice cold in the haven restaurant, AGAIN - I don't know whats going on up there but it definalety was not great this time. Very disappointing for us. Light in closet in master room of 2 bedroom suite constantly stayed on. They replaced bulb and the door is the issue not the bulb. This happened in her room and ours. They fixed it finally after the 4th day and after my husband put tape on the door every night Toilet in kids room not flushing. Broken. Told them on 2nd day - this was in room 17110 - by the last day, that toilet still had a delay flush No hot water in master bath last 4 days of cruise. This was my friends room. Spoke to numerous people Who said they fixed it and they clearly did not. Complained every day about it On Mazatlán port day we stayed on ship. No one in haven pool area to change towels on chairs. No pool towels available. Had to complain in order for someone to fix it. Refrigerator in our room was constantly leaking they had to keep cleaning it. Fixed by 6th day When you get out of haven hot tub, everyone been cutting or bruising themselves by the artwork above it. The bottom sticks out above the staircase the way it is situated. My husband left shoulder was bruised because of it. We booked 8 people go karts - double - so all 8 of us can ride together - its only 4 times around the track on doubles and 8 on singles. Not only was it $9.95 per ride but when we got there we were told one car was broken so only 6 of us could ride together we were disappointed but it was still fun. I would rather a ship that has a sports complex like basketball etc for the kids. GOOD: Winshor Baslan - was our stateroom steward. He was excellent. Even better than the butler. Tried to take care of all the issues for us as well. Knew my kids by name, made amazing animals for us with the towels. He was even better than we had last year on the Escape Haven. Just the nicest person Q Restaurant was our best night - no complaints. Food was good. Service was great. Music and entertainment were on point. Great night Shows - Havana and Jersey Boys were excellent. Read Less

Choose the ship due to look and activities available. There was never a dull or boring moment on board, my grandson had the best time he is 3 years old but was trying just about everything, we mini golfed, he went swimming, he went to splash academy, we listened to music, went to see Jersey Boys, watched movies and just had a great experience. cannot wait to do it again. The crew was very attentive and just amazing, the food was unbelievable especially the day had Jamaican food. My grandson and daughter made new friends. My grandson loved all the attention he as getting from the crew. I would recommend this ship to friends and family members. Norwegian Cruise line is the best line I have been on so far. This was our 3rd time on NCL and cannot wait to do it again. Claudia from Canada. Dining was amazing. Read Less

We booked the April 28 Pacific Coastal in October 2018. Then my husband suggested doing this Mexican Riviera cruise on the Bliss so we could experience a B2B. We cruised on the Bliss for its first Pacific Coastal last September and said that we would love to cruise on her in hot sunny weather and this was our opportunity. Since we booked a sailaway inside cabin only a month prior to the cruise, we had few flights to choose from and flew from YVR to LAX on the day of the cruise for the first time. We booked the NCL transfer from LAX to the pier. As it turned out, we arrived before noon and were on the first bus to the pier, arriving shortly after 1 p.m. The embarkation line was short at that point and with Platinum status we were aboard shortly thereafter. The sailaway inside cabin had been assigned the day after booking. We were already booked in a sailaway balcony for the Pacific Coastal on deck 13 forward, and our sailaway inside on this cruise was also deck 13 forward. We became very familiar with the long walk to these cabins, but other than that, no problems with location. Our cabin was a "family inside" and it was difficult to imagine four people in that cabin. The main issue was storage, as the closet is not large and shelves are few. The side table (with shelves) from my husband's side of the bed wouldn't fit between the bed and the wall so we put it into the closet and used it for shelving. Love the little shelf above the head of the bed and the USB ports, this was perfect for charging phones, batteries and devices. Well thought-out. The bathroom was exactly the same as in our balcony cabin, plenty of room. Our steward was very attentive, he introduced himself when we arrived, asked if we wanted ice (which we did, in the evening) and was always polite, cheerful and engaged when we met him in the hallways. We had two complimentary dining venues with Platinum status and chose Le Bistro and La Cucina. Both meals were perfect. For La Cucina we ate on the waterfront after our day at Puerto Vallarta. We were at LeBistro on our final night of the cruise, fairly late, and enjoyed speaking with a cast member of Jersey Boys and the assistant production mgr who persuaded us to book Prohibition on our next cruise. Jersey Boys is incredibly well done. I said to my husband and the cast member that we met that I almost forgot that I was watching entertainment on a cruise ship, I felt that I was sitting in a land-based theater, everything was so perfect - the moves, the music, the sound, etc. Britain's Finest was exactly that, we went to every performance that our schedule allowed on both cruises, front row if we could. Enjoyed it so much! We did this itinerary on the Star in March 2018 so we only booked an excursion in PV, rather inexpensive $25/person, which was a tour of old town, but unfortunately ended up at a restaurant up in the hills away from town, where we paid for our meals (some folks were unprepared for this). This as it was not mentioned in the description. In fact, the description mentioned a final stop in the Zona Romantica and we didn't go there at all. The beginning of the excursion was not well-led, as the large group almost ended up crossing the street to Walmart because our guide was nowhere to be found. On the Star last year, NCL used Tropical Tours for all the excursions we went on, and those guides and drivers were excellent! This year's tour was not. In Mazatlan, we did our own thing, had a pulmonia driver take us to the Starbucks in the Golden Zone and drop us off, then we walked back along the Malecon to Old Town where we got another pulmonia back to the ship. An awesome day! We are a couple in our 50's travelling on our own. We expected Spring Break to be over, but were told SoCal had spring break at that time. Many local families on board, we avoided the buffet which had many families with strollers and teenagers on their own. We ate at Taste and Savor for lunch every day, we don't really care for the same menu at lunch every day. We had a few dinners at Manhattan Room, we arrived when it opened, but found it very slow. Most large groups book tables here and if they are being served, it seemed everything else slowed down. We relaxed quite often in the Observation Lounge and enjoyed everything about it, especially the bar in the evening, the bartenders are awesome, especially Genie! We did the Platinum ship tour and enjoyed it very much, loved meeting the production manager, she was great. We did a Carnival cruise with family this year and noticed the difference in the entertainment, dining experience, service, the list goes on. We hope that NCL doesn't try to cut corners to the level of a Carnival experience, we much prefer NCL freestyle. We love the Bliss and the itinerary and would do it again. We also love the Jewel class. Looking forward to another cruise on NCL in the future. Read Less

It's been 2 years since my last cruise and I was ready. I'm so glad we chose this one. Getting on the ship was pretty easy and fast. I expected it to be hard considering the number of people. We had lunch in the buffet and it was good. We were in our room by 2 PM. The room was small for a mini suite but adequate. There is a lot of storage in the room. The bathroom was great. I loved the full body shower. I was not impressed with the majority of the food. Other than the specialty restaurants, the food was bland. My least favorite was The local. We found the service poor and the food the same. We loved all 3 ports. I wish we would have had more time in Cabo, but I got a beautiful ring, so i cant complain. My advice for Mazaltlan if you want to to just look around and your is to just take the open air taxis to town. $12-$15 one way and you see everything. We paid $45 for the double decker bus and it's not worth it. I would totally recommend this cruise. I have to give props to the Cruise Director, Silas Cook and his entire staff. Silas and Alex are the best in the business. Alex is the life of any party and one of the nicest people I've ever met. By far, Silas is just the most wonderful person ever. I had the chance to just chat with him for a while and I loved just getting to know him. I hope I cross paths with he and his staff again. Was the cruise perfect, nope. Nothing in life is perfect. I will say 1 week felt like 3. I cant wait to go back!!! Read Less

My Experience My experience on the Norwegian Bliss was my first cruise ever, as well as my husband's. We decided to do our honeymoon on the Bliss because we were struck with the Go-Kart on the ship since we both have a love for go-karting. That was so much fun! It was FAST and exciting! I have to say that we want to do the cruise again soon and take the kids. If you appreciate smaller things, you will appreciate a trip to Mexico for 7 days! I don't get all the negative remarks on these reviews, but I am grateful for small things in life! There was over 4000 people on the ship and most of the time, it didn’t feel over-crowded. The only time it was crowded is when a show is let out and the exercise drill. There was a couple of nights that it felt like a ghost-town, most everyone was turned in for the night or hiding somewhere! Haha! About the Ship The ship was beautiful! I have never seen anything so big and beautiful. I couldn't get enough pictures. This trip was a big deal for both of us and we were just so excited to see something that we have never experienced before. We walked all over the ship and tried to see every inch of the ship since it was such a beautiful thing. I am grateful that we had this opportunity to experience an awesome vacation on this big beautiful boat! I am pretty sure we poked around just about every corner except for the Haven area. Our Cabin Room Our room was the Mid-Ship Stateroom with Balcony on the 13th Deck and I wouldn't pick any other room on board. We had originally picked out a room on 5th deck that was in the center and I am glad we decided to upgrade twice to get a room with the balcony. I felt it was plenty of room with just the both of us. I can bet it would be plenty if I had my kids with me. We were confused at how to keep the light on in our cabin and later learned that we had to keep the room key in the slot (learned this from avid fellow cruiser)! Our room was kept cleaned every day and we had a surprise waiting for us every time we came back to our room. Thank you, Larry, for outstanding services with the cabin and we were excited to see each animal towels left just for us! We are also very thankful for the Honeymoon Package waiting for us when we first entered the cabin. That was a very nice touch! When leaving on our final day, we waited until the last minute on the night before the last day to get two new beach towels and to my dismay, we never got them – oh well – we have another souvenir that we are happy with. Dining Experience (Specialty, Buffet included) I have to say that I was really impressed with all the Specialty Dining we had. We got the Dining Package that consist of 3 Specialty Dining and our choices were The Q, Teppanyaki and Los Labos. Of course, we made reservations at The Taste, Manhatten Room and visited The Local few times. For our Honeymoon package, we had our romantic dinner at Le Bistro which was very lovely and completely enjoyed ourselves. I was happy with a bottle of Bubbly which was delicious and a bottle of white wine that we took back to our room later. Breakfast was pretty much at the Garden Café every morning and occasional lunch. I just know we ate so much food and loved every bit of it. I had an issue with couple of things on my plate that I have chosen but overall really good food. I am just thankful there was plenty to go around! We also had the drink package and that was the best thing ever as we drank whatever we wanted throughout the day. Never got drunk or felt any hangover. It was perfect! Entertainment & Activities We saw most of the shows such as the Comedy Night at the Social, The Havana!, The Jersey Boys and not to mention the International Talent Show done by most of the crewmembers! OUTSTANDING! I was happy with all the shows and completely enjoyed myself. It was a very relaxing atmosphere and loved every minute of it. My husband was enjoying himself as well. We both absolutely love the Go-Karts and did that four times. Although I never made it up on the board, I had so much fun! Mini-golf was cute, it was so small though. I believe more creation in the mini-golf would be ideal. We hung out by the pool a couple of days and went to most of the themed party. I am confused as to why there were children at the H2O when it clearly shows “Adults Only – 21 and over?” Same thing with children in the Adult Only pool. I heard complaint about the pool being overcrowded but I didn’t feel like it was. I have seen worse overcrowded pools before. We did not opt to play the Laser Tag, it just wasn’t our thing but man it looked fun. We didn’t have the chance to check out the Hot Tub – it was always full of people or shut down. Shore Excursions Experiences Puerto Vallarta: We chose Tequila Town, Country and Farm Excursion and it was a pleasant tour. The tour guidance, Hugo was excellent. I love his trilling R’s! I enjoyed the tour through the town and the church especially. However, I was a little disappointed in the town itself, it was so run down and dirty. The local folks looked so depressed, sitting outside their shop waiting for business, that I just wanted to jump back onto the happy ship! Once we got to the Tequila Farm, the fun started heating up with 6 samples of tequilas and loved them all! Had a nice little lunch with authentic tacos and then we did a little bit of shopping on our own when we got back to the port and bought some souvenirs! Mazatlán: We chose the Hike the Lighthouse Excursion because we both love to hike and explore the nature. Our reservation was in the high time of the day, so it was a bit warm. Thankfully I had my big brim hat on since I had gotten sunburn days before from chilling out by the pool. Our tour guide was very friendly and did an awesome job with the tour. I made it all the way to the top at the Lighthouse after going up over 340 something steps! It was a struggle, but we did it! Great team support as I had some couples encouraging me along the way because I was nearly giving up. Good hike though! Again, did some quick shopping at the port before loading back up on the big happy boat! We only saw a small part of the downtown area and it was a little more colorful than Puerto Vallarta! Cabo, San Lucas We chose the Snorkeling, Paddle board and Kayak adventure and I will NEVER forget this trip! We got on this awesome boat that was pretty fast and bee-bopped across the water to our final destination. Before we headed that way, we toured around the most beautiful rock formations ever! It was a sight to see! Once we got to our destination, we explored the beautiful sea down under with our snorkeling gear! I am so thankful for the photographer that was with us because he got some awesome pictures of us swimming below – holding hands and pointing at fish! I was so thankful for such a beautiful time! I spent few moments on the kayak and we had to head back. Not enough time for such a great adventure! Then we saw the jumping baby whale having the time of its life! Thank you, Lord, for such a beauty in sight! I am truly thankful for the Cabo Adventure for such a wonderful adventure! They had tons of photos for us to take back home on a flash drive for a small cost! We did some quick shopping as we had to head back to the happy ship at 1:30 pm and it was lined up for miles! No complaint as it was all smooth-sailing! I was sad to be leaving so soon as we wanted to explore more. Like someone else said in the review, we are flying back to explore more! Farewell: On our final day, it was so very hard to leave the boat. I had tears in my eyes as I was saying goodbye to all the staff. They were all outstanding, friendly, helpful and very knowledgeable. We were greeted every day, throughout the day! All of our waiters/waitresses did such an amazing job and I can't thank them all enough! We are coming back for sure and pick another destination as traveling has been on our bucket list for a while! To our surprise, we didn’t spend a whole lot as we paid for everything in advanced and that was a nice plan! I tried to add some photos but I am having issues with the download. Read Less

The timing was perfect. We had already been to the Caribbean and wanted somewhere different. They work like a well oiled machine. All ship personnel were knowledgeable about the ship. The embarking and disembarking went smoothly, even the tenders were easy. There were a good balance of sea days and port days. Just a LOT of people on that ship, hard to get an elevator. The food is amazing, and the specialty restaurants are awesome. There was not much room at the pool, unfortunately there is only one adult only pool. The one thing I found to be unfortunate is the standard for dress in the dining rooms. No one seems to want to get dressed up anymore. This in my opinion, lowers the standard of the people on board. I used to look forward to dress up nights. Even at the Theatre shows, shorts and t-shirts. Though the staff are diligent about washing hands, my husband and I both picked up a bug and were sick for the last few days. We enjoyed ourselves, and the excursions were as promised. Read Less

We were looking for a west coast cruise for the family. This was our first time on Norwegian. The bliss is a beautiful new ship and never seemed really crowded even though it holds 5,000 passengers. The smaller complimentary restaurants (Taste and Savor) were much more warm and inviting than the Manhattan. The food and service was great in all the restaurants and the garden buffet. We didn’t try any of the specialty restaurants although we heard great things about cagneys steak house. We weren’t really impressed with puerto Vallarta. Did an excursion to stone island beach in mazatlan which was actually nice. All the alcohol you could drink. Cabo was our favorite and we will probably go back by plane. Saw jersey boys and it was fabulous. They aren’t kidding when they saw broadway productions. Also tried the go carts which was pretty cool knowing you are on a ship in the middle of the ocean. All in all a great cruise. And we were amazed at the speed they got us on and off the ship. Read Less

Norwegian Cruise On The Bliss. If you are thinking of booking a cruise with Norwegian on the Bliss here are some important things that will enlighten you and maybe help narrow your decision between cruise lines. I really wish some of this info was available before we booked for 6 people. 2 ocean side rooms, 2 kids 4 adults with my Father in-law being disabled and needing a wheelchair. Our trip started off on a very bumpy start with a 3 hour boarding process at long beach. Ugh.. We notified NCL that we needed assistance to 1 in our group but they informed us no wheelchairs available at that time so they had about 7 disabled people stuck sitting on a bench outside the terminal in the sun for over an hour. No water offered to them or another area to sit in the shade. Was so bad! My father in-law was a total trooper and said I’ll stand in line cause he didn’t want to take a chair away from anyone else. We made him stay put. Finally NCL sent over an assitant and brought everyone inside but told all the family’s they would have to separate everyone except one family member, (just dumb).. Had no idea if we would be able to see them again with the 1,000 plus people in line till we boarded. As we got into the main check-in after waiting in line for a hour plus they then made you take a number to wait in another line.. What rocket science figured this one out??? So now another hour plus line after your number was called. Complete disconnect!! We were hoping that Dad wasn’t having to deal with this madness but well he was as I looked across and saw him in a line of 5 trying to get though the special assist line. He literally was in a line of 5 for more then an hour.. Just crazy.. It took 1 hour to process 5. Recap, NCL separated our complete family and made him wait in another line for well over a hour after sitting in the hot sun for over a hour.. NCL really knows how to treat disabled people! I’ve never seen anything like it.. This is America not a third world country.. We are blown away with this. Wait it gets better. Once finally getting to our state rooms we asked about getting a wheel chair. Figured we would have no problem.. Ha.. Nope. “Sorry sir, we are out of wheelchairs but maybe you could head down to Guest Services and ask them.” So I went down and low and behold another line 30 deep. Just keeps getting better. I picked up the lobby phone and called to see what options we had. Amazing that we were able to get ahold of a NCL member. They confirmed that no wheelchairs were available but if we wanted to go anywhere just call and a NCL member will pickup and drop off. Well we tried that a few times and it was a bust. 20 to 30 min pickup time and once you are at your destination that they take the wheelchair so now you have to call and request a pickup. This clearly wasn’t going to work. We attempted another try to find a wheelchair and they found one. That was a relief until we were given the bill for 195 bucks and the challenge of trying to maneuver through the hallways with all the service carts in the way. Clearly NCL is not taking Handicap or Disabled guests as a priority. The Bliss is not setup to truly make it easy to get around with small hallways, no center elevator and crew not trained. We just found out about disembarking is going to be the same issue. No priority. Another fun fact in the wisdom who’s ever in charge of getting luggage off you need to have your luggage outside your cabinet by 11:00 PM the night before so if you need to get ready the next morning you’ve better have what you need. Great so with all the extra stuff your Dad needs like meds and other crucial things we need to find a place other then his bags that need to be taken beforehand.. We already have a bunch of luggage to content with so it just make more things to desk with. NCL is very safety conscience so little surprised they are having all the guest clog in the hallways with bags. If there is an emergency no way we would be able to pass all the bags with a wheel chair. Makes no sense! The ship is beautiful and their newest in NCL fleet but be prepared to be nickel and dimed to death.. We paid for everything in advance including 6 nights of fine dining so wanted everything included but we were so wrong! They kill you with the WiFi for 300 for a week per guest. And if you want to keep in touch with your family and kids they have a basic NCL connection that will run you about 10 per person so you can text from phone to phone while on the ship after downloading the NCL app. Should be free! You also get charged 15 dollars per day per guest and if you want soda for the kids or adults that package is another 50. Oh and no free bottled water! Race track and Laser tag cost and if you don’t signup the minute you get on the boat forget it. Books up in super quick. Another bummer. Be careful about room selection. We booked directly with NCL thinking that they would know the ship better then anyone else. Wrong! I got talked into center upper deck for the following reasons; - less movement for bad weather - restaurant access Well not having a center elevator is a big issue with wheel chair and almost every night on the main pool deck there was a party with the music playing full blast. Both rooms vibrated until 12 almost every night. We didn’t sleep for 4 of the 6 nights on the ship. I’m for everyone partying but I want to be able to retreat to a quiet place to sleep. So basically center ship DO NOT STAY on deck 12,13,14 or 15 unless you don’t want to be sleep. I did complain a few times and finally got some help with the DJ bringing down the level days later. It was crazy that they would turn the sound all the way up with only 75 guest on the deck that can hold 1,500 plus. Doesn’t make sense. In all fairness they would have moved us but the ship was completely booked. Also tough when you have assigned cabinets next to each other. Dinning experience was mixed feelings. Our favorite was; - Ocean blue - Cagney’s - The Local - Le Bistro - Savor - Taste - La Cucina Ocean blue and Le Bistro were epic! Worse food and service - Los Lobos 2 hours to eat with reservation and food order came back wrong 3 times on two different items. My kids finally gave up and just didn’t eat dinner. Then the manager tried to compensate for our bad experience by not charging for the side of beans and flour tortillas. I pretty much said please charge me and walked out. Bad with a side of more bad. Food was also terrible. Kids left and went to the Garden Cafe buffet to try to eat some dinner. Entertainment: Good luck getting into any of the shows if not booked the minute you get on board. We paid for the only show we could get into which was Havana (and was a 10:00 evening showing) but with our dinner running late at Cagneys we missed it. And yes we got charged anyway.. Another challenge is getting a hold of someone of Guest Services without going to the counter. I’ve must of called at least 20 times within the 4 days and only was able to touch base over the phone 5 of the 20. Best time to go physically is before 7 or after 9:00 if you don’t want to wait in line. The only person who has been helpful really is the General Manager Belkys Sanchez. She has helped with the noise the best she can. All and all is has been an experience with more lows than highs for our first experience with NCL. Sincerely the Barbera’s Read Less

I had always thought bigger was better, however this was not the case. with 4000 guest on board the elevator situation on board is dreadful. Since the ship onl;y has a 2 elevator banks and upwards of 18 floors, you are always stuck waiting for an elevator you can sqeeze into. As for activities we were only able to catch 2 shows and one of which cost an additinal 29.95 per person for and we had to sit in folding chairs...great show but i didn't think i paid to sit in a folding chair. almost everything on the boat needs to have a reseravtion, over a 7 day trip i was unable to reserve any other dinding options then what i had setup about 4 weeks prior to sailing, and was unable to get a spot to race the go karts. We love the comedy shows and once again we were unable to see any of there shows besides the one held in the large theater due to having to make a reservation. Also we had no idea that there was a reservation system from boat tenders in cabo as well. lastly my big concern, i didnt know it was ok to smoke marijuana on the ship, there had been multiple people smoking in the smoking section and my wife had discovered used aluminum foil that had been burnt and there were signs a "substance" had been smoked off of the foil. this was reported to security and im not sure if anything had ever been done about it.... But as a person who normal takes my child with, this was a little uneasy feeling, however after seeing how easy security seemed to be, i wasnt shocked by this. after multiple sailings with ncl this has by far been the worst, and i may cruise with them again, but for now i will be looking into a diffrent cruise line. Read Less

I used to love Norwegian. The Epic was my first cruise and I went on several after that before trying Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. One thing I always loved about Norwegian was the value. That has all changed. Now everything costs more. Margaritaville has a hamburger I like. When I was on the Breakaway a few years ago I went to Margaritaville every day for lunch. It was like $12 per person. Kind of high but reasonable. Now it’s $15 with a 20% gratuity so that is $18. That hamburger is not an $18 hamburger and lunch for 2 people is not worth $36 and that does not include drinks! All of the specialty dining is more expensive and a la carte. Dinner at La Cucina used to be $14.95 on the Getaway. Now if you get a 4 course meal you are talking $30 to $40. Olive Garden is 10x better than La Cucina and I can get dinner for 2 people for less than $40. NCL wants me to spend nearly $80 for 2 people? They are out of their mind! And one night we got the prosciutto pizza to share. It was a cheese pizza with 5 small pieces of prosciutto. It was not an $18 pizza. I get pizza every Friday from Papa Johns or Donatos and I pay less and get more. Cagney’s used to be a special night; a great filet with delicious sides. This cruise I got an 8 oz filet and it was cooked perfectly but had zero flavor. The chef didn’t even put salt and pepper on it. Luckily I used one of my dining plan vouchers otherwise that steak was $30+. I can get a beautiful filet for $22 locally, put a delicious rub on it, and after 2 hours in my sous vide I have a steak Norwegian would be begging me for. The only positive thing I can say is that I ate in Taste for lunch and dinner because I was tired of paying for food and the food was just as good as the specialty restaurants and the service was 10x better. The servers were very quick and attentive whereas we waited 5 to 15 minutes for the servers in the specialty restaurants to bring us anything. Deck 17 is an epic failure! The doors are not automatic. In order to open the sliding doors, you have to physically touch a sensor. I have limited mobility and I have very limited reach. I could not physically touch the sensor. I tried to use a short dressing stick that I carry to press elevator buttons but the sensors were capacitive so the only way to activate the sensor and open the door was to use an actual human touch. Touch sensors are absolutely and ridiculously stupid! To make matters worse the button is not always in the center of the door. Sometimes it’s on the wall. Has NCL ever met a handicap person with mobility issues? I don’t think they have. We don’t all have full use of our arms. Note: Celebrity ships have similar buttons you have to touch to open doors but their buttons work with my dressing stick. Smart! But wait, there’s more. Have you ever tried to maneuver a 3 wheeled scooter down the length of the ship with beach chairs on either side? If you haven’t let me tell you it’s not an easy thing to do. Now add some wind breakers in the middle and you have a near impossible situation. Now one must try to maneuver around beach chairs and a divider. I have no idea why these wind breakers were installed in the first place. The best part about sitting on the top deck is the ability to stare out at the ocean and have the wind cool you off from the hot sun. If someone doesn’t want wind they can go to deck 16 or the Spice H2O deck. Wind breakers are absolutely and ridiculously stupid! Note: On Celebrity ships there is a walkway at least 10 feet wide all the way down the ship. That means if someone is standing I can go around them. There is also enough room for 2 lanes of traffic. Smart! The Getaway, Breakaway, and Bliss have 28 inches of walkway. That means if I am on my scooter I can’t turn around, people have to stand on beach chairs so I can pass, and the traffic is one way. Stupid! Read Less

First things first getting on the boat felt eternal. And our walker-talkies were taken from us. No where did it say we were not able to take them aboard. Once on the boat the balcony room storage was way less then on carnivals. Having to hustle from line to line just to book shows dinning and laser tags/go karting was a pain. The days and times that would work for us and the size family of 5 was almost impossible to coordinate. Free styling is not freeing at all. Wait times to have dinner was eternal. My boys did not in any why like the hr and a half long service. The whole cruise was a constant wait game. There were so many floors of rooms and not enough social areas to socialize. The observatory was the only place and many people made it clear children were not wanted around. If I can’t drop them off at the club and the only place open is the pool which was a see of people with no open area available. Were else am I to have family time with my family. The atrium was super small and everyone fighting for seating. That place was out of the question. The elevators where never empty 3 had to pass by before there was even enough room to get on one. And going down or up 10 or so floors with children was not in any way doable. Many of the staff were in a constant rush and had little pacientes if you didn’t understand the way they ran things you were quickly pushed aside and having to help you was a strain on them. Food was very bland and nothing called our attention, even the deserts were flavorless. The kids club was alway at capacity and there were times my boys were not accepted in. If they were accepted having to wait 30 min to drop off or even pick up was a given. Shows were not that interesting and we were only accommodated the late times and our kids were grouchy with tired ness by then. If we had any hope of seeing an earlier time we had to wait in the stand by line to see if we were allowed space in. Once again waiting in lines. The buffet was a war zone of people fighting for seating and yet again waiting in long lines for food. With children we tend to not get off on the ports me and my husband have traveled to these ports in the past and knew what to expect. We however did get off on Puerto Vallarta the one excursion we did do we do not recommend. Do not do Puerto Vallarta city sites. The guide lost 12 people in the group and we were afraid to relax thinking he was going to take off to the next stop with out us. We had to keep a constant eye on him to not be left behind. Room service is not free $7 charge and they always always made a mistake and were very rude on the phone. Not a relaxing vacation what so ever. I will never recommend this company nor will we be returning customers. Read Less

Let me start off by saying I work with the public on a daily basis. I WAS happy to see the wash stations at the buffet entrances. With that said, my mom and I both got terrible colds about the third day into our what was suppose to be a wonderful mother daughter trip. I haven't been sick in four years, terrible coincidents, possibly. OR..maybe there were too many germ breeding children. Had we have known that it was California's spring break we would have picked a different week. I got so sick I was very close to calling the doctor on the ship. I had to cancel my massage the last day because I was coughing so hard there was no way I could've laid flat on my back. Beyond being sick, there was absolutely no reprimand by your staff what so ever. Kids running into people because of lack of supervision. Screaming and belching in the buffet dining hall. Incessantly running up and down the hallways of the rooms the ENTIRE week. There was a complete lack of respect for the people that paid a lot of money that wanted a relaxing cruise. It was the farthest thing from relaxing. I've been on both Royal Caribbean and Carnival and I've never experienced THAT many kids. They were being so abnoxious at one point I was looking forward to getting home. I shouldn't be thinking that on a wonderful mother/daughter trip, right? Everytime we'd find a nice cozy spot to curl up with our books on the observation deck there would be a group of kids, with absolutely NO adults, come sit near us being loud, making a scene, totally distracting, and VERY disrespectful. That seemed to being a common denominator throughout the whole week. Kids being very disrespectful with no parental supervision. I think this will be my first and last Norwegian cruise unfortunately. Way too many kids! Read Less

This was our second trip on the Bliss and I would have to say I was incredibly disappointed. We did the Mexican Riviera from LAX. Getting on the ship was a nightmare. We had to wait over two hours in line to get onboard and it was beyond unorganized. We had a Jr. Suite and it was what we expected, large bathroom and decent space. Our cabin Stewart was less than stellar. We ask for extra towels and he was less than accommodating, but finally gave in. We travel our own shower head and left the ships one under the sink, only to find it went missing. The first day our room did not get made up until 4:00 pm. The second to last day we found our frige locked and our pool towels missing. Our room was cleaned, but barely. The bar staff was crazy amazing (except in the Casino, those guys should not be in the people business, all of them acted like they hated their job). Food was good, but definitely nothing to shout about (except for the pay for Cagney’s and Los Lobos). I was most disappointed by the windows where food was not available (except for the Local, which we were told was dine in only). Why couldn’t there be light snacks available 24 hours a day in the observation deck? Not full meals, just chips and salsa and light desserts? Ports were ok. I could skip Mazatlon and Puerto Vallarta, but Cabo was worth the trip. Would I recommend this...probably not. The Bliss was Blissful in Alaska but lost is luster for Mexico. NCL you need to up your game.... Read Less

We chose this cruise because it was a bit last minute for spring break and we could drive to the port as flights were hard to get. Embarkation was a bit rough. We got to the port around 11am and it wasn't too crowded yet. When we went up to check in, 3 of the 4 ladies were on their first day on the job. None of them knew how to use the computer (we asked and their "training" was watching a 2-hour video prior to checking people in). It took a long time and the 4th agent was trying to help. When boarding started, they scanned my key card and it had my husband's picture on it. They moved me to another line and it took about 20 minutes to get that fixed before we could board. By the time they fixed it, there was a long line of people behind me that had a similar issue. Clearly more hands on training is needed! We had a mid-ship balcony room on the 13th floor. The rooms and hallways were very narrow, it was hard to pass someone walking the other way down the hallways. The bed is very close to the closet and the front wall so it's difficult getting dressed and moving around the room with another person in the room. I did know that before booking the room so I can't complain. The balcony was very small - it would have been nice to have 3 chairs out there since there were 3 of us in the room. The dining was fine. We didn't have a dining package so most of our meals were in the main dining room, or Taste/Savory. Service was pretty good at Taste/Savory, a little slower in the MDR. The food was good for such a large venue. There was a nice variety and always something we liked there. We did go to Q and it was good, but I don't think worth the price of $81 for the 3 of us. We also liked the Local for lunch. My 13-year old loves the putt putt golf and the logistics of that were nothing short of a total disaster. You get your clubs at the go kart line. The entrance stairs to the putt putt course is about 20 feet away. BUT they had it roped off as a staging area for the go karts. SO, you were supposed to walk to the other side of the ship, go down a flight, walk through the Spice area (which says nobody under 18 allowed), the walk back to the stairs which takes you to the area where you started but on the other side of the ropes, then go up the stairs to the course. And since that's nearly impossible to figure out and way to far to walk to get about 50 feet from the exit to the entrance of the course, everyone just walked across the course (on the green, while people are playing) to get back to the starting line. And if that wasn't bad enough, the course is the best place to stand and watch the go karts so there was always a crowd standing on the 5th green to watch their kids race. I really wish the manager in charge of that would try to play a few rounds while there are passengers on the ship to see how entirely ridiculous their setup is for the rest of us. We did the laser tag and go karts once. Fun but it was expensive and it wasn't worth doing again. I wish there were more activities for kids that didn't cost extra. The arcade set us back quite a bit of $$ as well. The pools were good. We all used the slides and had fun. We were able to find lounge chairs though not always in the best location. We loved the observation lounge to play games and hang out when we were done with the sun or it was too windy/cool to hang outside. We went to the comedy show and Jersey Boys, both were great. I would have liked to go see the other comedian but it was booked up. We tried to get in to the escape room but it was also booked up so we didn't make it into that either. The crew were all friendly and helpful. We didn't experience any of the bad attitudes that other reviewers mentioned. Overall it was a fine cruise. But honestly with only 3 ports and entertainment all booked up, we got a little bored towards the end of the trip. Read Less

This was our 13th cruise, first with NCL. We have cruised Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Princess. This was by far the most expensive cruise of them all. We have friends who swear by NCL so we thought we would give it a try. We thought embarkation went smoothly, we were in boarding group 1. I will say from a technology standpoint, they seem to be behind the times. We thought the ship was beautiful, but way over crowded. They had a lot of events in the main atrium which opens up to one deck above. It was soooo crowded they had folding chairs for the overflow...seemed very cheap and not comfortable at all. Also, it was so loud you couldn't hear yourself think. Another observation is the hallways are so narrow due to having single cabins in the middle of the ship. This made walking down the halls a struggle due to cleaning carts, not to mention if you came up on a large person or wheelchair, you literally are stuck. We purchased the specialty dining package for each night. We do this on each cruise and do so because of the attention to detail and awesome food. Goodness, what a disappointment. The worst was La Cucina. We were not even acknowledged when seated, didn't receive bread and had to basically beg for refills. We both ordered filet with one being medium and the other medium well. They were both burned to a crisp.....and we had to ask them for a knives. The time between servings was also 45 minutes. We tried Teppanyaki (best of all), Los Lobos (below average food and slow service), Cagneys (fair) service was slow. We ended up cancelling all reservations for the remainder of the week. We received better service in Margaritaville, Food Republic and MDR. If not for these last three....dining would have been a total fail. The service and food in these last three were awesome and saved the day. Shore excursions were a hit or miss. We did Dolphin Trainer for a Day in Puerto Vallarta and it was a hit. I give it a 10 out of a 10. We did city boat tour in Cabo. It was awful. By the time we arrived (herded like cattle) we were placed with another excursion group (obviously same thing but called something different) and there were no seats together left on the boat. Really? You are going to put us on a boat for a tour with no seating left? We got of the boat. This was a huge disappointment. The entertainment was mostly good. We went to the comedians, Havana, Beetles show and Jersey Boys. We just wish there were other options. We don't mind the Broadway type shows, but love how Royal Caribbean keeps it interesting. They will do one production show but then the other night you could get a circus soleil type show. We got bored. The ship was sold out....kids everywhere that were unsupervised. This got old real fast. Also, our neighbor kept smoking on their balcony. I tried calling guest services multiple times, forget it, they won't ever answer. If you go down to the service desk, get ready to stand 50 plus deep in line. Another observation both my husband and myself noticed, what is wrong with most of the crew? They seem so unhappy and do not go out of their way. Our service was not terrible, but nothing awesome like other cruises we have been on. We chose to have a good time despite the things that bothered us, but will likely never cruise NCL again. When you spend more money and get so much less.....its a no brainer. Read Less

We chose this cruise as we were loyal Norwegian cruisers and wanted to try their newest and largest ship. Things were not good right from the beginning. It took 4 hours to get on board. We were supposed to have pre boarding with our latitude points but that never happened. My wife has allergy needs that have always been taken care of on past cruises superbly but not this time. One person said it was alright to eat something and another said it wasn’t. This went on for the entire cruise. Buffet was closed at 3: o’clock so when we arrived back from shore excursions there was no lunch there. On other cruises if they were setting up for dinner at least one section was open for lunch. There was no hot dogs or hamburgers available on the pool deck as in other cruises. Our dinner in the specialty restaurant Cagney’s which we Love was a joke. The waiter barely understand what we were saying and never asked if we wanted a drink, didn’t bring bread and when our steaks came there was no sides. We might as well have been at McDonalds!! The observation lounge on the Bliss is beautiful. We spent lots of time there. Our conclusion is try smaller ships like Spirit or even Breakaway. Read Less

We chose this cruise as we were booking last minute out of LA and had to cruise this week only. The ship, although practically brand new broke down for a few hours in Mazatlan, then after leaving Cabo the next day the smoke stack spit out tar all over everyone on the back bar deck. The food options were in my opinion below par, I chock this up to having 5000 on one boat. The main dining rooms did not have a single item that was both gluten free and pescatarian - nothing. So we were left thinking we could try specialty restaurant.... but by the time we got on the cruise every restaurant was booked solid the entire week. So we spent $3k to eat buffet food for a week, which was a major let down as we usually cruise celebrity and are accustomed to being pampered for $3k. Also bottled water is not included in a premium beverage package, and when you order you need to specify that you don’t want well liquor or they will just pour your drink as cheap as they can. Also - they don’t use toothpicks or anything for limes so you are forced to dig the line out of your drink with your fingers if you want to squeeze the juice in your drink. The bed was rock hard but we had 2 extra comforters in our room that we used for padding. Also the WiFi is a joke, don’t bother. And to top it off we ended up next some crew members on the beach in Cabo and they had a meltdown that the resort gave us 2 chairs that they had “reserved”, It like it mattered because we only had 3 hours in Cabo, hardly a port stop. My advice, if you have any sort of special diet needs or don’t have kids, avoid Norwegian. Read Less

When I cruise, which is every few years, ¬I welcome the chance to join a community specific to our choices to be together on an adventure. The community we create is supported generally by the staff of the cruise line. I have needs, but I usually accommodate myself. However, on my last cruise I experienced a different community. It wasn’t the fellow cruisers but the actual cruise line that reduced my ability to have fun. I have been home now for 3 days and I thought long and hard about writing this letter. First the compliments which will take up more space than the complaint. Most of your staff were excellent at their jobs, and those who were very new to their jobs can be excused as poor English speakers which led to few interesting misunderstandings which were humorous and easily resolved. Mihael who was my first maître d’ was very kind and sincerely supportive. His commitment to customer service is exceptional and sincere. When we are remembered, we feel valuable, it was very kind. When I dined at Taste he was so kind and helpful. Our room steward, James was very responsive, and great at his job, we a party of 3 adored him, were grateful for his help and kindness, not to mention his towel folding ability was greatly appreciated. The food was great, some of the best that I ever ate. I loved dining in the Manhattan Room, the broths Pho in the Garden Buffet was amazing and lifesaving to both my cabin mate and I. My friend spent a ton of time at the smoker’s area on Deck 17 and had a blast with all the wonderful people she met there. I was very fond of deck areas on 7 that were outside and so comfortable, I found many folks there who like my friends and I enjoyed being out of the harsh sun. We saw everything we wanted to and marveled at the wonders of nature that we experienced. Whales, flying fish and the west coast equivalent of the end of the continent. My ADA stateroom was clean and welcoming. When we began to plan this trip, we were unaware that our cruise began on the day of the show we had waited for 2 years to see, would premier on the first day of our cruise. We were VERY concerned about what we should do, and my internet package which was suggested by one of your call center employees allowed me to watch Game of Thrones, which was an event that my cruise mates were so excited to share. Thanks to that person for making our day. I wish I had written his name down as it was soo special to be able to do that. Attention to hand sanitizing was vigilant and I appreciated the staff assigned to those stations. A couple of my cruise-mates I and have worked in many theatres and we were not very impressed with Havana, as it was a confusing storyline. However, it was well sung, danced and the acting was pretty good. That said, Jersey Boys was a treat to the senses. The singing was great! Despite the noise from below our feet as the show was in its first half hour, and the rolling of the ship, the cast did not miss a beat or step. The lighting was unexpected, and I would like to extend my appreciation for the cast and crew. They transitioned from one effect to costume changes to moving of set pieces in a non-obtrusive manner which is appreciated by those of us who have worked for many many years in this field. One of our party is a Drama teacher and I am a retired stage manager, who is married to a lighting designer. In other words, we know a good show when we see one and we saw a great show on this cruise. The ship is beautiful, huge and well designed. huge It could use better signage, maps and directions as it’s a huge ship and mid ship is hard to find. Now for what was not great, no, not great at all. I was very uncomfortable navigating the halls with your room service carts. I rented the smallest of scooters and still got stuck nearly every day in the halls due to them taking up all the hall space that would allow walking and those of us requiring mobility assistance needed to proceed. Your staff seemed inconvenienced by my NEED to have them position the cart so that not only I but others could navigate to our staterooms from the common areas. A suggestion: can the staff move the carts into the alcoves of the rooms that they are cleaning? Could they somehow be more aware of their blocking the hallways which is dangerous for us. As the rooms they are cleaning are usually empty, this seems like an easy fix for those of us with strollers or other mobility assistance devices required to have the same experience as those who can walk. People are very helpful, but they are not always. Those who can walk are sometimes unaware that they should be more aware of those who cannot walk. I saw parents bring this to their children’s attention, but not for days did it register. I pay to be able to travel without discrimination and the lack of any way to get to my stateroom due to the elevators being crammed full of people who could walk, was really frustrating and off putting since it was easily corrected. This brings me to another complaint. When we who require an elevator to navigate from our staterooms to any place on the ship, we have to wait because there is no room for us in the elevators, We wait and wait for nearly 20 minutes as I did my first day, it seems obvious to me that at those peak hours you reserve a family/mobility assistance elevator for us? That way people like me would not look into an elevator full of people who are clueless and do not even appear to notice that they could use the steps instead of monopolizing the only way we with mobility issues would be able to get to where we need to go, this was true at the muster and every day there was a shore excursion, and again at debarkation. Signage, like busses have reminding people that they can/should give others a chance. This usually applies to those traveling with children, disabilities and others with special needs. To throw us into the general population to fend for ourselves is not a way to assist us with obtaining our needs. Additionally, please provide the ingredients on the menus, like agave instead of honey. I am allergic to agave and when I ate at Margaritaville, I had a salad that had agave instead of honey. I did not put this food allergy down as with my shellfish allergy manage it myself. However, I was sick for 2 days and very uncomfortable and felt terrible. I will never not list that again, however, remember, until this trip and my meal at Margaritaville did I need to even mention it. No restaurant, café, nothing before this instance. And finally, I was called twice from 8:00 am to 8:05 am to ensure that I come to guest services to collect a nonrefundable deposit. Since I was returning my scooter to the same place it was in my plans anyway. When I got there I got into an expected line. I waited while the staff took care of each one of the guests who proceeded me in a very efficient and what appeared to be a very respectful manner. When it came to me, I was asked to wait as the person answered a call, then he went to another guest at a location where they were seated. He then went behind the desk, remember I have now waited in my mobility scooter, while he cared for no less than 3 guests ahead of me while I was seated first in line. As I have mentioned, I waited a lot on this trip and at the end of it demanding that I wait while others were receiving respectful treatment was truly above my patience level. I yelled and pointed at the very rude gentlemen, who sent over a really nice Asian woman, who apologized for my dissatisfaction with my treatment, to which I told her, I appreciated her gracious apology, but it did not excuse the rude behavior that her predecessor had assaulted me with. You see when it has been clear that the only thing about you, that mattered to NCL was the money I spent. My comfort was never a priority, that is a really a bad thing to say about a cruise, isn’t it? As you may be able to tell, I enjoyed this as much as I could, but in the face of rude and disinterested staff, which by the way, this is my 5th cruise but my first and probably last on NCL. You see there was cruise to Greece presentation that my cruise mate and I had always wanted to take, which because of my rude treatment we both decided that we would look elsewhere, I was also interested in purchasing a trip for my sister to Hawaii as a retirement present. One person is responsible for those choices otherwise I would be booked for at least two more cruises for at least 6 more people. This is a very unfortunate choice that I feel I MUST make for my own safety, and the enjoyment of my companions. Please consider that I am aware of the difficulty of managing everyone’s good time and how hard that work can be. However, it was a costly trip, I was denied upgrades because of my mobility disability and the above difficulties made this a very painful experience both emotionally and physically. Getting stuck in the hallway was scary. This was a treat for myself and my friends of over 40 years. They helped me tons. They were not supposed to have to. They are both nearly 70 and they were moving carts out of the way, not your staff, whom were oblivious to what they caused in the hallways and when they were asked for help, they were as I said with few exceptions notably inconvenienced. Getting on board was very efficient both I and my travelling companions were so impressed by your staff and their understanding of the mobility challenged and the same was true once I got a wheelchair and was off on the debarkation adventure. I was so secure in the gentleman who helped me to get off the ship and to the bench before I caught the cab. I found so many comfortable places to rest play and eat. I needed the rest, as did my companions and we all enjoyed the Observation Lounge and the side decks around 7 and 8 which had the perfect shade and temperature for us elder travelers. When I tried to contact the special assistance coordinator, all I got was a form letter, twice. Weather was great, travel to and from was great, only the items listed above were reasons to mention anything other than my appreciation, that said there should be nothing. I was appalled that a person in a walker was left to fend for herself at the dock in Puerta Vallarta. Equally appalling was the fact that this was witnessed by several cruisers and let’s face it the woman using the walker was the most responsible in her party as she was at the dock. Hoping for rescue only to see her chance sail away. NCL is not completely responsible and did everything to warn those who went ashore that they were to keep to ship time, and it was clear that these people were not able to adhere to the rules, nor keep time, it was still horrible to see an elder left at the dock. My culture says that we never leave our elders out. I understand that this is unique. ¬¬¬ Please understand that it is solely my poor treatment at checkout that cost you two cruises, and about 6-10 thousand dollars Thank you for a good time as far as it went. I wish I didn’t have to bring your attention to the details above, but they were glaring to me and deserved comment. I will attempt ¬¬to warn others about the possibilities they may face at the guest services check out desk and, in the hallways, as well as the elevators. To be treated as a lesser species by the very people who are benefiting from my spending, is harsh treatment to say the least. Read Less

As soon as you can, make reservations for any of the shows or acts you want to see. We were not aware of this, and when we went to make reservations on the first day, everything was booked. I'm sure the are several people that made multiple reservations, either to see the show's multiple times, or in case they couldn't make a time, they had a backup. This is why they have stand by lines, but that's not always a guarantee. Reservations also go for the boat tenders at Cabo, laser tag and go carts. We did the tandem go carts, since our youngest couldn't drive. Not sure what was up with our car, but it was slow. Not like the single cars that were zooming around the track. The cars were driven by crew, seemed to go a lot faster than normal. Getting on the ship was a horrendous mess. We were about middle of entry through processing, but since they have 98% of the cabins in 1 line, we were about last to board. My kids had not eaten, and by the time we got on, everything was shutdown for the emergency briefing. We sat in the terminal for over 2 hours. We went during Easter, and there was an Easter scavenger hunt of sorts, that ended with pictures with the Easter bunny. I noticed that one of the managers was ushering a few guests top the head of the line, to visit the Easter bunny. After waiting 20-30 minutes, I was near the head of the line, and it happened again. I heard another guest ask why they went ahead of them, and the manager replied they have dinner reservations they need to get to. Ridiculous. She did this numerous times for multiple guests. So wrong. Wait your turn like everyone else, be late to your dinner. Why make us wait. I also noticed that a majority of the staff did not appear to enjoy working on the ship. Almost like they were being held captive. I would observe them when they didn't think anyone was, and several appeared to be annoyed by the guests, at least in my opinion. Except the bar tenders. They did a fantastic job, and were continuously busiest crew on the ship. We had 1 child in Splash, 6-9, and on several occasions, my wife and I were not able to leave him at the child care, due to the fact that they were at capacity. We weren't the only ones, the was typically a line for drop off, and we were all waiting for availability. Just ridiculous. Read Less

We had sailed on the NCL Getaway last year so we knew what we were getting into; however, this was during Spring Break time and the ship was very crowded. We are a senior couple and have pretty much decided that if the ship has a water slide and race track on the upper deck that it probably wasn't for us. With that being said, the ship is beautiful. Because it is so new everything is great. We both felt the entertainment was below par, and again, because it was during spring break we couldn't get into some shows because they were booked long before we got on the ship. We like to collect art so we went to several art auctions, as well as some specialty dining experiences. We have been on this cruise with other ships so we are very familair with the ports, so we picked this cruise more for the ship and not the ports. Read Less