I should start saying that I am a Platinum Latitude member and I cruised with Other lines and this very ship before.
I think I found my match: the Spirit is small enough where one doesn't have to secure tickets for shows, and there is always a table available at the buffet. However, is big enough for the transoceanic crossing to be smooth and plenty of quiet places if one needs it.
There is ...
We chose to cruise because my wife and I have never been to this part of the world (French Polynesia, American Samoa, New Caledonia) and we wanted to see Tahiti & Bora Bora, especially (Tahiti because of its history of the Bounty mutiny).
About NCL: We picked Norwegian Cruise Lines because of our past cruising wonderful experiences with NCL (Alaska & Hawai'i).
Because of the priority ...
My dream was to go to bora bora and with this itinerary I could see it plus other French Polynesia islands
We started in Honolulu and the embarkation was the best I have ever done , fast and easy. Then we got onboard unknown to us that every Hawaiian port you must pay port taxes although not high but on every drink. We had already paid gratuities and taxes for our drink package.
Then we ...
We had a wonderful cruise. The itinerary, Hawaii and the Polynesian Islands, was fabulous. We were worried about all of the days at sea but we found plenty to do and were not bored. Of course the islands were terrific. We especially liked the snorkeling/beach day in Moorea.
The staff was very friendly and hardworking and the ship was clean and pleasant. We did not eat in the specialty ...
We chose this cruise as friends that were travelling with us had Tahiti as a bucket list. The islands that we visited were wonderful. The ship was super clean and the food was excellent.Service was poor or lacking in many areas although our cabin steward was amazing and we tipped very well. Entertainment was disappointing with the odd exception. The cruise destinations were wonderful but we all ...
We booked this cruise for the itinerary - and the fact we could do back to back all the way to Sydney.
We had a balcony cabin - number 9644 in this case
It was perfectly fine but since the ship was in dry dock, the cabin has changed slightly in that only one side of the bed has a cabinet. This was a little awkward and I don't really understand why they did this. The storage was adequate with ...
We chose this cruise for the interesting ports and had a terrific time. The newly refurbished Jewel is beautiful and we much prefer the smaller ships.
We had quite a few Sea days and Ncl had many activities scheduled. Trivia multiple times a day, dance classes, cake and cooking demonstrations, etc.
One thing I found difficult to get information on before the cruise was how Ncl would ...
Great ship and great weather were the highlights, but too many boring sea days. It could have been much better with some more speakers and better entertainment on those long sea days. The best part of sea days was a geology professor guest lecture. Embarkation was much slower than disembarkation. Nice cabin with reasonable bathroom. Too cool for pool and sunbathing on this route. Port in Japan ...
This was the first time on Norwegian Cruise line and was very impressed with the service, food and the entertainment.
There was never any waiting for a table in any dining rooms, the staff were very attentive.
I have cruised with a lot of other cruise lines and you always feel you are being push into a paying speciality restaurant in some form or another like serving crap food in main ...
The Jewel has been refurbished but not to the extent that it needed.
I have never seen a harder working general manager (still hotel director to me) than Stephen. His problem is he can only deal with the staff he has been given.
I certainly understand that all the employees from the Joy needed to be dispersed throughout the company but the lack of a clear understanding of English is a ...