Norwegian Cruise Line

NCL Sky Review:
This was my first xmas holiday cruise. I have cruised with the three major cruise lines: Carnival, RCCL, and NCL, but really wanted to experience a holiday cruise. Let me start by saying that a holiday cruise is nearly double the price of a standard sailing, due to the high demand. Being a solo cruiser, and the overall price of the cruise due to the peak season was a bit high, but well worth the expense to spend xmas in the Bahamas. The ship was tastefully decorated, with holiday spirit.
Embarkation — The embarkation process was a breeze. I parked at a offsite lot (see review), and arrived very early for check in. The check in process was a breeze! I was on the ship by 11:15am, which is about 90 minutes earlier than normal. The cabins weren’t ready until 2:15, and I really liked how they offered a luggage holding area which gave me time to explore the ship, without carrying around my bag.
Cabin — I stayed in a inside cabin on deck 8. The cabin was excellent, and bigger than I expected. I highly recommend deck 8 if you are planning on staying in a inside cabin. There was virtually no noise, which was surprising especially for a smaller ship.
Service — The service was top notch. My cabin steward was very attentive and friendly. He was quick to recognize me, and remember my name in the halls when I walked past, which to me is beyond expectation. The bar staff were all very attentive, especially for being a all inclusive ship, which means that all drinks, including alcohol are included. I didn’t encounter long waits for a drink, even though the ship was sold out. I have to point out my favorite bartender Colin, in the Atrium bar. Colin makes the best mojito’s! As always, a little extra tip to the bartenders wont hurt, as they always provide great service.
Food — The food was great quality, especially in the main dining room. The views in the Crossings dining room were excellent, and the staff was very accommodating to seat me at a table near a window. I didn’t have one bad meal. Breakfast was excellent in the main dining room the last day of the cruise. TIP: check out II Adagio, on deck 11, which offers breakfast, and lunch included at no extra charge. It was a great spot to avoid the chaotic buffet on embarkation, and breakfast on several mornings. II Adagio is a fee restaurant for dinner.
Entertainment — Entertainment was pretty good. The cruise director Tyler was the best cruise director out of all the cruises that I have taken to date. There were plenty of activities by the pool, and at night. The nightly shows were all good. My favorite was the holiday show on xmas night. The comedian was funny, but really tried to keep his show at a PG-​13 level, even for the late adult show.
Ports — Since this was a 4 night cruise, the ship stopped at Great Stirrup Cay, Nassau, and Grand Bahama island (Freeport). My favorite was Great Stirrup Cay, but that is just my preference as I have been to Nassau a handful of times. You will need to take a tender to Great Stirrup Cay, which is painless and hassle free. The ocean was a bit rough, so be prepared! Nassau is ok. I recommend a private taxi tour, if this is your first time to Nassau. Fat Tuesdays is also a good choice, as you are able to swim near the bar! Junkanoo beach club in Freeport is a great value, and a quick taxi ride from the port.
Disembarkation — Disembarkation process was a breeze, but is always sad! Who wants to leave paradise? I opted to carry off my luggage, and was able to take my time. The staff were well organized and getting through customs wasn’t a hassle.
Kudos if you made it through my lengthy review! Overall I wouldn’t be quick to judge NCL Sky by the negative reviews alone. A cruise vacation is what you make out of it. I had a great vacation and would highly recommend this ship for a quick cruise.
Cheers!

This cruise review is for the Norwegian Spirit 7 Day Eastern Caribbean cruise from Port Canaveral (Orlando, Florida) to Nassau, Bahamas; St. Thomas, USVI; and St. Maarten.
If you are new to cruising, here are some things you should know. Unlike traditional airfare, the price you see advertised is not the final price you pay. There are so many additional fees associated with cruising, it will blow your mind. In addition to the advertised price, you will need to pay port taxes and fees (before the cruise) and additional service charges/​gratuities (after the cruise). And if you get a beverage or dinner package, you will need to pay taxes and gratuities on top of those as well. It seriously will add hundreds of dollars on top of the price you think you will be paying so be careful and make sure you add up all the numbers before you commit.
Launched in 1998, the Norwegian Spirit is an older ship. It’s not as grand as any of the newer, mega ships and doesn’t have fancy, new things like a rock climbing wall or observatory but it wasn’t bad. The ship has 15 restaurants, 12 bars and lounges, two swimming pools (one adult and one kiddie), four hot tubs, a video game arcade (games were about $ 1.50 per play), library, board game room, spa/​salon, fitness center, sports deck and a casino. The ship can house 2,018 passengers and 949 crewmembers.
We booked a standard balcony stateroom at the time of booking and were able to select our stateroom ahead of time. Located in the aft (rear) section of the ship, room 9168 is on the right side of the ship (if you’re facing forward) on level 9. The room is 201 square feet with an enclosed private bathroom and balcony. The room is furnished with one queen bed, a small table/​desk with chair, 21″ LCD TV with very limited programing, love seat, mini-​bar, security safe, coffee maker, tiny closet and several small drawers.
The room itself was tiny and tastelessly decorated in a 90’s era aquatic theme. Think pastel colors and seashells. For two guys, the room was a little on the small side and we barely had enough room to move around. With a little bit of Tetris magic, we were able to store all of our clothes, two checked bags and one carryon bag away in the closet, leaving the room clear of any bags or storage. There was no iron/​ironing board available so you will have to pay for clothes pressing/​laundry services onboard.
The walls between the rooms were pretty thin. I would recommend bringing some earplugs if you are sensitive to noise in the hallways or the blaring TV of your next-​door neighbor falling asleep to Fox News.
There were only 4 electrical outlets located throughout the entire room! And two of them are not even standard US 110V outlets. One US electrical outlet is located by the desk and the other one is located in the bathroom. If you want to charge more than one device at a time, I would recommend bringing a universal adapter to convert one of the other outlets to standard US 110V. The room temperature comfort was pretty poor as it was kept pretty warm. Even with the AC turned all the way up, the room got cool at best but never cold enough for our comfort.
The bathroom was extremely tiny and can realistically accommodate one, maybe two persons at a time. Separated into three sections, the toilet, sink and shower areas were divided by clear, sliding glass doors. So technically, one person can be in the shower and the other person can be brushing their teeth or using the toilet but there is no real privacy between the sections. Shampoo, body wash and soap dispensers were affixed to the walls and small bottles of lotion were provided for your use.
NCL has a «Freestyle Dining» concept and it was awesome. Unlike other cruise liners with set meal times, with NCL, you can eat whatever and whenever you wanted. Depending on your mood, you could either sit down for a more formal meal or have a more casual meal on the fly. With 24 hour dining options, you won’t go hungry on this cruise and the food was actually pretty good. For breakfast and lunch, we chose the buffet for the convenience and sat down at the sit-​down restaurants for a nicer dinner.
The majority of the restaurants are included in the «Freestyle Dining» concept but there are several specialty restaurants that require an additional charge. The surcharge can be a fixed price per person or priced from an a la carte menu. Those specialty restaurants are nicer than the complimentary restaurants and usually require a reservation in advance.
Additionally, other than a light continental breakfast of pastries and juice, room service meals were charged $ 7.95 per meal if you wanted the convenience of not having to interact with other people.
Overall, this was a great cruise and we had a great time. The ship was a little on the dated side and could really use a facelift but the overall experience was positive. The room was decent, activities were fun, dining was better than expected and the entertainment was great.

WYSIWYG — NOT!!! I booked a cruise for five people on 8÷9÷15. The Norwegian Cruise travel agent sent me an email detailing the cruise stops, with pictures. Key West, Fl was one of the stops and of prime interest to myself and my companions. Unfortunately, Key West, Fl is NOT one of the stops and I was not given a satisfactory answer about the change. I will not use a Norwegian Cruise Line travel agent in the future. I can only hope the ship somewhat makes up for what booking lacks. If not, Royal Caribbean will get more of my business as I had no problems with that cruise line.

It’s only been four months and I had to return my Tag Heuer watch for service and repair. It was losing about one minute a day and would not keep accurate time. So, on top of overpaying for this watch through the gift shop, it now appears as if they were selling an inferior product. Additionally, I had to spend $ 89.00 to insure and return this watch back to Tag Heuer for warranty repair (at least I hope it’s covered under their limited warranty). The saga continues!

My husband and I attended a friend’s wedding aboard the Norwegian Sky departing from Miami on 12÷4÷15 to the Bahamas. Thankfully this was only a 3-​night cruise, because it was one of the worst trips of my life.
If the next great flood was upon us and Norwegian Cruise Lines built the only ark available, I’d take my chances swimming.
The cruise started well enough. We boarded early for the wedding ceremony, which was beautiful and went smoothly. Next we were led to one of the restaurants. As soon as our appetizers were set on the tables, the captain made an announcement over the loudspeaker than everyone would have to gather on the 6^th floor deck for security reasons. After standing on the overcrowded deck for nearly two hours in the rain, we were told that everyone on the ship would have to be evacuated.
I’d estimate there were nearly 1000 people on board. The evacuation was orderly and didn’t take long, but we were led like cattle into a concrete box of a room without chairs or windows. There were two bathroom stalls available. The doors were all locked behind us and we were offered no explanation of why we were being held nor were we given the option of leaving. This was at around 1pm. It was after 8pm by the time they released us from captivity. In those 7 hours, we were given a few «updates» stating that we would be released «soon,» but there was no official word about why we were being held or how long we would be forced to stay in the concrete box. We could see out of the locked doors that there were police with dogs, firemen, Coast Guard reps, etc, but no one offered any information.
Eventually some chairs were delivered, but most people were forced to sit on the floor. Some «sandwiches» (literally one piece of ham or turkey between pieces of bread), rotten apples, cake, and water were also intermittently delivered. In our 6^th hour of captivity, we were given towels (to be used as blankets perhaps?) Eventually diapers and milk were also delivered for the dozens of toddlers and children locked in the room. The line for the bathroom was 2+ hours long.
Several people asked about medication they needed that was on board, but they were refused any assistance. People were smoking inside our concrete dungeon, and with no ventilation or windows we were all forced to sit in a cloud of noxious smoke. At least one man fainted.
Eventually we were released and allowed back on the boat. When we finally got to our room, we had to wait another 45 minutes for our bags, which barely arrived before we were forced back on deck in the cold for our safety briefing. Then at 11pm, we were allowed to eat at an actual table with chairs! But Norwegian was determined to make up the 6-​hour delay and get us to Nassau on time, so they immediately put the engines on full blast and the boat was practically shaking with effort. No one could eat comfortably because the boat was not steady; people were getting sick.
As for the service on the ship, you would think they’d be going above and beyond to make everyone happy, but that was not the case. Almost everyone in our party had the unlimited drinks package. Since our friend’s wedding reception was interrupted, we asked for a bottle of champagne to toast. Our first three requests were blatantly ignored, the next two were acknowledged but ultimately ignored, and then finally, when I got up to approach the maitre’d, we were given a bottle of fizzy swill that they call champagne. Twice I ordered a glass of wine from the menu and as given house wine with no explanation. The bartenders were very slow and one (in one of the outdoor bars near the breakfast buffet) was downright hostile and argumentative.
We tried to make the best of it. We were there to celebrate, right? Honestly, we had a good time with our friends but it had nothing to do with the boat or the staff. The ship itself is ugly and dated; the pool is a glorified bathtub. I will say that the cleaning staff is excellent and didn’t cut any corners in the rooms.
When we returned from our trip, I gave it a few weeks to see if I’d hear from Norwegian. When I didn’t, I emailed my Cruise Consultant Gale Hayden on Dec 28 to ask about who I could speak with about compensation. I received an out of office reply stating she’d be back Jan 4. On Jan 5 I resent my email, and to date I have not heard back. I have a feeling I’m being ignored. As such, if for some reason you really want to cruise with Norwegian, I suggest you don’t book with Gale because she’s obviously too busy to answer emails.

What a horrific cruise experience! Went on the Norwegian Getaway from 1÷17÷16 through 1÷24÷16 and was absolutely miserable the whole 7 days! Got on ship to a dirty and filthy room which was not even vacuumed. No wash cloths, lack of towels, shower over flowing. Room steward extremely unfriendly and only glared at us! The room steward appeared as though she wanted to kill myself and my friend. Guest Services always appeared extremely mad and disgusted — if they every smiled, I would have fallen over!!! Guest Services did absolutely nothing the whole trip to solve any of our concerns and gave us the proverbial run around. My friend and I spent at least 10 hours of the cruise with problems at Guest Services. They should rename it to Guest NO SERVICES!!! I wouldn’t recommend this cruise line to my worst enemy!!!

Norwegian Cruise Line had failed me on my first cruise, and management’s decision upon post-​investigation has continued to fail and baffle (see final paragraph). The only reason I am giving them two stars is because their staff did provide excellent service of entertainment, food, and drinks, but it stops there. They failed to communicate and technically repair an issue that was repairable upon boarding instead of repairing the eve of the second day of a three day cruise. This final visit to guest relations was done under duress, anger, and insistence to reinstate all privileges I booked with the cruise and had furnished prior and through the check-​in process of the cruise.
Although NCL guest relations acknowledge the 7 hour DELAY in departure on 12÷4÷2015 due to an unauthorized ‘guest’ boarding the vessel requiring 7 hours from «Miami Dade local police, FBI, Coast Guard and Custom and Border Patrol authorities» to locate the individual and bring bomb sniffing dogs on board to clear the vessel, the cruise line deleted my account without my authorization and did not repair their mistake until the evening of the second day of the cruise. Unfortunately I had to angrily voice my concerns on-​board the vessel to demand reinstatement of full privileges for which I booked the cruise. The anger came after visiting on-​board guest relations approximately two previous times to repair various issues with my account. 1) Getting assistance to board with the NCL dock specialist to repair my deleted account since I was told I could not board the vessel. then 2) My account no longer had Photo ID and the dock specialist had to walk me on-​board the vessel to re-​take my photo ID 3) My luggage was not delivered to my stateroom and when I asked about it they delivered both my luggage and my roommate’s luggage for which I will have to carry off-​board at the end of the cruise 4) On Day #2 was not able to use my NCL card (you use this for on-​board purchases of meals and drinks), because it was not activated — Issue was they apparently forgot to check nor add back my Credit Card to the account upon boarding 5) Visiting guest relations informing me I will have to pay for entire cruise when my roommate had previously paid her portion and then backed out of sailing after waiting over 3 hours in the terminal without boarding. 6) Receiving a letter at the END OF DAY #2 that I prefer to ‘pay in cash’ and ‘You forgot to provide emergency contact information’. This was the point a free-​style cruise is no longer a cruise and had to speak to guest relations to demand they repair and reinstate every aspect of my cruise without me leaving their guest relations area. They eventually complied and repaired after staying there awhile.
What further gets me after the cruise I learn of the following: For the first night until midnight (3 hours only since departure was approximately 7pm) NCL compensated everyone on board for the DELAY by offering Free Drinks, Free Food, Unlimited Drinks and a $ 50 On-​Board credit. Perhaps there was an announcement about this but I did not hear about it, nor read about it via any letter nor notification by the NCL guest relations for which I visited at least 3 times. I can clearly remember only the bartender informing me of free drinks. Some of my other friends did not know about the $ 50 on-​board credit and lost it as did I. The last kicker is my cruise included the Unlimited Drink package so the free drinks did not compensate me in any way and was one of the sticking points which NCL guest relations lost and was not willingly wanting to re-​instate until the eve’ of day #2 upon my final demands they compare my stateroom account with one of my other friends room to compare and copy the same privileges. All this despite documentation I had in hand showing them regarding the online booking has my friend’s name on the field ‘booked by’.
After the cruise I had additional problems. 1) The business card they handed me for corporate guest relations for Melissa Abrahams — I left her a voice message on 12/​16/​2015 which she did not return my phone call and I called a few days later their offices were closed due to a corporate meeting. 2) I attempted to use the business card email address but that link no longer worked. 3) I searched NCL website to contact guest relations, which was not easy to locate and then send them a PDF of all the failure points of the cruise.
Melissa Abrahams eventually replied stating the following was applied to all travelers for the FIRST EVENING of departure 3 HOURS ONLY 7pm until midnight: «Having the sincere desire to maintain goodwill and acknowledge the inconvenience experienced all restaurants remained open with complimentary menus and complementary beverage service until midnight. Additionally, we extended a $ 50 onboard credit to each stateroom. Regrettably, we are unable to offer additional compensation.»
Will not cruise with them again and will not recommend them.

We did the 2015 New Year’s Eve 7 night cruise on the NCL Getaway departing from Miami. Port stops were Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas, Ochos Rios, Jamaica, Georgetown, Cayman Islands and Cozumel. The Getaway had fantastic staff in the dinning, entertainment, security, and housekeeping departments. Our room was cleaned multiple times a day and the steward was very friendly.
The food was great, we ate at all 3 main dinning rooms, the poolside restaurant that specializes in Cuban food, and the buffet. The ship was very clean throughout. The cruise director was fun and there are so many options for on-​board entertainment that fit every age group. I would recommend the magic show with dinner and the comedy club. There were also some very fun dances each night on the ship deck.
They were very organized getting people onto tenders in the port and the shore excursions were worth the cost. The shore excursions that we did were jet skiing in the Bahamas, swimming with dolphins and climbing Dunn River Falls in Jamaica, and the Trolley Roger tour in the Cayman Islands.

We recently traveled on the Pearl on the cruise leaving on ¹²⁄₃₁. We had a nice time on the cruise. However, the staff, was night and day, compared to the Getaway. The service on the Pearl was lacking to the point of being non-​existent. This goes for the upgraded dining as well as the main dining rooms.
On the second day, it was very rough seas and My fiancé got very sea sick. We were at the buffet and he got some chicken broth. When we tried to get him another bowl, they had just roped off the buffet line, and I asked the woman if I could get him another bowl of broth, and she would not let me, even after I explained the situation, and that he hadn’t eaten all day. She told us we would have to wait until they reopened for dinner, even though, there were still numerous guests still getting food.
Then, even when the times of the bars, were stated in the free-​style daily to be open until 1 am, they would close early at 11:30pm, even with 10 guests at the bar. When I questioned the bartenders, they said we should come back when the boat is a chartered cruise, because they stay open later. So, after inquiring about the charter cruises further with the bartender, they told us that they make more money when the ship is chartered, because they don’t offer drink packages. Basically, when the boat isn’t chartered, they don’t care, because most people have beverage packages and they make less money, I guess. We then asked where else on the boat we could go and there response was «I don’t know, we are going to the crew bar». So, they close early to enjoy the crew bar and leave the guests, with nothing to do! This happened every night of our cruise and guest services said that if it is stated to be open until 1 am, in the free style daily, then it has to be, but, that I would have to speak with the head bartender. Wouldn’t that be something they should handle?!?
We also had a situation where we were charged and shouldn’t have been, being we have the beverage package. We weren’t given anything to sign at time of purchase and I am glad I checked our bill the night before departing. When I went to guest services with the charges, they called the maitre D of the restaurant and she came down to speak with my fiancé and I. She eventually took the charges off. But, she was very confrontational and then wanted me to speak with the server. It was awful. Why put My fiancé and I, in that situation, as the guests, or for that matter the server.
I feel with all the money that we spent on this vacation, we definitely did not get what we paid for. This vacation was for our 5 year anniversary and this ship’s service was truly awful. We have been on the Getaway 2 times and the service was truly night and day! The service on the Getaway is what kept us coming back to NCL.
I have worked in the service industry for 16 years and have never experienced, anything like this.
If this was our first NCL cruise, it would be our last!

If you have traveled with Norwegian before and had a good experience luck you! I sailed on the Jewel to Mexico and wow not the experience i was excepting. First our state room bathroom flooded at 12:30am with someone elses dirty soapy shower water the second night and had a plummer in our room till almost 3:00am! They would not move our state room due to the ship sailing full. (Ya right) after days of going to guest service no one still wants to move us rooms. Finally we ran into the hotel director and after giving him feed back there was a room open we could move to the second to last day. Not only was this disgusting and i would expect more from a company like this its horrible customer service and i can NEVER recommend this company to anyone. Over the past 3 days i have been trying to call NCL and wait on hold over an hour to be told to go on line. I tried to submit a case on the web sight but it keeps having an server error. I won’t give up and they will hear about this! #ncl #norwegian #cruise #jewel #CNN #BBC #cnet #abc #CNNiReport

I am currently aboard the Pearl on day 4 of a 5 day excursion wishing I had stayed home. Every opportunity to make the trip unpleasant was taken by Norwegian and stretched into a voyage that made the Titanic trip seem just awesome. At least the food was probably good up till the iceburg. Norwegian botched the amenities, reservations, quality of food, and the staff are oblivious at best and downright rude at times. The rooms were misrepresented in the pictures. They are tiny. It’s just miserable.

I didnt cruise with Norwegian but I tried to order a gift for my parents through their website. Just a word of caution the gifts actually show up on the passengers receipt so if you are looking to «surprise» someone it will not happen. I called Norwegian to find out how this happened and they just said oh well.

I am a huge fan of NCL and have been on a variety of their ships /​itineraries. I love the «freestyle» cruising concept, where you don’t have assigned seating for meals. I think their ships are lovely and well maintained. I have taken the Dawn on a 5 day Caribbean cruise, the Breakaway on a week long Bermuda cruise, and the Pearl on both a 7 day Alaska cruise and an 11 day Panama Canal cruise. I have found the staff to be exceptional, the food delicious and the pricing reasonable. You can break the bank if you say yes to every extra, but even if you do not, you can still have a fantastic vacation.

November 2015. We were really disappointed from BAD customer service!
When we booked the deal they were nice and then when we called to ask Q they were rude!!!
In addition, I asked about activities for 2.5 years old and they explained there won’t be any prob to join the 3 years up activities. When we arrived to the ship and waited on line for activities and my little one was so excited they told me sorry! You got the wrong info!!! They have activities for babies (till 2 that fit to 1 years old, small room with some cubes and nothing in between). So disappointed!!!
All the cruise main activity is to sale and sale and sale! Nothing for the customer fun.
However, the food was great. The room service was kind. The facilities are all brand new.
I would recommend a diff cruise ship.

If I could give one star I would, and that would really be a four star for the cruise director who was fantastic. The food was inedible and I’m not a picky eater. I will eat seafood that is months old and I could barely eat the shrimp on the cruise. I paid double the price of a Carnival Cruise (for the same cruise itinerary) for worse food. We spoke with a cruise employee who agreed the food was so bad that she had to «smuggle» food from the ports so she wouldn’t have to eat the same tasteless food. I don’t recommend this cruise.

I will never cruise any Norwegian ship. If you want good service, good food and great entertainment avoid this cruise! The ship is not up to date and rooms are closet size. I wish I read the reviews before coming on here for it was the worst experience I’ve had. Avoid!!!

Having been on several cruises thru various lines, I have to say Norwegian really fits our needs. Norwegian has been innovative in things like Freestyle dining, Icocierge, cruise rewards, and constantly trying to be innovative in destination offerings and overall fun.
For those who have never cruised, the usual comments that I hear are: I will have nothing to do, I don’t want to feel couped up on a ship, I’ll get fat constantly eating, I don’t like crowds, etc. Let me assure you, you control what you do and do not do. If you want to do something to do every moment from when you wake up to when you crawl back to bed, you can do that. Most of the ships are about 3 football fields long and have vast open spaces! in face, last year when I was on the Norwegian Getaway, I had to inquire to the cruise director whether the ship was even full as they made it so it appeared that there was so much open space. He assured me that they were at full capacity. The eating part? Well, i do have to admit, that will be a problem. There are usually about 15 dining options on every ship. Several complimentary choices, and several a-​la-​carte options (fee) for you to chose from. However, they constantly run several promotions where the offer complimentary specialty dining, complimentary beverage (whoa), or other options all the time. I find the quality of the complimentary options very good to sometimes excellent, and frequently choose the paid options to mix it up a bit.
The real reason to cruise might be the destinations and cost. For example NCL has a cruse to Hawaii that has over 100 hrs in port, so in essence the ship, Pride of America is essentially a floating hotel if you want it to be. Or you can cruise the Baltic Capitols and see St Petersburg (Leningrad), Stockholm, Copenhagen, Tallinn, Berlin, in one 9 day trip!
Norwegian is a casual cruise, not stuffy or formal like some other ones. The cruisers on NCL are free spirited, don’t think too highly of themselves, and enjoy meeting new people, and overall like to experience new things. For example, we met some friends two years ago, and enjoyed their company so much, that we decided to cruise with them again this year.
In addition, we have met several staff and officers on our various trips. One that clearly stands out is Fortuso Gonzalez. He was the Maitre d on our trip to Europe a few years back and again this year. He went out of his way to make us really feel like family, because we WERE part of the NCL family. This year, after being promoted to the head Restaurant Manager of the entire cruise ship with 3,000 on board, he made it a point to seek us out every breakfast, and dinner, no matter where we were on the ship and spend quality time talking and discussing the day and our activities. the way he always found us, it was like we had a camera following us, as I had no ideal how he found us everywhere we went. He is one of hardest working officers on the ship!
Cruising is not for everyone, I understand that. But if you every want to try a new experience, NCL is not your Dad’s old stuffy cruise that you were told about. You will need a vacation from your vacation when you get back, as there will be so much to do, you literally will not be able to get everything in. And that’s a good thing, as you will always have something to come back for the next time.

I wish I would have read the reviews before doing Norwegian but I guess I needed to experience it for myself to know that I will NEVER cruise with them again.
Let’s start with the worst… the feeling of being nickeled & dimed in every aspect of the cruise. First of all, $ 8 charge for room service?!? Give me a break. Cruised on many cruise lines before and this is the first time when been charge for room service… not cool! Food is supposed to be included in the cruise fare but their excuse was that food gets wasted… so what’s next? Charging for buffet leftovers?!? Ridiculous! Secondly, Specialty Restaurants were okay but again, having additional premium prices for Lobster & Steak above and beyond the cost of the restaurant. Again, why pay a cover when you can’t have the luxury of having premium food. That’s 2 major strikes for me!!!
The room Stewart never came around to introduce themselves so we had no idea who to contact for anything. The staff was friendly but not very welcoming, except for a few. If that was what «Free-​style Cruising» was all about, I will pass! Overall, the ship, service and experience was a great disappointment but it made me appreciate the other cruise lines a whole lot more!!! I still prefer Princess, Celebrity & Holland 10xs over Norwegian!

I have traveled On NCL Many times in the past. I have to say that I absolutely LOVE to cruise. But, After this experience. I will NEVER cruise OR BOOK With NCL again.
My family and I are scheduled to take a Vacation on NCL Getaway this fall. We also, invited close friends and their children who are first time cruisers to join us.
We Paid Full Price to cruise on specific dates in advance I might add. More than 60 Days in advance & come to find out that the rooms we booked are now More than $ 300– each less. So $ 1200-​. American Dollars total.
My husband & I both contacted NCL directly from the Phone # given on their site. About Compensating in any way for the 1200– difference and were told that NCL does NOT adjust pricing after Cruise fares are locked in. However, we could cancel Losing ½ of our money and rebook. Wow… Really NCL?
We asked if we could upgrade and we were told the same. you could cancel and rebook. Losing money again.
I asked how is it fair that you conduct Business this way? That people pay full price in advance & that you in NO way contact them to inform them of the price decrease.
A representative That my husband spoke to gave us a 75 $ per person on board credit. That was the most that they could do.
I called today 32 days prior to our cruise after receiving Emails from NCL On the offers that they now have. I spoke with Janel. who told the me all of NCL’s Policies. She REFUSED to let me speak to a supervisor «saying that it wasn’t necessary
I am extraordinarily Disappointed with NCL practice and after this Cruise I will NOT be sailing with them ever again!

REVIEW of NCL SHIP: NORWEGIAN DAWN:
Writing this rewview has been on my mind since our last, unforgettable Norwegian Cruise experience. When we first read your promise that we’d «Cruise Like A Norwegian,» we had no idea that meant we’d be treated like ROYALTY from the minute we stepped onto the ship!
As Boston Marathon attack survivors, we were first invited to tour the Norwegian Dawn ship for the opening of the Boston cruise season in 2014, and were delighted to meet your staff. It was love at first site for us and your ship, as the Norwegian Dawn offered all we could imagine: high end restaurants, a full-​service spa, a casino and multiple theaters with daily entertainment.
We quickly booked our first cruise with Norwegian cruise line at the end of October 2014. The week started with multiple Halloween parties and costumes galore.
Every day seemed to top the last with even better shows and new friends. We had LOTS of help from the tireless Norwegian Dawn staff in making all the preparations for our meals and excursions. One night, we discovered our room decorated in rose petals, chocolate and champagne.
THE DEAL: I think that’s what it means to «Cruise Like a Norwegian…» to make memories that last a lifetime. We shall never forget our first Norwegian cruise, and still can’t stop talking about it months later. We’ve immediately booked our 2^nd Norwegian cruise too, for January 2015. As proud new members of the Norwegian Family, we plan to «Cruise Like A Norwegian» for life!