We just returned from a seven day cruise on the NCL Gem, on April 11. We were very disappointed. Our experience with NCL is that they are overpriced and grossly understaffed. The closed circuit in-cabin TV loops a video that includes a news show documentary about how the cruise line is struggling to stay afloat. 'nuf said. We traveled with three people and were charged 12 a mandatory fee of per person per day gratuity. My folks are sailing next week on Royal Caribbean and they only suggest 9.75/day per person.
There is a very well appointed teen lounge and my 16 year old had a great time all week. There is also a kiddie area for children through 9 years of age. When asked where my 12 year old could hang out during the cruise, we were sent to the tween area. It was down 6 decks from the teen and children's areas, actually THROUGH the casino and reeked like smoke. The tween room was a meeting room, which is what the rooms permanent sign indicated, with a piece of paper tacked to the door stating that indeed it was the camp area for the 10-12 year olds. My daughter flat out refused to be involved, and I couldn't blame her one bit. Mainly because neither of us could breathe.
We were unable to land on the private island due to the stormy weather. Now I know you can't blame NCL for the weather, but we were told by staff this was the third week in a row they were unable to send in the tender boats, and that this happens every year at this time. The captain actually does a joke at the show about how during the last cruise he missed only one port, only to reappear later in the week and say that he actually was NOT joking. Well, since this is clearly a known issue perhaps NCL should change their itinerary instead of misleading guests into thinking they will actually get four stops instead of three.
There are endless lines to be waited in. My sister and I tried to keep things light by joking that freestyle cruising was a euphemism for disorganization. We waited in a disorganized, angry crowd to get our tender boat tickets (which later did not sail) and in unbelievably long lines to pick up our liquor and disembark at the end of our cruise. EVERYONE tries to eat dinner at the same time every night and if you arrive at one of the free restaurants later than 5:45 (they open at 6pm) be prepared to stand in line.
Dining service was atrocious. We actually had to walk out on our dessert one night if we wanted to make the show because service was so slow. I think there was only one meal when our table of five was actually handed the correct meals. My daughter dumped and entire drink into her lap at the Grand Pacific dining room. We were seated directly in front of the wait station and about five servers who stood there seemingly dumb founded on what to do. We basically cleaned up the mess ourselves and eventually were brought a new table cloth which we put on the table ourselves. The whole experience was really quite poor. Before this cruise, I disagreed on auto-gratuity on principal, now I tell you from experience, it makes staff lazy and relinquishes all of your power as a consumer.
Cruise cost upwards of 3000.
Tim of New London, CT April 13, 2009
This cruise line has horrible business practice. I had purchased a cruise package at this beginning of this year, for my girlfriend and I to go on in the spring. Due to military orders and her family issues, we had to cancel. We canceled two days after the purchase and the cruise line refused to reimburse us. I argued with them for 3 months and they refused to help us at all. There was nothing I could do, our plans changed and we were not going to be able to go on this cruise. We opted for another cruise later on, but the cruise line refused. They simply didn't care about their customers, only about MONEY!!! I recommend never using Norwegian Cruise Line.
Mel of Charlo, NB April 10, 2009
We just returned from a 7-day cruise around Hawaii on Pride of America. We thought it might be interesting to read some comments on your site about the experiences of others re: this cruise and line. We are fairly experienced travellers, so I feel we have resonable expectations of a cruise.
We are just writing to say that, after reading a bunch of comments, we disagree 100% with almost all of the comments posted on here about NCL. Our experience was fabulous. The ship and stateroom were quite clean and staff were constantly polishing, mopping, etc. everywhere. The staff was extremely pleasant (with one exception and I think that person needed a vacation from the 400+ teenagers on spring break who were on this trip). Staff went out of their way for us, Activities and shows were on time and very good. Luggage handling was superb. The daily service charge had been quoted (quite clearly in promotional lit) as 10 per day but had gone up to 12 after Jan. 1. They reduced it immediately back to 10 upon one simple request at the main desk; we just told them that our reservations had been made before the price increase and no prob.
Our only sort-of disappointments were (1) the service in the main dining rooms was fairly slow and sometimes resulted in the food being a bit cool and (2) a number of fellow travelers (adults) were very overbearing, crabby and loud at times in public places, so much so that we often changed tables to get away. But you cannot control rude behaviour! In short, I'm not sure why other people have had such bad experiences on NCL. Except for the aforementioned, we were very pleased and would cruise again wth this line. Thank you.
Bryan of Glenpool, OK March 31, 2009
I would say that I am an experienced cruiser. I have been on 4 cruises to date. This last cruise on the Norwegian Spirit ruined my perception of cruising. My sail date was from 3/22/09 to 3/29/09. From the time I got on the ship to the time I left nothing but rude and crued service. After entering my stateroom and unpacking, the steward simply just walked in on me. He said He wanted to turned my stateroom beds down for the night. I looked at my watch and it was only 5:30 in the evening. I told him that I didnt want them turned yet as we were not ready to turn in until later in the evening. His response was and I quote I will not come back at all tonight to do this, you will just have to service yourself. I said no problem, I can pull the bunk down myself. His last response was Ok. whatever! As he walked away he rolled his eyes and left. I didnt think much of the conversation then until later on into the cruise.
From that night to 2 days later, I never once recieved a cleaned room. No clean towels, sheets simply turned over, Bathrooms dirty the whole cruise. No new cups, just simply rinsed out and put back, wet. and this was just the stateroom problems. A list of problems: 1).A 15% gratuity charge for everything your purchase from the ship. Plus a 10.00 charge per day for on board gratuity. 2).No clean towels, unless you request them and have 2 days to wait. 3).Duty free shopping? I doubt it. everything is overpriced. 4).25.00 for a bucket of beer plus a 15% gratuity (they claim you get 6 beers per bucket..buy 4 and get two free?) nothings free people. Even Carnival is way cheaper than that. 5).Every store on board is jewelry, nothing else. 6). Wait staff tries to shove drinks down your throat every couple of minutes.
7). Room service claims to be 24 hrs. a day. Its even stated on the menu. Two seperate times I was told that they were closed. I call the front desk and they call me back 30 minutes later and says that they are indeed open, they never close. I proceed to call again and finaly get through. I order and wait. 2 hours later I recieve my food only to find out that it is all cold and soggy. 8).Food service compared to Prison food. Always stale, hard breads, bruised fruits, watered down orange juice, fatty meats, cheeses thats been out all day, runny ice cream, and just crappy service from the food techs. 9). Freestyle cruising? Eat what you want when you want? Only 1 place opened for food service 24 hrs a day. Its were 1700 other guest gather to eat when the food bars are closed, for most of the day. So you wait 2 hours just to get a seat in the 20 table area. You either wait 2 hrs there or 2 hrs for room service.
10). The casino is rigged. I played Roulette a few times and started to notice that the double zero or even the sinle zero hit several times in a small time frame. But as soon as people would bet on these two spots, the ball never found the zero's. The Blackjack tables are definatly rigged. Be aware of the card shoes. They spent a considerable amount of times messing with the cards when the deck runs out. I counted the dealer hitting 21 at least 7 times in a row. Thats unheard of. Stay away from the slots, They never hit. I observed the one time someone did hit for 8000. later that night I seen the same person working the bar on another part of the ship. That to me is luring the candidate in to play that machine in hopes of winning big. Or at least any machine for that matter.
I could go on and on about the poor quality of this cruise line. But I am sure many of you get the point, or at have witnessed this for yourself. I love to cruise, and still believe in it. I just wont go with Norwegian again. I travelled with 17 other people on this cruise and all have had the same issues. You could hear the complaints all over the ship. In fact the mood was just simply being a victim. This cruise lines played on the hearts of many people who never get the chance to travel. They glamorize the brochures and suck you in. they know that once on the ship you have knowhere else to go. you will be forced to pull your wallet out and pay. Be aware, if it says free, its not. somewhere there will be a hidden charge. Even free Bingo will cost you at some point.
I have tried to call all of these 800 numbers that I was given to me to get some of my money back. They are all recordings. or someone that doesnt speak any english at all. Its hopeless. I believe a class action law suit is in order. My Proof? False adverstisment. DO NOT BELIEVE THE BROCHURES! I will make it a point to tell everyone that this cruise line is a rip off. Trust me, The internet is a powerful tool!
John of Darien, IL March 26, 2009
Pride of Hawaii June 18, 2007 All the bad stuff you read is true. Our family reunion cruise was the worst. NCL offers you credit on a future cruise like that's ever going to happen. I have learned to google everything first! The thousands of warnings were there thanks to the web and sites like consumeraffairs.com
Leslie of Hastings, NY March 19, 2009
Within an hour of boarding the boat we realized that the entire cruise vacation was a mistake and attempted to reach Darin the Cruise Director to get off the boat and receive a refund. He did not reach us prior to the ship sailing and we were trapped on board for the next 4 nights. Within the first hour we learned that both the all expense and the all planned were fallacies and our 4 days was far from relaxing. When I sent the concerns below to NCL I received a 200 on ship credit. I cannot even get the 120 in services charges refunded from them because they state I should have mentioned that before I left the cruise. My complaints cards and meeting with the Cruise Director were not enough!
The cruise was not all inclusive. Additional expenditures included: 10 for gym classes. We chose not to take any classes. Cover charges for the nicer restaurant adding up to 100 for a family of 4 to eat in the steakhouse. We chose not to eat in those restaurants and were simply bored with the regular menu. Hourly charges for daytime use of the Kids Korner Service charges per the Ticket Contract are optional though they were billed and not refunded when requested. This totaled 120 for our family. The cruise was not all planned. We were lead to believe there would be activities for our family. There were no family daytime activities planned the days docked at Freeport and the Bahamas. Our initial complaint to Daren was that there were no planned kids activities during the day. The Kids Korner was not free until 5 or 6 pm in the evening. Most of the excitement on the boat began at 10:00pm, our children were asleep.
The unexpected day at sea was poorly planned. I cannot fault the ships staff for being cautious and deciding not to launch to the private island for the day as the waters were ruff. My issue is that: It took until 9:30 to make an official announcement on the boat we were not going to the island. My family had already been down to Deck #3 at 8:15am to catch an early launch and was informed by the crew. It took until 11:00am for a new schedule to be released of the days activities and it was not executed. With children who had already been up since 7am waiting for something fun? thats a lifetime. The Cruise Director was not responsive to our concerns. It took Darin until day 3 on the boat to meet with us one morning. We gave up some of our shore time to meet him and he seemed very uninterested in our concerns. He did not follow back up with us the last 2 days of the cruise to see if our experience was improving; this was also very discouraging.
The food and food service were disappointing. The service in the main dining was poor. oOur second night we ate early (5:45) to get good seats at the show and dinner took over 60 minutes to be served. The order came out completely wrong and we had no time to correct it and move up to the show. We had no time for dessert. The third night, New Years Eve, the always available menu was not listed. Though I ordered chicken breast and was told it would be prepared I was served a disappointing single chicken breast on a large dinner plate. The kitchen took no effort to fill the plate with any vegetables or sides from the menu. Hardly what you would expect from a cruise. On the last morning of the cruise the cafeteria ran out of glasses and mugs. It took over 30 minutes for them to bring out freshly washed glasses.
J.p.knox of Glorieta, NM January 18, 2009
We booked a NON-smoking room on the NCL Jewel December 21 to 26, 2008 out of Miami to the Caribbean. They put us in a room that stank of cigarette smoke and then refused to move us to a non-smoking room. We complained at the Front Desk on the ship almost every day of the cruise. They gave us at least three different stories over the week so we assumed that they were lying to us. We were in a wheelchair accessible room. They showed us a NON-wheelchair room that was also a NON-smoking room. (This was after they claimed that all rooms are smoking optional.)
If they have non-smoking, rooms for able-bodied cruisers, why don't they have non-smoking rooms for wheelchair users? Are they violating federal disability rights laws? After I returned home, I sent a formal letter of complaint to NCL, but they have not responded to the letter; it has been over three weeks.
I was sick most of the week so I really did not enjoy the cruise. We spent 1,300 on the cruise, another 1,600 on the airfare, and another 1,000 in hotels, meals, and related travel expenses.
Carol of Ennis, TX January 5, 2009
Sail on the Star for a New Years cruise first time on NCL and it will be the last, cabin was dirty, towels were too few, food was fair, service was poor, free style dining should be named no style, resturants with no cover were small and the wait was long even with reservations forcing you to use the ones with a cover charge. The only rest. open 24 hrs was all fried food.
The entertainment was good but didn't start on time so you couldn't do two things because the loounges were small and seats were not avaliable because the first show ran over. Never saw our room stewart the entire trip.
Gaetano of Kingston, MA December 18, 2008
I am not writing this letter to complain but to let the Norwegein Cruise lines know that my wife and I have cruise on Norwegein lines on many of your ships and we have never had any of the complaints that we see on this site. We expect to cruise many more times on your ships in fact we have allready booked one in October of 2009 and will continue book more in the future.
Jamila of Charlotte, NC December 1, 2008
Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Dawn, November 22, 2008 through November 29, 2008
The food was horrible...the boat rocked back and forth violently the whole entire trip even in smooth/calm water, the ship creaked and cracked like it was about to fall apart. Everyone was running into the walls or trying to keep hold of something just to walk down the halls.
Excursions:
Samana Reef, Stingray & Shark Snorkel (Spent 69)
On this day, it was overcast and raining. I asked the excursions rep if this activity would be canceled but it went ahead as plan. After 1 hour on what was guaranteed to be 3+ hours my boyfriend was taken back to the ship as you could not see in the water and the waves were crashing too rough to snorkel. No ones money was refunded nor were any partial credits given for the horrible experience.
St. Thomas Jeep & Beach Safari (Spent 138)
On this excursion you can do the driving yourself, or you can sit back and enjoy the ride.? This was not the case when we arrived. We were partnered with another couple that we did not know so that there were 4 people per jeep. At 69 a person and 4 people to a jeep, the cost was actually 280 per jeep for 3+ hours. That in itself is a ridiculous amount and had I known about the 4 person requirement, I would have never taken the excursion.
Tortola Dolphin Swim (Spent 318)
Then, enter the water and interact with the dolphins as they go through their 20-to 30-minute swim session.? This was not the case as well. I did not want to participate but only take pictures of my boyfriend as he participated. I was told I had to pay the full price just to go. 159 just to take pictures for 5-10 minutes is outrageous, but I paid it nonetheless to capture these memories as I stood on the side. He was grouped with 6 other people. So he only participated for the 5 to 10 minutes himself while watching the others for the remainder of the time.
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