Norwegian Cruise Line

I love cruise ship vacations. I tried many cruise ships with different companies. Norwegian Cruise Line owns many excellent cruise ships. The latest one I cruised with them was on the Norwegian Joy. Many people get upset because many restaurants and activities on Norwegian ships cost extra. But more and more cruise ships belonging to all companies are doing the same now. They are just the first ones to see the future. The Norwegian cruise ships are fun and enjoyable. They have the best workers on board with excellent service. I enjoyed every one of my vacations with them.

We sailed on the Norwegian Jade from Tampa. Overall, the food was very good and the nighttime dancing was fun. I give it 3 stars because it is more like Carnival than Celebrity. The rooms are very small and most of the design is focused on creating more revenue, not comfort or luxury. I felt like the library and game rooms were small and not very much to do. The pools are nice salt pools. The spa and the thermal suite was a highlight. I highly recommend the thermal suite for private relaxation time. The food was best in the formal dining room. The ship has very weak programming. Not very many enriching experiences, just sales events like jewelry, bingo, art pitches. They did accommodate strict gluten free dietary restrictions.

Ok, so let me start with the positives... Embarkation and Disembarkation were very quick and smooth. We booked a 7 day Caribbean cruise on the Encore. The ship was large, clean and pretty. Our room attendant Gustavo was fantastic! He cleaned our room, greeted us every day and even brought us a mattress topper and extra towels immediately when we requested it. We chose a specialty dining night at Los Lobos and the food was so so good as well as the service there. That is pretty much where the good ends. The food and service on the boat was awful, we nearly had to beg for drinks we were ignored almost everywhere we went by service staff. We got $20 per day, per person service charges when we had already paid our port fees and gratuities ahead of time and couldn't have them removed u til the day before the cruise ended, which we did and still ended up with more service charges for the last day. We also had charges for drunks and entertainment when we had the drink packages and didn't purchase any entertainment so that also had to get refunded. The service desk acted very annoyed when we questioned all of the extra charges but they did end up taking them off, not how I wanted to be spending hours if my vacation waiting in line, reviewing charges to the account and disputing them. In the casino or at the pool we never once had wait staff approach us to offer us a drink though they were walking around often with completely empty trays. When we did flag them down to act for drinks they were very rude to us. We mostly went to the buffet on the ship and again the staff rarely came to remove plates and never offered us drinks, which was very different from our experience on Royal Caribbean ships. There was only 1 pool for the 7k cruisers unless you paid significantly more money for the Vibe or Haven areas. There were absolutely no pool chairs available ever! The limited number of chairs was taken very early in the morning and used all day even though the policy stated if the chairs were unused/unattended for 15 minutes the stuff would be moved...it never was. Same with the hit tubs and the were mostly full of splashing children the whole time if you could access one. Our room was very small compared to other cruises we have done and the clothing storage were just shelves no drawers so stuff fell everywhere unless we kept it in our suitcase or on the limited number of hangers. I have never been on a ship that moved so much or was so loud! We were on a ship in the middle of a storm before and it didn't move this much. One night we were almost thrown from. Our bed due to the movement. The waves hitting the boat were so loud it sounded like thunder or bombs so needless to say we didn't get good sleep. Even though this was a really large shop it was really broken up so it was hard to find anything and all of the venues felt small and lacked seating to enjoy the events happening there. The shopping on the boat was mostly jewelry there was definitely not a large selection. The entertainment seemed very geared towards elderly cruisers. The activities included game shows, Bingo, art shows, slow music and borijg comedians, Port times were changed afyer our booking to shorter amounts of time at each port and moved to very early morning times. One port day was 645am-230pm and nothing was even open until 9. It definitely doesn't feel like vacation when you're trying to wake up very early to experience the port stops. Last but not least the private island. It was the ONLY sunny day we got the whole trip and port times were 930am-4pm. We got up and had breakfast all ready to go at 930 only to find out that you had to book tender times to go to the island. We ended up with number 20 which was the very last number and sat and waited until almost 1 so we hardly got any time on the island. Once over there we waited in line for our drinks only to get a ticket and go to another line to wait where they would made our drinks. We did enjoy a couple of hours of swimming but wasted most of the day waiting. Norwegian we won't be sailing with you again.

The cruise was nice, but there are many cutbacks that returning cruisers would notice. For one, the buffet would close in the middle of the day and would be closed by 9:30pm daily. We also noticed that there was less crew than before. Our cruise was on Bliss for a 15-day Panama Canal cruse. The itinerary was spectacular, and the staff was friendly.

Sailed on the NCL Epic on Jan 21 and turned out to be a huge mess. We booked this cruise because we had never been to Belize or Roatan. Weeks before we sailed NCL cancelled the Belize port with no explanation of why. We were never told even while on the cruise and when guest relations was asked they didnt know. The Epic must have low morale dealing with the senior officers and the Captain as the staff were not happy to deal with. The atmosphere on the ship was different than any other cruise we have been on before. During this cruise 2 more ports cancelled due to weather which it was windy and rough so our Stirrup and Costa Maya (new port instead of Belize) however RCCL went into Costa Maya. So we spent 3 days at sea on this cruise instead of 2. The communication on this ship was horrible. We went to cozumel 2 times but it wasnt explained when we went to cozumel the first time that we would be going back to cozumel 2 days later. We loved Roatan. Very disappointed we didnt go to Belize. This ship needs a huge face lift and shows its age. The balcony rooms are very small and the location of the bathroom is horrible especially if you share with family or friends as the door is a curtain. NCL head office needs to do an audit on this ship and pull it out of service. At this time we would not recommend NCL and do not recommend the Epic ship

NCL Jade ship on 10/05/23 to Greek isles - luggage was dropped in the ocean and retrieved. Another guest in part has the same experience. After days of requesting funds to buy makeup/toiletries; I was give 400. On board credit and told to file a claim for all my damages. After remittance on my receipts for $736. I was told no other payment would be allowed because they are offering a 10% future cruise credit. I am very disappointed, that was not fully reimbursed I had to purchase a new suitcase $299. as it smelled after they cleaned it onboard and 3 fine watches required batteries ($60. Each). I cruise frequently and I have not experienced this type service. We booked a suite and they readily admitted to the damage and dry cleaned my clothes but my personal items being restored shouldn’t be subject to a future credit. I will be contacting their corporate office. Claim #467214. And they should tell people not to file a claim (lots of work) if they don’t intend to provide reimbursement.

Great cruise line was on the Joy for 7 days. It was more of a laid back experience vs just party feel. Entertainment was good, buffet food had a variety and was good. Was one of the easiest embarkation and disembarkation that I have had to deal with very easy. The one thing I would critique is they don't have a text messenger system like other cruise do but didn't really hinder anything. Just easier to communicate with family when walking around the ship.

First Time Cruise: Rode the Norwegian Joy 11/7/23 3 day bahamas and everything was exceptional and amazing. The staff made the trip very special. The Starbucks girls were great and cheerful. Shoutout to Rechelle at the Starbucks and F&B Asst. Director Marija D. she was incredible in making our trip special! The onboard activities are fun and the food is awesome