musicjunkie57

NCL owns Sixthman? When did that occur?

According to this, looks like 2012:

https://www.sixthman.net/history/#2012

I went on a Sixthman cruise (on Carnival) in 2011 - the VH1 Best Cruise Ever 2. All I have to say was WOW... I'll sail on another of their cruises if they can ever pull off a lineup like they had then. It was worth it, even if the fares were (easily) DOUBLE regular rates!

Yes, they are expensive. But it was worth it even considering the issues I had. Sixthman does a stellar job.

so you are saying, there were only a few people eating in the MDRS? That would be a first unless you are basing this on people eating after 9pm? Usually one of the complaints is: the MDRs are too busy. Of course the buffets are busier, just like on every ship. am sure with all your cruising experience you know this.:rolleyes:

Yes, even at 7pm only the tables near the windows in the Summer Palace were in use. The entire middle was empty. Indigo was closed for a private event for the entire cruise. The buffet had "grab and go" items and containers for you to take food out with you. I just got the feeling that no one wanted to take much time to eat.

People exaggerate when they complain; I'm not sure how 1/2" of dust and trash could accumulate under beds. That's a lot of dust. So I think the OP looked under the bed and there was visible dust and a torn luggage tag or something along those lines.

I admit 1/2" may be a slight exaggeration. But there was a measurable layer of fluffy dust bunny-ish stuff there. Trash was mostly small stuff... like a clear plastic top to a cosmetic container, little bits of paper and plastic. Still obviously not cleaned for a long period of time.

Thanks,

Just trying to see some of the aforementioned things the OP is talking about here. I know if I stayed somewhere that bad (and I had) I defiantly would have taken some pictures.

Honestly, never thought about doing that.

was the entire ship chartered or just X amount of cabins?

Entire ship.

I wonder if the menus are different for a cruise such as this....does anyone know?

Good question on the menus. I was shocked at how few people were eating in the main dining room. Specialty restaurants also seemed to have relatively few people dining there. Garden Cafe was always packed. I have never done the Freestyle thing before though, so didn't know what to expect there. Another factor may be that there were lots of shows going on and the Garden Cafe was faster.

I'm curious, though, about all the stateroom issues. Did you speak with a housekeeping manager, to report the issues and ask for them to be corrected? Or did you just keep a list of the bad things to post on the forum here?

The things that were not working in the stateroom were reported, several times, and only a couple of them were fixed before the end of the cruise. I didn't notice how gross it was under the bed until I pulled my suitcase out the last day and did a check for anything I might have kicked under there, so I didn't report that.

Who needs internet? Put down your device and enjoy the company of the people around you.

Some people have older parents or kids at home they need to check in with every day...

Use of thermal suite is not included with treatments on NCL. Is the charter different?

I have no idea. My package included consultations with the acupuncturist, med spa doctor, posture consultation (trying to sell you orthotics), so maybe it was a special deal.

Wow, I was on the Pearl in December and had a totally different experience, it must have really gone down hill after I disembarked.

I think we were on the last of several back to back music cruise charters. I wonder if that is a huge strain on the staff...

What ship was this?

Sorry, Norweigan Pearl

I have cruised on Royal Carribean, Celebrity, and Carnival in the past. I just went on a cruise on Norweigan. It was the Cayamo music cruise run by the Norweigan owned company Sixthman.

I was really surprised by things I ran into when comparing to my previous cruise experience. My stateroom had quite a few issues. One of the electrical outlets didn't work, one of the bedside lamp USB ports didn't work, the carpet was bubbling up at the edges, and the shampoo dispenser in the shower was broken. The cabin was not as clean as on other cruise lines... I went to put my suitcase under the bed and there was a half inch layer of dirt and garbage under there. They seem to not pay attention to detail cleaning...the mirrors were dirty and the tops of surfaces had dust on them. There were greasy fingerprints and spatters on the walls. I wasn't the only one with issues like this, I heard reports from others on the same cruise with similar issues.

As far as public areas go there were times that the public restrooms were pretty gross. Also noticed dirty walls in areas similar to in my cabin. I had a spa service and used the thermal suite after, and there were used towels laying around and the water for tea was cold. The free body scrub bowl was empty.

Food quality... Worse than any other cruise line I have been on, by far. Some things bordering on inedible. The omelet station ingredients looked old at times. The onions were gray and slimy for several days in a row. I opted for fresher looking ingredients but even the eggs tasted old. The salad bar was pitiful. Healthier / fresh options were hard to find and I wondered how the vegetarians and vegans survived the week. Specialty restaurants were acceptable, but not phenomenal like on other cruise lines.

I bought an internet pack and it was so slow that is was unusable. Overheard someone saying the internet manager claimed it was due to Sixthman hogging the bandwidth and it isn't an issue on a normal cruise. What a waste of $200+.

The music on the ship was fantastic and well run. There was rain on a couple of days and Sixthman handled everything like the pros they are. And the fellow cruisers were wonderful. Because of that, the issues with the ship were certainly not as annoying as they would have been if I was just on a normal cruise. The question is though, are all of these issues typical of Norwegian cruises or somehow limited to these big charters? I really would be hesitant to book NCL again based on my experience.