Obobru

Anyone know anything about Onward 4028 I see on the Azamara website on all other ships this is an accessible room but not on this ship yet it still looks to be large as the booking says 228sqft. 

Any photos or details of the layout plus if it has a sofa or not. 

Thanks 

13 hours ago, Fishboy1947 said:

As someone looking forward to their first NCL cruise in June, this post hasn’t been a ringing endorsement of NCL. Seems like NCL sucks in many areas but be happy you’re on vacation. 

My prior 9 cruises on Princess & Celebrity have been great with minor problems. 

 

I expect that I’ll feel the same about my NCL cruise. Great itinerary on Escape with grandkids.

Love to hear your feedback in June when you have sailed NCL, as people say it seems to be ship dependent so I hope you are on a better one. Celebrity were in a different league for us and have booked 2 more with them.

On 1/12/2024 at 9:37 AM, dshefter said:

Never have had a bad experience on NCL. Never really have a bad experience on any cruise. Are they perfect? No. But I also don't expect everything to be perfect.

I didn't say expect perfection and I wouldn't class having food that isn't prison grade as wanting perfection just wanting something that isn't gross. 

On 1/11/2024 at 1:38 AM, fshagan said:

Sorry you had such a bad experience, and on what many would consider a true "bucket list" cruise!

 

On that type of cruise, where the ports are everything, the short port times and bungled tendering would be the most frustrating to me. NCL has some ridiculously short port times on some itineraries, and there's no excuse for the horrible time tendering.

 

The 2 days around Antarctica were true bucketlist and amazing, I could have done without the the other 14 days on the ship 😂

3 hours ago, deliver42 said:

Unfortunately, the food, service, and entertainment vary from ship to ship, with the newer ships haviing the best of all three.

Interesting as you would think food would be something that's fairly standard if it's coming from the same suppliers and I imagine the recipes are the same no matter the ship. I can see on larger ships or newer ones they would have the ability to offer more or different entertainment, didn't NCL used to offer Broadway shows? 

2 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

My sources tell me that NCLH stock price dropped because they are wasting too much money giving guests an outstanding experience.  They should be nickel and diming the guests more in order to maximize revenue for the shareholders.

Strange that they cruise lines that don't do that seems to be doing better but you do you and I hope you have a wonderful next cruise with NCL. 

Thanks everyone for your feedback both positive and negative. It seems to be the consensus that the Star is the ugly duckling with issues but since we are not loyal to any line we will try a few more and maybe try them on a different itinerary a few years. 

Hope you all enjoy your future cruises be it on NCL or not. 

2 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Are you suggesting that the stock dropped because of widespread problems such as yours?

 

ETA: looks like Schmooper beat me to it.

Nope but it indicates a problem. The guest services was the worst I have seen on any cruise, mainly internet problems, food, and port issues due to the awful handling of those. We never complained as it's pointless as someone on the desk can't fix the port tenders we will feedback to head office. 

15 hours ago, KSSS2013 said:

But how were the ports?

 

 

Punta Arenas missed 

Montevideo lovely but it was a Sunday so quiet 

Stanley total mess with the tenders 6 hours to get everyone off and last tender was 2 half hours late 

Punta del Este again tenders a disaster and such a short time in port. 

16 hours ago, complawyer said:

 

while i feel bad that you spent all that money and had a lousy time/experience, if you decide never again to sail ncl, while i'm sure they'll be devastated,(sarcasm intentional) im also sure they'll quickly get over it. 

 

I don't expect they will give a toss but with their stock oke of the worst performers this week and endless lines of people complaining at the guest service desk every single day it does seem to indicate an issue. People here say it's a Star problem rather than an NCL problem overall. 

19 hours ago, yakcruiser said:

We had a young lady from Serbia as the internet manager in April. She seemed a little grumpy at first but after using the computer next to her desk for about 30 minutes I understood why. What a bunch of rude, entitled and demanding passengers!

I can imagine they do get some people like this, we did see rude customers shouting towards servers in some restaurants and I can imagine with all the internet problems some people go crazy at them but they just seemed to be refunding most people packages from what we heard but that's no excuse for him being rude to people who weren't being rude to him. 

20 hours ago, david_sobe said:

The Star never got great reviews.  An Antartica cruise is not a fair judgment of a cruise line.  The ships are smaller and its expensive.  I am still jealous because I can only dream about sailing to Antartica. 

Antarctica was truly amazing, we were so lucky with the weather. I hope one day your dream comes true and you get to see it, even if it is on the Star 😉

20 hours ago, yakcruiser said:

Don't judge all the NCL ships by what you experienced on the Star. The Star is developing quite a reputation. I was on a 15 day cruise last April with no sea days but the limited time I was onboard I noticed it wasn't on par with the rest of the fleet. Too bad because it was my favorite ship many years ago.

Thanks for the feedback, glad to hear it's more of a ship issue than a company issue. We did meet a family on the last day who have been on a few NCL cruises and said they had some many problems some the same as ours, they did say it wasn't typical. 

20 hours ago, julig22 said:

As a solo traveler, the cost is more affordable.  I cruise for the itinerary, not the shows, food or drink - and NCL offers better itineraries IMHO.

I took a 14-day Antarctica cruise on the Star from Buenos Aires last year - and I am considering a similar cruise in the future. The on-board guides (biologist, geologist & historian) were excellent, with multiple daily programs and play-by-play commentary while we were cruising in Antarctica. I have no idea how other cruiselines would do on the same itinerary.  

 

So to address some of your comments-

No, there probably won't be a comedian on a ship that departs from Buenos Aires, as English isn't the first language for many passengers and comedy shows don't translate well. 

Not sure where in Antarctica the ship could re-provision? WiFi isn't going to be good in remote parts of the world - not sure how much difference the planned upgrade to Starlink will make.

Did it occur to you that the "drill" might not have been a drill? I've been on 20+ NCL cruises and never had a drill while all passengers were onboard (except the old muster drills). You go to your room before you're told it's ready, complain it's not ready and then expect a pleasant response from someone trying to get thousands of passengers onboard? Refunds for missed ports is a much-discussed topic, you are never guaranteed a refund, due to the way they ESTIMATE fees years in advance.

I can't speak to tendering, our stop in Stanley was cancelled at the last minute (tenders went to dock, weren't able to dock due to weather) - but I had a NCL excursion booked, so had no need to wait for tickets.

 

Good luck finding a cruiseline that meets all your requirements. NCL works for me.

That's for the detailed post. 

I do agree they have some good itineraries, I wish other cruise lines would step up on that front. 

I would estimate 70% of guests were English speakers so comedy, visual magic, etc could have been offered. We have been on cruises all around the world and it's a basic of entertainment so I don't agree on that point. 

The ship could have been restocked in Ushuaia, 3 other ships were taking on stock and we were informed by one of the very good Antarctica speakers that 50 cruise ships of various sizes are in Antarctica this season! They just didn't want to pay as apparently it does cost more to load food there. 

The drill was a dill, not sure if I didn't make that clear but it was repeated 20 or so times over 2 hours. The crew were saying to us that they also found it stupid doing it when the ship was full and at sea, some crew said openly that the captain is a bit of a idiot. 

Again maybe you are not reading what I wrote I went to the room when crew were opening the doors to the corridors and telling people "the rooms are now ready" the clue is in what they said. You are making excuses for rudeness, not sure why you think being rude is acceptable when I just asked simply if someone could come and vacuum the room when they had time as it hadn't been cleaned the simple response is "sorry it must have been missed I will have someone come this afternoon" easy peasy. 

And yet again you have selective reading, a letter for a missed port is standard as people with missed port insurance need a letter stating the port missed, date, reason. It's really not that hard to understand or to supply. 

I am glad NCL works for you, you seems to defensive of them it's almost like work for them. 

21 hours ago, Asawi said:

I'm also curous about which ship this was. Star? Some (but not all) of the complaints remind me of things I saw/experienced on Star.
Not all ships are the same. I  sailed Spirit, Star and Gem during 2023. Of them Star was my least favourite. Still OK for me, but I'm glad my transatlantic was on Gem. I will sail Star again because she is on some seriously good itineraries. I will come prepared and not with too high expecations. Hoping to be pleasantly surprised. (And having travelled on her before I know what to look for food-wise)

Yes it was the Star. We went on it because we wanted to see Antarctica which was stunning but it was Xmas and New Year and expensive so expected better. 

21 hours ago, Candy Apple 12 said:

Which ship? 

 

If you have sewer smells from the bathroom drain, pour water into the drain. 

It was the Star. We covered over the floor drain and bought some air freshener as the room attendant has none which seemed odd. The smell always came back it was a problem in some other rooms from talking to others. 

We are just about to end our first NCL cruise which was 16 day Antarctica and South America. We have traveled with a few cruise lines and are not loyal to any but wouldn't ever travel NCL again, I am wondering what people think is good about them? 

Here are a few of the issues which are both ship and head office issues. 

Awful food quality akin to prison food some days with horrific meat that was like shoe leather or full of fat. Sausages at breakfast with barely any meat in them they are all filler. Tasteless dry foods.

No stocking of the ship over 16 days so ran out of basics like coke zero/diet/Fanta/apple juice and foods such as bananas but we did have banana bread every day as they had a lot of black bananas after a week. 

Lack of daytime entertainment that isn't a sales pitch or paid event such as bingo/spa services/foot analysis/shopping event/deal or no deal/art events

Absent senior management. All ships I have been on the senior crew would be in the atrium in the evening and the Cruise Director would be ever present but not on this shop as she's only seen when she gets to play a part in the Xmas show the rest of the time she's nowhere to be seen. 

Lack of variety in the evening entertainment as it's is all dancing and singing and not a single magician/comedian/ventriloquist

Painfully slow main dining room service often taking over 2 hours to have dinner due to 20 min waits for menus, 40 mins to get starters, etc

Drills done during lunch instead of between 3-5pm when no food is served and they did it on a sea day. The lunch staff all walked off to their posts which they have to do but no explanation, never known this to happen it's usually done on port days at quiet times. 

Awful rude staff. The internet didn't work well and the internet manager was rude to people who were being polite to him. I saw him rolling his eyes at people and throwing his head around in a dramatic fashion. We arrived to our room at 14.30 as a crew manager was opening the doors as we passed down the stairs but the room wasn't vacuumed when we arrived and all the attendants had gone, rang guest services but didn't get "sorry we will send someone to clean it" nope I got "why are you in the room, who let you in, you shouldn't be in the there, it's your own fault" I couldn't believe how rude she was. 

Managers on the ship especially in the buffet are rude to staff in front of guests, the work culture here stinks. 

Talking of stinks the bathroom smells like a sewer often due to the fact the toilet doesn't always fill with water leaving the pipe open for gas to come it and the drain in the floor under the sink smelling foul, they know this as they took the bin out of its holder and keep it on the floor over the drain. 

On the stinky front we can smell rotten waste smells some days on the aft stairs, my partner says it had the smell of a rotting rat (if you keep you know apparently). 

NCL still things it's the 90's and allows smoking in the casino which is fine as it stopped me spending a single dollar in there as it seems NCL favour a few smokers using the casino over 95% of the other guests who stayed away. The problem is the smoke floats everywhere as the casino has no doors and to avoid it we had to go up and down stairs. The smoking area outside is next to a main door to thr pool area, it should be miles from kids playing around the pool. 

When we had a missed port all other cruise lines give us a letter for our missed port insurance or put a stack of them on the guest services desk but not NCL, this is because NCL don't want to put in writing the missed port as they are keeping the taxes and fees for the port due to a "change in the maritime laws" according to the staff. 

NCL can't organise a tender system they give out tickets from 6am with people waiting since 4am! Why not hand them out the night before? Why not run all 6 tenders to the Falkland Islands instead of 3 then later 4 when it became apparent that it would take from 7am to 1pm to get everyone off when the final return tender was to be 4pm which ended up being 6.45pm. Why only arrange to use one dock that holds one boat and not the second dock as the local port agent was saying NCL should have done but didn't (most likely because they didn't give the tickets out the night before so had no clue of how many would go ashore so made no sufficient plans)

Some positives about NCL

Drinks package offers a good selection of in stock

Paid restaurants are good

The live music was generally good the B12 band are excellent 

So why do you sail NCL? Am I missing something? 

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We just booked the Jan 3, 2025 Princess cruise from Buenos Aires to Ft Lauderdale with 3 stops in Brazil and had not heard this nor can I find anywhere it says that. Would it be possible for you to post a link to where you read this? 
 

Here is what I’m seeing. 
 

 
https://www.worldtravelguide.net/guides/south-america/brazil/passport-visa/

BTW I apologizing for posting my Brazil Visa question. It just caught me by surprise and really don’t want to deal with their old in-depth process either. 

A quick Google shows loads of news stories announcing this 

https://apnews.com/article/brazil-us-tourism-visas-lula-bolsonaro-e206025994b64fa5695484b99a807971

Always see people getting off ships with these bags, they scream "I'M A TOURIST, ROB ME" 

I am not sure why people want them or why cruise lines give them out, do people not take their own bags on cruises? We do. Disney also does it which helps local criminals target which people to pick pocket for expensive phones. 

2 hours ago, wenlyn said:

 

Another question would be does anyone know if its troubled by ship /air con noise? I found a review that claimed it was so bad they asked to be moved  which probably wouldn't trouble me but He isn't as good as blanking out things he doesn't want to hear as I am 

 

AC noise can happen on any ship and is usually isolated to a room or a part of the ship. We were on Silhouette a few weeks ago on a Baltic cruise out of Southampton and had no issues with noise. 

As for tea your room has facilities but it's best to use bottled water and bring your own teabags to get it how you want it. Cafe al Bacio also has tea which is included in your drinks package plus there's tea in the buffet again if the brand isn't to your liking bring some with you, the brand was Bigelow a US brand when we were on as they still had US stocks but I imagine they will start to stock UK brands by now as the US stock runs out. I liked the tea much better than Lipton's which is sometimes in the US and very weak. 

I think with Grindr being so popular gay guys don't need pineapples or any other symbols. For straight swingers maybe theres no app that allows them to easily meet on a cruise. 

33 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

I agree with the first part, but I personally like to have a bar of soap for cleansing my face rather than using body wash.  I don't care what they have at the sink, but I want a bar of soap for the shower.  I will bring my own if need be, but it's nice to have the option.

We bring Dove soap, I wouldn't use the cheap Chinese drying soap they provide on my face it's low quality and has some kind of gritty exfoliant in it. While we have Chinese manufactured items everywhere I won't eat food or use any personal care products that have come from China. 

7 hours ago, TeeRick said:

I believe you but how do you know this?

Because I was on the Silhouette last month and they had the bottles installed, they are not loose like the Bigelow ones. The metal rack they were in is still there but the new bottles are above and can't be removed. The bars of soap say on the box "Made in China" the liquids we asked the attendant and she said they are not a brand anymore. 

18 hours ago, jbcallender said:

Almost all of the hospitality chains are going to the pump bottles.  This method is so much cheaper than the mini bars of soap and mini bottles of shampoo, which got used once or twice and then thrown away and everybody always took two or three home with them.

It also saves massive amounts of plastic which is a good thing. No need for tiny little bottles. They still provide mini soaps but should change these to pump soaps at the basin. 

I have no interest in Coco Cay as it looks too barren and just like a basic water park on an island, but like any cruise we book itineraries we want to be on as we are not forced to choose a particular cruise line, ship, or itinerary as there is so much choice. 

If Celebrity do a private island it should have been more like Disney's Castaway Cay which is lush and feels more high-end as it's not as over developed.