We used to be a huge fans of NCL, we've sailed with them at least a half dozen other times and wrote glowing reviews. No more and I strongly recommend avoiding travel with NCL! They are a shell of their former selves.
We booked a cruise to Hawaii in late Dec 2022. Our cruise was selected based on sail dates and itinerary. The entire trip, including airfare was booked through NCL; never again. We began noticing some small issues with NCL shortly after booking in Sept. – it was merely a precursor of things to come.
First, when booking through the cruise line, you must understand they select flights for you - they select provider, time, etc. This may seem like an "easy button" but it's not. Don't do it. You have no real say in the flight selection (airline, schedule, etc.) and are not notified of the details until approximately 60 days prior to sailing. We attempted to add an extra day with hotel to the front-end and tail-end of our itinerary, but NCL told us there was no availability for arrival on the front-end. Well, this is the date that really matters...and a cruise line should know this as well. We always arrive a day prior to our cruise in an attempt to mitigate any potential flight delays (this turned out to be critical in our case). Adding days to the tail-end of a cruise is mostly moot. So, we were stuck with what the cruise line selected -- and what they selected was arrival on the sail date.
Next, the package we purchased included beverages and specialty dining. However, when we went to book reservations at the specialty restaurants, we found that all but 2 were closed; not full from reservations - but temporarily closed! We were not told this prior to booking. Shameful NCL.
Then, we noticed the entertainment was incredibly scaled back -- virtually non-existent. Sure, there were a couple crew-based tribute shows but nothing notable; scaled way back. As others have posted, NCL has cut back entertainment staff and overall staffing is clearly an issue.
Finally, we went to book excursions, only to find these too were scaled way back. Fine, we're going to "paradise" we'll find other stuff to do. It was around this time we added travel protection through NCL to our trip.
Well, turns out we weren't going to paradise at all. ~12 hours prior to flight departure, we received notice from Delta Airlines, the carrier selected by NCL, that our initial departing flight was cancelled due to weather. We immediately contacted both NCL and Delta. Both providers pointed fingers back to the other for resolution while we spent HOURS looking for alternate flights. Unfortunately, due to weather issues across the country, absolutely no flights were available -- including options for connecting through other cities and arriving to alternate ports even several days later. As a result, and again through no fault of own, NCL was not able to fulfill their commitment to get us to our cruise, which departed 12/24 and the booking was cancelled.
Now weather issues happen, that's not a fault of Delta or NCL. How they deal with it, however, is absolutely their issue.
As mentioned, travel protection was purchased through NCL who was responsible for all bookings. We asked the full trip, with airfare and all offers purchased, be rebooked at no additional charge to another Hawaii sailing this year or for NCL to refund the full amount of the trip. They’ve declined to do either. Their travel protection is indicating their coverage doesn't begin until guests are on the ship (not stated anywhere).
We will not just be walking away from nearly $20K and are taking up formal legal action against the cruise line for non-performance. Moreover, NCL lost a loyal customer and we will do our best to warn whomever we can away from NCL going forward.
There's what's legally required and there's doing the right thing for your guests. NCL is doing neither.
