Da-Painter

We have used many other Shore Excursion companies, not just NCL, just Google, and find them. On our European all day excursions, instead of sitting on a bus with 50 other people for 8 hours, we would be in a van with 5 or 10 other folks. A lot faster doing the identical excursion, as no stopping for the ***** shops as you have with NCL, you get in and out of attractions faster, instead of waiting for other folks who get lost and not back to the bus on time. NCL try's to scare you and tell you if you do not get back in time, you will be left. But the other companies offering shore excursions, would generally shave a few hours off the same shore excursion, as well as be a lot cheaper, so there is no worry about getting back on time.

We did the New Zealand/Australia cruise last Jan/Feb, the internet on the ship was virtually non-existent. Took 20 minutes to pull up my Yahoo Mail, but could never get any further then that. The guy in the Internet Cafe, he did not work for NCL, but the company that handled the internet, told me it was worthless on that cruise. We just connected at the ports that we arrived at. Our internet was included free, so no $$$$ lost. Just a waste of time trying to use it. Be prepared for that.

If you place a review on NCL's website, and the review points out a lot of problems with an excursion, NCL will not post it. I have had a few terrible excursions with NCL (20+ cruises), made a truthful review, but bad reviews are not posted. It's also stated in their T & C.

As an NCL cruiser, here's what is going on currently on Maui. Residents from the Lahaina area are trying to be evacuated out of the area, there is no power, water, little to no cell service, roads are impassable, search is ongoing for human remains. People are being housed in Kihei, Kahului, and all other areas into shelters. Roads are congested, and the emphasis is upon assisting all residents. It is not the right time to bring in 2,000 new visitors, as many excursions will not be operating, large busses are used to transport residents around the island. We all learned the impact of the fires Wednesday morning, and everyone on the island has been volunteering to assist with shelters, food, transportation, medical care, etc. Walmart, for the first few nights allowed folks without a room to sleep in, to use their parking lot to sleep in their cars. Over 15,000 visitors have flown home since Wednesday, over 2,200 houses/buildings have been destroyed, displacing over 4,500 people. We need to find homes for these folks now. There already is a tremendous housing shortage on the islands, so temporary shelters are where we are trying to put folks right now. With this going on, the island can not support an additional influx of visitors, nor would they be able to travel around the island. If you wish to make a donation, I suggest to the American Red Cross, and designate the contribution to the Maui Fire Relief Fund, so the money can assist our problems on Maui. Aloha.

The ships water is just as good, or not better because of the filtration system. But if you believe you are getting better water, and creating more useless plastic for the environment, go for it. They are in business to make $$$, and over charge for this, and any regard for the environment is not an issue for NCL.

Any tip you leave does not go specifically to those that served you. It goes into the big tip jar of NCL, who will not tell you how it is disbursed. You pay your gratuities through the daily service charges. If you think you need to tip, go ahead, but I am already paying those gratuities.

You should be there in the early morning, when they take most of the coins out of the machine, move the dollar bills back, so they never reach the edge. Then watch all the suckers play it.