Now this is a cruise that went poorly

[buggins0402]

After the past few days, I thought It might be fun to dig up an old review that should go down in the CC hall of fame. It's a seven year old NCL thread...but, some regulars on the board might enjoy a laugh about now.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=679082&highlight=sailorjack

 

Day 2 is the highlight, or lowlight in this case.

[Mura]

Amazingly enough we did the same cruise on NCL -- the same ship, the same itinerary as far as I could tell, but we didn't bump into anybody. Our cruise was in February 2002 (replacing a Far East Renaissance cruise that never happened) so our cruise was about 5 years before this review. I won't say we had the greatest cruise ever but it was pretty good. (There were LOTS of fellow Renaissance people on that cruise.)

 

Okay, we kept on complaining that "Renaissance did it better". Today we'd say "Oceania does it better". Our complaints were pretty minor, though -- we had a mini-suite that was approximately the same size as a PH on the "R" ships but it didn't have enough electrical outlets. To plug in my laptop I had to unplug the TV. They had a very cumbersome routine at buffets of having a crew member take a tray, load it with silverware and a plate. Meanwhile the line got longer and longer.

 

But the highly touted free-style cruising worked better on DREAM ... we never had to wait for a table (we usually ask to share). When we were on NCL's GEM four years ago unless you were in a top suite (where reservations were called in by the concierge who is NOT available to lower cabin categories), they'd send you into the bar for half an hour.

 

That report IS a classic though ... although I would argue with the OP about Buenos Aires. True, we were there in early 2002. My father went to BA on tour in 1937 with Toscanini's NBC Symphony and he never forgot the city. He always talked about it. Even in 2002, 1937 was a long time ago ... it's further ago now! And I have heard about problems now with crime, etc., but we spent 3 days there pre-cruise and found plenty to do. It's a beautiful city.

 

Thanks for reminding us of this review!

 

Mura

 

P.S. On our "DREAM" cruise, we were standing there by the boats at the drill. Since the ship had been very undersold -- not that many people wanted to travel after 9/11, I guess -- they had heavily advertised to Latin America so there were many Spanish speakers on board. One of the people in our group complained to the crew member instructing us because he only spoke English. Her comment was "you ARE in South America". She was absolutely right because had we had a disaster at sea, those people who didn't speak much English could have been in real trouble. I was surprised that NCL didn't have more Spanish speakers among the crew on that cruise. It may be different today.

[jakes47]

Such a great read! LOL

[Floridiana]

Sailorjack always makes me laugh. :D

[Love.II.Cruise]

Thanks for the reminder! We were sailing shortly thereafter on Celebrity and the port blockage affected our cruise. We were shocked when we heard what had happened. There are pictures of the ship if you do a google search.

[dorisis]

We sailed the Dream shortly after that cruise. She has since been renamed "The Norwegian Nightmare".

[Mrs Miggins]

Thank you so much for this link to such a wonderful review. It made me laugh so much and restored my faith in the overwhelming good humour of cruisers on this board. I would love to sail with them.

[MVPinBoynton]

Thanks for the link. I had not seen that review before. It is truly a classic!

[findacruise]

Sp enjoyed reading this review. Thanks for posting it. Should be required reading for disgruntled passengers. Definitely the lemonade approach to problems!

[Hunding]

After the past few days, I thought It might be fun to dig up an old review that should go down in the CC hall of fame. It's a seven year old NCL thread...but, some regulars on the board might enjoy a laugh about now.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=679082&highlight=sailorjack

 

Day 2 is the highlight, or lowlight in this case.

 

Thank you for this (tears streaming down my face).