1st and Last Norwegian Cruise

[MCAT48]

The moral of the story is everyone has different experiences and expectations while on vacation. Just because someone had a poor experience doesn't mean they are wrong or being a "troll". Seriously. That terminology is so ridiculous to me. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and does not have to be attacked for it.

 

I will say I have experienced on my cruises...never meeting my room attendant.. I've also had one that was pretty awful. She'd leave her cleaning supplies in the bathroom most days...I've also had cold food..waited over an hour for a burger at the outdoor grill...but nothing that would make me say I'll never cruise NCL again. But that's my opinion I won't analyze and take apart what the OP said like some have.

 

If NCL is not for you that's fine! I hope you find what makes you happy and remember we are all blessed to be able to even take a cruise!

[teeredi2cruise]

Actually, the Nassau Port time was changed from 10 to 12 only a few months ago by Del Rio (another cost cut to save on fuel). If he/she booked this cruise more than a few months ago then he/she might not have known how little time he/she was going to have in Nassau.

 

I'm sorry if this was previously posted, but when did the time for Nassau change to 12:00???

[DMH15]

There is a very legitimate reason that restaurant reviewers go to a restaurant twice before making a determination about that restaurant.

 

I am sorry so many things went wrong for you on your one NCL cruise.

 

My first NCL Butler was terrible not just bad but terrible. I am so glad that I gave the next few ones a blank slate to work from and they did not disappoint me.

 

I am not doubting that you were truthful in your assessment of all of your complaints. However, I am sure you have to realize that that is not the norm in every single case, OR there would be no more NCL in a hurry. Surely you know this, so I do wonder your motives trying to tell everyone to cancel. Especially those who have not yet cruised NCL and have cruises booked, possibly those past final payment. Those poor folks are probably worried sick. From past experience, I'd like to reach out to those people and reassure them.

 

Hope your future cruises are more to your liking.

[gg_galaxy2002]

Mr Andrew Stuart

President & Chief Operations Officer NCL.

7665 Corporate Centre Drive

Miami

Florida 33126

 

 

Mr F J Del Rio

President & Chief Executive Officer NCL ( HOLDING) LTD.

7665 Corporate Centre Drive

Miami

Florida 33126

 

write to both.

hope it helps j

Andy is a nice man, I would write to him. My mom worked with him at NCL and just thinks he's wonderful.

[PDIDDYwife]

I'm sorry if this was previously posted, but when did the time for Nassau change to 12:00???

 

 

We were on Getaway with Sheehan last July. The very next cruise Nassau was changed from 10 to 12.

 

In Nov. our. Ticket said 10 am - 6 pm also. We were at least 1.5 hrs late

 

Our June reservations originally said 10am but in February we received an email changing the time from 12 to 7.

 

We don't care either way

[SuiteTraveler]

I returned from the Getaway on 5/16 after a 7-day cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. I am just now recovering from the worst cruise ever. I know a lot of people on here are fans of Norwegian - I am just going by what happened to me and my husband. We have been on a total of 19 cruises - mostly Royal Caribbean, 1 Princess, 2 Holland America, 7 Carnival. I have never seen such lack of customer service as we did on Norwegian. The ship was nice enough, even though the zipline was down for the entire trip. We had an aft-balcony (9920) with a huge balcony - which was the only good thing on the entire trip. Every restaurant we tried -the food was cold, we complained to the maitre d' and she was useless - the other staff on the ship did not even know who she was (Anna Maria). At one point after not getting service after sitting 10 minutes in the Savor restaurant, we chose to leave - and had to walk by 2 men in full HazMat suits cleaning something up - it was disgusting. We had the UBP - the only way you could get a drink was to go to the bar yourself because there were no servers offering drinks (casino and restaurant). Only one server - Elvis - in O'Sheehans ever offered me a drink refill. Our room steward never introduced himself - when I asked for an extra bath towel he said he used one of the towels for the one and only towel animal we received. When we asked for clean pool towels (since they were on the bed when we first arrived) -he said - take the dirty ones to the pool and change them out yourself. Great customer service. We stayed on the ship when it docked in St. Thomas - just to be able to get to the pool - tiny in comparison to the amount of people. Be sure you wear your sandals as the deck is hot metal and will melt your feet. The second port - Tortola - beware - we got off and there is nothing there - they are in the middle of building a shopping area but it is far from complete. We attempted to find a drug store to buy some band-aids and after being given strange directions ended up in an alley that had an actual sign that said "Enter at Your Own Risk." Are you kidding me? Then when we went to the Bahamas where we have been on multiple cruises - we didn't arrive until 12:30 in the afternoon and had to be back on the ship at 6:30 - great planning on Norwegian's part. This was an anniversary trip for us and the only incentive was the UBP - which in no way could make up for the lack of service. At one restaurant, Savor, we had 4 different people introduce themselves as either waiters or assistants, and it took one hour to be served one appetizer and cold Prime Rib with a baked potato that was so hard you couldn't eat it. When served the Prime Rib in O'Sheehan's - it was dropped off by the waiter, no knife to cut it with and again - cold meat, hard potato. We tried the Noodle Bar - cold noodles with cold shrimp - on a dish that was meant to be hot. I know a lot of people will think I am nitpicking but seriously - even after complaining to the maitre d' you would think that the service would improve. Good luck to anyone who is booked on this ship - if you still have time to cancel - do it.

 

You describe this as your worst cruise ever, but the jist is:

 

cold food

1 hour to eat in Savor

10 minute wait to order in a restaurant

lack of towel animals

lack of bar service

didn't get a steak knife in O'Sheehan's

didn't research Tortola so inexplicably wasted that port looking for bandaids that are readily available on the ship

crowded pool deck

Pool towels can be exchanged on the pool deck (just like RCCL) or on the dock prior to boarding the ship.

Someone was apparently sick outside of a restaurant and you saw the crew cleaning it up. (Would you prefer they left the mess?)

 

 

I was on Getaway the week before you. I never experienced any cold food unless it was meant to be cold and my baked potato was perfect the two times I had one. Everything was cooked to order and perfectly - especially in Cagney's and Le Bistro. The wait in restaurants is about normal for a land based restaurant. We don't expect fast food in the dining rooms. Every bar we went to the waiters rushed to take our order. Sometimes they were so quick, we had to ask them to give us a few minutes so that we could peruse the drink menu. They were also quick to bring the drinks back to us. In fact, overall the customer service was very good.

 

I'm sorry you didn't research Tortola. If you had, you would have known that the best place to go is The Baths on Virgin Gorda. We went there and it was the BEST shore excursion we've ever done in the Caribbean. EVER! A little research beforehand can go a long way towards having a much more enjoyable trip. You REALLY missed out on what might have been one of the memorable days of your lives.

 

It occurs to me that this is 19 or 20 cruises for you. Perhaps the REAL problem is that you are burnt out on cruising. It does happen.

[cot427]

With respect, I cannot take this review seriously due to this line: "the ship was nice enough, even though the zip line was down the entire trip."

 

Only a handful of ships even have these. Hopefully your next cruise will be on Oasis or Allure so that you can zip all day long!

[cot427]

You describe this as your worst cruise ever, but the jist is:

 

cold food

1 hour to eat in Savor

10 minute wait to order in a restaurant

lack of towel animals

lack of bar service

didn't get a steak knife in O'Sheehan's

didn't research Tortola so inexplicably wasted that port looking for bandaids that are readily available on the ship

crowded pool deck

Pool towels can be exchanged on the pool deck (just like RCCL) or on the dock prior to boarding the ship.

Someone was apparently sick outside of a restaurant and you saw the crew cleaning it up. (Would you prefer they left the mess?)

 

 

I was on Getaway the week before you. I never experienced any cold food unless it was meant to be cold and my baked potato was perfect the two times I had one. Everything was cooked to order and perfectly - especially in Cagney's and Le Bistro. The wait in restaurants is about normal for a land based restaurant. We don't expect fast food in the dining rooms. Every bar we went to the waiters rushed to take our order. Sometimes they were so quick, we had to ask them to give us a few minutes so that we could peruse the drink menu. They were also quick to bring the drinks back to us. In fact, overall the customer service was very good.

 

I'm sorry you didn't research Tortola. If you had, you would have known that the best place to go is The Baths on Virgin Gorda. We went there and it was the BEST shore excursion we've ever done in the Caribbean. EVER! A little research beforehand can go a long way towards having a much more enjoyable trip. You REALLY missed out on what might have been one of the memorable days of your lives.

 

It occurs to me that this is 19 or 20 cruises for you. Perhaps the REAL problem is that you are burnt out on cruising. It does happen.

 

SuiteTraveler,

 

On a side note, did you book the Bathes through NCL? I've been trying read all I can about the Bathes, however I'm torn between a private tour guide, doing it yourself with the ferries, or the excursion through NCL.

 

Thanks in advance!

[bangzoom6877]

I'm sorry you had so many service and food issues on your cruise. We went through similar things when we cruised on the Dawn in 2004. That was our second NCL cruise, the first being in 2001 on the N. Sea, which we enjoyed very much and found to have excellent food and service. On the Dawn in 2004, we had lousy, slow service in the MDR every single night. We were a large party of 16 people and we were turned away from the larger aft dining room, and told we could only eat in Aqua MDR, mid-ship. Night after night we had horrible, unfriendly service there. Finally the last day of the cruise, we spoke with the maître d of the issue, and we were finally able to eat in the Venetian, the aft MDR. The service was a little better in there, but the food overall on that entire cruise was not good. The only dinner we really enjoyed was in Salsas, a Mexican specialty restaurant we ate dinner in, on the first night. We tried the blue lagoon (new back then), the buffet, the MDR as I said above, and the Italian restaurant. Food was very salty, service unfriendly.

 

The activities were also very unorganized, compared to other cruises we had been on, including the N. Sea in 2001. Also unfriendly staff overall. DH and I said after that, that we weren't happy with NCL and most likely wouldn't cruise with them again.

 

Fast forward to 2006 when we were planning to go on our first cruise with our son. He was 18 months old when we sailed. I had read that NCL had gotten better in both the service and food aspects of the cruise, and our whole family decided to give them a try again. This time we were a group of 21 people, on the N. Spirit on an 8-night cruise. This cruise was excellent! Food was wonderful, and we requested to have the same table and waiter every night and we did. He and his assistant were so terrific that we ended up giving them a very nice extra tip at the end of the cruise, in addition to the DSC for the sailing. They were so friendly, nice, and really wonderful with our son who loved playing with them at the table! The whole staff was very friendly on that cruise and we really liked NCL again. We didn't go to any specialty restaurants on that cruise, and all the food we had was excellent.

 

In 2011 on the Jewel, everything was even better than in 2006 on the Spirit. A friend of mine had cruised the Jewel and raved about it. We loved that cruise very much. We were with a group of 14 people on that one, and everyone really enjoyed themselves. We all still talk about how much fun we had. The food and service were terrific as well, and on this cruise we had a different waiter every night in the MDR. One morning at Blue Lagoon when we took the kids for breakfast, we had a waiter we had a couple of nights before in the MDR. He recognized us right away and remembered the boys' names! So friendly and so kind. Entertainment was amazing, and my kids had a blast. They were 6 and 4 at the time.

 

We went on Carnival in 2013 and enjoyed that cruise very much as well, a group of 13 people. We're not "attached" to one certain cruise line, it really depends on a few factors like itinerary, price, overall value of what we get for that price, and the ship.

 

We are returning to NCL this July on the Breakaway. Just wanted to tell you my experiences with them, especially since at one point I also wasn't sure if I would ever cruise with them again.

[Doughboy139]

First of all, we were on the Getaway - not the Breakaway - second of all - there was no dark cloud hanging over the OP - we just expected superior service and received substandard service - if you don't mind bad service - good for you and have fun on your next Norwegian cruise. As for this "dark cloud cruiser" - we will stick with Royal Caribbean or Princess - just trying to save someone a headache and not have their cruise ruined as our's was - thanks for your comments.

 

I've been on 13 NCL cruises since 2010 and not once have I had any problems like this. Once or twice I've had overcooked food come out to me and each time I called the Maitre'd over and showed them, and each time they re-took my order and also gave me a complimentary bottle of wine and a certificate for another dinner in the specialty restaurant. I've always had great service everywhere and the employees were wonderful...

 

If the OP had all these problems with every meal everyday and never went to customer service to file a complaint or to the hotel manager in the 7 days that they were on the cruise, then don't come on cruise critic to now file a complaint with us.......

[FreestyleNovice]

I did submit an on line survey from NCL which was mostly positive and the same day they replied and gave us a $300.00 OBC for a future cruise.

 

..

 

Eh? You did a positive post cruise survey and got 300 bucks? :eek:

[jacketwatch]

Eh? You did a positive post cruise survey and got 300 bucks? :eek:

It was mostly positive and I pointed out some things we did not like in particular the smokers lounge on the pool deck which is not enclosed so the smoke wafted out. That I think should be corrected.

 

I was very surprised to see their super generous offer which actually came the same day I submitted the review. I told my TA and actually she was not surprised as she said NCL is making a strong push to attract new clients. I did say this was our 1st NCL cruise so maybe that has a lot to do with it.

[aquarianne11]

I'm sorry if this was previously posted, but when did the time for Nassau change to 12:00???

 

 

I have no idea as well. We never got any notification. We booked our Escape cruise last February and we were scheduled to arrive at 10am at Nassau. Now, we'll be arriving at 12noon.

[suecruises]

You describe this as your worst cruise ever, but the jist is:

 

cold food

1 hour to eat in Savor

10 minute wait to order in a restaurant

lack of towel animals

lack of bar service

didn't get a steak knife in O'Sheehan's

didn't research Tortola so inexplicably wasted that port looking for bandaids that are readily available on the ship

crowded pool deck

Pool towels can be exchanged on the pool deck (just like RCCL) or on the dock prior to boarding the ship.

Someone was apparently sick outside of a restaurant and you saw the crew cleaning it up. (Would you prefer they left the mess?)

 

 

I was on Getaway the week before you. I never experienced any cold food unless it was meant to be cold and my baked potato was perfect the two times I had one. Everything was cooked to order and perfectly - especially in Cagney's and Le Bistro. The wait in restaurants is about normal for a land based restaurant. We don't expect fast food in the dining rooms. Every bar we went to the waiters rushed to take our order. Sometimes they were so quick, we had to ask them to give us a few minutes so that we could peruse the drink menu. They were also quick to bring the drinks back to us. In fact, overall the customer service was very good.

 

I'm sorry you didn't research Tortola. If you had, you would have known that the best place to go is The Baths on Virgin Gorda. We went there and it was the BEST shore excursion we've ever done in the Caribbean. EVER! A little research beforehand can go a long way towards having a much more enjoyable trip. You REALLY missed out on what might have been one of the memorable days of your lives.

 

It occurs to me that this is 19 or 20 cruises for you. Perhaps the REAL problem is that you are burnt out on cruising. It does happen.

 

You are so right - the cruise on Getaway convinced me that I am burnt out on cruising. Thank you

[Cruise4Real]

Yes in the ropes course, but it didn't work, so in reality no.

 

FWIW, the zipline and "walk the plank" were both not available the one time we went by to do that on our 4/19/15 Breakaway cruise. It was a sea day; perhaps they don't do those on sea days? For me, without any kids, it was just a very minor disappointment, but I would be interested in hearing from others who have cruised recently (last couple of months) if either of these activities have been available, and when (was it while in port?, etc.).

[FreestyleNovice]

It was mostly positive and I pointed out some things we did not like in particular the smokers lounge on the pool deck which is not enclosed so the smoke wafted out. That I think should be corrected.

 

I was very surprised to see their super generous offer which actually came the same day I submitted the review. I told my TA and actually she was not surprised as she said NCL is making a strong push to attract new clients. I did say this was our 1st NCL cruise so maybe that has a lot to do with it.

 

:D That's awesome!

[shapatack0]

FWIW, the zipline and "walk the plank" were both not available the one time we went by to do that on our 4/19/15 Breakaway cruise. It was a sea day; perhaps they don't do those on sea days? For me, without any kids, it was just a very minor disappointment, but I would be interested in hearing from others who have cruised recently (last couple of months) if either of these activities have been available, and when (was it while in port?, etc.).

 

When I cruises on April 11 or 12th of this year can't remember the exact date, zip line was closed the whole cruise, at least every time I checjed.

[jacketwatch]

:D That's awesome!

 

Thank you. We were very pleasantly surprised. Actually I think it's good business. :)

[wichitastatecruiser]

I returned from the Getaway on 5/16 after a 7-day cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. I am just now recovering from the worst cruise ever. I know a lot of people on here are fans of Norwegian - I am just going by what happened to me and my husband. We have been on a total of 19 cruises - mostly Royal Caribbean, 1 Princess, 2 Holland America, 7 Carnival. I have never seen such lack of customer service as we did on Norwegian. The ship was nice enough, even though the zipline was down for the entire trip. We had an aft-balcony (9920) with a huge balcony - which was the only good thing on the entire trip. Every restaurant we tried -the food was cold, we complained to the maitre d' and she was useless - the other staff on the ship did not even know who she was (Anna Maria). At one point after not getting service after sitting 10 minutes in the Savor restaurant, we chose to leave - and had to walk by 2 men in full HazMat suits cleaning something up - it was disgusting. We had the UBP - the only way you could get a drink was to go to the bar yourself because there were no servers offering drinks (casino and restaurant). Only one server - Elvis - in O'Sheehans ever offered me a drink refill. Our room steward never introduced himself - when I asked for an extra bath towel he said he used one of the towels for the one and only towel animal we received. When we asked for clean pool towels (since they were on the bed when we first arrived) -he said - take the dirty ones to the pool and change them out yourself. Great customer service. We stayed on the ship when it docked in St. Thomas - just to be able to get to the pool - tiny in comparison to the amount of people. Be sure you wear your sandals as the deck is hot metal and will melt your feet. The second port - Tortola - beware - we got off and there is nothing there - they are in the middle of building a shopping area but it is far from complete. We attempted to find a drug store to buy some band-aids and after being given strange directions ended up in an alley that had an actual sign that said "Enter at Your Own Risk." Are you kidding me? Then when we went to the Bahamas where we have been on multiple cruises - we didn't arrive until 12:30 in the afternoon and had to be back on the ship at 6:30 - great planning on Norwegian's part. This was an anniversary trip for us and the only incentive was the UBP - which in no way could make up for the lack of service. At one restaurant, Savor, we had 4 different people introduce themselves as either waiters or assistants, and it took one hour to be served one appetizer and cold Prime Rib with a baked potato that was so hard you couldn't eat it. When served the Prime Rib in O'Sheehan's - it was dropped off by the waiter, no knife to cut it with and again - cold meat, hard potato. We tried the Noodle Bar - cold noodles with cold shrimp - on a dish that was meant to be hot. I know a lot of people will think I am nitpicking but seriously - even after complaining to the maitre d' you would think that the service would improve. Good luck to anyone who is booked on this ship - if you still have time to cancel - do it.

 

Sorry you had a bad time. I don't have as many cruises as you but have been on 3 different lines. Here is a list of what I found legitimate about your review and what sound like nitpicking:

 

1. Every restaurant we tried -the food was cold, we complained to the maitre d' and she was useless - the other staff on the ship did not even know who she was (Anna Maria). At one point after not getting service after sitting 10 minutes in the Savor restaurant, we chose to leave.

 

This was a bad way to start of the review. Makes it hard to take the rest of it seriously. Every place serving cold food ALL the time? Really? You only mention Savor in this section so am I to believe that Taste, Flamenco , Garden buffet , and Tropicana Room all had cold food the 12 times you ate at the various places? Also did you check in at each place or just walk in. I know at some places people slipped past the Maire D then wondered why they weren't getting service.

 

2. We had the UBP - the only way you could get a drink was to go to the bar yourself because there were no servers offering drinks (casino and restaurant). Only one server - Elvis - in O'Sheehans ever offered me a drink refill.

 

Did you ask your server for a drink? Yes technically they should ask if you want a drink ( I had that problem on the Getaway a few times also) but when I saw my server I just got their attention and ordered a drink. No reason to get up and go to the bar. Same thing at the casino, yes they should come check on players on occasion but if you want a drink, just flag down one of the few servers they do have in that area or tell the casino host if your playing a live game. Once you get one they tend to pay more attention to you.

 

3. Our room steward never introduced himself - when I asked for an extra bath towel he said he used one of the towels for the one and only towel animal we received. When we asked for clean pool towels (since they were on the bed when we first arrived) -he said - take the dirty ones to the pool and change them out yourself. Great customer service.

 

I don't remember how many towel animals I got. I think I got 3 or 4 on Oasis. Anyhow, were you planning on just keeping the towel animal together all week? When it comes to pool towels unless policy changed you were required to exchange pool towels at the pool to account for them. This included Oasis and my Carnival cruise so to complain about that just doesn't count. I also agree that the room Stewarts on the Getaway or not as attentive as other lines.

 

4. The pool - tiny in comparison to the amount of people. Be sure you wear your sandals as the deck is hot metal and will melt your feet.

 

Yup small pool. Only one. Terrible design. Its not going to change. However the deck on all cruises are usually wood or some other material that gets hot in the Caribbean sun. On Oasis they did design it so there is shade around the pool areas to keep it from getting as hot.

 

5. Your excursions.

 

Who gave you directions? On the short port time if they did change the port time from what you originally thought it would be that's too bad. However the ship has more than one itinerary so to give the ship a bad review only based o that was pointless.

 

6. Your final arguments.

 

Back to complaining about cold food and not getting a steak knife. Talk about 1st world problems. I didn't get a steak knife either. Know what I did? Flagged down a waiter and asked for one!

 

7. Telling people to cancel if they have it booked because of your experience.

 

Bad form all around. If your going to give a bad review tell the reasons why people shouldn't book it specifically. Like if your not big on nightly all ages deck parties. Like exclusive all hours adult areas and not just during the day. Not a fan of freestyle dining. Don't want the casino in the middle of the ship open up to all interior public areas. Want more pools and lounge areas. Have the atrium too close to other public areas and the guest services area. Want highly personalized cabin service.

 

Every cruise has it pros and cons. Maybe the Breakaway class isn't for you but that would be like someone saying they were never going to sail Royal again because an Oasis class was too big and didn't give them the experience they wanted.

 

Hope that constructive criticism helped as I was not a big fan of the Getaway for the reasons I listed.

[chrisa222]

Just off the breakaway. I had a good cruise overall but will say this-service has definitely gone downhill a bit. My impression is that they have cutback on staff and there aren't enough servers to handle diners properly.

 

For example, if you don't want water, you have to ask for something else and be prepared to wait a while for your drink. Never once was I offered a refill in any of the restaurants. It was always the same.. You got water immediately and that was it unless you asked. The other thing was, with the exception of the specialty restaurants, never once were we checked on. There was a problem with one of my dishes, but I could never get the waiter to come back. Not enough staff.

 

Cabin service was great though.

 

Food was mediocre (buffet, MDR) to amazing (leBistro,Cagney's, Ocean Blue) and the only horrible thing was that undrinkable coffee.

 

I like NCL over Carnival for the great specialty restaurants, way better entertainment, but I'm ready to try RCL and see if its worth the extra cost.

[SuiteTraveler]

SuiteTraveler,

 

On a side note, did you book the Bathes through NCL? I've been trying read all I can about the Bathes, however I'm torn between a private tour guide, doing it yourself with the ferries, or the excursion through NCL.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Yes, I booked it through NCL. There was plenty of time. It is important to know that the morning ferry crossing may be choppy and cause seasickness, so take Bonine or something for seasickness in advance. Many were seasick on our crossing - I guess they didn't think about the possibility of seasickness. The ferry attendants do have stuff to help people with seasickness, but it won't help as much as taking medicine beforehand. The return trip was no problem at all. There is an alternative way to get to The Baths via chartered boat and swim or ride a small boat into shore and then swim back to the boat afterwards. This would save you the long arduous climb down and then back out of the area. However, you would miss the restaurant at the top of The Baths which has the best Pina Coladas ever, an awesome view and a freshwater pool to cool off in.

[asdjl]

Regarding the zipline and walk the plank, it is a wind issue. It is possible for it to fluctuate from open to close several times a day. The zip line is more affected than the plank. However, on our GA cruise last year, both were closed several times, my kids did end up getting to do both, but only because we were lucky enough to be there at the right time. Plenty of other times they tried and it was closed, it is a safety issue. And I would guess that sea days are more likely to be closed due to the wind. However, if you are around and check back at other times on the same day, it may be opened

[SuiteTraveler]

You are so right - the cruise on Getaway convinced me that I am burnt out on cruising. Thank you

 

I thought that might be the case since the overall tone of your trip report was so negative about such petty issues. Definitely try some alternative types of land-based vacations for a while. After I got sick of Disneyworld, I realized that even the greatest vacations can start to seem mundane and disappointing if you don't switch it up. I also think that Caribbean cruises can become a major bore after a while so we switched to Alaskan and Mediterranean cruises and then a river cruise on the Rhine - all of which were amazing. Sorry you had so many service issues on Getaway. We were on May 2 - 9 and had excellent service in every venue and really great food. It just goes to show that two different travelers can have completely different experiences on the same ship.

 

We also sail on RCCL frequently (as well as most other major lines.) We do suites on NCL, so I booked an Owner's Suite on RCCL Allure for our previous cruise. The suite was lovely and Allure was great (except the buffet), but the suite service and amenities on RCCL are just totally lacking in comparison to NCL. Also, on that particular cruise some lady on our floor stopped up all the toilets in our plumbing sector (midship and 3 floors) by putting a sanitary product down the toilet. I can only guess she didn't notice the sign over the toilet. It caused a major problem where toilets on inward facing cabins were overflowing sewage. On outward facing cabins including our suite, the toilets simply wouldn't flush. The smell in the hallway was overwhelming and disgusting. Fortunately, that was the day in Labadee, so we held our breath going down the hall and got off the ship ASAP and spent the entire day in our over-water cabana and didn't come back until much later when the cabin stewards had had a chance to get everything cleaned up and the plumber had gotten things back in working order. Our cabin steward told us it had taken almost the entire day to get the system repaired and running and clean up the massive mess. Inconvenient for us? Yes, but that is life aboard a ship and we didn't let it ruin our cruise and if you put it in perspective, the situation was far worse for the crew who had to literally spend the day cleaning up raw sewage.

[Kaboochi]

Just off the breakaway. I had a good cruise overall but will say this-service has definitely gone downhill a bit. My impression is that they have cutback on staff and there aren't enough servers to handle diners properly.

 

For example, if you don't want water, you have to ask for something else and be prepared to wait a while for your drink. Never once was I offered a refill in any of the restaurants. It was always the same.. You got water immediately and that was it unless you asked. The other thing was, with the exception of the specialty restaurants, never once were we checked on. There was a problem with one of my dishes, but I could never get the waiter to come back. Not enough staff.

 

Cabin service was great though.

 

Food was mediocre (buffet, MDR) to amazing (leBistro,Cagney's, Ocean Blue) and the only horrible thing was that undrinkable coffee.

 

I like NCL over Carnival for the great specialty restaurants, way better entertainment, but I'm ready to try RCL and see if its worth the extra cost.

 

I agree 1000000% about the coffee. It was god awful, even at the coffee bar thT charged a fee. So glad I'll have a coffee maker in our suite next cruise. That is the best ship coffee ever. I believe all cruise lines have a competition going on who can serve the worst coffee. On RCCI adventure class the coffee in the promenade bakery was excellent and FREE! Won't stop cruising because of yucky coffee

[BritChickBN1]

Damn, I'm glad I wasn't on your cruise. :rolleyes: