08/20/06 Wind Review

[Jondras]

Wind Review 08/20/06

Background Info: Our extended travel family consisted of 12 people. Five in an Owners Suite (cabin 1100), four in an Ocean view (Deck 8) and three in an Ocean view (Deck 6). Ages included 9, 11, 13, 16, 19, 21, 23, 25, 36, 50, 55, 80. This was my 4th cruise and the 3rd for everyone else.

Embarkation: I will say up front that this did not go well (partially my fault, partially the facilities fault, and partially NCL) and had ramifications later on in the trip. We arrived at the Port of Vancouver on Sunday, August 20 at 12:30pm local time. Since we lived about 2 hours away (South in the US) it wasn’t an inconvenience for us to drive. I pulled directions from the NCL site to the port, and then pulled directions directly from the Port of Vancouver site. Both sets of directions were different! Amazing considering we were going to the same spot, but I figured we would be able to work it out. I found the Port of Vancouver directions to be more accurate but still not entirely good. Fortunately there are signs along the route that direct you. We parked and sent out luggage to the ship (very easy and located in a convenient spot). As we had three cars we were separated to different levels by the attendant who did not realize we were together. Unfortunately I had all the tickets…we made our way up to the check in area, went through security where we were asked to show our tickets, and proceeded to the “customs area” to wait for the remainder of our party. Turns out they also had to show their tickets, (which I had), and via several phone conversations I managed to find them and go through security again. (My fault) We are all US citizens except our Aupair who is Polish. All foreign persons were required to go to a small waiting area, fill out additional paperwork and then wait to be called to the ship. We elected to stay together. Between the time I went through security the 1st time and finding the rest of our party the lines at the customs stations grew from about 40 persons to well over 200. Amazingly long lines! The foreign person’s area was also filling up though there was coffee and orange juice available. When asked one of the agents said they were understaffed. However, I noticed that all 12 stations were open and running, so didn’t understand why they said they were short handed. As it happens we found out later it was due to the Celebrity Infinity and the HA Veedam all processing through the same 12 checkpoints as the Wind. (Facilities Fault). In my humble opinion each ship should have had its own designated checkpoint through customs instead. After waiting until 2:30pm (2 hours) we were through customs and on our way to the ship check in desks. There was one suite line (no one in it), three disabled persons lines (10 persons in them) and the regular lines (4 open) about 35 persons lined up. The NCL representative directing traffic asked us to go to the regular line. When I mentioned that we were in an Owner’s suite she said, ”It would be faster if you went through the regular line.” And continued to point us down to the end of the queue. When I pointed out I was standing in front of the suite line where a rep was waiting to assist and NO ONE ELSE was in it compared to the 35+ folks in the other lines she conceded and let us go up to the counter. (I admit to being rather tired and cranky at this point, but still annoyed with the NCL rep). The rep at the suite line was courteous, but slow. It took 50 minutes for him to process all of us. We also found out later that he had completely screwed up the credit card attachments to each room and person which was a big mess to work out at the Auditors desk later when one of our cards was declined for a purchase. (NCL’s fault) We then proceeded up the gangplank and onto the ship. We were not greeted or escorted by the concierge or any other representative as others have mentioned before. We walked up 5 flights to deck 11 in order to get to our room as the hallway aft on Deck 6 where the elevators were taking passengers up was extremely crowded. Actual arrival time to our room was 4pm.

Embarkation Score: Very Poor

Suite Service: One of our butlers, Armando, was at the Owner’s suite door entrance when I barged in after embarkation, out of breath, hot and annoyed. I admit I made him chase me down the hall as I wasn’t going to stop until I hit the couch in our suite. However, he handled it well and proceeded to introduce himself and explain the amenities we could expect. We did receive (3) bottles of liquor (menu was presented immediately for our requests), (1) bottle of champagne (already cooling in a bucket near the door, (1) large fruit tray with grapes, apples, pears, bananas (all fresh and delicious!), as well as a very nice flower arrangement and snacks delivered to our room every day. The evening butler, Ryan came in to introduce himself and the Concierge, Simone also came up to let us know what she could do for us and we immediately asked her to book a table for 12 every evening at 8:30 pm in Terraces until we decided where else we may like to eat. The remainder of the afternoon until sailing was spent getting luggage delivered. About every 30 min another piece of luggage showed up so we were kept busy. The two stateroom attendants came by to introduce themselves and asked which beds to turn down, etc. I have to say that we LOVED Armando and Ryan as well as our room attendants. They provided excellent service and we had absolutely NO problems with them. They turned down our beds, cleaned up our mess, delivered our breakfast and snack orders all with a smile. Everything was delivered quickly, was hot or cold as it should be, and we never felt it was inconvenient for them at any time. Ryan was kind enough to leave cookies on the table and milk in the fridge one night for the kids (without us even asking) and Armando called one morning asking if we wanted coffee with our order as we had forgotten to check the box. I have to restate that they were wonderful!

Suite Service score: Excellent

Suite Space: I have to say that I am very glad we got a suite. There was plenty of storage, a very nice protected balcony, and plenty of sitting room provided you don’t have 11 other folks show up (like we did) to drink all your free liquor =). The bathroom was small but serviceable and very clean. There were 5 of us in the room so it was a bit hectic in the morning, but nothing we couldn’t schedule out. We only have one bathroom at home so we were quite used to taking turns. There are some things that could be better, however. First, when the couch bed was pulled out it was very cramped and difficult to get around. We asked our attendants not to make it up until very late in the evening after the first day because of it. When we first arrived the room had a “musty” smell. It was very much like wet carpet and it turns out that’s exactly what it was. (The carpet on the bathroom side of the master bedroom was wet) Since there wasn’t much they could do about it except let it dry we weren’t going to be upset and just left the sliding doors open to air it out. It was nice to listen to the water rush by anyway. The rest of the carpet in the suite was worn and stained but about as clean as it could be considering. The bathtub was full size and the shower had better water pressure than we get at home. I was also impressed that all 5 of us were able to shower one right after the other and still have very hot water! My only complaint here is that there is about a 2.5 foot lip you need to step over to get into the shower and bathtub. We found out this is tricky when the ship is experiencing rough seas.

Overall, excellent storage, defiantly a good space for 5, but would be much better with just 2 or a couple with small children. Not a good space for 4+ adults unless you are family. Carpet needs to be replaced, and the room had a slight musty smell. Very nice balcony and great shower/bath facilities.

Suite Space Score: Average

Food: Here comes the part everyone loves to hate…I will preface this by saying I am not a picky eater and neither are my kids. At age 9 and 11 they will try anything once. They love things like Calamari, Okra, Gazpacho Soup, etc. (not your ordinary kids!) They will also eat standard kid food like pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers, etc. We dined in our room for almost all breakfasts and ordered from the suite menu. It was limited, but came up hot or cold in very good quantities. On two occasions we asked for fruit yogurt (listed on the menu) and got plain instead. It wasn’t a big deal since the pizzeria was just down the hall and had yogurt on ice for breakfast. We just ran down and got what we wanted. I will say the menu was fairly limited and some items were “assorted” rather than specific types like Muffins, breads, or yogurt. Occasionally the kids didn’t like what showed up. (Oat bran muffins and Nut bread instead of wheat bread). Lunch consisted of the pizzeria food, the sports bar buffet, or lunch at Four Seasons. We ate at them all at least once. The pizzeria was ok, but always had the same stuff so got a bit boring after a while. I will mention I was very disappointed in their buffet choices at the sports bar. There was always a choice of chicken, meat, and fish, but never multiple choices which we usually have on other cruises. The same went for veggies and starches. Only one potato offering and one vegetable each day. As an example, one day they had fried chicken (wings only), beef stew, and battered deep-fried cod chunks. Potato wedges were offered and so was steamed mixed veggies. On every other cruise we have been on you usually have multiple choices of meat dishes such as broiled chicken breasts, fried chicken, stir fry chicken with veggies, mashed potatoes, fries, steak fries, roasted potatoes, etc. Overall, I was disappointed in the choices. So, we did find things to eat, but didn’t necessarily enjoy eating lunch at the buffet. We spent most evenings at Terraces for dinner, with one night at La Tratorria (non-pay specialty restaurant). We had excellent service at Terraces and the food there was very good. The menu always had something we enjoyed eating. The food at La Tratorria was good as well, but the service was extremely slow. Since it was the last night on the cruise I wondered if they knew we couldn’t adjust our service charges in the morning and so didn’t feel the need to serve well.

Overall, plenty of food but a lack of choices at the buffet.

Food: Average

Shore Excursions: These are also one of those areas that people love to hate….We did one excursion in each port. Our first stop was the Ketchikan Rainforest Adventure ($80 pp adult). The bus was waiting right outside and we departed on time. After a 25 min bus ride down the coast we pulled into the rainforest area. Our guides were waiting and the bus was split up into three groups. Our guide was very knowledgeable and spent most of the hike walking backwards explaining the local ecology. It was an easy walk with very few ups and downs. The kids found it incredibly boring since we walk through forests like this at home quite a bit and it really wasn’t anything we hadn’t already seen. We did not see any bears, though other groups have seen them on the tour. The kid’s favorite part was at the end where they got to feed the imported reindeer. We then were able to view an old sawmill, see a totem pole being carved, and were given a block of red cedar to take home. It certainly wasn’t worth the ($80pp adult) we paid. If they lowered the price to under $30pp) it would be more reasonable and in line with what I would expect for a guided 30 min hike.

Our next stop was Juneau and Mendenhall Glacier/Salmon Bake. I had done this tour on a previous cruise so knew it was going to be good. Our driver was waiting at the pier and we had a nice 20 min ride to the glacier area. He was very informative about Juneau and we enjoyed the trip. He provided us with bracelets for the glacier center and umbrellas since it was pouring rain. We were able to see bears feeding at one of the streams, had a fairly good (foggy) view of Mendenhall and had a nice time warming up at the interpretive center. After 1.5 hours there we were picked up and taken to the salmon bake. This was very good salmon, excellent chowder, wonderful blueberry cake, etc. The only issue I had with this excursion was the short time we had to enjoy the salmon. Within 5 min of arriving we were notified that the last bus to the Wind would depart in 15 min. Just about everyone on our bus was going to have a fit when we found out the Captain was also at the salmon bake and the ship certainly wasn’t going to leave without him! Fortunately we were able to enjoy the food for a little while longer, but I would have liked more time. The price was decent for what we received.

Our last shore excursion was Skagway for the Family Gold Rush Adventure. This was $50 for adults and $25 for kids. The bus took us up to Liarsville just outside of town and we enjoyed seeing the tents and displays. They had a short stage show, music, and let the kids roast marshmallows before we “panned” for gold. Everyone got a few flakes, and the kids enjoyed it. They really liked the camp dog! We then got back on the bus for a short ride to the Gold rush cemetery. Interesting history about some of the folks buried there as well as a short hike to Reed Falls. I did enjoy it but I felt this was also overpriced at $50pp for adults.

Shore Excursion Score: Good but overpriced

Overall Impressions: I’ve done one previous NCL cruise and two RCCL cruises. I didn’t notice any difference in service between the lines and really enjoyed the suite service we received. It was a fun cruise, very relaxing for the adults and fun for the kids. I know we will cruise NCL as the price for the trip was very competitive with other lines. We were able to afford an Owner’s suite on NCL in Vancouver for about the same price it would have been to take two balcony rooms on RCCL out of Seattle. We will certainly cruise NCL again though I hope they improve the buffet choices next time!

[pcc]

Jondras, thank you for the review. We were on the same ship same time as you. I must say that Armando and Ryan are absolutely wonderful and attentive. Ryan will be moving to the Gem once it is ready for sail, and he said the new ship will have a bowling alley (wonder how we are suppose to bowl when the ship is rocking?!!)LOL.

We stayed in Rm1101, 8201, and 6066. So we experienced the forward, midship and aft of the ship. It was a bit rough the day we sail past Queen Charlotte Island (Friday), and my kids felt a bit queezy(we stayed in 8201). Everyone else was fine.

We ate in the dining room every night, twice in the La Trattoria, twice in the Four Seasons, and 3x in the Terrance. The services were always on the slow side, so my DH ended up eating 2 main course and 2 desserts every night ( he said he got hungry again waiting for the food). I really LOVED the tiramisu at the La Trattoria, YUMmm. It was the authentic Italian kind, served from the bowl, different from the one they serve in the main dining room.

We didn't participate in any excursions, we walked around town in Ketchikan, and Juneau. My brother and my sister's family rented a car in Skagway and drove all the way to Whitehorse and back. They really enjoyed the drive and they got a train stamp in their passports when they cross the border.

The cruise was very relaxing and maybe we will try the GEM next year.

[mel31]

Jondras,

 

Thanks for the review. I'm glad it was a mostly positive experience. It was nice to read a post from someone who also resided in Rm 1100. DW and I enjoyed it too. For the two of us, it was perfect.:) Your review brought back great memories.

 

Well done!

 

Mark and Sue

[CHICKA]

Thanks for posting such an in-depth review-we are on the Wind on the final sailing on 10 Sept and have found your comments really useful.

 

One thing which is bothering me is that I have read various comments on this site about having to book the speciality restaurants as soon as you board or else you may not be able to get a table. Did you find this a problem?

[Jondras]

PPC - Glad you guys had a good time as well and agree with my assessment of Ryan and Armondo! They were really great and my kids absolutely drove them crazy I'm sure! We also had a couple of days there where the ship was rolling and the kids had to take some Meclazine. I felt a bit queasy myself one afternoon but it settled down before I took a pill. We had fairly fast service in Terraces, but we also had 12 of us and expected things to take a while, so perhaps our view was twisted a bit. I will say that our last night dining in La Tratorria was horrible. We were there for 2 hours that night to eat compared to 1 hour in Terraces. The food was great, but the service was terrible that night.

 

Mark and Sue - I remembered your review and hope I did it justice! It was great that you guys started it off with so much information! I found out just how hard it was to write a comprehensive one! Your info was so valuable in us knowing what to expect!

 

Chicka - We didn't find it too much trouble since we used the concierge. However, We didn't book any reservations until the 2nd day out and we weren't able to get our preferred dining times. We asked for 7pm reservations and ended up with 8:30 instead. The 3rd day out we asked for reservations at La Tratorria for Friday, but we couldn't get in until Sat at 9pm. While this worked out fine for us, it may not for everyone. We tend to eat late anyway, so for us it didn't matter. I think if we had booked our reservations in advance the very first day we might had gotten better times.

[pcc]

One thing which is bothering me is that I have read various comments on this site about having to book the speciality restaurants as soon as you board or else you may not be able to get a table. Did you find this a problem?

 

The specialty restaurants fill up quite fast for the last few days of the cruise. If you have a large group or you want dinner at a specific time, it is better to book early. Our group of 12 have no problem booking the La Trattoria during the first few days of the sailing, but you do need reservations.

 

Ann

[pcc]

Jondras,

 

I have to agree, the Terrace has the fastest service of all the restaurants.(Don't know about LeBistro, since we didn't try that one). My sister saved her bottle of champagne and we had it at the Terrace during the farewell dinner, very good service.

 

Ann