Review Detail

I am a seasoned cruiser having sailed on Holland America, Princess, Celebrity and Norwegian Cruise Line. I really like freestyle dining which is why NCL was my first choice. We fly into London and made our own way down to Southampton looking at the sights along the way.

Embarkation went smoothly and we were given our cards and allowed to board. We booked an inside cabin as we don't think it is necessary to spend the extra for a cabin with a window.

The first problem was the staff as most seemed like they were just going through the motions and didn't want to be there. No one was friendly. The room had an empty bottle left in it and the toilet was dirty. It took forever for our room to be made everday with it usually being done only by the afternoon. The service in the dining room was particulary bad as one waiter seemed to be handling everything and wasn't effective. They were majorly understaffed. The specialty restaurants were better though we had some bad experiences too.
Food was okay but very repetitive and little selection. Buffet food was cold when it should have been hot.

The shore excursions were really overpriced by almost double what I could find from companies locally. Yet most of the tours that I wanted were sold out.

I found that events weren't well advertised and we really had to look hard at the Freestyle Daily to find something interesting. Entertainment was so so with only a few good acts.

The ship was nice with few complaints though I didn't like the style of the furniture in most of the lounges.

The itinerary was very good which made this cruise better and with only 2 days at sea we didn't notice the problems as much. If there were more sea days I would be unhappy.

NCL used to be my favourite but I don't know if I will sail with them again.