Is it me or is Norwegian Cruise Line HORRIBLE?

Question

I have went on Royal Caribbean and had a blast. I went to Hawaii and went on Norwegian...got treated very badly and they had the "great" idea of free style dining. After the first night you couldn't get into a restaurant that was good. The pool deck bar closed at 8:30pm! The bars in ship were empty with the exception of a few old people...In one case when at dinner, my girlfriend got her order taken and the waitress walked off and didn't take mine for another 10 minutes when I called her back over to the table, honestly that was the worst server I have ever had...Every restaurant in my hometown has better servers then this.

Luckily Hawaii is awesome and I got some good Kona bud so the tripped turned out okay. Taking another trip over new years with roal caribbean, Since it is new years there is nornally quite a few partiers and less party poopers (ncl)

I am American first off. The NCL cruise I went on wasn't international, so it had a American Staff. That I think is a big problem right there. We as Americans have so many rights that this is a possibility as of why it wasn't as nice. They aren't going to get fired on the spot and sent home like international staffs. The largest part of the NCL staff is not getting paid through tips, so why try hard? why not slack like we are doing right now (on the clock typing on yahoo)?

Answer 1

We went on NCL Star in May to Alaska. It was horrible. Hated the Free Style dining also. Although we never had trouble getting a table, the service was just plain rude.
We have been on Royal Caribbean, Princess and Disney, and have never had a bad experience on any of them.
I agree- NCL needs lots of improvement. We probably will never sail with them again.

Answer 2

Don't say that, my next cruise coming up in October is on NCL.

But I have been on many NCL ships in the past and I really don't like them mush any more since they started Freestyle Cruising". They try to make a big deal that their cruises are different but the only way they are different is you do not have an assigned table and waiter for dinner each day.

We had the same bad experience with NCL. It was mainly on the "at sea" days when we had to stand in line awaiting a table ( we had to do it a couple times); not what you want on a cruise. Since you go when you want, you rarely get the same waiter and so never really get to know your waiter and he/she never learns what you prefer as is done on “traditional” cruise lines. Since Star Cruises took over NCL the line it has an Asian flavor; Star is an Oriental company. Some of the performers and musicians were Asian and they have Karaoke every evening. Not my cup of tea.

The option to traditional dining that they really push on NCL is their optional dining restaurants. However, these dining options can cost $10 to $20 a person for dinner each night. This is not what you want after paying for a cruise which is supposed to be all inclusive. The optional restaurants are very nice, including French, Chinese/Sushi, Tex-Mex, Italian, and steak house restaurants. But who wants to go pay to eat on a cruise ship where all the meals are supposed to be included. We always skipped the optional restaurants and just got to the main dining early. That worked fine, except on "at sea" days when everyone wanted to go eat early. We later found that we could reserve a time in the main dining room, but we still got a different table and waiter for dinner each night

We had somewhat the same problem on Princess with its "Personal Choice" cruises. That means you can have a table or go when you want. We still though there was a drop off in service on Princess.

Answer 3

I"ve been on NOrwegian WInd last year, and it was my first cruise. It was the best experience that i ever had in my whole life. The crew were fantastic and really friendly. I've just been on a carnival cruise last week and i must admit that there was a really big difference. The crew on carnival weren't as friendly and some of them were also as cold as ice. But there were also the very friendly ones.
So i just tell you....that in everything that exists on earth, one can find good things and bad things.....maybe you focused on the bad things rather than seeing the good things also. I'm sure that not all of the crew wasn't that bad! On which Norwegian ship did you go?
And i'm also sure that you knew about the "freestlye cruising", and for me it's also a good idea so that you can go and eat whenever you want, rather at the time that they choose for you.
I"m sorry, hope that your next cruise will be better for you!

Answer 4

What I do not understand is people complain about FREESTYLE CRUISING and it is spelled out before they book their cruise.
I have been on 18 cruises with Noregian and yet to have a single problem. I have met many people on these cruises who went to the regular dining areas instead of the buffet and did not have a problem.
I have always been treated great and been invited to the crews lounge on many of the cruises.
Like anything if we look hard enough we can find the good & bad.

Answer 5

people prefer the traditional dining VS. NCL's "freestyle dining. Other than that , is there anything else that was wrong with the cruise?
go to cruisecritic.com
to find more about NCL.

Answer 6

I traveled wiht Norwegian once and didn't consider it the best but it wasn't bad either..... just maybe not as fun and people (crew) not as warm. My best experience was with Costa Cruiseline, and I would definitely travel with them again. Norwegian..... I don't know, perhaps but not really eager to do so. I just don't think they suck, though. I love cruises...... hope your next experience is nicer.