Your opinions--NCL "worst cruise company" per travel agency comment???

[Figee17]

The dining isn't a problem at all...you have a lot of options. On the cruises that I have been on on NCL, I have only paid for one night's "specialty" restaurant (at a charge of about $20 - thought that was back in 2002) and still enjoyed a lot of food options. I was on the Star when it was in Hawaii, its a beautiful ship (great water slides). I think you'll enjoy yourself. Like everyone says on here, go with a positive attitude, and you'll have fun!

 

[doctorhand]

Thank you I feel better. I am onr of those people who have to be prepared for everything. It has been 4 years since we have taken a "real" vacation and i want everything to be perfect.

 

[nmnita]

ok, let me try and clear this up for you. There are many boards that will give you objective and subjective op[inions on NCL,the Star and all other ships and cruise lines...It is always easier to bitch than smile, so do not let any of these reviews, good or bad worry you. As for the standard dining rooms versus the sur charge ones: The Star offers 2 main dinining rooms, Blue Lagoon diner (for great snacks) the buffet and the outside grill plus the Bier Gardens. . You can enjoy your meals without opting for any sur charge dining rooms. If you do decide on something a little bit better try one of the other dining experiences.
Le bistro: $15.00 per person

Cagney's $20.00

Soho (I recemmend) $15.00

Endless summer (also very good for the money) $10.00

The Italain diiner room: $10.00 per person..

If you really consider yourselves Foodies, you may want to dine in the specialty dining rooms or split it up.which is what we normally do..Regardless, go and enjoy and do whatevery is best for you. Do not let the negatives scare you..

Nita

 

[Cruise_More_Often]

My girlfriend and I are going on a 7 day cruise to Mexico on the Star. This is our first 7 day cruise, and our first time with NCL. We love to eat and drink and have been looking forward to the experience for months. After reading all of these comments, I am feeling a little discouraged. What is the deal with the dining? how much more are the exclusive restaurants? Are they THAT much better? I need a little help here. I want to get the most out of my trip and the dining experience.

In my opinion, it's not that the alternative restaurants are that much better, it's that they are different -- smaller, and therefore service is more personal, and they are all decorated in a different style. You can choose Cagney's for steaks, Le Bistro for Italian, Soho for Continental, there's an Italian eatery, Tex Mex, a quick-bite place called Blue Lagoon, and the Asian restaurant. Blue Lagoon is free. The others range from $10 - $20 per person. There are some specialties within some of the restaurants for which you might pay $25 per person (I have no experience with that, but I'm thinking a whole lobster might be one).

Many people are completely satisfied eating at the restaurants with no charge. We really love the alternative restaurants (and in 3 cruises on the Star, we've eaten in every one of them), and we budget to include those in our cruise experience.

We are gold Latitudes (over 10 cruises) on NCL, and obviously they're doing something right to keep us coming back. We've also cruised with Holland America, Princess and Royal Caribbean, so we know what we're getting on NCL.

 

[nmnita]

yep, we feel the same Cruise more often: we have cruised over 20 times, on every mass marketed line and 10 have been on NCL. We just keep coming back.

Nita

 

[doctorhand]

Thank you for reassuring me. I know I am over thinking things. Just 10 more days to go and I cant wait!!!! We're fairly new to the cruising thing, but i have a feeling we will be doing it more often. There are so many places we want to see and cruising seems to be a great way to see the world. I am already contemplating either an
Alaska cruise or the fall foliage cruise out of New York and up to Toronto...we will see!!!! For now, I cant wait to get to Mexico.

 

[monilein]

:wave

We have been on a few cruises with NCL and love the freestyle cruising, we nver had a problem with NCL enjoy enjoy.

 

[doctorhand]

Thanks!! It is going to be perfect. Everything is falling into place nicely. The money is there, the dog sitter is in place...have a ride to and from the terminal (from a friends house in long beach, we our car will be safely parked) the excursions are booked, WE ARE READY!!! now i just have to get thru work for the next 9 days and stay focused. Thanks everyone for the responses and advise. I definitely will put my 2 cents in when I get back.

 

[Ex.Sniper]

NCL is the "worst cruise company". My wife and I have been on seventeen (17) cruises with five (5) carriers. We have been on one NCL cruise (Hawaii). NCL brings a whole new level and deminsion the term "incompetent". The food was either under cooked or over cooked. In the buffet line, flies were crawling on the food AND the server. The crew consisted of young inexperienced college age kids. Complaints about the condition of our room and the food fell on deaf ears. After the first day, we ate all out meals ashore. Quite frankly, just how that ship managed to pass ANY Health Department inspection is simply amazing. Our subsequent complaints to NCL were ignored, as were, the complaints from our fellow passengers. Under no circumstances would I recommend NCL, unless of course, it is your objective to lose lots of weight. Then by all means, take an NCL cruise and eat the food.

 

[nmnita]

well, I can tell you comments like you just made will help you vent but will probably not make an impression, other than negative one on anybody.

To see fair and balanced reveiws helps everyone, to see something like you just wrote doesn't help a bit. YOu are talking about NCLA not NCL in the first place (2 lines under one umbrella) you are probably talking about a few years ago as NCLA only has one ship now and it is getting mostly outstanding reviews and you are talking about passing health inspections. Have you checked to see how most NCL ships are rated when it comes to health? Any ship, and most lines will get a few bad, if not awful ratings from time to time, NCL has had a couple, mostly they rate in the 90s with many of their ships continually earnings ratings of 95 to 100%. Anything about 95 is hard to achieve..

As for the crew, no they are not a bunch of college age kids, well I do not know the exact age, but I will tell you we have cruised considerabled more than you and on many more lines. The age of the crews on all lines are pretty much the same..

I always love the comment "our complaints were ignored", what did you expect when you come on this strong? As for fellow passengers, were these your friends, your family or did you keep in contact with many others on the ship?

If I sound like I am defending NCL, I am not defending bad service, cold food or legit complaints, I am responsding to remarks that are not backed up by anything other than generalities and statements that over probably exaggerated..

Nita

 

[clamman3]

our cruise on the gem Feb 4th was totally awesome. we all went with a great attitude and we set out to have one awesome vacation. we accomplished this . after reading some of the reviews, i wonder how some people can see things so differently. my wife was using the rest room on the first day when she came out to wash her hands. there were 2 women in the rest room. one holder had run out of towels. the comment from one of the women were, look no towels, i can tell this is going to be a terrible cruise. if all it takes to have a horrible time is no paper towels in 1 holder, then she should have stayed home. yes it is what you make of a good time . i fell bad for that woman as she started out with the wrong attitude and she probably had a miserable time. go with a good frame of mind and don't worry about the small things. i guess if you want to cruise on one of the first class service lines, then may i suggest the QE2 but be prepared to pay a big price for the luxury. this was our 3rd cruise on ncl and will cruise this line again. yes all have some quirks but chill out and just enjoy. unless it is a total disaster and rightly justified, then posting the problem is useful. but i think we all would like to see some positive responses from time to time.

 

[nmnita]

So true,

I am a strong believer in two things: 1 you can took for the silver lining or you can expect the rainbow to be yours all the time. Look for the silver lining and life will be good, expect the rainbow to always be there and you will be disappointed more than you will ever know.

I have been on enough cruises and cruise lines to know the difference and each has a special attraction plus a few less than positive features.

Food, never have we been on a cruise where every single meal was great, but it is the overall that makes the difference..I could say, the food on XXX was really bad and give the example of the 2 times my food was served just barely warm or the time my steak was well done instead of rare. or I can say, overall the food was very good, remembering the things that we just loved..The same with the shows, I can remember the great 3 shows the week before or the 1 show that should have been thrown overboard..

Another thing that probably doesn't help NCL, I am not sure people know what to expect when they choose this line..For the most part it is very casual, laid back, not geared to those who are accustom to being pampered and certainly not geared to those who like total refinary..This is not a criticism of anyone or the cruise line, I just think doing your homework and examining your own personality can prepare you for the NCL experience..

It does seem the majority of those who are not content with NCL come from a certain locale.. I don't know why, but there seems to be a coorlation here. Again, this isn't meant to insult anyone just bring this to the surface. I am, of course, generalizing, there are exceptions to all statements.

Nita:king

 

[txstormlover]

bren
Calgon1 is right. with that many people you need a structure because the dinner times are still about the same, you just show up which results in long waits at peak times.
brenda s

 

[nmnita]

the only difference between NCL and other cruise lines when it comes to alternative dining is the number of choices. As for the cost of the dining rooms (special) they are, on the average, lower than other mass marketed lines.

Free dining rooms: 2 main dining rooms

Blue LagoonL serves snacks all day, every day; good chicken sandwhiches, fish and chips (order 2 servings of fish at once as you only get a couple of pieces) buffalo wings, and other snack type foods

Buffet

Outdoor grill

Beir Gardens

Fee dining, which no one ever has to use:

Cagneys' $20 unless you want a 24oz porterhouse steak or Lobster, then it is $30

Le Bistro: $15.00

Endless Summer (a must in my opinion) $10 which includes a free Margarita

The Italian Restaurant: $10.00

Soho, which we personal love: $15.00

Asian, I am not sure of the price.

Most mass marketed lines charge between $20 and $35 for thier specialty dining rooms.

You can see there is little difference in the lines. If you do read all the reviews on this site, you will see them split pretty evenly. Cruse food is not what it used to be, but it is still very tasty and no one will ever starve...

Are the specialty dining rooms much better? That is a matter of opinion. many will say, no, not worth the cost, others will say it is the only way to go. We have cruised about 25 times now, 11 on NCL, I would say we are inbetween. We usually like to try 2 specialty dining rooms but are content with eating the rest of the time in the inclusive ones.

Now just relax and enjoy your cruise on the Star, It s a nice ship..

Nita

 

[doctorhand]

This review freaked me out too. I had booked the cruise and promptly started over thinking things. Thats how I found this website. I have only been on a few 3 day cruised to Ensanada prior to this, one on Royal Carribean and the other on Carnival. This was our first 7 day cruise. We had an awesome time!!! We had a balcony room on the 10th deck. I found it be clean and spacious. Our room steward was great. I asked that she made sure we had ice on hand, she made sure the buckets were filled when she made up the room and turned down the room. The room service, on the other had was very slow. I have no complaints about the staff, everyone was friendly and I found the ship to be very clean. As far as the dining goes, I was really concerned about that too. The food in the main dining rooms is good. The buffet in the Market Cafe is "so so". We ate one night at the Ginza Japanese restuarant one night, it was very good. There are several speciality restaurants that you have to pay extra for (10.00 to 15.00 per person and 25.00 for the Tapanyaki restaurant) Had I known this more in advance, I probably would have budgeted a little more and tried a few more of the restaurants. But all and all, the dining rooms food was good and we never had to wait to be seated. You are only going to find out what you prefer by your own experiences. Everybody has a different perception of good food and good service, nice people etc...and not everything goes perfect for everyone all the time, which can taint the entire experience, and it may not necessarily the cruiselines fault.

 

[nmnita]

doctorhand, I am so glad it worked out for you. As for budgeting for specialty dining, another board one of the moderator gave this advise about NCL. allow an extra $100 per cruise for specialty dining. This way you will be able to enjoy a couple of special nights. I think this is great advise.

Nita

 

[doctorhand]

Yes, I agree. We had a great time though. I recommend booking your shore excursions in advance, on line. I did, and I am so happy I did. It beats waiting in the long line when you get on board. Not only that, the popular ones, like swimming with the dolphins, book up quick. When I booked that one, there was only 1 ticket left. I booked it for my girlfriend and I went as an observer. (It was her dream) Anyway, it was well worth doing it in advance and it was easy.

 

[Don Clark]

Everyone and every-agency has a right to their opinion.

I believe the travel agent is wrong, but that's just my opinion.

Have you looked at recent travel magazines and web sites, that make it a point to actually sail on the cruise ships?

When was the last time your travel agent sailed on a NCL ship?

 

[AustralianCruiser]

I cannot beleive that you AMERICANS sook so much about cruise lines . Im from Australia and l have cruised with10 different cruise lines and have not had any issues . Wake up and stop being a SOOK !!!!

 

[doctorhand]

Attitude is everything!!!! Either you have a good one, and see the good in life, or a bad one and see the bad in life. It's up to you!! I have no idea what a "sook" is or does, but I guess is it an Australian thing. Hey, can you hook me up with Olivia Newton-John???? (love her)