My very long review of my Norway Caribbean cruise
Written: Jul 30 '02 (Updated Sep 17 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Cheap, St. Thomas is nice, not as tacky as most new ships (..like Carnival...cough, cough)
Cons: Not much night life, average food, expensive drinks, ship hard to navigate
The Bottom Line: For the price, you could do much worse, but I can think of better things to do with the money.
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| Suburban's Full Review: Norwegian The Norway |
Cruise Dates: June 30, 2002 – July 7, 2002
Entertainment: B-
Rooms: C
Food: B
Night Life: C-
Ship Design: D (hard to get around, elevators too small, not enough or not big enough elevators, unsightly sprinkler system tacked on)
Value: B
Background
I guess I should give a brief background on myself, so you know where I’m coming from. I’m a single 22-year-old male. I’ve been on 8 cruises, 1 other on NCL, and the rest of various other lines. I’ve been to Bermuda 5 times, and the rest various Bahamas, East Mexico, and Caribbean cruises.
Cruise Review
We were met at the gate of the airport by a NCL rep. She took us to the luggage claim, and took us out to the truck that would take our luggage to the ship. The bus was a good ten years old, and smelled like urine... seriously. The bus driver gave us a small tour of Miami as we all breathed through our mouths.
Check in took about 45 minutes, but was fairly chaotic. It looked like everyone ended up at the same desk no matter what line you get in.
Have your photo ID, birth certificate, and later your boarding pass handy. You’ll need them a lot. Getting on the plane, getting into the building, getting your boarding pass, going through security to get onto the ship, actually getting onto the ship, getting onto the tenders... both coming and going, customs check at St. John, as you disembark, and the boarding pass is like your credit card when you sign for drinks or whatever.
Okay, so we were shown to our room (P class inside stateroom)... hmm great. We’re spending a week in a room just slightly larger than a big walk-in closet. Smaller than even the smallest room I’ve ever seen on any other ship. Besides the TV and the toilet, I doubt there was anything in the room that has been changed since the big remodeling in 1979. The upper bunk doesn’t fold up, so there’s no place to sit in the room comfortably... again with the exception of the toilet. Walls were thin, there was a vent in the door, and the climate control was temperamental, so sleeping could be a challenge. Beds and pillows were fairly good though.
I also spent a couple hours in an AF Suite on the Pool deck. Pretty nice, but still not completely modern. One of the windows had lost most of its protective film, so you could barely see out of it. The shops and bars were just overhead, and the halls weren’t carpeted, so you heard people walking above all day. A vast improvement over the inside stateroom; but not fantastic for a suite. The suite comes with a bottle of Korbel Zinfandel (tasted like champagne, a little dry for my taste), and the cabin steward would leave fruit, candy, and chocolate covered strawberries.
Food
You’re not stuck with the buffet for the welcome lunch like on some cruises, you can eat in the dining room, not that the buffet is anything to scoff at. On the buffet you can find the usual hot dogs and burgers, as well as gourmet pizza (odd toppings and cheeses by American standards), some Mexican food, and probably some leftovers from yesterday’s dining room lunch and dinners.
Food overall was about average. The steaks aren’t tough, but you can’t cut them with a fork either. Selection was not all that great, usually a seafood entré, a steak, poultry, and maybe a pork dish. There were vegetarian entrés, but none of them sounded very appetizing to me. I had the Cooking Light chicken entré one night, and that was fantastic, but I kind of question the calorie and fat count, as I’m pretty sure it was smothered with butter sauce. A few times I went the waiter’s recommendations, which weren’t even that great. Celebrity’s Horizon had it all over this cruise, but I guess it matched many of the other cruises I’ve been on. Now that I think of it, the restaurant in the hotel in Houston had better food too. Portions for lunch were occasionally too big, and for dinner too small, not necessarily on the same day. Several times during breakfast, someone wouldn’t get all that they ordered, although we were eating late (they seemed to be trying to rush us out).
The midnight buffets weren’t really what I usually expect. It’s usually a little more presentation than a late night snack, with ice and butter sculptures and whatnot. With the exception of the “Chocoholic Buffet,” in the dining rooms, there wasn’t much in the way of presentation. It didn’t really bother me, because late seating dinner let out at about 10:20, but maybe it would bother you.
Neither of the dining rooms has windows, which seems odd being used to newer ships, but that’s the way they made ships back then. My personal choice of dining rooms is the Leeward room. There’s nothing in the Windward dining room to absorb sound, so it gets quite loud. I think the Leeward room is more elegant, and seems to be quieter. My parents liked the Windward dining room, but I’m not sure why.
Room service is free, which is weird, because on almost every other ship they charge you. Beer selection isn’t very good, no Sam Adams or Black and Tan, mostly just your run of the mill stuff and it’s $3.25 for domestic and $3.75 for the imported stuff, which seems like extortion to me. Drinking age on the ship is 21 at all times, even at sea.
When you buy liquor at port, they take it from you before getting on the tender, so there’s really no way to drink on a budget. I really don’t like this policy, but many other cruise lines do the same.
Entertainment
There was about an equal number of dancing shows to comedy shows. I had no interest in the dancing shows, but I was told by just about everyone that I didn’t miss anything. The comedy was, at least, always entertaining.
There were three comedians; David Naster was hilarious. Tom Briscoe wasn’t quite, I think maybe he was trying too hard to be like Lewis Black. Peter Sasso told a handful of jokes that just totally bombed, but when he started his juggling comedy act, I was laughing so hard I started to tear up. Their version of Whose Line Is It Anyway,” with two of the three comedians, was charades with audience members with strange jobs, not that funny.
In addition to the shows, there was BINGO, a passenger talent show, a variation of The Weakest Link, pool games, Kareoke, “The Liars Club,” movies in the Saga Theater (Casablanca, Joe Somebody, A Beautiful Mind, October Sky... of course yours will vary), movies on the cabin TV, and etc.
I went to Dazzles, what a waste of time that was. Everyone in the small crowd of no more than 50, more like 30, seemed to be at least 8 years older than myself, although there were a handful of girls that looked like they got in with fake IDs. Music was a 60s/70s/80s mix. Definitely not like the Daytona Beach clubs I’m used to, and definitely not the ideal “scene” for me.
In the Cape Lounge before shows and BINGO, they usually just played CDs – Backstreet Boys (yuuuuuccckkk!!), and various other pop/dance music – like the stuff they should have played in Dazzles. Music in Club International was provided by a cheesy lounge act complete with synthesizer music, called the Two Tones. Once in a while an Asian band played in the sports bar, they did a pretty good job playing 80s/90s music.
There was no trap shooting on this cruise, and I couldn’t even find the traps. Trap shooting is a cruising tradition of sorts. I suspect that this may have something to do with the “guns are evil” BS that gets thrown around so often. If this bothers you, I suggest that you question the cruise line on this. NCL will not get any of my business until I find out otherwise.
St. Maarten/St. Martin
We took the bus tour. The island is not the most developed, it’s something like Cozumel with the pastel colored buildings of Bermuda and the pesky merchants of Jamaica. Cows and goats and chickens, oh my! The bus stopped at a little market for a free rum punch (or just fruit punch if you prefer). Second stop was at a market and expensive mall, with an old fort close by. I could have skipped this port altogether. Any female with at least shoulder length hair will be asked if they want it braided three dozen times or so, unless they give to one early of course.
I would kind of liked to go on the mountain bike tour, but I wouldn’t have seen as much, and I can ride at home for free on the bike that I built and maintained myself, and the average cruiser isn’t a creek-crossing stump-jumping maniac.
St. John
I have no idea, I didn’t think it would be worth ruining my day by getting up at four o’clock, and I’m told that I didn’t miss a whole lot, although some people liked it.
St. Thomas
This is definitely a nice place to visit, much like Bermuda but more American. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see much of it. The Kon Tiki tour went to Honeymoon Beach, stopping for a bit to lower the big glass viewers over a reef and feeding fish over the side. At the beach, you could sit under an umbrella, swim, dive off the platform raft, keep drinking the free rum punch, sunbathe, play volleyball, or snorkel around looking for fish.
Great Stirrup Cay
Never got there. A boiler blew after St. Thomas, so the ship was crippled. NCL gave every cabin a whopping $50 credit per cabin.... $25 per person (assuming 2 per cabin, which is almost always the case).
(sarcasm)
If you took $25 to the casino and cashed it into tokens you could roll around in them naked, at just for the cost of missing one of the three ports. It’s a good thing we left Miami with the back-up boiler already out of commission.
(/sarcasm)
Annoyances
It was MANDATORY that EVERYONE show customs their photo ID and birth certificate or passport by 7:45 A.M. after arriving at St. John, EVEN IF YOU WEREN’T GOING ASHORE. I am a “night owl,” and lack of sleep always ruins my day.
On the Sunday of departure, you need to make sure the credit receipt they leave on you doorknob is correct. You have to clear up any mistakes on the receipt by 7:30 A.M., but of course the receipt doesn’t show up until early that morning. Did I mention that I’m not a morning person?
Things I’d like to clear up:
If you’re in the cheaper cabins, the lever on the toilet is a valve, not like the lever on the toilet you have at home. If you just press it like usual, yes, it will take a few “flushes.”
The majority of cruisers are over 60 – not on this particular cruise. Average age seemed to be 40s or maybe 30s. There were a fair number of kids and teens.
I didn’t think the tendering was all that bad, but I never went early enough to need a tender ticket. On the other hand, they may herd you onto the things like cattle.
Sailing was what I’d consider to be calm, not really enough for me to notice unless I sat and thought about it. There were some creaks and groans coming from the ship, but nothing too bad.
The ship is actually fairly well maintained. It was much less “run down” looking than Celebrity’s Meridian.
I saw the Matre' D all but one or two nights. He would visit the table and ask how the cruise was going, how was the food, how was the service, otherwise typical Matre' D stuff.
Recommend the cruise?
To anyone on a budget – you could do worse.
To 18-twenty something singles – nope, the crowds a little to old. Maybe a Spring Break cruise, but otherwise, no.
Honeymooners – I can’t say from experience, but I’d much rather cruise to Bermuda for my honeymoon. It’s fully developed and scenic. No pesky merchants or hair-braiders. Also, unless you get a really expensive suite, you have about a 50/50 chance of getting a room with twin beds and no chance of switching.
Some tips:
If your flights to/from Miami are on NCL’s package, make sure that the airline that you fly on the way to Miami takes the right ticket.
If you’re flying connecting Delta flights, if you have any less than 2 hours layover, try to get a longer layover, Delta is late a lot.
If you’re not used to getting up at the butt-crack of dawn, it may be worth the extra cost to skip the early-bird flight package and take the regular flight package. If you want to go to the “Singles Icebreaker” the first day onboard, it’s at 11:45 p.m., I was half-asleep.
By the way, the flight packages do not include transportation to or from your local airport.
When boarding/getting off the tender from/to the ship, hold on to the railings. The tender will move pretty violently
I told you it was a very long review in the subject didn’t I?
Recommended:
No
Best Suited For: Couples
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Epinions.com ID:
Suburban
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Member: Robert W. Atkinson
Location: Aston, PA 19014
Reviews written: 70
Trusted by: 4 members
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