"Exotic Western Caribbean Cruise" <-- gimmie a break
Written: Jan 05 '01 (Updated Jan 05 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: strolling on the deck at night with my wife looking at the stars.
Cons: Horrible food, disgruntled staff, unclean and unsanitary conditions, everything was "B" class
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| Specularity's Full Review: Norwegian Wind |
This was my wife's and I 1st cruise. I will try and be as accurate as I can in describing the experience for everyone.
"The Purchase"
I decided to purchase the cruise directly from Norwegian Cruise Lines (Known from this point on as "NCL") I called them in the middle of Sept. 2000 for a 7 day Christmas cruise leaving Dec. 23rd & returning Dec. 30th. The sales person from NCL explained they only had one room left - "Atlantic deck" and it was a stateroom with a picture window. The cost was $1,400 per person. They offered air arrangements for my wife and I and though I debated about getting my own air plans I decided to let them go ahead and arrange my air from NY's LGA (LaGuardia) to Miami Int. The air fare was approx. $360.00 per person and it was explained to me that insurance was a must for $100.00 per so I bought that too. I didn't here a thing from NCL for the rest of Sept. all of Oct. nothing in Nov. 3 months later,.. I called them...they explained the documentation for my trip was to be sent out "very soon". 7 days before we were to leave for this trip...some time in early Dec. I received the tickets...cruise materials etc. After reviewing the documents I discovered the "air" arrangements they made for me would have us departing from NY at 7AM, changing in Atlanta at 12:30PM and arriving in Miami at 2pm.....this made me angry. By the way they couldn't tell me which carrier we would be flying with but "it would be a major carrier" it turned out to be Delta going and American Airlines on the return. Anyway, I was NOT happy about these arrangements...the sales person explained to me it would be a direct flight and when I called them they said "they shouldn't of told you that" basically I got the run around. Look into paying the additional deviation fee for a direct flight...I found this out from other passengers...though it ranged from $25 per person to $75 per depending on who I was talking to.
"Time to leave for the Cruise" Dec. 23rd
We managed to make it to Miami on a busy holiday weekend with no glitches and though I was a bit worried on how this would all unfold....once in Miami the NCL personal responsible for getting you to the ship were in the airport waiting for us. Basically they round everyone up and take them to buses waiting outside where your luggage gets put on trucks and people on Pullman type buses for the trip to the Ship (Miami ship port) which took about 20 minutes. Once arriving at the dock we headed through customs and found our selves along with many other people in the large terminal with winding roped off people movers. Not knowing where to go from here and no one from NCL there to direct us we started looking for signs etc. we noticed one saying "Latitudes members" these are the folks who have special privileges for being previous passengers. There we two NCL counter people at the end of that line but out of 20 plus counters...that was it...those two..so the rest of us were lost...I decided to go on this line....and as it worked out everyone in our group of buses did also. Checking in took about 15 minutes but the girl forgot to assign us a dining table and once on the ship we were told to go find the matre D ( we never bothered, read on).
"Our Room"
We found our luggage waiting for us in from of our room which was nice. The room was pretty much as I expected in terms of size. It had a picture window which turned out to be nice. My wife explored the rest of the room and as I looked in the bathroom I noticed all the towels...one had two brown stains on it...facing right at me(no they were not rust stains folks)... "eeew!" My head fell as I started to think about what I got my self into. The bed was two singles put together and the mattress's were not in good condition. There was a closet for our clothing. The bathroom had an airplane type toilet that sounded like it sucked 3 atmospheres when flushed and the shower was about 2 feet by 2 feet. The water from the sink was always hot....there was no cold water at best, luke warm.
"The Staff"
Everyone working on this ship was from another country...most of the crew were from the Philippines, Jamaica, Barbados, Korea etc. Our room steward was nice and took care of us. I found the crew to have this "glazed over" look for the most part...and though I know they tried to have a smile the truth of the matter was these folks were over worked and most of them disgruntled ( I felt bad for them truthfully). Understand that these people work about 16 to 20 hours a day. Most of them barely spoke English....some of them looked like they hadn't taken a bath in days. For the entire trip there were no officers to be found....they were all in hiding...the only people you heard from were the cruise director, this lady named Vanessa who appeared on one of the 5 channels on the TV 24/7 another short blonde girl on TV selling you the excursions and doing a bad acting job. If you did see an officer they would fly right by you...if you tried to stop them for information you would get blown off with an answer as they scurried away. I found things to be very unorganized....there was a major lack of information about anything really unless you were willing to stand in line at the reception desk. This Vanessa lady was a hard salesperson....her job was to tell you were to spend your money at the port of calls, and why you should "book now!" for your next cruise....there was nothing else to watch on TV other then CNN and these people. Not to mention the hard sell on buying from there stores on the ship.
"The Food"
In a word, it was terrible. We never ate in our assigned dining room because I had read the reviews from this site and everyone recommend "The Bistro" and alternative dining experience....for a small fee of $10 per person. The menu was small..by the 2nd day we had tried everything. The food basically was being re-used....as the days went on you started to see the same salmon, veggies popping up on your plate smothered with butter or lard or something for that shiny look. They had this sports bar which was a joke....12 TV's not one live feed. some bartender from Africa wearing a referee's shirt who barely spoke English and that was it. They had a small cafeteria next to the sports bar. The food was worse then a highschool's cafeteria...some old burgers that were there all day, tator tots that once you bit into them had 1' of grease in them...some cold cuts and that's about it. All of the dining rooms served the same food just so you folks know. Breakfast's were either the buffet or the star lounge rooms were the only thing cooked to order were eggs. I'll never forget receiving my 1st breakfast on a dirty plate with big greasy finger marks...water spots....I couldn't believe I was here. The food was horrible, old, re-used, tasteless, crappy selection. The 1st night we were tired and ordered room service...we got two sandwiches,...one piece of turkey and 3 breads...I lifted the sandwich up..the bread fell apart... "me chuckles"
"Ships Appearance"
Stained carpets everywhere, a lingering smell permeated the halls of an uncleaned bathroom.
"Drinks"
Sign! Sign! Sign your life away baby! The drinks were ok but not cheap, you were banged $4 to $6 for each + 15% gratuity added. The quality of the liquor was not great, never before seen vodka, rum etc....no one knew how to make a decent Martini...no fresh juices...only those pre mixed flavored water mixes etc... you get the idea. Oh, I should mention there is no fresh water in your room other then the 1 liter of Evian water for a small fee of $3.50 per bottle. Also, you were not allowed to bring back booze from the port of calls, if you did, it was taken from you...to be returned at the end of the trip.
"Port of calls"
OK, here we go...
1st up "Roatan" a small island off the coast of Honduras. totally impoverished...once you get off the ship and if you have a "excursion planned" you'll be lost no NCL staff there to help you so you'll end up wondering through the hordes of taxi drivers holding signs asking if you want a taxi....one after the other....dozens of them...it was relentless...the excursion we booked was for "Tabiyana" beach on the other side of the island...over this dirt road on an old bus....on high hills...no guard rails...yup....scary ride folks. The beach was "ok" a small bar with a reggae band and the scene was complete... all for $36 per person! which you can conveniently charge to your ship's account....give me a break...the excursion stunk and there was nothing else to do here.
2nd up was Belize city. After speaking with people who had been here before...we were told to bring a gun...we did not get off the boat we spoke to a few folks who had and they explained there was nothing to see...all the homes had bars on there windows etc....oh! did I forget to mention some of the ships excursion's ? ah, yes....trips to the ruins! ranging from $40 to $100 for all day ones, per person...of course all this would have been great if it wasn't for a late docking...which created havoc.....hundreds of people waiting in the lobby to take a small "tender" boat....waiting for two + hours the crew was clueless...instead of letting these poor people wait in there rooms until they could go they just let them sit in the lobby...it was pathetic..many were upset....thank god we didn't go.
3rd up Cozumel. Having been here before I knew what to expect...bring lots of money for taxi's, jewelry and fake cigars....oh folks do your self a favor...do NOT buy cigars in Cozumel...they're counterfeits...trust me. Having been here before to dive, Cozumel use to be a fun island, now it seems that the locals have fattened up on the US dollars and you're hit hard...what really aggravated me was "Vanessa" the lady who advised us on what to do here told everyone to buy a bottle of water before we left the ship because of the "water in Mexico" The truth of the matter is the Mexican Gov. mandated that every rest. in Cozumel have purified water..."I" personally have drank the water out of the tap in many restaurants on the island with out having a problem...but hey, NCL needs to rape you even more...not right!
I forgot to mention Key west, this was our 1st stop not Roatan...nothing special...short stay, we left at 2:30pm we just milled around the shops.
Basically I was disappointed in the port of calls...maybe if Sally Struthers showed up in Roatan to complete the scene of children begging for money in no shoes...ripped shorts, living in homes with make shift tin rooms...puddles everywhere...on & on....
The whole excursion thing was simple.....stop, get off, spend your money, get back on to the next stop.
"On board activities"
Bingo, eat and drink. they had nothing going on..nothing good....
"Entertainment"
Ever see Star Search? here you'll get to see it live.
"Tipping"
Expect to pay for everything....yup you heard me right...you get this little card in your room telling you how much to tip the room steward - $3.50 a day per person,.matre d, busboy, waiter everyone...you pay for everything...the only thing included on the trip is the food... WOW! :-(
"The last day"
We were given a sheet to fill out for when our plane was leaving...the later your flight, the later you get off the ship..this was cleverly done by color coded baggage tags provided by the crew. I quickly discovered the folks with the "red" tags were to be off 1st. We waited at the exit...had a little problem as the ship announced we were cleared...only for customs to send 100 people back because we weren't. we were sent to our buses based on which airline you were on...and then we had to wait for the bus to fill up! fun you ask? no....I was not happy nor were the other folks on the bus...the few kids who worked for NCL gave me the run around as to when we were leaving...the bus driver knew nothing...so what was the point of getting off 1st you asked? nothing....after 40 minutes of waiting...my wife and I took our luggage off the bus and paid for a taxi to Miami airport ($20.00).
In closing I want to say,...the over all experience was a joke,....an unorganized crew....officers who didn't give a flying fig,...food that was laughable.. ports of call I only previously seen on CNN were the red cross was sent. and nothing more then a well put together scheme to spend your money in ways I never thought of. We spoke to a few folks who tried the "Spa" the had requested the $160 treatment and ended up with a tab for $760 or so...they were stunned...they had to fight for an hour to reduce it to $300 they said. Nice ship huh? sheeeesh :-(
Do your selves a favor folks...spend your hard earned dollars on a real vacation. I will never go on a cruise again.
John
Feel free to contact me as I'm sure I left things out here.
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