Norwegian Cruise Lines

• View All Dates and Pricing shows a chart – WITH my balcony rate and a green color-coded hash next to it specifically. That green mark is explained as “Free at Sea’ below the chart.'

If ‘Free at Sea’ was something not available for what I chose – WHY put the green hash mark on EVERY option next to it as YOUR website leads me through the process? As a new customer, how am I to know what promotions are not available to me when you let me click on, PLUS show me in color code that it IS available? The only real thing made clear on these pages is that I may have an obstructed view from my balcony. Absolutely, there is fine print… "may not include promotional offers." Promotions – So what is a promotion? Could be promo codes, credit from past cruises, partial refunds, etc. How am I to know? On every page I followed it had the “Free at Sea’ listed on whatever I chose. I am not a novice web user and have booked MANY trips online. This was going to be my first with Norwegian. However, I will never sail this cruise line. This was total scheming or extremely poor web development – I’ll let you choose that one!

With the harbor being closed, Norwegian decided that our cruise was going to be delayed 2 days. We received a text from Norwegian and a letter from Vivian Ewart, Sr. Vice-President, Passenger Services on August 23rd stating that all passengers will receive a refund for the value of two days of the cruise fare. Because of the seriousness of the storm, United offered us a waiver to reschedule up to one year from the booking date. This was a much welcomed and rare offer from an airline. We were extremely alarmed at the possibility of trying to reschedule and fly into a hurricane, so we decided to accept the United Airlines offer and felt relieved that at least we had Norwegian's 2-day refund.

After a couple weeks of not receiving the refund, we were told that we will not be receiving it because we were unable to arrive in a hurricane for the new sailing date determined by Norwegian. In other words, we supposedly canceled. It was not stated in Ms. Ewart's letter that we had to risk our lives to arrive in a hurricane to receive the 2-day refund. We would understand not qualifying for the refund if we canceled well before the original departure date, but it hardly seems fair to penalize us the 2-day reimbursement for the very reason they are awarding it - unsafe to travel in the hurricane. After several appeals to Norwegian they refuse to reconsider and follow through with their written promise to refund the 2 days of cruise fare. So book your cruise with any other cruise line that has better customer service! They do not care about their customers!

Having no options we boarded NCL Escape on the 9 September and proceeded to Florida and Great Stirrup Cay. Third day into the cruise captain announced that our ship will not be going to Bahamas either. As a result of cancellation of the Bahamas stop, we've got neither and our dream vacation at this point was completely ruined. Totally a waste of our time and money. The Bermuda cruise is considered a premium destination and cost us around $3500 USD whereas the Bahamas cruise from the same port and same duration was selling for around $299 per person (approximately $1500 in total for 5 people).

All my attempts to reason with guest relations led to pointing at the fine print that they can do whatever they want and customers who pay and don't receive what they pay for, are screwed. To date we have not received any communication from NCL as to what compensation if any should be considered. We were not expecting a cash compensation, however, a price difference between two destinations would be fair. All I want to say to other customers is to stay away from these thieves who covers up with fine print. Even Carnival Cruise line has better customer service. Never again would we give our business to NCL.

I went to inform a staff member that they need to move upstairs. They looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. There were people in wheelchairs, walkers, elderly and obese blocking the entrance to theater. Again I went inform someone, not safe. Emaunual ** a concierge told me to shut up or was going to call security. Bad enough not to think that through putting shore excursion people at the bottom of three flights of stairs, but when brought to their attention, ignored it and threatened to call security. I only wish I would have taken a video of it all. Needless to say I didn’t want to take the San Juan tour and wanted my money back. They refused. So if you're thinking of planning cruise! Might want to look at Royal Caribbean or Holland. If cruise on Norwegian DO NOT GO ON EXCURSIONS!!!

The Stateroom - I have been in staterooms before and the so-called “staterooms” on-board the Norwegian Jewel are definitely not staterooms. They are merely cabins, a real stateroom has room for at least 2 passengers to sit and dine in their room and they tend to be larger than cabins with more furniture. The balcony was average size for a cabin, however the 2 chairs were uncomfortable and the table was a mere 30cm x 30cm square (approximate) and about the same height, only enough space to put 2 glasses on, I had to be careful not to trip over it.

I also discovered the cabin door would not lock, the safe also did not lock and this took 2 hours to fix so consequently we had to wait in our cabin for that period of time. The bar staff at the stern. The 2 bar staff at the stern were extremely slow with queues building all the time, at times there were 13 passengers waiting for drinks which took up to 25 minutes to be served, the staff became rude to customers when they did not understand what drinks were required making the staff look incompetent.

The bar staff were consistently running out of drinks and stating to the passengers they will get some more later, the passengers needed their drinks then and not 2 hours later. What I did and a lot of other people did was to walk to the bar in the cafeteria area and get drinks there, it was a lot quicker and friendlier, the bar staff member there was a lot more professional and faster. By the time I walked there and back to the rear deck the same passengers were still waiting in the queue.

The Cafeteria Buffet and BBQ Deck - The food had been cooked and kept heated to a temperature of “just warm” so by the time you selected your food and found a table the food had gone cold. I also found most of this food was stale, it had been cooked some time ago. Main Dining Rooms - I found the menus needed to have more selections and also they needed changes to the menu each day, the food was also served warm so by the time I had finished eating the food had gone cold. I also found the food portions were too small and I was leaving the Dining Room feeling hungry.

Shore Excursions - The shore excursions I went on were poor value for the money charged, 1 excursion was canceled and I got very little notice so I had no time to choose another one. We were taken to venues not listed on the excursions like the “Gem Warehouse” for the purpose of buying gems, not what shore excursion are all about. if I want to buy something I will go to shopping in my own time.

On-board Laundry Service - There was very little instructions about how this service worked. I had to chase up crew members for laundry bags, the first lot of laundry I left for pick-up was left in the cabin so I went to the service desk waited for 25 minutes to be told I had not signed the bottom of the laundry list, it would have been far easier if the cabin crew had pointed this out on the day at that particular time instead of me wondering what’s going on and spending my time running around the ship to find out myself.

Reception Help Desk - It is stated in your cabin if you need assistance you can phone the reception/service desk, what a joke, in the 8 days I was aboard they never picked up their phone once so you had to trek down there and wait in line for assistance. There was no messages/advice coming through the speaker in our cabin so if you needed to hear vital information you had to be in a public area or stand outside your cabin to hear.

On-board Maintenance - I was woken up to the sound of crew members using power tools to repaint the ship outside of my cabin, I believe this should be done in port and not in the middle of my cruise and where it interferes with me. Cutting Short half a Day in Kuala Lumpur - For some reason, it was never explained fully to the passengers, the last day in Kuala Lumpur was canceled and the ship left early for Singapore, that’s not what I paid for. Please explain?

After hours of communication with several supervisors, I was told there was no customer service issue and it was up to me to state I want Canadian funds (even though they knew I was Canadian viewing the price on a Canadian website in Canadian dollars). They would not acknowledge their error. I requested an onboard credit and was told no as there was no service issue. I’m trying to figure out if this is done intentionally so they can make more money. (BTW past cruises have been great. So much for being a loyal customer!)

On our last day we were sitting waiting to get off the ship and we sat down on the seventh floor in a restaurant area and there was a bucket of puke sitting on the table. I immediately went and told someone about it and an hour and a half later when we did get off the ship it was still sitting there! That is disgusting!! While booking this trip directly with Norwegian I was never told that the third adult in the room is not eligible for the ultimate drink package. I think that is something that they should’ve let me know about! Overall not a very good time. I will not be traveling Norwegian again.

Then, the captain skipped our last stop (the main attraction) at Nassau. Now, I understand that we had to go out to sea farther to avoid the hurricane on the way home. What pissed me off is that instead of skipping their stupid private island and going to Nassau, we skipped Nassau. I am pretty confident this was done because it saved them money since they own Great Stirrup Cay. They saved on port fees by not going to Nassau. It's clear they don't care about the happiness of their guests.

At this point, I would have expected them to offer SOME type of compensation or incentive for another cruise - ANYTHING. Especially when you consider that our new itinerary was exactly the same as one of their normal cruises, which is CHEAPER than the Bermuda cruise we booked. At the very least, a partial reimbursement for the price difference would have been the ethical thing to do. The other cruise lines that had to change course offered all their guests some type of compensation. Not NCL though.

Next, let's talk about the actual ship. A member of our group has been on several Norwegian cruises (and will never go on another one after this). The other ships are apparently laid out the same, except the Escape added 2 floors of guest rooms and holds like 2000 more passengers. So there aren't really any more attractions, but there are way more people to fill up those attractions. That was a MAJOR problem during our cruise.

Almost every single event/show/etc on the ship requires a reservation. By the 2nd or 3rd day, they were all booked. ALL OF THEM - not an exaggeration. We decided to try the standby line for one of the comedy shows. We showed up 45 minutes early and there were already about 70 people in the standby line (and the comedy club isn't all that big). We didn't even bother. You basically have to plan your entire trip and everything you want to do by the 2nd day. You can't be spontaneous at all.

There are 2 tiny pools they are ridiculously crowded at all times. I guess if you're into the frat party lifestyle where you're constantly grinding against other people all day you would really like this. For everyone else, it's miserable. Seriously, if you put both pools together, they would be about the size of a typical inground pool at a normal house in the suburbs. If that wasn't bad enough, they close all the pools and hot tubs around 10pm. Not for maintenance or anything - they just close them. By 11pm, pretty much everything except one restaurant/bar is closed. We are adults looking to stay out late and have fun on vacation, but that is apparently not on the menu with NCL.

The one thing I actually enjoyed, the speed slides, were shut down for HOURS every day. The mini golf course has holes/dips under the green that you can't see until you step on them and almost fall, not to mention the frustration of a great putt randomly changing direction or totally stopping. The Bocce Ball court was tapered downhill from the center on both sides, which rendered it all but useless. I realize nobody takes a cruise to play Bocce Ball, but it's just one more thing on the list.

They advertise the zip line that swings out over the side of the ship as a big attraction. What they don't tell you is that IT DOESN'T EVER WORK!!! In fact, 50% of the entire ropes course is permanently shut down. An employee told us that it's shut down because they have no way to work on it and maintain it. So this course probably only worked for the first year of the ship's life and will probably never work again.

If you're not familiar with NCL ships, they have an Atrium in the center that is open for 3 floors, with the casino surrounding it on the center floor. They allow smoking in the casino. By the 3rd day of the trip, the smoke has traveled throughout the entire atrium - all 3 floors. This is really fantastic when your wife is pregnant and trying to avoid second hand smoke.

We got the "ultimate" beverage package, which includes drinks up to $15. What they don't tell you is that they jack up the prices of everything so that the good stuff is just barely too expensive to get. You can get most mixed drinks and pretty much all beers, but if you're into sipping bourbon or scotch, you're only getting the middle shelf stuff.

After all that, NCL wouldn't offer us anything at all. Not even 10% off a future cruise. Not even the difference in price for the cruise we got vs the one we paid for. I have been on Carnival cruises and had a much better time. I hear Royal Caribbean is great as well. I can say that I will never go on another NCL cruise in my life. Neither will any of the 25 other people in my group. That's how bad it was. In fact, I never even write negative reviews on anything, but this was so bad I felt like it was my duty to make sure others don't have the same experience.

Subsequently we were informed that to give us the planned 2 days in St Petersburg the decision had been made by head office in Miami to cancel Helsinki and Sweden. We then spent some 60 hours at sea at an extremely slow pace returning to Copenhagen within arms reach of both Finland and Sweden, watching the ferries easily handle the conditions.

Every disappointed passenger on board was able to easily work out how they could have achieved 1 if not 2 of these destinations. Instead we the paying passengers were left disappointed and feeling that the cruise we experienced was NOT the cruise we choose and paid for. The only explanation we were given was a very loose reference to weather conditions.

Might Norwegian have saved $$$ on docking fees and fuel, in a glorified hotel room. We felt cheated and disappointed. Sure weather is beyond the cruise liners control, but at very least communication could have been better. Additionally why not make it up to passengers, a free bus into town or let's try one port for 1/2 special day nothing was forthcoming. We subsequently learnt this may very well be a tactic by NCL. Promise 5 yet deliver less? Why?

I was not reimbursed until 2 weeks ago and they did not include interest on this money. I had a feeling this cruise wouldn't happen because the cruise line has not been communicative beforehand. I'm writing this as a cautionary tale about NCL. Their customer service is very uncaring. That offer to catch the cruise is illegal and they provided no apology, explanation or direct contact with me. However, I do now get posts daily from NCL for discounted cruises. Really, I don't feel safe with your poor customer care.

The same happened in Tallinn. The weather at Tallinn was not bad enough for the ship not to depart. Ferries that were much smaller than Breakaway kept arriving and departing the port at the evening on Sept 26. The weather at Tallinn was clear after 18:00, 1.5 hours delay (**). The rain at St Petersburg September 27 was only 0.08 inches that would not cause flooding (**). All evidence showed that the decision of not departing Tallinn to St Petersburg on 26 September was wrong. We missed 3 out of 5 ports (>50%) in our trip because of the wrong decision. And the crew kept telling lies.

Well it is almost 2:00 p.m. and the terminal area is now full of a lot of angry passengers wanting to get back to their cabins, possibly have a late lunch and then rest in the comfort of their cabins. When we asked Norwegian how they could trap passengers in a terminal for almost 7 hours, their answer was it was the customs fault! I asked why Norwegian didn't have the customs come on the boat and do their custom checking on the boat, that way after a passenger was screened they could continue to enjoy their day and not be tortured for 7 hours sitting in a cruise terminal. The answer I got was customs refused that option.

I find this hard to believe because we have been on other cruise lines and that is exactly how that takes place; custom officers are all over the boat, in fact they seem to be enjoying everything the boat has to offer especially all their meals are looked after by the cruise lines. I will be getting in touch with customer to find out the truth!

How can a company as big as NCL not offer the callback feature? “No... Let’s make them wait so we can advertise more over the phone.” Elevator music would have been less painful. My cruise is less than two weeks away and I’m already displeased with their customer service. I cannot get my questions answered and am no longer looking forward to this cruise. I shall consider cancelling the cruise this evening. Even if I could get ahold of someone that may be able to assist me, I’m forced to question the validity in their response. There is no shortage of bad reviews and questionable decisions on NCL’s behalf. Great job NCL. I haven’t even set foot on the boat and am already dissatisfied. But hey... At least I still have both my arms! - $$$. "Aug 2018, Arbitrator Orders NCL to Pay $3,337,500 to Seriously Injured crew member." It’s seems terrible customer service and poor decisions are the norm at NCL.

The shows on board were terrible and far too few. There was little to do on the ship that didn’t require a reservation. Some items such as laser tag and go carts had a cost and were not indicated as such at the time the reservations were made. The Wi-Fi service was terrible and barely worked. It cost additional to set up my online account after already paying for Wi-Fi access. The elevator access was terrible. There was no onboard self serve laundry. The on board laundry service was slow overall, was impossible to book reservations due to not knowing what was going on on the ship more than a few hours in advance. There was little instruction on disembarking the ship on the final day. Getting off the ship was far slower than I have ever experienced. I could go on and on but this was horrible. I’m pretty sure I will never sail with Norwegian again.

After returning to Seattle my wife's luggage was returned. NCL corporate later said the most they were willing to offer were partial nominal credits (approx $900), toward a future cruise that we needed to book within 11 months. They split these credits across multiple names necessitating we book multiple persons on the future cruise, at far more cost than the compensation offers, to take advantage of the very small offsets. Clearly a ploy to generate additional revenue as we were still reeling from our recent experience. Needless to say, their offer was essentially worthless to us.

The main purpose of this rating is to advise that any future person considering booking on NCL should seriously reconsider. My assigned case coordinator will not answer phone calls directly, the main guest relations personnel are very dismissive and only willing to transfer me to the case agent's voicemail. Despite repeated requests to speak to a supervisor, I have been denied each and every time. I was originally told NCL had 15 working days to get back to me with an update. That did not happen.

There are many more details regarding the callous disregard for the paying customer but suffice it to say, NCL does not care about doing the right thing for their customers. Not a good way to build a loyal customer base. NCL violated a contract I formed with them by providing incomplete service in exchange for the full fund fare(s) we paid. As a matter of reference, I have taken many cruises over the years, on board many different cruise lines and I have never had to write a letter such as this. Good luck if you choose NCL and ever encounter any type of problem.

I found the service to be deficient. It started when I checked in. I was not given any directions as to what to do. I was only pointed to what I thought was a place to board the ship. When I got to the end of the walkway I was in an empty room with no one guiding me. I had to find someone to ask what to do. At that point I was told to go into another room and I was given a boarding number and told to wait.

When I finally did get on the ship, I proceeded to the dining room where I had a horrible meal. It started off with something floating in my iced tea. Next a Greek salad with only two pieces of lettuce and finally an overcooked, dry chicken. When I got in my stateroom, I found out that there was only one working electric outlet. That is not enough for anyone so I called down to guest services to see if maybe I had just overlooked it. After waiting over 20 min. for someone to answer, I was told that was all there was and I would need to come down to the guest service desk to pick up an extension. I asked why it could not be delivered and I was told that was not possible. I had to go down and wait in line just to get what should have been in my stateroom already.

When we arrived at the first port, I exited the ship and walked around and explored all day. When I returned to the ship, hot and tired from my outing I saw that they were not letting anyone on the ship. They said it was because it was too windy. I have been on many cruises and it was not that windy so I’m sure that was just a made up reason. Regardless, I waited over an hour in the hot sun before they started letting people on and off the ship in groups of around 10. At no time did anyone apologize or explain what was happening.

The final straw was my post cruise excursion, the hop on hop off Miami airport. What a waste of time and money. I had to wait to get off the ship with the group. We then exited the ship and waited by the bus for what I thought was the hop on hop off bus, but no this was just a bus to take us to the hop on hop off bus. By the time we got to the actual location, it was over an hour later. When we got to the location, we had to wait another 45 min. before the bus arrived. By the time I got on the bus, I only had two hours. Since the round trip on the bus was 90 minutes, there was no way to hop off because the buses only come every 40 minutes (especially when I saw that people were waiting to get on the bus and there were no seats so they could not get on). There was a second route that I would have liked to take, but there was not enough time. Needless to say, all I did was sit on a bus for 90 minutes and then wait for the bus to the airport.

When I got home I opened a case with NCL to discuss my disappointment. I have been waiting for over a month for a response that has not come. I have called to see the status and the first time I waited on hold 35 min. before I was told they had 15 business days to respond. Today I called (27 business days) and inquired again. This time I was told the case manager said I would hear by the end of the week. I asked to speak to the case manager and was transferred to a phone that rang for 40 min. before they hung up on me. After this experience, my next cruise will not be with NCL. I just want to let others know about the service that NCL provided before, during and after the cruise so they can make a more informed decision when booking their next cruise.