Norwegian Cruise Lines

Airport shuttle services (Fort Lauderdale Airport) 5/20: We were told when we first enrolled for this service that someone from NCL would pick us up at 9:00 a.m. to take us to the ship. We explained we were to arrive at 5:30 a.m. and were willing to wait. What we envisioned and experienced were two different things. We arrived on time and waited at the baggage pick area as instructed when three women from NCL finally showed up carting out a small kiosk at 9:30 am. At that time we were told the ship had not yet docked due to bad weather and because of the heavy rains the streets were flooded and that transportation to the dock would be delayed and we would get an update in an hour. We were only 25 feet from the airport street and through the glass we could see taxis and transport services traveling through without hesitation. We waited another hour and were told the same as mentioned earlier.

I looked up online Cruisin.me and saw the ship was in dock and the recorded time that it arrived were hours earlier than first announced by the NCL representative. I confronted the women making the announcements and she said NCL stated these facts over the phone and she was merely conveying the information. My wife explained that this entire matter made no sense, whether the ship was in port or not, we would merely wait in the embarkation area. The NCL representative insisted the port was closed and couldn’t take us there at that time.

At 11:30 a.m. the NCL representative stated the ship had just arrived, but it would be another 45 minutes before the shuttle would arrived. Because of the previous inconsistencies in her stories we decided we could no longer trust these NCL representatives and decided to leave. She stated she could not make us stay, but if we left, NCL will credit us back for the shuttle. We got up to leave, she then approached my wife and insisted we give her a laminate boarding pass which was given to us after she tore the shuttle coupon from the lower half of our boarding documents, my wife gave her the pass and asked for the coupon back but the representative said she could not give it to us. We hailed a taxi, arrived at the dock within 35 minutes and paid $75.00 cash. In our anxiousness at arriving to the port and due to the pouring rain we forgot to ask for a receipt.

Lackluster embarkation 5/20: When we arrived we found the embarkation process in turmoil, crowds everywhere. If it weren’t for an NCL personnel noticing me with my walking cane, we would have waited. Instead we were processed through the disability line, which was the only grateful moment of that day. No pre-boarding photographers were seen and while embarking no celebratory music or personnel were seen except one individual hurrying us to board. Our cabin steward was not known until three days into the cruise via a phone call. In all previous cruises the cabin steward knew who we were before boarding and introduced himself on the first day, of course these are minor details but it all adds to the effects of the day.

Pungent odor 5/20 through 5/27: When I first opened the cabin door I immediately noticed a pungent smell. During this time the cabin stewards were helping to move various luggage down the hallway to their destinations. I asked one of them to come into the room to see what he thought and he confirmed the odor. I called cruise services and told them of the smell and asked for a different room. They told me every room was booked and could not accommodate us. They also suggested we turn the air conditioner on to attempt airing out the room? Of course this did nothing so I immediately asked for management involvement.

My wife and I began to investigate the odor, underneath the sofa were two drawers. Inside one of the drawers were two pillow which had yellow stains (appeared urine stains) and an odor, and at the moment of our discovery came the steward cabin officer. I asked if he smelled anything. He stated it smelled like perfume. Then I showed him the yellow stained pillows, he took them and offered us a thorough cleaning, of course we agreed. We later returned, the room was scented and we slept well until early in the morning when I was awoken by that pungent smell via CPAP. Two days later the cabin steward replaced the sofa/bed cushion, the smell still remained.

In summary, what other options did we have? We couldn’t get off the ship to another cruise and all our arrangements were made months in advance. We’ve received lies and embellishment, stuck at an airport for hours, the cruise set sail late, which later turned out to be because some folks who were escorted of the ship for drug related issues. To add insult to injury the majority of the cruise had bad weather and on the last day we docked twelve hours early! The cruise in general was not a pleasant one and was extremely disappointing considering our experience on our past cruises with NCL. Finally, speaking to other passengers aboard this cruise who had customer service issues also and had sailed with other cruise lines (Disney, Royal Caribbean and Holland America) we will now consider booking our next cruise with another cruise line.

Presentation on ship about Havana gave information. Lots of pressure to buy ship excursions at more than double the price you would pay on your own. Room was barely touched during entire cruise and only mid-day. Mirrors all streaky. $20 a day gratuities per person added for dirty room, bad food, bad food service. My first and last Norwegian cruise. I worked in federal prisons for 25 years and we fed the inmates better food than I got on this ship I paid a lot of money for.

The food on the boat was of poor quality, looked and tasted very cheap. There were only the cheapest meat and fish options on the menu - pork, chicken, tilapia, etc. None of the typical products of countries we visited during cruise were represented - no olives from Greece, no local cheese, etc. The menu was flooded with cheap American food. The luggage was lost and NOTHING has been done to resolve this situation. No compensation was offered. We need to chase NCL to get anything, while it is NCL who spoiled our vacation! It is unacceptable that a company of such a size doesn't have a clear procedure with respect to lost luggage situation... This trip was a disaster... We will recommend all of our friends never take a cruise with NCL.

The first prize breaks down into 1100$ for the buy in at the main event, which leave 1900$ for complimentary stateroom accommodations. When I make my reservation today I realise that if I buy the cruise myself it would have cost me about 1200$ (tax and fee are excluded). Where the 700$ that is missing went. I have been told that because the prize value is based on a full rate value... When they never sell at that price. The only logic I can see is they use the opportunity to manage tournaments prize (again Norwegian Cruise didn't contribute) to sell to the winner a cabin at full price. I don't find that fair. It would have been fair that Norwegian Cruise Lines applies the full winning prize (less the tax and fee) to my reservation. It's too bad because I loved my cruise, everything was perfect beside this.

I did not ask to cancel, because I have already booked air tickets. We were originally going to mostly new islands, now mostly going to ones already visited on a Carnival cruise. I have no recourse, but the word needs to get out, to boycott NCL. They ruined my cruise, before I even got on the ship. I see from other experiences described here, it is part of a pattern. Note, they say thank you for understanding, without providing an explanation.

I went to my cabin, laid down with my foot propped and ice on my ankle and stayed the rest of the day there. When I awoke in the morning, my left ankle/foot and right knee were severely swollen, my chest and right elbow were scraped and bruised. I went to the medical center, but it was closed so I went to guest services to see if I could obtain medical attention. I was told that there was no one available until 7 pm. I asked if I could at least get an ace bandage bolster my ankle a bit. I was told that I should check the vending machine near medical (I had, it basically just contained aspirin, motion sickness tablets and prophylactics). Then I was told that they didn't have any type of bandage and was summarily dismissed.

Not being able to walk but a very short distance at a time with my injured foot and knee, I went back to my cabin to prop my foot for the remainder of the cruise. Missing Thursday's activities and the private beach port on Friday were disappointing, but not as much as the way I was treated by the ship's crew. I have never felt such a lack of concern from others. To leave someone lying on the floor and not even attempt to assist them up is not just bad customer service, it reflects a deficit of human decency.

When I arrived home, I wrote a letter to Guest Services and received an email (1/9/18) saying that my letter was sent to the Claims department for review and I would hear from them within 8-10 weeks. 3 months later (3/9/18) I finally received a letter from them stating – “We are certain that had you visited the medical facility, proper care and treatment would have been provided.” So, basically they didn’t even read my complaint, as I had stated that I did visit the medical center and I did ask for medical assistance. Since this type of uncaring is tolerated within NCL, I cannot imagine cruising with them in the future and would recommend others not to, for their own safety and well-being.

The dining room was better but only ate there once. The food was good. The waiters were friendly and aimed to please. The shows were good and top quality. Musical entertainment on the ship at the lounges were almost non-existent except for a guy with his guitar every night. The top deck was very noisy and very over-crowed. Again no deck chairs to be found and people were forced to find a chair to sit in the smoking area of the ship. The bars were overcrowded and at time would take up to 20min to get a drink. All I can say is don't waste your money with NCL. NEVER AGAIN!

I do not dispute the fact of this incident occurring in any way. My issue however is the manner in which things were handled. On the last evening of our cruise there was a message on the cabin phone asking if I could please attend the Guest Services counter as soon as possible. As requested, I made my way down to very busy desk, as always on the last night. After some confusion as to why I was asked to attend, a very nice young lady from the Finance department came out asking me sign a handwritten receipt, with no details of any kind, to cover the cost of damages caused. I was shocked that I was approached in such a manner. First, no mention was made to me at the time of the incident that we would be expected to cover the cost of the window. Second, no details were provided on this blank invoice/receipt, just a handwritten price of $650.00.

In all fairness, the young lady asked to deal with this was clearly done so by a supervisor, who would not make him/herself available to discuss the issue with me. I refused to sign-off on a blank piece of paper. I did ask that someone contact me to discuss the matter further so we have it resolved. I also asked that copies of all paperwork and photos be please made available to me to which I was told, and I quote "We don't do that". After a second and third visit to Guest Services to try to resolve the issue with nobody appearing to have any interest in it I gave up for the evening figuring someone would contact prior to our arrival back in Miami to get off in the morning but no such call came. After a quick stop by the desk again early in the morning, as we were disembarking early to catch a flight, we left the ship with no further mention by anyone.

Now, 10 days later I find an unauthorized charge against my credit card for the apparent value, in US Dollars. Again after numerous attempts to contact ANYONE at NCL to get this sorted out, no response. It would seem that matter will now find its way to a higher power, as well as public knowledge... Please be forewarned... NCL is clearly looking out for themselves and not the customers best interest.

Some lady called me a couple of day later apologizing and telling me they can give us the group perks or my free room but she will give us $50 per cabin not per person to spend on board. If you've been on a NCL cruise you know $50 can't buy you a decent drink or any souvenir. I was disgusted and upset because this is a lot of money that they are making from my group. Now all of sudden the guy who booked my cruise has a big old attitude. Well so do I. Here is his email I want all of us to flood his email box with complaints so he can realize how bad his cruise line is treating paying customers that's if he cares. His email is **.

I noticed the safety rail separating the shower from the toilet was rickety and complained, they fixed it right away by adding 2 more bolts to the loose 2 there. But what could not be fixed was the height of the king bed; 28" so my mother who is a large woman recovering from cancer could not transfer from her wheelchair. They provided us with a step unit (!). This suite is meant to sleep 4 comfortably, but I don't know how that would be possible. I slept on the hard as rock (full size) pleather fold out couch with crate foam on top.

There is also no lamp/light available for whomever sleeps on the couch bed, our lovely butler lent me his personal magnetic flashlight so I could read at night. My mother fell twice off the step unit injuring herself with deep lacerations (luckily did not break anything) and the last 2 nights she and her husband slept on the small hard sofa bed. I would also suggest earplugs, the suite is just off the pool deck and nights that host parties have the booming bass beating in the room till about midnight.

We were totally bummed at this point, two out of the 3 beach day were ruined. I have to say I enjoyed their shows, and food, but not a ton of options if you're vegan. The boat was very clean, but our toilet wouldn't flush half of the time, making us use the upstairs public bathrooms. I hadn't read reviews before taking this line, but I wish I had, and now that I think of it, one of the dining halls had a residual smell of vomit on the carpeting. We politely expressed our discontent to the front desk staff, but we were rudely dismissed, not one sorry, or "how can we make this a better experience for you?"

During the night the boat was shifting so hard it was hard to lay in bed and things were falling. Finally we docked in Nassau Tuesday and all beaches were closed due to high winds. The captain most likely decided to risk docking so they would not have to refund all our money. When we left Nassau the ship was rocking so hard there is actually footage of Hilton Nassau filming the ship leaving. Clearly it was not safe in those waters. I went to the desk and complained and the crew offered no care or sympathy. On top of this, we ordered room service multiple times and the food only showed up once and freezing cold. We felt too dizzy to even walk to the restaurants most of the time.

I could say so many more negative things about this cruise. I basically ran off of the ship when it docked. On top of this, someone fell off the top deck on the final night and the ship had to turn back around to rescue her which in turn caused the ship to arrive back in port Canaveral late. Everyone was angry because people's flights were missed. I am so glad the cruise ship rescued the fallen passenger but this clearly showed how rushed the ship was. They were going 25 nautical miles an hour and top speeds just to get us back from Nassau to port Canaveral on the final night due to having to wait to go to Nassau for the final day. So when the girl fell they did not even have any time to compensate.

The Cruise was literally a mess. This morning I woke up having a major anxiety attack disoriented thinking I was still on this hell cruise. I'm sure I'm not the only one feeling this way. I'm sure it wasn't as bad as the bomb cyclone but once again this shows how bad Norwegian really is. They only care about the money and once they start sailing they will go into bad storms without care for the passengers safety.

On the bus we were informed if we didn't have water shoes that we would need to purchase them. The tour guides took our shoe size. The next thing you know we are pulling alongside the road to a car with the trunk open and the tour guides are purchasing shoes for us. We had no say in color or style of the shoes and seems a little shady when you pull off the side of the road to car with the trunk open to purchase water shoes. After Dunn's River we were taken to Bamboo Beach. The beach had no seats. We waited 20 minutes to have a seat on the beach. The group was split up. The water was up to the chairs on the beach. We were at the other end of the beach. Food was very slow to be served and we received one drink. Entertainment you could not see because we were at the other end of the beach. The beach was dirty and not a pretty beach at all.

Then our tour guide came around to collect $10.00 from each person who needed a pair of water shoes. Seriously! We were not on the beach long and we were rushed back to the bus for our 1 hour plus drive back. When we arrived back to the ship we went to guest services who then directed us to excursions. We filled a complaint with excursions. The gentlemen I spoke to informed me if we would have booked the excursion with him he would have advised us not to take it. He informed us there is a lot of complaints about that excursion and he was fully aware of all my concerns. When we asked why does NCL sell the Dunn's Fall excursion all he could say was “he is told to sell the excursion”. Really!!! Way to go NCL putting your customers first.

Port #2 Grand Cayman Island. Well could not see that Island. Per NCL the sea was too rough to tender. THE ONLY ISLAND ON THIS WHOLE VACATION I WANTED TO SEE AND THE WATER AND WIND WAS TOO ROUGH TO TENDER. NCL got a lot of money from me and all I got was nothing. Since we were unable to tender to see the Grand Caymans we were stuck at sea for two plus days. Oh what fun it is stay on a boat with 4,000 other strangers. Lucky we were able to tender to Great Stirrup Cay. Very nice beach which it should be because Norwegian owned it. Another cost cut for NCL…

Last island Nassau. Been there, done that. Had no desire to see it but I needed off the boat and so did 50,000 other people from 3 other cruise lines. I really enjoy walking the street of Nassau and being approached by drug dealers trying to sell us all kinds of drugs. If I want drug dealers to approach me to ask me if I would like ** I will travel to Philly only 30 minute drive from my home. I would not have needed to fly to Miami and take a cruise ship to get drugs and SPEND A FORTUNE TO DO SO!

Departure - we were given options to do excursions in Miami. Seriously! Yeah but no thanks. I had a plane to catch at 2:00 which finding my baggage was another joke. We arrived at the Fort Lauderdale Airport 2 hours before we had to board. When we arrived home my husband picked up the phone on Monday to call NCL to let then know the experience we had was not that great for the money we spent. All customer service had to say was SORRY! And to write a letter. Well here is my letter. Since the service was poor and cheap from the get go, I am not a betting person but I bet we receive no response. BEWARE WHEN BOOKING WITH NCL!

Our transport guy zipped us around security. He brought our bags to us later. The physician x-rayed my knee and said I had a break. Suggested I continue with our vacation and stay off of it as best I could. She helped me undress and get into a bed. Got dinner for me and my daughter. From that point on, they took wonderful care of us. Appointed a person to get us to dinner first, off the ship first, back on first. We didn't have to wait for anything. Every morning they checked to see what they could do for us. We had an absolute fantastic time. Everyone was extremely nice. Way over and above what you would expect. The food was to die for. The rooms impeccable. My daughter laughed and said she didn't want me to get hurt but it sure made our trip easier. We plan to take another cruise with Norwegian soon.

There were 40-foot waves and 100 mile an hour winds. It was just horrible. There was a lot of damage to the ship, but all the captain seemed worried about was getting back to New York to get ready to take out the next cruise which was a two-week cruise. I feel that the captain made a really bad decision to go into that storm, knowing how bad it really was. He put all of our lives in jeopardy and all they are offering us is 25% of what we paid for the cruise to be applied to the next cruise, to use within one year and not transferable and cannot be used with any other offer. Really? I think we should all get a full refund plus compensation for putting us through hell on that ship!!! There are other cruise lines that will honor us and take care of us and would love to get our business. Bye-bye NCL!

We ate most dinner meals in Indigo dining room so we didn't have to dress up. We were a party of eight, with three teenagers. We experienced many problems in this restaurant. We ordered appetizers and drinks on two occasions and never got them, only the entrees ordered. Service was very slow, it took 28 minutes to get a refill of a cold drink, after complaining, received three. We finally switched restaurants.

Laundry! They do not supply guests with a coin operated laundry. They charge $20 for a paper bag full of laundry. When I say paper bag, I mean something like the old time paper grocery bags, but thinner. Paper and wet clothes equals a disaster. Needless to say, we had several items missing on return of our laundry, and even received items that did not belong to us. There was also a shirt that was full of spots on return, that were not there when sent out.

This is where the fun began. Like any Christian person, we went to the service desk to return the items that were not ours, and also to inform them of the missing items and ruined shirt. They took the shirt that was damaged with spots and said they would re-clean it. They said they would search for the missing items. This was day four of a nine day cruise. After going to the service desk each morning and evening to ask about the issues with damaged and missing items over the next two days to no avail, the damaged shirt was returned to our cabin. Spots were gone on the locations noted, but now more spots noted in other locations. After it was laundered two more times, it came back faded, and still had spots. We continued to go to the service desk to inquire about the missing clothing with no resolution. Son had to go buy clothes for my grandson to wear.

Customer Service? What a joke. No one knows anything. No one cares. They are talking bobble heads, all trained to keep you from speaking to someone up their chain of command. I was told that if they could not locate our lost clothes, they would provide us with a form to claim the items on our insurance. After speaking to these idiots, I asked to meet with the hotel director on day six. I was told they would schedule an appointment. Day eight came and still no appointment, nor any answers to the lost clothing. By accident, I walked up on the Hotel Director, along with his two assistants, as they awaited an elevator. I asked to speak with him, and did. All three seemed interested in helping, and took notes in nor books. I was assured that it would be taken care of.

At approximately 9 pm on day nine, we returned to the customer service desk. Bobble heads still reflecting our problems. Stating that we had to file a claim on our insurance for Norwegian losing our clothes. Told them we had spoken to the Hotel Director, they replied that they had no record of that. Got very heated, as we were leaving the ship the next morning. My son noticed the Assistant Hotel Director, Frank, walking through the Atrium, and called him over. He asked what was the problem. After hearing the person at the service desk explain that she would provide us with a form to file a claim, he ordered her to reimburse the cost of the clothing. Although I got the cost of the clothing, I spent my free time onboard arguing with people that could care less.

Although Pearl was clean and beautiful, it seems that it is a training ship for staff. No one knew what they were supposed to do. I had no time to relax and enjoy a cruise that I paid good $$$ for, and was not offered a thing for all the misery. I will never book another cruise with Norwegian. I have had great cruises with Carnival, and never had experiences like this.

When I filled my paperwork out I was honest. I said I had a hysterectomy for surgeries and diverticulosis. They did a pregnancy test anyway and the new doctor was convinced I needed to go get a CT scan done and possible surgery. On the paperwork for the hospital he literally wrote surgery on the referral. Mind you I'm on ** and whatever other pain medicine they gave me. I told them it wasn't diverticulitis. It was something I ate. I know what that feels like and it wasn't that. They put me off the ship, packed my cabin up and had me transported to a private hospital in Montego Bay. Before I left the ship they gave me a charge receipt where they charged my card for $6880. I said, "You charged my bank account this much money," and he said yes.

Then I had to pay $500 for the ambulance ride and another $172 for being seen by the doctor at this hospital. Before I got off the ship I was told I would get a refund for all my excursions and spa services that I paid for. (LIES!) They did not refund me my money. When the person packed up my cabin he put everything in my bags except for my excursion receipts.

I get to the hospital in Montego Bay and tell them I've spent over $7,000 and I wasn't getting anything else done. I was going home. The doctor was rude and nasty. She got upset because I wouldn't sign paperwork for them to do anything to me. A CT scan was $1000 plus whatever else they wanted to do to me. I said, "Absolutely not. I'm going home because it was something that I ate." I kept belching and my stomach was bloated. I'm 43. I know my body. She said, "Well if you don't allow us to treat you, I'm not approving for to get on the ship." I said, "Ms. it's 3pm. They leave at 5:30. You just said a CT scan will take about 2 hours tops so I won't be getting back on the ship anyway."

I signed myself out of the hospital, stayed at a hotel, called Southwest and got a flight home the next day. When I arrived home I got a hydrotherapy colonic and foot detox done. I have been fine. One of my friends told me not to go on a Norwegian cruise but I went anyway because the price was very reasonable. That was my first and last cruise. NEVER AGAIN! They never called to see if I was ok but they charged my bank $7500. I filed a claim with my travel insurance and haven't heard anything from them either. The worse experience ever.

We got back at exactly 5:05 pm. The ship left port at 4:30 pm. We were stranded. Luckily, I happen to have friends in the Bahamas to pick us up. We weren't the only ones stranded. I called customer service countless times. The ship finally called at 7:38 pm and asked where we were, I told them they left us behind. We had to take two taxis and a flight to get to their private island. When we arrived they would let us on, they demanded a $250 fee. We all had credit cards and debit cards that they couldn't process. They finally let us back onboard to meet with management like criminals trying not to pay. I had some USD and then they insisted I come up with the rest. I got charged close to 40% to change cash that was 17% at the current exchange rate. My friend asked for Wifi to contact her children, yet another charge. My 3 day vacation ended up costing $3,500 US dollars.

Our mom visited the spa for a consultation, none of the family was aware of her appointment or we would have accompanied her, during her "CONSULTATION" she was basically talked into an injection procedure on parts of her face... At 87 YEARS OLD!!! None of the family was aware of this until we noticed swelling and redness in her face, with much concern and going through some hoops (after hours) I was able to get the information of what had been done, what to do for her reaction and set up an appointment to meet at the spa the next morning. Here's the kicker... The treatments that she was talked into cost nearly 4,000.00. Talking with mom she really did not understand the enormity of the cost or even what the injections were.

At the appointment the next morning, she arrived early, and they hustled her right in, before I arrived, so when I arrived at appointment time she was in the waiting area. They had done a follow up like we discussed the night before on the phone, but, had the gall to try to sell her more injections!!! Thankfully she refused, based on her reaction the first treatment. The family spent our last final day of the cruise trying to resolve the problem directly with the spa, multiple meeting, filling out forms for them to send to their headquarters etc, to no avail, the spa accepted no responsibility for TAKING ADVANTAGE OF A SENIOR with questionable decision making skills. THIS IS A FORM OF ELDER ABUSE.

Once we were unable to resolve it through the spa, we went directly to the cruise line, jumping through more hoops we were forced to aggressively pursue the ships highest management, (only the captain would be next and we would have go to him too if need be). More upsetting conversation and explanations took place and we were required to meet with spa management, the Doctor, cruise management ourselves and our mom in her cabin as she was continuing to recover. The meeting in cabin was like a gang up on our mom, MORE ELDER ABUSE, she already felt bad enough for not understanding the contract or the cost of the procedure that she received, now they were making her feel almost stupid of the fact and showing her where she signed this and where she initialled that.

She does not remember a number/price being in the area she initialed, I would hope it was not added later, we will never know. I should also mention that on this form/contract they produced one of the questions was if she is under a doctor's care, she answered yes, however the "Doctor" that directly questioned her, then sold her, and did the injections, never followed up any further on what she was being seen for. It is our position that this so called doctor should have been able to recognize, confusion, hearing disabilities and environmental surrounding that would and did affect the ability for our 87 year old mother to make a proper decision.

It would have been better for everyone to end the CONSULTATION as a consultation, give the client time to think about what was discussed and potentially seek advise from those he or she would confided in, but this is not the practice because of the pounce! Get the sale, get it now, later may be too late attitude. In the end and only after the cruise line intervened they offered to spit the cost to 50%, several of our party did not want to settle, wanted to take it further after we all returned home, but we agreed that we already had the last day of our cruise ruined over this grievance. We were busy all that last day on ship making sure our mom was physically & emotionally ok and many of us were consumed with finding a solution, we collectively decided that enough was enough, cut our losses, and be thankful the physical effects weren't more severe.

During our time in the spa waiting are we witnessed many times older persons leaving the spa and being offered receipts upon check out, as with my own mom, I overheard staff just fluffing off what the person was signing, saying odd things, just encouraged signing, never ever discussing the cost of what was being signed for. I "luckily" arrived at the spa one day early on our cruise, and found my mom at the counter discussing appointments, she was very confused, the spa was basically try to set her up with multiple appointments for different services that they offer. Not only were the ladies talking to her often at the same time, many have accents that are hard for many of us to understand, they spoke very fast, there is background noises, so this along with the fact that most elders do have hearing loss, hearing aids all complicate the ability to comprehend fully what is being discussed.

I was able to interject and put a stop to the aggressive selling practices that the spa personnel use. Anytime I would bring up this practice I would just get a "that's the business" type of response, they have become so used to this type of hard sell that it is normal and nothing seems to be outside of the moral compass. Several other members of our group had similar hard sell tactics when getting a massage, only they were able to decline what they did not want. Lesson learned: We should have supervised her more perhaps, but we did not think that she would ever be taken advantage of like this on the cruise line, at home maybe, by scammers yes, etc, and we have had plenty of those conversations with all of our aging parents, we just expected more professionalism in this situation.

I will say that I did have the spa package allowing me to arrive whenever open and use the private spa as often as I choose to, and I found this to be very pleasant and relaxing, many time having the room to myself. So for that I would give a 4-5 star review but for the other practices of the spa the rating would be in the WARNING ELDER ABUSE range, by the way I doubt they would have done any of these practices on a teenager that was not 18 years old due to ability to consent as an adult or ability to pay!