The service in the restaurants was appauling! On the first night, our waiter threw the food at us and grumbled about how much he hated his job. On another night, all the waiters dissappeared half way through dinner, and were replaced with room stewardesses who didnt know what they were doing. This is what the lady replied when asked where the waiter went.

The food was not terrible, but thoroughly unmemorable. Also, go expecting lots of Asian food. During our four port days (out of 7), the only lunch available was in the Garden Cafe, which is a tiny little place with a buffet on par with your local Shoney's Breakfast buffet. Everyone waited until 3 pm, when hot dogs and hamburgers were finally served. There was also no seating, as this Cafe only is on one side of the ship, and only about 1/5 of the Deck 11.

With the service and food lousy in the free restaurants, one would expect the numerous alternative restaurants to be exceptional. This was not the case, as the food there was no better, but the service was. A not so bad $10 per person charge was made in two of the restaurants, but both had extra "platters" costing $19 per person.

The two other alternative restaurants were a la carte, and cost as much as $29 per item! There is also a tapas bar as well as patiseree and a sports bar, but all require the purchase of a ridiculously expensive ($6+) drink to enjoy one of their offerings.

The photo gallery was a nightmare. One had to beg the photographers to take a picture, and even then photos didnt begin to appear until the third night, and all photos were underdeveloped. Even the photographers were unhappy with the results. To add insult to injury, the smallest photos cost $9.95 each, and the larger ones $15.95, among the most expensive in the industry.

There were almost no activities during the day, and even the usual Bingo cost a whopping $29 per set of cards!

Hagen Daz ice cream was available in addition to the regular ice cream at shoreside rates, which was fine.

There are two shops onboard, with very high prices, as they are run by Colombian Emeralds, and offer no sales whatsoever.

The production shows were amaturish, althought the first one was not too bad. But entertainment should be varied, and it was not. On Tuesday night, a mediocre juggler performed. On Wednesday night, the same juggler performed. On Monday night, a very good "Soul" singer performed. On Friday night, she did the same show again. This is all that was offered at night. The ship was dead after 11 on any given night. Most people just went to bed.

Then get to the cabin. The cabin itself was very nice. We had a Cat JJ inside, which was spacious. But if you are bringing a third person be aware that the "sofa bed" is not a pullout, but rather they merely put a sheet on top of the rock hard sofa and tell you that is your bed.

The room steward was terrible, and we frequently did not get nightly chocolates or even the Freestyle Daily. The other cabin we had, always got them. This again is most likely due to the tips.

Everyone I spoke with onboard did not enjoy their cruise. A few people who were on their first cruise decided that cruising was not for them, based on the experience. I told them they should try another line, then make the decision. The whole voyage was a joke.

I have to say, though, that when we complained, they did attempt to make up for some of it. The Seven Seas Matre'd comped our meal in the Il Adagio restaurant due to our experiences in his restaurant, and our service in the main dining room was better after that.

If you have never Freestyled, you should really stay away from it. If you cannot change your cruise, or actually like Freestyle here are some tips, for the Sun only!
- Eat in the Four Seasons Restaurant. Service and food are far better than in Seven Seas.
- Wait until 3 to eat while in port, when the snacks are served.
- Do not come expecting a Norwegian experience. Come expecting an Asian experience. This is Star, not NCL, but no one would sail on Star this way, NCL already has a name here and can sell itself on that.
- Whatever your cruise fare, add $70 for random tips, as well as $10 per person per restaurant. I would suggest you figure in $1000 per couple over your cruise fare to add in all the extras you are forced to purchase.
- Do not go to the first show, but go to the first production show. The rest of the shows are your choice.
- The alternative restaurants are not worth the extra fees. If you really want to go, the food in Il Adagio, as well as service, is better than in Le Bistro. You can always find a seat in East Meets West, but expect hefty charges as all is a la carte.
- Get off the boat in Roatan, its an amazing experience.
- Belize is not really anything much.
- If you have a problem with anything on your cruise, do not feel ashamed to complain about it. They do try to rectify, unfortunately too many complained on our voyage to help all of them.
- Do not expect the service staff to be nice. About 90% are not.
- Do not go expecting a beautiful ship or one with easy passenger flow. This ship is hopelessly broken up, and was designed that way for a purpose. It is very confusing. The ship is filled with this plasticky looking wood, which would look nice if it did not extend into the public bathrooms, now it just looks like they got a bargain. The upper decks are covered in this "motel-like" bath matt covering. If you dont expect a luxurious ship, you will be far happier, as you will not get it.

I know how many of these cruise message boards work, as I post on them every so often.

Remember this is not just an opinion, it is how Freestyle really works. Some people enjoy a "moving motel" experience. For them this works. Freestyle is a great idea, that would be wonderful if implemented well. But it is not. Instead, it is an innovative way for NCL to cut costs while commanding high rates. I paid $1000 per person for my cabin, just $25 less than my balcony stateroom on RCI's Voyager of the Seas three weeks earlier. I know some of you will think that I am comparing the two, and this is not the case. Even with my standards far lower, this ship did not measure up. It was a far cry from my Norway cruise, and any other cruise I have sailed.

I would even venture to say that similar service could be found on a Discovery Day Cruise. That is what I wrote on my comment card. I will also be writing a letter to NCL, addressed to Mr. Veitch. It probably wont get to him, but I will have peace of mind. I am writing this merely as an informative measure, and I hope it will be taken as such. It is just an opinion, but one that is shared by many of those I spoke with on my voyage.

[ 08-18-2002: Message edited by: joe at travelpage ]

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Originally posted by Sokker14:
I just returned this morning from the Freestyle Norwegian Sun. It was the worst cruise I have ever been on. .

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Your review only reaffirms the fact I have no desire to sail on NCL. Freestyle is certainly not for everyone, although it is an interesting concept. I also noticed the Asian influence of Star Cruises on my NORWEGIAN STAR inaugural sailing last year.

In defense of NCL, they had to make some drastic changes to survive. Their business model was flawed, along with a revolving door of executives. They offered a mediocre product on marginal ships that people only booked due to low fares. Simply put, NCL had no gimmick. Freestyle addresses that. NCL's heyday of the late 70's - mid 80's is long over, but they are having a resurgence and are more successful then they have been in years. Of course they still have a disjointed fleet and somewhat of a image problem, which they are addressing.

When Freestyle made it's first debut, there were many problems. As of late, I have been hearing more positive than negative. Not to discredit anything you wrote, but it surprises me they are still experiencing some of the issues you expressed in your review.

As you may know, NORWEGIAN SUN was originally ordered as a sister to the COSTA OLYMPIA (which is now NORWEGIAN SKY). NCL picked up the hull for COSTA OLYMPIA and designs for NORWEGIAN SUN rather cheaply as the original shipyard went bankrupt. They tried to make as many changes as possible, but many items could not be changed. Of course NCL has a habit of building 2nd rate ships that are usually just a step behind the competition. History seems to be repeating itself, as now NCL is trying to pick up the unfinished hull of the Project America ship at a bargain of course!

Without a doubt, NCL must have the most disjointed fleet in the industry..... which must make the fleet expensive to operate.

Hope your next cruise is better..... but don't give up just yet on NCL.

Cruisetalk regular PamM will be on the 'Sun' this week. It will be interesting to hear her opinion. It is her first NCL cruise.

It seems like these days NCL is a pretty undependable product, at least in their main offerings. Then there's the SS Norway, a product they haven't quite figured out how to screw-up yet. I really loved my recent cruise with her, and it seems that other readers have too. The price is certainly right...

NORWEGIAN SEA, starting in Germany on October 19th, with flight to Montreal, Cruise to Miami and Flight back to Germany, landing November 6th.

1366 EUROS including Flights in an 2-bed-outside-Cabin.

No, thanks...

...i will not book!

Hmmm... Looking forward to Pam coming home .

Though she's closer to home for me now, than when she is at home ...

Anyhow, I don't have that much more to say - eroller said it all really.

The NCL fleet is disjointed. Dreamward and Windward were lovely ships but seem to have been pretty well ruined by the stretch. Sea was OK - nothing special. Majesty seems odder than all the others. Norway is entirely out of place. Then we have Sky which looks like probably the nicest of the fleet. Sun is like Sky, just with uglier decor... And the new Star makes me nauseous - the decor is unbelievably ugly (fake palm trees around the swimming pool ) and I can't even decipher the horrible brochure deck plans but from what I can figure out, the layout is horrible.

So to me Sky seems like the best of the group - but keep in mind I've only been on one.

I would have gone again on the old NCL - they had a decent product at a decent price. The ships were OK, the food was good, the service was friendly, I had a good time, it was cheap.

But now I have no desire at all to try NCL. In fact I would say that there is almost no chance I'll cruise them in the future.

Why? I've heard enough bad reports to assume that at least some people have had pretty lousy experiences with NCL. I like having the same table/waiter at dinner and so does the rest of my family.

Booking my latest trip for next April the consensus on whether to even consider NCL Sun was a unanimous NO. I didn't even bother to look up the prices.

Pam, I hope you have a better time than the one detailed above... I am looking forward to having you back .

I have to disagree with almost everything you've said.

Dream/Wind: IMO, they are far BETTER ships now than when first introduced; better public rooms, more dining choices and they ride much better.

Sun/Sky: both lovely ships and the Sun's decor is not than much different than her elder sister. In fact, I almost prefer her decor; much brigther without being garish.

Star: Everyone I've spoken with loves the ship and decor. While the layout of her public areas is far from orthodox, the ship was built with a unique market/product in mind.

All in all, from all the correspondence I've had and the passenger complaints I've seen come across my desk, most of them come from the aforementioned that love HAL & Celebrity should not have been on NCL in the first place.

Princess is very much in the same "boat" as many of their loyal repeaters cried foul when they first heard of personal choice. But then again, 70% of the inventory reports that cross my desk show passengers booking into that program.

quote:

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Originally posted by Tim @ Cruisepage:
Dream/Wind: IMO, they are far BETTER ships now than when first introduced; better public rooms, more dining choices and they ride much better.

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IMO, he's very wrong and very biased towards the ultra-luxury ships.

I hated these ships in their original incarnation; floating Pintos if you will. I find them much improved sinch the stretch although they still have their drawbacks. The Sports Bar & Grill never functioned well as a deck buffet venue and the showroom can be a tight squeeze some nights.

Other than that, I find them to be nice ships.

I think it's really funny what with Douglas Ward going on and on about all his nonsense - read his book and find all the errors and you will see that he is as Tim said very biased towards ultra-luxury lines.

However I have heard from a number of people that there is some crowding on Dream/Wind.

I liked these ships a lot pre-stretch, I visited Windward once and was very impressed. I do agree though about the Sports Bar.

Seaward was actually better designed. If she wasn't built on such a really low budget she could have turned out as a really great ship. But those cabins ...

Also - do keep in mind that I haven't been on all these ships. I couldn't afford that . In fact I've only been on two NCL ships, Windward and Seaward. But Sky does look like a very nice generic megaship. Star looks very gaudy to my taste... So do SuperStar Leo/Virgo...

I suppose it is important that these ships were built to Asian tastes, and to me seem very gaudy.

At any rate, I'm in no hurry to go back to NCL. Actually it wouldn't be going "back" as the NCL I knew doesn't even exist any more...

And I don't really miss it either, since the competition has moved on so much, but I liked NCL as it was and I'd have been happy to go back.

quote:

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Originally posted by Cruiseny:
I think it's really funny what with Douglas Ward going on and on about all his nonsense...

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I’m sure that Douglas thinks he's right!

It is stunning how different people can have a very different opinions of exactly the same ship –in fact even the same cruise!

I have been reading the Berlitz guides since 1994 or thereabouts and have five or six editons sitting on my bookshelf.

These books are more than opinions, some of the things are presented as FACTS, when they are actually LIES!

For years Mr. Ward complimented NCL's Seaward for her teak promenade deck when it was a well-known truth that she had painted metal decks.

Numerous paragraphs have been accidentally copied (no doubt through sloppy use of the cut or copy and paste function in some word processor) to reviews that do not belong there... Even some of the statistics are wrong, in regard for instance to dinner seatings, number of elevators, single cabins, balcony cabins, inside/outside cabins, swimming pools, handicapped cabins and so forth are wrong and not corrected from year to year.

He even stated that one older ship (which one does not spring to mind) was equipped with Azipods an invention probably not coming about until twenty years after the ship being discussed entered service!

quote:

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Originally posted by Cruiseny:
These books are more than opinions, some of the things are presented as FACTS, when they are actually LIES!

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If you hold such a low opinion of his work, why buy five or six editions? Could ut be that the 'Berlitz' guide is still one of the best available?

Malcom, I actually don't know why I bought so many . I acutally have the latest edition, too. I did skip a year or two.

No, seriously, I buy it because it does give a good overview of what's out there. If I want to quickly look up some stats on a ship, the web address of an obscure cruise line, etc. and so forth, it is fine. It is just not as perfect a work as it is made out to be!

My first edition was the last one before they became annual. I was 5 at the time and just had gone on my first cruise.

That was my first ship book along with Arnold Kludas' 1992 or thereabouts edition of his famous "Great Passenger Ships" - I still use it but increasingly the ships that were around in 1992 aren't today!

When, oh when will we find a new edition?

85 Points Difference in 2001 Edition is Quality of Food (50) and Service (35) and this is the same what i see, when i compare Azur 1995 under Festival Flag with Monterey 1996 under MSC Flag.

quote:

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Originally posted by Sokker14:

The service in the restaurants was appauling! On the first night, our waiter threw the food at us and grumbled about how much he hated his job. On another night, all the waiters dissappeared half way through dinner, and were replaced with room stewardesses who didnt know what they were doing. This is what the lady replied when asked where the waiter went.

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quote:

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The food was not terrible, but thoroughly unmemorable. Also, go expecting lots of Asian food. During our four port days (out of 7), the only lunch available was in the Garden Cafe, which is a tiny little place with a buffet on par with your local Shoney's Breakfast buffet.

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Asian food, yes, there's a small section, ie at the omelette station. A nice touch. Especially bearing in mind this ship has a large cross section of nationalities aboard. Many Europeans, British, French, German, even Austrian. Some would say that a good curry is almost a British national dish these days

quote:

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Everyone waited until 3 pm, when hot dogs and hamburgers were finally served. There was also no seating, as this Cafe only is on one side of the ship, and only about 1/5 of the Deck 11.

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Sometimes a bit busy but not had a problem finding a seat within a few minutes. Hot Dogs, Burgers? Is that what you want? They have been available all the time at the Great Outdoors Cafe.

quote:

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With the service and food lousy in the free restaurants, one would expect the numerous alternative restaurants to be exceptional. This was not the case, as the food there was no better, but the service was. A not so bad $10 per person charge was made in two of the restaurants, but both had extra "platters" costing $19 per person.

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The service & Food has not been lousy on this trip. I would say that the choice is limites to about 5 entrees, inc the veggie, but we've not even thought about bothering with a speciality restaurant. Had plenty of tasty food to eat. The Caribbean night food was good. New to me.

quote:

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The photo gallery was a nightmare. One had to beg the photographers to take a picture, and even then photos didnt begin to appear until the third night, and all photos were underdeveloped. Even the photographers were unhappy with the results. To add insult to injury, the smallest photos cost $9.95 each, and the larger ones $15.95, among the most expensive in the industry.

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The photographers seem to be about taking lots of photos....but the prices are outrageous. The embarkation photo is $20, which is for 2 photos and a keyring. Ours is awful, the quality of print is very grainy, worse than a poor quality digital camera blown up image. My son even has his eyes closed, so that's a no buy. To be honest I haven't even bothered looking at the others of us, as the big pics re $29.95 each! 2 for $49.95.... I wouldn't even consider a brilliant photo at those prices. Have they gone up since last week? However some people are spending happily!

quote:

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There were almost no activities during the day, and even the usual Bingo cost a whopping $29 per set of cards!

Hagen Daz ice cream was available in addition to the regular ice cream at shoreside rates, which was fine.

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There are plenty of activities if you want them. Though I've passed on most [all probably] as I'm not into the silly pool games and hairy chest comps I haven't tried the HD as the Sprinkles ice cream with lunch is enough.

quote:

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There are two shops onboard, with very high prices, as they are run by Colombian Emeralds, and offer no sales whatsoever.

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Well there's a sale today.. 25% off all jewellery & earings, necklaces etc. As I'm not interested perhaps you should have swapped weeks.

Not been to any shows, so can't comment there, though the band playing in Dazzles last night were good.

quote:

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Everyone I spoke with onboard did not enjoy their cruise. A few people who were on their first cruise decided that cruising was not for them, based on the experience. I told them they should try another line, then make the decision. The whole voyage was a joke.

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Everyone seems quite happy... were you on the same ship?? I am beginning to wonder
I also think it depends on the passenger make up. Quite a mix of nationalities aboard here. The staff have all been pleasant. Though I have witnessed a few passengers who think that all wait staff should be treated like dirt, and if I'd been treated that way I'd find it hard to smile and be polite back. Some passengers also need a few lessons in eating habits. The girl in front of me at lunch yesterday walked along filling her plate and eating it with her fingers as she went dropping bits everywhere.

The ship itself is very nice, much more than I was expecting. The cabin is nice, but not overly spacious. The bathroom is tiny though.

[ 10-24-2002: Message edited by: Bobby G ]

All I can add is, NCL here in the U.K. certainly represent excellent value in Cruising.

[ 08-20-2002: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

quote:

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Originally posted by Sokker14:
I just returned this morning from the Freestyle Norwegian Sun. It was the worst cruise I have ever been on. It was my 47th cruise, my 4th with NCL, 1st with Freestyle, and my last with NCL.

The service in the restaurants was appauling...

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Well looks like PamM doesn't have the same bad experience as you,Norwegian Sun 7 days trip was my last vacation this year and I can complaint about the service and the food,everything was great,sorry for you !!!

[ 08-21-2002: Message edited by: joe at travelpage ]

quote:

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Originally posted by thulewx:
I was on the Wind a couple years ago and it was the worst ship I'd been on (out of 12 at the time). The stretch had apparently interfered with the plumbing capabilities and by day 3 (of 7), the bottom 3 decks (crew decks) had sewage floating in the halls with almost a foot of standing water in places. The stench throughout the ship was horrible. !

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It surprises me that anyone would prefer these ships "stretched" over the original design. NCL added VERY FEW public areas, but lot's of revenue producing cabins.

In the process of stretching these rather awkward ships, NCL has made them two of the highest density mass market ships cruising today. They each offer a space ratio of 29.3 ..... very poor by today's standards. The comparatively sized "S-Class" ships of HAL offer a space ratio of 43.8 ...... quite a difference.

Also, the stretch ruined the midship pool area by added exterior suites (small as they may be) to the sides of the pool area, and taking away any view. Now you can enjoy the view of a white steel wall while you take a swim.

At the end of the day, pre or post stretch, I never had a desire to sail on these ships. There are too many ships out there that are far more interesting and spacious, for the same price.

That said, I liked them as originally designed - I think lots of people overlook the wonderful terraced decks, and those beautiful dining rooms around the stern.

That said, I think they've been ruined post stretch.