Arrived at approx 2 pm Feb. 3rd 2008 the check in was fine, went to dinner at the palace at 6 pm My wife, and I both had steak, they would be a cheap come on dinner for 4.99 at home. They were tough, and tasteless. The next morning we ate at the crossings. We both had eggs, hash browns, I had ham, my wife had bacon, the hash browns were quartered red potatoes that were not done, the ham was tough, and the bacon tasted like it was cooked yesterday. After that when we ate on board the ship, we ate at the buffet. It was also terrible, but you could stay to the fruits, cold cereal, and at least have your eggs cooked right there. The only decent one was the hot dog, and hamburger bar, aft of the buffet, but they closed this one up for meaningless repairs, like painting for 3 days, but this one ran out of hot dog, and hamburger buns 3 days in a row, which we were docked at that time and they could of went off ship and replaced the supply. Also after breakfast no more juice was in the dispenser, we tried to go to the Palace again, but was refused entrance, very rudely, and embarrassed by the maitre because we had shorts on below our knees, it was not hush hush, she was so loud that every body looked at us like we had the plague, but later that night we found out that one mother, and daughter that we had met were let in the same night with shorts the same length as ours. This is when I found out that freestyle, was not really freestyle, which was one of the reasons I booked the cruise. An overview of the food, and service was: the salad fixings were bad, never enough to make a good salad, the lettuce was always wet, and slimy. The bacon sat in grease, and was uneatable; the pancakes were like microwaved ones. The only good things about breakfast was Chris the egg chef was very good, and the cold cereal. Also when you ran out of things like bread, or jelly, it would take at least 20 min. To get more. One day it took 25 min. To get bread, and when it got there they sat it down, and went to doing something else for another 10 min. Before they put it out for us to use. The only bright spots in the dinning areas were Chastity, April Jackson, and Chris the chef. We were going to try one of the extra fee dinning areas, but everybody that we talked to said it was just as bad as the included areas. We met a lot of new people from all over the world, but not one had anything good to say about the dinning on this ship. This is the first cruise I have ever taken, and was very disgusted with the food, my wife, and I both had diarrhoea every day, also my wife, and I are diabetic, and even though we had to be selective in what we ate, it was still very bad, the only difference between eating in one of the premium rooms and the buffet was the looks of the room. You can polish crap to make it look better, but it is still crap. Our friends that we met on board, and at home have assured us that the other cruise lines do serve there guests a lot better food. Now about the stateroom, the showers were very small, and the water went from cold to burning hot with no pressure, the mattress were very hard, and uncomfortable. The window was always so dirty that we could not see out of it. Francisco, the one that did our cabin was OUTSTANDING!
Now the entertainment, lets face it the word Las Vegas STYLE is the only thing that gets you through on this one, but I live in Las Vegas, and every act that was on this ship would be a free lounge act here, but they were some of the bright spots, like Tony Beau, Ross Bennett, and the ncl cast that performed in the Stardust, also I would like to say that Silas, Nick, Suzanne, and Jess did do an outstanding job entertaining us.in the book in the cabin it said that if we had a complaint to go to the reception desk, well we did because we had went on shore, and then decided to go on the glass bottom boat excursion. We asked one of the guys on shore that worked for ncl what the charge was he said 34.00, but when we got to the table to purchase it another person said 39.00. When we told him that the other person said 34.00 he said well ok I guess I’ll give it to you for that. There was another couple that he was going to charge the higher price too. Then we met a couple from England that said that they had paid 39.00 on shore for the same excursion from a person on shore that worked for ncl. When we went to the front desk they shrugged it off like that’s the way it was, so get over it, so we figured it was useless to talk to them. We also looked at the shore excursion list at the reception desk, and it stated 34.00 for this excursion. I understand the business part, and that costs are a big part, but when you treat the people that keeps you in business the way the guests were on this cruise, you won’t last. When we saw on the news while on the cruise that you were only going to cruise Hawaii with one ship, we were not surprised. I did think that you could have told your employees about it before it came on the news, and all the guests new about it before them. The people that work for you are your lifeline, and if you treat them bad, it is the guests that suffer for it. That starts the domino effect. I don’t understand about the Coast Guard making you use union labour, but this is no excuse for the treatment that we were given. When I was booking this cruise, cost was not even considered, but the way we were treated, I figure that I overpaid you for the meals, room, and entertainment If it wasn’t for the things we have seen on the Islands this cruise would have been a total loss. I blame the management for the way this ship was run. Hopefully you will take the complaints to heart, for your sake as well as your guests. My cabin was 0201. I have written, called, and emailed NCL several times, and have not received an answer of any kind.
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