Norwegian Freestyle Cruise Is A Big Sinker
Dear Norwegian Cruise Lines,
About a month ago, my husband and I took a “freestyle cruise” with Norwegian Cruise lines.
So what did we think of it? Well, I’m not privy to the “cruising experience” so I don’t really have anything to compare our trip to. But honestly? I just don’t get the appeal.
I don’t get the appeal of paying alot of money ahead of time for crap food.
Then again, I don’t get the appeal of paying extra money while there just to get “ok” food.
I don’t get the whole “tips are included in your upfront costs” only to have an extra 18% tacked on to every bill for “gratuities” - especially when service was slow and the “service” we received wasn’t really all that helpful. Another thing that didn’t appeal? Having the cruise director and captain “encourage” people a few times each day over the loud speaker to tip more on top of the already charged 18%.
I also don’t get the appeal of pulling into ports that seem alot like a roofless outhouses in July - hot, stinky and dirty.
And I don’t quite understand why the ship’s activities director would get on the loudspeaker each morning to let us know what lame activities were available. (Oh that craptacular three-year-old movie you’re showing on a projection screen at 11:45 a.m.? That’s TOTALLY work waking me up for!) I’M ON VACATION! I’m SLEEPING.
But I will tell you that if you are worried about gaining weight on a cruise? This is the ship you want to be on. I LOST weight on my Norwegian cruise. Oh yeah, another fun part about the trip? The entrance of a general eating area often smelled like sewage. In fact, you could smell the sewage scent as you walked up the staircases.
But the thing I understand the least is the Norwegian Cruise Lines shuttle bus driver who drove us four miles from the airport to the ship. We paid extra for the bus. We handled our luggage ourselves. He drove us four miles. We got off of the bus. He stood right by the door with his hand held out. We didn’t realize we had to tip him until it was too late. We had our hands full of stuff and are on the shuttle steps. If we stopped to get out wallets we’d hold up the entire line. We figured we’d walk past, get situated and tip him. But as we walked past him he said, “Thank you have a nice day” then muttered under his breath “cheapa$$ motherf#cker.” Um hello? The man, who is paid by you, literally did nothing but drive us 4.2 miles and mutter this profanity under his breath. Even though my husband didn’t hear him? I did!
(My husband might drive me crazy at times but the last thing that man is? Is cheap, let alone a “cheapa$$ motherf*cker.”)
Needless to say once we got situated, we didn’t go back to tip him.
We ended up leaving our camera in our room. I guess our extra tip for the housekeeping staff wasn’t good enough because no one bothered sending it back. And when I called the cruise line to ask about it, no one knew anything. (By the way, we used housekeeping to make the bed and change out towels, ONCE in our entire stay. And yes, we still tipped extra and as if we used used them every day.)
So THANK YOU NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINES for your service, your honesty, your food, your ports of call, your lingering odors, the seriously cheezy decor and everything else.
But lest you think all I could do is find fault with everything I will say this: Your nightclub was fun. (But the name - ”Dazzles”? Seriously? Oh and one of the bartenders was super fun and awesome. He made the BEST martinis and was fun to talk to. (We saw him a few nights. HE got some great extra tips. Oh and although I told you all this on your feedback forms, I did mention how awesome this guy was. So at least you know who your stellar support peeps are.) Oh and I like the freestyle idea. When I’m on vacation, I’m anti-social. So I prefer to not get stuck at a table of strangers, forcing myself to make small-talk. So at least there’s that.
Oh and please stop sending me “offers” to cruise with you again. It so ain’t ever gonna happen!
Ta ta!
Lisa
P.S. I mentioned this on my Facebook. And what do you know? There were others that mentioned they had sucky experiences with you too! Why am I not surprised?
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Motherofbun » Norwegian Cruise Ship Freestyle Cruise Is A Big Sinker : Cruise News, Information, Booking, Planning and Vacations — May 22, 2009 @ 5:39 pm
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By Nancy, May 22, 2009 @ 4:23 pm
Oh, bummer….. I was also surprised to get a “BILL” for tips the last day of our cruise. At the very bottom of the bill in teeny tiny letters it said you can dispute (What?) this bill by going to the this special room on alternate Tuesdays between 3pm and 3:10pm and get it changed. WHATEVER!! And the bill was automatically put on my credit card without my signing it…I was pissed to say the least…
By Misagracie, May 22, 2009 @ 5:36 pm
I only like Carnival for cruising. I’ve tried others and from the sounds of it Princess is on par with Norwegian for their suck-tastic service, food and activities.
Don’t let this one bad experience turn you off on cruising though, it can be very fun and wonderfully easy to see many different locations without having to change hotels.
By Kelly, May 24, 2009 @ 6:17 am
Thank you for sharing your craptastic experience. My husband I were considering this for an anniversary trip… but maybe not…
By Tuesday, May 24, 2009 @ 7:01 pm
I have no desire to get on a cruise anytime soon and I am SO glad after reading this.
By HollowSquirrel, May 24, 2009 @ 11:16 pm
I appreciate your post - I had no idea about the tipping issues, and I would have been iRATE at the bus driver. He said WHAT? In my opinion, this kind of service refutes this substantial “recession” we’re in — we’ll really be in a recession when shitacular employees get the boot and have to learn how to be kind and helpful in order to be paid.
By trisha, May 25, 2009 @ 8:41 pm
i fear you and i may be twins. I just wrote this post about Caribbean cruise lines last week. LOL!
trisha
By Jill, May 26, 2009 @ 3:49 pm
Yeah, being out at sea with 2,000 other people and not being able to get away is not my idea of fun. *eeww the germs*** I’ve never been on a cruise and don’t plan on ever going. At least you can say you’ve been there / done that.
By raisingz, May 26, 2009 @ 7:13 pm
Wow! That really sucks! I am sorry you had such a bad experience. I think the cruise lines might be growing a little too fast. My first cruise in 1999 on Princess had better service and food than our cruise on one of the “top” lines Celebrity in 2008. We enjoyed ourselves but the service was crap and the food was okay (nothing to write home about). We didn’t run into as many tip issues as you did but we did have some. I think destination vacations are much better than cruises, you have so much more flexibility
By Mike, May 27, 2009 @ 6:42 pm
I’ve cruise a few times and probably won’t again just for those reasons you brought up. The wife and I just spent a week in the USVI on St. John and rented a house. The whole vacation was much cheaper than a cruise and we got to enjoy the Caribbean much more…
By Sarah @ BecomingSarah.com, May 27, 2009 @ 8:58 pm
What a bummer that the experience wasn’t a little better. You’d think if you spent the money for a nice trip, they could at least provide that.
And the bus driver was way out of line. You handled that sooooo much better than I would have.
By Sugared Harpy, May 28, 2009 @ 2:22 am
Oh, thank you for going on this test cruise just for me. Now I know I really never want to go, because this is exactly how I picture it.
That and lame prom-style pictures our friends have shown us.
By Liz@thisfullhouse, May 28, 2009 @ 8:41 pm
Well, my husband was toying around with the idea of this type of cruise for out 20th, next year. Think I’m going to have him read this post, first. No, I know am. Sheesh!
By Joanna Jenkins, May 29, 2009 @ 3:47 am
Booo, that stinks! I’ve been on Royal and Princess and mostly had a great time– And, gained weight.
I’m new to your blog from Green Eyed Momster. I enjoyed looking around and will be back again soon.
By VirtualSprite, June 1, 2009 @ 2:27 pm
That does suck. We’ve been thinking about taking a cruise sometime, but I’ll definitely not use Norwegian.
By Michelle Cox, June 5, 2009 @ 11:32 am
I’m sorry you had such a bad experience. I’ve only taken two cruises - one on Disney (amazing AMAZING) and one on Norwegian (not as amazing as Disney, but certainly not your experience). I would highly suggest Disney b/4 quitting the whole cruise thing. It’s twice as expensive, but OMG!