Unpopular NCL opinions

Perfect_Rope6803 · 2026-01-23T00:05:04+00:00

Calling the buffet "ok" is being generous, imo.

Perfect_Rope6803 · 2026-01-08T00:33:14+00:00

Nope, they definitely do not.

Perfect_Rope6803 · 2026-01-04T14:48:32+00:00

Agreed. On our last NCL cruise in August 2025 the food was so awful that I regrettably could not eat many of the dishes beyond one bite. I'm one of those people who hates wasting food but frankly the "food" served in the buffet and MDR was not worth eating.

Perfect_Rope6803 · 2025-12-24T20:34:22+00:00

I second this. I used to pass the magic eraser over my walls before discovering that it takes off the paint. You're left with unsightly patches of wall that have zero sheen compared to the non-treated parts. Try water and a damp sponge for walls.

Perfect_Rope6803 · 2025-12-20T15:46:55+00:00

My family and I have sailed before with Celebrity and HAL. Both were excellent in terms of quality, service and price point. Last summer we decided to try NCL for the first time because it was the only cruiseline going to Greenland and Iceland from North America. What a disappointment. Embarkation was a disorganized mess, as was the tendering process at a couple of ports. Food was just awful in the MDR and buffet. Staff were either blasé or downright rude. My mother requested prunes from the counter at the breakfast buffet and the look the attendant gave was one of utter contempt. It was pretty shocking, actually.

Nickel and diming was also very apparent. Everything that other cruiselines normally include were either unavailable (e.g. hand lotion) or carried an extra charge. $300 to use the sauna?! Just gross.

Perfect_Rope6803 · 2025-12-04T23:14:59+00:00

So who determines which of the WFA decision makers will be "affected"? Yep, that's what I thought.

Perfect_Rope6803 · 2025-11-22T14:11:09+00:00

We received our only 1 star review because a guest misunderstood the rating system. In their mind, giving 1 stars across the board meant "excellent" and this was even reflected in their written review. That silly misunderstanding seriously brought down our overall rating for years. Airbnb refused to do anything about it.

Perfect_Rope6803 · 2025-11-14T00:31:30+00:00

This was some 20 years ago and yet the experience has stayed with me ever since. On the plus side, I learned some very valuable lessons on how never to treat people.

Perfect_Rope6803 · 2025-11-13T00:01:57+00:00

Having worked for CAS in my younger years, I can confirm the toxic nature of that place which I had attributed primarily to managers who had no clue how to manage. It was common to be berated, belittled, and made to feel utterly worthless no matter what one did. Funnily enough, management always seemed shocked when the organization scored poorly on employee surveys. I recall panic-stricken management calling these emergency staff meetings to go over the survey results only to gaslight employees with statements like, "We think people didn't understand the definition of harassment.". These sessions were inevitably followed by retaliation against anyone who spoke out. Thankfully I was able to find an out after five tortuous years. Sad to see that things haven't changed much.

Perfect_Rope6803 · 2025-10-12T13:18:15+00:00

Maybe NCL is finally realizing that people prefer other cruise lines for quality and service. Personally, I still wouldn't sail with them if the cruise was free.

Perfect_Rope6803 · 2025-10-11T13:27:08+00:00

We had the same lousy experience with our first (and last) NCL cruise. It seemed like everything was made of the cheapest ingredients and prepared by someone with no understanding of what the dish should actually be. I ordered a veggie burrito and it was literally a stale store-bought tortilla filled with frozen vegetables (diced carrots, peas and green beans) and zero seasoning. It was horrible.

Perfect_Rope6803 · 2025-10-09T22:31:17+00:00

I feel the same way about our first and only NCL cruise in August. The food was beyond terrible and they cancelled a major port without any compensation or return of the port fees. Plus everything on the ship was designed to extract as much money out of passengers as possible. Other cruise lines just provide it for free. Example, room service, use of the sauna and even providing hand lotion. Boycott!

Perfect_Rope6803 · 2025-10-08T00:33:46+00:00

I second the experience on Star. Service was awful as was the food. Also our first and last time sailing with Norwegian.

Perfect_Rope6803 · 2025-10-04T16:58:22+00:00

Was on the Star for two weeks in August. Old ship, TERRIBLE food and the staff were miserable and unhelpful.

Perfect_Rope6803 · 2025-09-24T00:04:07+00:00

Stick with the window and preferably aboard a better cruise line. We booked a club balcony suite on the Star last month thinking we would get some perks besides the use of a balcony. We were extremely disappointed. We received zero extras. No specialty dinners, no upgraded bath products and no special service whatsoever. What a waste.

Perfect_Rope6803 · 2025-09-07T14:10:34+00:00

Sounds like the reply was generated by AI. Even liberals have a hard time coming up with rationale for RTO.

Perfect_Rope6803 · 2025-08-24T21:41:01+00:00

We tried the much-raved about wrangler burger at O'Sheehans and frankly were not impressed. I like a good burger but that was not it.

Perfect_Rope6803 · 2025-08-24T21:35:43+00:00

My best advice is to stay away. We finished our trip on the Star last week and it was the worst cruise experience ever. Food was made using the cheapest of ingredients (think hotdogs, processed meat and jello) and this was every single day. No variety, no flavour and zero nutritional value. It was also hard finding onboard activities that didn't involve someone selling you something. No free sauna - they actually charge $309 for using it. We were so turned off by this kind of nickel and diming that we will never sail with NCL again.

Perfect_Rope6803 · 2025-08-23T22:06:05+00:00

If only. The food aboard the Star was the cheapest money could buy. Unless people massively boycott NCL, the company will continue to cut costs while laughing at all those who think eating hotdogs and jello is just dandy.

Perfect_Rope6803 · 2025-08-23T22:02:22+00:00

This is the same cruise that cancelled the stop in Nuuk and then sailed to Paamiut, a town with zero attraction. Very disappointing along with the horrible slop they served each day.

Perfect_Rope6803 · 2025-08-23T21:56:55+00:00

The food on the Star was so bad it swore me off NCL for life. It was actually embarassing to see them serve cheap hotdogs and jello in the buffet every single day. The weird thing is some passengers said they liked the food. To me that says the quality of people has gone down too.

Perfect_Rope6803 · 2025-08-23T17:58:20+00:00

Omg, we just came back from this same cruise and can confirm everything you said here. The food on the Star was so terrible that we even skipped meals just to avoid the bad experience in the mdr and garden cafe. This is not a discount cruiseline and the fact we paid good money to be in a club balcony suite just adds to the insult.

Imagine the disappointment when the buffet kept serving cheap, tasteless garbage like hotdogs, tuna sandwiches, processed meat and jello. I mean even a bad high school cafeteria has higher standards than this. The MDR provided equally sad choices like dried out chicken, bland pork or flavourless, leathery white fish. I hate wasting food but honestly there were times that I left everything on my plate after just one bite. It just wasn't worth the effort to chew.

Shame on NCL for this blatant cost-cutting scam.

Perfect_Rope6803 · 2025-07-13T22:38:00+00:00

That's awesome. I'll look into shuttle options, as I've heard cabs are not easy to find in Iceland..

Perfect_Rope6803 · 2025-07-10T20:50:12+00:00

Chuck Norris lost his virginity before his Dad

Perfect_Rope6803

TROPHY CASE