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Becca

Number of Cruises: 35
Cruise Line: Norwegian Cruise Line
Ship: Norway
Sailing Date: April 28th, 2002
Itinerary: St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Great Stirrup Cay

Embarkation

If you are a Latitudes member, you should not have to wait in line. There was no one in line ahead of us, so it went quickly. We arrived around noon.

Cabin

Our cabin was nice, it was large with plenty of room for storage. The bathroom also had storage space, and the shower was big enough for two. We had 3 electrical outlets in the cabin, and there was one in the bathroom (shavers only?). The bed in this cabin, was very uncomfortable (N145).

Ship

The International Deck has almost everything on it, that you want to see. There is shopping, the Library, Shore Excursion desk, Purser's Desk, Concierge, ice cream parlor, Internet Cafe, Children's play room, Onboard Credit Desk, Dive-In Desk, Saga Theater, Windjammer Bar, Sports Bar, Club Internationale, and the Great Outdoor Restaurant.

There are no ash trays sitting by the elevators, which eliminates much of the smoking in the public areas. I also don't recall seeing any, by the dining room. The elevators are sometimes slow.

There were too many announcements, during the day. I think most cruise lines leave this up to the Cruise Director. The CD on this ship is very young, and his messages sometimes sound "canned".

Immigration, when we stopped at St. Thomas, was very slow. On Princess, they do this quickly, we did not have to wait in line, at all. On the Norway, we waited in a long line, for at least 30 minutes. They could do this much better.

Food

The food was good, even in the Great Outdoor Restaurant. During the day, the set up large Webber kettles, and they BBQ'd ribs, chicken, sausages, briskets and steaks. This was delish. I had late seating dinner, and they did not offer lobsters on this cruise. Since I don't usually order lobster, it was no big deal.

The Sports Bar also served food; vegetarian, Indonesian and tapas (Mexican). They also made popcorn.

I did not go to Le Bistro, but they do have one. There were two midnight buffets, the Caribbean buffet and the Chocoholic buffet.

Entertainment

The entertainment was great. The Jean Ann Ryan dancers, did "Sing, Sing, Sing!", as well as "Que Noche!" and "Sea Legs Goes Hollywood!"

The comedian/juggler, Peter Sasso, was very funny, as well as a comedian/magician John Ferrentino, who was okay. The comedian, Jeff Harms, was funny. I missed hearing one singer, Richie Sacks.

Other performers, were small bands and musicians. A group called Two Tones, pianist Nathaniel Malijan, Up Ryzin' Caribbean Band, the S/S Norway Showband, pianist Alex Navarro, and Pure Souls.

Ports

At St. Maarten, we went to Orient Beach. The water here is much too rough to swim, we should have gone to Baie Rouge, where the water is nice and smooth. At St. Thomas, we went to Magen's Bay. It was great! With only 3 ships in port, there were not many people there. We were late getting to the private island, so I stayed on the ship.

Service

Our waiter was Reynald Robinson (sp) from Haiti, and his "son", the assistant waiter, Isaac Hernandez. I am not sure about the spellings of their names. They were a great team, and they were patient with us. They remembered who wanted tea and coffee. Our cabin steward was Ngurah, who was also very good.

Disembarkation

This was the smoothest disembarkation, ever. I had breakfast with some friends, then I went back to my cabin, and I reclined comfortably, until I was called to disembark. No other cruise line, allows you to enjoy the peace and quiet of your cabin on the last morning of the cruise.

We ordered the transfers, to get from the ship to the FLL airport. We waited, with dozens of other people, but no more busses were showing up. We took a cab to FLL, at $60.00+.

The Norway was fun, I will enjoy going again.

Becca

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