The Norwegian Sea.... All is can say to potential Norwegian cruisers...BEWARE. The SEA is horrible. The ship is old, small and outdated. The food is terrible, the service is even worse and the cabins are dirty and smelly. The activities on board are pathetic and a sad excuse for entertainment…….. In short, DON’T GO!!! This was my first and LAST cruise. I’m sure other cruise lines may be better, but I am completely traumatized by The Norwegian Sea, as I’m sure you will be if you choose to sail on it!!

ROOMS – outdated, extremely small, run-down from overuse, bathrooms were unbearable, dirty (found undergarments left over from other passengers in drawers), windows were so dirty you could barely see out of them, A/C never worked, so it was always either too hot or too cold, ship moved so much that everything rattled (could barely get a hour of sleep), only one outlet, no lock box, plumbing system is so old that it constantly breaks, toilets did not flush for first three days so all passengers had to use the public restrooms

SERVICE – HORRIBLE, staff never listened to complaints or requests, never cleaned up around the ship, it was filthy, room service was slow and after placing your tray outside your room, it would sit there for days as staff walked right passed it, all staff members would deter blame on another department, thus no complaints were ever addressed…not to mention, you are automatically charged $10 per day per person for gratuity AL WELL AS a 15% gratuity is automatically added to EVERY purchase! Pretty ridiculous considering how horrible the service was……but why should they care? They are already getting tipped no matter how you feel!.....and to make matters worse, we came back to our room right before disembarkation and found staff digging the plastic souvenir cups OUT OF THE TRASH TO REUSE THEM!!!! It was horrifying!!

POOL – the pool was ridiculously small and constantly filled with kids running around, no opportunity for quiet or relaxation, no activities or entertainment by the pool, only 50 broken-down old plastic pool chairs on deck for the 1,800 passenger boat, so if you manage to get one (which is almost impossible) they are picked up by 6 pm so if you want to hang out on deck, YOU HAVE TO STAND!!

ENTERTAINMENT – NOTHING TO DO, the entertainment was ridiculous, the shows were terrible, the mock game shows were boring, most of the audience would fall asleep or walk out, the karaoke was boring and if you didn’t sign up days in advance them you didn’t get to perform

EXCURSIONS – DO NOT BOOK THEM THROUGH THE SHIP!!! There is a 300% mark up!! NCL tries to dig into your pockets at every chance they can get!!!

CASINO – to call it a “casino” is sad…so I guess if you consider 5 tables, 20 slot machines, 1 bar and NO comped drinks while gambling a casino….then it’s a “casino”

And the WORST OF ALL…..the FOOD - absolutely atrocious. The buffet style food was horrible, mere burgers and pizza that were always stale, juice and coffee only available at breakfast, all other drinks cost extra, the food always seemed recycled from the buffet, to the restaurant, to room service, the food in the restaurants was as pathetic as the service, no coffee available after breakfast except for a small gas-station style coffee machine with a $2.50 charge, no 24 hour dining, everything closed at midnight, except for a few items available through room service, which tasted as if it was leftover from dinner, the only decent food on the ship was at a restaurant that had a $20 cover charge per person, and even there, the wait staff repeatedly brought out baskets of bread to try to fill you up on bread as you waited 45 minutes for the food… (since the cover charge included unlimited surf and turf), clearly they didn’t want you to order more of the “good” food…..afraid it would run out and the staff would be left without dinner….., the staff ate much better than the passengers (in the restaurant with the cover charge, most of the diners were staff AND one night at the buffet of stale pizza and old, dry club sandwiches, I saw the cook cooking jumbo shrimp scampi and asked for some….at which time he covered the wok and said “Oh no, this is for the staff”

The ONLY GOOD thing to come out of the cruise….Mexico, Belize and Honduras are BEAUTIFUL counties with beautiful, kind and hospitable people. My advice: If you’re leaving out of Houston, STAY IN HOUSTON for the week. It’s an amazing city and you will have a BLAST!