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Don Gartshore

Age: 42
Occupation: Government
Number of Cruises: 2
Cruise Line: Norwegian Cruise Line
Ship: Norwegian Wind
Sailing Date: December 15th, 2001
Itinerary: Singapore to Sydney Australia

Where do I start with my complaints about my recent Norwegian Cruise Lines vacation. First my name is Don and I live in Whitby, Ontario, Canada, just 30 miles east of Toronto. My travel agent helped me book a vacation with NCL, on the Norwegian Wind, cruising from Singapore on Dec. 15, 2001 and arriving in Sydney Australia on Jan. 3, 2002. The flight was to be with Northwest Airlines from Toronto to Detroit, then Detroit to Tokyo, then Tokyo to Singapore. Because of special dietary requirements my travel agent and I both confirmed through NCL and direct with Northwest Airlines that my meal requirements would be dealt with accordingly. I am on a Gluten Free diet, meaning basically that I am allergic to wheat flour and other wheat products and by-products. Well let me just say that on my flights from Detroit to Tokyo and from Tokyo to Singapore I had nothing to eat due the fact that the airline and/or NCL did not live up to their ends of the booking agreements.

Arriving in Singapore at 1am on Dec. 15, 2001, other cruise passengers and myself were transferred to the Westin hotel, since the ship was not in harbour. This was expected and I knew that my room was pre-booked by NCL at the hotel. When arriving at the hotel I found out that I was not on the list of passengers, therefore I did have a room assigned. I waited for over 45 minutes before they figured out that I was on the cruise and that I should have had a room. They got me the key/card to my room and sent me on my way to get my bags. When arriving in the room where they were putting the luggage from the planes my bags were not there. It took me over another 2 hours to finally get my bags and then find my way to my room, dragging my bags along behind me, with not help. It was nearly 4:30am by the time that my head hit the pillow, and I was then up again by 8:30am.

Everyone was transferred to the dock to board the ship around 10am and the line-ups there were longer than any I have ever seen. Total disorganization on the half of NCL management. I finally arrived at my cabin after lunch, only to find that the cabin they were putting me in was on Deck 5, although it was an outside cabin (one thing was right). Let me just tell you that from day one of the booking of this cruise I had booked and paid for an outside cabin on Deck 8, with an unobstructed view. After going to Reception, Mid Ship Deck 7, I finally got transferred from Deck 5 to Deck 8, although I was given a cabin with a partially obstructed view. Please also note that I was not the only one at reception, since when I had arrived there, there was already a line up of over 30 people and it grew behind me. It took approximately an hour to get through the line and talk with the receptionist and arrange to get moved.

I will admit that even with the partially obstructed view, the cabin was a very nice cabin...and although partially obstructed the view was great when at sea.

The staff on board the Norwegian Wind were the greatest people. They were all very friendly, helpful and always willing to give a helping hand when required. But let me state that by the word staff I am talking about those persons on board the ship that worked 7 days a week to make sure that things were great...these persons were the waitresses and waiters in the dining rooms (The Four Seasons, The Terraces, Le Bistro), the bartenders, waitresses, and waiters in the various bars (Lucky's Bar (#1), Topsiders, Wet Bar, Sports Bar and Grill, Observatory Lounge). These people are what really made this cruise a great experience. Not NCL. Other staff members on board that were of great help were the room stewardesses and stewards, the photographers, even the Doctor and his nurses. All of these people made this cruise worth while.

I have made a point here of stating these staff separately from the Management staff due to the fact that I believe, and I heard it from a lot of other passengers on board, that the so called Management staff should have been made to walk the plank. The Cruise Director, I never met the guy in person but did run into him sitting in the corner having drinks with some women, could never be found when passengers were looking for information. There were a number of single passengers also on this cruise, myself one of them, and there was never a singles night organized until the third to the last night of this particular 19 day cruise. I always thought that this type of thing was the job of the cruise director but I may be wrong. I, as many others did, felt that there was a lot of disorganization on this cruise and I can only hope that this did not continue on to the next cruise to New Zealand. I feel that all of the management staff of the 'Hotel' portion of the ship should have been taken off of the ship and made to go back to school to learn public relations and even to learn what their job is...especially the cruise director. Since this ship had been cruising for quite some time from Vancouver Canada to Russia to Japan to Hong Kong to Singapore, where I and others boarded, you would have thought that the organizational skills would have been a lot better than they were.

Please also note that I am not including the Captain of this ship under the heading of Management staff, as he is in charge of the ship and his crew, which he did very well, and the ship was run excellently as far as I am concerned. It was the 'Hotel' portion of the ship that I am talking about above...the part that you as a passenger pay all that hard earned money to enjoy and to be looked after on.

I believe that the only other items that a lot of passengers found very annoying were the high costs of the Internet Cafe ($0.75 US per minute) and the high costs of drinks at the bars. Please note that from what I understand the alcohol is purchased in port and also duty free and in bulk...usually at marvellously low prices, in comparison to home prices...so why did a dink on board cost almost double what it does at home? The internet costs were crazy as it would take a minimum of three to four minutes before you could even get into your email, thereby having an automatic charge of $2.25 to $3.00 US onto your cabin charges, just from signing on. Very expensive when comparing to onshore you could get 4 minutes for less than $1.00 AUS. It's good to see that NCL is thinking of their passengers wallets.

Let me say that although you have read a lot of complaints here you have not heard them all. If NCL would like to hear more about them all they have to do is email me, although I doubt very much if I will ever hear from them...even though my travel agent is also forwarding my views to their head office...if they still exist. I did enjoy the cruise, with some exceptions. The shore excursions were also very good, although twice the cost of the same excursion if booked on shore with local agencies at local currencies. Another matter NCL should look into. Money does not grow on trees, even though they may think it does, but when you have no options you have to go with what is offered. This gives me another reason to not travel alone...going ashore and taking excursions via taxi and other ways should not be done alone, and is not advisable.

I do hope that I hear from others who may have had the same experience with NCL, maybe even of this cruise. But I doubt if I will. I will also be surprised if you happen to publish this email to you. Everything that I have stated here is true and if you do not believe me then contact me and I will get another person(s) who was on the cruise to agree with my statements, or maybe make more.

DON

PS: I realize that I haven't said much but complain here but with the cost of travel today I did not get what I paid for. If you would like to hear about the ports etc please email me and I would be more than helpful to let you know what I did enjoy. Thank you.

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