Just cruised 10/25 aboard the NCL Star. It was a great cruise. I just wanted to comment that we ate every evening at the Versailles. The food was outstanding and so was the service. I especially liked that they had lobster twice on the menu. They had new menus and I really liked the selections.
I will not pay the surchage to eat, when I already paid for the cruise. I did notice that since the last time I was on this ship 9/06, they have added a surcharge to the mexican restaraunt. Which I have eaten at on several of the NCL ships and I was not impressed with the food.
We just returned off the Star last week. Good cruise, eat at most of the specialty restaurants, worth every penny. The lobster at Soho was the best. Good crew and the entertainment was great.
WOW. Thanks for the comprehensive review! No reason to think that this is not fleet wide and as such should expect the same prices, etc. on Pearl.
Question - NCL-U? That sounds like a blast! Is this something new or have we missed out on the other cruises? How in heaven's name did you make it out of Gatsby's after 5 of the aforementioned? Phew!
We just got off the Spirit yesterday from the Thanksgiving cruise. The prices listed are accurate, and they do not indicate going away. I am just waiting for them to charge for the Windows restaurant too. NCL nickel and dimes you for everything. Charging $10 for LaTrattoria is absurd. They curtain off part of the buffet area on 12 and call it an Italian restaurant! I don't know how you can screw up Italian food, but they managed. They even apologized for spilling olive oil on my son's jacket and said that they would dry clean it (which they did)and reduce his meal charge to $5 (he's 13). When we got the bill on the last day, the original charge showed the reduced charge, but someone went into the system and added back the $5!
People go to these specialty restaurants because the food is so mediocre in the regular dining rooms. On Thanksgiving night, we wanted traditional turkey dinner, so we TRIED to get into either Windows or the Garden (there is no differece between the 2 menus; they SAY that there is a dress code difference between the 2, but they don't turn away anyone, including shorts or ratty jeans at Windows). The 1+ hour wait at either restaurant sent us back upstairs to the buffet. The carving station had turkey, but the roast turkey breast was still pink in about 1/3 of it. When I told the carver that this was a problem, he asked if I wanted a more WELL DONE piece! I had to run back to the table to stop my son from eating his! I found the buffet manager and told him to stop serving the turkey before they killed someone. He even took my son's plate of turkey to the chef as proof.
IF you can live on bread and salad, then you will be fine on NCL. They have an outstanding bakery. But other than that, good luck.
Dyxiegirl - I am sorry to learn of your meal problems on board the NCL Spirit. The quality was much different when we cruised on her in Sept.
This is not a normal NCL occurrence but it does make NCL look bad. This occurring at a time when a cruiseline cannot afford to look bad. The repositioning may have resulted in some substantial crew changes (especially in the kitchens) and there may be the resulting problems thereby!
We cruised the NCL Dawn in Nov. and had the cruise of a lifetime. Especially fantastic was the turkey! So it is not the same on all the NCL ships!
If this is going to be a continuing problem I am sure our fellow cruisers will keep us posted. Meanwhile - book another cruise immediately-and get some good cruise cuisine into you-you'll feel better immediately!
Thank You for this posting-we will track it accordingly!
I too am shocked and saddened to hear this news. We love our cruise on the Spirit and never had a bad meal. Buffets are our least favorites but that is on dry land as well.
I concur with Billy that this is no doubt and anomaly. I hope so.
I'll keep everyone posted on ours in February.
I will say I am a bit surprised that they charged for LaTrattoria because it was just a cordoned off area of the buffet. This is why we didn't bother when we were aboard and at that time there was no surcharge for this restaurant.
I won't argue about the nickel and dime comment but it is something within the passenger's control. After all the mains are still free as well as the water / iced tea / cappuccino.
I agree with Billy that you need to book another immediately!
Hi Dyxiegirl, sorry to hear your cruise wasn't that great. We had wonderful food on the Sky, so BillyBuzzy and Paul & Darryl are right, it's not fleet wide. Please try another cruise, I'm sure it will be better. Welcome back!
Thanks for all your comments. We are planning on another cruise next year sometime, but back on Princess. There was just no comparison between the two cruise lines, in our opinion.
Linear Mode
