Norwegian Cruiseline Consumer Reviews

MIAMI, FLORIDA -- EMPLOYEE INJURED AND BROKE AFTER NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINES (NCL) ACCIDENT. My opinion is as follows. This information is provided for informational purposes only, and is based on my personal experience and knowledge. I feel the following: I was recently an employee on a Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) ship, and was badly injured due to their clear negligence. They knew about, and management commented on the dangerous conditions multiple times, but did nothing to fix them. Their ship's two doctors subsequently misdiagnosed me, as did the shore side doctor referred by NCL, when I insisted upon another opinion.

They all treated me poorly and I feel without care for my well-being. The ship's doctors told me to "stop bothering them" and "stop returning (to the medical center)--there's nothing we can do for you!" Thus, my injuries were greatly worsened because of their incompetence. I now have serious injuries, because of the accident and their subsequent misdiagnosis and lack of care and support. I may end up with lifelong medical problems.

The ship's "security" staff immediately attempted to manipulate and intimidate me. No concern was shown regarding my care, improving conditions, or taking this episode to heart. They pressured me, and immediately started circulating lies and attempting to protect themselves legally, rather than concerning themselves with my well-being.

Because of their misdiagnosis of my injuries as insignificant, rather than the serious conditions that actually existed, I returned to the country I had been visiting, where the level of care I needed is hard to find. If I had known the truth about my injuries, I would have returned to the USA, where I have a known doctor, medical insurance, trusted friends, and family. Upon my realizing the true extent of my injuries, NCL refused in writing to send me to the USA for treatment, leaving me essentially stranded in another country, where good care is harder to find, where I do not have medical insurance, and where I have no close support nor family.

NCL had not reimbursed a cent, so that I was practically without funds to pursue care in that country either. I have received nothing but excuses and runarounds. The disrespect exhibited by this company in their effort to avoid payment has been disgraceful. I am now injured, have been unable to work for over half a year, and am broke. I can't afford medical care at this point, nor rent or food, if not for the kindness of my family. I have been forced to borrow to get by, putting further pressure on my family. NCL has destroyed me financially.

To date, NCL has not reimbursed a cent of my medical and associated bills, now $20,000, despite initial promises to the contrary (which I knew were lies, but the claims representative acted so indignant when I questioned her, I gave them a shot to prove themselves, and this is what I have received--just as I anticipated). I have precisely documented and submitted all expenditures, and have jumped through every hoop practical, and still they have failed to do as initially promised. I am broke, and NCL's disposition has caused additional undue stress on myself and my family. I resent it completely.

Here's an example of NCL's disposition: I could not get out of bed for over a month, let alone leave the house for over two months, and still NCL refused to let me hire an assistant for $5/hour (a good local wage) to help me to the restroom and shower, to prepare or bring food, tend to laundry or cleaning, or even look in on me, or keep me company a bit. Basic human needs that I was unable to provide for myself! I was completely alone in a foreign country, prone in bed, and I later developed a life threatening condition because of this injury, and they would not approve some reasonable assistance!

"Well, we don't usually do that." the claims representative told me on the phone. "Maybe if you get a doctor's note." So, I did get a doctor's note saying it was necessary, and then NCL never responded. And even though these bills amounted to less than 1/10th of what they would have been in the USA (talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth!), nearly a year later, NCL has failed reimburse anything at all!

Another of the many examples of NCL's lowly attempts to avoid payment is as follows: the claims representative told me she wanted all receipts (probably over 400 at this point), including doctor's receipts and reports, assistants receipts, miscellaneous items, etc., translated from Spanish to English. That is, they wanted me to fish around in this foreign country, when I'm not even mobile, where such things are not listed on the internet, trying to find a certified translator (who they will probably later say was not qualified), and pay for that too.

I even emailed NCL's claims representatives, including their agent in the country I'm in, asking for a referral for a translator and they failed to respond. Remember, NCL is a multi-million (billion?) dollar company headquartered in Miami! And yet they assert the onus is on me to try to secure these translations. Incredible. Does that seem fair and equitable? Do they really have no one in their Miami headquarters that speaks Spanish?! What?!

The lack of dignity exhibited by NCL in this case has been, in my opinion, disgraceful. Workers should know that NCL has arbitration clauses in their contracts, which you are forced to sign upon arrival on ship so that you really have little choice at that point, other than going home again (and I doubt they would pay for that, either). Thus, you are signing away most of your rights if you are employed by them, which puts you in a unenviable position should something happen (case in point).

These clauses protect NCL from being truly accountable in case of injury onboard, so if you have an accident, they will most likely never be held fully accountable, and you most likely will never receive care or compensation as you deserve. These clauses all but force arbitration, and all but prevent jury trials, where the public would see the abuses of this company and compensate people accordingly, and provide much needed publicity to keep the actions of NCL and the industry in the public eye.

As most NCL ships sail under a Bahamian flag, they are not bound by US law-- a clever way to get away with the disgraces I am here citing. The effects of this are considerable, not only in this instance of course, but with the majority of workers, including Filipino and other minority workers who sleep 8-to-a-cabin and work long hours.

Consider this greatly before sailing with them for recreation or employment! If something happens, it is possible you may find yourself in the position I am now in. I was a completely committed worker, and NCL has treated me terribly, exhibiting negligence, reckless disregard for my care and well-being, and utter disregard for their responsibility. They should be ashamed, but they do not seem to be-- it seems this is just how they do business.

I ask that you draw your own conclusions about this company and their care, and book your vacation or work accordingly. You must decide if this is a company you wish to support. My experience with them has been awful. I doubt my condition is unique, and I encourage those with similar experiences to post here and contact me. I also encourage members of the media to post here and contact me so that I may further publicly share my experience.

Please know that the cruise industry and NCL quell media for their purpose. Do not be mislead by questionable comments that may here follow. I believe NCL has employees who scan these sites and remove true commentary which is not in their favor, lest the truth be known. As well, I believe their employees make comments that make these types of terrible incidents seem the fault of the victim. I read comments in the vein of, "Well, many big corporations are unfair and unjust," or, "your mistake was..." If those are real posts, for gosh sake, what kind of standard is being set?

What are you willing to accept and excuse? Reasonable and sincere people know differently, so not be fooled-- see through this subterfuge. Place the responsibility where it belongs: squarely in the hands of NCL. If you see postings following this that make no sense to you, know by whom such outrageous comments are generally made. Seek the truth and make your decisions accordingly-- that is all I ask. The cruise industry badly needs greater oversight and enforcement.

Ask yourself if this is the type of company you wish to support. Thank you for considering this opinion when making your decisions of whom to travel or work with. It is my feeling that, because of what I have experienced with NCL before, during, and after this incident, those who are in agreement should boycott Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL). A denial of financial support is all that may affect them, it's only fair... It is what they have done to me. Thank you for your support.

MIAMI, FLORIDA -- I feel the following-- this is my opinion, only: Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) is an unfair company to work for or to sail with. Do not give your money or self to this unjust corporation. If you step foot on one of their ships, know that you are supporting a company that in my experience has little regard for its employees or passengers. They care about one thing, and one thing only: their profit margin. They will not concern themselves with your safety or care. The entire cruise industry badly needs better oversight, and NCL painfully demonstrates this.

Many of NCL's employees relay that they are taken advantage of. The vast majority are from the Philippines, are horribly underpaid and overworked, and are forced to live approximately 8 to a cabin, meaning they get very little sleep. These bottom floors flood with toilet water containing feces, as there are frequently severe plumbing problems on these bottom levels.

They work demanding jobs in the bowels of the ship lacking sleep, for long shifts, accidents waiting to happen, without representation. And rest assured, when an accident occurs, NCL will do anything to avoid paying a claim-- it is all about the money, not concern for their passengers or crew. They make money hand-over-fist, but will not devote the proceeds to protecting their crew or passengers.

Allow me to relay an incident, and I believe it is not unique. A worker, let's call them "worker x", was on one of the NCL ships. They were performing their duties and were injured due to negligent conditions. NCL's management knew about these conditions long beforehand, but did nothing to repair them. They badly injured themselves, but were misdiagnosed by the ship's doctors as having minimal injuries! So, they kept them on the ship, insisted they work, and all the while they had serious injuries that were worsening.

NCL's response was immediately to deny responsibility, and to disrespect and intimidate them. They had no concern for their well-being or care; they only wanted to cover themselves legally, and did all they could to cover-up and minimize the situation. The security staff immediately manipulated and intimidated them. It was a disgusting and shameful response.

A week later, worker x's pain was so excruciating, they insisted they be sent home for care. Upon their return, they went to their own doctor, who found serious injuries that were not diagnosed by the ship's doctors, who had basically told worker x to stop bothering them. These injuries were all made worse by the delay in proper care. NCL delayed months to reimburse their medical bills, so they were broke, and without medical care.

So, worker x was injured because of NCL's negligence and was unable to work for months, broke from the medical costs and could no longer afford proper medical care, and NCL only denied responsibility and delayed support. Their claims office did nothing but toy with them and give them the runaround despite their promises to the contrary.

I would be highly skeptical of anything NCL claims! I understand the captain himself mocked worker x when they brought the dangerous conditions to his attention. So, think about that: the captain himself expresses apathy and lack of concern for safety and conditions. I wonder what that translates into as a whole for the safety of passengers and employees. Workers should know that NCL has arbitration clauses in their contracts, which you are forced to sign upon arrival on ship so that you really have little choice at that point.

These clauses protect NCL from being truly accountable in case of injury onboard, so if you have an accident, they will most likely never be held fully accountable, and you most likely will never receive care or compensation as you deserve. These clauses all but prevent jury trials, where the public would see the abuses of this company and compensate people accordingly, and provide much needed publicity to keep the actions of this company in the public eye.

I personally would not trust being on a NCL vessel. I feel their medical staff is ill-trained, their security staff is primarily there to manipulate, intimidate, and protect the interests of the company, and the management seemingly has no decency. From my experience, I feel you are in the worst of hands with NCL. In my opinion, NCL is an example of an American company subjugating and manipulating passengers and crew for their financial gain. They should be ashamed, but are not.

And yes, they are an American company-- they have nothing to do with Norway and they fly a flag of the bahamas in order to circumvent American law which would provide better working conditions and protection for employees. Employees are made to sign a contract with an arbitration clause once they are aboard (so they have no choice at that point), so that legally NCL is protected from the multitude of enormous lawsuits they may otherwise face.

As a side note, it is my understanding (though I am not entirely clear on the matter) that NCL had to be legally forced to comply with the Americans with disabilities act-- they would not do so voluntarily. They would not of their own accord make travel for their disabled passengers more comfortable because it would have cost them money. Kindly consider that fact as an example of their apathy and lack of respect. I feel you should choose any other line on the seas if you choose to cruise, and you will be in better hands.

The entire cruise industry badly needs better oversight, and NCL painfully exemplifies this. Affect this company legally and fairly and in the only spot they may care: in their pocketbooks! Do not support this company. Stand up for the little person. In this case, everyone: passengers, crew, the individual. Stand up and say enough! I feel you should not sail with NCL as a passenger or crew, and that you should boycott Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL)!

I´m sure NCL will have this post removed quickly, lest the truth be known. The cruise industry quells the media to their purpose. Those disagreeing with this post certainly have that right, but kindly don´t base such on your love of cruising, or lack of knowledge of the deep-seated conditions inherent in this company. Seek the truth, and make your decisions accordingly- that is all I ask.

MIAMI, FLORIDA -- My wife, adult son and I recently sailed on a 7 day Western Mediterranean Cruise. We reserved a suite so that the three of us could share the same cabin. Turns out it was a "penthouse suite" and was fabulous. We may never travel in a "mini suite" again! We loved the service and the option of eating where ever we liked. On "dress up night" our concierge seated us in the main dining room at a table with a wonderful view.

Everything was fabulous (other than the food, which was good). All of our excursions were also wonderful and provided us with a panoramic view without showing too much or too little. We visited Malta, Sorrento, Pompeii, Pizza, Florence, Rome, the Vatican, and Cannes. A fabulous introduction to Europe! The Italian people were wonderful and seemed happy to meet us. We loved learning to communicate. One guide told us that since the Euro has risen, relative to the dollar, Americans have stopped traveling to Italy and they want us to come back! Tourism is 40% of the Italian economy, she informed us.

However, it cost me $993 for 615.00 Euros and a Euro buys in Italy what a dollar buys in the US. Also, it seemed like cab rides all cost 150 Euros. So, the scary part: Our excursion to Pisa and Florence was cancelled so we went ashore in Livorno and made a deal with a local cab driver ** to pay 150 Euros for a trip to Pisa and Florence, along with a Spanish family. We visited Pisa in the morning and Florence in the afternoon. We were told to watch for "pickpockets" on our excursions, especially in Rome and Florence, so we traveled only with Euros and our passports... no credit cards (never do this).

That day, three days from the end of our cruise, I was coming down with whatever illness it seemed everyone on the plane and ship had, and was not feeling well. When we arrived in Florence, we made arrangements to meet the cab driver at 4:30 PM so we would have plenty of time to get back to the ship (about 55 miles away) before it sailed at 7 PM. Of course, I felt sick and was not paying attention. I figured my wife and son (age 28) were, so I just tagged along.

About 4 PM my wife suggested that we head back to the cab, after a joyful day of sightseeing (no pickpockets attacked us but my son and I enjoyed bumping into each other saying loudly, "Scuzi!" and going for the pocket). But something happened. No one got directions to the cab, or even got his phone number (we had no cell phones... another mistake... take one, so we thought we had no use for his number) but we all memorized the landmarks and stores. Turns out there were several of those stores and all the landmarks looked the same.

After taking turns leading the way, one of us had the idea to hail a cab to take us to our cab. We did not have the address but did have a picture of a nearby pizza place and remembered the landmarks. Unfortunately, he did not speak English, spent 15 minutes driving around, charged us 5 Euros and kicked us out of his cab. Now we were desperate and knew we had to get back to the port. We hailed another cab and she agreed to take us to the port for 150 Euros. So, off we went.

I was thinking at that point that we could not possibly make it... but maybe we could. I couldn't conceive of the notion that we might not make it. Florence was very busy that day. It took a half-hour just to get out of town. Then the highway to Livorno was crowded with travelers and we had to slow down twice for roadwork. To top it off, our cab driver would not go over the speed limit.

Long story short, we arrived at the port 10 minutes after our ship sailed. Fortunately, I was sick and could not muster the emotions to express. However, my wife and son could, and did. Fortunately, again, our first cab driver met us at the port, upset that we had missed him and might be blaming him for leaving. We assured him we did not and explained what happened. I paid the other driver her 150 Euros and she left.

** explained that he had waited and that the Spanish family became very upset and paid him an extra 50 Euros to get them to the ship. He told us that he did 120 kilometers an hour just to get back to the ship on time. ** then suggested that we take the train to Ventimiglia and then get a cab from there to Cannes. He told us that the train ended at Ventimiglia, probably to insure that I had the money to pay him some of the 150 Euros I had agreed to pay him.

** basically "saved" us, at that point. He drove us to the train station, bought us 3 tickets to Ventimiglia, with 2 connections. I paid him 75 Euros and told him I would mail the rest when I returned home. The first leg of our trip was on an "express" train and we all enjoyed the trip.. Oh to have this kind of train in the US. The train was filled with Italians, all dressed for the cooler weather, and their baggage, and us, in our shorts and no luggage. Did we look like stranded tourists?

We arrived at our first connection station and soon learned that our next (6 minute) train ride would be a half-hour late. Then we knew we were in trouble. We arrived at the next station, in Genoa, Italy, at 10:15 PM. The station had closed at 10:00 and all the employees were gone and the bathrooms were locked. There were no doors on the station, which was a large station, and there were 5 metal chairs bolted to the floor. We sat down and pondered what to do. We had 3.65 Euros.

My son and I tried to work the pay phone. We did not know Italian, however, so that was futile. We noticed a "Police" window over in a corner of the station. It turned out to be a 3 man station, there to protect the train station and, I assume, passengers. I thought, "Why do they need a police station here?" By now, my wife and son were panicked and I was sick. We decided we needed to try to get help from the police so went to the window.

Fortunately, one of them spoke English well. When we explained our plight, he invited us in and helped us problem-solve. We decided to call our ship! The number was on our stateroom cards. We called but there was no operator and we could not get through. The automatic answerer told us to call the 800 number in Miami. Hope! It was only 4:30 in Miami. Surely, they would know what to do! We called the number and my wife got someone right away. She told them our plight and asked what to do. The woman she was talking to told her there was nothing they could do!

"Send one of their contracted cabs to pick us up and drive us to Cannes?" "No." "Take us to a hotel and on our way in the morning?" "No." "At our expense?" We were "penthouse suite" passengers, after all. "No." After "checking with her supervisor" whom she did not let us speak with, she told us, "Sorry" and wished us good luck. My wife then told her, "Sorry to you too, since we will never use your cruise line again."

There was little satisfaction in that. Now, what to do. The policeman suggested that we wait for the next train, which would arrive at 5:23 AM. It was now 11:00 PM. He told us, "Don't wander far from the (police) station. We don't know what could happen out there." Great! We asked them if we could wait for morning in the police station. They told us no, there are only 3 of them and they had to go out on "patrol" during the night.

Another policeman suggested we wait until the station opened at 8:00 AM to have our tickets updated. However, we had no money and they might want more money to update the tickets so the first policeman suggested we get on the train and "take your chances." Wonderful. My wife asked him to write his suggestion on paper and provide his identifying information, which he graciously, if not reluctantly, did. He was truly empathizing with us and provided the information, even though he did not want to.

We returned to the metal chairs and began waiting. My son was frustrated and angry, pacing. My wife was scared. I was numb. I wondered what would have happened if we were like many who take cruises, sick and frail? As it was, I am a post bypass patient and did not have access to my medication. However, aside from the flu, I was healthy. So, we waited.

Soon, the station began to fill with homeless people. There were only a few stranded train passengers. A homeless woman arrived, looked angrily at us (telling us by her body language that we were sitting in her bed). She soon threw her newspaper padding down on a seat next to my son and crashed into the chair, shaking the foundation. Shortly, my son got up to pace. I warned him that he might not get his seat back. He didn't care.

Sometime later, my wife got up to pace. I warned her not to leave her seat. She didn't care, either. Soon thereafter, a homeless woman took her seat. When my wife returned, she began yelling at the homeless woman that she was in her seat, and yelling at me, why did I let this woman take her seat! I interceded and asked her to calm down.

What would yelling at this homeless person get her, I thought? A knife in the stomach? My wife stormed out into more danger, out by the tracks, filled with homeless men resting and sleeping. I followed her out and asked her to come back in. She did, and we spent the rest of the night sitting on the steps in front of the police station, while my son angrily paced (and maybe kept any threats at a distance). The night turned out uneventful, except for the cold.

The bathrooms were opened at 5:00 AM and we caught the train (a "local") at 5:20. The train had hard, plastic seats, but they were an upgrade, compared to the police steps. Also, we had the hope that we might be heading to the ship. Soon, the train operator arrived for our tickets. He did a double take when he saw them and told us they were no good. They were for yesterday.

We told him we knew that and explained our plight. He told us it would cost 50 Euros to update our tickets. We whined that we had no money and no other way back to the ship, that the cruise line abandoned us and left us on our own. My wife showed him the note from the policeman. He stood there looking at the 2 documents for a few moments more, returned the tickets to us, kept the note, and walked away. We did not know if he was allowing us to stay on the train, going for help to kick us off, or what.

However, he never returned and we slept fitfully as the train started and stopped for the next 2 1/2 hours until we arrived in Ventimiglia. When we arrived in Ventimiglia we learned that the train did not stop there but went all the way to Cannes. Huh? We figured at that point that ** must have wanted to assure that we would pay him, at least partially. We left the station and hailed a cab. The driver did not speak English but agreed to take us to the Cannes Port.

2 1/2 hours and 162 Euros later we were relieved to see one, lone ship in the bay - Ours! We had not told the driver we did not have any money so told him that we would have to go to the ship to get our money. There was no dock so we had to be tendered. We left our son with the driver, as a hostage. When we arrived at the ship, it was as if we never left. There was no big deal made. We went to the "penthouse", got the debit card and went to the concierge to get 615 more Euros.

We learned that the ship cancelled our excursion to Cannes that day (nice of them) and also our shipboard credit, which we had to reinstate. The woman at the concierge desk told us that the people in Miami should have connected us with, or directed us to the Port Agent in Livorno, who would have helped us. Nice to know! An hour later, we arrived back at the cab and unhappy driver who suddenly became happy when I paid him 170 Euros. He shook our hands, wished us well and left.

The moral? If you are not on a ship excursion, make sure you are back to the port on time. The cruise line, at least Norwegian, is not there to help you, even if you are in the "penthouse suite."

My husband and I just returned from a week's cruise on the Norwegian Dawn. We had a $100 on board credit issued with our reservation. Since the drink prices are so high we decided not to drink while on board and just have the water, coffee and iced tea that are provided for free. On our last night at sea my husband decided to have a glass of beer. The charge was $5.95 + 89₵ for the 15% gratuity. I passed on having a $9.50 drink plus the $1.43 gratuity.

I work too hard for our money to blow it on a drink. Anyhow, when we got our closing statement on the last morning we owed the $12 Each person every day service charge for the cabin stewards and the waiters. This money is gladly paid as they work very hard. We even gave our cabin steward an extra $30 just because we liked him and his personality so much. The statement showed that we owed $168.00 service charges and that we forfeited $93.16 of our on board credit because we didn't by drinks or use it in their shops.

I have never had this happen before. We have always used the balance of the credit to offset some of the charges for the stewards and waiters. I called and asked why I wasn't allowed to do this and that I wanted an internet URL so that I could read it for myself. I was told by the Guest Services person that there was no written page for this policy and that my travel agent should have told me about having to use my credit to buy drinks. I thanked her for finding this out and hung up.

I just called my travel agent to ask him about this “rule” that Norwegian has. He said he has never heard of this but will be sure to tell his clients that if they sail on Norwegian they will forfeit the credit if they don't drink it up. He also said that Norwegian always blames problems on the travel agents. At this point I will never book a Norwegian cruise again just out of principle.

Many other cruise ships have the same itinerary. Other cruise lines allow you to apply this credit to the service charges. I just did this on a cruise in December. I feel this is totally wrong, but I guess they won't care because they are a big company. I just had to vent. Thank you.

MIAMI, FLORIDA -- I purchased my cruise tickets with no problems. The agent was very nice, treated me with respect. Today I received a message from a reservation agent named **. In his message he stated that there was a free upgrade to my purchase. I was a little confused because when I booked the room I was informed that I had the best room available at the time. I called him and left a message to please return my call.

Later on in the day, I checked my messages on my cell phone. There was one from **, so I returned his call. This is where it gets weird. I introduced myself and asked what his call was all about. He then stated that he did not call me but that he was returning my call. He started getting out of hand about it and I asked him if he did not first call me, how did I know his name and his extension. Then he started getting rude and was basically calling me a liar. At that time I requested to speak to his supervisor and was on hold till I had to hang up.

This is what I have learned during my adventure today with NCL. First, if you haven't actually taken the cruise yet nobody will talk to you outside of reservations. That if you leave your phone number to have a supervisor return your call you are told to hold on to wait for a supervisor to see if they will return your call. I know that does not make sense, but that seems to be SOP for NCL.

Of course I was very persistent and about three hours after I started this adventure I was able to talk to ** lead/supervisor ** who informed me she will talk to **. She felt no compulsion to do anything else other than she would talk to **. As a customer who was treated in such a fashion and has paid a small fortune for this trip, well you can imagine how I took it. So before you actually think about utilizing NCL for your next vacation just keep this experience in mind. It might be yours.

MIAMI, FLORIDA -- Where should I begin... Two days before our trip on the NCL M/S Dawn (3/22/2007-4/1/2007), we received notification that the itinerary was changed due to engine trouble. They changed our stop at a private island in the Bahamas to stop at Samana/Dominican Republic instead. If we would like a refund for the cruise we may contact them. We proceed with the cruise even though this was a disappointment. Next, when we arrived on St Maarten we were advised that our shore excursion was canceled. We got off the ship to go shopping instead. We saw the same excursion that was being provided for another cruise line.

We spoke with the representative from the catamaran who said that the excursions were running that NCL canceled the excursion with them. Next when we went arrived in St Thomas due to immigration and customs in order to get off the ship all passengers needed to go through customs. We followed procedure and when we got off the ship our shore excursion had left without us.

When we spoke with cruise ship personnel, she advised that we were supposed to get off the ship with the first group. No announcements were made letting us know and we (all 8 of us in 4 rooms) did not receive the notice that was sent out advising of this procedure. It was like pulling teeth to get our money back for this excursion due to NCL's mistake.

Next a day or two later while waiting for service in one of the ships "free" restaurants we were told to wait for service because the waitress decided to serve customers who arrived in the restaurant at least 15-20 minutes after us. These customers came in with empty beer buckets to be filled (which is an additional charge and auto gratuity to the waitress).

Lastly, once we got off the ship to go home our bank account was charged $167 for on board purchases and the cruise line held an additional $164 after they received payment and charged us $192 for unavailable funds because we did not keep double the charge amount in our account for 5 days after the charge processed. When I contacted consumer affairs at Norwegian cruise line they do not refund the fees for the hold even though they double charged my account.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- Tiny rooms, tiny showers, (I knocked the shampoo dispenser off the wall having it crash down on my foot cutting it open, which might explain all the dried blood on our carpet) crap food, all foreign help with no understanding of English. Due to the ships negligence a woman fell (almost to her death) off her balcony so instead of a leisurely cruise to Bermuda we raced there as fast as we could. This caused a lot of trips and falls and sea sickness.

They also set up their guests apparently by having customs come on the boat with dogs while everyone's sleeping. Poor guy was dragged off for a tiny amount of pot, ruined his and his girl's vacation. Looked like a setup. Sure enough when I asked one of the security guys they say they do it to generate revenue for the island in fines, and profits for the cruise line. Pathetic. I should've used the 3000 for toilet paper...

MIAMI, FLORIDA -- My wife and I were on the Cruise ship "pearl" two weeks ago. Upon exited, we left three full draws of personal items including two new $500 IPODS. Immediately we filed a report with the Lost and Found Department. The items were in our room and when we left the Steward was starting to clean our room. The cruise line not only told us they never found our stuff, but refused to give me any of their operational or business license numbers. They refused to allow me to speak to a supervisor, and told me "I can find their business number on the internet, somewhere".

I recently took my family on a cruise to Nassau, and some Florida ports of call. The ship had engine problems and the company chose NOT to go to the main port of call. They gave $100 ship credit for this. I feel that it was inadequate considering that it was the major port of call. Upon contacting the company, their response was too bad. The contract allows them to do what they want without a fair compensation.