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Norwegian Cruise Line

MS Norwegian Sea

Your Rating:
Reviewed by:Robert Pennington
# previous cruises: 10+
Date of Trip: March 27, 2001
Itinerary: Bahamas

The cruise was very relaxing, with 4 days at sea. Plenty of younger people, with few elderly and not too many children. If smoking irritates or annoys you, stay off this ship. The ship itself is in good condition and kept quite clean. The busiest area daily is the pool deck, so claim your lounge chairs early for premium seating!

The ship actually has two walk-around decks, with the boat deck serving as the jogging deck. This deck can be slippery, so be cautious. The Broadway type shows performed in the Cabaret Lounge were very good, as was most of the entertainment in the Stardust Lounge. Oscar's is a small but cozy lounge that was one of our favorite spots.

Dining Freestyle isn't what it's advertised to be on this ship. Three nights we tried getting a table-for-two and couldn't be seated. The food in the Four Seasons and Seven Seas Restaurants was good to very good, but the Big Apple Cafe was only fair, with few choices. Le Bistro was very good, but had the same menu (also limited choices) two nights in a row, plus the escargot didn't have texture or garlic. The overall service was good, with only one problem on one night. The Pasta Cafe turned out to be our favorite, due to the excellent prepared pasta, great service, and very few people. We ate breakfast everyday in the main dining rooms with good service, although service food lunch wasn't too terrific there.

Cabins on this ship are extremely small, but space is used very well. We were on the Atlantic Deck (#3), cabin 3208, which is an outside cabin forward, close to the Kids Discovery Room. It was quiet at night, but we heard someone running on several nights, up and down the corridor.Our cabin steward Delroy was very efficient and did a great job.

NCL seems to always be a "hit" with us on this area. The Jean Ryan Performers did a wonderful job with their productions. The singer Donnie Abrahams did many popular numbers by performers we all know (Elvis, Tom Jones, Sinatra), and did a great job. The comedians (two) did a PG rated show at prime time, and R rated at late-night. Both were a riot, and interacted well with the audience. The band "Mind the Gap" performed nightly in the Stardust Lounge, another favorite spot for us. The music was from the Sixties to present. The female lead singer (Karen?) has a phenomenal voice! The Cruise Director was cordial and very good, but his assistant was fantastic! I'm sure he'll be a Cruise Director on one of NCL's new builds.

We took this cruise for R&R, and didn't get too involved with on-board games or activities. The most activity I had this cruise was chasing the bar-servers for a drink! Seriously though, we spend most of the early part of the day around the pool/whirlpools. When it became too crowded, we'd opt for lunch. We found that in the afternoons, we'd take a book and drag a lounge chair on Deck 10 aft, directly in front of the Observatory Lounge windows. It was sunny, no wind, quiet and relaxing. Several others noticed how nice and peaceful it was, and joined us back there.

I think this cruise is designed for younger couples, families on a budget, and first timers. Although we've cruised most of the major lines, we adjust our expectations to match. We knew the food, service, and older ship wouldn't compare to today's ships or premium line service, plus space ratio wasn't going to be equal. I think we received what we expected. Our only major disappointment was with Freestyle. This ship shouldn't have it, because it can't deliver what it claims (i.e., eat when, where and with whom you want). They should redesign the dining areas to accommodate more couples, or return to traditional dining. They should also had more staff tending to the Latitudes Members at embarkation. This was the slowest I've every gotten on a ship (1 1/2 hours in Latitudes line).