What's your worst cruise ever?

[mr green]

I did not like the two ships NCL Sun[new ship, but 'freestyle cruising], or the Norway [ too old], while Mercury may have been the worst, [ship was run down, and some of the staff unpleasant], but, as they as they say, 'There is no such thing as a bad cruise'.

 

john

[Acklander]

I guess the worst cruise was the Disney Western. When tendering on board at one of the ports, it was really windy (boat was bobbing) and they hadn't tightened the gangplank properly so while standing at the end waiting to go up, the gangplank lifted up and then came down on DS's(who was about 5 at the time) foot, crushing it. It ended up healing fine, so all was good in the end, but a bit nerve wracking while waiting to see if he would have to be airlifted back to land for surgery. Also, during that cruise I got the norovirus so was "confined to quarters" for my anniversary. Even with the bad luck, we still had a blast on the cruise.

[geoherb]

My worst cruise was a shorty to the Bahamas on Carnival's Carnivale. It was a small, older ship (even way back in the 1980s). My ex and I went with a neighbor. She took the upper berth and we had the lower bed--in an inside cabin. We had a great time.

 

My current DH and I took our first cruise on Norwegian's Seaward in 1989. We had a great time, as well, but discovered after switching over to better cruise lines how much more we could enjoy a cruise.

 

Those are the reasons I haven't sailed on Norwegian or Carnival again.

[mousey]

I've been cruising since I was 19 and I'm 63 and going on my next cruise on the NCL POA in Hawaii. The DH, DS and I must be three of the luckiest people alive because we have never, ever, been on a bad cruise. Yes, there have been times when maybe the service wasn't that great at dinner, or we had a cabin with noisy neighbors, but to say we had a bad cruise, just can't honestly say we ever have.

 

I feel badly for anyone that has ever had a bad cruise, and hope they won't give up, and that they will try another one. Happy sailing to all!:D

 

P.S. This is just my family's experience and I don't mean to negate the fact that maybe other cruisers haven't been so lucky.

[bar_20]

Our least favorite cruise by far was our family cruise on the Norwegian Spirit this past December. The ship itself was lovely and nicely decorated for the Holidays - but the service was terrible. The cabins were not cleaned properly - if at all. The room stewards simply changed the sheets & emptied the trash. More than once, we had to ask for towels for the bathroom. The food was bland & tasteless and served luke-warm; the desserts were terrible!! (We did eat one night at Cagney's Steakhouse at a $20.00 up-charge per person, and it was excellent.) My husband spoke to the hotel mananger of service, and they apologized saying they were "very busy". Really? When is a cruise ship NOT very busy?? :confused:

 

Children were allowed to run wild up & down the passageways at all hours - the little buggers removed the Breakfast Room Service order tags completely so that no breakfast was delivered to the cabin that requested it. They took the "Do Not Disturb" or "Service, please!" tags from cabin doors and switched them all around by placing them on other cabin doors at random. And, they did not limit their pranks to just one deck - they were equal-opportunity brats, hitting all passenger decks with their antics. They played in the already-slow elevators, crowding themselves in, laughing while punching in every deck stop along their route up or down. :mad: Many passengers called down to Security to complain about these unruly kids, and nothing what-so-ever was done to attempt to curtail their activities. My DH spoke (nicely, really!) to one set of parents that were in the cabin 4 doors down from us (he observed their 2 kids taking tags off the cabin doors) and he was not-so-politely told to "..mind his own business..". :rolleyes:

 

We were continually bombarded by wait-staff selling everything from flowers to pub crawl tickets to bottles of champagne (for New Year's Eve) while we were trying to dine; twice (after making reservations a day in advance) we arrived at the MDR only to be told we HAD no reservations and our wait would be 30-40 minutes.

 

Two families in our group had their shore excursion cancelled to due to "overbooking". They had booked through the NCL website 3 months in advance, and had their on-line verification with them. How does this happen? :confused: With only 4 ports on a seven day cruise, this was a big disappointment for them.

 

Our TA sent each cabin an OBC for a bottle of wine. All wanted to enjoy the wine out on their cabin balconies. We sailed on Sunday. We finally got the wine delivered to the cabins on Thursday.

 

We wives ordered boutonnieres for our DH's for New Years Eve. None of us received them, tho' we were billed for them on our ship's account.

 

Never again on NCL! We have taken many, many cruises - several during the Holiday season, and have never experienced anything like that cruise - ever!! Bottom line was that the entire staff seemed totally disorganized and definitely had a "Well, what do you want us to do about it?" attitude.

 

This did not put us off from cruising - nothing could do that. We will just not cruise with NCL again. These are my opinions and experiences only, as I know others have cruised NCL with no problems. I am just responding to the OP's question. ;)

 

Smooth Sailing Always to Everyone. :D

 

We sailed on the NCL SUN on a New Years cruise, we had the same kid problem as you did. In fact I almost got in a fight with another passenger who just let their toddler run amok where they have the entertainment venue.

 

Sounds like you had a bad room steward and we did not experience your food problems as I remember it was very good.

 

I have now learned to never sail during Spring Breaks, Holiday crusies and cruises 7 days or less.

 

As someone I read said elsewhere I would much rather put up with wheel chairs and walkers than unruley children/parents and college students on a break.

[kicker]

Six cruises - all great. I did have a friend who was a professor and was always muttering about some Gilligan's Island cruise.....

[imsulin]

RCI Viking Serenade! August 1995. LA-Catalina-Ensenada-LA. Yes, it was booked only a couple of months out, but TINY cabin and bathroom, dirty public bathrooms with clogged toilets, large group with kids running around everywhere and no control at all, never saw steward and cabin was never cleaned, no TP in cabin for 2 days (used Kleenex pkg that I had brought with me), no clean towels for duration, and just OK food. RCI Sovereign of the Seas! 1999 Pt. Canaveral - Coco Cay -Nassau - Pt. Canaveral. I perfected my sideways walking on this ship due to TINY cabin. Again, never saw steward, cabin smelled, saw garbage on beach at Coco Cay from previous pax, rude staff, OK food. These cruises soured me on RCI until 2006. Best cruises ever (besides on my beloved tall ship about 13-14 times) Are you ready? The NCL Norway! Same old itinerary, but nine times and great prices made me a believer! Always managed to get a big cabin for a cheap price. Yes, it was old and outdated, but great food and entertainment! GSC - never missed getting there, and always a great beach day. Last cruise was March, 2003, and then the terrible boiler explosion May 25, 2003. To each his own, I guess.