Just off the SEA: the good, the bad and the ugly

[danfiveoh]

Just back yesterday. Here is a short review for those going on the SEA. By way of background this was our 10th cruise, 4th on NCL and 3rd on the SEA. There were 3 of us in a cabin.

THE GOOD: the ship is in great shape, better than the last two cruises we took.

the food is good, not outstanding and the menu is a bit more limited than RCCL and Celebrity. NCL does a much better job with BBQ on deck. Every afternoon they had really good ribs, chicken, burgers and such. Finally, the crew is really good. They are attentive and seem happy, the freestyle tipping has not effected service.

THE BAD: Inconsistant dining room service. This is not the fault of the staff. I spoke with a waiter about it. Some nights dinner would take 45 minutes and some nights, an hour and 45 minutes. Not a big deal, I was never in a hurry. The problem is that with people arriving at different times with free style, the waiter has to deal with different tables at different stages of the meal. They are suppose to seat people so that each wiater deals with groups of tables starting at the same time but he told me it rarely works out that way.

Tender service from Cancun was a mess. The last tender is suppose to leave at 3:00, so we lined up at about 2:45 with several hundred other people. Once the tender filled up, over a hundred people stood on a very hot dock for 45 minutes waiting for the tender to return.

The airport transport from IAH to the ship is also bad. We waited and hour and a half to be put on a bus. The rep told me that the problem is that travel agents advise people to buy the transfers at the airport so the never know how many people to count on or how many busses they need. Then if you happen to be at a terminal that is 2nd or 3rd bus stop, the bus is nearly full when it arrives. Again, not a big deal, I knew the ship wasn't leaving without us but it got old to see a bus pull up, 3 or 4 people would get on and the other 50 or 60 of us would wait. The return went very smooth.

THE UGLY: The entertainment. Bar none, it was honestly the worst I have ever seen on any cruise line. My past experience with NCL is that it is usually very good. The regular NCL singers/dancers were ok but the guest comedian, majician, singer and band were really, really bad. The band, from the phillipines was so bad that the first time I walked into the lounge, I honestly thought it was Kareoke! They tried hard, but it was really bad.

 

Overall I was happy with the cruise. The ports are all fun. We did our own excursions and I'll post on the different port boards with excursion info.

 

I'm happy to answer any questions!

[charyoung]

Hi! We must have been on the same cruise! Embarkation-the best! Lattitudes line took us right up! Regular line-about 30 min. Rooms are small, we had 3 in a catagory JJ, but we made the best of it. In retrospect, should have got the somewhat larger room(126 sf). Teen program was the greatest! Our 14yo daughter had a great time every evening, we hardley saw her and she made alot of new friends! The bar b que on deck was great, especially the ribs! The dining room food was excellent! My hats off to the chef! The buffet was so-so. The entertainment wasn't the best I've seen, but the comedian was hilarious, especially on his first night. A must see! I'll have to agree about the house band. We had no problems with tenders at all! With freestyle, I missed the relationship with a waiter at dinner. It was very noisey because the Sea isn't set up for freestyle, but the food made up for it. The stewards were wonderfull and kept our room clean and ice bucket filled. The people in reception were the best we had on any cruise ship. Kevin, the cruise director was top notch and a very approchable guy. The photographers weren't the best we've had, but we did buy a few really good pictures. Embarcation, no problem. A little wait for our colored tag, but we didn't want to leave anyway! All in all-GREAT CRUISE!!!!! Can I go again, next week?

[vette]

Thank you both for your reviews. Too bad you didn't meet up on board. We leave for the Sea in a month. Can't wait. Do you know of anyone who went snorkling in Belize. Did they enjoy it? I have already signed up for it so I'm hoping we have a fun day.

 

Vette

[douglinc@msn.com]

Thanks for your input, we are going on the Sea 9-18, glad to hear you enjoyed your cruise.

Doug

[gagirl789]

Thank you both for your reviews. Too bad you didn't meet up on board. We leave for the Sea in a month. Can't wait. Do you know of anyone who went snorkling in Belize. Did they enjoy it? I have already signed up for it so I'm hoping we have a fun day.

 

Vette

We sailed on the Wind Jan 04 and went snorkling in Belize through the ship. For what it is worth, the Captain of the shore excursion boat, after we were at the small island to snorkle,drank several glasses of rum punch then drove the boat. Then he let a very drunk passenger drive the boat. It was in open water but I was not comfortable with it. Then when he dropped us off back at the Wind they were headed to the Sea to pick up addition passengers.

 

We did complain to the ship. We had video of the passenger driving (for 30+ minutes) but we did not have video of the Captain drinking. NCL said that they would do random drop in inspections from now on. However I think we were one of a few who were upset. Most people on the boat were drinking heavily and seemed to have a really good time.

We met many others on the ship who arranged snorkling on their own. They loved it.

[i am bill]

How do we preregister for the bus transfer from IAH to the ship?

 

Also, what shore excursions did you do? With NCL or on your own? Do you recommend them?

[danfiveoh]

bill:

you can call NCL (info on their web site) and do it with a credit card. You can also do it through your T/A.

All the shore excursions were on our own and worked out well. The only change I would make is that we took a wati taxi to Caye Caulker in Belize, then did snorkleing from there. It was more of a hassle than it was worth to save the $$ . I would probably do an excursion that picks up at the tender port and skip the water taxi, unless you just want to hang out on Caye Caulker.

 

Charyoung:

I probably shouldn't have lumped the comic in to the ugly since I missed his first show, the second show a few nights later was ok, not great but ok.

Ohh, the tender in Belize was fine and no problems getting to Cancun, just back (probably shouldn't have waited until the last one) :)

I agree with missing having the same waiter. We were lucky enough to get very good ones most nights but it's nice when they know what you like. We decided that we will give free style another shot on a new, larger NCL ship that is set up for free style. That's the issue with the SEA, she wasn't designed for it. And embarkation was great. I almost felt guilty when I saw the long lines, then saw no line at all for Latitudes members! The whole process took us about 5 minutes.

[douglinc@msn.com]

Did anyone take any liquor on board?

Doug

[New cruiser from Atlanta]

Too bad we didnt meet on board. I was also on the cruise. As a first time cruiser I cant compare my experience to a prior cruise but below are some additional thoughts:

• Kids Crew - my 6 year old son really enjoyed it. The counselors were FABULOUS. I was disappointed with the Kids Crew Porthole but the kids didnt seem to mind at all. Most of the activities took place in front of the elevators on the 3rd floor but as I said my son really enjoyed it and is missing his counselors as we speak. Several parents were somewhat upset because the counselors strictly followed the age division so if you have a nine year old they will be in the 6-9 year old program regardless of whether their birthday is approaching.
  
• The Pasta Cafe is EXCELLENT. Make your reservation early because it fills up quickly.
  
• I liked the Freestyle concept but the hostesses were somewhat overwhelmed when there was a big crowd and would often seat the first person they saw when they looked up from the seating chart regardless of whether the person had bypassed the line of diners patiently waiting.
  
• Cruise director was very entertaining.
  
• Paul - the shore consultant? was extremely helpful in explaining the different shopping places in every port.
  
• We had a transfer from IAH, purchased it in advance on the NCL website. We flew in from Atlanta the morning of the cruise and our flight was delayed for an hour with mechanical trouble. I almost passed out because I was afraid we would miss the cruise. Anyway, since our flight was so early we still arrived in Houston with plenty of time to get to the ship but we had to wait for over an hour for the transfer.
  

Cozumel - we went to Paradise Beach and then went shopping.

 

Roatan - we used Victor Bodden for a private tour. I would highly recommend using him. We went (1) on a tour of the island, (2) to the Iguana Farm, (3) glass bottom boat tour, (3) supermarket for vanilla (which was less than $1), (4) Canopy Tour (i.e., traveling from platform to platform suspended by a harness). We also stopped for lunch at a great little restaurant and went shopping for handicrafts.

 

Belize - shore excursion (Altun Ha) and the tour guides were extremely helpful.

 

Cancun - free shuttle to mall and the beach (which was right next to the tender dock).

 

Let me know if you have any specific questions.

[newmexicoNita]

Just back yesterday. Here is a short review for those going on the SEA. By way of background this was our 10th cruise, 4th on NCL and 3rd on the SEA. There were 3 of us in a cabin.

THE GOOD: the ship is in great shape, better than the last two cruises we took.

the food is good, not outstanding and the menu is a bit more limited than RCCL and Celebrity. NCL does a much better job with BBQ on deck. Every afternoon they had really good ribs, chicken, burgers and such. Finally, the crew is really good. They are attentive and seem happy, the freestyle tipping has not effected service.

THE BAD: Inconsistant dining room service. This is not the fault of the staff. I spoke with a waiter about it. Some nights dinner would take 45 minutes and some nights, an hour and 45 minutes. Not a big deal, I was never in a hurry. The problem is that with people arriving at different times with free style, the waiter has to deal with different tables at different stages of the meal. They are suppose to seat people so that each wiater deals with groups of tables starting at the same time but he told me it rarely works out that way.

Tender service from Cancun was a mess. The last tender is suppose to leave at 3:00, so we lined up at about 2:45 with several hundred other people. Once the tender filled up, over a hundred people stood on a very hot dock for 45 minutes waiting for the tender to return.

The airport transport from IAH to the ship is also bad. We waited and hour and a half to be put on a bus. The rep told me that the problem is that travel agents advise people to buy the transfers at the airport so the never know how many people to count on or how many busses they need. Then if you happen to be at a terminal that is 2nd or 3rd bus stop, the bus is nearly full when it arrives. Again, not a big deal, I knew the ship wasn't leaving without us but it got old to see a bus pull up, 3 or 4 people would get on and the other 50 or 60 of us would wait. The return went very smooth.

THE UGLY: The entertainment. Bar none, it was honestly the worst I have ever seen on any cruise line. My past experience with NCL is that it is usually very good. The regular NCL singers/dancers were ok but the guest comedian, majician, singer and band were really, really bad. The band, from the phillipines was so bad that the first time I walked into the lounge, I honestly thought it was Kareoke! They tried hard, but it was really bad.

 

Overall I was happy with the cruise. The ports are all fun. We did our own excursions and I'll post on the different port boards with excursion info.

 

I'm happy to answer any questions!

 

 

I think you answered all our questions and did a good job. It sounds like we will not be disappointed in our November cruise. We have sailed her once and had a blast but that was many years ago before the name change. We are cruising with two other couples and we were the ones who reccommended the Sea over a couple other choices. I am sorry to hear about the entertainment; maybe in the next 2 1/2 months there will be some changes. It not, we will just find something else to do. Did you do any of the trivia games or anything like that? NMNita

[ute_fan]

We enjoyed the trivia games when we were on the Sea in January. My BIL participated in "Who Wants to be a Billionaire" and WON. Obviously, they didn't give him money, but the gifts included a lithograph and bottle of champagne (the funny thing is he doesn't drink).

 

On the Sun in June, we enjoyed the trivia contests more than the production shows. They were a little more "high tech" than the ones on the Sea, but they were fun in both cases. The non-so newlywed on the Sun was hilarious.