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Floating Holiday Camp
Reviewed By: Birchall, Dunstable on 11th Sep 2008
Cruise Line: NCL Cruises	Times cruised before: 6-10
Cruise Ship: Norwegian Sun	Sailed: August, 2008
Destination: Alaska	Age: 65+

A bad start to my cruise when the cabin I was allocated reeked of smoke, I complained and was told it would be sanitised, so went on deck for an hour but still found the smoke prevailed. Complained again and told it would be re-sanitised. Still a problem three hours later. Was told there were no other cabins available as the ship was full. finally after the third complaint and inspection by crew members (Head of Housekeeping) and others, was told they would try and juggle expected passengers and find me another cabin. I had refused to unpack as didn't want my clothes permeated with smoke. The cabin stewardess then mentioned that she had refused to enter the cabin to clean the previous week as the occupant had chain-smoked in thecabin all day. I found the ship was like a floating holiday camp, - bingo, karoake and talent competitions. The overall feeling was sell,sell,sell, 10% off jewellery, free glass of champagne if you go to the talk on shopping. 10% off warm clothing, have a beauty treatment and get the second half-price, 10% off alcohol. Always 5 or 6 leaflets included in the daily programme for special offers!!!!! Vouchers if you shop at special stores in the townships. As a single traveller it was totally unsuitable as any contacts made were soon lost in the 2199 other passengers. I never saw the same people twice and even members of the group I was travelling with were only met once in the week. I hated every moment and was glad when the cruise came to an end. I took the White Pass excursion from Skagway and that was fascinating, and although expensive was well worth the outlay. Skagway was an interesting little township,Juneau was overcrowded and Ketchikan was busy too. Not surprising when there are 4 cruise ships in harbour, all holding 2000 passengers and the oopulation of these towns is between 550 and 1000,so all is geared up with souvenir shops, clothing shops and jewellery shops..
Quality of Food
Four Seasons Restaurant and Seven Seas Restaurant and Garden Cafe.
Entertainment
Talk on ports of call was ponderous, dull and laboured.
Shore Excursions
White Pass train ride
Staff
Daniel in Four Seasons Restaurant was always cheeful and friendlyt
Children's Facilities	n/a

Onboard Activities
No
Cabins
The second cabin I was shown to was fine in terms of size, cleanliness and facilities. The first was dirty, dim (a light was not working) and smelled strongly of smoke
Overall Rating

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Comment by Cooke, Ashby (11 Sep 08 13:53) about this REVIEW.

We are investigating an Alaskan cruise as a celebration of early retirement. We are grateful for the feedback and won't choose NCL. My husband suffers from asthma and a smokey cabin would make his life hell. Thanks for the warning. Try Ocean Majesty, in our experience the friendliest ship we've been on, but very small with limited facilities e.g. small theatre and two sittings at dinner. I can't believe NCL don't do a cocktail party for single travellers.

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Comment by Ian, Essex (11 Sep 08 12:47) about this REVIEW.

Sorry you didn't enjoy it. I'm actually impressed that they managed to juggle things around to get you a new room - that's very reassuring. Although obviously not good that it smelt so bad in the first place - if they're going to allow smoking in any cabin, they need to have the technology to sort if out for the next passenger (although they are normally very good at doing this). I think you're right that NCL is not the best line for single cruisers. You can't really expect to make friends on a large Freestyle ship. Probably best to go for something smaller and/or set dining times.

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Comment by Birchall, Dunstable (12 Sep 08 02:06) about a COMMENT by Ian (11 Sep 08 12:47)

I had always decided to limit my cruising to ships with about 650 passengers maximum but it seemed all ships sailing to Alaska were of this size. I obviously didn't investigate the holiday sufficiently. I have only just discovered this web site. I commented on the fact that certain cabins should be reserved for smokers and was told, the crew would like that but the company want every cabin filled!!!

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