 |
 |
|
Name: Andrew M. Skier
Email: depdawg1@juno.com
Age: 29
Occupation: Attorney
NumberOfCruises: 3
TravelAgent: No
Ship: NCL-Leeward
SailingDate: Jan 16, 1998
Itinerary: Key West / Great Stirrup Cay
FoodDiningRoom: 75
CruiseDirector: 90
CabinComfort: 95
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 90
CabinAmenities: 90
FoodLidoDeck: 85
DiningRoomService: 100
CabinQuietness: 95
FoodMidnightBuffets: 70
CabinSteward: 95
ShoreExcVariety:
FoodVariety: 80
DeckService: 100
ShoreExcValue:
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff: 90
PrivateIsland: 100
GoodForFamilies:
LoungeService: 100
TenderService: 100
GoodForSeniors:
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 80
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge: 80
OverallPortsofCall: 95
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 95
CruiseActivities: 90
Casino: 90
AirSeaProgram:
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 95
EmbarkDisembark: 100
DiscoNightclubs:
DeckSpace: 95
Stabilization: 95
ShopsOnBoard:
SpaceRatio: 90
OverallCruiseValue: 90
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 08 Feb 1998
Time: 17:57:08
Remote Name: 207.230.94.202
Remote User:
Comments
TRIP REPORT -- MS LEEWARD -- JAN 16, 1998
OVERALL RATING: B
This was a weekend getaway for my wife (Darlene), her brother (J.R.) and his wife (Susan),
and myself (Andrew). It was
also to celebrate our birthdays (Mine was the 16th, her's was the 14th). A little about
us: This was our third cruise, the
previous two being on Carnival: a 7 night on the Celebration in 1996, and a three nigth on
the Ecstasy in 1997. My wife is
a finance manager, and I am an attorney. We are 28 and 29, and are not heavy partiers.
This was to be a relaxing trip to
get away, but ended up being kind of the opposite. This had more to do with our travelling
companions, however, than the
cruise line itself (more on that later) We had always been satisfied with the Carnival
product, but wanted to try something
a little more upscale, especially since we discovered that Carnival has exactly the same
menus on all of thier ships. My
travel agent, Allen at Cruises Only in Orlando, FL, suggested that we try NCL. The price
was right and the itenerary was
very interesting to us, so we booked it. When we cruise, we are looking for relaxation,
good food, an upscale atmosphere,
and interesting ports. Entertainment on board ship is less of a priority. The Leeward
offers four different iteneriaries, two
3-day and 2 4-day. We chose the 3 day Key West & Great Stirrup Cay iten. I had never
been to Key West and was really
looking forward to seeing it. The private island turned out to be a very pleasant
surprise, also.
EMBARKATION: A
We arranged our own air out of Montgomery to Miami. We left on Thursday night and spent
the night with relatives in
Miami. On Friday, we went to Joe's Stone Crab in South Beach and picked up a stone crab
feast, which we brought back to
the apartment and chowed down on. If you have never been to Joe's, you owe yourself a trip
on your next visit to Miami. It
is not light on the pocketbook, but for my money, stone crabs are the best seafood
anywhere, and no one does them
better than Joe's. They were excellent, a perfect kickoff to the weekend. We rode to the
pier (I splurged and got us a
limo... thought it would begin things right.) Upon arrival at the NCL area, we were
pleased to see hardly any line. This is
one advantage of a smaller ship like the Leeward, with only 900 passengers, it is hard to
find a crowd. We got up to the
counter and.... despite my pestering them about it at least a dozen times, JR and Susan
had not filled out thier
embarkation paperwork. Luckily we had, and the agent checked us in while they scrambled to
fill out the forms that I had
told them to have filled out already. Oh well, no big deal.
SHIP'S DECOR: A
Upon embarkation and being shown to our cabin by a white-gloved steward, all JR and Susan
could say was how beautiful
the ship was. (They have been on one prior cruise, on Dolphin Line) They were also quite
happy with the cabins. We
cheaped out a little bit on this cruise and booked inside cabins on the 4th deck. We had
seen enough ocean out the
windows, and thought the money saved would ease the blow of not being able to look
outside. Truthfully, I did not miss it
that much, BUT it took me a while to get oriented and I had a hard time figuring out if my
head or my feet were in in front
of my body while the ship was moving (turned out my head was.) I also like to sleep in,
but I am a light sleeper and I
thought the lack of sunlight coming in the window would allow me to sleep in. Well, it
would have, but it turns out my
brother in law is a very early riser, and was thoughtful enough to call us every morning
about 6:00 to see if we wanted to
have breakfast. I'm sure he meant well, but, geez, it was 6:00 AM and I was on vacation.
Nevertheless, once I was rattled
out of sleep, I knew there was no way I was ever going to get back to sleep, so I did end
up eating breakfast in the dining
room all three mornings. My wife did not have this problem, she just rolled over and went
back to sleep. Breakfast was
excellent (more on the food later).
One negative comment: The top deck has a piano bar which doubles as a cigar smoking area.
We were in there one
night, and almost died after about 20 minutes. I literally had to go out on deck to get
some fresh air. They really need
some ventilation in that area if they are going to encourage cigar smoking. I felt sorry
for the poor piano player.
CABINS: A-
The cabin was very modern, not spacious, but who cares. The bathroom is a marvel of
engineering, as most sea-going
bathrooms I have seen are. One thing that should be noted is that whatever plumbing
problems had been reported in the
past on the Leeward are definitely over. We never had any problem getting plenty of water,
the toilet flushed right away,
and the shower was AWESOME.... plenty of HOT water! Also, there was a sliding shower door
as opposed to the curtains on
Carnival that always seemed to want to get VERY friendly.
It also should be noted that we requested that the beds be made up as a Queen bed. On
Carnival, this just means that
they push the beds together and make them up like normal. We were pleasantly surprised to
find that the bed had been
made up as a true Queen bed, with the proper sheets and everything. This was much superior
to the way we have had it
done in the past.
The Cabin Steward was effecient, did his job, but nothing worth mentioning or out of the
ordinary. The cabin was spotless
at all times. Fresh towels were always around and there was always ice in the bucket. He
was not the friendliest guy in
the world, or maybe his English was not that good. I don't know.
We didn't spend much time in the cabins (our luggage had already arrived, but we just
plopped it down and set off to
explore the ship). There is nothing quite like exploring a cruise ship for the first time.
After all, this is to be your home for
the next 3, 4, 7, or more days! We immediately found the pool deck and settled down at a
table there to begin the
birthday celebration. The bar waitress did try to sell us one of those souvineer glasses,
but we politely declined, and she
(I think) recognized us a veteran cruisers and did not push these glasses anymore. Only
time for two drinks before the
lifeboat drill.
It seems to be the conventional wisdom on RTC that you can judge the quality of a line
roughly by how seriously the crew
takes the lifeboat drill. This was very serious. No milling about, very orderly, the
safety officer even came by and inspected
a few of the passenger's jackets. Darlene was one of those inspected, and she passed with
flying colors. The safety
officer's name is Hans Verschoor, and his wife Cindy is a RTC reader. It turns out that we
did get to meet him later in the
cruise... more on that later.
Anyway, after the drill, we continued to explore the ship and ended up in the observatory
lounge, on the highest level. At
night this is a disco on one side and a piano (and cigar) bar on the other side, but
during the day it is a nice quiet spot
for cocktails. We found all the bars to be excellent, with friendly staff and high quality
drinks. One thing I immediately
noticed was that the well brands were Finlandia Vodka, Cuervo Gold Tequila, etc. These are
top-shelf brands on Carnival
(and in most bars at home), requiring a special order. On NCL they were the norm. One
problem was that we could not
find anyone on board who could make a decent Martini. They were never cold enough, and had
WAY too much vermouth.
Oh well, stick to highballs, frozen drinks, and beer, and you'll be fine.
FOOD: SERVICE: A+ FOOD QUALITY: C-
Before we knew it it was time for dinner (late seating). We met our waiter and busboy (I
can't remember their names but
it was table 7.) These guys were the best waiter and busboy we have had by far on any of
our cruises. Our waiter said
that he used to be on Holland America. He seemed surprised and flattered when I
"guessed" that he was Indonesian. We
were friends from that point on (Thanks, RTC!!!). Anyway, I wish I could say that the food
was as good as the service. The
first night was the best of the three. I would say that it was very good, slightly above
Carnival quality. The second and third
nights the food got worse, and on the third night, no one at the table (there was another
couple seated with us) enjoyed
their meal. I felt sorry for the wait staff, they were trying so hard, they really seemed
to feel bad that we did not enjoy
ourselves. We should have gone to LeBistro. We did not eat there, but we peeked in and the
food looked excellent.
Breakfasts in the dining room were very good, we all ordered smoked salmon each morning
(leave it to Norweigan to
have excellent salmon) and that got our days off to a good start, if too early of a start!
:)
Lunches were disapointing, they were served buffet style, and the quality was not very
good. It was nice, though, to get to
meet different people depending on who they seated you with.... some of these couples
became our friends throughout
the cruise. Midnight buffets were similarly disapointing, particularly the chocoholic
buffet... everything seemed old and kind
of bland.... I was expecting better. If we cruise NCL again, we'll eat dinners in
LeBistro, lunches in the casual buffet
(burgers and hot dogs were very good), only eating breakfast in the actual dining room.
ENTERTAINMENT: B-
The first night we went to the showroom after dinner. We had lingered at dinner a little,
so we arrived just after the show
had begun. We had to sit in the balcony. I would find it hard to imagine a theater with
worse sight lines from every seat.
There was a pole directly in our way, and even when you leaned over to avoid the pole,
there was a rail at the front of the
balcony which all but completely obstructed your view. This was not just a problem with
the "cheap seats," either.
Everywhere I looked, I saw people straining for a view. Not that there was much to see. We
got there just in time to see a
comedian. He was introduced as having appeared on Comedy Central's "Make Me
Laugh." I can't remember his name,
but now I know why no one ever laughs on that show. He was terrible. I kind of felt sorry
for him because no one was
laughing. It sounded like a church in there. We left.
The last night we went back because I wanted to see the Pirates of Penzance. I have always
loved the music from that
show, and was eager to see it. The late seating's show was at 7:30 (good idea!) and they
made a big deal about the fact
that they "open the doors" at 7:15. We got there about 7:10 and there were only
a few people standing in line. We got a
good seat. Still we stayed near the back in case we wanted to leave early. We did. The
sound was terrible, you could
barely hear the singing, and the performers seemed to be going through the motions. Very
unimpressive, especially for a
cruise line that hypes the entertainment like NCL.
PORTS: A+
Even though we had to leave Miami about three hours late, (they waited around for some
late arriving airplanes) we still
arrived in Key West before we woke up (and that was mighty early, thanks to JR!) later
they announced that the ship had
been "cleared" by US customs (Wait a minute... we came from Miami! Why do we
need to get cleared???) and we could
go ashore. We were blessed with beautiful weather. We walked down what appeared to be the
main drag, and ended up at
Ernest Hemingway's house. We forked over the $6 apiece for the tour, and while it was
interesting, I don't think it was
worth $6 each. It is just an old house with a lot of cats walking around. Nothing
spectacular about the house itself, and it
was VERY crowded inside. We were blessed with good weather, but I can imagine in the heat
of the summer it must be
stifling in there.
We continued down the street to the 'Southernmost point in the United States' which is
appropriately marked with a large
concrete pedestal with graffitti all over it. We took the obligatory picture and walked
down Duval street back to the ship for
lunch. After (a disapointing buffet) lunch, we ventured back out and found an outdoor bar
near the marina. We sat and
enjoyed some island music, and realised that there was a Harley Davidson group of some
sort in town. They were well
behaved, though. We bought cigars and made it back to the ship in time for sailing at
4:30. We all wished we could have
had some more time in Key West, but the sailing at 5:00 PM was spectacular, with the
sunset in the background.
Getting back on the ship, we again saw Hans Verschoor, husband of Cindy who is a RTC
reader. Cindy and I had conversed
a little by email when I posted that we were going on the Leeward, and I had made it my
mission to find him. He was very
hospitibale, and invited us back to his cabin. The officer's cabins are exactly like the
passengers, except that there is only
one person living in them. While we were visiting, a steward knocked on his door and
brought him a freshly pressed dress
uniform for the evening's Captain's Dinner. Must be nice. Anyway, he was a gentleman, and
it turns out we have family
right near where they live in Tennessee. We will probably see them again in the near
future.
The next morning, JR woke us up again at the crack of dawn, but this time I could tell by
the hum of the engines that we
were still at sea. We went to breakfast (today we all had TWO orders of smoked salmon!)
and enjoyed a nice walk on the
Promenade deck. One nice thing about the Leeward is that the Promenade Deck goes all the
way around the ship. Since
she is such a small ship, this is not a long walk at all. Also, it is only about 5 or 6
decks above the water level, so you can
even catch some sea spray as you are walking. It is quite nice.
Around 9:45 we dropped anchor next to Great Stirrup Cay, NCL's private island. Turns out
this is right next to RCI's private
island, as we could see a RCI megaliner nearby. We could not make out which ship it was,
though. As I wrote before, the
island turned out to be a pleasant surprise. JR and I watched the crew load the first
tender with supplies for the beach
cookout. It is really impressive the organization that goes into something like that. Then
it was our turn to tender. With
only 900 passengers, everyone who wanted to go was taken care of on the first two tenders,
and after that they were half
empty the rest of the day. JR and I got on the first Tender, staked out a couple of beach
chairs near the water, marked
them as our own by laeving our shoes in the chairs, then went back to the ship to find our
wives. Turns out they were
perfectly fine, sunning by the now deserted pool. We told them that we had some beach
chairs staked out and they said
they would be along shortly. I don't know if it was shortly or not, but by the time they
got there, we had both had had two
(big) bloody mary's and were feeling no pain. Some folks that we had met on board came and
sat with us, and it was a
lovely afternoon, not too hot, not too cool, a nice breeze, nice burgers and dogs from the
beach grill, and more bloody
mary's... man, life is good. We even went in the water near the end of the day. We caught
the last tender back to the ship.
Several of the crew members were taking pictures of each other, turns out this was their
last cruise together. I had them
all pose together and took pictures of them with their cameras. They seemed to be very
appreciative, if not a little
surprised that a passenger was being this kind to them. I guess they have to deal with
alot of jerks.
Back to the ship, where JR and I played ping pong and watched some men try skeet shooting.
Before we knew it, it was
time to get ready for dinner again, because I wanted to catch Pirates of Penzance. We
watched about 15 minutes, then
went to the casino where I had a run of luck and won back the $100 I had lost the night
before. I left down $40 because of
some play later in the night. This was the night dinner was so awful. My advice: On the
third night, make a beeline for Le
Bistro! Don't forget to tip your waiter, though.
Yes we did get hit up for the 'excellent' rating on the comment card, but hey I would have
given it anyway. It's not the
waiter's fault that the food is no good.
All in all we had an excellent time. Main complaint was the food quality. We will probably
not cruise with NCL again, unless
they make significant improvements in this area. Other than that complaint, we had a great
time and are looking forward
to our next cruise: June 12 on the HAL Westerdam to ALASKA!!!!
Want to book your cruise at a great rate?
Click here.
Questions or comments? Mail to webmaster@cruiseopinion.com.
Copyright ©1996-2000 CruiseOpinion.com. Last modified: January 17, 2000.