Name: C. Kurt Holter
Email: ckholter@erols.com
Age: 44
Occupation: Photographer
NumberOfCruises: 2
TravelAgent: No
Ship: NCL-Leeward
SailingDate: July 28, 1998
Itinerary: Carrib - Eastern USA
FoodDiningRoom: 99
CruiseDirector: 70
CabinComfort: 80
FoodRoomService: 99
CruiseStaff: 90
CabinAmenities: 90
FoodLidoDeck: 90
DiningRoomService: 99
CabinQuietness: 80
FoodMidnightBuffets: 90
CabinSteward: 99
ShoreExcVariety: 90
FoodVariety: 99
DeckService: 85
ShoreExcValue: 85
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff:
PrivateIsland: 99
GoodForFamilies: 95
LoungeService: 90
TenderService: 99
GoodForSeniors:
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 85
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge: 85
OverallPortsofCall: 95
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 75
CruiseActivities: 80
Casino:
AirSeaProgram: 99
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 80
EmbarkDisembark: 99
DiscoNightclubs: 85
DeckSpace: 90
Stabilization: 90
ShopsOnBoard: 95
SpaceRatio: 90
OverallCruiseValue: 90
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 10 Aug 1998
Time: 08:17:25
Remote Name: 207.172.144.178
Remote User:

Comments

NCL Leeward 7/28/98 - 8/5/98

Introduction

My wife and I cruised for a week on the Celebrity Century in July 1996 (our first) and found the experience nearly perfect in every respect. Our July 28,
1998 eight night cruise on the NCL Leeward was our first with our sons, who are eight and fifteen.

The ship has been leased by Didion World Cruises and will be docked at Alexandria, Virginia throughout the rest of the year, as I understand it. Ours was
the repositioning cruise from Cancun to Alexandria, and was the first of the Leeward cruises under the Didion lease. We'd originally thought that we
would be unable to cruise this year, but Didion's excellent prices combined with nearby Alexandria as the endpoint made it possible.

We had a great time! The Leeward is not the Century, NCL is not Celebrity, and you get what you pay for. We feel we got a lot for our money though, and
I'd get back on that ship in a heartbeat.

Our package included the flight from Dulles International Airport to Mexico, bus transportation to the dock, and shuttle transportation back to our car at
Dulles on our return on August 8. Transportation arrangements were handled reasonably well on both ends of the voyage. We were impressed with how
well things went at debarkation at Alexandria upon our return, considering that this was the biggest ship ever to come that far up the Potomac River, and
it had been a while since anyone at that port had dealt with a large cruise ship approaching the 25000 ton Leeward and her 900+ passengers.

The Ship

We assumed that the smaller and older Leeward wouldn't be as spectacular as the Century, and we were right. The ship is supposedly getting a complete
interior overhaul in the near future, and while it was clean, many things looked a little shopworn. There are many very attractive areas, though. I saw
crew members painting things on and off as the cruise proceeded.

One thing really surprised me. NCL apparently permits smoking in all of the public areas onboard except for the dining room and a few other spots. As a
result, I could smell stale smoke odor in more than a few spots.

Although we could always find a deck chair topside, the pool was small and filled with salt water. It was unavailable for the last two days we were on the
ship, since the bottom was being painted. Why the crew decided to do this immediately prior to one of the two 'at sea' days I'll never know. There is a hot
tub at pool side which was nearly always monopolized by kids. The other hot tub on the rear deck was never crowded, and it's the one we would have
used had we desired to do so. That same rear deck has its own bar, and is the location of trap shooting around 5 PM daily. I don't shoot, but I enjoyed
watching. This was one of the nicer and more intimate spots on the ship.

Both dining rooms are very attractive and pleasant places to dine. We ate every meal in the dining room.

The Sports Bar on Deck 9 (of 10) was the site of around the clock coffee, tea, and milk, and also that of the buffet meals, afternoon snack, etc. Because
I'm such a coffee drinker I spent a lot of time passing though, but found the cramped quarters less than fantastic otherwise. There were a ton of
televisions, with half tuned to CNN and the other half to ESPN - making it very difficult to hear clean audio from either channel.

Gatsby's Bar on Deck 10 pretty much always smelled like cigar smoke. Entertainer Susan Rose played piano favorites there from time to time, but that
whole scene really had lounge lizard written all over it. I never saw this lounge very full.

Opposite Gatsby's is the Observatory Lounge, where there was generally a disco, karaoke, or a teen activity at night. We went one evening, and enjoyed
the varying levels of talent performing karaoke. Unfortunately, we missed our oldest son's 15 minutes of fame when he gave it a try.

The best kept secret on the ship may have been the Tradewinds Lounge. It is on Deck 8 and very intimate, quiet, and seemed to have the best service of
the indoor lounges. Stan Sykes played piano there, and he has a terrific blues voice.

The main auditorium is the Stardust Lounge - a large room which looks great until you actually try and attend a show there. A large percentage of the
seats are restricted view, including the entire balcony except for the front row. We learned to get to the shows very early on in order to get seats where
we could have decent visibility.

The lobby, on deck five, was pleasant and attractive, and most of the time the main desk was staffed. off the lobby is the shipboard store. This not only
featured a greater variety of merchandise than the Century's store had, but the prices were really reasonable. It was a pleasant surprise.

One advantage of a smaller ship like the Leeward is that you're never as far from anything as you are on the big new ships. We found ourselves
frequently using the stairs instead of the elevators. It seemed that at least one elevator was nonfunctional on more than a few occasions, but never for
long.

There were nice views out of all of the lounges and bars, but the seating all looked a lot more comfortable than it really was. Not all drinks on the drink
menu were available at all bars, despite the fact that they all have the same drink menu. We did not feel that the service in the bars and lounges was as
personable and pleasant as in those on the Century, but there were notable exceptions, especially in the Tradewinds Lounge.

There are youth activities for teens and for younger children. Our eight year old son was a fairly regular participant with his group, and had fun. Our
fifteen year old son did a few things with the teens, but wasn't with that group as often.

Our Cabin

All four of us shared an inside cabin on Deck 4. There were two beds, and two folding overhead bunks. All were small, but were comfortable. Since we
knew we would rarely be in the cabin except to sleep, we were resigned to cramped quarters when we booked the cruise. Our steward, Rodney Duval,
was flawless. We tried to pick up after ourselves, but he still had to deal with a lot of our 'stuff'. The bathroom was small, but workable. I could always get
a hot shower, and the toilet always flushed.

The four young men, and sometimes their sisters or girlfriends, in the cabin next to ours, got off to a noisy start. We put up with it until 4:30 AM the
second day, when my wife literally jumped up out of bed, went out in the hall, and gave them what for in a big way. They were not a problem after that.

There were a lot of kids and teens on this cruise, and I feel like the crew, or better yet, their parents, should have been a bit more diligent in keeping
them in line. Towards the end about a dozen teens started lying around all over half of the double stairways at the landings, congesting the both halves
of the stairway. Fortunately, there were no groups of hundreds of teens which have apparently been a problem on the Leeward on past cruises.

The Dining Room

There are actually two formal dining rooms on the Leeward, plus Le Bistro (an optional dining room with a fixed menu and minimum additional gratuity).
We ate every on board meal in the Four Seasons dining room, and believe that the experience was every bit as good as that on the Celebrity Century in
terms of both service and food quality. Our family of four had a table to ourselves. Both our waiter, Daniel from Venezuela, and our busboy, Wayne from
Jamaica, were great. Each went of of his way to socialize with every member of our family, and we got the feeling that we were their only customers.

We simply had no complaints about the food. I expected it to be fantastic, and it was. We occasionally opted for multiple appetizers and deserts.

It was all we could do to keep silent as we watched a nearby couple come anywhere from a half hour to an hour late every night for the 6 PM seating,
and then frequently make special 'not on the menu' requests, order multiple entrees, and generally pay no mind to the fact that there would be a second
seating at their table and the wait staff was only human.

Cruise Director and Staff

The cruise director and his staff, for the most part, came off as inexperienced, lacking in confidence, and not particularly professional. This aspect of the
trip was perhaps the most disappointing in light of our earlier experience on the Century. We noted that the crowds at the evening shows, in the lounges,
and at pool side seemed somewhat numb, and we believe that this was primarily a result of the lame staffing.

The young assistant cruise director who conducted the bridge tour knew less about it than several former military members of the crowd, and when she
talked about 'parking' the 'boat', as opposed to docking the ship, I could see several men, including the bridge officer, visibly cringe.

George, the representative from Didion, did his best to generate some fun and party atmosphere during the pool side activities, and had it not been for
him thing would really have seemed dead.

We are not party animals, but we really look back upon the fun atmosphere of the 1996 Century cruise with fondness. A top notch cruise director could
have made a lot of difference on the Leeward.

Entertainment (by Colin Holter, 15)

Stage Shows: The Leeward's private theater company, the Jean Ann Ryan company, put on two shows in the Stardust lounge: Sea Legs at the Copa, a
song and dance revue; and The Pirates of Penzance, the famous Gilbert and Sullivan musical. The members of the company were very talented and
enthusiastic, and the Sea Legs at the Copa show was excellent. The Pirates of Penzance was equally well-executed but somewhat surreal. The
accompaniment - usually a full orchestra- was the show band, a bass/drum/piano/saxophone/trumpet group that normally plays jazz and swing
standards in the evenings.

To compensate for the lack of a more traditional orchestra, the show was altered so as to be more compliant with the show band's combination of
instruments. This resulted in what can only be described as a Las Vegas version of a Victorian operetta. If you enjoy that kind of thing, the stage shows on
the Leeward will amaze you.

Solo Acts: There were several single performers on the Leeward in the evenings, also backed up when necessary by the show band. The pianist, Glenn
Smith, was a fine rock musician and is someone I'd be eager to see again. The magician, Jean Boucher, was equally entertaining. He was also quite
funny. The last solo act was Ralph Achilles, a hilarious comedian. Overall, the quality of performers hired by NCL was higher than I expected, and I was
pleasantly surprised.

Lounge Music: I thought that the lounge music on the Leeward was unbalanced. There were two pianists (Susan Rose and Stan Sykes), a reggae band,
a jazz band, and a disc jockey. Susan Rose was forgettable. I found her voice and choice of music intolerable. Stan Sykes, on the other hand, was
excellent. He sang mostly R&B and top 40 songs; his voice was ideally suited to these styles. The reggae band, called Mind, Body, and Soul, was difficult
to enjoy. The members were good musicians, but they lacked energy and fun.

Unlike the reggae band, the show band was full of energy. All great musicians, they often played jazz, swing, and blues for couples to dance to.
Surprisingly, several young people, myself included, were among their regular listeners. The members were also very personable. The bass player, who
also happened to be the musical director of the entire ship, chatted with me for awhile after one of the shows. I felt that the show band was the ship's
greatest musical asset. I can't comment on the DJ, because the only time I was in the disco for an extended period of time was when I sang Karaoke.

Itinerary

Wednesday, July 29: Cozumel - Since two of us had been there before, we all took the tender to the pier and walked around all morning, visiting the
museum and stores. We'd have probably dropped in at Carlos and Charlie's if the kids hadn't been with us, but we figured we didn't need to expose
them to that particular war zone. We passed on the jazz and swing music at night in the Stardust Lounge. My fifteen-year-old son, himself a musician,
was present for the music, however, and enjoyed it. The members of the M/S Leeward Show band were very personable and took time after the show to
chat with him. In his opinion, at least, they were much more sociable, experienced, and energetic than the cruise director and his staff.

Thursday, July 30: Day at Sea - Beautiful weather made this very relaxing, and a pleasant day. At night the Sea Legs at the Copa show in the Stardust
Lounge was a variety song/dance thing which wasn't bad, but wasn't the level of quality we enjoyed on the Century.

Friday, July 31: Key West, Florida - We took the Conch train tour excursion with attractions, which included the Shipwreck Historium, and the Aquarium. All
were enjoyable. We walked back to the ship (not far at all) for lunch. Great guides for all three. Highly recommended, especially if your kids are along. The
Stardust Lounge featured piano music by Glenn Smith which we passed on.

Saturday, August 1: Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas - This is NCL's private island, and we could have stayed here for the rest of the vacation and it would
have been fine with me. There are plenty of umbrellas and beach chairs, and lunch is served buffet style on the island. Bar service ($), music, and games
are also provided. One can rent everything from rafts to snorkeling and diving equipment. The water was clear and warm, the scenery is spectacular, and
one could see plenty of fish just walking around and looking downward. Converted WWII landing crafts are used to tender to and from the ship, and run
all day. Despite repeated applications of SPF 45 sun block, the boys got badly sunburned since they spent so much time in the water. Ralph Achilles, a
comedian, was onstage in the Stardust Lounge at night and was very funny.

Saturday night: Rough water - Beginning shortly after we cast of from Great Stirrup Cay, the boat pitched all night. Although none in our family got seasick
or fell down, some people had trouble. I was never worried, but I can see where this was probably a long night for anyone prone to motion sickness.

Sunday, August 2: Port Canaveral, Florida - We took the excursion to Kennedy Space Center, and enjoyed it thoroughly. It seems that the NASA tour
guides are real space heads, and extremely entertaining and enthusiastic. It would be best to be able to spend two days here to see everything. Other
excursions available were Epcot Center and Universal Studios. We felt we'd see too little of interest and spend too much money to consider these. Jean
Boucher, comedian and magician, provided a great show that evening in the Stardust Lounge.

Monday, August 3: Charleston, South Carolina - Since I'm always up early, I was on deck as we entered the beautiful entrance to this picturesque city. We
docked across the water from the aircraft carrier Yorktown. Our horse and carriage ride was conducted by yet another excellent guide past one
magnificent home after another. We went back on board the ship for lunch and then walked to the street market a block from the dock in the afternoon.
Although I highly recommend the carriage tour, there are plenty of historic buildings, restaurants, and park areas within easy walking distance for most
people from the dock. At night in the Stardust Lounge, Pirates of Penzance was staged. As my wife said afterward, if you like Gilbert and Sullivan, you
won't like this. It was a little too 'Vegas' for her. I passed on this show.

Tuesday, August 4: Day at Sea - We hung out by the pool, the kids did a number of youth activities, and we shopped at the on board store all day. It was
semi-overcast and the pool was closed. Since everyone in the family but me was still hurting a bit from the Great Stirrup Cay sunburn syndrome, thins
worked out pretty well. The reggae band played in the afternoon pool side, and there were some games. My wife and kids won third place in a trivia
contest. At night I bypassed the Leeward Farewell show in the Stardust Lounge.

Wednesday, August 5: I walked up on deck about 4 AM, just in time to watch us dock at Alexandria, Virginia. The view from Deck 10 was spectacular,
since I could see the illuminated US Capitol Dome and Washington Monument, as well as the surrounding skyline. We got off the ship about 8:15 AM, and
debarkation was handled efficiently. It was nice knowing we wouldn't have to deal with a flight to get home.

Summary

I'd go again tonight - or any other night - if I could.

The great price of this cruise enabled us to have the vacation we thought we might never have the chance to take. However, not until I read several
questions pertaining to pricing on the post-cruise NCL satisfaction survey did I realize that this line may be trying to position itself as a 'bargain' line. Up
until then I'd just figured we'd gotten a good deal. Of course, one-way air fare instead of round trip also made a dent in the cost.

The ship's size is really comfortable. We'd have been somewhat leery of letting our eight year old son have the run of a ship the size of the Century - at
least so early on in the cruise. Everything seems conveniently close. Waiting lines, are rare and short.

It sounds like the upcoming interior rehab of the Leeward will potentially make it an even better experience than it is at present. After the refitting, NCL
should do like Celebrity and only allow smoking in designated areas - most of which should be on deck somewhere.

The biggest single change NCL needs to make on this ship is the cruise director and his staff. In my mind, there must be an endless line of qualified
individuals for jobs like these out there. Cruise director Dave and his staff on the Century in 1996 all exhibited the charisma, charm, energy, enthusiasm,
and genuine affection for the passengers. It felt like the Leeward bunch were simply putting in their time.

The food and experience in the dining room was tremendous. The wait staff as a whole all seemed to be enjoying their work. My eight year old son
enjoyed being addressed as 'Senator' by the maitre'd on the two formal evenings.

We live about 50 miles from Alexandria, Virginia, and we think it's exciting that a ship of this caliber is, at least for the time being, docking so close to
home.

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