ncl-leewardl060898

Name: Lynn
Email: l-friend@worldnet.att.net
Age: 43
Occupation: Events Coordinator
NumberOfCruises: 1
TravelAgent: No
Ship: NCL-Leeward
SailingDate: June 8, 1998
Itinerary: Key West-Cozumel-Sea Day-Key West
FoodDiningRoom: 89
CruiseDirector: 79
CabinComfort: 85
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 89
CabinAmenities: 85
FoodLidoDeck:
DiningRoomService: 89
CabinQuietness: 85
FoodMidnightBuffets: 90
CabinSteward: 89
ShoreExcVariety: 90
FoodVariety: 90
DeckService: 90
ShoreExcValue: 92
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff:
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies:
LoungeService: 89
TenderService:
GoodForSeniors:
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 89
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge: 87
OverallPortsofCall: 90
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 83
CruiseActivities: 83
Casino:
AirSeaProgram: 80
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 87
EmbarkDisembark: 79
DiscoNightclubs: 89
DeckSpace: 89
Stabilization: 80
ShopsOnBoard: 79
SpaceRatio: 89
OverallCruiseValue: 89
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 13 Jun 1998
Time: 15:24:28
Remote Name: 12.69.2.148
Remote User:

Comments

My husband and I just returned from our first cruise. This is a very long review because those are the ones I found most helpful in planning our cruise,
and some of you more experienced cruisers will know some of the details already. We went on the 4 day Mexico, Monday to Friday, which was supposed
to be Key West, Cancun, Cozumel but as you’ll read later turned out to be Key West, Cozumel, day at sea. I chose the 4 day itinerary in particular
because he wasn’t sure he’d like cruising. He says now that he’d go on another one, but 4 days was probably long enough for him. I think I’d like a 7
day if there were lots of ports or island stops. We did both enjoy our experience and considered it well worth the time and money though. We’re pretty
sure we wouldn’t like a ship any bigger than the Leeward, and we saw several at various points on the trip. Other people compared the Leeward to ships
they’d been on and found it old-fashioned in style and appearance, but in a nice way. To them the cabins seemed to a little bigger than you get on the
newer ships.

On the Saturday before we left (Monday departure) we got a letter forwarded through our travel agent, from Norwegian, saying they’d changed our
itinerary and dropped Cancun because of technical upgrades (to the ship or Cancun?) I made a quick call to Norwegian’s 800 number and got a vague
operator who clearly knew no more than me about what the problem was, about whether or not we’d get a new excursion offerings, etc. This was
disappointing as we’d planned shore excursions for every stop – and in fact had planned snorkeling for Cancun (the only thing my husband had
particularly asked to do.) Because the original itinerary had only an evening in Cozumel we hadn’t been offered any “beach” type activities there and so
we left on Monday thinking we might not get to go to the beach or snorkeling and not really having a good idea of what the problem was. So that was
kind of a bummer. Everyone we spoke with on board had a different, equally vague notion of why Cancun got yanked from our itinerary. I’m sure the line
doesn’t want people canceling upcoming trips just because of Cancun but it was clearly an irritant to most of the travelers that the change was so
mysterious, and very late coming. We each got a $50 on board credit though.

A wonderful old Norwegian guy was waiting for us at the gate in Miami and got our small group herded up and out to baggage claim with no fuss. The
shuttle took us right to port and we tipped the dock guys to carry our 3 bags, and it’s worth it in my opinion. It’s a pretty good hike up to the ship. Next
time I would slip shorts or bathing suits into the small carry on that I had so we could change while waiting for the luggage to catch up to us. Since it was
like 55 degrees when we left Pittsburgh at 6:00 that morning we both had slacks on.

We waited in a very long line to check in and then had to get into yet another very long line to wait to embark ( some cranky husband grumbling and
scowling at this point). I’ve read other reviews of quick registration, so I don’t know what happened that day. We arrived shortly before noon and the
place was a zoo. It was well after 1:00 when we stepped on board. We were famished and hot and thirsty and thanks to previous reviews here I knew we
could get something fast in the sports bar. Not everybody knows this tip so it wasn’t packed and we got hamburgers, salad, iced tea etc. in a matter of
minutes and were sitting there cooling off pretty quick. No prize winning food here, but it was what we needed just then. Otherwise this bar is what you’d
expect with lots of TVs tuned to CNN and sports but with the bonus of a whole wall of windows facing wonderful views! Outside one end is a deck with
umbrella tables and outside the other end is the pool and all that deck area.

We had an inside cabin on deck 5, Promenade deck. We chose this mainly for the price break. I’m still debating the merits of paying for a room with a
window. I did miss the natural light and several times I had the inclination to look out, but couldn’t. However, if you’re on a deck that people walk on you
can’t really have the drapes open all the time, so that kind of defeats the purpose I’d think. As most people will say you don’t spend a whole lot of time in
the room and I found that to be true. The deck location was great though. 5 is the deck with the main lobby, excursion desk, gift shop and our dining
room. Also, it has the small Aft Bar and deck which became our favorite spot to hang out. But the room corridors are separated and you never hear a
sound from the public part. My feeling – untested—is that being on any lower deck would subject you to even greater vibration and ship movement than
what we felt, which was pretty strong sometimes. So my caution about the lower, cheaper cabins would be to avoid if you think you might be subject to
seasickness.

There are elevators on the ship but one or more were not working all week and the wait was agonizing sometimes. My biggest disappointment was in the
pool. There’s only one and it was very small. I think most motel pools are larger. The deck area around the pool is large, two storied and clearly the
hundreds of people stacked up in chairs could never all actually use the pool. We ended up with a whole day and night at sea because of the itinerary
and consequently some things like the pool mattered more than they would have if we’d just spent the day at the beach, for example. There were some
activities planned for Thursday, the sea day, but from stories I’ve heard of other ships not as many or as varied as you might find on other ships. My
sense was that they don’t do all-day-at-sea that much and were a bit at a loss as to what to do with everyone. There is one ping pong table, on the aft
deck, 5. They had trap shooting a couple of times a day too. But otherwise not much in the way of games. There was a fitness center that looked pretty
good and there were activities each day in there. We didn’t use it, so I don’t think I can say much more about that. I understand their fitness program is
well regarded though. There is a casino and they had a lot of bingo – that seems to be something that people ignore or really loved. They also held an
art auction and there were a lot of art pieces and sports memorabilia on display around the ship, from this collection. Like the hairdresser, the art guy
spent a lot of time on the PA system talking up his program. We had good books with us though and spent most of the ‘sea day’ in deck chairs with our
books.

We had a morning at Key West, on Tuesday. We’d never been there and signed up for the trolley tour. One mistake we made on the shore excursions is
we kept waiting for the desk to open, which was like at 5:00 or something. In the meantime, forms were on the table that we could have filled out and
dropped in the box and they’d have been done without us standing in line. There was sort of a mad rush on the shore excursions because Cozumel
would turn out to be the only Mexico stop. If you know what you want to do then just fill out all the forms and leave them. You can stop by later to confirm
and pick up your tickets when the line is gone. Also, the snorkeling and diving excursion forms are separate from the land tours and each person going
has to do the health release. Anyway, the Key West trolley tour is pretty nice and a good way to get a quick overview of the city. It leaves at 8:30 a.m.
though, so we had to get up pretty early. You could just walk down the pier and get on a later one yourself though, for the same price I think, so don’t let
the early hour stop you. The tour is only an hour and they leave all the time. There’s also a Conch Train tour which I heard people enjoyed also. Not
much time there.

We got to Cozumel on Wednesday, around 12:30 or 1:00 in the afternoon. We took the shorter snorkeling excursion, called Dzu Ha (I think). You depart
from a deck on the shore. It was very easy for all the first timers like me, but the reef and the fish are so beautiful that my husband was happy too, and
he’s been snorkeling before. We had a knowledgeable guide from the ship. They gave us all our equipment on the ship earlier that day. You get a quick
lesson on the dock and then in you go. It was the high point of our trip I’d say. We had a ball. There was another snorkeling tour that went further out to
a reef that required a 55 minute boat ride and stronger swimmers. We heard the Mermaid boat/sub tour was enjoyable also. Some people went
shopping all day and some went on a longish bus ride to the ruins. I didn’t hear how that went – it was only the thought of being on a bus for hours and
hours that kept us from that, and wanting to snorkel. It was at this point a lot of people were really feeling the loss of the other port stop because you
want to cram so much in to the only one left. When you go to get your towels for snorkeling or beach trips the towel attendant makes you sign a two part
reciept so you’ll promise to return the towels or the penalty is a shocking $25 per towel. So I’m very careful that we bring the towel back to the ship and I
try to give it to the entry officer on the gangway like my paper says, but clearly he does not want to collect hundreds of wet towels and sends us back to
the pool area. At the pool there’s a big basket to dump the towels in but no one to take my receipt and note how obedient we were about bringing these
expensive towels back. Now I’m fretting. I’d rather have $50 worth of Pina Coladas on my bill. So I try to give the information desk officer my receipt with
the solemn promise that I really did turn my towel in, and she shrugs and says please don’t worry about the towels and rips up the receipt in my face.
Clearly the whole exercise is just to intimidate you into babysitting your towel all afternoon. But be a good sport and do all the paper work because the
towel girl is very sweet.

Cab fare was cheap though, and they were safe, so after being taken back to the ship around 4:00 we showered and grabbed a cab to go into
‘downtown’ Cozumel. Cost $4 for the 2 of us and we paid everywhere in Cozumel with dollars. You can change your money if want to but can’t see much
reason to go through the hassle. We went specifically to get some souvenirs for our teenagers – bought silver jewelry – so weren’t surprised to find
ourselves in the midst of so much touristy stuff. But there’s lots of shops to browse around in; there’s a beautiful, peaceful little plaza/park in the center
and many pretty outdoor cafés. Coming from a cold and gloomy gray Pittsburgh we appreciated being out in the very bright sunshine with that
astonishingly blue water all around us. Yes, it was pretty hot too. But not as hot as I thought it might be. High 80s in Mexico, mid 80s everywhere else.
Water temperature around 82 in Cozumel. Lovely really. A couple at our table went to the evening excursion which went to a local nightclub for folk
dancing/singing. They got very strong margaritas and enjoyed the musicians mostly. They knew a bit about folk dancing so were not bowled over by the
dancing itself but said the costuming and music and enthusiasm made up for the uncomplicated dancing. By the way, video presentations by the activities
director that we’d watched earlier in our cabin gave us good information and preparation for the excursions and ports so turn on your TV occasionally.

We found the dining room dinners to be very good. There was a choice of 3 entrees every night, several appetizers and salad, and of course dessert.
The staff is very accommodating so our table mate who wanted all 3 appetizers most nights got them without the blink of an eye – and sometimes 2
different dinner entrees as well (and she was TINY, don’t ask me how). Lunch in the dining room is a big lunch though and we only ate there a couple of
times. The express breakfast in the dining room really is express. I ordered mine just before 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday and we still were out on the pier at
8:30. Breakfast is open seating so you will find yourself with different table partners. If you have more time ask for an omelet, very good. Nothing takes a
really long time though. We all were raving about the delicious, although very strong coffee. Finally on the last night I asked our busboy what kind of
coffee they used on board. He shrugs and says Folgers or Maxwell House. I was incredulous. Not some exotic Columbian brand? Oh no he says. Are
you sure – not some wonderful Norwegian blend? He just shakes his head. Clearly I didn’t believe him. He comes back from the kitchen with my cup and
the crumpled top of a Folgers bag to present to me like a delicacy. We all cracked up, apparently it’s just regular old Folgers.

There was a big blow out, cook out midnight buffet the night we left Cozumel. We left there shortly after midnight by the way and only got there in the
afternoon. They had really decorated the pool deck with palm fronds and fishing nets and cooked jerked chicken and shrimp and all kinds of great stuff.
To be honest this was the only midnight buffet we stayed up for. I didn’t realize the Chocoholic buffet was only the one night and missed that earlier in the
trip. There were midnight buffets of some kind every night though, so if you’re a night owl those are fun.

There are more lounges on board then you could really make time to sit in. Sometimes there’s a piano player in one or the other. One is a cigar lounge in
the evening. There was disco type dancing in another. Usually the Caribbean band was on deck for some point each day – very good, and created just
the right ambiance.

I was surprised how much motion I felt a couple of times and there were days that people really noted the “swaying” or engine roughness. I took one
Dramamine at two different points just to be safe as I didn’t want to sit there feeling queasy. I was never actively sick and didn’t hear a lot of complaints of
overwhelming seasickness. I think you do get used to it too. Near the end of the trip we were really conscious of the swaying and roughness, but I wasn’t
queasy from it – just aware of it. We found that sitting outside on one of the decks minimized the rocky feeling on rough days – the worst place to be was
in a cabin everyone seemed to think, and I definitely agree.

You can’t wear shorts to dinner so there’s quite a lot of clothes changing every day as you get out of bathing suits and/or shorts and into slacks and
dresses for dinner and then maybe back to shorts etc again. I had a couple of casual, summer dresses that were fine and typical for what women wore
to dinner. Some really dressed up for dinner every night, but that was not the norm. I didn’t notice any tuxes at formal night, but jackets and ties are
required. We ate at the main, 6:00 p.m. seating though, so maybe there was more men in formal wear at the late seating. Lots of opportunities to get
your picture taken by the ship photographer. I made my kids laugh imitating the way they suddenly pounce on you to stop and smile at various doorways.
No wonder you see so many startled faces on the bulletin board later. There were some really nice formal portraits done on the formal night though, I
noticed.

I was astonished to discover that we drank like $100+ on board. We’re really not big drinkers, but remember even Cokes are pricey (approximately
$1.50), and the Evian water is $2.50 a bottle. You can get iced tea in the sports bar for free most of the time, but not every minute of the day. Anything
else you pay for and it’s not cheap. It’s hard to resist those frozen drinks they parade past you all day and night!!

Bon Voyage!

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