Complaint Review: NCL

We went on a 7 day Hawaiian cruise on the Pride of America that left Honolulu on March 14, 2009. This was the second year in a row that we had taken this cruise at Spring Break as we had gone in March 2008. We enjoyed that cruise so much that we decided to go again.

The actual price of the cruise had not really increased since last year. However, the prices on board for the specialty restaurants had doubled and tripled. Plus the food in the Aloha Buffet, which is the free restaurant, was boring and not very appetizing.

My complaint is the cleanliness of our cabin. We were in a balcony cabin #9174. I was very surprised to see how much things had deteriorated in one year since the last time we sailed.

First of all, the mirror on our cabin wall was broken and held together with tape.
Photo #1

The room had not been vacuumed when we arrived. I know the crew is in a rush to get the rooms ready for the new group of cruisers in a short time. But even after they finally vacuumed, there was a huge amount of dust in the corners and where the rug met the wall.
Photo #2

There were brown drip stains on the wall that could have easily been washed off.
Photo #3

The table on the balcony had a drip of food on it from the time we arrived until we left.
Photo #4

The beach towels that were left in our room for our use which were navy and white striped in March 2008, were now grey and blue striped with a big yellow stain in the center which I assume was suntan oil (hopefully). I did not take a picture of them. However, the rest of the towels supplied by NCL were not any better. They were often badly stained such as the one in the picture.
Photo #5

The shower had mould in the grout.
Photo #6

The shower curtain was stained and very mouldy on the bottom. (How much does it cost to get a new shower curtain?)
Photo #7 and #8


The most troubling though was the state of the toilet seat cover. It was absolutely disgusting. I did not even want to touch it. I left a written message to the housekeeper assigned to our room asking him to wash the toilet seat cover. The message was gone but the lid was not clean. (I would recommend a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser!)
Photo #9 and #10


I was disappointed in the cleanliness of our room, and very surprised at the deterioration in quality in one year. With the outbreak of infectious diseases on cruise ships, I would think that the cleanliness of the cabins would be very important. I noticed this year that there was a lot of sanitizing hand cleaner around the ship. I would suggest that cleaning the cabins and linen would also be a good way of assuring the health of the passengers.

Lindac
Abbotsford, British Columbia
Canada