Norweigen Sea, Feb. 14 short review

Just got off of the "Sea". I don't have time for a long winded review, but
here is a brief rundown:

Cruisers: My wife and I (50 ish). Previous cruises, Carnival Holiday
(1988), Carnival Triumph (2000), NCL Explorer (2002).

The Sea is the smallest and the oldest ship we have cruised on. I believe that
it is the oldest in the fleet. If they have "refurbished" this ship, it was
with a paintbrush. The ship shakes, vibrates and makes more loud noises than
any of the previous ships I've been on. It was confirmed by two staff members
that this is the next ship to be shed by NCL.

That being said, and the fact that we had horrible weather for five of the
seven day cruise, I would like to say that the staff on the Sea makes up for
the older and less sophisticated ship. The "tipping included" had the staff
not acting like clowns and pandering for the tips. They were professional,
accomodating and not "in your face". In addition, a big plus was that the
ship's photographers were not in our face either. This was a very nice
surprise!

The cruise director, Kevin is excellent and kept a lot of people entertained
despite the lousy weather. I am a professional entertainer myself and I felt
the entertainment options of the ship were fine. The singers, and dancers were
very fine. HOWEVER, this ship older one level showrooms with lots of poles to
block the view. The stages are small and skimpy and the acoustics are only
so/so.

Also, the showroom in the aft part of the ship, vibrates and rattles constantly
because of the proximity to the engines and props in this less modern ship. In
all of my previous cruises I have not experienced this much vibration and
shaking.

There were also vibrations and shaking throughout the casino, and it was NOT
the shaking of the coins out of the pockets of the slot players!

The food was for the most part excellent. My wife and I perfered the Seven
Seas dining room. The service was fine and the Freestyle dining experience
allows new dining mates at every dinner.

The buffet varied from ok to fine, and there was very often BBQ on deck, at
least when it wasn't raining.

The cabin was by far the smallest and most tired of our previous cruises. We
were in the aft on deck 3. The vibration and noises kept us up for sometimes
hours! No cabin changes were possible because the cruise was sold out. When
my wife and I went on Triumph, we had aft balcony cabin and it was absolutely
vibration free!

Room attendant was the best because everything got done, but we rarely saw him.
Bar service at the pool was friendly and fine. There were plenty of deck
chairs once the weather cleared.

We at in Le Bistro one night at it was an outstanding experience.

So, there it is in a nutshell. A tired old ship with a great itinerary and a
fantastic staff. The good balances out the bad, but......hey guys, retire
this old tub!!

Fred

"Fredisg" wrote in message
...
So, there it is in a nutshell. A tired old ship with a great itinerary
and a
fantastic staff. The good balances out the bad, but......hey guys,
retire
this old tub!!

Fred


It's rather sad when a ship built in 1988 and is only 16 years old is
considered an old tub. I wonder how you would feel about QE2. She was
built in 1969 and is 35 years old.

Old is not always a bad thing, but it seems the cruise industry has created
a market which feels any ship over two years old is a "bucket". I guess
this is the result of introducing 10+ new ships every year over the last
decade.

My favorite ships will most likely always be the classics.... most of which
are no longer with us.

Back to NORWEGIAN SEA... she will never be a classic. She was built on the
cheap by NCL when they desperately needed new tonnage. She is only a notch
higher in grade and finish then an overnight European ferry. So I agree
with the poster she is not the best ship on the high seas, but if passenger
ships only have a life span of 16 years then the cruise industry is going to
be in big trouble.

Ernie

I agree about the "old" ship, reply- I looked up my very first ship the TSS
Festivale- and I was 12 when I was on her.

Talk about an old ship!! I showed my kids this ship that I sailed on
twice.
Once when I was 12, and when I was 20- I remember being in St. Thomas and
the Norway was there and thinking "WOW I have to go on her"!
Well my kids could not believe the ship. "MOM where are the hot tubs and
big radar golf looking things" I just laughed.

I had no idea she also became the Big Red Boat (III) (TSS FESTIVALE)

In any event. It sounds like you made the best of a bad weather week.
It's to bad the ship had all those vibrations.

Kelly H

On Tue, 24 Feb 2004 12:12:11 GMT, "Goose, Duck & Bird dogs"
wrote:

I agree about the "old" ship, reply- I looked up my very first ship the TSS
Festivale- and I was 12 when I was on her.

Hi Kelly,

This ship is being dismantled on the beaches of Alang right now. My
last report (2/22) is that she is 90% gone. :+(

Best regards,
Ray
LIGHTHOUSE TRAVEL
800-719-9917 or 805-566-3905
http://www.lighthousetravel.com

"E.k.R." wrote in message ...
"Fredisg" wrote in message
...
So, there it is in a nutshell. A tired old ship with a great itinerary
and a
fantastic staff. The good balances out the bad, but......hey guys,
retire
this old tub!!

Fred


It's rather sad when a ship built in 1988 and is only 16 years old is
considered an old tub. I wonder how you would feel about QE2. She was
built in 1969 and is 35 years old.

Old is not always a bad thing, but it seems the cruise industry has created
a market which feels any ship over two years old is a "bucket". I guess
this is the result of introducing 10+ new ships every year over the last
decade.

I think this is really sad, too. I see it talked about most with CCL.
So many say you haven't cruised CCL unless you've been on the new
"Spirit" class ships. It seems that once a new class is launched the
older ships in the fleet are neglected and left to rust. Is there a
reason that the older ships can't be maintained and staffed at the
same level as the new builds, so that if someone chooses an "older"
ship, their cruise experience will be similar in quality to someone
that picks a newer one? I'm not talking about the added amenities that
some of the new builds offer, because I understand that the older
ships can't compete there. I'm talking about level of service,
cleanliness, overall maintenance and quality of food.

Lee

(Lee) wrote:

So many say you haven't cruised CCL unless you've been on the new "Spirit"
class ships. It seems that once a new class is launched the older ships in the
fleet are neglected and left to rust. Is there a
reason that the older ships can't be maintained and staffed at thesame level as
the new builds, so that if someone chooses an "older" ship, their cruise
experience will be similar in quality to someone
that picks a newer one? I'm not talking about the added amenities that some of
the new builds offer, because I understand that the older ships can't compete
there. I'm talking about level of service,
cleanliness, overall maintenance and quality of food

I agree with most of your statement, Lee. It should be possible to offer a
high level of service, cleanliness, food quality and maintenance on ships of
all ages.

However, some of the new "amenities" offered on the newer ships serve as a
distraction or add an ugliness to a ship, in my opinion. Water slides take up
a lot of room and detract in the appearance of the pool area, as do hot tubs
that are so elevated that people lounging along the sides of the pool can't
even see the pool, but rather the sides of the elevated tubs. I love hot tubs,
but prefer they be better integrated into the overall design.

I'm not a fan of rock-climbing walls, etc., though I don't mind that some ships
have them. I just do not want to see ALL the newest ships adding these and
similar "amenities" to their ships. I would love to see older ships better
maintained and for new ships to incorporate more classic amenities like
wonderful libraries, dedicated movie theaters, dual major entertainment venues,
etc.

(Fredisg) wrote:

So, there it is in a nutshell. A tired old ship with a great itinerary
and a
fantastic staff. The good balances out the bad, but......hey guys, retire
this old tub!!

Awwww...the Sea is a lovely "middle-aged lady," definitely not ripe for retirement.
NCL offers a great cruise product on her for an excellent value. I'll bet
you were very satisfied with the price you paid for that cruise.

In fact, you were extremely complimentary about service, food and entertainment.
You noted as negatives the dated nature of, e.g., the theatre design, and
the general age of the ship, yet you didn't criticize overall cleanliness
and maintenance of "this old tub," and everything I read from current cruisers
is consistent with our experience on the Sea in '99--she's fairly lovingly
maintained, if somewhat irreparably worn around the edges (sounds like me!).


You didn't like the small size of your cabin. *Lots of new ships have small
cabins.*

Your biggest gripe seems to be vibrations. Yes, that ship is known to have
vibration issues, especially in the aft where your cabin was located, where
a dining room is located, etc. As I understand it, the vibration is produced
by a screw and rudder arrangement that can be manipulated to mimic more modern
stern thrusters. Variable positioning to deal with weather-related conditions
such as you experienced on your cruise may have exacerbated the degree to
which you felt vibrations. Nonetheless, *lots of new ships have known mechanical/engineering
issues that negatively impact passenger experience--take the Mariner of the
Seas, for example, which we just cruised over the holidays. It's brand spanking
new, and it has a known issue involving excessive motion, which has been
the subject of numerous pax complaints.*

By your way of thinking, I'm just about prime for being put out to pasture.
And I'm no more ready to go than is the venerable Sea!!

The Sea is the ship that got the Texas cruise market going and transformed
many of us Texans from first-time cruisers to cruise addicts! We're all thrilled
that more cruise lines are giving Texas a try and that we're attracting younger
ships with more bells and whistles. But the Sea continues to serve a worthwhile
purpose in our market.

Diana Ball
near Houston, TX

On Tue, 24 Feb 2004 06:31:04 -0800, Ray Goldenberg wrote:

On Tue, 24 Feb 2004 12:12:11 GMT, "Goose, Duck & Bird dogs"
wrote:

I agree about the "old" ship, reply- I looked up my very first ship the TSS
Festivale- and I was 12 when I was on her.

Hi Kelly,

This ship is being dismantled on the beaches of Alang right now. My
last report (2/22) is that she is 90% gone. :+(

Best regards,
Ray
LIGHTHOUSE TRAVEL
800-719-9917 or 805-566-3905
http://www.lighthousetravel.com

That is sad. Many good memories on this ship. I had heard that rumor but
someone said she was still sailing.

Kelly H