We have been cruising with NCL for 19 years and we are Latitudes Gold members. We took this 14 day cruise because the itinerary looked fabulous. Overall the quality of this cruise was only average and NCL in general has declined. Gone are the towel animals, lobster/shrimp dinners, midnight chocolate buffet, and other perks that simply made the cruise special. NCL has chosen instead to up charge everything. The cost of dining in any speciality restaurant without a purchased dining package is absurd, and would have cost our party of two over $100. A water package is $35 for a case of stale water that tastes like plastic. We got two free waters and a bottle of sparkling wine free in our cabin for being gold members. Despite cruising with them for 19 years we were not offered any upgrade or onboard credit. The latitudes program is just not worth it to stay loyal to NCL.

Food: We dined in the Venetian restaurant every night and the food was just average, nothing special. The dress code is too relaxed, shorts and tee shirts are now allowed at dinner and we did not like it at all. Gone are the days of dressing up for dinner. The lunch menu never changed in the Venetian, for a 14 day cruise this is not acceptable. The buffet had a nice variety but we were scared of using the same tongs touched by many people. We noticed many people did not wash before entering the buffet lines. People were filling water bottles and coffee mugs despite signs saying not to do that and NCL was lax in that regard. A water bottle filling station is very much needed. Chairs in both the garden cafe and Venetian restaurants were dirty, they need to be deep cleaned. The decor in the Venetian needs to be overhauled, the paintings did not make any sense.

Many people saved chairs around the pool and it was next to impossible to sit out in that area.

Long lines were encountered during embarking and there was no real process for priority boarding for gold members. Disembarkation was very fast, we chose to walk off with our bags. We were simply directed out the doors to the cabs and bypassed any customs procedures.

The ports were all fabulous although ST. Martin was hit very bad with hurricane Irma. The French side of the island was still devastated with abandoned cars, boats overturned and many buildings not rebuilt. We should have been informed of that situation before booking the island tour excursion with NCL. Cost of excursions in general has gone up.

Also be aware, any bottles of alcohol are confiscated, we used to be able to board with a bottle of wine, now NCL charges $15 a bottle to bring one onboard. Our souvenir bottle of Guavaberry Liquor was taken, and we would never have consumed that on board.

In general, the quality of a NCL cruise is just not there. I doubt we will cruise with them again.