NCL LUNA

Cruising is one of my all-time favorite vacations.
Simply put, easy peasy lemon squeezy.

The theory behind cruising is a contained play space where everything is paid for prior, several destinations are visited in whirlwind time, food is a never ending bacchanal of culinary non necessities, and drinking is an intoxicant orgy from embarkation to disembarkation.

Family cruising is the way to go…free rein to go play, swim, eat, grab a drink without mom and dad needing to sign for something every second. It’s hard to lose a kid on a ship.

So, since it’s been a while, I dialed up an old pal, Melissa at NCL, and I plopped us on their newest vessel, only one sailing in, the Luna, sister ship to the Aqua. My three youngest and my husband set sail from Miami for a week, two days at sea and visiting Roatán, Honduras, Belize, Costa Maya and Cozumel.

NCL birthed the Freestyle Cruising concept, and I love it. Free to eat wherever, whenever and the fancy dress noose is gone with the plank and defined dining hours and venues. 

There’s good and bad in every situation, including a well needed family vacation. I will give the Luna 75% gold star, with 25% needing improvement.

The Luna is new…brand new and the interior spoke to that. Wide spaces, not a hint of weather or damage on even a cracked molding. It smelled like a new car and so public areas are so spacious you forgot you were on a ship. Even the Starbucks is a REAL Starbucks, so the drink package if you are a Venti addict was worth it.

I dropped a major dime and upgraded us to the Haven. If you can spare the extra change, it is a no brainer. 90% of the riff-raff population is hidden from view. Each suite has a butler and housekeeper, a private Haven pool, only for Haven guests, private bar, restaurant and concierge. Waters down the crowds which can hinder a great cruise.

Kids were welcome onboard with an entire village of outdoor games, a lost in space Aqua Slide Coaster which launches you and your possibly unwilling victim up a steep coaster track at speeds up to 31 mph and lets you lose to catapult down a slide which hangs over the ship.  Or, the Drop which is another not for the seasick, free fall dry slide.  We did none of these, and were simply voyeurs and listeners to the screams There is mini golf, ping pong, shuffleboard, a Glo Court basketball Court, and an incredible arcade.

Bored kids will be grounded. 

Eating was not a problem, even the Mikey Likes It kind.  The buffet was plentiful and varied and fresh.   Several specialty restaurants available for an upcharge, 24 hour Local Bar and Grill and one of my favorites, Indulge Food Hall which allowed you to order from about ten different cuisines via touch pad and delivered to your table in record time.

Restaurant staff was extremely efficient. 

Now, the bad and the ugly.

Regarding the Haven Concierge. Considering what we paid for service, there should have been three concierge, since that what the desk holds, but rarely. The concierge should be one stop shop for all your cruising needs. Instead they were liasons to restaurants, guest services and troubleshooting. Anything you needed required an extra call to another specialist.   In my book, the Haven concierge should have access a regular guest doesn’t have.

Haven guests should not be waiting in line for the one concierge on duty to finish with another guest.

Upcharges for EVERYTHING. We thought we had paid prior to embarkation for the best, hottest and most available wifi on the ship.  Nope. I paid another, gulp, 600.00 to get us all up and running…five extra packages including the FREE AT SEA I already paid for.    I still have no idea what I needed extra, but we had to keep our phones on airplane mode which did not allow for calls or “regular” texts to come in on an IPHONE.  

Thank God I did not pay for the arcade Package prior.  Bad enough I paid to win a Labubu doll which I probably could have purchased with the original artist’s signature on that ugly face by the time we were done, but NONE of the ticket winning games were included in the package. And, that was 95% of the arcade. Every game my kids wanted to play had a branding “NOT INCLUDED IN ARCADE PACKAGE”. Well, what is? And, mini golf was an extra $5.00 per person a game. Honestly, if I wasn’t a seasoned traveler I could understand how the money grab took advantage of a parent’s desire to let their junior traveler run free while sipping on a Mojito.

Starbucks was not allowed for mini sippers because of the caffeine, and although we paid for unlimited Starbucks, it was unlimited for myself and my husband, AND, only one drink per visit.  You could finish your drink and come back, teacher said, but you can’t order more than one per person. Unlimited?

Ship charges were not calculated and charged at the end of your cruise. They were charged as you go, and held up as a processing charge, which, if you use a debit card or a credit card that can be paid down as you go (I use this for traveling so I don’t end up with a big bill at the end of my freewheeling, feel good vacation high), you were stuck. And, if you wanted to change your form of payment, you could not add it, you had to delete the original and add the new and pay the old charges. It was so confusing I cried. Last day ruined.

Would I do it again?

Yes, in the Haven only, and with the insurance of the other kinks being worked out.   

It’s just hard to find good help these days, but in a world where every penny has a job,  NCL needs to take the effort to employ those pennies gamefully.