DH and I were on a cruise the week of March 19 aboard the Norwegian Sky which is an all-inclusive (meaning all alcohol is included). We flew out of Cleveland on Monday, March 19 and arrived back home on Friday, March 23.
We chose to fly into and out of Fort Lauderdale because flights were cheaper. We flew United and had absolutely no issue with our flights. In fact I booked basic economy flights and we were upgraded to mid-economy on the flight home so we had a lot more leg room. That was kind of nice. The weather in FLL upon arrival Monday was 82 which was just a tad better than the 26 it was in Cleveland upon take-off. LOL
We used Jiffy Jeff car service to take us from FLL to Miami. It was about a 30 minute drive. We were the first drop-off at the Norwegian dock. The embarkation process couldn't have been easier. It was about noonish when we arrived and there weren't a lot of people checkin in at this point. We got right through without issue, got our seaport cards and boarded the ship. I was carrying a LUG bag with a bathing suit, cover-up and flip-flops for both DH and me to change into since typically it takes a little bit for luggage to get to your stateroom.
We were hungry so we hit the buffet. We both got a drink and I had a really nice salad. About 1:00 our stateroom was ready so we headed there and changed and then went to the pool area.
It turned out we hit some spring breakers. In speaking with crew members we were lucky. The week prior to our cruise they had about 1100 spring breakers, we had about 200 and the week after they had about 1300 booked. The 200 that we had on our cruise were enough to deal with. During the day they weren't too bad but they were incredibly rude at night at the shows. They were talking through the shows, constantly walking in and out of the theatre, climbing over people to get seats. At night we avoided the nightclub/pool areas they would be in. We didn't see too many younger kids at dinner in the main dining area.
Our first stop was Grand Bahama Island (Freeport). I was shocked when I woke up and saw where we were docked. It was like I was docked in my hometown. It was disgusting. It was all industrial looking. We got off the boat, went through some of the shops and came right back to the boat and hung out by the pool area. It seemed like there were a lot of people on the boat who either got off for a very short amount of time or didn't get off at all. My husband and I headed to the deck where guest services was and encountered 2 spring breakers, with luggage packed, getting kicked off the ship. Not sure what happened but there was a lot of Norwegian personnel and security with them and they were escorted off the boat.
The next day we were in Nassau. That area was much prettier. Again we got off, went to some shops and went back to the boat. It was much less crowded so I think a lot of people chose to stay off the boat that day and sight see. We were supposed to leave at 6pm but an announcement was made that there was a delay. We finally left at 7:30 and word about the ship was that a few people didn't make it back to the ship at the designated time and we were waiting for them. Whether that was true or not, I don't know.
The next day we were supposed to be at Great Stirrup Cay, the private island of Norwegian. About 7:00 a.m. we were woke up by a ship announcement that it was too rough for them to bring the tender boats to us and get us to the private island so it was going to be a day at sea. We were highly disappointed.
DH and I got ready and hit the pool deck where breakfast was and geez was it chilly. People were laying on beach chairs wrapped in the beach towels and guests were walking about in sweatshirts and jackets. It was very, very windy. I pretty much had a jacket on all day while sitting in the sun. In the evening the wind died down and it got nicer.
Friday we pulled back into Miami about 7:00. I went to one of the outside decks to check-in for our flight and couldn't believe how chilly it was once again. My phone said it was 52. We got in line to self disembark and used the same car service to get us back to FLL for our noon flight.
All in all it was a nice trip for my 50th b-day but I'm not sure I would ever do this type of a cruise again where the booze is included. I know I would never go again when there was any chance of being with spring breakers but there were also some really rude drunk older people as well. One woman caused quite a commotion at the show the first night yelling about the Eagles winning the Super Bowl and she just wouldn't stop. The comedian didn't know what to do. Then they had a dance contest with guests and crew members and the same woman caused a slight scene again trying to get into the contest after the contestants were already picked. The final night at the show there was an extremely drunk 60 yo man standing behind us talking and yelling out comments throughout the comedian's act. I think maybe if people actually have to pay for drinks maybe they aren't so inclined to get so drunk.
This was our second cruise and DH and I had said we thought next year we'd go right to a resort of some sort but now he was talking about another cruise. The last time we did Royal Caribbean. I'll do a comparison in another post.
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