Currently on Norwegian Escape out of Miami

So I cruise a lot. I have taken mostly Royal Carribean cruises before this but I did a Norwegian one in 2017. I brought 10 people on this cruise and spent an absolute fortune to do it. I hope this is moderated by NCL employees somehow and maybe they will see this. I have some major gripes so far. At this point I would never choose Norwegian ever again. I will detail why below.

1. Staff attitude… When compared to Royal cruises I have been on in recent years, they are just not very friendly. Very prohibitive. The drinks are lazily made and have almost no alcohol in them. No umbrellas. No cherries. Everything is hurried and done without a smile. I think they are all burned out.

2. Food Choices…. I have a 10 year old with me and none of the places even have chicken nuggets. I mean what? The buffet is ok. Royal Carribean has 24 hour pizza slices that are actually decent. Royal had a chicken strip restaurant by the pool. I got pretzel bites last night at O Sheehans and they were ice cold. Service is slow and unenthusiast

3. No Pop Machines…. Royal had coke freestyle machines all over the ship. Here if you want a pop you have to order it from the bar. I have a drink package and they were charging me port fees for even sprite.

4. Serious overcrowding…. this cruise is absolutely shoulder to shoulder crowded. Every pool and hot tub is packed with people to the gills.

5. Room cleanliness… my daughter ended up with a handicapped room somehow and it stunk like a nursing home.

Honestly it was an amazing undertaking for me to take my family here. I so deeply regret choosing Norwegian for my family’s vacation. If someone from Norwegian would like to reach out that would be great if they at least made some effort to make this trip better somehow. I am just really disappointed in myself for not researching better.