Norwegian Wind
by Martin Jacobs
Hawaii
April 15, 2003
Boy,what a donnybrook! Maybe we're just spolied because I normally cruise on Crystal ships where the service is excellent. But, this 10 day cruise from Honolulu-Fanning Island, then around Maui, Kona, Hilo, Kawai and back to Honolulu was a dozzy. Besides the wasted 5 days cruising to Fanning Island, inwhich we had turbulent sea and often 50-75 mile an hour winds, the ships staff is very poor First of all, talking to the help such as busboys, waiters, housekeepers, and certain hosts, they get only $5.00 an hour. Sure, they get free room and board, but getting a job on Norweigen is surely not a career job. On top of it they "don't smile". Well, I don't blame them at all. Why? Their tips are charged by the room to an account for $10.00 per day. So, imagine how far can $10 go when you have all this help from waiters, bartenders, room service, housekeepers etc.
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That's probably $1 per person, if that. Plus,you get what you pay for. My room was never vacumed. Bedding not changed everyday. The food was as inconsistant as the crew was. They call it, "free style" cruising. Therefore, you seat yourself at meals and get a different waiter usually. Plus, the young kids will serve as a waiter in the dining room and then as busboy wiping tables and carrying dishes at the buffett. Then the buffet was in the Sports Bar and surprisingly was slightly better food than the dining rooms. But,the hamburger patties were always cold as they were precooked and put in a big pan covered by a cloth napkin. The hamburger and hot dog buns were served cold. Ever tried a cold hot dog? The yams served with turkey, I thought were biscuits (as they were so overcooked). Never did anyone come around with coffee.
The swimming pools (2) were both filled with salt water. Boy, it really hurt my eyes. In retrospect, I would not recommend this ship to anyone. I'm told next year other cruise ships will offer the Hawaiian cruise. The Norweigan Wind gets a D grade from both of us.I'd like to hear from anyone if they had a silimlar type of experience on the Norweign Wind.
