Days at Sea and Caveat Emptor

This cruise had three days at sea which were great times to explore the ship and enjoy what they had to offer. We received a daily newsletter telling us what was scheduled, which we would highlight with our highlighter to make sure we didn't miss anything.

Freestyle Daily

On the sea days the pools looked very busy, so we skipped them, only swimming once, in the H20 pool on our Cozumel day when the ship was pretty empty. We instead spent our time visiting the shops, bowling, watching game shows, playing bingo and hanging out on our balcony.

Bowling seemed like a great idea, but it was expensive and awkward playing on a moving ship. We also learned of a ship's tour that took you inside the crew areas (galley, laundry, etc) but when we went to sign up we learned that it was $80 per person! Something else we have done cheaper (free) on Disney. We did enjoy watching the game shows going on, like Family Feud and Deal or No Deal.

Rock Climbing Walls

We did have a negative experience in the jewelry shop that we didn't know was negative until after we returned home.

The store was having a sale on Invicta watches, my husband fell in love with one but we weren't sure if we wanted to buy it or not. They told us on more than one occasion about their price match guarantee and how if we found it cheaper "anywhere" when we got home that they would automatically refund the difference to our credit card. They told us this personally and during every raffle they had in the shop. Since we did not have internet access* on the ship we could not price check but the price seemed reasonable and heck, with the price match guarantee it would be ok, right? My husband bought his watch and we also got one for our son for his upcoming birthday.

After returning home, I checked the price of the watches online. I found them to be selling for less than HALF the price we paid. So I called NCL customer service, who told me they had nothing to do with the store on board and gave me a number to call. That number resulted in a recording saying you needed to fill out paperwork for your refund, but that they did NOT accept prices from internet stores. This completely contradicts what they said on board, what happened to "anywhere"? I finally got a human to talk to who explained that I was completely S.O.L. Caveat Emptor

* Internet access on any ship comes at a premium, this we are used to, however, NCL not only charges more than Disney for internet access, they also charge an initial "fee" to connect. The $5 fee turned us off, however, it could have saved me hundreds of dollars on watches. Hindsight.