3 Nights French Escape Cruise

A unique cruise among Fijian islands.

A great week cruising among the Yasawa islands of Fiji. The ship is small, about 30 cabins, and the cabins are compact. (As a solo traveller I was fine, two people would have to be a little more organized!). The shower has a typical small vessel bathroom with a marine shower, which means the entire room serves as the shower, so the entire floor will probably get wet. If you shower too vigorously, or shower two vigorously, the entire bathroom will get wet. The ship is well maintained, paint and woodwork clean and new-looking. Food was generally fine, with some exceptions. The itinerary includes a lot of wonderful snorkeling opportunities - coral reefs, sharks, manta rays and an abundance of fish. The islands are picturesque, the weather was ideal, and the ship’s staff were always smiling and ready to help. The cruise is closer to being an expedition cruise rather than a pampered vacation, a wonderful experience.

Excellent ship and crew , love it

wow , what a great ship , classy we booked last minute , we never book that high , but no noise problems , no rocking right out side the elevator, Wren/ Ren our cabin steward was fantastic . Room , needed a little help Fridge did not work light switch by the bed did not work balcony had old paint on it shower held water , did not drain fast , but a big shower not a round shower , long shower, my husbdan is 6 ft 200 lbs But overall the cabin was fine , we ordered extra blankets and pillow as the air vent is over the bed a giant square , you can of course tunn up the air to make it warmer, but then it gets stuffy. When docked in Nassau , we were on the Ocean Side which was vey nice seeing all the yatchts go by and see Atlantis in the back ground . We ate dinner evey nigh in the Magenta d-room with Heidi she and all were excellent our first time eating in the D-room in a long time as we normally do the have it all package . The food was very good and the mangers stop and ask if eveything is ok. we loved the seating area down past the whisky bar the cocktail server , I think his name is Kaleik , new us by name and had our drinks when we sat down. The great outdoor cafe was nice outside buffet Great bar for Sunsets , it is very busy the day your board Nice lounges The ship did not feel like a sold out ship My husband and I were on rented scooters and we had no problems getting around . We did the outside to get from point a to point b WE even got to go the out island with our scooters , you have to take the tender with an elevator . They had very nice shows on board . Disembarkation was very easy with our scooters , we just got up early had breakfast and got off. Plenty of chairs by the pool adult pool and kids pool all on the same deck . he fit in the shower not problem .

Long but hopefully thorough

I didn't read any reviews until the day before we left as we were traveling with a large group for an event. That said, after reading a few on this site I was concerned we wouldn't have a good time. Thankfully, we didn't share the same negative experiences as folks here. First, accommodations were great. We stayed in an "affordable" (or as I joked, 3rd class) cabin. It was an inside stateroom with a queen size bed. We were planning on being out and about all day and it was fine for us. After they scratched Bar Harbor off of our itinerary, it would've been nice to have the balcony for the 2 days at sea return trip. That is out of the control of NCL and us, so it just was what it was. We were comfortable and our steward (Ryan A.) was great. He checked in with us daily and ensured that our room was exactly how we liked it. Additionally, he even asked if our dining, excursions, etc were up to our standards. Above and beyond. I like my daily iced coffee and assumed I could make that in the buffet line. That was incorrect and I had to pay for it (not covered by drink package) at their Starbucks/cafe daily. The barista pulled me aside on the last day and said I could've purchased a coffee pass and the fact that I got my girlfriend and myself a coffee a day each, it may have been more cost effective. Something I'll have to research and again, I appreciate their polite "heads up." The entertaining on board was nice. They had 2 performers sick (not GI by the sounds of it nor did I witness any sickness, so fear not cruisers) and had to cancel/reschedule stuff. Again, not their fault. We did wish they did a better job posting the changes as we did show up at the wrong time for a few performances due to the changes. Shore excursions were fun. Although, we think we can do our own thing on Bermuda in the future. Take advantage of the public transit system. It's cheap and easy on an otherwise expensive island. I would suggest drinking/eating on board and exploring/beaching on the island. A good piece of advice I got and saw was bringing ziplock bags and packing snacks from the buffet for your travels. I saw some complaints about kids over running the pool area. I was actually impressed with the supervision. First, the lifeguard blew his whistle at any inappropriate or dangerous horseplay and put a stop to it. Second, one pool and hot tub cluster was pretty much adults only. The other pool and hot tub cluster was families/kids. Everyone respected each other's space. It worked well in my opinion. Cruises are family atmospheres and short of falling overboard, kids teenagers and up roam freely. I did it as a kid and expected it on the ship. I never experienced any rude or disrespectful kids. Were some loud and running around? Sure. But, nothing I didn't anticipate or find over the top. Food quality was good or better. Buffet had plenty of options. We did Cagney night one and liked it. Otherwise, we ate at the main dining room and thoroughly enjoyed our meals. We even canceled the last night in Chin Chin as we felt our money was better spent elsewhere due to the pre-paid ("complimentary") dining options sufficed. Drinks were tasty and didn't taste watered down at all. I've done all inclusive resorts where I've had drinks all day and felt sober as a nun. Not that I go out and try to get banged up, but it was certainly VERY doable on the ship if that's your jam. I felt all areas were clean and sanitation was good. I saw complaints about GI sickness in other posts. Hate to break it to those folks, you're not winning against the stomach bug on a ship. That's just bad luck. We felt cleanliness was very important to the crew and saw people cleaning regularly. FINALLY....if you like nautical/ship stuff or this just sounds interesting: Deck 11 there's a bridge viewing deck. You can see the deck officers at work.