We flew over from England to take the Panama Cruise on the Norwegian Sun on 16th March 2018. We were really looking forward to this vacation as we would be visiting five countries new to us as well as crossing the Panama Canal. Soon after embarkation we were horrified to learn that this ship was being refurbished during the cruise.

During the cruise, we suffered considerable noise from machines that were being used to strip decking. There was a lot of dust and smells from (dangerous?) chemicals. Operatives were wearing masks whilst passengers were inhaling this stuff. Areas used to store drums were out of use for sunbathing on decks 11 and 12 and the jogging track on deck 6 was partially closed off the whole cruise. Some restaurants were closed. There appeared to be a total disregard for the well being and satisfaction of passengers by NCL and we never saw the captain during the cruise.

We have never experienced anything like this and no other guests we spoke to had either. Apparently the ship was going to dry dock in Canada immediately following our cruise but that is no excuse. On the final night, we received a letter apologising for the inconvenience and with an offer of 25% credit towards cruise taken before 31st March 2019 with NCL. This is derisory and totally unsatisfactory as guests may not be able to take or afford another cruise in the next 12 months and indeed may not wish book with NCL again after such an experience. If we had been warned about this maintenance work we would not have booked this cruise as we would have had an informed choice.

We are currently pursuing a complaint through our travel agent.

John and Stacey Woodward