NCL never again

We sailed with Norwegian Cruise Line on board Norwegian Breakaway.
We have cruised over 60 times with most of the current cruise lines. This was by far the worst.
We were visiting friends in Boston and the add on of a cruise from Boston to Bermuda seemed a good idea. We have sailed on Norwegian Breakaway before so we knew what to expect but things seemed to have got worse.
First the good points
The crew were fantastic. Mainly from the Philippines they were friendly and always happy to help.
Comfy beds
NCL provided a free ferry from the Bermuda cruise dock to St George the very pretty old capital town (where we met the King on his recent visit)
A couple of shows in the main theatre were very good (Rumours and Red White and British)
Bad points
We queued for 3 hours to get on the ship. The ship was delayed by having to undertake a search and rescue operation for a missing crew member. This was obviously outside NCL,s control but in the 3 hour queue to embark there was no sign of any NCL staff to assist people with small children or with mobility issues. Once on board there was no apology or ‘thanks for bearing with us’ from NCL.
There are no quiet lounges to sit and read when at sea , only very load crowded bars.
No tea / coffee making facilities in the cabin
Deck 7 seems to consist entirely of a horrible massive smoky casino. The smoke then permeates into other decks via the central atrium.
Drinks are very expensive, then a 20% service charge is added !
Tips are added at a cost of $20 per person per day
Specialty restaurants are very expensive. An additional $50 in general. Even the Italian restaurant cost an additional $40. Ridiculous.
There was very little effort by NCL to get passengers to wash their hands when using the Garden Cafe buffet. There were sinks and paper towels at all the entrances but most people just walked straight in.
Very limited entertainment on the cabin tv. Just a few news channels and a couple showing old TV shows. If you wanted to watch a film it cost an extra $10
No dress code. We were aware of this but didn’t realize how low the dress standards would be. The passengers were 99% American and we know that they don’t like to dress up but in the lovely restaurants in the evening there was a sea of baseball caps, dirty jeans and work boots or flip flops. Some passengers looked as though they were off to chop down trees in a forest rather than enjoy an evening meal.
We were quoted $69 each for an NCL airport shuttle to the airport on disembarkation. We got a taxi for the total cost of $23.
Just about everything costs extra. NCL just seem to be about making as much money as possible from each passenger
Plastic plates in the buffet. Like a school canteen
The Captain made a short announcement of our location and upcoming weather on sea days, but this was read out in a very dry impersonal way with no interaction with passengers.
The ships officers were notable by their absence, We only saw a glimpse of them when they turned up for the short welcome aboard meeting. They should circulate around the ship occasionally to chat to passengers
We personally find the ‘Artwork’ on the ships hull quite tacky and dated. Whilst in Bermuda we saw one of the new NCL ships. The artwork on that one made it look as though it had been the target of a bad case of graffiti
The daily program delivered each day to the cabin is very poor. It looks very cheaply produced and gives only brief details of events and times. The print is very small and difficult to read
The entire experience of this cruise made us feel that we were being ripped off by NCL
In summary, we thought that we knew what to expect with cruise departing from the USA as Americans have different expectations on board. They enjoy gambling and smoking and don’t seem to mind paying extra for everything. However we were really disappointed to find this cruise so bad. NCL seem to be going downhill fast.