I hate to have to bring such bad news home from our 10 day trip but folks need to know!!!!

We have cruised every year for the last 12 years. This was our second NCL.

We booked NCL's Spirit out of NYC to S Caribbean 10/19/06-10/29/06. Selected a guaranteed balcony for us and an outside cabin for my parents (We were fortunate enough to be able to take them on their first cruise in 20 years. We were very excited.)  We thought it would be a great idea to travel out of NY as we are from MD and my parents from DE (no airline hassles).

After spending one night in our cabin we returned from breakfast to find a bug crawling on our curtain. I thought (rather ‘afraid’) I knew what it was but asked my mom for confirmation. Yep, sure enough, bed bugs. They were everywhere! Behind the bed, in the sleeper, in the curtains, etc. We killed and caught several and proceeded immediately to reception to speak with a manager privately. We spoke with the asst front desk manager and were told to give them an hour to figure out where they would move us to while they exterminated our cabin. After voicing my serious concerns about our personal belongings they offered to launder anything we wanted.  Later that day we were moved (I should say *we* moved our belongings with out assistance) from deck 10 aft  (balcony) to deck 6 very forward porthole! (Well at this point we hope it is far enough away from our original stateroom that the new one may be safe.) That took the better part of our first day at sea and we were unable to participate in any activities or formal night.

All of our empty luggage remained in the room as it was stored under the bed and we could not bring ourselves to go under there again. I’m not kidding when I say it was alive! The bedding and sleeper were filthy with fecal matter, dried blood and living bugs of all sizes!

The front desk contacted us to let us know that they would extend an onboard credit of $300 pp ($600), a complimentary dinner at a specialty restaurant and a bottle of wine. Big deal! The difference between staterooms is at least that much! They acted like it was generous! They replied that they needed authorization from Miami to do anything further.

We tried to enjoy the second day at sea but we were now experiencing inflammation from the bites we received on the first night and constant itching. Later that evening we received a call from the front desk management that Miami has extended an additional $200 pp ($400) and no other credits would be offered. Meanwhile we still itch and can not sleep!

Finally we get to the island itinerary (5 days) and can spend some time off of the ship and think about something other than bugs. But no, now we are overhearing other people talk about rashes, and “something biting” them.  This how we realized the entire ship is infested! Nope we are not sleeping through the night anymore. We keep waking and itching all through the nights.

On the morning of our ninth day I awoke with a rather large bedbug running down my arm! After screaming and cursing I captured and took the little b*st*rd to the hotel manager. I tried to explain that I feared the entire ship has a serious problem. He stated that he had a terrific extermination team however,  acknowledged that docking in NYC presents a particular problem as NYC is known to have a dramatic bed bug problem. He was sympathetic as I explained that we are terrified that we are going to bring this problem home with us (as these things are efficient hitch-hikers) but offered no advice or assistance. I asked that we be provided with a letter acknowledging our complaint so I may have some instrument to persuade NCL to take some responsibility should we in fact bring this home, but that we would never get.

So we have just spent our evening emptying our suitcases in our driveway (outside), sorted our laundry into plastic bags and sealed them. We will store our luggage in the shed and hope that mice do not inhabit them until a good freeze can kill any potential bugs or eggs. My parents also have bites and they are following the same procedures.

Tomorrow I will consult with an exterminator as to anything else preventative we can do, and we will write NCL to pursue additional monies refunded.

This has been a horrible horrible experience! There are so many more details that I wish I could convey, but this rant has gone on long enough. If anyone has any advice on either the bugs or how to handle NCL, please let me know!  Thank you.

FYI-That ship only exterminated our 1^st cabin and has sailed again today with all of its little extra passengers.