Waves Pool Bar

The Logbook — Real Guest Soundings

Depth Sounding: This is a composite account from multiple guest experiences, edited to our venue standards for clarity. Individual sailings vary by ship, itinerary, and crew.

Waves Pool Bar Review: Wet Feet, Cold Beer, No Surprises

Introduction. Waves Pool Bar is the main pool-area bar on select Norwegian ships, serving the highest volume of any bar during sea days. It's positioned at or near the main pool and serves tropical cocktails, frozen drinks, and draft beer to the swimsuit crowd. Drinks are standard pricing or covered by the beverage package. Every NCL ship has some version of this venue.

Drinks & Service

Machine-made frozen drinks are the backbone: Piña Colada, Strawberry Daiquiri, Bahama Mama, Miami Vice — sweet, cold, and functional. Draft beer (Bud Light, Heineken, Corona, sometimes a local option) is the fastest order. The daily cocktail special is usually a tropical variation and worth trying once. Anything requiring actual bartending takes too long during peak hours — save the craft requests for an interior bar. Rum punch is available by the glass and popular with groups. The Mojito here is premixed and bears little resemblance to the Sugarcane version. Water and soft drinks round out the options. Quantity over quality is the operational reality.

Service

Bartenders pour fast — this is the highest-volume bar on the ship and they're built for speed. Expect 5-15 minute waits on sea days from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. — that's reality. Cocktail servers also work the pool deck, delivering drinks to your lounger, which helps. Tipping well on the first drink from a cocktail server secures faster repeat service. Don't order anything complicated; you'll slow the line.

Atmosphere

The main pool deck in all its chaotic glory. Kids cannonballing, families claiming loungers at 7 a.m. with towels, the cruise director running trivia on a mic, music pumping from deck speakers, and the smell of sunscreen mixed with chlorine. The bar is a counter at the pool's edge — sometimes with swim-up stools, sometimes just a walk-up station. Lines snake across wet tile. There is zero ambiance — there is instead an experience, which is "cruise vacation at maximum intensity." On sea days in the Caribbean, this is the most popular square footage on the entire ship. Port days and evenings are dramatically calmer. The view of the ocean beyond the pool is genuinely beautiful when you look up from the chaos.

Conclusion

Rating: 3.3/5. Waves Pool Bar is the most-visited and least-remarkable bar on the ship — cold drinks, fast service, pool energy. It's fine. It does one job and does it adequately. Tip: Order two drinks at once during peak hours. Grab drinks from a cocktail server at your lounger instead of waiting in the bar line. A simple beer is the fastest, most reliable order.

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