First a little background, we are in our 50's traveling with our 20 year old daughter. This was our first cruise on NCL. Previously we cruised on Carnival and RCCL. We had a great time. Nothing was horrible. We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn the night before the cruise because they had a great cruise pkg with a good price and they told me over the phone that we could take the shuttle to the port whenever we wanted to. The hotel was very nice and the free breakfast was as much as we wanted, anything we wanted, cooked to order. We had planned to take the shuttle over around 10:00am but when we checked in, they told us we could take it at 10:30 or 8:00. We chose 10:30. The shuttle that morning was running about 30-40 min late so we didn't get to the port very early. However, the embarkation was quick and easy. Just guessing, I would say we were on the ship within an hour. When we got on the ship, we checked our carry on and headed for the main dining room, the Versailles. My lunch was delicious and the service was excellent. I had the Chicken Milanese and Chocolate Mousse for dessert. We acquainted ourselves with the ship and waited for our room to be ready. The sail away was loud and fun with a BBQ on the deck. Because it was lobster night, we chose not to participate in the BBQ. We walked by and they were grilling chicken, hot dogs, hamburgers and steak. It smelled and looked very good.

Our room was small, but I knew this in advance, so was not shocked. We had an inside cabin on the 9th deck with 3 adults. There was a lot of closet, shelf and drawer space which helped. The bathroom was the nicest I have ever had on a cruise ship. I appreciated not being wrapped in a shower curtain every time I took a shower. The beds were not the most comfortable but not horrible either. Our cabin steward was Victor and he was fine. He forgot to put the third bed down one night and forgot to give us three towels a couple times but other than that he was fine. He gave us towel animals every night except the first and the last.

Day 1- This was a sea day which we spent relaxing and exploring the ship. We had planned to attend our meet and mingle but I had written down the wrong time, so we arrived as it was ending. They had a lot of activities going on during the day. Read more