I was given a present of a cruise, with a specific budget, by my daughter for my 70th birthday last year. Took a long time deciding which cruise line to book with but eventually decided on a cruise to the Eastern Mediterranean with Norwegian Jade because of the ports to be visited. Also my Travel Agent in Scotland included a return charter flight with British Airways from Glasgow to Venice with port transfers from / to Venice Airport.
Embarkation - The arrangements at Venice were excellent and we were quickly on board just before noon. Had to wait a couple of hours for the cabin to be ready and another couple of hours for my case to appear.
Cabin - I had decided to upgrade, after my initial booking, to a full window cabin on Deck 8 towards the stern of the ship. Cabin was compact with double bed. For a single person, it was perfectly acceptable but for 3 persons, which it could take it would have been rather cramped. Disappointed to find that the TV was rather ancient - limited channels and not able to access your on board bill with it.
Very compact but reasonably fitted out with the exception of a very poor TV.