As this was my first cruise experience I didn't really have any expectations per se. I was also 9 weeks pregnant in the thick of morning sickness which lasted all day every day, so if some parts seem negative, specifically those involving food places, be fairly warned as to why. The review is divided into several sections corresponding to various parts of the cruise experience.

EMBARKATION: waited for about 2 hours to finally board the ship after after waiting in line for security + another line to get key cards to stateroom. In comparison this is tremendously more waiting than when boarding a plane (and for a pregnant woman spending all that time standing got tiresome) I'm glad I brought half my bagel sandwich from breakfast with me to hold me over during the wait otherwise may have fainted in line. Once on board the ship, we were all ushered to deck 12 (poolside) where there was an opening bar-b-q, which was utterly a madhouse with 2500+ passengers all trying to get a bite to eat after the long wait. Luckily we realized there were other food options - in the form of the Blue Lagoon sit down 'diner' which served basic fare like burgers, fish&chips, and pretty yummy tomato soup. The poolside bar-b-q was definitely not a good way to start off the cruise in terms of 'passenger' experience. On the upside, by the time we got to our stateroom, our luggage had already been brought in (we did wait in line for 2 hours to check in after all). The room was an OK size, it was an inside stateroom with no window, but was actually bigger than some hotel rooms in Japan we stayed in.

SEA DAYS: there were 2.5 sea days to the islands, and 2.5 sea days after to get back home. While at first we found things to do to pass the time being stuck on the ship, by the 2nd sea day, we were ready to step foot in port. One nice things about the 'freestyle' option NCL offers is that they have a LOT of onboard activities throughout the day. Unfortunately some activities that you'd like to do overlap with others while at other times there is nothing to do but sit by the pool or the library, or the stateroom. It also seems like NCL uses the sea days as a way to weasel more money out of you (read: you have to pay extra for everything, even juice!) There are plenty of gambling 'opportunities', with a smoking casino on board, as well as twice daily bingo games (overpriced if you ask me - minimum $40 to play), and deal or no deal ($20 to play), and several art auctions. Of course there are also plenty of shops on the ship, along with photographers who can't wait to take your photo, and charge you $20 a pop should you choose to buy it later. NCL also uses this opportunity to have the 'port shopping consultants' pitch how amazing the shops both on and off the ship are, and if you just talk to them about getting a VIP card, you'll get the best deal in the port jewelry stores (but only the ones they endorse which I suspect they also get a kickback from). On our cruise, it a was a couple (they claimed to be engaged) - she gave lectures on jewelry and gemstones while he gave a a fairly informative talk on different high end watches - I did learn a bit about watches - for example Rolex's aren't actually the highest luxury out there! (not that it would matter to us as we weren't in the market for them :) ) Read more