We've been on several cruises over the past 20 years, including 3 or 4 on various NCL ships. The particular sailing this time was a combination of 2 cruises into a back-to-back, and we ported in Greece, Turkey, Israel, Crete, and Cyprus. The price was excellent and we couldn't turn down the opportunity to see so much. About 4 years ago we had decided "no more NCL" due to the overbearing sales pitches at every turn: bingo cards, 2-for-1 pens, photo sessions, bingo cards, 2-for-1 mugs, whatever. But when I came across the Eastern Med itinerary and pricing, that was an offer I couldn't refuse. We booked and kept telling ourselves we would just tolerate the annoying sales pushes because the cruise was going where we wanted to go. Well, I think that NCL must have listened to the many complaints of former years, because we were very pleased to report the "nickle-and-dime" attitude has gone, at least in our opinion. We'll look again at upcoming itineraries with NCL.

On top of that, NCL really has found their niche in a variety of items. I'll list some things that I jotted down on the ship that really impressed me......

1. A good variety of shows that pleased a very diverse audience. I think only one show was weak, that being a puppet show. Even that was quite an undertaking and involved quite a lot of skill. Read more