Background: My husband and I are in our 30s with no kids. We sailed on the Dawn in 2003 and swore we would never cruise again because we had 35 foot seas and 50 knot winds for 3 of the 8 days of our NYC-Bahamas cruise. It was a horrible experience that we did not want to repeat. We not only had rough seas but the overall level of service on the cruise was poor. However, I decided it was time to try again - with NCL - but this time in the much calmer waters of the Western Mediterranean. Needless to say, we not only had the time of our lives but we were ready to sign up for our next cruise by the third day.

Travel to port: We booked our air through NCL since it was cheaper than doing it on our own. Unfortunately, our "personal cruise consultant" misinformed us and told us that we could not make any airline or seat requests until the air was first booked and then we could make changes through NCL's air department. That information was incorrect and we were told by Lufthansa that since the flight was oversold, we would have to get to the airport 4 hours in advance of our flight so that they could assign us seats. Our flights took us from Washington to Frankfurt and then Frankfurt to Barcelona. When we arrived in Barcelona at 10 AM, there were three NCL representatives waiting in the luggage area for passengers. We left our suitcases with the representatives and boarded a bus to the ship. We did not have to look for our suitcases when we got to the cruise terminal - they were already waiting outside our door when we arrived. The ride from the airport to the terminal took about a half hour.

Embarkation: This was a sign of things to come. Our past experiences with embarkation were horrible because we waited a few hours to check in and then longer to get our luggage. NCL must have had some changes in its policies because once at the cruise terminal in Barcelona, it only took us about a half hour to get into our cabin. What a pleasant surprise! Read more