Just a little cruise history first. I sailed 5 NCL cruises prior to the "Free Style" concept and one "Free Style" cruise. Then I left and found Celebrity to be my new prefered cruise line. Have sailed 9 Celebrity cruises, one Princess and one RCCL.

I must say that my impression of NCL 5 years into the "Free Style" concept has changed greatly. Prehaps it has to do with the vessel changes in the Free Style concept.

Embarkation and disembarkation in NYC is the easiest I've ever had on any cruise line. If you plan to board early however, be aware that no matter how excited you are to get to the ship early and into your cabin. You can not access your cabin until after 2pm. Because of the ease of Disembarkation...you can stay in your cabin until your group is called. They require extra time to make up rooms. When you board all the fire doors are close and there are NCL crew members advising you that rooms will be available at 2pm and redirect you to the lunch and bar options until that time. Perfectly fine with me. I board at 1pm and went to lunch. I only warn you of this because I had a small overnight bag to carry with me. However I saw many people who had not checked, maybe any of the baggage they brought along and seemed to be stuck sitting around with the luggage they brought. So if you plan to come early bring something managable for you. I waited in my room for disemabarkation and it took me a total of 5 minutes to walk off the ship. Claim my luggage on the pier. Proceed through customs and then I was hailing a cab. It was amazing. Read more