My wife and I selected this cruise to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. Before sailing, we spend a few days at Mt. Rainier and Olympic National Parks. The night before departure, we stayed at the Crowne Plaza Seattle-Downtown, which we booked through the cruise line. The room was great, and the staff were very helpful. It was nice having our luggage picked up around 9:00 and delivered to the ship. Our bus departed around 11:30, and we were checked in and on board by a little after noon - very efficient!
This was only our second cruise, and it had been 15 years since our last one, so our frame of reference is limited. First of all, let me list the "winners" on the trip:
- The service in The Summer Palace and Indigo was generally excellent. While we never had the same server twice, it was nice when one from a previous evening would stop by and say hello.
The cabin was great, and we had a super steward. However, we could not use the balcony as much as we would have liked because there were smokers on either side of us, including chain smokers forward of us. If you are sensitive to cigarette smoke, be warned that NCL allows smoking on all balconies!