I was on the 18 Aug sailing from New York to Bermuda and my first trip on NCL. I am a solo cruiser and given the high premium of being on a brand new ship, I took a studio room designed for that purpose. I have just returned from this trip with some very mixed feelings.

Firstly embarkation was relatively easy, 45 minutes from curbside to being onboard the ship, not bad at all given we are 4200 guests. A warm welcome by the check in staff gave me a good feeling this was going to be a good experience. The cabins were made available at 1pm and at 130pm my bag was delivered to the room. Lunch in Savoy and some lively conversation with the wait staff.

We departed Manhattan at 4pm after the safety briefing an sailing out of New York is something all aspiring cruisers should do once in their lifetimes. It is spectacular and many glasses held high to the lady on Ellis Island as we passed by. Dinner in the main dining room proved to me that earlier reviews of the food on NCL versus other cruise lines were without any merit and the service was equal to many other lines. I think NCL could do well by employing a beverage staff who know their wines rather than relying on the already overworked waiters to do both tasks. My chosen wine was not available but no problem, I chose something else. Read more