I will say there was more good than bad. And I think if we hadn't sailed RCL and Princess before, it might have been all good.

I'll start with Dining. We were leery about trying Freestyle Dining, because we really like getting dressed up for dinner, and we really like the impeccable service on Royal Caribbean. But we have done all the itineraries on RCL out of Tampa so we decided to give NCL a try. I read plenty of posts on here, so we were prepared. And I must say it wasn't as bad as some people had said, e.g. waiting over an hour to be seated, and the service being so slow it takes 90 minutes to eat. That, luckily, wasn't our experience. HOWEVER, you do still have to stand in line to get a beeper, and I liked the glass of champagne for the trouble, but when your beeper goes off and you come back, you stand in line AGAIN! And we were not trying to eat at what I would assume is the prime time, 7:30 after the 6:30 show, but rather at 8:30. Still packed, had to get a beeper and wait 5 out of 7 nights. The maitre d' at the door was NOT friendly in the slightest, but then again, she does have a tough job.

Food: REALLY good. We had no complaints about anything we had. Portions are small, which is good. BUT we are used to more courses than two. I know...we're spoiled. We only ate in the Venetian and in the cafe, and that was only for breakfast/brunch. Read more