We sailed out of New Orleans at the new port building, and it was GREAT! In parking garage, unloaded van on floor 3, drove up to floor 4 and parked right by the elevator. We got there about 11:00, and immediately filled out paperwork, only took 2 minutes, and we boarded at 11:45. Terminal is very nice, free juice and cake, plus nice restrooms and a place to purchase coffee, sodas, etc. Once onboard we checked out our cabins, VERY NICE (we had in inside) couch included, and we went up to the buffet for lunch. Food is very strange on this cruise. If you have kids, they're pretty much stuck with hot dogs, hamburgers and pizza. The rest is just really weird, and I love gourmet food. It's more "creative" than gourmet. Either very spicy, or very undercooked meat at the carving station. Rolls and desserts are pretty much standard, usual tasteless cruise stuff. The caesar salads are good, and available at every meal. Dining room, fine, if you have 2 hours to spare. The freestyle cruising is a great concept, but servers forget who ordered what or how many courses you have been served. Two nights we left without dessert and coffee, because they never came back. Drinks: You have three choices, tea, coffee, or water (except for breakfast when you can have orange, pineapple or apple juice). And milk. My suggestion is to bring those little packs of single drink mixes and make your own punch. They also have a great variety of hot teas and hot chocolate. The coffee is too strong, and the tea is instant. We didn't eat in the specialty restaurants, but we did end up in the Sports Bar each night. There you can order pizza, fish & chips, sandwiches, hot dogs & hamburgers. It was pretty good, but you still have to go outside to the buffet to get your tea or water. Public rooms are okay, but overrun by children. I don't have anything against families traveling with children, but please keep them under control! It is hard to get an elevator because of kids playing on them, the kids wearing the new "wheelies" will knock you down in walking areas, and we saw way too many unsupervised children at the adult comedy show and even gambling in the casino! There really is not any security on this ship. And even though the children have their own pool and hot tub on deck 12, they took over all four hot tubs at all times on the main deck. We didn't see the broadway shows, not our cup of tea, but we really enjoyed the hypnotist and comedian. We also enjoyed the deck parties. Make sure you pack your Mardi Gras stuff for Tuesday night. The sock hop was cool, and we enjoyed the 70's music (however, after a week of piped in Bee Gees music you tend to get a little sick of it.) Get ready for the bar sales people. You cannot get away from them. We were asked at least 35 times a day if we wanted drinks. Not cool.
Ports: Costa Maya...our favorite, even though we only went shopping. Very nice shopping area. Guatemala...three words... GO WITH GUS! You get to travel to a school and have the children put on a program for you, and then you get to hand out presents to a much needed school system. Our group took toothbrushes, toothpaste, construction paper, crayons, socks, notepads, pencils and candy. The kid's parents even show up, and they are all so grateful. Many people made donations which goes to pay the teacher's salaries. The sendoff when you leave the port is awesome, hundreds of cars and emergency vehicles parked at the dock with lights on and blowing horns. These people are so grateful to have tourists. Belize, we took a trip for $10 each to Cucumber Beach, and the guide took us on a city tour as well. It is the law there that your guide has to stay with you on the beach and make sure you make it back to the ship. Very safe, very fun, and very informative. He even took us to a flea market before we got back onboard. This excursion, like Go With Gus, is not an NCL trip, but good, safe fun and very entertaining for the whole family. Deck chairs: plenty of them if the ship is in port, but never available on sea days. Same old crap of reserving chairs. Sprinkles Ice Cream Bar was open every time we went in, and they have special flavors of the day, as well as the standard chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. They also have flavored yogurt, and you can get it in a cone or a dish. Sprinkles and toppings are available. Spa...didn't use, but they had some great specials (book during port days, they are discounted.) The workout rooms were also plentiful and had plenty of machines. Bingo: Free a couple of times during the week, but get prepared to pay big time for most games. Photos: The photographers on this ship are great, but be aware that the cost is $12.99 per photo (5x7) Reception Desk: Good luck. These people are RUDE! We were able to take off our "service charge" of gratuities and tip ourselves. We gave it all to our room steward, who was the best! We had booked two rooms with the same credit card, only to find out on the third day that it was against their policy, so had to put up a second credit card. They didn't seem to have any problem using the same credit card when we booked our cabins! Drinks onboard: Be prepared to pay at least $9 for even "drink of the day". It is cheaper to order cokes from the bar than purchase a coke card for the week. Cokes by the glass are $1.25 and by the can $1.75. We bought several cokes (20 oz.) at the first port for $1 each, and drank those all week. Getting off the ship: If you want to carry your own luggage, you can be off by 9 a.m. If not, colors are called (you are assigned colors on the day before cruise ends) and they go by floors. If you are on the lower deck, you will not get off until 10:30. It was, however, very prompt, and you will get off the ship at the assigned time. Luggage is very easy to find. We didn't even need a porter! Overall, we will probably not sail NCL again, because we like Carnival and Princess so much. We were a little put off by the organization and lack of control of the children.
If you have ANY questions, please email me, and I will try to answer them. :) Happy Cruizin!