We flew into Boston two days before the cruise and stayed at the Hampton Inn Boston Logan. The suite was clean and it provided a great place to rest. We used their shuttle to travel to Target and to get to the train station to visit the Freedom Trail. The hotel staff was excellent. One of the staff members even took us to the train station, helped us purchase the tickets and then made sure we fully understood what stop we needed to get off.
On Friday, my mother, wife and I took at taxi (around $36.) to the Port of Boston at 11 a.m. and were escorted to the VIP check-in. Karabi, the Concierge greeted us and we were taken to a holding area with juice, coffee...and few minutes later a butler arrived to escort us to our suite. Suite 9006 (Owners Suite with two balconies) was available and in tip top shape. We were invited to explore the cabin, ship and have lunch at Cagney's until the 3:30 p.m. muster drill. It was nice walking on the ship and being taken directly to our cabin even though the other cabins were not ready until 1:30 p.m.
The service on this ship was excellent, in fact, the best I have experienced on any other NCL ship. Our butler, Juremar took care of our every want/need and delivered our meals, snacks and kept the Lavazza stocked. We had a "hot" breakfast delivered almost everyday. It was nice sitting on the balcony or in the dining room having breakfast without having to fight the crowds. Edna, our steward was a work horse and she was our vacation hero. My mother misplaced her toothbrush and Edna volunteered to go to port and purchase her a new one. Simple requests like two bathmats were met without any hesitation. Karabi, the Concierge made our vacation by completing the dream team. She reviewed our dinner schedule and made changes so that we could attend the VIP cocktail, Platinum Latitude and Cruise Critic parties. In addition, on the final day she confirmed our airline reservations, and printed our boarding passes. During the cruise we met another great couple and they were able to join us for dinner at Cagney's with a quick change to our reservation.
Our suite, 9006, Owners Suite with two balconies was beautiful and it provided enough space for three adults. The side balcony had a dining table and four chairs and the front balcony had two padded chaises, a table, and a side chair. This was our second front facing balcony and only at full sail was it unusable due to wind. The rest of the time it was great. Just be aware that there is no privacy due to the Bridge and an upper viewing deck located directly above. My mother slept like a baby on the pull out sofa in the living room. The stateroom had a full bath and a guest bath with a sink and toilet. The main bath had a walk-in shower, Jacuzzi tub, double sinks and plenty of plush towels. Off of the bath is a "strange" little walk in closet with two safes. The closet seems like an after thought and it offers very little storage. NOTE to anyone booking this cabin...there is very little storage space so you have to be creative. We were able to close the doors between the bedroom and living area to give everyone privacy. There was a Lavazza coffee maker in the bar area and we thoroughly enjoyed the coffee on demand. The OS comes with three bottles of alcohol and our butler delivered OJ and Tomato Juice to us daily and he kept the refrigerator stocked with soda's, tonic water, limes and lemons. There were three "older" poor quality televisions and one DVD player. This cabin is not like the OS on the Epic; however, the service more than made up for the lack of technology and WOW.