Embarkation: Our embarkation went pretty smooth. The building is large but it's well organized and there are plenty of signs directing you where to go. For villas & penthouses, there is a separate line and key card area. I'd say the whole process from arriving at the pier to getting on the ship was barely 15 minutes. We got on the ship at about 2.

Villa: We stayed in cabin 14508, one of the 2 bedroom courtyard villas. The room was great. We actually had 4 adults staying in here and it was fine. My husband and I stayed in the 2nd bedroom and although the room is small it was adequate for the amount of time you actually spend in the room. You find creative ways to store all your clothes and shoes. I put all our shoes underneath the fold out bed. The foldout bed is a double size and actually quite comfy. My husband is very tall and he fit fine. One of the benefits with the villas is having the butler service. Ryan our butler was so nice and always there to get us whatever we needed. Our favorite thing was having breakfast in the courtyard. Filet mignon & eggs for breakfast, it doesn't get much better than that! The courtyard area has a spread of coffee, juices, fruit and pastries every morning until about 9 or so. They also serve lunch in the courtyard. Every afternoon the staff would put out snacks too like cookies, nuts, fruit, etc. Ryan would also drop off little snacks to our rooms, fruit tarts, finger sandwiches, cookies, crème puffs.

Food: It's hard to say what our best meal was. We didn't try every restaurant. We ate at the main dining room Summer Palace for dinner twice. We also ate at Le Bistro, Cagney's and La Cucina. Le Bistro was good but we were expecting a little more from them. The waitress also caught the table on fire when she was doing a flambe on one of our meals. She was able to finally extinguish it but we were all starting to get nervous! The ship also offers two for one nights at the Specialty restaurants so instead of paying two cover charges, you only pay one. To us it seemed like the cover charges for the Specialty restaurants were only because of the limited seating there so you have to pay if you want in. The food quality was very good but not really any better than the Main Dining room. We did like the portion control on NCL. Each course was the perfect size so by the time you get to your main entree you still have plenty of room left. The variety is very good. You can definitely find something of your liking on all menus. We really enjoyed our last meal at La Cucina. I actually had to turn down dessert here. They bring over an antipasto to every table with meats, cheeses, veggies and olives, plus Italian breading and dipping oil. Read more