My wife and I had read many of the previous reviews and were amply prepared for our cruise with NCL. We were there to see the islands, period. For anyone that has cruised with other ships, this is important. If you go with low expectations there will be no disappointment. For anyone that has never cruised before or just with NCL, I am sure everything will be just fine.

The flight to Honolulu was pretty uneventful except for the fact that my wife forgot her passport and I was uncertain if it was needed or not. At the airport, I ran into a NCL rep. and asked her if a passport was needed. For some reason she just could not grasp what I was asking. She just kept asking me if I had pre-booked. I just said thanks and hoped for the best. Anyway, it was not needed and a driver license was just fine. Also, NCL does have embankment wired. I had planed on renting a car in Honolulu and upon returning the car have the rental agency provide a ride to the ship, but I was not feeling well and due to the fact it was going to be two hikes, I decided to skip the excursions. Now without transportation to the port I had to scramble for a ride. We asked for directions to the port shuttles which turned out to be just outside the baggage claim area. Roberts picked up many passengers and only charged $5 each for the ride. They collected the money on the bus. No hassles!

As I mentioned, embankment was a breeze. We were in our room in no time. Luggage arrived about 2 hours later. The room was small but didn't really present a problem with storage. It was a little dirty in some hard to clean areas. Also, I must mention that we were upgraded from floor 4 to 11 after out TA complained about a price drop after our booking. Don't know who noticed, but it dropped to as low as $349, for an inside cabin. When our luggage arrived, I was happy that my liquor arrived safely. Be creative and you too can get your drunk on. That's all I am going to say on that subject. Be forewarned, alcohol is extremely expensive on the ship. I found that NCL does anything they can do get $$ from you. It wouldn't surprise me to find the ship sinking and see staff selling bottle water. OK, maybe I'm a bit over the top on that statement, but you get the idea. At one point I was tempted to drink the red bull from our refrigerator until my wife pointed out to me that it would be a mere $4.50. Water sounded much better. I found the "American" staff service the same as you would find on any hotel or restaurant. Some good and some bad, but mostly average. On other ships the staff feel privileged to have the job and it shows in their attitude. I must say that our room steward (non-American) did a good job and always greeted us with a sincere hello. Not so for most on the ship. Either a forced Aloha or a heads down pretending that they didn't see us walking. The food on the ship was OK. The freestyle worked good for me as I am a little antisocial. The entertainment was average at best. Everyone tries hard, but no one has the skills. Again, I just don't think NCL wants to pay for good entertainment. I am sure he is a nice guy, but the entertainment cruise director would never make it on says a Royal Caribbean cruise. Even one night they had what they called "staff show night". This is where the staff performed or what I might call staff Karaoke night. They tired hard and were not too bad, but not first class. What it is, is cost efficient for NCL. On the plus side, I didn't find the ship as cold as what has been reported. Also the ship was easy to navigate. Read more