This was our 12th cruise, our first (and last) on NCL. One fellow cruiser called it "the cruise from Hell". I wouldn't go that far, but the level of service was certainly not up to par.

We stayed pre-cruise at the Marriott Waikiki, a very nice facility. Our travel agent had told us we could book shore excursions and dinner times at the NCL office at the hotel, but since we didn't book the cruise through the hotel, NCL wouldn't do anything for us.

Boarding was in mid-afternoon, very well organized, in the cruise terminal and onto the ship in about 10 minutes. The size of our room and balcony were a disappointment, both very small. Balcony had a very small table maybe 12inches. Cabin storage for clothes minimal, 2 shelves in the nightstand, 3 shallow drawers and 1 shallow shelf in closet, that was it. So we had to leave half of our clothes in the suitcases, and drag them out from under the bed every day. Safe did not work, had to call 3 times for repair and then a few days later conked out again. Took 27 hours to get an electrician to replace the keypad and battery. Read more