My husband and I are in our mid-fifties. This is our 17th cruise. We have been on most cruise lines from very good (Princess and RC) to not so great (Carnival). We LOVE cruising! I expected more from NCL. We had sailed on the Norway years before and had a good experience, so we found ourselves disappointed with the quality of NCL Sun. We had another couple with us. We had already filled out our pre-boarding information on the website, and printed out our boarding passes. Embarkation was fairly quick and easy. Our bags made it to our rooms early on. Lifeboat drill was quick and painless. We live in Florida so we arrived at the pier by car. They charged $140.00 to park in the garage C on a cash only basis and with no guarantee of protecting your vehicle. We heard upset passengers who had not planned for the cash only parking. It ate into their cash budget for the cruise. We are use to the cashless cruise ship and use cash only when on shore. The ship offered the same activities as on most ships. Hairy legs contest, dress up the men and so on. It's funny the first few times, but after awhile it begins to become boring. With so many repeat cruisers these days, cruise lines need to come up with some new games. The shows we saw were very good. The entertainment on deck was short. Play three songs and take a 45-minute break...what a job. The bar service on pool deck was good and very nice staff. In the dinning rooms and restaurants wait staff did not appear to be very happy. If you requested something, they appeared disinterested and short. The quality of the food was not very good, pretty dismal and nothing special. Prices for fuel and other costs have to be affecting the quality and driving up costs. Our room steward was nice but not very efficient. We tipped him extra to keep ice in our room, but that did not help. The room was dirty and needed updating, walls, curtains, sofa, etc. I screwed the front back on the bathroom vanity that was not attached. My husband asked the room steward to get someone to fix our bed light that was flashing on and off. He finally had to call the service desk to report needed repair and was told to dial 3411 and that should fix the flashing (phone). Ha, Ha. Finally on the fifth day someone fixed the light. The sheets are not big enough for the beds and slip off overnight. Making the bed consisted of the room steward throwing the bedspread over the messed up sheets. The beds are thin hard mattresses on a piece of plastic. We did each get two flat pillows for our bed. The baths consist of the normal small shower. Had good water pressure though. I'm not sure about the liquid soap/shampoo dispenser thing. If there were a next time I would bring my own bar of soap. I spoke with other passengers and they stated that their rooms were not in very good shape either and service was lacking. Funny, we had two pictures in our room on opposite walls...same exact picture. It's little things like that which makes you wonder if anybody cares about quality and service. This was our first balcony cabin and it was unusable. Completely covered in black soot, big pieces from NCL's incinerator. (Some days the decks on top had soot on them. They would close them down and hose them off. You couldn't set down w/o ruining your clothes). I went to the Purser's desk a couple days into the cruise to discuss not being able to use the balcony and was told I should have told them about it on the first day of the cruise. I don't know what difference that would have made? I spoke with neighbors on our deck and they stated that they had also spoke with the service desk and basically was told the same thing, "tough luck." What good is a balcony cabin if you cannot use it? Do not book a balcony cabin on the back half of this ship. The cruise line is aware of this, but continues to charge for a balcony cabin. I guess they are not interested in repeat customers. They should not be charging for an unusable "balcony" cabin. Shore excursions were great. There were four stops and 2 days at sea. The first stop on the cruise was Roatan, HN, a beautiful Island. You need to book a shore excursion here because there is nothing to do at the pier area. We chose Tabyana Beach Break (our 2nd time). We like to snorkel and this is a nice beach and has a coral reef close to shore. Beautiful place. You are docked at this pier. Next we went to Belize City. You definitely need to leave the city and book an excursion there. It is a dirty crime ridden area if you do not stay at the cruise built shopping area. We have walked the city a few times and each time the city appears to be getting rougher. The Beliken beer is pretty good though. We have done the Laminai shore excursion before which is really nice if you like ruins. The country is beautiful once you are away from the city. This time we chose to stay on the ship which also can be good because you have the ship to yourself and can relax w/o all of the crowds and noise. You are tendered ashore here. The third stop on the schedule was Cozumel, MX that is always a good time. You can experience whatever you are looking for. You can choose a laid-back adventure or party time. There were numerous ships in port the day we were there and we had to be tendered ashore. It's the first time we have ever had to be tendered in Mexico. This time we chose the Jeep Snorkel Tour. The tour started over an hour late and we were left standing in the hot sun for a very long time and then had to walk 30 minutes to pick up the car. There were small children and elderly people and the sun was hot. One lady passed out. I noticed that Carnival had an awning for their guests to stand under and water coolers. NCL did not seem very organized when it came to the shore excursions. A lot of people were complaining. They would have you stand in a line and then another person would come along and tell everyone they were in the wrong line and have you move to another line and so on. The Jeep Tour included snorkeling but we were told that the water was too rough to snorkel where it had been originally scheduled so they took us to a tourist trap and rushed us through a "snorkel session." A lot of people did not get to snorkel because not enough time was allotted. By the time we got our equipment on and ventured into the water, it was over. The rest of the tour was great, though rushed. With so many ships in port the island was crowded. I enjoyed seeing the island and driving the jeep. The adventure was a little crazy, but fun. I now would consider renting a Jeep on my own and driving around the island. There were a lot of people around and I would not be concerned if I needed assistance. Our tour guides were very helpful of others not with our tour. Another nice place to spend the day is Chakanaub Park. It's a short cab ride from the pier and is very reasonably priced. If you are shopper, then San Miguel is for you. There is "stuff" everywhere. Tulum, on the main land, is also worth seeing and Playa del Carmen can be fun too. Mexico has a lot to offer. The last stop was NCL's private island "Great Stirrup Cay, a very nice island with beautiful crystal clear water. I snorkeled and saw a lot of different fish and sea urchins. I missed lunch...when I got out of the water it was done. We did not realize it was only for certain time period. Skipping a meal won't do me any harm. When you are on the ship there is food everywhere almost all of the time and real ice cream served all day, not that whipped up stuff. Bring lots of major sunscreen. I used 30spf and was burnt to a crisp the first day snorkeling. Debarkation was held up by security, but okay. "I feel since cruise lines are automatically adding the gratuities to your statement, the quality of service on most cruise lines has declined. All in all, the cruise was nice since I did not have to go to work, cook or clean. Would I book it again or recommend it to others? Probably not."