Let me start by saying I am not new to cruising. This last cruise on Norwegian Spirit was my 9th cruise. I am 28 years old, married, pretty active (but i do travel with others), and love cruises. That being said, this last cruise was a major disappointment. Don't get me wrong, I still had fun, but it's the kind of "make the best of a bad situation" kind of fun. This is the second time I have cruised with Norwegian. The first was an Alaskan cruise that was good cruise mostly because of Alaska and not the ship (Norwegian STar). This last cruise was reminiscent of the Alaskan cruise but worse. These are the facts.
Embarkation--Normal, pretty fast actually. Getting on the ship you could see how dated the ship was. Lots of paint covered over the rough spots. This ship is an older Asian ship that was converted for norwegian. It just seemed there were lots of cheap modifications that tried to make the ship seem elegant but failed miserably. Really elegance is not my number 1 need, but it's nice to have.
Food-- On carnival, even though you have scheduled dining times (unless you want the buffet, then you can eat at any time), the staff service is 10 times better than Norwegian. You get to know them and they have been super accommodating all 7 times i've been on carnival. On norwegian there's Freestyle cruising. Uuuuugh. A novel idea that would only work on the love boat. Some restaurants are near impossible to get into unless you book toward the beginning of the cruise. Most of them you have to pay a fee that is as much as you would pay at a pricey restaurant on land. There is no difference between freestyle cruising and other cruises dining because you still have to show up at a certain time. The ones that are free you have to wait in line for up to 25 minutes at times to get a table. The waiters and waitresses couldn't give a flip if you were there or not, and don't even bother to crack a smile most of the time. Oh yeah, the buffets are not self serve if just one person puts down on there questionnaire at the first of the cruise that they have a stomach virus. This is annoying but, i guess it's a good thing.