This was my husband's and my first cruise as very active 60 something year-olds. I was concerned about so many things after reading some extremely negative reviews on this board. Well, after our experience I find it quite challenging to understand those complainers!
We arrived at the Pier via school bus around 11:30 am. We had pre-tagged our luggage using those we printed from our e-docs so we were able to hand it off immediately and begin the checkin process. I could not get over how friendly and helpful everyone we met was to guide us through this. My biggest thrill was having my wine go thru without comment or direction to the corkage fee area. I kept thinking that the carry-on screen was the first of several but that was it. We were on board the beautiful Pearl by 12:15 and I was designated to reserve Cagney's for our group of 23 which we were able to do with only a few erroneous directions. We then headed to the Summer Palace with our glasses of champagne in hand.
Our cabin was ready at 2pm. We found a few minor glitches such as the connecting door between our cabin and the next-door suite being opened and a battery missing from our TV remote but a phone call brought our room stewards, Clifford & Shaun, very quickly and all was taken care of. I was pleased with our minisuite and BIL who was also booked in one and a cruise veteran but NCL virgin could not get over the spaciousness of the bathroom.