Since I'm new to Cruise Critic, I should probably provide a little background information. My husband and I are both Americans in our early to mid-thirties, living in Europe. We're also foodies. This is our 7th cruise and first time on NCL. We have previously sailed with Royal Caribbean, Celebrity (once in the Caribbean and once on the Xpedition in the Galapagos), Princess, and SeaDream Yacht Club (twice). I consider cruising to be the ultimate lazy man's vacation. You go to sleep in one city and wake up in another. You don't have to constantly pack and unpack and move from hotel to hotel. I always thought that formal nights and the "grandeur" of the main dining room were kind of cheesy, to say the least. These are not grand ocean liners from days of yore. If they're pushing drink specials and gold by the inch over the PA system, it ain't that classy. As far as I'm concerned, you get bingo or ball gowns, not both. This is where NCL truly excels.

The ship itself was lovely. The pool area seemed out of place in the Mediterranean, and the carpet and upholstery in the cabins were a bit garish, but the rest of the ship is gorgeous. Of course, I'm a sucker for art deco so that may have a little bit to do with it. I also loved the vintage Hawaiian decor. The public rooms are all very nice, but it can be difficult to find a quiet spot with a comfy chair to read. They all have either live performers or recorded music all the time. The only time they turn off the music is when there's a bingo or trivia game going on. I imagine that's why the library and card room were full most of the time, while the Spinnaker and Medusa lounges tended to be empty. The cabins are small but well laid out. We had ample storage and room to move about. My only problem with the cabins wasn't really the cabins themselves, it was the lack of cabin stewards. There are far too few of them and they are terribly overworked. They simply don't have time to attend to all the little details that veteran cruisers are used to. I have to admit I was a bit surprised that our balcony wasn't cleaned at all on the entire 12 night cruise, but that seems like such a petty complaint. "Oh no! My balcony has salt on it!" Yep, that sounds pretty silly. Anyway, since our steward had so many cabins, and ours was one of the last ones on his list, our cabin usually wasn't cleaned until well after lunch. We're morning people, so that meant we had to spend half the day outside the cabin. The only time it was inconvenient was when we just wanted to read. Like I said before, the public rooms tended to be noisy and I would have liked to hang out in my cabin more.

As for the food, we ate at all of the specialty restaurants and some are definitely better than others. Jasmine Garden - The entrees are just plain bad. The appetizers are very tasty, but the main courses kind of ruin the whole thing. Despite that, we went back for Shabu-shabu. It was kind of fun, but it lacked flavor. When the waitress brings out the food, she asks if you want her to prepare the food for you. I think you're supposed to say yes, and she stands there at your table and makes your soup. When she asked us, we said "Nah! We can do it, but could you bring us some soy sauce and maybe some chili oil if you have it?" I don't think other people do that, because it caught her off guard. She was a trooper though, and brought us exactly what we asked for and let us do our own thing. Teppanyaki - The food was good, but the chef was really, really bad. We honestly thought he was going to hit one of us with the spatula at any moment. He did actually hit the other chef with the salt shaker, bless his heart. He was doing his best, he just wasn't very good. Add to that the fact that he's on a rocking boat, and well...comic mayhem ensued. Cagney's - In a word, disappointing. Save your money, it's not worth it. Read more