I told my wife, who had never been on a cruise, that cruising is fun for several reasons: good to excellent food (and lots of it!), fun shows and activities, and night club style dancing. At least that's been my experience on both Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. Not so with Norwegian.

Our cruise was to the Mexican Riviera aboard the Norwegian Star. The ship itself was fine. Norwegian touts its 'freestyle cruising' as a way to entice customers. The difference? Other cruise lines offer early and late dinner seating, often at tables with guests you've never met. This offers the opportunity to meet new people and make new friends aboard ship. You have the same waiters with you every night, and you eat with the same people every night. You also pay gratuities at the end of the cruise by handing envelopes to the staff. You can eat at the buffets as well, but I found the former more enjoyable.

With free-style cruising, on the other hand, you eat when you want, but it is rare that you eat at the same table with others. On the Star, there were other eating options besides at the buffets and main dining rooms. You could eat from numerous specialty eateries, but you paid more for the privilege. Gratuities are automatically added to your bill at the end of the cruise ($26/day for 2 people), regardless of whether on not you thought the service warranted it or not, or whether you even used the services or not. This was a nasty surprise at the end of our cruise. Read more