BACKGROUND: Second time cruisers - both with NCL. With our eldest in college and another one soon to go, we noticed that we might not have a lot more time to holiday together as a family before the kids get partnered up (!) and so on - so we bit the bullet and put our holiday present budget (and then some) into the Christmas holiday cruise on the Norwegian Spirit out of New Orleans. We were five in all in two cabins - my wife and I in our early 50's and three teens: 19, 17 and 13. Some time before we left we learned through a Cruise Critic Board that the price of our cruise had dropped substantially. We asked our Travel Agent to follow up with NCL and we were delighted to learn that she was able to get us upgraded - from a balcony to a suite and our second cabin from an interior to a balcony. Thanks Cruise Critic - we never would have got this without being members and watching the boards!! In spite of the NCL rule about having someone 21 or older in each cabin this was not a problem for us - we just asked for two extra "door only" keycards from reception and stayed where we liked between the rooms (they weren't adjacent after the upgrade although they were on the same deck). EMBARKATION: New Orleans was warm (mid-70's) when we arrived on Saturday the 20th of December. We stayed at the Drury Inn - highly recommended - but did not use their "cruise package" for two reasons: first, I got a better rate online, and second, I wanted the van at the cruiseport for ease of embarkation/debarkation with five and all our luggage. Enjoyed Saturday evening in the French Quarter. On the 21st slept in and then the free cooked breakfast at the Drury (good), then did a driving tour on our own and hit the cruiseport at about 11:15 am. Parking was a breeze (swipe credit card at lot gate - $98 for the week) and pull forward to drop off bags with porters then up to the 5th level where we parked a couple of spaces away from the elevator. Down to reception area where we were cleared through security within 5 minutes and were immediately seen in the Latitudes line. Found out that because of the upgrade we were to go to the VIP reception area. Got cards there and were escorted on board immediately. Total time from car parked until onboard was about 20 minutes. Outstanding. CABINS: Kids in BC balcony cabin: small for three, particularly with sofa bed open at night. A bunk would have been better use of the space for the third person. Usable balcony for two at a time. Nice size bathroom with shower stall (not curtain). The suite (AC) was - sweet - large bed (near king) in a curtained alcove, two sinks, shower stall, jacuzzi tub, lots of space to unpack and the bags easily fit under the bed. Separate living/diningroom area - privacy from bedroom/bath area with sliding french doors - with loveseat and two easy chairs and dining table for four. Balcony with upgraded chairs (not reclining); upgraded robes, espresso machine and fridge. Wonderful. PUBLIC AREAS: first class in my view - clean, polished, vacuumed (etc), and the eastern style accents were charming. The theatre features all new seats and carpets. Kids areas (particularly the water slides) were obviously the highlight for many in the 5 to 10 set. It was particularly nice for the adults that the younger kids had their own hot tub. There were 4 more hot tubs (one adults only) on deck 12 at the Tivoli Pool. Extensive range of exercise equipment and two indoor aqua-exercise pools. Good video arcade. FOOD: first rate in my view: we ate at two specialty restaurants as holiday "treats": Shogun and Le Bistro. Both were excellent and the service attentive. We also ate in Windows (Christmas turkey dinner) and the Garden restaurant - again, good food promptly served (one server in Windows was efficient but not really friendly). We also ate at Raffles (the buffet) and the Biergarten (BBQ). Raffles was cafeteria style and offered a wide variety of choices in food including made to order omelettes and waffles at breakfast, stir fries and carved meats at lunch and dinner (and great chilled soups), and wide selection of desserts - but little choice in beverages: the inevitable coffee and iced tea (and juices at breakfast). We love "freestyle" - we can eat whenever, wherever and with whomever we want. SHOWS: we saw the comedian (old chestnuts for the most part but surprisingly we laughed anyway - must have been the delivery!); the variety shows - fun talented and energetic youngsters, and Second City Improv (a highlight - great fun, particularly the more adult shows); skipped the magician; there were several other shows and musicians around and about that we passed on. Saw the Mayan lecture (worthwhile), skipped the "shopping talks" and other such infomercials. It's not a show but the Bridge Viewing room is pretty neat - particularly when travelling down the Mississippi at night! STAFF: uniformly friendly: everyone passed in the hall had a smile and a "good morning" or "Merry Christmas". Our steward Garry was outstanding. EXCURSIONS: see separate review. DISEMBARKATION: we ordered breakfast in our cabin for 6:45 am. The ship was docked in New Orleans by 7 am, by 7:20 am the first "express" self disembarking passengers were already going off the ship. We left with our own bags at 7:30 am. Customs had 8 lanes open and no wait. At 7:45 am we were loading up our bags and we were on the street at 7:50 - again, outstanding! OVERALL: this was a wonderful holiday all 'round. The itinerary was interesting and a cut above the usual Caribbean sun and sand holiday. We will cruise NCL again, and hopefully the Spirit - a wonderful ship.