This was our second cruise on Norwegian and our first transatlantic cruise. We were looking forward to a relaxing time at sea and were excited about trying the new Norwegian ship, especially as it was crossing the Atlantic and it was the first cruise for this ship. We thought the embarkation in Southampton was very easy - much easier than we've had in either Miami or Galveston. We got on the ship pretty early, which I was excited about. No need to rush to purchase spa passes or reserve cabanas as one would normally do in the peak of summer months. The ship is similar to the Getaway in its decor - understated elegance leaning towards the Art Deco period.

Service: we found all of the employees to be very pleasant and happy to be there. Almost all of our concerns were immediately addressed, with the exception of the internet cafe, which I will discuss later. I cannot say that we had an unhappy or unresponsive employee, outside of the internet cafe. We enjoyed talking to the various employees and finding out where they were from and what other ships they had been on. As expected with a new ship traveling to its port, there were some kinks to work out. The biggest kinks for us on this cruise was the spa and the internet. Norwegian quickly dealt with the issues of the spa, but we did not see any contribution on their part with regards to the internet issues.

The Spa: we were excited about using the spa as the ship was not fully booked and we were without kids, so we had nothing but time to use the spa. The spa had some issues, however. The steam room was not working at all. The hot tub was never very warm - as a matter of fact, the Vitality Pool was warmer than the hot tub. One day the Sanarium was not heated first thing in the morning and the spa staff had to be told to heat it, which takes some time. When I mentioned to one spa employee that we had paid a good deal for the week pass so were disappointed when there were several issues, she told me that the price we paid was already discounted. However, later in the cruise I found in print the price of the spa pass so I know that what we paid was not discounted. I was a bit upset that I was told misleading information. I also do not believe they sell only 150 passes, which makes me more skeptical about the spa practices itself. After much rumbling amongst spa-goers about the issues in the spa, each person that had bought a spa pass was credited a good deal due to the issues. The spa was very, very busy, almost to its detriment. However, I enjoyed what was working in the spa, including the new Snow Room. They have cut back on locker room space to make room for more chairs in the spa, however, so amenities and space in the locker room is even scarcer now. However, they have a very large number of treadmills, ellipticals, and weight machines and offer many specialty classes, which the health conscious will be happy about. Read more