This was my 5th cruise, my husband's 1st, and we were both new to NCL. I had not cruised in 8 years, and things have changed!

Embarkation: Port of New Orleans was a madhouse. We arrived right on the nose for embarkation and still had to wait two hours standing in line before we got on the ship. They kept giving us paperwork to fill out in line, but we were carrying bags and had no pen or anything hard to write on. People were trying to do the best they could, and it congested the line as people were writing instead of queuing.

Cabin: There was a large (for a cruise ship) bathroom with a glass shower door. The closet was plenty big. There was a safe. The door was metallic so we brought magnets to post all the daily bulletins. The TV was old and fuzzy (no HD), but I only watched it once. No biggie. We were in a "sideways" room. The bed did not lie forward to aft, but starboard to port. I cannot sleep with the ship rocking me head to feet. I asked the cabin steward to move my bed, and he was happy to oblige, but this put the head of the bed in a strange position where I sat up and hit my head on an object jutting out of the wall every morning. Ouch! The room was kept clean, and I have no complaints, but it wasn't the same level of service as I have received on previous cruises. I am used to the bed being made up in different ways for different times of the day. Not necessary, but I missed that little touch. Read more