This was my 8th cruise and my husband's 2nd, but the first time on NCL for both of us. I work at a school so we had to cruise this week as it was my spring break. We were looking for a relaxing, romantic getaway and I was worried the ship would be crowded with kids because of the school holidays, but we had a fabulous time!

Embarkation: I had wanted to arrive at the port around 11 because I know how crazy the Port of Miami can be, but we didn't get there until around 12:15. Gave the porters our bags and got in the long security line to get our bags x-rayed. This was the longest wait and took about 25 minutes. Once in, we went to the table and paid the corkage for our (many) bottles of wine. Very easy, and it was nice to have our own wine for the week. There was a separate check in line for balcony cabins which was very short, then another line for your key/ship card. We were onboard with a glass of champagne about 1 PM.

Cabin: We went straight to our cabin when we got on because we had so much carry-on stuff (including our case of wine/champagne) that we wanted to drop off. We just walked through the closed door of our hallway and found our room. It was cleaned and ready so we left our things and headed to the pool. I booked a guarantee balcony cabin hoping for a higher deck, but knowing I would be happy with any balcony. We were given a cabin number pretty early, and ended up with a BD. It was a fine room with plenty of storage space. It was a little tight as far as moving around and getting ready but adequate. Having a balcony was awesome, and I don't think I would sail again without one. We were able to relax in our room while getting ready, sit on the balcony with a cocktail and enjoy the view. My problem was that the balcony was semi-enclosed, so I felt a little cheated. I compare it to booking an oceanview expecting a picture window, but getting a port hole. My husband said it was like being a horse with blinders on. Either way you look at it, the balcony cabins on the 8th deck (and maybe the forward ones on the 9th) don't have glass all the way down and all the way to the sides. I know I booked a guarantee but I didn't even know this type of partial balcony was an option or I would have booked a different category. Read more