Was looking for a reason to maybe switch from Royal Caribbean. This cruise did not give us what we thought: It advertises "Free to do what I want..." freestyle cruising. If you do not "schedule" everything before you board the ship, you will not be able to partake in a LOT! Our sign-up choice was the dining package, which allows you 4 nights of eating in the nicer restaurants aboard (as opposed to the "complimentary" which is included in the price of your ticket)...but by the time we got on board ALL THE RESTAURANTS WERE ALREADY RESERVED...and no reservations existed. That meant we would have to just "try" to get in ...like sitting on line at Olive Garden ---- not my idea of "freestyle". We did not get to use the 4 nights. Same thing with the entertainment. We booked online an "extra", paid show, Wine Lovers (which included wine tasting, and was very enjoyable) and we had no problem...but because we did NOT reserve a seat in the theater for another night, we did not see other shows...Really? We had a mid-ship balcony stateroom on the 8th floor, and the drumming and music was FELT and HEARD in our room until midnight...never have I experienced that before. The staterooms on RC are bigger and laid out more sensibly as well. Norwegian puts the large bed in the center of the stateroom, and you have to dance around it to get to the only closet and storage in the room...balcony is very small too.

The thing we noticed most aboard this cruise was the number of children...they were everywhere. I don't know if it's because this line doesn't provide as much entertainment for them as RC, but children were seen, heard, and felt everywhere you went. They were seen the casino, which is a pass-thru to other places. They were even in the clubs at 10:30 and 11 pm...some in strollers, some small ones dancing at that hour! The pool area for the children is right near the regular outdoor pool...so the area is mobbed. The pool aboard is too small for the number of people using it, and the area quickly becomes very "undesirable"...wet, mess, dirty, suntan oils, food...and children everywhere. Thank goodness we had "purchased" ($358 for both of us) a thermal suite spa pass where we could use the warm therapy pools...they were less crowded because of the cost I guess...but that was a nice way to get away from the crowd.

I am not high-maintenance at all, and try to be courteous to all the folks who work hard aboard ship in service, but I found the attitude to be "meh"...and I assume it's because the tips are "standard"...not optional. They are fixed amount and automatically charged to your account daily as a "service charge"...I find a strong lesson on socialism in that. Our cabin steward, twice, had to be asked to bring back our beach towels after we asked for fresh ones. (You get charged if they're not in your room upon departure). The housekeeping staff let me know they were "put out" by having to bring them to us. The restaurant servers were the same. I do not think we found a reason to use this line again.