Overall,  this cruise exceeded my expectations.    Having read some of the reviews here,  I expected medicore food and service.   Both were very good (in the regular dining rooms) to excellent (in the surcharged restaraunts).   Overall ship board service was excellent.   Having a suite really helps,   you have a butler to do things for you like book excursions and reservation and have dedicated shorter lines.    But overall,  the service across the ships was good.   Mininal lines,  short waits on phone calls,  food service times met expectations.The ship was extremely clean and crew was very friendly.   The onboard entertainment was better than expected, and there were a good number of otAnd the venue can't be beat.   Cruising is a great way to see the Islands.   NCL was running a promo where the kids traveled free in the suite,  so other then sleeping on the soft-bed,  they had a great time.This is the third cruise we have been on,  Carnival,  Royal Caribean and Princess.    NCL clearly exceeds the Carninal and RC cruises and was on par with the Princess,  which was better than I expected.I'll add some tips in each of the ports,  but overall,  here are a couple of things:-Bring an alarm clock.   The rooms have no clock,  which is a supposed to make you not worry about the time.   However,  practically,  there are things like excursions,  diner reservations and departures,  which you are SOL if you miss.-If you plan to spend time in Honululu,  go before the cruise rather than staying after.   First,  it gives you cushin if you have flight delays,   second,  after a week at sea,  most people are ready to go home.-Look into suites for families up to 2 kids,   they were free this year,   normally they still cruise for $500 or so.-Book your excursions before the cruise.   Those were the only really lines and delays we saw,  people waiting in line to book excursions on the first couple of days.-Renting a car is always a good,  cheap alternative to a cruise excursion,   and since it is still America,  it is very easy.-No need to bring a lot of snacks and soda and water on board.  You can buy them,  but all of the ports but Maui have easy walking access to convinence stores.   There are even WalMart shuttles in every port.-Having a cabin on one side or the other doesn't make any difference from a sight-seeing standpoint.  It evens out over the cruise.

The 2nd port was Maui,  but its not listed.   Overall,  I never liked Maui,  the west coast was always too congested.However we did a beach day at Wailea,  which was much more quiet and had a great beach.   We could walk to the Four Season and get drinks and lunch.   Second day we did the Iao Needle and aquariam.    Good for a short day,  as we had to be back on the ship by 5pm.In hindsight, we could have done all with a 2-day car rental and saved some bucks,  but the excursion service was very good and you learn a lot on the trips.