This was our first NCL cruise and we didn't choose it; we "crashed" my sister's vacation (she and her husband are awesome to travel with!). We didn't travel with children and we stayed in separate cabins. My sister in an ocean-view wheelchair accessible cabin on deck 8 and we were in a forward penthouse cabin on deck 9 (which I can't recommend; see below)
Port: We sailed from Tampa and the cruise terminal was easy to navigate. We stayed the night before in the marina area at the Marriott Marina which turned out to be a great idea. The marina area has a beautiful park, lots of restaurants in a small, easily walkable area. We even got to watch the ship come in that morning from our hotel room. The cruise terminal was only half a mile from the marina hotel.
Embarkation: We got to the port at 10:00 and there were very few lines. We checked in with no problem and had snacks/coffee until they started boarding at 11:30. That went very easy, although this is the first cruise we've been on where we were not greeted with champagne.
Cabin: We stayed in cabin 9002, a penthouse forward suite. The cabin was nice although the coloring was a bit "loud" for my tastes. (bright greens/purples/reds, etc). The little square table could easily fit 4 and was very useful. The coffee maker was great with very good coffee. The closet is huge and can be accessed from the foyer or the dressing room, which was convenient. Space is not an issue at all: there are so many drawers and cubbies that we didn't even use them all. Large suitcases (25" and 29") slid easily under the bed. We got very tastey snacks every day, not the tasteless canapes other reviews mentioned. We got cheese trays, chocolate strawberries, cookies, fresh fruit, fancy chocolates, fancy hor's devours of shrimp, ham mousse, etc. We gobbled it all up it was so good. We even asked for another cheese tray to host my sister and her husband on our balcony for a "sunset watching" party. It was great!
Why I can't recommend this cabin (or any on the 9th floor FWD): Noise. This is the first cruise I've been on where I could hear the main stage show which was 3 decks below us and there was a cabin floor right beneath us. It was like a muffled noise, either. We heard every word they sang and we heard the audience clap. It was so loud and clear, we thought they had accidentally turned on the ship speakers in the hallway during the show. It literally sounded like the show was going on in the hallway outside our door. It made going to bed early after a long day difficult because the late show at 9:30 (shows were about 45-60 minutes).
Cabin balcony: Good news: you can land a small plane on that balcony! It came with 2 lounge chairs and a large, long coffee table. We had 2 more lounge chairs brought in for my sister and her husband and you could still do cartwheels with the space. Bad news: you can't use the balcony unless the ship is moving slowly or not at all. It's simply too windy to be out on the balcony - it blows so hard the lounge chairs were tied down at night. There's no balcony light and you have to keep your curtains closed in the evening when the cabin lights are on. So on the sea days, during the day, our balcony was useless (I'm talking hurricane force winds). I tried to read my book on the balcony and pulled the chair close to the door to get out of the wind and I still couldn't keep my paperback book steady. It just wasn't pleasant at all. My tied back hair ripped free and whipped my face as well. Another major issue: our cabin neighbors were idiots that didn't lock down their exterior door at night so the intensive banging of a heavy steel door hitting a steel ship sounded like explosions. The upside: the butlers got them locked down after about a half hour of a complaint.
Great port to cruise from; easy to navigate and the hotels less than a mile way are nice.
Great pool, awful beach. Bring your wallet because nothing there is part of your drink/food packages from the ship.