This was our first NCL cruise that our travel agent gave us the go ahead for and we weren't disappointed.

Embarking was really no different than any other ship. Honestly our worst was out of Galveston on Princess, so the little bit of waiting we did isn't worth talking about. It always feels like a longer wait really just because we are so anxious to get our vacation started. Disembarking was a whole other matter, and probably the messiest of any ship I have been on. Very unorganized, and while I realize it is the port of Miami that sets certain rules they need to come up with a better way of getting off the ship. The easiest way I know is to give people a group to be in based on when their flight leaves. This is the one area where "freestyle" cruising doesn't work. Telling people they can get off the ship on their own if they are willing to take their luggage with them was a really bad idea. Especially if 80% of the ship tries doing it at once. Get your act together guys - this was a horrible way to end a vacation

Once on board I went directly to the one lounge where all of the specialty dining was set up. This was a great idea as with any of our other cruises I would need to go to each individual restaurant to "tweak" our reservation times and this past time the number of people. It was very convenient as I wasn't running from restaurant to restaurant the minute I got on board. The ship was decorated for Christmas which was very nice and although there was Christmas music playing in the background it wasn't overbearing. I say this because our Princess cruise over New Year's was just Christmas music blaring all the time, you just couldn't get away from it. The layout of the ship was super easy, we knew where everything was after one go around. Everything was really clean, and the staff were all very friendly. Smoking inside - even in the casino should not be allowed (sorry smokers). Read more