We booked this cruise for the Panama Canal. Everything else was just extras. We are a married couple in our mid 50s and this is our 15th cruise overall, 7th on NCL.
We live on the east coast, so we booked the LA to Miami route so we had a shorter flight home at the end of the trip. We flew in a day ahead and stayed at the Doubletree San Pedro. Nice, generic hotel but a bit more isolated that I would have liked. Taxi from LAX was about $70 with tip. The hotel had a van to the port. Drinks at the bar were priced ok during happy hour, but the margarita was not that good.
Embarkation went smoothly, once it started, but the ship had an unexpected inspection upon docking, so we were delayed getting on board. We had an aft balcony, 9674. Great location, cabin was smaller than I remember NCL cabins to be. On the ship drawing, this one did look smaller that other afts, but I didn't see that until the day before we sailed. There were some minor age related issues with the drawers, but it was clean and the bed fairly comfortable. Our cabin steward was great.
My husband and I did separate tours. I described mine above. My husband did the Volcano Hike through the ship. He is in good shape, runs regularly and felt this was a strenuous tour. He enjoyed it and thought the cooking of marshmallows over a volcano fissure was fun. He did say that for about $20 there are people with horses that will give you a ride if they climb turns out to be too much for you.
Enjoyed the city tour with Dora. She was very knowledgeable and shared her love of the city with us.