We chose this cruise because we wanted to see the Hawaiian Islands, not spend four or five days cruising to Hawaii. Bottom line up front: Norwegian needs some competition on this route. NCL is the only cruise that regularly just cruises the islands. The result is they have gotten too complacent. The impression give is they don't care. It is in the little things as well as the big ones. You board on a Saturday, starts at noon. However the way they operate this ship is your room will not be ready before 4 pm, and your luggage will not be available before about 7 pm. This is because the rooms are not made up before then. if NCL would just tell you that then you would have boarded with a minimum of carry ons, and had an easier time of it, or waited to board at the last minute. The first day, i.e. while you are waiting for your room and luggage, they have a series of briefings of what services are available, what shows , etc. However on our cruise the directors of the activities or services could not be bothered with showing up to brief.

so off to lunch in the buffet, right? Except that the ice and drink machines don't work.

The staff is friendly, competent and good at what they do, it is the management that appears to be bored with their jobs. Each night the entertainment is posted to start at certain times and venues on the ship, except they don't, the entertainers are off bsing with one another or guests and don't start until 20 minutes or so after the posted time. yes I know about "Hawaii time", that is not what this is it is a total indifference to the guests, supported or enabled by a lack of supervision from the staff. The food is good, and in the specialty restaurants, it is excellent. The tours were all good, the only problem is the Grayline tours on Maui don't have enough buses to support the number of guests, so be prepared to be "left behind" and then stand around for a while as they scramble. Read more