My wife and I sailed on the Norwegian Spirit's Christmas cruise as a way to change our usual Christmas routine. We may have found a new holiday tradition.

This was our first cruise, so we did a lot of research before and after booking (we booked in March), however, we booked based on departure city (New Orleans is an hour's flight from Dallas), rather than ports of call. We will change the emphasis next time. My original goal was to sail from Galveston, which would have been a half-day's drive, but if we have to fly to a port from Dallas, it doesn't really matter which US port it is.

We chose this cruise because after we decided to look into cruising, I signed up with all the major cruise lines for information. Within about ten minutes, an NCL representative called us to discuss our options. That was the beginning of their treating us as special customers, which I appreciated. Since they don't sail from Galveston, she mentioned New Orleans, and that's how we picked the cruise. Read more