We tend to be frugal in our cruising -- interior room, main dining room for dinner, no drinks, no casino. Our final bill is usually a few ship excursions and auto gratuity.
While our frugality is probably not good for NCL's bottom line, it did not interfere with our enjoyment of our Panama Canal cruise on the NCL Star. Our goal was to get out of January in Chicago and there is likely no better cruise. 2 weeks, warm, and lots of sea days to relax.
Ports - Typical Central American ports. Find a T-Shirt that says you were there and do something fun. Most ports have tours available at walk off for much less than ship tours, but since we had never visited any of the ports, we booked several tours. If we take this cruise again, probably no ship tours.
Basic NCL interior room. Nice bathroom/closet layout. Table restricts access to one side of bed (twins combined) -- need to climb from foot of bed. Carnival has larger rooms, but overall we still prefer NCL for freestyle.