We had booked this cruise sometime ago and upon reading comments on the cruise critic website, were a little reluctant to go on this ship. But now that we have we found the cruise to be very good. It is a great way to see the islands if you've never been to Hawaii and without having to sail from the mainland. I think the best way to enjoy this cruise is to treat this ship as a floating hotel. (We spent the first week on the big island, the second week on the ship and the last 2 weeks in South Kihei, Maui with my sister and brother-in-law). We arrived in Honolulu from Hilo around 10:30 am. As we had read that taxis to the pier were very expensive we opted to take the "Roberts" bus to the pier. As we were at one of the smaller terminals (Go Direct/Mesa Airlines) we waited almost 40 minutes before we trudged over to the main terminal to find out where to pick up the bus. We finally found the area and got on the bus. The cost for this was $6.00 one way instead of $35 cab ride. Bus was very comfortable and dropped us off right at the ship terminal. In summary it would have been nice if NCL had included info on transfers in their precruising kit. EMBARKATION: We arrived at the ship about noon - check in was fast and efficient. As cabins weren't ready we were directed to the Aloha cafe for lunch. Buffet lunch was quite good. As cabin still wasn't ready we walked around the ship. Cabin was ready about 2:30 pm. OVERALL APPEARANCE: Ship is American themed (as mentioned above we are Canadians). There is plenty of open areas. We found that getting to restaurants was a bit of a challenge as elevators/stairs only go so far - then you have to transverse to figure out where you want to go. The ship didn't feel crowded even though it was fully booked. The staff in the bars and restaurants were very friendly and helpful. The stores on the ship were well stocked and prices were not too expensive. There is a library on the ship which was full of good books and an Internet cafe on deck 5. There is no interest access in the cabins. Laptops can be used in the common areas on decks 5 and 6. RESTAURANTS: There are quite a few restaurants and a few speciality restaurants. We tried 3 of the speciality restaurants, namely Jefferson's Bistro, the Lazy J Steakhouse and Little Itay. All were quite good except the service in the Steakhouse was very slow - a long wait between courses. The Cadillac Diner was excellent for breakfast. Everything was freshly made and service was quick and efficient. The breakfast buffet was not very good. My husband liked the omelets but I found it terrible. The coffee in the carafe was very cold. If you want hot coffee don't drink this just go to the coffee machines and get your coffee. Throughout the ship are restaurant seating guides. These show you all the restaurants along with wait times, seating, etc. This is excellent idea. ENTERTAINMENT: There is a theatre on the ship - they don't have glamorous or glitzy shows. We went one night to see Second City Improv. Just terrible and not funny at all. Needless to say we never went back to the theatre. We sat in one of the lounges and listened to a terrific singer. He was very good. OTHER: Our first night we took in the shore excursion talk which was quite interesting. The shore excursions we had signed up for before we left were the ones that were recommended by the Tour Director. We didn't go to the shopping talk. We did take part in the Pub Crawl. This was a lot of fun and good value for the money - $20 for a difference drink in 5 different bars. DISEMBARKATION: Very smooth disembarkation - all baggage was in the ship's terminal and was easy to find. Our luggage was there; and we took the Roberts bus back to the airport and boarded a plane for 2 weeks in Maui.