Where to begin? As the introduction states, this was our first NCL cruise and our first time to Hawaii. We live near New Orleans, so many of your cruise experiences over the last several years have been on Carnival. We had been following the reviews on CC with regard to the P.O.A. with some concern, as many of the reviews are, shall we say, less than positive. That being said, we are very much 'take the weather with you' folks, and were confident we'd have a good time in Hawaii, no matter how the shipboard experience evolved.

I'll start at the very beginning, with the booking process and customer service process itself. Perhaps I am spoiled, but the process NCL employs where there are different numbers/contacts for different departments (cruise booking/ shore excursions/ air logistics) was much less 'user friendly' than what we have experienced with Carnival. Everyone was helpful and friendly, but I liked the concept of a 'single point of contact'.

NCL handled our air arrangements, and since our time was very limited, I am certain their choices and options were limited as well. Our flight arrived in Honolulu at 5:15 PM on April 3, as scheduled and we were greeted by an NCL representative at the gate, and taken to baggage clain and then to a waiting shuttle. The process was very efficient. We were one of the last two couples onto the ship, and I must say I was disappointed that the 'welcome aboard' photo station had already been removed, as those 'welcome aboard' photos are normally the 'cover picture' for each of our cruise albums. Read more