John and I have one holiday a year. We work almost 24/7 for over 50 weeks a year so really treasure our time off. This cruise was a lifelong dream for both of us to sail into New York,the only way to arrive anywhere! New York was 'simply the best' as sung by Tina Turner as part of the 'Legends'. However, some of the cruise could have been better.

We had been awake for over 48 hours as we endured our first long queue at Southampton. We drove overnight to heathrow to leave our car ready for our return home, then made our way to the bus station to reach Southampton. This all went well until we saw the ship and the queue for embarkation. Never mind, nearly on board now .....

After nearly 2 hours we arrived on deck 5. No staff, no idea how to navigate this enormous, stunning ship. Princess always greet you with staff everywhere but not on board NCL. It took us a further hour to find our room, rabbit warren sprung to mind. We had a nice room, huge balcony and unlimited use of some of the Spa,s facilities, which proved a godsend with the bad weather for the next 6 days. We were now quite tired. NO remote for the TV meant we couldn,t access any information. Also no phone handicapped us too. We had a good view of the grotty weather for 2 days on the bridge cam as we were unable to turn the TV off. When the windscreen wiper came on it broke the tedium. I hate lifts so kept very fit walking up and down the stairs. Alot. Read more