I read these reviews CONSTANTLY the months before we cruised. I learned so much, that I wanted to pass that on some things we learned/liked about our cruise! This was our first cruise. I am 40, husband is 42. We are very easy to please/casual/relaxed people, that really aren't very social...and prefer to be by ourselves. So we thought Norwegian would be perfect for us! We were right!!! Someone that wants a very formal cruise, or to be very social..you might be disappointed.

We took a train into NYC on Saturday (July 17th). We arrived at Penn Station, got a taxi right away ($13 to our hotel), checked into our hotel room, and then went exploring the city. We stayed at the Best Western Convention Center hotel. A 10-15 walk to both the pier and Times Square, perfect! Room was very small, but at $165/night(including tax), a good deal in NYC!

We left our hotel around 11:30am on Sunday, and found the pier easily! Ship was docked at pier 88. We were very nervous about what to do with luggage, checking in, etc. But there were people with NCL name tags on outside the pier, and we were directed through the entire "check in" process. Very easy! We were on the ship by 12:15. Our rooms were ready by 2, luggage was there by 2:15. We originally had a balcony room, but 2 weeks before we upgraded to a mini suite for an additional $44/PP. Not sure how much different it is in size, but we were very pleased with our room. We headed to the venetian for lunch, but by the time we got there, they had closed, so we went to the buffet. We also went to the front desk and had them punch a hole in our key card...we had brought lanyards with us. Much easier then having to carry your card everywhere! Read more