7 day Mexican Riviera cruise (my first for NCL and destinations, 25th overall). In the main dining room (Versailles) the service was polite but slow (1 1/2 hours for a very ordinary dinner--think Denny's). From the soggy Caesar salad to the watery, flavorless shrimp; from the tough, dry roast beef to the scallops the size of garbanzo beans, the dining experience was somewhere between disappointing and awful.
A no-extra-charge is the Market Cafe up on Deck 12: a buffet featuring bottom-end cold cuts, tough and dry beef, a minimal salad bar. The ambiance: no-nonsense chairs and Formica tables. Free beverages: coffee (decaf and regular), tea (decaf, herb, and regular), half and half, milk, skim milk and water. Oh, and fruit "juice" at breakfast. What about lemonade, you ask? Buy it at one of the bars. Ditto soft drinks (but this is more of an industry-wide practice, at least at the Princess/RCL/NCL/Celebrity budget level).
Lunchtime: care for a hamburger? No problem. A precooked patty will be pulled out of a tray of--let's be nice and call it "juice"--and popped on a griddle for minute, so the extender and beef (sort of like budget meatloaf) will be warm for that untoasted bun (which they will put on the griddle on request). Mayo and ketchup? Sure. Mustard? Sure, as long as you don't want deli or Dijon. Pickle? No problem. You were thinking of a vinegar, not a dill pickle, weren't you?