My wife and I are in our mid-20's, and we have cruised eight other times, on various ships with Royal Caribbean and Carnival. We have sailed on older ships, such as the Monarch of the Seas and the Sensation, and we have sailed on newer ships like the Freedom of the Seas. I'll admit, I was hesitant about sailing with Norwegian, primarily regarding the freestyle aspect. We typically enjoy getting to know our waiters, and we have made some very good friends at our assigned tables in the past. That being said, here is my review of our 7 night cruise to the Western Caribbean aboard the Norwegian Spirit April 10-17, 2011. Embarkation:One of the easiest we have ever had. We arrived around 11:30AM and parked at the Fulton Street Parking Garage $12/day, which saved us $28 over the parking at the port. Well worth it, considering it was a short 5 minute shuttle ride from the garage to the terminal. Upon arrival, we gave two bags to the porter, and we managed to fly through security, check-in to receive our sea pass cards, and we were on the ship in 10 minute flat. That certainly beats some of the hour plus waits we have had in Miami and Port Canaveral in the past.Overall Impressions:The Grand Centrum is nice, with the standard tall ceiling with the glass elevators going up and down. The ship had an excellent variety of pubs/bars, plenty of places to eat, and the pool area was pretty nice, with 4 hot tubs in the main area. We never struggled to find chairs for laying out, and the weather was perfect all week. We had no trouble attending the four ports as scheduled. The casino was pretty large, but we didn't really go in there this cruise. It was in the back of the ship, rather than the center, so we didn't have to walk through it to get to any of the other places on the ship. The nightclub attached to the casino was really nice, with tons of soft chairs and beds. It really had a nice club atmosphere. The Stardust Theatre was nice, but seemed small, and the movie theater style seating made it difficult to get in and out of the aisles if you wanted to grab a middle seat. The Galaxy of the Stars lounge was where most of the game shows were held, and it was a great venue. We participated in 55 to Stay Alive, Majority Rules, and the Quest, and we had a great time at all three.Stateroom:We went for a basic interior room. We have had interior rooms before, and we don't mind them. If we want to see the ocean, we'll go up on deck. Simple enough. Luckily, we managed to find one in the middle of the ship on deck 10. The room seemed smaller than usual, but I'll admit the bathroom/shower was the biggest I've seen on a ship.The bedding was comfortable, but the beds themselves were pretty stiff. We both woke up the first few mornings with our backs feeling pretty achy. Even so, we both slept extremely well, as we usually do on cruise ships.I wouldn't have minded a nicer TV than the 10" tube, but that's a minor complaint. We weren't on board to watch TV, although they did have a very good selection of movies playing throughout the days that kept us entertained while we were getting ready. For anyone with longer hair, a MAJOR downside that really irritated my wife was the fact that she couldn't plug in her own hair dryer. All they has was this strange 1950s contraption that looked like an old vacuum cleaner. When you pulled the hose from the wall, it blew warm air. Strange.Breakfast:For breakfast, we had the buffet in Raffles every morning, and it had plenty of variety. My wife specifically liked the freshly made waffles with a dollop of whipped cream. Lunch:For lunch, we had the buffet in Raffles a couple times, and it also had a good variety. On the sea days, I was impressed with their chocolate fountain, which had cakes and marshmallows to be coated. We also had lunch in the Windows Main dining room twice, which was pretty good. However, the "hidden gem" for lunch, in our opinion, was the Blue Lagoon. It's not really hidden, since it's on the main level right past the atrium. But considering how few people we saw in there throughout the week, it felt hidden. It was basically a little bar and grill (located next to the bar that always showed sports... makes sense). They served some typical fare you could get upstairs, like burgers and fries, but it seemed much fresher. The hot wings were great, but I'd say skip the spinach dip. Dinner:We ate in the Windows Main dining room three nights. These meals were almost completely forgettable. We did get sat at a table next to the back windows one night, which made for a great view. The food was still mediocre, at best.The first night, we ate at Cagney's Steakhouse, which was very good, but not nearly as good as the specialty steakhouses we have enjoyed on Carnival and Royal Caribbean, and it was almost as expensive. In the future, I'm not entirely sure we would choose Cagney's again.On Tuesday night, we ate at Shogun, which was very good. We had the Asian menu, as opposed to the sushi. We got a variety of appetizers, most of which were quite good. We loved the steamed pork BBQ buns, the pan-fried dumplings, and the edamame. The lettuce wraps were bland and mushy. I got the sesame chicken for a main entree, which was surprisingly bland. My wife got the lemon pepper shrimp, which was much better. For dessert, I had the 5 spice cake with green tea ice cream, which was very good. Tasted kind of like a chocolate covered gingerbread cookie.Thursday night, we ate Le Bistro. This was the showstopper. The feel of this restaurant was in another league, with the chandeliers and the open kitchen, it really felt like we were dining somewhere special. The four cones appetizer was unbelievable. We recommended it to a couple we met, and when they dined there on Saturday, they ordered a second serving of the cones... they were just that good. The french onion soup was delicious, and we both got the duck for our main entree, which was fantastic. For dessert, we ordered the cheese plate, the Napoleon, the creme brulee, and the fondue for two. All were of exceptional quality, and the fondue was really a step up from other dining we have had anywhere else. For $20 each, I would recommend Le Bistro over and over again.Saturday night, we enjoyed Shogun again. We ordered some other appetizers, and I enjoyed the Kung Pao chicken much more than the Sesame. I had the 5 spice cake again, and it was just as good as the first time.Entertainment:The cruise director told us this was the cast's first week on the ship. Whether that was true or not, the Broadway show was definitely worth seeing. They needed to play around with the sound mixing, as the singers seemed to be drowned out by the audio track, but they were clearly pretty talented. We liked that they included newer shows like Jersey Boys and Wicked, and they performed several songs from each of those newer shows, as opposed to the constant parade of songs from shows that haven't been on stage for years.Duo Acrobatique was very good. The married couple has some serious talent and incredible strength.We didn't get a chance to see the main magic show with Jorgos.All that being said, the final show of the week, Elements, was another true highlight. It was just so different from anything we have seen on a ship, with the mixture of dance, music, magic, and aerial artistry. It was all seamless and very immersive. Truthfully, although it was the same husband and wife couple, I thought the acrobatics were more impressive and riskier in this show than they were in Duo Acrobatique. Jorgos was great. He had the overly dramatic magician thing down to a science, and he was flawless. We ended up running back from the Quest to catch the second performance of this show.Disembarkation:Again, remarkably easy. We walked our own luggage off, and we were off the boat, through (friendly) customs, and on to the parking garage shuttle in about 15 minutes.Miscellaneous Cheers & Jeers:Cheers: Chocoholic Buffet - One of the best I've ever seen on a ship. They had chocolate covered apples, an ice cream sundae bar, and even a white chocolate fountain for covering cakes with. And, unlike many other ships, they had it around 10:30, as opposed to midnight, making all that chocolate easier to stomach.Jeers: Bar Staff Aggressiveness - We understand tips are how the staff makes money, and we don't mind being asked if we want drinks, but if we have a full bucket of beers or we say "no, thanks," we'd rather not be given the hard sell. We actually had a guy ask us "do you guys not drink or something???" when we declined drinks at one of the stands on the very first day. We had barely been on the ship an hour, and we had already signed up for the Pub Crawl. Not a great first impression.Cheers: Pub Crawl - Never seen this on a ship before, but this was probably one of the coolest things we've ever done on a ship. 5 bars, 5 drinks. And if are willing to get in the spotlight, there are additional drinks/shots to be had. We played games at the bars, and probably annoyed/confused a lot of people along the way.It was on the very first day out at sea, and not only was it a good deal in terms of drinks, but we met some great people. It was $25/person, and it was worth every penny. Shout out to the host, Kevin, who really made it memorable. Jeers: Nickel & Diming - When you pay extra money for a specialty meal, and you're technically already due a free meal in the main dining rooms, it's a little confusing to see the ship requesting an additional $10/person for something like lobster tail. We saw these "additional specials" in every single specialty restaurant, but it felt the most egregious in the $25/person steakhouse, where surf and turf would seem to be the norm, not the exception.Cheers: Drink Specials - On the flip side of the nickel and dime game, while the bar staff may have been pushy at times, I've never seen so many drink specials on a ship. 2 for 1 martinis, 2 for 1 margaritas, free t-shirt with purchase... they even offered us 2 for 1 beer buckets after the pub crawl. You can spend a small fortune on booze on these cruises, but I'll give NCL a major thumbs up for throwing in extras more often than I've seen before. Jeers: Smoking - I guess we forgot to really comb the cruise guidelines on this one, but we didn't realize how open NCL was regarding smoking. You could smoke in seemingly every outdoor space, including the pool area. And, they allowed smoking in every stateroom. We had to have our carpets cleaned after we were hit like a punch in the face with the smoke smell after we entered our stateroom. I'd imagine smokers will consider this a huge benefit, but for the rest of us, not so much.Cheers: White Hot Party - They did a good job of making what was basically a random dance party feel like a major event. They had ice sculptures, bar flair guys doing tricks, the professional dancers, and everyone wearing white. It wasn't necessarily the highlight of our cruise, but it was well worth attending, and everyone seemed to really enjoy it.Overall, we had a really great time. We will likely continue with Carnival and Royal Caribbean in the future, but after sailing on the Spirit, we are likely going to give the Norwegian Epic a shot in a few years.