Even though people warned me about NCL, I thought they were just being too critical. The embarkation went smoothly, but the disembarkation was a nightmare inside the cruise terminal. There were hundreds of people waiting for cabs. There was no order for being in line, and people and porters were breaking in line and banging into each other with luggage. The ship was definitely showing its age with worn carpets, stained upholstry and bed linens that had been washed so much that they were thin and limp. They felt unwashed. The idea of freestyle cruising is great, and ten restaurants and eating venues sounds wonderful, but you have to pay extra for six of them and two of the uncharged restaurants served the same thing. This is not my idea of having choices on a ship. I feel like I paid a fair price to be on the ship, and that should include all the eating venues. If the ship wants to offer one ultra fine dining experience at an additional charge, I have no problem, but six is ridiculous. The food in the uncharged locations was just fair at best. They had fancy names for food that wasn't up to par. There was a nice choice of shore excursions. Some of those were fantastic, and some were a waste of money. The best was "Chugging on the Molli" in Warnemuende, Germany, and the worst was "City Highlights & St. Peter & Paul Fortress" in St. Petersburg, Russia. Each passenger was charged $12. per day for tipping the staff. I can't complain about that because the crew were the best part of the cruise. They were kind and very helpful in all areas. I hope they got their tips, because I felt like the cruise line was nickle and diming everyone. They even charged a fee to take a tour of the ship! I will never take a NCl cruise again.