Thanksgiving, 2011, we decided to escape the early winter by taking a cruise. The price, the itinerary, the timing, and our willingness to give Norwegian Cruise Line another chance led us to purchase this voyage. Our previous NCL cruise failed to make us fans of "freestyling" nor left us desiring to "go Norwegian" again. So Sea Dawg booked this cruise with low expectations and satisfied the value would just come in the warm climate island hopping.

We found lower airfare by arriving/departing Ft. Lauderdale (FLL) rather than Miami. Sea Dawg recommends prearranging with SAS the 40 minute shuttle to the Port of Miami for $15 per hound.

My low expectations seemed validated by the long, slow moving cue line (that invited line crashing of mongrels) that greeted our arrival to the Port of Miami terminal. A complicated check-in process, an unnecessarily narrow window of time scheduled for check-in, and too few NCL personnel manning check-in counters exacerbated this unwelcoming start of our cruise experience. Read more