This cruise was our anniversary present to ourselves and it was just my husband and I this time. (ages approx 45-49):::

Embarkation Day: driving from home (Ft Lauderdale)to Miami was a breeze and after parking at an off site cruise parking place and getting shuttled to pier took approximately 1 hour 15 minutes. After the shuttle driver dropped us off and we handed over our luggage we were on the ship in 15 minutes. Once off the gangway we were assaulted by really really loud cub dance music that was so loud it hurt my ears. No welcome aboard drinks and there was a bottleneck of people trying to get down the hallways to get to either the main dining room Crossings or the buffet for lunch. We had a nice lunch at Crossings on of the main dining rooms though the service was slow at best and when we asked for our water to be re-filled our waiter filled everyone around us but us and we had to ask 2 more times before he did it. After lunch we wandered around to get a feel for the ship and by 2pm our bags were already in our cabin. Sail Away party was OK and the pool area was filled with people and kids. Dinner at the Palace the other MDR was very nice an service was much better there than Crossings. Staff was not very smiley like on other NCL ships but accommodating. The buffet area on deck 11 The Garden Cafe and the Great Outdoor Cafe were totally crowded and did not have a large selection at all.

Food overall was very good to okay not as good as we have had on other NCL ships but not horrible. The MDR Palace was much nicer and staff while slow at times was not as slow as day 1 at Crossings. The buffet was good for a quick pass through but again not a huge selection and they were slow to refill or replace items that ran out. Cool Place to go for an evening snack was the Longboard Bar for bar food such as buffalo wings, fish n chips, etc... which were good and the service was quick. Read more