We are first time cruisers that decided to go on our first cruise for our 30th wedding anniversary to the Western Caribbean embarking from New Orleans We booked 8 months in advance and I spent A LOT of time on the internet researching "how to" cruise, excursions and NCL. I was excited and also a little nervous about getting things right from packing to tendering and tipping. I must say that we had an amazing experience. NCL made everything so easy and were so accommodating that our worries vanished as soon as we entered our state room. Here are some of our experiences:

Embarkation: Best advice we got came from a local port authority policeman when we were checking out the dock a day in advance of boarding. He told us to come early (9am) and leave our bags and then enjoy NOLA for the day and then board about 2:00 pm. We took the advice and were in our stateroom w/in 25 minutes of entering the port and it was a hassle free boarding.

Stateroom: We booked a balcony stateroom on the advice of our travel agent and were not disappointed!! Our Staeroom was 9032 and was truly lovely. Had plenty of room, lots of storage (loved packing cubes for keeping everything organized) and our room steward Joel was terrific!! Best advice: Take a cheap over the door shoe organizer to hold all your small items like cameras, Key cards, bathroom items- best investment of the trip. Kept everything neat and organized and right at our fingertips!! Read more