We arrived at the NY Terminal around noon and the embarkation was prompt and smooth. We were greeted by a friendly familiar face Concierge John D'Souza/India. We were delighted to sail once again with one of our favorite NCL Hotel Directors Hugo/Belgium. He runs a happy ship and we knew we were in good hands. After an excellent lunch, we went to our cabin which had been excellently prepared by our young cabin attendant Marisa/Philippines who took care of our every request throughout the cruise. We had our boat drill in one of the main dining rooms (it was very cold outside) and thankfully without having to bring our life jackets from our cabins. We thought we might have rough seas that night due to high winds but the entire three sea days south were incredibly calm and sunny. Some passengers were already in the heated pools on the first sea day.

We had a well attended cruise-critic roll call Meet and Greet at 11AM of the first sea day well organized by Randy and Lynn from our Progressive Trivia team. After the first sea day, I was doing lap swimming in the pool every morning when it opened at 7AM before breakfast. The weather continued to be outstanding for the first 11 days of our 12 day cruise. Sunny and warm at all our 6 ports.

FOOD: The food and service was especially good in Cagney's (Sandra/Philippines & Wayam/Indonesia), Le Bistro (Aisa/Philippines) and Tsar's Palace (Jacqueline/Philippines). We also enjoyed a good variety of food at the Garden Cafe buffet and the poolside barbecues. I managed to gain 6 lbs. on this 12 day cruise so the food was very good. Read more