my daughter and i cruised on NCL down the mexican riviera and hated the 'star'. it was w/ great fear and trepidation that i booked again, but only norwegian went to the destinations in the w. carribean we wanted to visit. cruising out of new orleans is only a 2 hr. time difference from vancover and a 6 1/2 hr. flight. we thought if we booked a balcony we'd have a quiet retreat and we were right. also, we knew we liked the thermal pool in the spa and the buffet offered great salads.

first encounter w/ NCL booking was negative. they advertised a balcony for the price of an outside cabin, but research and talking to a supervisor revealed norwegian raised the price of the outside cabin to match the price of the balcony. we paid $699. for a balcony so it wasn't the cost, i don't like being manipulated by false advertising. i transferred my booking to a travel agent so i didn't have to deal w/ NCL.

we arrived in NOLA late so we stayed in the airport hilton (see my review on trip advisor) and took a taxi to the port the next day ($30.) embarkation easy. Read more