We are just back from a seven-day cruise of the Caribbean on the Norwegian Dawn that left March 17, 2013, from Tampa, Florida. We went on this cruise with another couple of our same age - 66. This was our ninth cruise -- having been on Azamara, Royal Caribbean, Costa, Renaissance, Oceania, and NCL before. None of us are overly picky but all appreciate nice touches and good, not overly attentive, service. We had a butler once and thought it was 'a bit much.' Food is important but it's not the end-all/be-all for us.

After both couples having been on a very expensive and port intensive Oceania cruise of Europe last fall, we opted to try a less expensive winter getaway on NCL. All things (air, hotels, shore excursions, drinks, wine, etc.) considered, the cost of the Oceania cruise ended up being about $1,000 a couple per day as compared to the NCL cost of $450 a couple per day. The additional cost on Oceania was not worth it in our opinions.

We had taken NCL out of New Orleans a few years back with our kids and grandchildren and were totally satisfied with the experience. Since my Dad lives in Tampa and we wanted to visit him for a while, leaving out of Tampa was a big plus. We and our friends were looking for nothing more than a relaxing respite from a seemingly endless northern winter. As the price was so much less than other cruises we had taken, we had few - and actually low - expectations of what our cruise would be. Read more