This was our first cruise with NCL and everything about the cruise surpassed our expectations. This was the shortest cruise we've taken (others were 12, 12 and 15 days) and it was the best cruise ever.Although we previously had inside cabins and have been happy with that choice, we upgraded to a balcony cabin for this cruise because we thought a balcony would enhance our enjoyment of the scenary along the inside passage and the glaciers and we were right! We had a sunny port side aft ship cabin that gave us simply awesome views of mountains, the sea and the glaciers.We LOVED the "Freestyle Dining". Other cruise ships try to provide "my time" or flexible dining but they just don't pull it off, in our opinion. They try to be flexible but wait lines can be long during peak hours and requests to be seated with others often doesn't work out. At NCL, they have perfected freestyle dining. We didn't need reservations for either of the main dining rooms, we were seated according to our preferences within minutes of arrival. The food was excellent, as it has been on all the cruises we've taken. The buffet dining area was often packed so we didn't choose to eat there very often. We also had dinner at one of the specialty restaurants and the food quality and service were excellent.We were impressed with the service personnel. They consistently expressed a desire to meet our needs and exceed our expectations -- general customer service, dining and housekeeping staff alike.