I cruised many years ago (Caribbean) and it was the first time for my boyfriend, first time for both of us on NCL. I spent a lot of time researching this cruise versus the Royal Caribbean similar version. Here are my observations and tips.

1. The free style dining is good in that we never ate dinner at the same time however I miss the spectacle and the comaraderie from the old days. My biggest complaint is that the food wasn't great in the Taste/Manhattan all inclusive restaurants. Both offer the same menu and the service was good but the food was just so-so. Nothing to get excited about at all. The buffet was edible and I can't say much more other than that there was a lot of it but it was always very crowded and hard to get your food and find a table before your food got cold. Okay for breakfast or lunch but I would never eat there for dinner.

We ate in only one specialty restaurant, the La Cucina and it was very good. If Norwegian would up the food quality in the main dining rooms (since I know they can do it), my review would go up considerably. Read more