We have sailed with NCL many times in fact our first cruise back in 1998 was on the Norwegian Sun and we loved it. NCL has changed a lot in the past few years, mainly since it changed to what they call FreeStyle Cruising. This differs from the traditional type of sailing in that you do not sit at an assigned table with other in the dining room. Since this change it appears that the quality of the food in the main dining rooms are not as good as it use to be and if you want anything good you have to eat at one of the many specialty restaurants where an additional fee is charged. We have always enjoyed meeting new people while on a cruise but since we're no longer seated with others we're on our own. FreeStyle Cruising might have it's place with a lot of people but if you're wanting a more traditional type of cruise you will be disappointed.

We ate at Raffles and found the food there wasn't kept hot. I don't know what the problem was but apparently it has been a problem for quite awhile so you might want to only eat there for sandwiches, stir fry or omelets that are freshly made. The main dining room was very elegant with large arched windows in the back and high ceilings. Since there is no assigned seating its advised that you make reservations for your evening meals you plan eating there. The food was not up to the standards we expected from NCL but again that's due to them changing to FreeStyle Cruising. The service was just okay and there was one evening where the waiter apparently forgot all about us. If you like fresh ground pepper than you'll be in 7th heaven as the waiters come by often asking if you'd like fresh pepper. We ate at Cagney's and found it to be the best restaurant especially if you like steak! We ended up eating there 3 times and liked it each time. We were going to eat at Le Bistro but since they no longer served lobster or their famous chocolate fondue and fruit dessert we opted out this time. Cagneys had lobster but be prepared to have to remove the lobster from the shell yourself as the waiter no longer does that for you. We thought about Shogun but canceled our reservation there since what it offered wasn't anything we particularly wanted. The nice thing about signing up for your evening meals is that you can look at the menu of each restaurant. The specialty restaurants don't change their menus throughout the cruise, only the main dining rooms do. The only restaurant open 24 hours in the Blue Lagoon and we found we ate dinner there a couple of times. They serve good hamburgers and potato skins.

The embarkation and debarkation went smoothly. We drove from our home in Maryland to Newark and parked our car at my husband's truck terminal and took a cab to the port of New York. This was a better choice since parking your car at the port terminal would cost $180 for ten days. Read more