Let's start with a positive. We had a family suite (SJ) and could not have asked for a better setup. We have a family of four and our kids (ages 6 and 4) were set up perfectly. We had more than enough room to move around and this cabin worked really well for us.

Being in a family suite also entitled us to butler service. I'm not sure what exactly that meant, but this was very disappointing. Upon embarkation our butler came in and basically gave us the "24/7 whatever you need I am here to help". What in turn we got was very poor service, the feeling we were inconveniencing them with every small request, failure to follow through in many cases, and an ego of entitlement where they fished for additional gratuities at every possible chance. To be fair I must point out that our steward ran circles around the butler every week....proactively asking how they could help, making sure we had everything we need, paying special attention to the kids. Amazing considering the different roles....in my estimation roles should have been reversed. I gave the steward all the butler's tip money...far bigger asset for NCL.

Food was okay. Big range of dining options on the ship. The free options (buffet, Versailles, etc) weren't very good. The paid restaurants were decent, but not great value. Also a little disappointing when you spend the additional money we did on a suite to also encounter almost $700 in dining charges to eat at these other restaurants. In terms of quality would rank them steak, teppanyaki, italian, asian. I will mention the speed of service. I know I'm on vacation and am not supposed to have a sense of urgency. But making our 6 and 4 year old sit meal after meal in 90min or two hour meals was tough. Be aware service is slow and not proactive whatsoever (drink refills etc) Read more