First, let me say I am an experienced cruiser. This Alaskan cruise was my 10th cruise and the first (and last) with NCL. Although the ship itself was fine and our balcony cabin was laid out well, overall the cruise experience was very disappointing. The food in the dining room and buffet was by far the worst I have ever had on a cruise ship. The entertainment was very limited and the overall service atrocious. Our room steward was the "invisible man". 2nd day on the cruise (late afternoon) we had to call the desk 3 times to get towels and washcloths brought to our room. The vast majority of cruisers were in the 50+ age group, yet the entertainment was not geared to this group at all. There were no bands to dance to (except for Oldies Night which played a whopping 45 minutes), no late night comedy shows...very boring! Our friends had a balcony on the port side and the smell of raw sewage was so bad you couldn't stand to be out on the balcony!

On a positive note, we enjoyed the shore excursions immensely! Also, we ate one night at Cagney's steakhouse and it was incredible. I feel like they make the food so bad in the dining room so you will spend the extra money to eat in a specialty restaurant.