We loved this cruise. It is America's ship. The decor is fun. Some parts of the ship are just like being in the Capitol or visiting Monticello (mostly I'm thinking about the carpet patterns). It's fun to see places named for presidents (John Adams Coffee Bar, Jefferson's Bistro). We had great service all around (we had read that not all the crew would fall all over themselves to make you happy as on other cruises, but we found that in fact they would and did). But because many of them are in fact American, they'll sass you and joke around with you more than you might typically find. And, personally, I think that added to the ambiance as that's what America is about. It's fun to argue sports rivalries with your waitstaff. We had the best steward that I've ever had on cruise. He had tons of tips on what to do and if he knew our plans for the day he would clean the room around our schedule. Every single time we came back from doing something or even going to the pool he knew and our room was clean and there were fresh towels.

Information from Norwegian was lacking, we weren't quite sure how early you can get aboard. We got there about 11:30, checked in, dropped our luggage and boarded a bit after 12:00. You do get a lei! There's entertainment as you're waiting, including authentic Hawaiian singers and dancers. They said rooms are typically ready between 1 and 1:30, but they didn't make any announcements that rooms were ready until well after 2. I'd say that all rooms were ready by 3, maybe 3:30. In the mean time you can get lunch and start to check out some of the ship.

I wasn't blown away by the food in the main dining rooms (Skyline and Liberty). The food was good, but there's nothing that comes to mind as fabulous. My husband is a picky eater and they had no problem accommodating, even when he ordered off the kids' menu. We tried a few of the specialty dining options: the steakhouse, the Italian restaurant, and the Brazilian restaurant. The steakhouse wasn't worth the cost ($30pp). It was good, but not great. The Italian was only $15pp and was pretty good. We have a lot of authentic Italian food where we live, which probably was better, but it was good enough. The Brazilian steakhouse was fabulous. As good, if not better, than any of the ones I'd been to before. They had the standard choices (chicken in bacon, lots of steak choices, and pineapple). The service was impeccable. The Cadillac Diner is a typical American style diner (hot dogs, meat loaf, fried foods, milk shakes) that is open all day and night and has pretty good food. We ended up there a couple of times for breakfast or mid-afternoon snacks. The buffets were fine, but nothing spectacular. They were typically busy, but you could always find a place to sit. Read more