We normally cruise on Carnival but, thought we would try Norwegian this time since they were offering your choice of packages included in the price. We liked the idea that they had 13 restaurants. I must say check in first day was very quick and getting off the ship was also good. There were good and bad when comparing the two types of cruise ships we have been on. First thing we noticed was the layout of the ship is quite a bit different than Carnival and took some getting used to. Our room was smaller than on Carnival but, was very quiet the entire cruise. We did the guarantee rate and were given a great ocean view room on the 8th floor. We did the dining package and the food was all very good except the Brazilian restaurant which was nothing like the ones we were used to. The meat is not seared and it is not good at all. Loved the steakhouse, went there 3 times. It is hard to get in to eat at the Japanese restaurant so book it early if you want to go there. Well worth it. We also really liked the Italian restaurant and Baby was the best waitress! Everyone said that the regular dining rooms had very good food so, I kind of wish we would have picked onboard credit so we could have used the money the way we wanted. I don't believe the buffet is as good as on Carnival, only ate there the first day at lunch and for breakfast one day. Fortunately there are other options like Bimini grill by the pool which had good hamburgers and the Blue Lagoon inside which had the best chicken wings! There is also a bbq by the pool 2 days, it was actually like fajitas you could make up one day & chicken. I guess we are used to going on bigger ships, there was only 1 pool and it was 5'5" to 6' deep. The water was also very cold at first and not many people got in. Hot tubs were too hot for most people. It seemed there were not many places to sit in the bars at night. If you went very late it was hard to find seats. Really didn't think the seating was nice in the lobby area, not comfortable and hardly anywhere to sit and watch the singers. Did not play in the casino hardly at all, they wanted to charge us 3% to get money off our credit card to use in the casino and were not good about giving you change for large bills either. Kind of missed the comedians that they have on Carnival and they didn't do much karaoke either. Just seemed they don't have quite as much entertainment on these ships. The shows we went to were absolutely wonderful. I must say the people we met on this ship were all very nice, seems they get a different type or maybe it was the time of year. All in all it was a nice cruise, the ship was a little older than we are used to but, I guess it is going in for refurbishing soon.