I am posting this review to add some balance to this website, as I had read many negative comments about this ship.

After overnighting at a LAX area hotel, we hired a shuttle service for a 10:00 pickup and were at the port by 10:30. Porters were on the job and the lines were non existent at that time. We boarded the ship around 11:30 and went to the Market Cafe for lunch. Adequate number of stations but NCL is a little cheap on the beverages: the juice fountains are only stocked at breakfast and the rest of the day, water and iced tea only... The buffet staff (kitchen side and table cleaning side) were efficient and pleasant, unlike what a lot of people wrote about the Norwegian Star. We ate at most of the restaurants (except Cagneys) and got appropriate to great service every single meal; we just could not find any bad service. I guess some people are hard to please and we were no longer under the "first cruise spell" when everything is new and amazing. Although the freestyle dining makes it harder to connect with the staff, we took matter in our own hands and sought out our waiter team from the first night's dinner at Soho throughout the week at their other assignments.

Kids program: our kids (9,7,and 3) are diehard Camp Carnival fans so we were not expecting too much but wrong again: aside from shorter hours (no port day activities and babysitting until 1 am instead of 3 am on Carnival), this program was excellent and the counselors were right on. By having mostly American and Canadian staff, I find that the communication with the kids was easier. The main pool was a good size and the 2 slides were ok but not recommended for adults, as their pitch and water flow were insufficient for larger humans. There is also a kiddie pool and slide complex on deck 12 aft. The fitness room seemed to be well equipped (I chase my kids instead). Read more