Background info: My husband and I are in our mid-20's, and this was our 3rd cruise. We previously sailed on Explorer of the Seas and Adventure of the Seas on RC. Had wonderful service and great vacations on RC, so we found ourselves comparing NCL to RC quite often. We thought that a cruise to Hawaii would be more cost-efficient and a great way to find out which Hawaiian island we liked to the best for future travel. I was definitely debating whether to take the cruise with NCL considering all the negative reviews.

Pre-cruise info: We flew from Cleveland on Friday morning through US Airways and had one stop in Phoenix, arrived in Honolulu by 2:30. By the way, if you're looking for cheap flights, this was a great deal through USairways.com. We booked a one-night stay at the Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach, wonderful hotel!!! We took the airport express shuttle right outside baggage claim and is only $9 pp+tip. The hotel bellman service came outside to take our bags to our room. This is cheaper than a taxi to get to Waikiki, but does take around 45 min-1 hour to get to your hotel, since they stop at all the hotels the passengers request to be dropped off at, just hope yours is one of the first! We booked the city view room at about $229 w/ all tax included; which was a great deal since this hotel is directly on the beach and the room had a great view of the ocean from your private lanai. There are plenty of restaurants and shopping you can walk to, and is really a fun place. Hula Grill is a nice restaurant at the hotel. We had serious jet-lag from eastern time, so we went to bed early the entire trip and woke up early. Even if you get used to it, it's time to go home, so I would definitely recommend staying at least one night, even 2 if you can before cruising.

Embarkation: Very easy and efficient; even better than RC. We got on at around 1:00 and our cabin wasn't ready yet. We ate at the Aloha Cafe, and waited till our deck was called. When it was ready, we thought it would have been cleaned, but there was hair in the shower and sink, expired milk in the mini-fridge, and no toilet paper. I thought this was very disgusting... Read more