This has been my first cruise ever and frankly, I was disappointed. I was expecting complete luxury for the duration of the trip, but unless you call standing in line at 6:30 to find out that all the specialty restaurants are booked up by people who rolled out of bed at 7 and happened to get through the reservation desk luxury, this expectation was not met.
My biggest complaint was the soda card. You spend $69 on a card so that you can get a small cup of soda whenever you want. I expected that at least part of this charge was for the service but it became immediately apparent that we weren't going to be getting any of that. I had to make a point to ask for a soda or I didn't get one. I was literally only offered a soda once on the course of the cruise. This is a disadvantage to all passengers under the age of 21 who won't be offered drinks because they can't order alcohol. If there is no extra tip, the employees are not interested.
The embarkation process was orderly and fairly quick. It did not take long to get through any lines and my only complaint about that process was the screaming kids running around kicking our chairs as we waited to go through customs, but I can understand that that is beyond NCL's control.