My husband and I have been on about 8 cruises with this being our first NCL cruise. We went with a group of 28 from our small retirement community in Maryland. Given a choice, I would never have chosen NCL, but this is what was offered. It was a great itinerary for 11 nights, so we decided to book it. We arrived at the pier in NYC about 12:30. After about a 20 minute line at embarkation, we were ushered to the Garden Cafe on deck 12 for a buffet lunch. There were no trays and unlike Celebrity, no one helped carry the plates or find us a seat. Not a good start. I did not really care for the buffet, but do not go by me, I am a very picky eater. They announced numerous times that you would not be allowed into your cabins until 2:00. Doors to them were closed with signs reading "Crew Only." Right about 2:00 they announced that the rooms were ready, and everyone made a mad dash.

We only had to walk down one flight of stairs to find our cabin about six doors from the elevator. The elevators made absolutely no noise, so next time that won't be a consideration. We were very disappointed in the size of the room. Billed as a mini suite with a balcony, it was rather small. Basically it was the same size as the balcony staterooms on deck 9. The major differences were we had a couch that fit three people, theirs fit two, we had a bathtub (very high step over), they had a shower, we had two chairs by our table, they had one, and our bed was kingsize, I think theirs was only queen. Also, I don't think they had a curtain to separate the sitting area from the bedroom. The differences were pretty insignificant, especially when compared to the extra $1000 we paid. Also, if you are taking this cruise in the fall, you have to really think about whether the balcony is worth it. It was really quite cool this time of the year, and of the 11 days, we used the balcony twice. It was far too cold to be outside. We kept remarking about the people that are booked six weeks from now. Brrr! Our luggage arrived by 4:00. We had plenty of closet space, but very limited drawer space.

Because we were with a group, we had a standing reservation at the Venetian dining room for 6 o'clock. With two tables of 14, the service was endless (so much so, that after two days of this, we went off on our own the rest of the cruise), two hours and 30 minutes is a bit long for dinner. If you were not with a group, there was a line up the stairs waiting to be seated. Evening Show: Welcome Aboard. Here we met Jimmy, our cruise director, some crew members and then we saw two lounge acts, Fire & Ice and Dan Hodges. Both were very good. Fire & Ice were in Dazzles every evening and Dan was in Gatsby's Lounge every night. We are not lounge goers, but we did stop in a couple of nights at both places because they were each so entertaining. Read more