We are a couple in our early 30s from the Toronto area and have both traveled extensively. This was only our third cruise (previous cruises on Carnival and Princess), our first time on NCL, and first time in a suite.
For this vacation we decided to splurge and try out a penthouse suite - and we found it was worth every extra penny and would do it again in a heartbeat.
Embarkation/disembarkation: from the time we got out of our taxi at the port, until the time we first set foot on the ship was 12-15 minutes at most. We were greeted by NCL employees as we walked through the door, they took our name and whisked us off to the VIP embarkation lounge. We were immediately processed and introduced to our concierge Ruth and had to wait just a few minutes for an escort through security and onto the ship. It was a completely efficient and painless process. We had a look over at the other line-up as we went through and it didn't seem long at all (this was between 12:30 and 1 pm) and people seemed to be getting through quickly. Getting off the ship was just as painless. Ruth let us know that after a certain time (9 am I think) you can walk off with your own luggage instead of leaving it out the night before and waiting for your tag color to be called. This option worked well for us, and including customs, once again it was only about a 15-minute process at most.