Arrived in Miami, sailed (if you'll pardon the pun!) through check-in and was on the ship in a matter of minutes. We were starved so we headed to the buffet while waiting on our room to become available. We were a little disappointed in the quality of the food and the atmosphere of the Garden Cafe, but we're happy to be there. We found our room to be quite pleasant even though small. We had a balcony so the room did not seem as cramped as it would have otherwise. Our adult daughter was with us and when the soft bed was out, we had wall-to-wall beds. But a small room is to be expected on a ship unless you're fortunate enough to have the garden villa suite. The carpet was a little dirty and in need of replacing but, otherwise, everything was good. We then explored the ship, and as on other ships, you "can't get there from here." You have to learn which elevator to take to get to your destination. We dined at the Teppanyaki restaurant the first night. It was just mediocre for my husband and me but our daughter enjoyed her meal. We also ate at Le Bistro, the French restaurant, and Salsa, the Tex-Mex restaurant. We considered those quite average also. The Buffet seemed to go downhill as the cruise went on. I must say that the Cheese Tortolini at the Venetian was quite good as were the breakfasts we had there. Service was great at all venues. Our room stewards were great, very accommodating. (Hello Jose and Romel) We always enjoyed the towel animals. One thing that I was disappointed in was that if you went on an excursion, there was no time left for shopping. As we had never been to these destinations, we chose the tours over shopping but would have liked to do both. The excursion into the countryside in Samana was a really rough ride but we enjoyed seeing the flora and fauna and learning about the people. I must say that it was a little disconcerting to see that the "shotgun man" in the tour truck was literally "carrying a shotgun." The tours on both St. Thomas and Tortola were good with all the beautiful scenery. Our daughter chose to go to Magen's Bay to the beach which she said was quite nice. On arriving at Great Stirrup Cay, the cruise line's private island, my husband and I chose to stay on board as all the activities involved the water. My daughter said that the water was cold and that we didn't miss anything by staying onboard. Our favorite part of the cruise was the shows. The Jean Ann Ryan Company was spectacular, very professional. What's up with all the photography? How many pictures does a person want taken on a cruise? Just say No! Disembarkation was easy. We chose to carry our own luggage so we ate breakfast and leisurely took our time as we had a late flight our of Miami. We were off the ship in a matter of minutes. Unfortunately, customs took our jam we had bought in Samana. This was our second sailing with Norwegian. The first was on a new ship in Hawaii. Would we sail with Norwegian again? Maybe. We decided that if and when we went on another cruise that we would go back to Royal Caribbean, so we'll see. I don't really have a lot of negative things to say about Norwegian. We had a pretty positive experience both times. Our disappointment in the food was the biggest negative factor of the cruise.