EMBARKATION: We read some iffy reviews, and what we experienced definitely supported other people's complaints. The embarkation hall (terminal) was extremely chaotic, and you have to stand in various lines with throngs of people trying to hear what the employees are saying to you (sometimes through bullhorns) while keeping your sanity. Not a very good way to start a supposedly "relaxing" vacation. We thought we had been smart by arriving a day early (since we both had to fly in from the east coast, and the ship departed at 4PM) and we took NCL's shuttle from LAX to the port. From the time we left our hotel (La Quinta at LAX- which we would HIGHLY recommend), took the hotel shuttle to LAX, waited for the NCL shuttle, drove to the port, took about 2 hours. The process of checking in and going through security was about an hour. I don't know how we could have arrived at the terminal any earlier to beat the crowds.

SHIP: The ship was very clean and pretty well kept up, considering it is slightly older than other ships. The public rooms were OK, though we much preferred the height and open space on Royal Caribbean. It was also sometimes quite difficult to get from one end of the ship to the other on the same deck. You had to go outside or go up a deck and come back down to get to your destination. The crew were all very friendly and very helpful. We didn't encounter any problems with surly crew members as others have on these reviews. We were not a big fan of "Freestyle Cruising", as we will explain further on. But, since tipping is mandatory, and not according to the individual crew members treat you, we didn't notice any lack of service due to tipping not being a direct result of their service. For those into pool activities, don't get your hopes up. The pool area was quite small and seemed mostly designed for children. There is no "adults-only" pool area as on some other ships.

STATEROOM: We had a balcony stateroom on deck 10, which was almost exactly what we had on Royal Caribbean. It seemed to have a a little less floor space, but that was partly due to the fact that NCL uses actual square beds, whereas Royal Caribbean gives you the impression of more floor space by using beds with a rounded foot. My partner liked the division of the bathroom into three spaces, toilet, sink, shower. The shower was definitely larger than on Royal Caribbean, and was very easy to use. My only complaint was a "sewer smell" in the toilet area, but neither one of us thought it was worth the effort to complain about it. We just tried to keep the toilet door closed, and made sure the toilet brush was seated in its container. Being two guys, we were also rather used to that "locker-room smell". The selection of TV channels left lots to be desired, and we also missed the ability to see your current account on one of the channels. The closets were also well-organized, and we had no problems storing all our stuff Read more