Just back from this cruise. I don't like arriving from the USA for a cruise on the morning of and also combined the cruise with a bit of a European holiday so I flew from NYC to London on Tuesday, spent 3 days in London, on Saturday flew Easy Jet to Venice, made my own hotel arrangements which ended up being the Crowne Plaza in the burbs of Venice (which HCL uses BTW for those who book pre cruise with them. Hotel had free pick up at the airpot and shuttle was right on time. Hotel provides transfer on day of the cruise to the cruise port for €10 and was worth every penny. Hotel is right by a train station and easy trip into Venice but I've been to Venice, seen it, done it and just stayed in the hotel. One drawback in that is the hotel is in the middle of nowhere but went to the bar for a nice dinner of pizza washed down with some beet and was fine plus of course one of the most important things these days, free wifi. Transfer to port on Sunday morning was fine; was left off right by ship.

Embarcation was pretty efficient and was on the ship by 1300. As usual, staff tried to steer us to buffet but went to main dining room that was open for lunch. My cabin, being the cheap person I am was a guaranteed interior, 5061 which meant none of the add ons NCL was pushing but I don't drink nor do I need the specialty restaurants and you do pay for them in the difference in price. The cabin was more than adequate for an interior. Bathroom was fine, a real shower with plenty of water pressure and hot water. Had a fridge to store the remaining diet cherry coke I had lugged from London as well as a bottle of evian water. Met my room stewart and asked him to make sure there was ice. However, no real need as I simply filled up the water bottle with water from the cabin (and there is absolutely nothing wrong with the ship's water contrary to the opinion of some) and was fine. Room had 3 electrical outlets believe it or not. One for European plus, one for British/Irish plugs both at 220 and one for USA/Canada at 110. Didn't matter. I have adapter plugs for all and was able to charge up my mobile phones (US and UK) and my camera battery with ease. Television, unfortunately, really has no channels of great interest. Got both the BBC world service and Sky News from the UK. And with wifi being so expensive, could not use the mobiles except when in port.

First night with so many out exploring Venice, did get a reservation at Teppanyaki. Only 1 Teppanyaki table and reservations were hard to come by. All other nights were in the main dining room (Garden). Found one waiter, Marcelino who was outstanding and asked for him and got him every night. Routine was to eat dinner between 1830 and 1900, leaving enough time to relax after dinner on the promenade and attend the 2130 show. The shows were all pretty good but no comedian of note nor magician although one group did some illusions. Since the cruise is so port intensive, it was usually off to bed. Read more