This was our first time on Norwegian. We have probably 6 other cruises under our belt. We have cruised most often on Celebrity but have also traveled Carnival and Royal Carib. The Norwegian freestyle concept appealed to us. Living on Long Island the "ease" of cruising out of NYC was also appealing (more on this later). Overall, there were things we really liked about this cruise, some subjective things that did not work for us and some real disappointments.

Let's start with getting on and off the boat. Absolute disaster. Without getting foul in my description, I will just call it complete chaos and hell on earth. Crowds, noise, yelling. It is a bad feeling starting out at embarkation. It is a complete downer at debarkation. Others have commented on this. Is it the staff? Is it the process? Is it the darned NYers? I don't know. For me, this was a show stopper. I have cruised out of NY on smaller ships or at other NYC area piers with a lot less hassle. Never again.

Now for the cabin. We had a mini-suite. Be aware, with the exception of the bathroom, this cabin seems to be of identical size to the regular balcony rooms. Unless you really value a larger bathroom (which was a very nice size), don't waste your money here. Room was clean. The beds had an obvious sag in the middle. Surprising given that this ship was pretty new. In general, the bathroom seemed to fare the worst for wear (nicks and cracks in the tile work). Again, surprising for a ship this new. Reasonably good storage. Read more