My husband and I are in our early 60's and are seasoned cruisers. We have been sailing with NCL for the past several years because of the "freestyle" and because the ships leave from NY during the winter months. We have sailed on the Dawn, Spirit, Crown, and Gem. My parents (in their mid-80's) have accompanied us several times. This trip disappointed all of us on certain levels.

Living in northern NJ makes it easy to take a limo to the port, however, this time, we were stuck in traffic for two hours on the West Side Highway. While we realize that it might not have been a "ship" problem, one ramp to the boarding area was completely blocked off, and limos and taxis were pulling over to the side of the highway to discharge passengers. We had our driver do the same, hurrying out of the car, and dragging our luggage to the check-in. Hardly an auspicious beginning. New York City, although convenient for us, has one of the worst embark/disembark traffic setups. By the time we were on board, all restaurants were closed because the lifeboat drill was going to begin shortly. So unfortunately, we started out cranky and hungry!

Last year, we loved the Crystal Atrium, with its comfy furniture and large theater screen; when the screen was not being used for the WII games (or the Superbowl), there were projections of old-master paintings, fading gently in and outvery classy. Well, not this year. In addition to "commercials" for NCL, there were pulsing, colorful, dance or musical images that gave one a headache in the evenings, even the pianists complained about them. (Stacy McAdam is still the best!) And the atrium was always crowded, in fact, the whole ship was very crowded this year. But one of the things we liked previously, and still do, is that the public rooms provide a lot of seating (Bar Central area, window seats on decks 6 and 7, Bliss lounge during the day). Outside seating is another story, which is why we take a balcony on the Gem; who thought up the idea of those couches on the pool deck? They take up a huge amount of room, no one wants to share (people lay all over them), and frankly, we would not want to lay on them after other people have been laying all over them (they do look worn and soiled now, too). Read more