We did a 7-night cruise on Spirit to Key West, Florida; Georgetown, Grand Cayman; Ocho Rios, Jamaica; and Stirrup Cay, Bahamas. The ports were great but the ship was lacking. We have been on nine cruises with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity but this was our first on Norwegian and although we knew that the Freestyle Cruising on NCL was different than what we were used to on Royal Caribbean and Celebrity, we had an open mind; however some things just weren't acceptable.

First off, the information we got from NCL was inconsistent. Since we are familiar with traditional dining and enjoy sitting at a large table and meeting new people (i.e., dining at specific times each night with the same table mates) we weren't used to Freestyle Dining. I called NCL the week before embarkation to see about dining options and I was told by them that "they would never seat us with someone we didn't know at dinner". The third night of the cruise we did not make reservations for dinner so we just showed up at Garden and asked for a table. The hostess asked if we "would be willing to share a table", which is what we wanted to do all along. The second inconsistency was when I told guest services that a friend we were traveling with was not getting our voicemail messages (yes, the phone gave an option to leave a voicemail). I was told by him that "the phones do not actually record voicemail messages"; however, 15 minutes after I left a handwritten note on my friend's door I caught up with him and he said that he got my voicemail message!?!!

Other things that bothered us included fair quality food, small cabins, and having a smoking section that encompassed the entire port side of decks 12 and 13. Since we are non-smokers we tried to avoid the port side when we were on the upper decks, but it was often impossible. The crew members were very friendly and courteous and organization during embarkation was great, but I don't think we'll be cruising on Norwegian anytime soon.