This cruise was recommended by a friend; we thought the new ship would be great, but none of our group had ever sailed with Norwegian before. We managed to have some fun in spite of Norwegian. There were too many unpleasant surprises.

The line for embarkation was long but moved fairly quickly; however the check-in clerk was preoccupied and did not interact well or provide much info. Disembarkation at times we preselect for ourselves is a good idea. No crowds waiting to get off the ship but then we had to stand in line inside the terminal; wait to process out was too long.

I was extremely disappointed in the restaurants and food. We had the dining upgrade so could eat in 4 speciality restaurants "free." Without this I would have hated the food & the cruise. As is was, I only had one out-of-this-world meal (lobster at la Bistro). The rest of the food varied from terrible to average to pretty good. All 3 complimentary restaurants (Taste, Savor, Manhattan) serve the same menu; choices are limited. Surprisingly, the cafe food was pretty good for what it was. Order the filet at Teppanyaki - it is very tender & tasty; the rest of the food is average. Go for the smoked salmon on the salad bar and the roasted pineapple at Moderna (brazilian steakhouse)...YUM! The chicken breast was tender, moist and quite tasty...surprisingly better than all the beef options -- we could not get a rare or medium rare piece of filet. One breakfast in Taste/Savor was outstanding: spinach dill pancakes with salmon; so good I asked for the recipe. Eggs benedict variation on a biscuit was not good --- hard & dry. Avoid O'Sheehan's - got disappointed there for breakfast & dinner. Not enough chocolate desserts! Wait staff in complimentary restaurants seemed inexperienced, unsure of themselves & their menus. Also had the adult beverage upgrade but found there were still extra charges for some wines. There were too many extra charges! ...for food, drink, entertainment, games/activities. We felt like we were being "nickel & dimed" to death. I would prefer to pay a higher price up front and know everything is included. Read more