This was only my second cruise (first for the rest of the family) and the last one was around 20 years ago so I'm not able to make much of a comparison. We chose NCL because they offer decent value for money in Germany as one of only two (?) cruise lines to offer all-inclusive packages (with drinks, service charges and tips all included up front) and has a rep for being child-friendly, and we chose this particular cruise because the dates suited and because the itinerary appealed.

The cruise departed from Venice, which suited us well since we were travelling down by car. We used the Marco Polo car park and were provided with a free shuttle service to the port. Embarkation was quite stressful, especially with two impatient and very excited kids. We arrived for embarkation at around 11 and the embarkation hall was already full to bursting. Check-in procedure went smoothly enough and the staff were super-friendly but the hall was ugly (basically a massive tin barn, nothing about which says "holiday" or "comfort") and didn't have the seating capacity to accommodate so many people for such a long wait. Boarding time according to our tickets was supposed to be 12noon but we didn't board in the end until around 1:30pm. Information was scant and confusing: for example, it was announced that families with small children could now board but we were turned away because ours (4 & 7) weren't small enough... by which time we had lost our precious seats and had to stand for the next half an hour.

Once on the ship, we were directed to the Garden Cafe buffet for lunch. We only once during the entire cruise had problems finding seats in the Garden Cafe. At peak times it can be very crowded but extra seating is made available in the Italian restaurant, for example. Read more