This was my seventh cruise with NCL and had a great time. I wasn't sure how I would like the changes they made but other than the artwork in the Venetian (what were they thinking?) and changing Pearly's to a wine bar, everything else was fine. I was a little disappointed at the lack of karaoke, but since they have to please everyone and not everyone likes it, I had to live with that (still would like more though). The food was good and we loved the specialty restaurants. The ship was always clean and our room was great for the amount of time we are in it. I did notice that there was a change in crew and I didn't see any familiar faces. I definitely missed Shem (he was the reason we ended up taking an extra cruise last year...we adored him). Our room steward, "The Duke" was great and made sure we always had what we needed.

The entertainment was okay. Since we cruise almost every year, we had already seen most of the shows. Just a suggestion, but they should change them up once in a while. They also didn't have the crew talent show this trip and that was disappointing. We were worried about the service we get to obtain drinks since most people now get the liquor package, but we never experienced any issue at getting a drink. We went on the Shipwreck Snorkel and that was great. The process to get to your excursion was organized and we had no issues. For disembarkation, we did easy walk off and that process was good and we had no issues.

A couple of negatives were that we didn't get our pins. They used to leave them in the room. While booking my next cruise, I mentioned it and was told you have to ask for them from your representative. Not sure how that all works...I think they should just leave them in your room. Also, they used to leave the motion sick pills in your room, then they changed it to having to go to the desk and ask for them. I use the patch so I didn't need them, but a couple we were traveling with (their first cruise) needed them and were told that they know have to pay for them out of a vending machine. I think people pay enough for the cruise so quit nickel and diming people (especially so they can enjoy the cruise!).