We flew to Anchorage and took a bus ($45, not with NCL) to Seward. We got directions to a park a took a walk in Anchorage before getting on the bus, very friendly people. Embarkation in Seward went quickly, but it was raining and the gangway was not covered. I've only been on one other cruise with Carnival and I liked that the walk from the terminal to the gangway was all covered. The muster drill went pretty quickly.

The cruise director Philly Joel and his staff were great, always smiling, joking and friendly. I didn't think there was enough entertainment. On my Carnival cruise it seemed like there was always something to do, the Sun's shows were not at convenient times and there was only one per night. The public areas, restrooms were clean and nice looking! I always saw someone cleaning. The Stardust theatre was dated and the stage was really small for all the dancers in the variety show.

The food was really good and there were plenty of choices. I didn't like that the dining room had the same choices as the buffet for breakfast, except salmon Benedict. I only had lunch in the dining room once but found out later they have the same menu every day. I also didn't like the 24 hour food choices. There were a couple late afternoons that there was only a few choices on the outdoor buffet. Room service $8 per order! The sports bar only offers food from 5:30pm-5:30am so when we were watching football Sunday afternoon you can't order wings. Read more