We're relatively new to cruising and must say that Freestyle is definitely our style. People who are used to "old school" cruising may say they don't get a chance to meet people or have the same server get to know them. With freestyle, you can still do that, plus you have flexibility. We ate when we wanted with whom we wanted or by ourselves when we wanted. We could dress up or not. For those who "missed" the dress up nights the only place we saw it listed was under the Photography description in the Freestyle Daily. You can also check with the reception desk at the beginning of the cruise and they'll let you know.We also discovered that repositioning is a great deal. It was like 3 vacations in one: 3 nights in New Orleans during the French Quarter Music Festival what a treat (we stayed at the Drury Hotel which has a special cruise rate); then the 12-day cruise; then Boston - where we spent another 4 nights in Cape Cod. With many airlines now giving good deals on one-way flights, getting a discounted round-trip only fare was not an issue. Try Southwest for New Orleans and Jet Blue for Boston.We ate all of our dinners in either Windows or the Garden dining rooms. We tried to sit in the section where some of our favorite servers were - but we couldn't do this all the time. The food was good - not great - but fine for us. It did seem to go downhill by the last few days of the cruise. We never ate in the buffet for dinner because we like sitting down and being served and feeling like we're really going out for dinner. There's one night where you can put your name in a drawing to "win" dinner with an officer. I recommend doing that, because you get to meet an officer, usually from another country, and whenever you run into him/her onboard there's a connection. Plus the wine was free and you get a prime spot in Windows.We found the NCL staff to be courteous and attentive. We had two problems - at different times - with our cabin and both times they were promptly fixed, with a note or phone call the next day asking if the problem had been resolved. The voltage in the cabin is 110, so I never used my hair dryer or straightener; although some folks said they used their straighteners with an extension cord. I was afraid to do that because my straightener said 125V, so I'd recommend a converter. Our cabin location - 11th level aft was perfect, as we could run up a get some fruit or snacks from the buffet and bring it down to our cabin and eat out on the balcony for breakfast or an afternoon snack. (Hint there are shrimp cocktails on the dinner buffet with 3 large shrimp, but they're hard to find. By the end of the cruise, they were little baby shrimp.) There's also a children's pool and deck area on the 12th level aft, just above us. And since there were only a few kids onboard since it was not a "break" time we found this area to be a nice, quiet place to hang out. 

We went to the shows every night, and while some were definitely better than others, overall we enjoyed them. We liked the comedian, the female singer, the hypnotist, and Second City. The NCL productions were fun they really work hard and you have to give them credit for that.  We met many CC-ers on board after our Meet & Greet the first day. If you haven't already checked out a roll call for your cruise, I recommend it. Then have someone contact the ship to set up a M&G place/time for you. Since we were such a large group, we had "special treatment" and contact names of ship staff if we needed anything. 12 Days was a perfect amount of time and all-in-all, we had a great experience.For ports of call, see separate reviews.