This was our third cruise, and thus far, the best. We had some nervousness just prior after reading some of the reviews on here beforehand, but some people are never happy it seems! (I saw one moaning about the American news channel being biased, and that they'd prefer Fox news - irony alert!).

Anyway, we embarked in Barcelona, a smooth and efficient process; took about 30 mins from arriving at the port until we were aboard, which given the number of people boarding this huge ship, was pretty efficient and effective. All was correct with our booking, and our UBP and 5 meal specialty dining credit etc, was all in hand.

We went straight to O Sheehan's for lunch - our first of a few lunches there. Good sports bar style food, and we made use of our UBP while waiting for our bags to go to the room. A quick wander around, and we realised this ship was big - much larger than the ships we'd been on before with Carnival and Thomson. Not long since it's refit, condition of the interior was excellent and suitably "cruise ship". Having had our tour around, our cabin was ready, and we headed to our Cabin - 13072. Conveniently located, not too far from the forward stairs/elevator. Our Cabin Steward, Pande, was there to meet us, introduced himself to us and made sure we were comfortable etc. Pande turned out over the week to be an excellent Cabin Steward - really friendly, helpful, seemingly ever present whenever we needed him, and greeted us in the morning and on our return in the evenings. He was a real credit to NCL and gave us a really good impression of the company. As for our Cabin - we were impressed. Heard lots of people moaning about size, bathroom configuration and so on. We found it great - comfortable bed and bedding, plenty of storage, a free safe (we had to pay with Thomson!) and the separate Shower and WC suited us just fine, with a privacy curtain available to separate the area from the main cabin if desired. Read more