First, the pluses. The stewards and wait people were first rate throughout the ship. They were helpful, solved problems, attended to requests with efficiency, warm, and personable. They deserve a large applause, and certainly more than NCL pays them. The cabin with balcony was fine, and met all our needs, especially quiet.In terms of extras, the Thermal Spa pass is well worth the price, because it offers the only quiet, calm, and relaxing spot on the ship. It's a bargain for what one getsthe only bargain on this ship. The overall Cruise Critic page misrepresents this ship seems out of date. For example, tips are now $12 a day for person, not $10. Eight of ten restaurants require extra charges of $15-$25 per person, and we couldn't see that they were worth that much extra money. The food did not deserve 5 stars. It was not bad, but can best be described as casino cafeteria. A lot of it, many choices, but not much concern for taste or appearance (except in extra-pay restaurants, which made some attempt here.) Now for a few of the minuses. -Money grubbing nonstop. Heavy marketing of port tours, special sales, etc. Major use of "bring-em-in" events to give something away free and do a sales pitch. Announced over loudspeakers, numerous flyers, etc. Stopped in buffet with urgings to try a pay-for restaurant meal. The worst was being led to believe our ticket included the tips and then find we had to pay them at the end of the cruise. Many people we met, much more experienced than we were, commented how tacky this marketing was and that it was not typical of other lines.Moneygrubbing part 2: High priced drinks of all kinds and personal items in the store. Be sure you have your special soap or toothpaste with you or you'll be shocked by their prices. NCL Tours: We took only one because we had only 6 hours in Stockholm, but it matched what others said about their experiences at other ports. The first 4 hours were great. The last two we were left on our own to find a place to eat in a souvenir heavy location. If advertised as such that would be one thing, but we did not expect such. Fortunately we are good independent travellers and did well on our own.Shopping advisory: Another NCL tour weakness. I did find the shopping expert helpful in explaning how to get from a port to downtown, what bus to take, and her lectures had useful information. But she also directed people to well-known tourist trap-restaurants or stores. The Talinn tour restaurant, for example, is well-known for its faux medieval ambiance and food. Noise: Please, can I have breakfast without irritating music blaring away? No wonder some groups took over the tiny library to have peace and relative quiet. Great top deck pool and tubs, but also noisome bands or tapes. Hey, I like a lively atmosphere, but not forced everywhere (to make me anxious and gamble? buy a $1000 watch???)Lying to passengers: St. Petersburg showed their true colors. Like many, we booked an independent tour for that city, DenRus (most highly recommended). We were directed to a separate line for processing. It was much longer than the NCL tour line, and when people complained about this, we were told "the Russians insisted on this." In fact, we learned of DenRus people who went into that line anyway and had no trouble. Leading up to this, NCL kept warning that independent tour people would have additional troubles, and in one case even suggested they might not be able to leave the ship.Entertainment: Cheaply produced. Some interesting individual acts (e.g. magicians), but the dancers were worse than school performers and given cheap costumes. We couldn't believe only 1 in 100 who audition as a dancer is hired, as their documentary on the TV explained. The productions were poorly directed and choreographed. We enjoyed then because at times they were so bad and brought out the rare cynics in us. Our local garage bands were better than several we heard around the ship.This was our first NCL cruise, and our last. Fortunately, we are very easygoing people, and one shouoldn't think we had a terrible time. The sea, the ports, the wonderful people we met more than made up for the schlock of the provider. Go Baltic, but go with another line.