OVERVIEW

We chose this cruise because we live in NJ and PA and were bringing our entire blended family of 20-somethings for their first cruise to avoid airfare, sailing out of New York. (6 of 8 were first timers.)

We are usually fans of Princess and Royal Caribbean because we like their level of fine dining and truly enjoying great cuisine while traveling. We also prefer traditional dining rather than Norwegian's Freestyle Dining, which results in different servers you have no relationship with each night. To us, it increases our level of personalized service. We also do not believe that Freestyle cruising really means you can dine "where you want, when you want" as most times you want to dine are when most others also want to dine, and you end up waiting or compromising. They also push you toward specialty restaurants at added charges, which do not feel are necessary. Read more