I should start this review by stating that I have cruised on Royal Caribbean and Carnival but do most of my cruising with Viking. That being said, I am used to a much older crowd, so I did not enjoy the company on my cruise. Transportation with Norwegian from the airport to the ship was good. Embarkation was okay but could have been smoother. We had booked at the last minute so got a "guaranteed" stateroom. I was expecting an inside stateroom, but we were pleasantly surprised to get a stateroom with a window. The room was small but adequate for the two of us. Limited TV stations. The fact that you have to pay extra for internet usage is a huge issue for me. Although the freestyle cruising with unlimited alcoholic beverages is nice, I questioned if I was actually getting any alcohol in my drinks.

The excursions. First, I was concerned about converting money, but we had adequate time to do so before the buses left. We chose to go to the Vinales Valley on the first day. Be prepared to sit in a bus for three hours there and three hours back. We did have a short bathroom break on the way there, which was nice. The Valley is beautiful and definitely something to see, but I'm not sure sitting in a bus that long was worth it. Our tour guide had very broken English, which added to the frustration. We went to a rum "factory". Don't picture a big factory like in the U.S., this place was tiny and barely fit our entire tour group. We were only there a short time. Same for the tabacco farm. There was a cigar rolling demonstration, but our group was so big and the space so small that only a few people were actually able to watch it. Lunch didn't occur until after 2:00, so be sure to take some snacks. Although we were given LOTS of food (and it was good), we were packed together outside on a porch. My husband actually got claustrophobic and had to make a number of people move so he could get away from the table and get some air. The second day we did the Ultimate Highlights of Havanna tour. This was enjoyable. We went to a huge cemetary, the fort, and the Jesus statue. Plus we drove all over Havanna. I would recommend this tour.

Two last negative points. The food on the entire cruise was just awful. None of the toasters worked for breakfast, and most of the food was just very bland. Plus, we spent about two hours every night in the main dining rooms. Service is slow and the wait staff are NOT happy people. And, on disembarkation day, the front desk forgot to give us our wake up call. Thank goodness we woke up only shortly after we would have we gotten the call. Read more