This is the first NCL cruise, 4 prior Carnival cruises. Throughout the entire cruise I kept comparing it to Carnival, unfortunately. There was not the number of staff available we are used to. If we wanted a beverage during the day, sitting in a lounger, we need to go and FIND a bar that was open. There was never any servers walking around the deck while we were out, and you could have quite the trek since not all bars were always open. First night on the ship we were awaken by workers working on pooling equipment directly above our cabin. They decided 12:30 am was a great time to replace nuts and bolts and use an air powered torque wrench. After 1 hour of this, guest services was contacted. The torque wrench stopped, but their work continued. At 2:30 I contacted guest services again as the noise was unbearable. The work stopped, but could always hear them walking thru that alleys throughout the trip. We were comp'd a free meal one of the select restaurants for our troubles. We did not find that this NCL cruise compared to anything we experienced on Carnival. The food was okay, but nothing blew our socks off, as everything always did on Carnival. Dining in the dining room was a poor experience as was over hour, and were always waiting on things. Never was offered any drinks, just water. We had one server responsible for the entire meal, plus a handful other large tables. He had to take orders, deliver orders, bus, tend, etc. On Carnival, we are used to 3 servers to each table plus a drink waiter. The meals at the Aqua dining were much better. Food was the same but services was much better and efficient. I also found it surprising that the staff members are able to mingle, dance and drink with the passengers. During the on-deck night parties, crew members and officers were beside us drinking, dancing during the night and a couple officers were "shmoozing" with some of the young dancers. I understand they are likely off-duty, but they were still wearing their uniforms and name-tags, so to me, that is not very professional. Being on deck and enjoying themselves is great, but I wouldn't think they should be drinking or being flirtatious with each other. Thankfully we discussed the cruise with other cruisers which had been on several NCL trips, and everyone we had spoken with said that this one was the least impressive they had experienced; it was this ship as the others they have always had better services on. This will provide a little bit of relief if I explore NCL in the future, but it will be doubtful it will ever be my first choice again.