This was a good cruise. How could that spectacular scenery fail to impress? The ship was clean and recently refitted, the food was often quite good and occasionally great. All in all, a win. I'd say over half of their staff was really friendly, and most of the rest were still pleasant. Mixed into the good, the bummers really stand out. Staff that take a perfectly fine interaction and get rude or dismissive, well... it happens. And mistakes happen too. I was a bit crestfallen at times, but at least nobody was outright mean or vindictive. Entertainment was a bit uneven, too. Really good aerialist act, and the first magic show was great. Second one, not so much. And we didn't enjoy the comedy act that seemed mostly to make fun of people. Other people seem to really like his material, though. We found sometimes posted hours were off, or info on the route channel scrolling on screen would be listing the wrong cruise day, etc. I loved that channel, though, plus the live bow cam channel, which we used as a night light/window for our interior cabin. If you want a bar setup in your room, here's our experience. We thought $92 for a bottle of Smirnoff is steep, but they said we'd get a menu to choose garnishes and chasers from, and still cheaper per drink than on board. The vodka was in the room on arrival, with 2 cans each of tonic and club, and a big bottle of tomato juice. We wanted none of those, and nobody knew about the menu. We were told to go ask the bars for our choices- lemon/lime, cherries and ginger ale. We would have wanted sour mix, too, but hey, if you can't get a lemon wedge, sour mix is asking for the moon. None of the bars knew what we were talking about. One finally grudgingly gave us a few, but acted like we must be committing some college prank. Finally one said to go to Guest Services. It was actually kind of funny by this point, so I went over in a good mood, only to be told to CALM DOWN repeatedly. I said I wasn't upset, but she just kept saying it. Then said she couldn't find the bar charge. OK, well, now I was getting a little annoyed. I spoke to someone else there, who DID find it, while she snarkily asked my niece why we waited so long. She said this again to me (because only grifters or liars or evil demons of the night would actually wait through 4 days, trying to do what we were told, right? We were clearly BAD). Let's just say customer relations is not her forte. Anyway, we went back to the cabin to find they had beat us there, with the garnishes. Except instead of cherries, more tomato juice. They really want you to have tomato juice, lol. But they came right back with the cherries, which helped. Let's see, what else... the elevators sometimes didn't serve all the floors, and some of them only did sometimes. Getting around by going partway then having to shift to another elevator bank was sometimes a hassle- just depended where you were going, sometimes it was easy. The food, mostly good. Some major standouts- one was the bread throughout the ship. Applause to their bread baker. From the table bread at La Cucina and Cagney's to the English muffins at Summer Palace, the pretzel rolls at the Garden cafe- none were dry. Even the hot dog rolls had a tender clingy crumb. We often asked to tweak dishes (chicken instead of shrimp, etc), and usually could be accommodated. I do have a food allergy, and found out first night that the descriptions don't always list all ingredients. Mine is capsaicin, the chemical in hot chilies and peppers. Hives in public, anyone? After that the other restaurants asked about it, as most were concerned that black pepper would be an issue (it isn't). But good looking out! I did enjoy trying all the specialty restaurants. The most lackluster food was a tie between O'Sheehan's and Lotus Garden, but LG pulls far ahead, because John Wally provided us the best waitstaff experience on the trip. We had him again at Teppanyaki, hooray! Simple things like asking if we wanted soda refills without having to lasso someone into grudgingly getting it, not asking us questions just after we had taken a bite, having a smile that reached the yes, not making us feel like we were an inconvenience, always prompt, courteous and a man of his word! We didn't do games, and arranged our own shore excursions, so I leave those out. Glacier Bay was paced well and gave ample and equal time for photos and meditation. I admired the view from the decks and the spa. Bonus for the sea otter floating nearby. I was helped sort of reluctantly at spa, but I didn't need much, just to drop off the card. It decided me on not wanting other spa services, though. I get it, I don't look like a walking advertisement for them. We skipped onboard posed photos, which they gracefully allowed. Embarkation was great. Transfer we paid from airport, not well organized, you aren't met at bag claim as you might expect- you have to get your stuff to that area which has a few steps and some distance, then go one way with bags, then ferry them back the same way you came, and yep, put your own bags over in the lineup, they don't want to pick them up. I get it, bags are heavy. But we are paying for it. Then back with carry-on to wait for your large bus, not small shuttle, and there was a long walk to that bus, while trying to keep your place in line, with short legs. It would have been faster, cheaper and much more comfortable to use Lyft, which we did on the return leg. Although the tfr gets your bags through embarkation... but I understand porters at the terminal can do that too. NCL $56 ($28 each) for the transfer, Lyft $40, same distance. Oh, and take advantage of Port Valet, a page that came in the dailies. You check your bags onto you plane from the ship. Same cost as doing it at the airport, and you're checked into your flight, with boarding pass, to boot! Wish they had that going TO the cruise, too- and let us get ourselves to the pier. Actual disembarkation wasn't as organized. They didn't make it clear if you also need a colored tag if you use the Port Valet tags. You don't. And then what rime you need to leave- best I could guess 9am. But the line to leave was longer and more slow-moving, plus customs was a bit backed up, See? It wasn't all great, or all bad. It was good. :D