We had a Carnival Holiday cruise booked for Christmas time but we found that NCL was offering a longer cruise (10 days) for about the same price as the 7 day Carnival Cruise, so that was one of the decision factors. The other one was that we thought Freestyle cruising was fun. Unfortunately, we were wrong on both counts. First off, Free style dining is no fun. There was always a wait time (something like 20 minutes), and then when you are in the dining room you don't feel a personal connection with the staff that serve you. When you have a fixed time and table dining, you bond with the staff that serve you and we like that. We tried both the dining rooms and had similar experiences. The food choice was not the best and we didn't really enjoy the food. The desserts were much better. Talking about food, it's quite boring when you get similar food at most of the restaurants, except for the ones where you have to register, even though it's free. The main buffet, the Garden Cafe, served a lot of different foods but quite a few were repeated every day. You can get burgers at the Garden Cafe and you can get them at the Great Outdoors, Top Siders, The Pit Stop and also at O'Sheehans. On the Carnival ships, they have specialized places for different types of foods. They have a pizza place, a burgers place and also a mexican place. That makes it iteresting. The entertainment was average. We didn't like that the Hypnotist and the Magician used their show to advertise their paid sessions and/or DVDs. There was even a singing duo who also tried to sell their CDs. We were on board for entertainment and it should have been pure entertainment. Of course, kudos to the Production Cast, who's shows were great, but few. If I were to compare the entertainment with that of the Carnival Liberty, I would they NCL is about average. We did not take part in sports activities, but the others like Music Trivia, etc. were not exciting. For the Music Trivia, the DJ was not a crowd pleaser. He would just play a snippet of the music and we had to write down the name of the song. After that he would tell the asnwers and give some points on a card. Oh yes, the pool side was deserted once it turned dark. No fun at all. Most of the crew were very nice and friendly. They served with a smile, except one in the Grand Pacific dining room. :(. Overall, we made the most of the curise to keep our selves entertained, but it was nothing to call home about.
The cabin was the best part of the cruise. It was always clean. Towels were replaced, sometimes twice a day. The room attendant took care of us very well. We were four in the mini-suite. It was a good size for us, but the storage fell a little short. There are sufficient ports to charge your devices. A nice touch. There is a hair dryer like any other ship. The bathroom in the mini-suite was much larger than the regualar balcony staterooms. The toilet, the wash basic and the bathtub were in their separate spaces. The balcony was quite large.
We enjoyed a long walk to the 7 mile beach and took the public bus back to port. Had some fantastic food for lunch near the port. We enjoyed the day.
We loved Jamaica. We stepped out of the port area and found a great tour guy who toured us around Falmouth and Montego Bay and on the return gave us a taste of Jerk Chicken and Jerk Pork and a fairly decent restaurant. The people in Jamaica are great. We did not feel threatened or scared at any time.
Aruba is a very nice island. We hired a van on our own and went around the island. The driver was very knowledgable and gave us a good 3 hour tour. It is a small island and good to visit for a day or two. But if you are into water sports then you probably need more days.
This is such a pretty island. It remind you of Amsterdam. You can literally walk to all the interesting areas. Again, this island is even smaller than Aruba, so a day is just perfect, unless you are into water sports. We enjoyed our time in Curacao.