My wife and I always felt that our nine NCL 7 day cruises were just too short, and we wanted to see the Panama Canal - so we went for the 14 day experience. In several ways, it turned out to be a mistake.

Having lived in the Los Angeles area we had no need to explore our embarkation city and found it mildly frustrating that NCL had no hotels available to include with our cruise. Unfortunately, our misrepresented hotel had no restaurant (as they had advertised) and, as we had no vehicle, we were forced to seek a fast food dinner within walking distance. Ugh, not a great way to start a vacation.

At the dock, we found the people working embarkation to be rude, pushy and extremely overbearing. As Lattitude Gold (now Platinum) members, we were used to a little better treatment than waiting in long lines through luggage check-in, ID and passport check-in, security screening and, having finally finished our check-in and having received our room key cards, being told to sit and wait for our group number to be called before we could board the ship (something we have never experienced in any of our other cruises). We were not off to a great start! Read more