First some background for context. We have been on several cruises over the past ten years. Our last 3 cruises were all on the QMII so this time we thought we would try freestyle on this transatlantic to try the other end of the spectrum and because of the itinerary and the price. We had read the reviews and our expectations were low but we tend to make the most of any circumstance and any day on a cruise is better than the best day at work. An overview of the trip: This was like 3 vacations in one. We first had a few days in Barcelona (we had spent a day there on our last QMII cruise and looked forward to going back). We then had 1 week in Mediterranean ports and then 6 days in the crossing. I will not specifically review the ports because those are always the same no matter the cruise and is what you make of them. We did all ports on our own or hired local tour operators that meant that we spent less for the 4 of us than we could have spent each for NCL excursions. In summary, ship was very nice, if not a little over the top, but that made it fun. The Mediterranean portion was port-intensive with only one day at sea and then the 6 days of the crossing extremely rough. I would have traded some of the ports for being able to go around those storms but I do not know if that was possible. The food was much better than we expected. We enjoyed freestyle because we could easily go to dinner whenever we wanted. In general the ship seemed to be understaffed and the staff severely undertrained. However, the staff was all very nice and tried to help even when it was clear they did not know how. The entertainment was fair at best - with some bright spots here and there. NCL did seem to charge a lot more for things like drinks and activities than I remember from other lines (e.g. $9 martinis, $75-$100 for bingo, $75 for the behind-the-scenes tour). We would sail on NCL again (looking at the EPIC for 2011) but would not do a transatlantic in December again - at least with the Gibraltar to New York route. There were a lot of people sick on the cruise and the medical staff told us there was an intestinal virus and what most people thought was seasickness was actually the virus. The official line was to deny this and I it seemed to me that telling people would have gone a long way to stop the spread. I got a touch for about 24 hours but it wasn't too bad. By the end of the cruise the crew was dragging after dealing with 6 straight days of high seas and fighting sickness. Embarkation (and debarkation) were a breeze - we were on the ship within 30 minutes. We got into our cabin almost an hour before they originally announced and the bags were there by the time we got back from a very nice lunch) in the Grand Pacific. Our mini-suite (11060) was roomy and there was plenty of space for our stuff. We didn't use the balcony very much because of the weather but it was in a great location. Service in the cabin was good but not great. On several instances we did not get ice and had to go looking for towels. We did the last time to get off the ship and it meant a leisurely morning, which I quite liked. Food was better than we expected. We tried all the locations on the 13 days except Sushi and Cagney's and only because we didn't get to them. We kept waiting for the seas to subside to go to Cagneys but they never did. We did not mind paying extra for the specialty restaurants - we just budgeted for it and the cruise price was still a bargain. The ship had boards to say how full the restaurants were but our experience was they were completely wrong. Every time we went to the Grand Pacific when it said it was "red" there was plenty of seating and several times when we went when it was "green" there was a wait. Not sure why. In the end , we never waited - we just went to a specialty restaurant instead and walked right in. The good: The best food by far was Le Bistro. We had saved it for the second week and would do it earlier in the trip next time. We made the mistake thinking it would be nice once were at sea but the rough seas made it difficult so we finally went the last night. It was definitely worth the $15 surcharge but I would not pay the $25 surcharge that I have seen on some blogs. The Orchard was really good, in particular the appetizers. Tequila was also good but is advertized as Mexican AND tapas but tapas are only at the bar. We hoped for more of a taste of Barcelona with a light tapas dinner one night and we couldn't get it. The free (small) margaritas were also a nice touch. We did La Cucina 2 different nights (one with just the 4 of us and one with the cruise critic large group that closed the restaurant to only us). Both dinners were very good, although I did prefer the night without the big group. We had some excellent and some just good meals in the Grand Pacific - at Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. The food at the Garden Cafe was better than we expected - food was made-to-order in many instances. It was good as long as you were getting something to take back to the cabin. The specialty restaurants were never busy so by the time the transatlantic portion started there started to be 2-fo-1 specials which made them more reasonable. I would definitely budget for this for any NCL cruise in the future and go to the specialty restaurants about half the nights. The Not-So-Good. I did get the feeling that most of the servers were not very experienced and needed some serious training in basic food service and the menu being served. It became a running joke that food or coffee needed to stay on the tray just a little longer so it was cold enough. There were also several instances of servers needing to run back to the kitchen for some missing items on an order (like tartar sauce to go with fried fish). We tried the Blue Lagoon twice and it was quite poor both times. Teppanyaki was loud and the food not that good so I would not do it again. We tried Magenta twice and both the food and the service were not on par with the Grand Pacific. The coffee was fair throughout - only the coffee at the coffee bar (extra charge) was good. We did room service only once - for a breakfast - and it was not very good. The Garden Cafe, although OK food, was general mayhem and seating was very difficult to find. The cappuccino machines often ran out of coffee. Entertainment. In general, the best word we could think of the entertainment was amateurish. The dance band was pretty good - the lead singer was very good (and boy he can dance) but the female lead was often off-key. The rest of the band mostly looked bored all the time. The band from the theatre was really awful. Some of the "smaller" acts were good - particularly Randon, the guitar player. We saw two stage shows and they were not to our liking so stopped going. The cruise director staff really tried but again they seemed under prepared for 7 days at sea, especially since the weather meant that outside activities could not take place. My husband enjoyed the casino and I enjoyed the spa and we both spent more than usual. We paid the $250 for the aqua spa (even though the daily said it was $160) but as soon as the seas got rough they had to drain all the pools so in the end it definitely was not worth the price. NCL recently discontinued providing any compensation for guest enrichment programs. This meant there wasn't that many organized activities to do during the crossing. We had agreed to give some basic dancing classes and were on the schedule for all 7 sea days. The sound guy was great at helping us plug in our music and giving us a microphone but that was the extent of the cruise staff involvement, except that one day the person running the Latitudes party quite rudely came in when we were half through our time and said we had to leave so they could set up. That would have been fine if they had just told us that before we started so we could plan less that day. We did receive a thank-you visit at dinner the last night from the hotel director but between preparation and giving classes we figured it was about 20 hours of time and we could not do any afternoon activities. It was a good experience but I would not do it again without some kind of compensation for our time. Please note we knew this and chose to do it anyway so we could see what it was like. We got a wine package - 12 bottles at 20% off. I am not sure if we would do that again - we met quite a few people who were able to get wine onboard at the ports without paying the outrageous corkage fee. I would also not get the Romance package again - it was definitely not worth the $135.