I choose this cruise becasue of the port it left from and the timing of the actual cruise. I had never been on Norwegian but have cruised multiple times before. I have not expereinced the Freestyle cruising that they have and abviously did not do enough exploration into what that meant prior to the cruise. In the end, it was a lack of that knowledge that most likely made this a poor cruise.

From the beginning we were asked to upcharge things. The first thing I noticed was a request to "bid" on an upgrade of our stateroom. I did not participate. WE had the option of slecting a package with unlimited adult beverages (which was very nice) , along with either 3 $50 credits for shore excrusions or 3 free meals at the specialty restaurants. Having cruised many times on Princess, where the food in the main dining hall was outstanding, we elected to get the shore excursion credit, thinking we would enjoy the main dinning room as we had in the past. This was a mistake.

Freestyle cruising gets you the main dining or other "free" dinning halls. There was a wait for these places as we were not assigned a time for dinner in teh main dining or other free dining halls. The service was poor on most occasions as we had different staff at each meal. The food was marginal and not hot. It was very much like a poor convention type quality food and not gourmet in anyway. One evening we waiting 2 hours to get a table and then we were sat at a bar. Our order was incorrect and service was poor. For that issue, we were offered a "free" meal at one of the specialty restaurants. It was then that we realized THIS is where the food and service one expects from a cruise was occuring. And the cruise line was getting money for the "extra" service that is included in other cruise lines. Room service was limited to just a continental breakfast for "free". Any other items were an extra charge. Read more