We chose Norewgian because of the dates we had in mind. They seemed to work the best. Since we were also going to be hiking in Oregon and Washington the idea of the Freestyle cruising seemed suited for us. We didn't have space to pack for formal nights as well as hiking clothes and casual clothes. What we didn't realize was HOW freestyle is was. Many people looked like the were wearing their PJs around the ship. Although there were spaces that were reserved for fancier dressing, the main parts of the ship weren't. The biggest issue for us was the kids. Our oldest is 15 and our youngest is 12, turning 13 in less that a month after our cruise. They separated the kids by age and 12 and under in one group and 13 and over in another. That meant that they couldn't be with their sister. We asked for an exception, as if we had known we would have booked later in August after the youngest turned 13. Not only were they unwilling to budge, the manager was downright rude about it. Not having them together mean that neither wanted to do any of the youth activities and meant that they were left to play are hockey or bowling in the lounge, or other places in the ship where alcohol was served. Meaning that these areas are really meant for adults, but the kids still wanted their parent free time. There were any activities for them with out the kids activities - the pool, shuffleboard, golf, rock wall, etc - but not having them join the activities cost us extra money as the air hockey was $1.65 each game and the bowling was $6 per person each game. As much as my husband and I enjoyed the cruise, we just couldn't get past this issue. The cruise is for family bonding, not to separate them. We would have understood more if our youngest wasn't turning 13 so soon. Really we were talking a 3 week span. I'd also add that there was always a long line for customer service. Aside from that we loved our porter, most of the staff and especially the man singing with his guitar every day in the Garden Cafe. It was very smooth sailing, clean and fun.