I chose this cruise because I wanted to give my granddaughter a very special 16th birthday gift, and this itinerary made stops at ports I thought she’d enjoy. The initial email I received from NCL said that children under 16 sailed for free, so I immediately contacted them to book a cruise in July. I guess I should have expected it, but I was disappointed to find that the two for one for kids offer was only during the school year. I sucked it up and booked anyway. The cruise company handled the rest of the arrangements well. Embarkation was slow but efficient. Our stateroom, however, was incredibly small, I have taken many cruises on many other lines, and I have never had to walk through the bathroom to get into my cabin. In order to shower, we had to pull a curtain to partition the “bathroom” from the cabin. My sister, granddaughter, and I were sharing a cabin, and there was absolutely no room for our clothing or any space to sit other than on a bed. We had to turn sideways to pass one another. All this would have been OK if the onboard activities had been interesting or entertaining. Apparently, NCL requires reservations for some evening shows and charges for others. Other activities were very amateurish or poorly done. Food in the buffet was adequate. The dining rooms were good but not great. Service was better than cuisine. On two occasions I sent desserts back because they were inedible....dry and tasteless. We usually settled for cookies from the kids’ section of the buffet. I decided against shore excursions offered by NCL and booked independently because,theirs were so expensive.