Jan. 24 2010 departure from Miami. Two couples. A modest price attracted us to this Norwegian cruise. We have been on cruises with three other lines and was of the opinion that there was little difference between lines. We were wrong. The good: Departure procedure went smoothly. Only problem was once they had you on the boat there was no guidance whatsoever. From an appearance standpoint the boat is atttractive and in good shape (see below for other thoughts). The price was right. The Tulum tour at Cozumel was well organized and tour guides were more than competent---a great time. The entertainment was a definite plus and the magician, the aerial acts, and Jose and Patty were outstanding. Our room stewards were polite, gracious, and competent. Getting off was easy and one of the positives.

Room for Improvement: sound levels in all venues were painfully loud. The sponsored pub crawl was basically an excuse for a bunch of drunks to wander around making a lot of noise. For the non pay dinners, the Venetian was a definite improvement over the Aqua. The wait staff, altho congenial, seemed to lack basic training. At any one meal, we would have three or four items forgotten and/or wrong. At the buffet, there were problems with hot items not being even warm; and cold items being warm....to wit. -pancakes and french toast were regularly cool or cold. Scrambled eggs were regularly cold and runny...Yuk. After much searching, my wife found one raisin in her cinniman raisin toast order. The tour of Grand Cayman was a disaster....the bus was 30 to 40 minutes late, with no guidance from the tour operator or ship personnel. The bus driver insisted on playing the cd player at maximum volume...we'll never listen to Macho Macho Man again. The stop at the rum factory was a joke..the place was filled with several bus loads and movement was negligible. The boat for the sting ray visit was 30 minutes late...I didn't even bother to go. The line for the tender back to the boat was probably the longest line I've ever seen. And our group was sent to the front, to the back, to the front, then to the back again, by persons apparently there to provide guidance. Altho the ship was nice, the layout was convoluted and several corridors went no where or to stairs that were roped off. At any one time approx. 20% of the public bathroom fixtures were taped off as out of order.. Since there are other choices, Norwegian has been scratched from our list for cruises.......