This is my first time of cruising, so I don't have any other cruises to compare with. However, as a seasoned traveller, I would say that my partner and I enjoyed our first cruising experience, but see there are many areas that NCL can improve upon.
I will skip the stuffs that other have mentioned numerous times. Most of the people complained about NCL or Pearl in general because they have unreasonable expectation or they expect an all-inclusive vacation which freestyle cruising is not for the price you pay. We did our extensive research before we picked and went on our cruise, so we set our expectation right and this cruise provides the vacation exactly what we anticipated.
So first to the good stuffs. After getting on board, we checked out the spa and signed up for the whole week ($100 pp). It was an excellent decision. We are not big on sunbathing, so we have used the spa instead to relax at every chance we got. We relaxed and rejuvenated after port day activities and used it to avoid the crowd during the sea days. Hot stone lounge chair (wonderful feeling when the heat penetrates to your spine) is our substitute of getting the much more expensive hot stone message. Well worth it!
The inside stateroom is small, but nicely decorated. We heard some rumbling noise from either the engine or the service pipe, but I am not sure whether it is only our room specific. The closet space is enough for two adults as long as you don't overpack.
TV is kind of small compared. But since there is not many programs to watch onboard, it doesn't really matter much. Nightstand is too small in my opinion. I had to constantly organized things on top of it so they don't fall off.