We were recommended NCL by a friend who had previously sailed with them and said they were worth a try and boy was she correct. We have only ever done one other cruise before and that was with Disney which we all loved so there was a lot to live up to.

Embarkation on to the ship was really straight forward and easy.We arrived at the port at around 11:20 and were on the ship no longer than an hour later. Everyone that we came across was lovely as we entered the ship and offering to help in any way that they could. We went straight up to deck 15 to get a cocktail and wait for our cabins to be ready which at approx between 1-1:15 they were. Between my party we had 3 cabins, an ocean view, a balcony and a mini suite with large balcony, we all loved our rooms and fitted our party really well. We were doing a 14 night back to back cruise and there was 4 of us in our stateroom and I was expecting to only be able to unpack 2 of our cases but in fact I was able to unpack them all and still have cupboard space left. Our balcony we loved as it was huge and had 2 loungers plus 2 chairs and a table. I had read reviews before going with people saying the balcony was overlooked which it was but I did not feel my privacy was invaded at all plus people had said they constantly found rubbish on their balcony in the morning, this was never the case for us. We spent loads of time on our balcony and personally now I would not want a smaller balcony. One of our concerns was the food offer as on Disney it was amazing, however we had no cause for concern as NCL food was better than Disney and so much hotter in every restaurant. we used both signature and complimentary and both were outstanding. the drinks package we had is the best I have ever had. It did not matter what you had as long as it was under $15. We loved the shows on the Getaway and felt the quality was fantastic, however we did not like the game shows that they did (not our style) but we appreciate that others do like this sort of thing. the service was second to none and we encountered so many nice people who wanted to make your holiday as special as they could a few I have to mention are Isac(assistant matradee), Deepa who worked at front desk of Savour, Erwin who worked at the Sunset bar and so many more. Both my kids loved the cruise and both went to the kids clubs (more the first week than second as we had more stops second week). My eldest daughter who is 16 went to the teen club on the Monday morning and we saw her again to disembark. there were a couple of things we did not like but this is our dislikes and I appreciate its not everyone's. I did not like the fact you could smoke in the casino and that smell wafted around. I did not like the atrium either as it was far too noisy and when speaking to guest services or any of the other counters down there you had to shout which I think could be improved on. Both my kids have said since returning home that they would sail Norwegian before Disney now which shocked me as I remember how they were on leaving the Disney ship, I have to say that I agree with them and we have taken the next cruise deposit to do a future cruise.