My wife and I chose this cruise because we had cruised with NCL before and really liked it. Additionally we thought choosing New Orleans as the port would be fun and it certainly was. As I mentioned we cruised with NCL before and stayed in The Haven as we did with this cruise. We both noticed things were just "off" with respect to service compared to our last cruise with NCL. There were siginicant inconsistencies with the Specialty restaurants. Cagneys was great, Le Bistro was good and La Cucina was terrible mainly from the food aspect but service as well. One thing I noticed that I was really taken back by was one afternoon we had lunch at the sushi bar and were seated next to some of the ships officers. Of particular note was the officer whom I believe to be "second in command" of engineering. He was so rude to the staff serving him it was embarrassing. The atmosphere in The Haven was pleasant but not very welcoming. The Haven restaurant was decent but uninspired. As for the ports they were decent with the exception of Belize City, if you don't do an excursion that day stay on the ship!! There is but a tiny "shopping" area and everyone is trying to sell you an excursion. We went right back to the ship and were way better off. One really funny/not funny thing is that NCL has invested in a device to help perserve expensive wine when a glass is purchased. It's the Coravin Model two (approx. $300) and it is attached to the top of the bottle and the wine is poured through it. It makes a seal so that the remaining wine in the bottle lasts longer. Not a single member of the waitstaff knew how to use it. They dripped wine all over the glass and table, on themselves and in one case sprayed the table. Some were so frustrated they simply went back and got another bottle and poured it the old fashioned way. Needless to say a bit of training is in order. In The Haven, our butler and steward were great, the concierge aloof, and two bartenders worked hard to help everyone. The only show we signed up for got canceled so I cant say how it was. As for the ship itself, it was very nice, clean but in need of some updating in places. Embarkation was a breeze and made for a great start to the trip disembarkation was not as good. One of our bags was in the place were it was supposed to be and the other was not. Made for a bit of a "rodeo" trying to find it and some nervous moments. Pro Tip, in New Orleans don't get talked into taking the NCL sponsored buss to the airport, its $20 per person and a bit of a cluster, a cab ride for two is $36 and way less hassle.

So all in all we'd say the cruise was ok but didn't live up to our expectations perhaps because our prior NCL cruise was much better. Another factor could be the size, this cruise was about 4000 people and the last NCL was 2800. We will probably select another cruise line for our next cruise.