My group of friends & family have cruised on Carnival and RC previously so we wanted to try NCL. We learned that "freestyle cruising" is not for us. For one, you still have to plan for dinner times and make reservations for shows, especially when traveling with a large group. Also, we missed the experience of having the same servers who get to know you by name and what you like. Service in the main dining rooms (Taste and Savor) was terrible. One morning breakfast took over 1 hour to be served and was cold for at least 1 person and at dinner one night, the service was so slow, it took over 2 hours! However, service and the food at the specialty restaurants was outstanding. The food at the buffet was average. There was nothing special about the ship (nothing wowed me). Embarkation was fine but disembarkation took a long time and was a big mess. As mentioned in other reviews, long wait times at the bars and the pools were crowded. We made the best of it but everyone in my group agreed that we would not cruise on NCL again.