My wife and I chose this cruise to celebrate our 10th anniversary. It was our 10th cruise in as many years, always in a top suite on the ship. 8 of the cruises were on Carnival. This was our 2nd on NCL.

On the ship there is only one stateroom class higher...the 3 bedroom garden villa. This room is actually on the bridge wing on the starboard side. It commands amazing floor to ceiling views looking FORWARD which is a nice change. It actually feels like you're flying low when you are moving. Be aware though that there is no balcony or exterior access so it can still feel a little confined. When we arrived to our room, we found all of the blinds drawn shut which gave a first impression of the space being much smaller than expected. I pulled them all up and the room quickly heated to an unpleasant level. The air conditioning could not keep up with the heat coming off of the glass. The room steward came in and I asked about getting the AC looked at and he said "well, the blinds are all open". OF COURSE the blinds are all open. Why else would one give up a balcony and pay quite a bit of money for the room? They did eventually get someone in to adjust the AC and it worked, but it was an odd way of replying to the concern.

A moment about "free at sea". We booked early and a top level suite and we awarded all 5 offers. The premium beverages package was very nice to have! We are not huge drinkers but it was nice not to think about signing for every drink ordered. The free internet is only 240 minutes and we were upsold for another ~$130 to get actual free internet. Free shore excursions means ONE $50 credit per STATEROOM per port. As most of the excursions were $120-$200 per PERSON, the excursions were not exactly free. Free specialty dining was valid for 3 nights out of 7, also a bit misleading. Free 3rd and 4th guests...we didn't take advantage of. Seems generous. Read more