We have cruised with NCL a few years ago, aboard the Jewel ( sister ship of the Jade ) and have recently chosen Celebrity and Costa but thought we'd give NCL another go. We decided to book a Penthouse suite - deck 8 AFT - and did our homework first!

Having arrived at BCN early on the 16th May we expected to have to wait for the shuttle bus to the port but were lucky enough to have been put on a bus with a 3 hr tour of Barcelona - a nice surprise for us as we hadn't booked the tour! We got to the port at about 13.30 , long check-in for the cruise , but because we had a suite were checked-in within 5 mins ( great guy at check-in who know how to get along with 2 gay guys ! ) , were then whisked along to a separate room with coffee and cake , then collected by Caesar ( our butler ) . He immediately put us at ease and we were whisked passed all the lines and were in our cabin within 5 mins !

CABIN:- Not as big as we had expected , balcony very narrow ( but ok for us ). Biggest plus for us was the fresh bean coffee machine ( it kept breaking down but was fixed every time by Caesar within a few mins ). The closet space was excellent and shower was spectacularly powerful ( so we were happy). Location was good for us and very quiet! I loved the daily changing views and spent many hours just lounging and looking at the sea! Read more