NCL is doing a lot of damage to themselves with the Hawaii cruise. I personally have very little to complain about, but many of my fellow travelers had huge problems. I found the entertainment to be excellent -- some of the best I've seen on cruises. I hate "Freestyle Cruising" -- it basically boils down to buffet for breakfast & lunch, even if you eat in the dining room. Two days, the dining room didn't even open for breakfast or lunch. One lunch at the upstairs buffet, I had to go to 3 stations before I found a glass for my tea. The dinner menu had only two new entrees each night with other entrees being repeated every night. Appetizers didn't vary at all -- there were around 10 items, including salad, soups, hors d'oeuvres. The crab meat fritters were great & most of us ate them every night. Desserts had one new one every night.

Crowd control for the tours wasn't very good. We met in the lounge for the most part & everyone for that tour marched out at the same time -- whether there were 20 or 200 for the same tour. They didn't A1, A2, A3, etc. us into different groups. On the second night an announcement was made that tips would not be added to credit cards & it was up to the individual to reward whomever rendered good service. My cabin boy took good care of us & I tipped him the usual amount. Dining room was adequate. They use only one waiter with no assistant so waits for beverages and clearing the table were sometimes lengthy. Comment cards were given out on Friday. Saturday night service in the dining room was extremely slow. We were seated at 5:30, got our entree @ 6:45 only after the matre'd interceded. We all left w/o our desserts so we could make the show. Sunday morning there was not a single roll of toilet paper in the public restroom near the lounge. Comment cards were already in so I figure things really went downhill after they were turned in.

The excursions were well organized and, for the most part, as advertised. And we did sail past a gentle lava flow on Wednesday night. I MIGHT do another NCL cruise, but I would long and hard at who else was going to the same area.