We are frequent cruisers who are familiar with NCL. We like the casual "freestyle" format and are therefore willing to suffer the over-the-top hustle of NCL and its subcontractors to sell you drinks, excursions, jewelry, wifi, artwork, casino plays, bingo, pull tabs, dining options, etc, etc. We were told that NCL operates on the basis of not making a profit on cruise ticket but counts on selling you "stuff". For instance, the NCL return transfer by private train to Berlin (not a tour)cost $289 vs $32 if you took the regular train service on your own. The only difference is that you must change trains once in each direction.

We liked our cabin, the food in the main dining rooms, the entertainment, embarking/debarking processes, the uncrowded feel of the ship - no line-ups!

We didn't like the lack of honest information about non-NCL travel options in ports, NCL's use of port facilities farthest(and cheapest for NCL) from the center of cities visited, poor information in the daily letter (too much space taken up with the sales hustle and not enough real information about no cost options) and the loss of our once free espresso drinks. Read more