This was my first experience with NCL and I have to say, it was not spectacular. I am 23 and was cruising with my parents and my younger brother who is 21 as a graduation present for graduating college.

After arriving at the port and dealing with some parking issues, embarkation was relatively smooth. We were ushered through the security check and given a boarding group number and directed to wait in line for one of the check-in counters to become available. This was also fairly quick and efficient and by the time we reached the gangway, our number had been called and we were allowed to board the ship.

Under recommendation from other Cruise Critic members, we avoided the buffet line and made a beeline for Tsar's Palace main dining room. As we approached the dining room, there was a woman standing at the top of the stairs trying to push us to eat at the buffet just as stated by other reviewers. We disregarded her suggestions and ate a nice quiet lunch in the dining room which was sparsely populated. The food was on par with other cruise food but it did begin the trend of lukewarm food which would carry throughout the week. All of our lunches came quickly, but each course that was intended to be hot was barely warm to the touch. We assumed that this was simply due to the fact that the staff was busy preparing the ship, but we were sadly mistaken. Read more