Although we've been on over 25 cruises, this was the first cruise for our brother & sister-in-law. They have been planning & saving for over a year, and this will probably be their first, last and only cruise for health reasons. At the last minute we were able to get upgrades (from inside to balcony and penthouse suite) thanks to booking direct with NCL. There was a little additional cost, but it was surely worth it!
Using internet (and cruise critic) we rented a flat(2bdrm, 2 ba)in London for a week before the trip and used London Pass to see and go everywhere. Because we had alot of luggage and couldn't manage it ourselves we opted for the NCL transfers, which worked perfectly.
Our cabin had a large balcony at the front of the ship which couldn't be used because of bad weather. Although only 1 large room, the bathroom was as big if not bigger, with walk in closet, dressing area, jacuzzi tub, separate shower and toilet stall. But the cabin wasn't the best part. In a suite NCL gives you a concierge (karin) who was wonderful. You feel like you are on a different cruise than everyone else. Beautiful breakfast and lunch in a specialty restaurant (no extra charge). This was great because the buffet never had enough seats.
Although the penthouse suite was very nice, the special attention we got was evern better. As we had a few bad weather days (we went into gale force winds) we really felt the movement at the front of the ship, and couldn't use the great balcony.