Short review - we found the staff to be wonderful if we had any problems they did their best to solve them they were very warm and friendly. We found the food to be great. We didn't have any problem getting substitutions during dinner, my husband doesn't eat vegetables and would always ask for a substition. The beef Wellington and Prime Rib were fabulous. The entertainment was fabulous and well worth the price of the trip. All the entertainment in the bars and lounges were great also. If you are not entertained on this trip you would have a hard time finding anything to entertain you! As usual we heard people complain about things but that is normal, you can't make everyone happy all the time. I think some customers expectations are beyond reasonable and are too hard to please. We did not use the gym, we walked on the walking track on decks 7 or 12 if we wanted exercise. We wanted to be outside as much as possible. We also did not use the spa. Embarkation - my parents drove us to NYC on 9/11. I thought we would have a lot of traffic, but we had no problems getting into the city. We had a very slight delay going thru the Lincoln Tunnel. We arrived around 11:30 and we were on the ship by 12:15. Very simple process and we waited maybe 15 minutes. We stopped to take pictures and took our time getting on. We went up to the garden cafe to eat and went to the very back of the ship and sat in the New York sunshine as it was a very beautiful day in the 70's. Around 1:30 the announcement came that we could go to our staterooms. We waited until 2 o'clock until the stampede to the rooms was over and we had no trouble. Went to the room and unpacked the carryon and sat on our balcony, our luggage came to the room at 3:30. Unpacked the rest of the luggage and by then we were ready to leave. We primarily picked this cruise for our 20th anniversary and because we would not have to fly since we live in PA. I was really excited about leaving from New York and going by the New York skyline. We were on port side so we initially could not see the Statue of Liberty but as we were past all the buildings the ships back end swung out and we could see her. It was very beautiful exciting leaving New York City. We had dinner at Azura, we both had Salmon which was very good. Saturday's entertainment was the comedian Ross Bennett very good show he was very funny. Sunday - we had a very beautiful day in Newport, RI. We had slept in a little and did not get a tender ticket. By the time we were done with breakfast we could get right on the tender after a 5 minute wait. We went to the visitors center and got the #67 bus, the back parking lot there is a set of yellow poles you stand at and wait the bus goes every 20 minutes. We paid the $6.00 each so we could hop on and off whenever we wanted. We took the bus to the beginning of the Cliff Walk, at Ruggles Ave. we exited and toured The Breakers, this is a very beautiful home. We walked down to the tea house and decided not to go any further the walking was getting treacherous so we back tracked to Ruggles Ave. and jumped back on the #67 bus and went back to the visitors Center we walked around the shops for a while and got on one of the last tenders back to the ship. Sunday night we had dinner in Tsars dining room sat with another nice couple from Virginia had a very enjoyable evening. Entertainment was hypnotist Brenda Kaye is was a good show and funny. Monday - was a sea day. Had a Cruise Critic roll call meeting at 11 o'clock with the Captain and his staff. We had a very informative meeting and got to ask any questions we had. Relaxed most of the day and walked around on deck 7 on the walking track. Had dinner at Tsars again. Entertainment was Harry O'Donoghue singer/songwriter/storyteller from Ireland. Very entertaining. Tuesday - docked in Halifax at 7am. Because I ran out of time planning our ports before we left I didn't have anything prescheduled. I did have the phone numbers for the 3 car rental agencies. I called Avis and got a Jeep Cherokee. We walked there which was a good hike up hill, he told us the shuttle wasn't running because no other ships had scheduled cars. Lesson learned, make sure to call ahead! We drove down the coast to Peggy's Cove and on further to Lunenburg. We took the scenic Lighthouse route on the way down and took route 103 back we were running out of time and needed the fastest way back. Having the car and being on our own was great then we could stay as long as we wanted we would do this again. Although we did get back too late to drive around Halifax. Had dinner at Azure and the entertainment was The Second City comedy group, very hilarious show. If we had been to the early show we would have gone back and seen the second show. Wednesday - was a sea day and also our anniversary. We slept in and relaxed by the pool reading and sleeping. We made reservations for Cagney's Steakhouse. We both had strip steaks and they were fabulous, very tender and juicy. We would pay the extra $25 pp to go there again. They gave us a small coconut cake and sang to us. Entertainment was the NCL band and singers in Band on the Run. They sang and danced to songs from the 70's, very good show. Thursday - was also a sea day since they had cancelled our stop in Cornerbrook. We had a cruise critic meeting to tour the bridge with the captain. He explained the process of docking and we got to ask any questions. We had a pretty good turnout so at times it was hard to hear everything the Captain was saying. We walked around on the bridge and took pictures with the Captain. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and napping! Had dinner at Tsars, entertainment was Jean Pierre Parent comedian and magician from Montreal this was also a very funny and entertaining show. Friday - we were dock from 7am to 7pm in Quebec City, what a beautiful city! We had a 3 hour tour outside of the city with Taxi Coop. He took us to a local vineyard and orchard on the island of Ile d'Orleans. On the way back to Quebec we stopped at St Anne's Bacillica and the Montermacy Waterfall. We would highly recommend this company. We ask him anything about Quebec he was very open. Got back to the ship at lunch time had a quick lunch and spent the rest of the day walking around Quebec City. This is a very clean beautiful city, I wish we had been there for more than a day. We did not see the entertainment Friday night, we were in the city until 7pm and then sat on our balcony to sail out it was a very beautiful day. We did see the entertainment in the Spinnaker that evening, Liar's Club. The liars were Daniel from Second City, Magician Jean Pierre, Cruise Director Shona and Assistant Cruise Director Sinan. This was very entertaining, they had very obtuse words and the audience had to guess who was telling the truth about the meaning of the word. Saturday - was a sea day and we spent the day relaxing and napping again! NCL had a murder mystery dinner which was an extra $20pp, this included dinner at Azura. This was the first murder mystery we joined in on and while I found it fun there were too many people participating. There were almost 150 and we were split up into groups of 8 and the tables were sitting right beside each other. We had 2 people in our group that could not speak loud enough and tables aside of us that were yelling. One table finished about 15 minutes before us and when the leader read the answer to the murder she actually yelled as she was talking so you could not help but hear her. I took notice as she was talking later that she was talking normally, not sure why she found it necessary to yell the answer. I didn't say anything so I don't know if anyone else in our group heard. So before I do this again I would inquire as to how many people were participating. Entertainment was ventriloquist Lynn Trefzger she was very funny and entertaining. Sunday - was in Sydney Nova Scotia. We took the NCL excursion to the Fortress of Louisbourg for $84.99pp. Since our time in Sydney was cut back to 4 ½ hours we thought we would let NCL drive us then if we were late it would be ok. This included about a 1 hour drive to the fort. You do not have enough time at the fort to see everything so while we found the whole trip very cool they should extend the time at the fort for another 2 hours to enable the visitors to see more. This was an actual village from the 1700's that was destroyed by the English in 1760. Canada reconstructed all the buildings starting in 1960's. It is the largest reconstructed 18th century town in North America. There are costumed interpreters all thru the village you can talk to and you can see the process of the reconstruction from the architecture, the costumes, the dig, everthing you can imagine. We would go there on our own if we get up there again. It was a good trip but $85pp is too expensive for the amount of time you are there. The website for the fort is www.pc.gc.ca/louisbourg. The entertainment for Saturday was Le Cirque Bijou which was fabulous. We actually saw this twice because the first time was packed and we had to sit up in the balcony to the side so there were things we missed. This was also the night they had some of the staff from the ship up on the stage and you could take pictures after the show. Monday - our last day at sea. The ocean started getting 7 - 15 foot swells because of Hurricane Igor. The pool was closed and it was pretty windy on the outside decks. They had a smaller show with Second City in the Spinnaker Lounge and we mostly relaxed the rest of the day. The entertainment for the evening was a Farewell Variety Show, Lynn Trefzger the ventriloquist and singer Jane Powell performed. It was a good close to the cruise. Tuesday - I got up at 5am so I would be ready when we sailed into NYC, and I was so happy I got up early. We were sailing up the Hudson as the sun was rising. We sat on the balcony as we were sailing by the Statue of Liberty, it was so great. Disembarkation was easy, since my parents were picking us up we took our time eating breakfast and waited for last call to get off the ship. It was pretty busy getting off and we took our own luggage. We walked thru the line and were directed right to customs. There were about 8 lines for United States citizens and 5 lines for citizens outside the United States. Passengers getting picked up by private cars or Limousines are to get picked up on Level 2, cabs and excursions are picked up on Level 1.