My friend and I have cruised many times on Carnival and Royal Caribbean so we were looking forward to our first cruise with NCL. Unfortunately, it will be our last as it was the most disappointing cruise we have ever taken.

EMBARKATION: Poor. After fighting Mardi Gras traffic through downtown for an hour, we arrived at the Port of New Orleans around noon on departure day. The parking facility was very hard to find, no one was providing directions, and finding a parking spot was even more problematic. At the terminal, we encountered long lines and easily-confused staff who had to check and recheck everything twice while unable to answer any of our questions.

SHIP: OK. It was clean and well-maintained with nice outdoor areas and plenty of comfortable places to eat or just sit and relax. However, is very old and needs to be either retired or moved to a shorter, slower-paced itinerary. Read more