DH and I both agree that this was a great cruise. Being only our second cruise we have only the Carnival Freedom to compare it to and it compares favourably. Don't get me wrong, we really liked the Carnival cruise but wethink Norwegian is a better fit for us.Living in Canada near Toronto, we got up very early on embarkationd day and drove to Buffalo for our 8 a.m. JetBlue flight to JFK. This was the part I was most worried about since if there were any delays at the border or with the flight or with New York city traffice we could potentially miss our ship!I needn't have worried since everything went like clockwork and we were all checked in at the port of Manhattan before 11 a.m. We took a cab from the airport which cost a flat rate of $50.30 including tolls, tip extra that got us there in under 30 minutes. Later I talked to another couple who flew in the night before and got stuck in traffic so it took them 2 1/2 hours to get from JFK to their hotel in Manhattan. Looks like things went our way this time.Boarding the ship shortly after noon we went to the Garden Cafe buffet for lunch. It was very hectic and difficult to find a place to sit and eat and even more difficult to manoever around the tables and chairs. They really have them packed in there. We think we are somewhat picky eaters and we thought the food quality and selection was very good. Now we know we should have picked up our lunch and made our way to the back of the deck to sit in the Great Outdoors. Once we found this location we ate all our buffet meals here.After lunch we enjoyed ourselves walking around on top of the ship looking at the Manhattan skyline and the USS Intrepid which was in the pier next to us. We took lots of pictures and went to the Great Outdoors for the sail away. Now this really was a treat! What a view! We sailed down the Hudson and the ship went really close to the Statue of Liberty which I had not seen before. This was really a highlight of the trip for me and we stayed on deck until our ship just barely made it under the bridge. Amazing!We had a balcony cabin which was nice and even nicer that we didn't have any chain smokers around us. The smokers on this ship were very considerate and almost all made an effort to stay away from other people when they lit up. Thanks for that.Our first day at sea was cold but sunny so we parked ourselves by the pool. It got warmer and warmer as we inched our way every more south each minute. By lunch it was decidedly warmer and we all started taking off our coats and sweaters. The kids on board had been in the steaming pools in the morning, but now it was more like pool weather. This was the day DH and I got sunburned!Joy Band from Barbados played poolside and they were great. It was also nice that they came with us to Great Stirrup Cay to play.We ate in both main dining rooms The Grand Pacific and Magenta and liked both. Both restaurants have the same menu so it really depends what atmosphere you feel like each night. We appreciated dining when and where we wanted and we really liked having private tables for 2. Overall we thought the food was good with some things being exceptional. Dinners would take about an hour and a half. One night we paid the surcharge to dine in Tequilas and thought the food in the main dining rooms was better. IMO there is no need to pay extra for any of the specialty restaurants as the food and ambiance in the main dining room is just fine.We felt the entertainment was better than on Carnival. The show the first night was a bit shaky but after that we liked everything. The hypnotist was fun and something I would never go to in my real life so this was a real eye opener -- I even bought 2 of her Cd's. Second City was good and unexpected. It was all good so no complaints here at all.We have been to Port Canaveral, Disney, Universal and Kennedy before so we took the cruise shuttle to Cocoa Beach for $16 each. Nice bus and they gave us 15% off coupons for Ron Jon so we saved about $9 when we shopped there. Great beach afternoon and we were back on board long before the weary but happy cruisers got back from their day in Orlando.Our day at the private island started off with frustration as we had to go to the pool deck to get tender tickets. Lots of people started lining up at 6:30 apparently for the 8:30 start so there was a huge lineup when we got there at 8:15. Surely there has to be a better way to do this. Perhaps Norwegian could give these tickets out when we check in for the cruise. The upside is we got to talk to some lovely ladies, sister, from Albany while waiting. It was an hour and half wait before they called our number for the tender which was really boring wait except I got to talk to a lovey young woman who was also waiting, so there is the upside again!We were in Tender group 13 and were the last group to find loungers I think. We pulled 2 under some palm trees and enjoyed the great BBQ lunch. Joy Band was playing and everything was good. Should have brought our snorkel mask and tube or bought the set for $15 I had seen in Ron Jon in Cocoa Beach the day before to avoid the $30 Norwegian charges to rent everything. They say you need vest and flippers but they don't enforce it. After getting the advice to bring water shoes from this board we were glad we did.In Nassau we did a walking tour of the historic buildings on our own since everything is quite close to the dock. We made a small purchase in one of the ship endorsed jewellery stores. Not sure if it really is a deal but it makes it an extra special gift because of where its from. Some advice: always register your purchases with the ship so if anything goes wrong they will help you as Carnival did when 2 of the diamonds fell out of my eternity band that we bought in Grand Cayman on our first cruise.Heading back to New York we had a relaxing day at sea. The next morning I had a wake up call at 6 a.m. so I could be up on deck at the Great Outdoors to see the bridge, Miss Liberty and watch us sail back into Manhattan. I saw the sun come up and it was just amazing.We chose the latest time to disembark so we enjoyed the sunny but cool weather by the pool. No chair hogs now! Not bad lounging with the Manhattan skyline for your backdrop.Everything went like clockwork again and paid $50.30 plus tip for the cab ride back to JFK and after a short flight were home by 5 p.m.We liked our cruise so much that we purchased a Future Cruise Reward that gave us $100 OBC for this cruise. We have already booked the Spirit going out of New Orleans in October. Can't wait to sail the Mississippi.