Great time - Big ship - Hard working staff - Too crowded at times - Need to better monitor kids in adult areas - Nicely maintained

I think the title says it all. We My wife and I - early fifties) had a great time and enjoy the freestyle experience. I have only cruised once before as an adult, on Royal Carribean. In contrast, there was less luxury on NCL and I would have liked to have seen more shops/variety. While the ship is supposed to represent NYC, there was little that did. NYC neighborhood themes and eateries would have been nice. While there is always food somewhere, there were several times that the buffet had a very limited selection between meal times, and O'Sheehan's was a dissapointment. Highly recommend the complimentary restaurants over the Garden Cafe buffet, but the buffet omelets were excellent. In terms of desserts, not enough chocolate and too many mousse like desserts, but artfully presented.  Manhattan room was nice. Highly recommend the Chicken Picatta I had in Savor or Taste. Midship balcony cabin was of good size and nicely set up. Could use a few more TV channels. Also, if you want to hear announcements, you have to open the cabin door. Cabin speakers are only used for disembarking info. OMG the staff work hard and were helpful whenever needed. I used to have little kids, but now I don't and didn't want the little ones, cute as they might be, stepping on my feet as they jumped around the jacuzzi. The pizza - IDK that isn't really cheese, but is available for delivery anywhere on ship 24/7. Cruise director was pleasant, but nothing unique or particularly engaging. Excursions: Port Canaveral - did the Space Center - boring, old fashioned, low tech and the simulator was ridiculous. The hands on spaceship control exhibits were crude and x-box is way superior. If you are an entrepreneur, create a tourist attraction close to the pier as the choices are very limited there. Great Stirrup Cay - The tender process was painless and fun. The water was absolutely beautiful. Bring water shoes if you need, as the first twenty feet in the water are rocky, but then it is soft sand and clear calm turqouise water. Really beautiful. In Nassau, we opted to go on our own. Walked the straw markets and shops, then hopped on a 4 dollar ferry from just outside the pier to Paradise Island, where the public beach was a much much further walk than they said (rather than 5 minutes, it was 50 until we hit the beach after walking through parts of Atlantis. The water there was turqouise, with a very lively surf of gentle giant waves. On the way back, took the 4 dollar van, which was no walk from beach at all, much quicker than the ferry (about ten minutes and they bring you to pier, but of course not as pretty as the boat ride. One more thing - if you have been on this ship you know what I mean - they just have to do something about the timing of the way the elevator doors close. If your goal is to spend time with friends, spouse or family doing whatever you want to do for a week, GO for it. Complaints are offerred for your awareness ahead of time and hoping NCL reads this, but we had a GREAT time.