This was our first cruise and we had a great experience! Would definitely use Norwegian again. We were very impressed with how clean everything was and loved getting to know the staff members from many different countries! Be prepared to spend $75-$400 per person per day on excursions, even those you book yourself.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
We happened upon a shuttle bus that went right to the cruise port in Barcelona, otherwise we would have tried to walk. There was not clear information on exactly where (which terminal) to meet the ship at.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Lots of options, we tried 1 of the specialty restaurants and many of the included dining rooms. They were all very good quality with many options.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
The largest adult only pool was closed during our cruise, leaving two very small pools for the entire ship to use. We were given a $50 onboard credit for the inconvenience, which we did not feel really covered it.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
We especially enjoyed the Burn the Floor show - the dancers and musicians were excellent! We also really liked the Beatles group. Very fun!
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Excellent!
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Everything was very clean all the time. We were very impressed with this.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
We were upgraded from an inside room, so this balcony cabin was very appreciated! Loved having the balcony for sunsets and sunrise and to hang damp clothes out on. Room was decent sized, plenty of room to 2 adults. We loved having evening turn down service in addition to the standard cleaning in the middle of the day.
Ship tip
NCL has shuttle buses into the city center for several of the port cities even if not advertised as an excursion. You can sign up night before or even just get on the day of. It will be advertised in the daily newsletter. This was very convenient and a great cheap option if you don't have an excursion booked.
We had extra days in Barcelona at the beginning and end of our trip. Loved this city! The Sagrada Familia is an absolute must see! Highly recommend to walk the pedestrian streets in the Gothic area for great restaurants and bars.
We walked ~10 minutes into town, got a bus tour for 1 hour, got picnic items for lunch, then spent the rest of the day at a beach club and restaurant where we rented 2 chairs and an umbrella for ~15 euros for the day. It was a great, relaxing day!
We the hop on/hop off bus tour with NCL this day, which we felt was a good way to get into Rome which is a 1.5 hour bus ride from the port of Civitavecchia. This day was a whirlwind because there is so much to do. We really only saw St Peter's Basilica from the outside courtyard, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon and then toured the Colosseum. We barely used the hop on/off bus because we wanted to walk the city on foot.
Visiting the ruins at Pompeii was a highlight of the trip for us! We took public transportation to Pompeii where we booked our own guided tour of Pompei. We loved it and spent the majority of our day there, then took the train back to Naples. We had about 1 hour to do a little souvenir shopping, get a pizza, and get back to the ship.
It was very difficult to get into Florence, takes about 1.5 hours by bus. We got a shuttle to the city, not as an excursion, but still sponsored by NCL that we found out about the night before in the daily newsletter. While this was a really great affordable option, the bus was late and it ate up a lot of the day. We didn't get into Florence until about noon. We had booked tickets to see "the David" ahead of time, did some walking through the city to see the Duomo then did some leather shopping, had a pasta dinner and got back on the shuttle bus to the ship. This was another whirlwind day were we really felt rushed.
The sea was too rough for the tenders to come out to the ship, so we had an "at sea" day. Someone we met the week before said they also could not go to port in Cannes the prior week. I wonder how often this happens? It was nice to sit by the pool all day, but we were disappointed to miss out on Cannes. We a private excursion booked, did not get our money back because it was not booked through NCL.
This is a beautiful stop! This is another one where NCL had a shuttle for a low cost to take you into the city center. We had a lovely breakfast at a sidewalk cafe, and did a lot of walking through all the cute streets and boutique shops and restaurants. Highly recommend to go to the Cathedral of Mallorca and get the terrace rooftop tickets. BEAUTIFUL views of the city for a very reasonable cost. This day was a favorite!
We were a little confused on disembarkation time. You could either chose a specific time, which did seem very organized. There was also an option for transfer to the airport if needed. We chose to leave unscheduled, which meant leave the room by 0800, so that we could have time to eat a leisurely breakfast before leaving. The cleaning crew knocked on the door at 0730, while we were packing. There was an overhead announcement at about 8:15 telling everyone at the end of their cruise to disembark now. None of those times were clear to us.
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