Great Ship!!! Food very good, but not excellent,

My girlfriend has never been on a cruise before and wanted to go on one.  We chose Norwegian because of the promos they were offering as well as the price.  The Ultimate Beverage Package was unbeatable.  We also chose the $50 credit on all shore excursions.  We took excursions 3 of the 4 ports.  In the months waiting to go, I have read quite a few BAD reviews on the ship and the service.  That was putting a sour taste in my mouth for the trip.  Nothing was farther from the truth; the ship was excellent and the service staff was top notch!!

   There were a few things that i saw that needed improvement though.

 First, the adult pool was very small.  Didn't feel that an extra fee would be needed to go into the Vibe Beach Club to use their pools and facilities. 

  Second- when i was reviewing the offerings of the ship before we went, I was very excited about Fat Cats Jazz and Blues Club.  Love jazz and blues music.  On the ship, however there was never a night where jazz or blues where played in that club.  There was Karaoke every night as well as another band playing Elvis and Motown.  That needs to be addressed by NCL. (Maybe change the name of the venue or better yet play jazz and blues there!!).

Third-  There were supposedly 28 restaurants on board but most them were specialty restaurants.  There should be more offerings for restaurants that are included in the price of the cruise.  Most of the specialty restaurants were a la carte.  At least offer a fixed price for going to them.  Teppanyaki, Moderno and Illusionarium were the only ones that had a fixed price

We did go to a few of them. Teppenyaki was Awesome.  We also went to the Illusionarium Dinner Show which was fantastic as well.  The food was just ok in the 3 main dining rooms.  Plus, if you wanted the lobster in those "complimentary " restaurants, there was an additional charge.

  Also, ate at Shanghai Noodle bar and Wasabi Sushi.  Both were ok, but nothing special.

  Osheehans (24-hour Irish Bar and Restaurant) was the downside of the whole dining experience on the ship.  Small menu and slow service.  We sat down at a table in the bar to eat one night and no one came to take our order, it took us 15 minutes to realize that you had to get a menu from the hostess for a waiter to even come to take your order. There was no signage saying that anywhere.  Menu was small and uninteresting.

   Well, on to the positives.  They definitely outweighed any of the negatives.  ULTIMATE BEVERAGE PACKAGE!!! How can you go wrong with that?  Anything under $15 (which was almost anything).  Premium brands were included with that.  Also all mixed drinks and beer.  Also about 10 or 12 different wines by the glass.

  Once again, the entire staff on the ship were awesome.  Never had to look far for someone to assist you with anything.

  The shows on the ship were excellent.  We went to Howl at the moon, Illusionarium, Million Dollar Quartet, and a couple of comedy shows.  We loved the 80’s dance party.  It would have been great to go to that outside at Spice H2O, but they had to move it inside to the Bliss lounge due to weather.

The Waterfront was amazing. There was one side of the ship on the Waterfront where you could go if you wanted peace and quiet lounging in comfortable wicker furniture.  And on the other side of the ship was the Sunset Bar.  Great spot. We met many wonderful couples every night there. Santos the bartender was amazing.  Also there was Waves Pool Bar where we received great service with little wait.  There were probably about 20 other bars on the ship.  We didn’t make it to all of them, but they were all unique.

There were some amazing looking water slides on the ship, We wanted to try them but never got around to it. (Thanks alot Ultimate Beverage Package, LOL)

The ship was massive.  4000 people, but you never felt crowded on the ship.

We met quite a few other couples that we befriended.  Even a couple about 20 minutes from where we live who we have already had over for dinner,

We went on three shore excursions.

Roatan, Honduras  - Booked the Tabyana Beach Party and snorkel.  Had a lot of fun on that one.  Lots of fish to see just 20 feet off the beach.  And the beach BBQ and activities were fun.

Belize – Booked the Rainforest Trek and Cave Tubing.  It took an hour to get to the site by bus but our host was very informative about the culture of Belize as we drove there.  Hiked up a ½ mile carrying our tubes.  Jumped into the cold spring water and they navigated us in small groups through the caves.    Afterwards we were served a BBQ lunch before heading back to the port.  Had a great time

Cozumel. Mexico – Had some time before and after the tour to shop and have lunch in town.  We booked the Fury Catamaran.  Took a half hour boat ride to the reef.  Snorkeled for about 45 minutes then we went to their private beach for about an hour.  Good tour, but we would have rather skipped it and do some more shopping on our own.

Costa Maya – We did not book any tours here, but we had an AWESOME time doing our own thing right there in the cruise port.  We got massages in the port which was more than half the price of the massages offered in the spa on the ship.  Great shopping in the cruise port including a huge tequila store (where we made some purchases;-}.  Then there was the huge pool with waterfall and swim up bar.

   Overall we were very impressed with our cruise and would choose NCL again