Wonderful Ship If Only About 2/3's Full

Passengers go through the normal check-in process. But they must then wait in a huge area until boarding is allowed. When it is, everyone races to the door to the gangway and whoever gets there first gets to jump in the onboard Entertainment Reservations line first. Couples should split up with one person going immediately to the dining reservations line. I was delayed since I got all the way to the ship entry where my keycard was swiped but it did not work. I had to wait at that spot for 10 minutes for a crew person to walk it back to the original check-in counter and get me a working key card.

Better than average food (the buffet being the exception) with an amazing number of included choices. I loved the Indulge Food Hall. It had a gourmet Romaine lettuce salad and amazing beef tenderloin and lamp chops - all of which came with no upcharge! The Indulge gives real meaning to the phrase “Free Style” dining. However, it lacks sufficient tables although there is substantial counter seating. The Local was good and I loved Hudson’s and The Commodore Room (a.k.a. “Commodore’s). The main dining room staff that served me was as good as the specialty restaurant staff which is remarkable. I even liked the concept of providing in the main dining rooms just one or two different items each night (having a modest upcharge) while everything else stayed the same throughout the cruise. This is a great idea. It really does improve the quality. Since there are more entrees on the menu than a guest can go through in one cruise even if he eats supper at Hudson’s or Commodore’s every night, I think the vast majority of diners will be satisfied. This is especially the case since Norwegian also provides Indulge and The Local and gives so many free specialty restaurant credits to passengers. The bottom line is with smaller venues, Norwegian can offer greater variety and higher quality food.

Very good entertainment. Nice pool. The water slide and two starboard dry slides were pretty good. Go-carts are worth the price for one ride. At certain times of the day, you can pay $5 extra to be the only go-cart on the track. It's worth it if you can get a spot reserved. Very good shows. The band in Syd Normans is especially good. However, there is not nearly enough room in the Improv and Syd Normans for the main performances there. It’s ridiculous. The Prima theater is too small. Either make it bigger or have more performances of the headline shows. The fitness room and fitness classrooms are too small with ceilings that are too low.

The staff is well above average. I think Norwegian cherry-picked from its other ships to get a remarkably well-trained and capable staff, about half of whom I was told were from the Philippines.

Beautiful finishes and furnishings. Much more understated and sophisticated than what Norwegian normally goes for. I love the Ocean Boulevard path which goes around the entire perimeter of the ship on Deck 8. However, this ship would be way too crowded if it were full. The venues are just too small for a full ship. However, sailing at around 2/3's of double occupancy capacity (around 2400 passengers) made it feel full but not overcrowded.

I was in balcony cabin 13152 on Deck 13, port side. PROS: Very well-located balcony cabin. It is very near the elevator but I never heard noise from around the elevator. I hardly felt any motion in this cabin but that was the case everywhere. The whole ship sailed remarkably smoothly. Has absolutely no balcony viewing obstructions. Has more electrical outlets than I normally encounter plus a hard-wired hair dryer that worked well. CONS: It has a connecting door to adjacent cabin 13154 (a Family Balcony (Class B4) cabin). Having that door meant I could easily hear muffled TV audio. I could faintly hear toilets flushing on higher decks at night. There is no night light in the bathroom or dimming option for the main light. Not enough closet and drawer space for two people. In this class of cabin, Norwegian provides liquid soap and shampoo dispensers but no bars of soap, skin lotion, or hair conditioner.

Disembarking on Norwegian is always chaotic and makes scheduling an 11 am flight home risky.