Exciting to experience Cuba!

We thoroughly were engaged by our time on the island of Cuba and would go back in a heart beat. The excursions were very expensive, but we are glad we did them for our first trip to Cuba. The people are welcoming. You need to convert American currency to the Cuban peso (CUC). There is a place right at the dock to do that. They will take dollars in the stands, but do it reluctantly. 

My recommendation is to read a bit of Cuban history before you go. Pick up a travel book or read Wikipedia. There were so many people on this trip that didn't have a clue about the significance of Americans being allowed freely in Cuba. The history is incredible. If you're a history buff this is really a jewel with 15th century forts, churches and post-revolution block construction.

The cruise itself was fine. This is a smaller ship and we did enjoy that. Just enough to do. It was overnight in Cuba so we were able to leave the ship and enjoy Tuesday evening at the historic Tropicana Club. We could go easily on and off of the ship after we had entered the country for the first time with our Cuban visas.

Norwegian ships are densely populated. This cruise included the drink package and many took that opportunity to over indulge. It made enjoying the entertainment in the bars challenging because often times there was a lot of rowdy and disturbing noise over the entertainers that people were trying to enjoy. It is perhaps why they play all of their music so loudly, but that in turn just makes people yell more. The free style dining is a nice feature, but they allow shorts and flip flops in the dining rooms; a little too casual for us at dinner time.

We had a port hole room. It was clean and well maintained. We were on Deck 6A. There was no elevator access to this floor so if you have physical limitations this would not be a good floor to choose but I think it was a pretty quiet area. To access 6A you need to exit on deck 7 and walk down to the rooms on Deck 6A. There is a lot of up and down stairs to access the rooms. It is a great way to work off some extra calories though if you don't have any physical limitations.

There is no quiet place on the deck. Even on the quiet decks the music was extremely loud. There were deck chairs stacked all over the ship and not enough around the pool deck. This is the second Norwegian Cruise we've been on with the same issue.

The food is good in the dining rooms and at the buffets. The service in the dining rooms was excellent. We did not do any of the specialty restaurants on this trip. The public areas were clean. Entertainment was good and just enough for a 4 night cruise.

This was a great trip because of what it afforded us to experience - to see Cuba easily. The ship was more of a means of getting there and the overnight stay in port was really great.