NCL Cruise a 7 on a 10 scale

The cruise was up to standard for NCL, we had done the Alaska cruise in 2009 on the same ship so knew what to expect.The food was standard fare in the freestyle restaurants and better in the specialty restaurants as it should be. Ginza was a disappointment, the menu advertised noodle dishes but none were to be had and only one Hibachi table limited daily seatings. We were told by the Ginza staff to come there on Saturday for noodle dishes at noon, we went there as suggested and the Ginza was not even open. El Bistro was the best, the food very good and wait staff friendly and attentive.We enjoyed the  casino especially the solo three card poker table that was always crowded at night, another table for that game is really needed to accommodate those who wish to play. There are too many empty blackjack tables with no one at them wit dealers standing around bored, doesn't make sense.Overall the staff friendly, helpful and courteous, the shows in the theater a bit amateurish but that was expected. The piano man at the bar played much too loudly for that confined space, he needs to tone the volume of his playing and include more selections Sinatra like quieter songs, no Ethel Merman performances needed!!

The only real negative was the cabin attendant's lack of appreciation. He did a good job keeping the room clean and maintained so we left an additional tip as NCL suggests. We saw him twice after we left the money for him and we never got a simple thank you, we will not do that again. The mandatory NCL policy of $12 a day pp is wrong and insulting, tipping like that should always be be at the customer's discretion, everyone knows it is just a way for NCL to get its' guests to pay the salaries of the cabin staff. The sad part is that the attentive and polite wait staff in the restaurants in the freestyle restaurants do not share in that pool of money, and they deserve to.