I have cruised with Princess Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean, and this was the first for Norwegian Cruise Lines. While the personnel were friendly and helpful, the ship itself was disappointing in many ways. It was Labour Day in Vancouver, and the Customs Agents were extremely understaffed, and we left over 2 hours late.

First walk on board, I was overcome by the smell of Febreze or similar air freshener. The room was adequate, although there were issues. Only one electrical outlet, and with 2 people per cabin and electronic devices we all have, this was not sufficient. We did "borrow" an outlet adapter from Guest Services that helped. The fourth night our toilet overflowed for some reason, opened the door and the floor was wet. They sent a plumber who fixed the problem and a steward to clean quickly, and it did not happen again. We were offered chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of wine for our inconvenience. We refused the wine, as we don't drink, but said the strawberries would be welcomed. They finally showed up the last night of the cruise.

The food was equivalent to Denny's. The buffet was the same for breakfast, every single day. The omelette station was placed where people lining up blocked the rest of the buffet. They were constantly out of coffee. The dining room served the same buffet-type garbage, but on glass plates instead of the plastic at the buffet. Dinner was not very impressive either. They do have specialty restaurant for an extra cost, which have pretty decent food, but the upsell was annoying. Read more