I selected this cruise because I have always wanted to see Alaska. I have several friends who have made this journey and they all said that they trip was amazing. I have to agree and I must say that Norwegian played a large part in that!
Now, that is not to say that we didn't have some hiccups...but they were all in the registration process. There were mix-ups with some of the extra packages we purchased. The first occurred when my roommate paid for her excursions and somehow my excursions, which I had already paid for, "disappeared" from my trip summary. My roommate made one phone call, spoke with an extremely apologetic and helpful Norwegian representative, and my excursions immediately reappeared on my trip summary. Our other experience was not so simple, when one of our party was informed that her thermal suite package cancelled after she had paid for it in full in July (and had the e-mail confirmation to prove it). She was also told that due to the fact that the number of people who can use the suite is limited, she could not just have her package reinstated. Correcting this situation required both my friend and our our travel agent to spend SEVERAL hours each on the phone. They both spoke with Norwegian representatives who were not only not helpful but seemed overtly hostile. However, when it was finally settled, the package was reinstated and Norwegian had two bottles of wine and a $50 onboard credit waiting for her when she arrived onboard.
These experiences just before our cruise had my whole party slightly skeptical about Norwegian. However, our experience onboard was simply wonderful. The ship was brand new, shiny and beautiful. The embarkation process was the quickest and smoothest I've ever experienced with any cruise line. And the cabins were the most spacious of any cruise line I've ever cruised with before, with tons of room for storage and, bless 'em, a nice-sized bathroom.
The cabin was spacious and clean, the beds were amazing and the balcony was such a wonderful addition to our trip! I spent lots of time there in the morning drinking my coffee and in the evening watching the sun set. There was plenty of storage space, even for my friends who had 3 guests in their cabin.
We visited Pike's Place Market, the Space Needle and the Chihuly Museum. Loved ALL of them! Breakfast at Lowell's in the Market was amazing! The fishmongers were fun and the flowers were beautiful.