My boyfriend and I decided it would be a good idea to post a review of this cruise from a younger point of view. We both saved over the summer to take this trip and had a great time! We're planning on taking another cruise on NCL in March.

EMBARKATION

Before going on our trip, we had purchased a transfer from the airport to the port from our travel agent. We had no trouble finding the NCL representative once we got off the plane in Miami. However, the entire next few hours were one of the more unpleasant parts of our trip.

We had to spend a good 2 hours in the airport waiting for other NCL guests to arrive. We got stickers depending on what ship we were on. About halfway through our wait, we had to put our suitcases on a truck to be taken to the ship. Then, finally, we got on a bus to the Port of Miami.

They had also promised that our suitcases would be back to our rooms by the time we got on the ship; they weren't. We went and had lunch and explored the ship for a while, and still by that point our suitcases were in front of the wrong room.

As a result, our trip got off to a rough start, and we think that next time we will probably just take a taxi to the port from the airport (the same cost - we took a taxi to the airport going home) so we can be at our leisure.

THE ROOM

Our room was on the Oslo Deck (6A). Little did we know we had to walk up to the 7th floor and then go down to find our room! Just a hint for those who end up staying on this level.

For $100 each we got an upgrade to a picture window stateroom. It was very nice, the décor a big garish for our tastes but it was acceptable. The couch in the room was really hard and ended up collecting our laundry instead of sitting on it. The closets, however, housed all of our clothes and things just fine, even with my 7 pairs of shoes!

The bathroom was small, but there was room for everything. There were little shelves to put your toothpaste, etc and keep everything organized.

The TV in the room had a lot of promotional garb about ship excursions and stuff, but we liked that it showed Friends several times a day!

Our room was very well-kept - sometimes if we messed up the bed during they day it would be fixed when we came back! And of course, we really enjoyed the mints on our pillows at night.

THE SHIP

It didn't take us long to figure out where things were on the ship, and there are lots of maps to check where you are going (I always had to look out a window to see what way the water was going to make sure we were going the right way!).

Out of the bars, we liked the champagne bar the best. It had the most comfortable chairs and we would sit there to write in our journals and look out over the water. The windjammer bar/cigar bar also had a good atmosphere, but since we don't smoke sometimes it got a little stuffy there. The sports bar was also okay, it's a nice place to go and sit with food from the buffet!

We spent awhile at the casino, trying our luck at the slots - I mostly reverted to the nickel slots, and my boyfriend played some blackjack. They had a fairly good variety and even penny slots for those who wanted to spend a really long time there! ($10 in nickels each lasted about an hour and a half - enough casino for us!)

We found the port of call talks disappointing. They seemed like a big advertisement, and by the end of the week we were ready to kill Gary and Linda (they were on TV all the time too!).

Mainly, we wished that there had been more entertainment for the 20s/30s crowd. There seemed to be a lot of Bingo and Art Auction promotion, and we weren't into that. We did go to Friends trivia but were beaten badly!

THE RESTAURANTS

Our favorite restaurant on the ship was Ginza/East Meets West. On our first day at Sea, we attended the sushi demonstration. It was really interesting since I had never really had sushi before, so I could learn about what goes into the rolls, etc. After the demonstration, we got to have samples - and then we had lunch at Ginza. We sat at the sushi bar and got our rolls on a huge boat - I thought that was awesome! The chefs were really friendly and knowledgeable about the cuisine. They really seemed to enjoy what they were doing. Even though Ginza is a la carte, the prices are far cheaper than they would be in a regular sushi restaurant. We were both VERY full from sushi for only $12! Rolls (4 pieces) were about $2 each.

We returned to East Meets West for dinner on the formal night, and this was by far our best meal on the ship. We went at 5:30, and had a $5 cover. I had Dim Sum and leg of lamb, which was delicious. The service at East Meets West also far outweighed the other restaurants we went to.

The other restaurants were also very nice. The Four Seasons and the Seven Seas are both very elegant, and we liked that we could choose to dine with other couples if we wished. The food at both places was usually very good. We always had full bellies when we were done!

The one night we didn't really enjoy was the President's cuisine night! Go to one of the specialty restaurants that night - we don't think Presidents know how to choose food!

We only had the buffets a few times, usually for breakfast or ice cream. The ice cream was good, and most of the food that was there reminded me of the college dining hall - edible, but not anything too interesting. In other words, if you can, dine in one of the other restaurants.

We also tried out the Spanish Tapas bar. My boyfriend really enjoyed it (especially the lamb rolls), while I was fairly impartial. It is mostly fried foods. But it's a good stop for a snack before dinner if you're absolutely starving!

We tried the coffee bar on our last night. We wish it had more selection (I suppose we're in the "Starbucks" generation) - we wanted chai lattes and whatnot, while it had a more basic selection of coffees. My café mocha was coffee with hot chocolate mix! In other words, here you are getting what you pay for ($2 for the café mocha I had versus the $4 you would pay at Starbucks).

One last tip - free room service! We really liked the fact that we could eat breakfast and get ready at the same time (no having to get dressed just to get something to drink) - plus it was a handy wake up call. You could place your order at night and say what time you wanted it delivered in the morning. The food was pretty basic, but we aren't big breakfast eaters so it was fine for us. We stocked the fridge with juice to avoid exorbitant drink costs. My boyfriend even ordered more of a dessert he enjoyed at the Four Seasons one night!

Now, the Ports of Call:

GRAND CAYMAN

For our trip, Grand Cayman was cancelled due to dangerous conditions for tendering. We heard from another couple that was on a different ship (Royal Carribean, I believe) that they had gone around to a different part of the island and were able to visit that day. Needless to day, we were disappointed. We had reserved a spot for the stingray encounter with Captain Marvin's Watersports. Luckily, they were notified we weren't coming, so we didn't need to worry about getting charged.

The ship did have a few extra activities planned after we heard about this, but it was really nothing special that didn't occur every day (mostly bingo, art auctions, etc.)

ROATAN

In Roatan, we bought the "Discover Scuba" package through the ship because we were unsure about scheduling our own excursions for this port. Because we missed Grand Cayman, we arrived at the port in Roatan early so we were able to get off the ship and look around for awhile before going back to depart for the scuba trip.

We looked around the "straw market" for a while, but decided to go off the beaten path a bit and instead go to the left of where the ship was docked. We walked along the path near the water, checking out the local flora and fauna. After a few minutes, we were given a brochure for a Cameo Factory from a vendor who was heading toward the port. He said it was just a bit further down the road from where we were, so we decided to go and check it out.

The factory was about a 30-minute walk from the ship, but it was pretty interesting. The curator showed us how they make the cameos and several samples of their work. He didn't really push us into buying anything after he saw our eyes at the prices (one of the lamps took 15 months to make and cost $5000!). Apparently they sell many of these cameos at shows all over the country (http://www.stonecastlecameos.com/).

Afterwards, we went back to the ship and headed back to the ship to meet our excursion. The dive in crew was there to lead us to the vans to take us to Anthony's Key Resort for our introduction to Scuba.This was one of the highlights of our trip. We had about a 45-minute session in the classroom to learn about the science of scuba, and then we got on a boat and went to Tabyana Beach for our scuba experience. We were broken up into groups of four, so the instructor-student ratio was very good. Our instructor taught us many of the techniques under water (passing regulators, clearing your mask, etc), which I thought was interesting!

It is advertised as a 40-minute dive, but it was closer to an hour. We got to swim through a reef at a depth of about 25 feet.

Afterwards, we were left at Tabyana Beach, where NCL was running a beach party. Overall, I would say that the beach party didn't look worth the money - it looked like it was just a lot of beach chairs! But we were able to get a ride back to the ship from there, and enjoy a few drinks before heading back.

Our final Roatan experience was that we had our pictures taken with a monkey on the way back onto the ship! $1 for a picture with a spider monkey on your shoulder - we really couldn't say no to that!

BELIZE

For Belize, we arranged for the cave tubing trip with Reggie (http://www.regtour.com/).

Like the other reviews said, this tour was excellent. We went further than the ship's tour (and did not have to wear silly NCL life jackets!). If one thing, the trip has become too popular - we expected it to be a little more serene than it was! It was very fun and we would definitely do it again. I was tired afterwards - this is definitely not a trip for the less physically inclined.

Reggie also took us for some Belizian food after our trip at JP's watering hole. If he asks if anyone wants to go eat afterwards, do it! We had a delicious meal of chicken, rice and beans complete with beer for only $5 a head. The area that it was in was also very scenic.

Also, we had our first tendering experience at this port. We got in line for tender tickets early - unnecessarily so, they didn't even check for them!

COZUMEL

We absolutely LOVED Cozumel! Because we enjoyed our discover Scuba excursion so much, we decided to go snorkeling. We had originally intended to go horseback riding but it was quite warm for our bodies that were used to the 30-degree weather of New York!

We decided to take our chances and talk to one of the elicitors that were advertising their trips near the pier. Things seemed a little sketchy at first (one of them offered to "take care of" me while my boyfriend went snorkeling!), but we got a really good deal. For $35 each, we got to ride on a glass-bottom boat and stop at several locations to snorkel. Our final stop was Chakanaab park, where we saw NCL snorkelers! So we had done well.

Our tour guides were hilarious as well - they did a really good job of showing us what to look for in the water. We also got to hold some starfish. Another good thing was that they had a cooler full of beer and soft drinks to nourish our palates (really good if you get salt water in your mouth!).

We had lunch at Pancho's Backyard. Quite a walks from the ship, but the Margaritas were really good and it had a lovely atmosphere. It was a little expensive ($40 for lunch for both of us), considering we were just eating tacos. The salsa was fresh and marimba players added to the atmosphere.

We spent awhile shopping around the city, and came across Cozumel Mini Golf. This place was absolutely awesome; a perfect place for a shady retreat in the hot afternoon. We were the only golfers at that time, and we got to choose the music that played from a list. It was one of the prettiest mini golf courses I have ever seen, with waterfalls and lush tropical greenery. The best part was that we got a walkie-talkie to order sangrias and beer with! Definitely take a trip here and support American Imperialism in Mexico! (http://www.cozumelminigolf.com/ for more info)

We also hit the bars. On the main road right near the water, we came across Mis Charros, a restaurant-bar. It doesn't look like much from the street, since it's a rooftop restaurant. We got 2 beers and 2 shots for $5. We also somehow managed to get a lot of free drinks here! We have lots of crazy pictures for memories! Go there looking for a fun time (rather than a peaceful drink!) - the wait staff is crazy! (http://www.cozumel.airseago.com/mischarros/)

We had dinner at Senor Frogs, which is viewable from the pier. I had a hamburger, which was really good. The same goes for the wait staff here! All sorts of crazy stunts and deals (free shots for girls who dance on the bar, etc). We were glad to find some entertainment geared toward the younger crowd in Cozumel.

DEBARKATION

This part of the trip was really easy. You got a colored tag depending on what time you wanted to leave, and left your suitcase outside the door. Then you could just walk off the ship when your color was called. We were able to enjoy a leisurely breakfast at the Four Seasons for our last morning, and left a few minutes after our tag was called. It was as simple as that! We got a taxi back to the airport and had a smooth flight back.

We have nothing to compare this cruise to, since it was our first, but we think we will definitely stay with NCL for future cruises. We can't imagine not having the freestyle experience - being able to dine when you chose to, especially with days at port, was awesome. After a hectic day at port we were able to come home, shower, and relax before going to dinner instead of having to rush around

If you have any questions feel free to email me.