Anyone whose taken a cruise on the Norwegian Cruise line Answer this?

My ship was the Norway which is no longer in service. Norwegian was my first cruise and the worst. If it hadn't been for everyone on the ship making sure to say something to all us first-timers about how Carnival and Royal Caribbean were so many hundreds of times better, I may have never gone on another cruise. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Norway It was horrible in every aspect. I was on the bottom deck which didn't even have carpet on the floor. Everyone made Titanic references about how we were the ones that died. My room was so small that literally my cousin had to knock if he were coming out of the bathroom so that I could climb back on the bed. There was not room for the door to open if someone was standing there. I lived in a dorm room at the time and have been on several cruises since and have never seen a room that small. The service was the rudest ever. They grabbed food up while you were eating it. The buffet actually grabbed the knife out of the lady in front of me in line's hand. We hadn't even gone through yet. The photo lab closed at 10--even if you were in line trying to check out. They just looked at the line and walked off. The food was minuscule. I am not a big eater and at the time weighed about 110 lbs. I had to order everything on the menu b/c it was the tiniest portions ever. My aunt and uncle took one to Hawaii and nearly everyone on the ship had food poisioning. They had to skip 4 ports of call and Norwegan gave everyone $100 refund for ruining the cruise. It took my aunt nearly 10 years to be willing to cruise again but it wasn't with Norwegian. She was on either the Windward or Dreamward. They brag about having the youngest fleet now but that's b/c they were known for having the oldest before. Freestyle dining is a cute idea. It means wait in line. On a regular cruise, you go into the dining room to eat. They are ready for you and you are seated right away, VIP style. On Norwegian you wait in line at the hostess stand for about 40 minutes just like a regular restaurant. I will say the entertainment and drinks were about on par with the other cruise lines I've been on. Like many others on this board, I would never ever do another NCL cruise. If pressed to name the only decent thing about this ship, I'd have to say the fact that the dj in the nightclub was one of the better ones I've had. Usually cruise ship dj's are horrible but this one wasn't that bad. Of those 3 choices though, go with the Gem. It's the newest and may not be quite so bad. Plus the Gem has the prettiest paint job. NCL does offer some of the best deals in the industry but this is definitely the clearest case of you get what you pay for. Read the reviews on Cruise Critic. That has more recent and current reviews but IMHO, avoid like the plague!

My cruise ship knowledge is very limited, but we went on NCL Jewel last year. The cruise was great. I appreciate that I have nothing to compare it to, but for us (2 ad, 2 kids) it was great. The food was very good, and yes, we had to wait for a table on a couple of occasions, but I've had to do that everywhere from McDonald's to five star gourmet restaurants. All the information on the boats themselves is available on NCL's web pages. Yes, I'd definitely recommend them. We had a great time. The room is small, as someone else pointed out, but we were only in it to sleep, so it wasn't any big deal. There was too much stuff going on to worry about having to spend much time in it.

Short relocation cruise on the NCL Sun. I enjoyed the cruise and its reasonable price. Lots of things to do; including casino, dancing, shows, tournaments/contests, art projects, etc. I believe the Gem is their newest and therefore may be their most modern and best ship. Lots of videos and photos on NCL ships to be found on you tube! NCL is supposed to a notch below Holland America, Carnival, and several of the other major cruise lines.

We have sailed on NCL many times before. The Pearl is amazing. If you want complete information about it plus pictures and reviews, check out cruisecritic.com They have more pictures on-line than anyone else.