Seahunt100%:
Hi Seahunt,
It was our first trip on a NCL ship and also a first on a really small ship. We wanted to experience the "free sailing" style and also a smaller ship. Not to mention the rate was really less. $449 ea and we ended up on the 7th deck with a large window.
The ship is older and definately not as glitsy as the new megaships. But, it was ckean and well maintained in our opinion. The food wasn't anything to yell about either way.
The Big Apple is a buffet restaraunt and we only ate there for one breakfast and one lunch. Typical buffet food. We didn't eat at either one requiring reservations or extra charges.
The Seven Seas is one of the regular restaraunts and it has the same menu as the Four Seasons. The Seven Seas was very noisyand less formal in my opinion. The Four Seasons was much quieter and more enjoyable. We ate three dinners in The Seven Seas and the rest in the Four Seasons.
Quality of food was what I would consider average cruise fare. Better than typical restaraunt but not 5-star quality.
The sterooms are smaller than the newer big ships but we found the layout preferable to Carnival's. The shower IS little but at 6'3" and 270 pounds I didn't have any problems at all. Just not enough room for a party-shower.
We may cruise on NCL again but probably on one of the newer, larger ships. There are a couple others we would like to try first. Being in our 50's we are now ready and able to pay a little more and enjoy the subtle advantages of of newer/bigger ships and fewer kids.
All-in-all I think the "Sea" was an acceptable ride. The entertainment was good but not great. The food was good but not great. The service WAS great. Better than others. I think they tried harder to offset the age and size. Have a great time and definately use the cruise dive in Belize. Subway was great in Roatan but I wasn't too impressed with Cozumel. Also we chose not to dive in Cancun and wished we would have.
Go and have a great trip.
