Final thoughts on our New England/Canadian Cruise

My buddy Bill at work loves to take cruises.  He likes the whole experience.  If he has a few days off, he might look for a brief cruise that he can take anywhere.  To him, where you go isn't as important as the cruise itself.

I REALLY enjoyed this cruise and I do look forward to doing more of them.  It was over the top in many ways.  I don't think I mentioned this in our other posts, but we went with another couple who have been doing at least a cruise a year since 2004.  They have used Norwegian every time, and they had a very nice large room.  They also had a steward, a butler and a concierge.  Their concierge (an exceptionally professional fellow named Roel Gonzales) was great, and I have never seen service like he provided.  Their room was decorated (complete with a great custom cake) for her birthday, which was celebrated on the cruise.  Snacks were brought to their room.  They did not have to wait for anything.

Service was great even without a concierge and butler.  The food was amazing.  AND, it was nice riding on a ship from port to port.

Unlike my friend Bill at work....  I liked the cruise a lot, but I think I will enjoy it in the future as a way to get to fun places that are otherwise hard to get to.  I think an Alaskan cruise will happen in the near future.  I can see doing some more international ones too.

I DID NOT like the fact that I am not in control of the trip.  I like to drive, and to allow myself more (or less) time as needed here and there.

I have mixed feelings on the excursions too.  I am glad we did all of the ones we did on this first cruise.  They were all enjoyable.  And they helped us to cover a lot of ground in a limited amount of time.  I DID feel like we paid top dollar for them though.  AND, we felt that often the guides were somewhat expectant of a tip (though this was not always the case).  Next time, I would likely do less of the excursions.....  BUT I would not rule them out.

I loved having a balcony, but you don't spend a ton of time in your room.  I am ok with having a smaller room, but I really enjoyed looking out at the waves through the night.  I think I will always want a room with a balcony.

Our friends that we went with obviously love cruises, and they especially love Norwegian.  The free style thing promoted by Norwegian, they feel, makes the whole experience more informal than on other cruise ships.  We liked the experience too.