Chose this cruise because of prior experience with NCL, and wanted an Alaska cruise. Also brand new ship... Scroll to the bottom if you don't want to read all of this for the recap.
Dining:
The general dining rooms were about the worst we've bad (which really surprised us - NCL has historically been very good). We ate once in Taste and once in Savor. The service was terrible, the wait staff were outright miserable at best, and rude at worst. The food was literally worse than the buffet (which we didn't use except right after embarkation). We purposefully chose specialty and ala-cart restaurants (maybe that's by design?) where the service was great, and the food amazing. DO NOT miss Food Republic on this ship. By far the best food aboard. Our culinary schedule was:
Outstanding as you would expect from a brand new ship. The Cabin Steward was amazing. I would name him here, but he's leaving for another ship so no point.
The 8th deck mini-suites are about the best on ship, because they are on a dead-end hallway and have massive balconies. The hallway was very quiet. One thing I'll say is that since the room is so large, the bed was directly underneath the balcony overhead. When the ship was hauling butt overnight, the wind tossed the furniture around above us on several nights. That really was the only negative on this trip as it relates to the suite. We anticipated bad weather (being mid-September), but had AMAZING weather throughout the entire cruise, and got to use our balcony quite a bit.
One of the highlights of this suite was the shower. Multiple jets, great water pressure and a REAL glass enclosed shower! Quite the change from all of the cruises we had taken before.
Lots of space (for a ship), and lots of places to put clothing, etc. The in-room safe was too small for our iPads, so make sure you're aware of that.
Arrived in Seattle 2 days before our cruise to do some exploring. The Space Needle is fun, the glass gardens (sorry - can't remember the artist's name) next to the Space Needle is a bit underwhelming, but cool.
Make sure to visit Storyville Coffee in the Public Market (Pike Street & 1st Ave - top floor).
The walk along the Sound is very nice. We walked it several times.
What a waste of a port and a day. We walked to the end of the breakwater and back. Not a very nice port, and kind of a head scratcher as to why it's even a destination for this cruise.