Service seems to have declined on the ship, especially in the restaurants. Service in Le Bistro was mediocre at best (empty drinks, dirty plates on the table, dinner took 90 minutes due to slow service). Service at Moderno Churrascaria could not have been any worse. Our waiter brought us drinks and didn't come back for over 45 minutes. We had to ask the "meat guys" for drink refills and for missing silverware. The service was truly aweful. At the cost of the Specialty Dining, there just is no excuse for bad service. Service at Cagney's and the main dining room were both wonderful. Service at O'Sheehan's was equally as bad... it was like "once they brought you something" they never came back. It didn't seem to matter if the place was slammed busy or just a few tables, the service was terrible. So now let's address the wonderful Port of New Orleans. What a hell-hole this port is. I'm 48 and have been cruising since I was 12. I'm Platnium on NCL so I've been through numerous ports. Port of NO is by far the worst one ever. First off let's start with the drop-off process. It took our LYFT driver 58 minutes to get from the street entrance to the port to the drop-off spot for NCL. This is crazy but they only have 2 lines for traffic that cars, buses, and even tractor trailers share, and the right-lane is allowed to stop and pickup or drop-off passengers. Certainly the worst configuration I could ever think of and horrible by design. Then you have to give your luggage to "some dudes" near the door where you enter who do not have any identification but "say" they are there to take your luggage... so you just pray your luggage makes it on the ship. Then you go inside... Not only did they not have ANY priority embarkation, one of the best "perks" of being Gold or Platinum, but the process took forever due to poor "crowd herding" and bad design. First there is the Security Check point... a hallway 25' wide and hundreds of feet long "herds" people into two single file lines... this is a mess at best and very slow. Then the 2 single file lines route you into 4 or 5 security check points stations. After you get through security, all security check points "dump" you into a general area that requires everyone to go into a single line yet again, causing people to jump in front of each other and less aggressive and elderly people keep getting pushed back in line. Again, it's a poor design and flow of human traffic. Then you get to the processing area (for your room card) and the single line coming from security brings you to "a guy" who sends you into one of two new snake-lines to get to a human at a computer. There was priority boarding for Haven ONLY, NOT for Gold and Platinum, I asked the NCL guy standing there and he said "Sorry, no priority boarding, you have to get in line like everyone else".. After getting to a human and getting processed, you have to fight across another crowd of people who are waiting in a line to go up the ship just to get to the chairs so you can wait for your boarding group. It's a giant mess. Very poor organization and horrible execution.

Thankfully our cabin was very nice, our room steward was fantastic. We enjoyed the cruise and ports of call but the restaurant service & New Orleans ports will make is consider other ports of departure and other cruise lines. Our same cruise itinerary on Carnival is $1400 less (for 2 people with a balcony). I really don't feel like I received $1400 worth of "increased value" by going with NCL. It's a shame because I have been on more than 15 cruises with NCL and I'm a Platinum member.