This was my second Norwegian cruise. Norwegian is pretty low cost and has some good itineraries that make it appealing especially in some of the areas where the ports seem to be more expensive (Baltic and Australia seem to cost more per day than Med or caribbean). This ship was less crowded (it was a pretty full ship but the spaces seemed better matched to its carrying capacity) than the last time but the staff was weaker, the food more bland and the entertainment weak and repetitive. This was a decent ship with a good port itinerary and ok crowding and our room was ok size and bathroom was good. however
Safe in our room was broken and they did nothing to fix it except take notes.
Staff was weak at service and solving problems or dealing with requests.
cabin was actually quite good for this class except for the music noise every night which they solved 1 night but then went back to original problem and would not address - 15 nights out of 16. several of our port stops were early and short like 7am - 2pm so we wanted to get out and do things early.
rented a bike - it was great place to bike, good price, nice people, good quality & selection of bikes. liked the shops, the restaurants, the waterfront, nicely kept, small town feel, everything close together, people were nice, safe, good quality, prices good. pleaseant surprise.
liked the cable car and walk down the hill through the gardens. surprises around every corner. city was ok but Sunday many things closed. waterfront looked good but windy that day.
liked Mount Maunganui. the two different beach areas, the hike up the mountain, nice downtown. safe, good quality places. did not like Tauranga. did not do Rotorua.
weather wasnt great that day. this place is ok but nothing special. hard to get wifi. the coffeee shops cant handle surge of cruise ship tourists.