Why cruises aren't for me.

Don't get my wrong, cruising has a lot to offer. In particular, I was drawn by the idea of having one room, one check-in, and being taken to all sorts of places. No worrying about getting there, getting lost, or any of that typical business we might encounter otherwise. Plus, it enables you to visit a ton of places that might not be easy to get to on land, all in a relatively cost-effective way.

But let's talk about "cost-effective" for a minute. One of my main gripes with this cruise, and what I later found out to be the industry standard as of late, is the frequent use of upselling. I'm well-acquainted with upselling as I spent time as a waitress and tried to get people to buy all sorts of add-ons for their meals. It was annoying to ask, and it's annoying to say no thanks. Repeatedly.

On Norwegian Cruise Line, it's not limited to upselling in the dining room but it starts there. NCL is pushing this idea of "freestyle" cruising, which essentially means that there is no set time for dinner, and you as the guest are "free" to choose what time you want, and it doesn't have to be in the main dining room at all - they now have more specialty restaurants on board than main dining rooms. The specialty restaurants on our ship included Asian, French, Italian and a Steakhouse. Sounds great, right? It is until you realize that there is a (per person) upcharge for visiting each specialty restaurant, somewhere between $15 and $30.

Matt and I didn't visit any of the specialty restaurants. I'm sure they were a little better than the main dining rooms, but we didn't see any point in shelling out the cost of a typical meal when we were already paying for a meal.

We were also buying alcoholic drinks and sodas each time we wanted something. I was okay with this because it lessened the chance of over-indulging, but having to hand over my room card and sign for each and every drink was a bit of a hassle. Why bring pen and paper into each transaction?

Other pricey add-ons: buying those professional photos they take (which was sad since I really liked one, but wasn't going to buy it for $20), crazy expensive internet access (did not partake) and fitness classes (bummed I missed out on yoga!).

We did enjoy the towel animals, though.

We even went to the towel folding demonstration, where they were actually selling DVDs of the event. Take it easy, NCL, don't you know there's this magical thing called the internet?

But back to my complaining...

• The food wasn't that great. Maybe I've grown snobbier (if that's even possible) about food since being over here, but it just wasn't anything special. At times I could actually taste the additives of the mass-produced items that I definitely don't miss in the U.S. We did enjoy the double chocolate chip cookies that were served during snack time, though.
• The boat felt crowded. All the time. With 2,400 people on board that isn't hard to do. Add in older people mulling about, kids running around wild, and everyone walking around like it's their first day, it was fairly obnoxious. (Though I'm the first to admit I don't particularly like crowds; there is only so much I can take before I'm done). Being crowded wasn't limited to the ship, either- all the big attractions seem to arrive the same day as school trips full of angsty teenagers.

Gah, I just wanted a nice relaxing trip! So much mulling!

Plus, I got sick. Kind of a bummer.

What WAS nice was hanging out with friends, that saved it for me. Visiting the places we did was equally great, and I even got to see a bit of Turkey, if only for one day. But I think from now on, I'll just stick to land trips. Or shorter cruises where the destination is a beach and not a major city.

If you're interested, here is the overview of the ship we were on.