Excited and Very Happy on the Norwegian Aqua

This has been the most exciting cruise that I have taken in my 20 cruises that I have taken with NCL. I stayed in the Haven the ship within the ship in a 2 bedroom Family Villa with my family. NCL needs to go back to making the second bedroom with a full size bed or queen side bed. The bunk beds are not attractive at all and makes the room small. The Haven is very beautiful and peaceful and I loved that we had our own Bar and restaurant . The food was very tasty and the drinks excellent especially the spicy margaritas. There was so much to do like riding the Slide Coaster lots of fun. Going to the thermal spa which was relaxing especially in the salt room and the pool. In the Haven there was also an ice room and a Sauna. The specialty dining restaurants that were the best was Cagney's and Sukohati Thai restaurant . The food was excellent and tasty. The Indulge was also a place to get tasty food for lunch. The rotisserie chicken was the best . The best Entertainment was the Revolution show with Prince and The Elements. The game show the Price is Right was also exciting I was a contestant on that show. Lots of fun. Our embarkation and Disembarkation was fast and easy. The ship has a lot of vibrant colors which makes it perfect for the Carribbean trip and the warm nice weather. The service from all the Haven teammates were exceptional and everyone knew exactly what to do to make me and my family very happy. We will be going on their next new ship the NCL Luna in 2026.

NCL Aqua ~ Our Favorite NCL Ship so far...

Full review of our 5 night trip from Miami on Aqua Embarkation was really easy. It was slightly delayed due to a mandatory inspection by the US Coast Guard. Once inspection was complete, we cruised right on in group one. Once on board, I logged onto the NCL app and booked our dining reservations (you can make them in person at Hasuki, located on deck 6 aft, they had about 6 hostesses quickly completing the reservations for those that wanted assistance). Starting later this month you should be able to make dining in advance like all the other ships. I've seen a recent post about dining dress code and I will confirm that as of the date of sailing the app said no shorts in main dining room and specialty restaurants. However, I confirmed at Hasuki and took a photo of the dress code. Shorts are allowed in all dining venues except for Le Bistro. I spoke to someone on the ship about this and they were unaware of it. I think with some of the confusion about this, there were a lot of men in long pants in all the dining venues, we wore shorts to all. It was great to see hostesses enforce the no ball caps in the main dining room and specialty restaurants, we heard them kindly ask multiple men to remove them. We grabbed a quick bite at the Local at an outside table. Food quality was as usual for the local, service was fine but my order was not correct. We took a tour of the ship to get a feel for the layout and check out the outdoor spaces on deck 8, the Observation Lounge on 17 (which has a great smell of all the new leather furniture) and the Vibe (more on that later). Our stateroom was a balcony on deck 10 towards the aft overlooking the landing area for the drop. I was initially concerned about the sounds from the slide, but they were minimal and it was fun to people watch and not just have the view of the ocean. Our stateroom was great, only minor negative was wish they would make the door to the bathroom one that would stay open (we wedged a coat hanger in it to keep it open since it is self closing). Dinner was at Los Lobos...the table side quac prepared by the "Guacamole Master" was really good. The service was great, but the rest of the food was fair at best. My pork was 50/50 meat and fat. First night show was a Welcome Aboard that was a mix of the production cast and the illusionist, and a short introduction to the senior officers. The seats in the theater on this ship are much better than other ships and the legroom is much better for us taller folks, a nice improvement. Day Two: Quick breakfast at the buffet. It is very small with very limited options. One of the most chaotic buffets we've experienced on any NCL ship. Checked into Vibe mid-morning and spent the day in the sun and the shade enjoying being pampered by waiters Dennis and Mark, and exceptional bartender Michael. Tip - try the low alcohol drinks, they are very good and you can enjoy them all day long without getting too tipsy. The shaded hot-tub wasn't that hot and you can cool off in the shower. The sunbeds and seating are very nice and super comfortable. If would recommend the Vibe, it was worth $250 for the 5 days. Grabbed a light snack at the buffet and enjoyed the meal in the quiet at the Vibe at a shaded table. Dinner was at Cagney's and as usual, it was perfect. Lobster bisque, crabcake, filet, and OMG cheesecake. Main show Prince Revolution, it was really good. The singing and the choreography was spot on. Day Three: We arrived at Harvest Caye around 10:30 and left around 4. Wish we could have had a few more hours there, it should have been possible as we cruised slowly the entire time. Spent the day in the pool and catching some rays. Just an FYI and most know this: You need cash or credit cards for everything on HC. They do not accept your key card and nothing is complementary. We knew this but had several people ask us about this. Disappointing to hear and see boom box at the pool, it kept a section of the pool empty as no one wanted to hear the music being played. Dinner was at Onda by Scarpetta. The food was excellent, we enjoyed it enough that we cancelled Le Bistro and booked this again for our final night. We went to the Syd Norman's presents Fleetwood Mac Rumours. We'd seen this before in Syd Normans on another ship, it was better on the big stage and we really enjoyed it. Day Four: Breakfast at the Local - both of our orders were wrong. We ate what they brought, I think the waitstaff in this venue is the least trained and could use some work to get up to NCL standards. Noonish arrival at Cozumel with 12:15 meeting time for shore excursion of Kuza Beach Club, all inclusive. This is a new park and they are experiencing some growing pains. The guide was great, food was marginal at best. The set up is really nice, the just need to perfect and improve to get to the standards most tourists expect for this kind of money. I think they are so focused on getting the water park and resort built, that they are trying to coast along for now. The water was wonderful and very clean, could have used a bit more time here too. Dinner at Hudson's the main dining room. It was not crowded and the food was typical. They removed the NY strip from the nightly menu so I ordered a filet from Cagney's. Our waiter seemed to be the most unhappy and unfriendly we've had in over 150 nights on NCL. He seemed that way to another table too, not just us. Skipped the Price is Right. Day Five: Skipped breakfast, went to the Vibe. Spent the day there until 4:30 and grabbed a light lunch at the chaotic buffet. Tip - don't just go to the grill, it is very limited, the buffet had a decent assortment for lunch. You can take your plate into one of the adjoining restaurants. We ate ours in the Vibe. Dinner at Onda was great. Try the Fritto Misto or Market Salad. The Salmon was great. And the Butterscotch Budino was excellent. Final show was the NCL signature Elements. It was the same as every other production of Elements. Very good, but for those of us that have seen it ten times, NCL needs to switch it up a little. Debarkation was simple. Walked off at 7:15, went through facial recognition, and out the door in less than 5 minutes. I will definitely book the Aqua again. It never felt crowded with lots of dining options and seating areas in and out. If you are familiar with NCL ships, you'll easily navigate the main decks 6,7,8.

Fabulous ship and amazing trip!

NorwegianAqua is Beautiful ship being new. Rooms were very spacious and bathrooms were the best I’ve ever experienced on board a ship. Staff were very friendly and efficient and the destination we visited, Bermuda, was amazing. It was so nice to be docked there for a few days to explore. The only negatives were that the food in the main restaurants was very bland and no tea and coffee offered or cheese and biscuits on the menu. However the food in the indulge restaurant was very tasty. Really good variety, full of flavour and very well presented. We ended up eating there most lunchtimes and evenings too. I also found the ships air conditioning too cold. Had to keep going outside to get warm! Didn’t pack any warm clothes to wear inside which was a big mistake! We were in room in the centre of the ship and whilst in dock it was very noisy through the night due to the generators constantly in operation. At sea it was absolutely fine though.