Our 150th cruise begins with a pre-cruise night stay in downtown Miami, just a few blocks from Port Miami. We were expecting some seriously long lines at DFW airport resulting from the FAA’s 10% flight reduction requirement imposed just yesterday. We were shocked when there were no lines at DFW and we breezed through TSA Pre-Check. It may have been the fastest we have ever gotten through security at DFW airport.

Our assigned boarding time from NCL was 11am to 11:30 am. Our hotel room was on the 42nd floor with a view of the port. When we woke up this morning we stepped out on our balcony and could see Norwegian Aqua in the distance.

We stapled all of our luggage tags to our rolling bags and waited for our LYFT to arrive. On this cruise, we are only bringing three roll aboard pieces of luggage. The yellow and green bags are from LEVEL8, which we are testing for a long-term review. The blue one is an AWAY roll aboard.

Our LYFT driver arrived at the hotel right on time for the “short” drive to Port Miami. We have not sailed out of Miami in a few years and things have really changed. For some reason, most of the cruises we have sailed on have been out of Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale). We thought the drive to the terminal would take 10 minutes and it ended up taking nearly 40 minutes. The traffic was insane and we “assumed” there would be signs directing us to the NCL terminal. There was little or no information in our boarding documentation about which terminal NCL uses. In Fort Lauderdale, there are lighted signs telling drivers the names of the ships and directing them where to go. Not at Port Miami. We could see the ship and the terminal, but it was unclear exactly how to get to it. Finally, our driver had to pull over and ask a security person how to get to the terminal for Norwegian Aqua, and she told her Terminal B. Why couldn’t NCL simply print Terminal B on our boarding docs?

When we finally arrived at Terminal B, about 11:10am, we unloaded our luggage and the porter took our bags for delivery to the ship and our stateroom.

After we dropped off our luggage, we had no idea where to go. We saw two different lines of guests, but no signs to indicate where we should go for check-in. It felt like this was the first time we had ever been on a cruise. We were clueless. We wandered from one long line to the next and finally someone pointed to a door. So, we skipped the lines and walked to the door entering the terminal building. We still don’t know what the people standing in the lines were waiting for.

When we walked into the building, we could see signs for The Haven check-in, and a man working there just pointed us to go to the right to check-in. There were no long lines, just a few people ahead of us, so we followed them. There was a facial recognition check, then we soon ended up in the area where you go through security, which was handled very efficiently.

We then arrived at the check-in desk where we showed our passports and boarding passes, we were handed our stateroom keys and sent on our way to board the ship. It seemed too good to be true, but we were stepping on board Norwegian Aqua less than 15 minutes after we arrived at the terminal.

Soon after we boarded the ship, we began looking for the main dining room. Our first objective was to make dinner reservations for the specialty restaurants. Our research on Cruise Critic revealed that the maître d’ would be in the main dining room to take reservations. A crew member was standing by the elevators and we asked her how to get to the dining room. For some reason, she asked us if we wanted “reservations”, to which we replied “yes”. She pointed us in the direction of the theater, which is where specialty dining reservations were being made. So, don’t believe everything you read on Cruise Critic.

We sort of got the feeling like we were the only ones that had no idea where to go or what to do. Even once we arrived in the theater, it was unclear where the line started. The signage was not very clear and it just seemed confusing to us. Nevertheless, we finally figured it out, and it took us about 15 minutes in line to get to a reservation agent. We were able to get the reservations we wanted and now it was time for lunch.

After 149 cruises, we have learned that most people head to the buffet for lunch on embarkation day. On some ships, that is one of the few options. But, on NCL, they do open the main dining room for embarkation lunch. We have always found it to be less crowded and a more enjoyable option. Lunch today was being served in Hudson’s which is located aft on Deck 7 with amazing wrap around views. The decor is understated and classy. We were directed to a table for two next to a window.

After being seated, we waited for 10 minutes before Rickee finally waved down one of the restaurant managers to get some menus and someone to take our order. We were surprised how slow the service was since the dining was not even ⅓ full. Once we finally got to place our order, the food was delivered in a timely fashion.

Rickee had Chicken Noodle Soup, a Wedge Salad and an order of Sweet Corn Hush Puppies. The soup was just okay, the hush puppies were good, but were cold by the time they made it to the table. The wedge salad was the star of her lunch choices.

I ordered a Spinach Caesar Salad and a Grilled Pork Chop. The Caesar salad was very good. The pork chop had a good flavor, but was overcooked and dry. Honestly, our experience was very typical for main dining.

After lunch, we walked all the way forward on Deck 7 where we found our Muster Station. Staff members were there to scan our room keys showing that we had checked in with them. We then walked up four flights of stairs to Deck 11 to see if our stateroom was ready. It was not.

We decided to enjoy a cocktail at Belvedere Bar on Deck 8 until the rooms were ready. At around 2:00pm, we heard an announcement that the staterooms on Deck 11 were open. Our stateroom is 11706 and is all the way forward on Deck 11. First impression when we walked in was that the room was spacious, but there seems to be a lot of wasted space. Watch our YouTube channel for a thorough review of this Forward Facing Club Balcony Suite.

It took about another hour before our luggage arrived and this was when we met Dominick, our stateroom attendant. Rickee had already made her list of requests: More hangers (of course), an ice bucket with ice, a box of tissues for the bathroom and two sun loungers for our huge balcony. That’s right, we had this huge balcony with nothing more than two chairs and a small table. The NCL website clearly shows the balcony includes two sun loungers. When we mentioned the missing sun loungers to Dominick, he reacted as though nobody had ever asked for this before. Nevertheless, he agreed to bring us the sun loungers, which he did, along with everything else Rickee requested.

We spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking and getting the stateroom organized for the rest of the week. We made dinner reservations this evening at Cagney’s, NCL’s upscale steakhouse. At about 5:45, we decided we should enjoy a pre-dinner cocktail at Metropolitan Bar on Deck 7, located right across from Cagney’s.

Rickee ordered a Peach Bellini and I ordered my standard Crown Royal. We did purchase the Unlimited Beverage Package ($210 per person) for this cruise. Rickee loved the Bellini and I was pleased with the generous pour of Crown Royal. So far, the bar service has been very good on Aqua.

At 6pm, we enjoyed piano music and vocals provided by Marty Lake as we enjoyed our cocktails. We really like the Metropolitan Bar. However, some of the seating here is very uncomfortable. We will talk more about this later.

At 7:00pm, we checked-in at the Reception desk at Cagney’s. This restaurant was packed and it is much larger than we expected.

We were seated at a table for two in the center of the restaurant. We will do a more thorough review of Cagney’s on our YouTube channel, so make sure you are subscribed. I ordered the Crab Cake appetizer and Rickee ordered the French Onion Soup. I also ordered the Grilled Thick-Cut Bacon (pork belly) with “House Made Steak Sauce”. Rickee also ordered the Shrimp Cocktail. Rickee said she would rate the Shrimp Cocktail about a 7 out of 10.

For our main courses, Rickee ordered the Petite Filet cooked Medium and I ordered the Rib-Eye cooked Medium. I also ordered a side of Creamed Spinach. Here is our no BS review of Cagney’s: Onion Soup had no cheese and not many onions. The crab cake was just okay, I have had better at Crown Grill on Princess and Pinnacle Grill on HAL. The standout was the Grilled Thick-Cut Bacon, which I really enjoyed, with one exception. The House-made Steak Sauce tasted eerily like cocktail sauce (for a shrimp cocktail). I thought perhaps they had just put the wrong sauce into the ramekin, but the lady sitting at the table next to me also ordered the bacon and she said her sauce tasted like cocktail sauce, too.

Rickee’s filet was way overcooked, almost well done. She sent it back and they brought her another one that was perfectly cooked. My Rib-Eye was perfectly cooked Medium. However, neither steak was that tasty. My Rib-Eye had a lot of gristle and at least half of the steak was very dry. Even Rickee’s filet was rather chewy. We thought being the first night of the cruise that the ship would have the very best meat of the cruise, but maybe these cuts were left over from the last cruise? Or, the cruise before that?

We had very high expectations for Cagney’s since we had heard so many good reviews over the years. But, our experience was anything but memorable. The service, on the other hand was very good. In our opinion, Cagney’s was not worth the $60 per person cover charge.

After dinner, were were pretty tired and did not feel up to a show, so we walked back to our stateroom to get some sleep. On the way back to our stateroom, we saw something we have never seen before on any cruise ship. There was an iron and ironing board in the hallway. We have always been told that this was a fire hazard and irons were only ever available on ships that have guest laundry rooms to be used only in that laundry room.

It was a crazy first day aboard Norwegian Aqua. Tomorrow we plan to explore more of the ship, maybe play trivia and check out some of the entertainment on board. Stay tuned!

Day 1 - Embarkation in Miami

Cruise Preparation and NCL Website