I’ve Just Disembarked The First Ever Cruise On A Brand New Cruise Ship (Norwegian Luna)

ad – This content was created on a press trip (similar to those travel agents and journalists take). All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I’ve just disembarked a cruise on a brand new cruise ship where I was onboard for her first ever sailing.

Norwegian Luna cost Norwegian over 850 million dollars to build, and the launch of any ship is always unpredictable.

All the venues on this cruise were opening for the first time, the crew were settling in, and thousands of passengers were exploring everything all at once. 

I was onboard for just two days, and in that time, I dropped ten decks down a giant slide, climbed across ropes high above the ocean, and I ended up going to an adult-only interactive show that pushed me completely out of my comfort zone!

All while trying to make the most out of the 17 dining options, 18 bars and 20 decks of the ship. 

Norwegian Luna has to be seen to be believed, and it was a cruise I’ll never forget.

I have been cruising for 20 years, but I have always avoided maiden voyages. They have a reputation for things going wrong, so I usually wait for everything to settle down before I get onboard.

It makes sense that a ship would have more problems at the start as the crew works to fix things as they go along. 

When I heard that Norwegian Luna would be leaving the shipyard in Italy and that there was a chance for me to get onboard for a little cruise before the ship had even officially been named, I knew that I had to take it.

This cruise was after the shipyard had handed the ship over to Norwegian, but before she had crossed the Atlantic for her big launch party in Miami. 

I did wonder if it would be different from a normal cruise, and it definitely was.

I did things I’ve never done on a cruise ship before, and the mix of people onboard, some of whom were press and some who were paying guests, made it really interesting. 

I flew to Rome to embark the ship, and after quickly visiting the sites of Rome, I travelled to Civitavecchia to get onboard.

The ship can hold over 3500 guests at full capacity, and we were all boarding here. This was the first embarkation of Norwegian Luna ever.

The terminal was busy, which wasn’t a surprise, but it was well organised, and the lines moved fast.

I was given a card that said I would be onboard for just the first two days.

The majority of guests were staying onboard and would stay onboard until it reached the United States, where she would have her naming ceremony. 

The naming ceremony is what brings the ship good luck, so I hoped we wouldn’t have any bad luck on this cruise.

When I cruised on Norwegian Aqua before, which is Luna’s sister ship, we had terrible weather and weren’t able to properly use all the outside spaces. I hoped that that wouldn’t be the case again. 

The great thing about being the first guests ever on the ship was that our cabins were ready for us as soon as we boarded. Usually, they have to clean them after the last guests.

We only had little suitcases for the couple of days, and we headed to our room drop off our bags.

We walked in through his incredible main atrium, which feels like a spaceship, and we headed up the stairs.

The ship did smell new, it was kind of like the new car smell, but it wasn’t overpowering like I sometimes find the new car smell can be. It was more just very clean and smelt like new carpets. 

I love the colours of the stairs and the decor in general. It all felt very modern, much lighter and brighter than what you’ll find on some older Norwegian ships. 

I was so happy when we walked down the corridor, and I saw these fish on the carpet.

Norwegian used to have these on a couple of their older ships, and they’re not just pretty, they’re also helpful, the fish always swim forwards.

If you’ve not been on a cruise you might be wondering why this is needed, surely you know which way is forward when you’re on a cruise ship, well no, absolutely not. 

This ship is a whopping 300 metres long.

Our cabin was at the back of deck 10, and I made up a rhyme to help me remember the number.

It was cabin number 10258, and in my head, that became at 10 to 5 I ate, I knew dinner wouldn’t really be ready that early on this cruise, but I was so looking forward to lots of food. I wanted to eat as much as I could in two days. 

On this cruise I brought along my brother who hasn’t cruised with Norwegian for years. He has heard me talk a lot about one of the dining venues called Indulge Food Hall though so we decided to go there next.

I hoped that it would live up to what Id been telling him and I figured I could come back to look at the cabin properly later. I did not want to miss Indulge food hall.

It’s a venue where you order on these little tablets, and all the food is made at the food stations and brought over to you. 

There is so much variety, and the food came really fast. I ordered a drink too, and that arrived in literally two minutes. There were plenty of places to sit inside and out, and we picked a table inside by the window. 

Each part of Indulge is designed differently, and the seating goes out onto the promenade deck.

There is a bar at the back, and I’m happy to say that the promenade deck does go all the way around. It was the most perfect place for a walk.

Or a sit, I had to sit on this part with the glass floor, that’s roughly 30 metres down to the ground, I even jumped at one point when I was feeling brave. 

We wandered around the sides of the promenade deck. This area is called The Waterfront.

It is the most incredible space with so many comfortable places to sit. I love the padded headrests and the little tables; it makes it feel much more luxurious.

These orange beds are my favourite, but it’s just such a lovely place to be.

There are infinity pools on both sides too, and my cabin looked over this area. For people who like people watching like me, this cabin was perfect. 

This beautiful moon statue is a great photo spot, and I found a seagull who was trying to hitch a ride. I don’t think he had a ticket for the cruise, but maybe he did. Not sure where he would put it, though. 

The speciality restaurants are here too, as well as the local bar and grill, which means that everybody can enjoy this space even in the evenings. 

We stopped to get an ice cream, and my brother made this one. I’m very impressed. I decided I wanted to try and find a cookie rather than ice cream, and I made it my mission. 

From the promenade deck here, I could see the massive drop slide on the side of the ship.

This slide drops you down 10 decks, and the floor drops from below your feet. I knew that I didn’t have much time onboard, but I wondered if maybe I should give this a go.

It’s a shame the slide doesn’t go upwards because I wanted to go to deck 18 next, and I was down on deck 8.

They do have lifts, of course, but I set myself a challenge to not use them during the cruise and to walk instead.

I did manage it, but it was always a reminder of just how big this ship is.

In total, she’s 20 decks high, which is roughly the same height as 138 capybaras in a row, that’s 69 metres if you don’t speak capybara. 

On the top deck, I found the aqua coaster, which is a roller coaster waterslide hybrid, and I gave this a go when I cruised on Norwegian Aqua.

You can watch that here:

Here’s my footage from inside the slide last time, it was so much fun and all included in the cruise fare. I’ll always say when something costs extra in these videos, so if I don’t say anything, it’s included. 

Norwegian Aqua is basically Luna’s older sister; they’re not identical, but they are very similar.

I wanted to try all the differences while I was onboard, which included the Moon Climber on the top deck and an adult-only interactive show called Lunatique.

I usually run a mile from anything that is described as interactive, but I figured it would either be something I’d enjoy or it would be something that would be interesting to tell you about – it certainly was that. 

Up here, I also found the high-tech mini golf, which does cost extra, and I gave it a go with my friend Tony last time, onboard Norwegian Aqua. 

The area to the side looks down over the main pool, and I’d come back here later for sail away. 

First, I needed to find a cookie, and I found one in a lounge called the observation lounge. These were so good, and it was really easy to just pop by and pick one up. The lounge itself is beautiful, too. 

The venue wraps around a place called the Luna Game Zone. I love how the observation lounge has all the windows and places that don’t need any, like the Luna Game Zone doesn’t. 

These games do cost extra, and it reminds me of my first cruise with Norwegian when I was 11.

Back then, I’d spend my time playing Pac-Man in the arcade. Cruising as a teenager was so much fun. I could leave my parents to do the things I thought were boring, like watching the view from a lounge.

I noticed that we started moving, so I headed outside to see what was happening.

I heard the music before I even got outside, and it was great to see everybody dancing and having so much fun.

This was the first sailaway party for this ship ever, and everybody onboard was so excited. The crew were fantastic and got everybody into the sailaway mood. 

There was a real mix of nationalities onboard, but everybody had one thing in common: they loved cruising and were so excited to be on this ship.

I met a lot of people who had cruised with Norwegian a lot and really wanted to be on this first sailing. I also met people who hadn’t ever cruised before, but came across this transatlantic and decided to book it.

I met other travel agents and journalists, too. 

I was so excited to go to Los Lobos for my dinner, and I’d booked it on my phone on Norwegians app when we got onboard. It’s a speciality restaurant and one that opens out onto the promenade deck.

We sat inside because it was pretty chilly, and we had a great booth by the window. I love a good booth seat in any restaurant. 

I had a Strawberry Margarita, and my brother tried a spicy version.

I’ll definitely be sticking to the sweeter cocktails. 

It’s rare for me to have an alcohol drinks package when I cruise but as I had one l thought I should make the most out of it. All we had to do to order a drink was to show them our cruise card. 

The food was all fantastic, and it was such a great start to the cruise.

Norwegian has 17 dining places onboard, so I knew I’d never be able to go to them all in 2 days, but I decided I’d never go to the same place twice, so that I could tick off as many as possible. 

After dinner, we went to the theatre and watched a show that I would say is fairly standard for a cruise ship. I say that because the show that I watched the next day was not standard by any stretch of the imagination.

The theatre is the most incredible space; it turns into a nightclub, and all of the seats move out of the way.

It’s a great idea, and when they have parties in here after the show, then there are already people there ready to dance. 

We saw a show by the Barricade Boys, which I loved. All of the lights and screens kept me entertained every minute.

I say they were great, maybe they just hypnotised me to say that with this graphic, I don’t know. But for me, this singing-dancing kind of show is what I like. One where I sit in the audience and don’t participate at all. 

The Barricade Boys did give me this week’s Britishism of the week, actually, so thanks to them for that.

They asked us to click our fingers and said that in the US, you snap your fingers rather than clicking. So that’s your Britishism of the week. 

Sadly, on our two-day cruise, they didn’t show the Elton John show, which is the headline show and meant to be amazing, but hey, it’s a reason to come back… 

Ordinarily, I might have headed to bed around now, but there was no time to waste on this cruise.

I figured I could sleep on the plane on the way home. There were so many venues to see and lots going on.

We headed to the Metropolitan Lounge next, where they had a pianist playing. Like the whole ship, this is a beautiful space, and we enjoyed our time here sitting on a comfortable sofa. 

Wandering further along, we went to karaoke next in a venue called Sid Norman’s. This is an intimate room, and it felt like being in a little pub or club. It was great for karaoke.

They do other shows in here, too, and they are always really popular. It wouldn’t be karaoke without somebody singing “Sweet Caroline” and it did happen this time too. 

Once I had got the song lodged in my brain, whether I liked it or not, I went to bed.

I slept so well, with my phone charging beside me because the lamp has USBs and a socket behind it.

I also loved the little night light which is controlled by a button by the bed. I was already impressed with these little things, and it wasn’t until the morning that I really got to have a good look around. 

My cabin was a standard balcony cabin, and there were so many little touches which had been really well thought through.

I love the mirror with the little shelf below it where I’d usually put my sunglasses, and I love the baskets in the wardrobe.

We had plenty of storage and the bathroom is in my opinion one of the best at sea, it’s beautiful and functional and it’s rare to get both of those things.

It has a drawer for little bits and the shower itself was big, powerful and the temperature controlled well, there were no surprises it was just consistently good.

I wonder if I was the first person to ever really use this shower – and I could be.

That’s an honour and very exciting. I might have been the first person to use the towels too, maybe the first to use the toilet. I’m sure it’s been flushed before, but maybe I was the first person to use it. 

I did wonder if being the first to try everything in the cabin might mean that I’d be uncovering issues, but I didn’t. Everything worked perfectly, and the air conditioning was great too. 

I decided to head to breakfast at “The Local” to start my day.

Norwegian have a venue like this on all of their ships and it’s open almost all of the time, it did briefly close to change from breakfast to lunch or lunch to dinner, but if you want to find a burger at 3 am or chicken wings at 3 pm, this is where you come.

We sat outside on the promenade deck, and although it was windy, it was nice. I had an omelette and some fruit.

My seat had a great view of the drop slide, and I could hear people screaming as the floor dropped.

I tried to convince myself that I didn’t need to go on the slide. I was only here for two days anyway, I’m sure nobody watching my YouTube video wanted to see me drop and scream. I did end up going on the slide though… 

I wasn’t planning to, but I was already up on deck 18 when I changed my mind. Because I had such a short time onboard the ship, I wanted to make sure I did the things that were different from Aqua, which I’d been on before.

One of the new features on Luna is an area called the Moon Climber. It’s kind of like a kids’ rope climbing area that you might find attached to a fast food restaurant on land, but the difference here is that adults are allowed in, and it is more interactive.

There are buttons around that you press, and you race to try to turn the course your colour. I’ve got to be honest, I was more focused on just climbing around without falling over or hitting myself in the face with a rope, but I imagine if you are in here with friends, that would be good fun.

It was such an easy thing to do because it doesn’t need a harness or anything like the ropes course I did onboard Norwegian Breakaway. The Moon Climber was much less scary, and I enjoyed it more. 

As I was walking down from the Moon Climber, I walked by the top of the drop slide. There was no queue at all. I wanted to go down to deck 8 anyway and I thought why not, it’ll be faster than walking down the stairs. 

The great thing about this slide, for me anyway, is that it is a dry slide, so you can just do it on a whim.

I recently tried the water drop slides on Norwegian Breakaway, and although they were fun, you do have to be there in swimwear, dressed and ready.

Onboard breakaway I actually didn’t make it over the loop and I had to get out of the trap door at the bottom.

That is designed for that, and I was warned that it might happen; it’s perfectly safe and all part of the fun. 

I didn’t see anything similar on this slide, though, and because it just goes down and doesn’t ever go up, I figured it would be fine.

The scariest part, by far, is standing there, listening to the countdown, trying to breathe, and just looking ahead.

The floor drops out below you, and you fall straight down into the dark. I love the lady who said “BYEEE” as I dropped.

There is a clear bit in the middle, but I was dropping down so fast that it’s not like I could really see anything, just a bit of light.

I came shooting out the bottom of the slide, and there was a crew member there to help me get up and to take the little bag that you stand in.

It was fun, and I’m glad I gave it a go.

I know some people love rough seas when they cruise, but for me, the weather that we had on this sea day was the absolute dream.

It almost didn’t look real because it was so perfect; it was like sailing on a pond, and we didn’t feel any movement at all at any point during the cruise.

My cabin was so still, it was quiet and could have spent so many days sat out on the balcony. For me, this is what cruising is all about.

That and food, of course. We headed to the main dining room for our dinner next, and everything in here is included in the cruise fare.

There are no fixed dining times or table sharing; you just show up whenever you are ready to eat.

We went to the main dining room called Hudson’s, but there is also another main dining room onboard too.

Hudson’s has the most amazing huge windows all the way around, and the view from here was beautiful. I love all of the lights and the seats too, it felt grand but relaxed at the same time. 

I decided to order what I call “Cheese on cheese on cheese” for my main. That isn’t its official name, but it describes it well.

I ordered a salad for my starter and the After Eight chocolate mousse for my dessert.

The service was fast and friendly, and we left feeling full and happy. I was feeling a little bit nervous too, if I’m being honest. 

I knew that I was going to see a show that included 4 cocktails, so I wanted to make sure that I’d eaten beforehand. 

The show that we went to see is new on Luna, and it’s called “Lunatique pop circus”.

It’s an adult-only show that is described as interactive and costs $45 per person. For that price, you get the four drinks, a souvenir glass and the show. 

Usually, if I see the word interactive in a description, I am running far away and hiding behind something.

Because this was brand new, though, and because I was on a two-day press trip, I was pushed out of my comfort zone, and I’m glad that I was.

The show that I saw was the first-ever performance on the first-ever cruise. 

When we went into the venue, I asked one of the crew members where I could sit without being involved. He suggested a seat which was absolutely right, apart from the performers sometimes appearing behind me and touching my shoulders, but I didn’t get called on to participate.

It felt as though only the first couple of rows really got picked on. People did volunteer from further back and get involved, but I’m sure that if you wanted to see this show but not be involved, you can just sit at the back and it’ll be fine.

The show was a singing, dancing comedy show, and although it wasn’t my kind of humour, the audience found it so funny.

Everybody else’s laughs were contagious, and the performers were all really good. I’d prefer to watch them just singing and dancing on a stage personally, but that’s just my personal preference.

I know a lot of people love this more intimate venue, and it is such a great space.

I loved the costumes, and they had a real live backing band, which was great.

I think this is a great example of something that is good, but not for me. That’s what is so great about cruising, though, there is so much variety, and if you cruise as a group of family or friends, you can all find different things that you enjoy. 

It was such a busy two days, and I couldn’t see or do everything onboard.

To have a closer look at this amazing ship, watch the video below:

To see areas like the spa, the nightclub, the theatre, and the luxury ship within a ship area called The Haven, check out my video about the Norwegian Aqua.

Norwegian Aqua is Luna’s older sister, and I had a very eventful first sailing onboard in 2026. You might see a few familiar faces in this video too…  

Before You Go:

Find out why it is so important to have good cruise-specific travel insurance here:

7 Cruise Disasters Travel Insurance Can Save You From (Number 3 Happened to Me)

Find out what happened when I won my first-ever cabin upgrade bid, and whether I thought it was actually worth the money here:

I Bid on a Cabin Upgrade and “Won”! (First Time EVER)