Any NCL cruisers here?

[miatamel]

Hi--
LOVE LOVE my Disney cruises but now find myself booked on a 10 day NCL Sun Holiday cruise. It was kids sail free and the price was just too phenomenal to pass up for that length and over the Holiday. Must admit, however, a bit of worry about how we will adapt to the NCL experience. (We were on Celebrity Eclipse in November for a American Girl themed cruise and that ship/line just left me with ice water in my veins)

If anyone here has cruised NCL, especially their smaller ships, would love to hear how you and your children liked it.
Thanks!

 

[castmeaway]

We did a 10-night Hawaiian cruise on NCL and had mixed feelings. The adult crafts on sea days were excellent, the food was good, entertainment was awful. A cruise it what you make it. Can't offer any insight about the kids program as we didn't have any kids in our group. Only one pool that everyone used, but some of the adult nightspots were nice.

 

[wendydarling78]

I have not sailed on NCL before, sorry! We've done Holland America, Royal Caribbean, and Carnival, but that won't be much help to you!

I do like to learn about different cruise lines, though. Can I ask what you liked/disliked about Celebrity?

Wendy

 

[riggins]

Hi miatamel - We sailed the Sun in 2009 in Alaska and liked it. I did a pretty detailed trip report comparing to the Magic when we got back. Here's the link: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2211535&highlight=ncl+sun

If I were you, my only concern at all would be the "holiday festiveness," which sounds like an odd issue. But we sailed the Magic for Christmas in 2009 and 2010 and had a fantastic, wonderful, merry, festive holiday. Then in 2011, we decided to try one of Holland America's Holiday cruises because of the great price. Well the cruise itself was fine, but the overall lack of "festivities" made it feel like it wasn't even Christmas. I was soooooo disappointed and vowed to NEVER sail anyone but DCL for the holidays again. I'm happy to try them at other times, but not Christmas. So if you care about cookies for Santa, Christmas themed shows, everyone saying Merry Christmas, or anything that makes you remember its Christmas, I'd try to find some reviews on CruiseCritic and see what others had to say.

Good Luck!
Leslie

 

[jilljill]

Have you looked over on www.cruisecritic.com for info?


Please remember this is a DCL planning forum, and not a planning forum for all other cruise lines.

 

[tvguy]

3 NCL cruises here. I would say they are a very good cruise line. Not Disney, or Holland America, but only a hair below.
Not a fan of Freestyle Dining, but we found that we could make a dining reservations in the free dining rooms each night for the next night with the same server team, so that overcame most of the issue I had.

I will say the NCL has probably changed the most of the years of any cruise line I have been on. They were very formal when we first cruised them, and they used to have name entertainers on board...folks you would see on the Tonight Show or Letterman.....but they have scaled way back as they have adapted to the changing and more casual tastes of most cruisers. Any cruise is better than no cruise.

 

[GoofyTwinDad]

Have you looked over on www.cruisecritic.com for info?

Please remember this is a DCL planning forum, and not a planning forum for all other cruise lines.

Maybe this is sign of things to come due to DCL'S overpriced cruises traveling to the same boring ports.

 

[NancyIL]

Maybe this is sign of things to come due to DCL'S overpriced cruises traveling to the same boring ports.

 

[Buckeye Goofy]

Maybe this is sign of things to come due to DCL'S overpriced cruises traveling to the same boring ports.

Sure, I'd like them to be cheaper as well, but it's the boring ports that is keeping us away. Next October through December they have 3 ships in the Caribbean, all hitting the same ports. Yuck

 

[johnlatte]

Hi--
LOVE LOVE my Disney cruises but now find myself booked on a 10 day NCL Sun Holiday cruise. It was kids sail free and the price was just too phenomenal to pass up for that length and over the Holiday. Must admit, however, a bit of worry about how we will adapt to the NCL experience. (We were on Celebrity Eclipse in November for a American Girl themed cruise and that ship/line just left me with ice water in my veins)

If anyone here has cruised NCL, especially their smaller ships, would love to hear how you and your children liked it.
Thanks!

We sailed the Sun on a 7 day eastern this past April. It is different than Disney (no characters, no Ivo and Pooho making mickey faces in the ketchup during dinner, no Golden Mickeys). However, we totally enjoy the freestyle way of cruising. You do what you want when you want. The ship is very clean, and well maintained. The service is on par or at times exceeds what you get on DCL. The kids club are great with lots of scheduled activities. The ship never felt crowded. The food is good in the MDRs and in the buffet. We love NCL and will be cruising to Alaska next summer on the Jewel. As the mod said there's a good board over on cruisecritic. Go to the NCL board, I post over there a lot and we can continue this if you want. Don't want to get any spankies here.

 

[roxy84]

We sailed on the Sun back in 2010 for a British Isles/North Sea Cruise.

The ports were fantastic and the price was right with NCL. Saying that everything else paled in experience to Disney.

The entertainment was poor (we walked out of shows at night because they were that bad). They also didn't have a lot of activities going on - most of it was centred around the casino, bingo or drinking. We checked out the kids club (it was an adult only trip) just to see it. The staff seemed nice, and there were only 5 children on our cruise (It was a 2 week cruise in Sept).

Food was fine - not bad but nothing special in the main dining rooms. Freestyle dining is different - some people love it, we personally hated it as we felt it just fostered an environment for bad service (we never had the same servers, and they ranged from okay to very bad - they get there auto tip and won't see you again, so there is little incentive to provide good service). The buffet lacked seating and has a poor layout.

With that being said, our cruise was almost 2 years ago and many things can change (we definitely voiced our concerns via email and survey after the trip - hopefully they made improvements) I hope you have a great cruise!

 

[miatamel]

I do like to learn about different cruise lines, though. Can I ask what you liked/disliked about Celebrity?

Wendy

Wendy, we were on the new Celebrity Eclipse. An absolutely beautiful, new, modern ship--Apple computer lab, big globes and reading libraries in the common area on every floor (stateroom decks)--really, really pretty. But, it just left me cold, I don't know any other way to describe it. Certainly not kid friendly. If it hadn't been for all the AG activities, we would have been in deep doodoo. My mom went with us and she took the girls to a couple of the shows at night that they had to leave because they were too adult. There was never a G or PG movie showing. Very little going on in the kids clubs we could see. No drink station. No ice cream. My mother started rolling her eyes and finally telling me to "shush" because I kept saying "Disney boat" this and "Disney boat" that. I'm sure I was very annoying so I tried hard after that. My daughters couldn't get a soda to save their life--virtually ignored because the liquor buying adults were more important, I guess. There's just something to be said for that drink station by the pool. Food in the MDR was really not great. The buffet on top was very well laid out, though, in comparison to the Dream where no one knows you don't have to wait in the line at the end for the other stations. I must say, though, that getting off that boat was an absolute breeze compared to Disney. I'm sure it is wonderful for adults but just wasn't a good fit for a family, or my family.

 

[miatamel]

If I were you, my only concern at all would be the "holiday festiveness," which sounds like an odd issue. But we sailed the Magic for Christmas in 2009 and 2010 and had a fantastic, wonderful, merry, festive holiday. Then in 2011, we decided to try one of Holland America's Holiday cruises because of the great price. Well the cruise itself was fine, but the overall lack of "festivities" made it feel like it wasn't even Christmas. I was soooooo disappointed and vowed to NEVER sail anyone but DCL for the holidays again. I'm happy to try them at other times, but not Christmas. So if you care about cookies for Santa, Christmas themed shows, everyone saying Merry Christmas, or anything that makes you remember its Christmas, I'd try to find some reviews on CruiseCritic and see what others had to say.

Good Luck!
Leslie

Leslie (sorry, don't know how to quote from multiple sources)
We did the 2010 Christmas 11 day cruise on the Magic, which is what led us to want to do this one. In fact, a family from that cruise was just here visiting us for the Fourth and also booked the NCL cruise, as did another family from that cruise (A DCL reunion on NCL ) It was so magical and wonderful--stress free for parents but still full of Christmas for the kids. So, yes, I guess that is my biggest worry. Though I keep telling myself that surely, with a kids sail free promotion and a Christmas sailing, that SURELY they will be prepared for the influx of kids and what that means.
But let me just say, that cruise, in a balcony room for four, was right at $10,000. In 2010. This one? The four of us in a mini suite for 10 days over the Holidays is $3,400. We could have gotten plain ole balcony for $2500. Incredible.

 

[miatamel]

Have you looked over on www.cruisecritic.com for info?


Please remember this is a DCL planning forum, and not a planning forum for all other cruise lines.

Yes, I posted there but not much on the Sun over there and even less on those that have done both. I guess I am just trying to reassure myself that all will be well.

 

[mkmommy]

Leslie (sorry, don't know how to quote from multiple sources)
We did the 2010 Christmas 11 day cruise on the Magic, which is what led us to want to do this one. In fact, a family from that cruise was just here visiting us for the Fourth and also booked the NCL cruise, as did another family from that cruise (A DCL reunion on NCL ) It was so magical and wonderful--stress free for parents but still full of Christmas for the kids. So, yes, I guess that is my biggest worry. Though I keep telling myself that surely, with a kids sail free promotion and a Christmas sailing, that SURELY they will be prepared for the influx of kids and what that means.
But let me just say, that cruise, in a balcony room for four, was right at $10,000. In 2010. This one? The four of us in a mini suite for 10 days over the Holidays is $3,400. We could have gotten plain ole balcony for $2500. Incredible.

That is an amazing deal for Christmas. If you are travelling with friends you will have a great time on any ship. Just think of all the wonderful excursions you will be able to do. look into ordering a tree for your room or other gift ideas to make the trip special in case NCL does not do as much as DCL.

Go to youtube and search for the ship, i am sure you will find some videos posted, by other travellers and maybe that will give you a better idea about the ship.

 

[valbob89]

It is all about managing your expections. We've done NCL twice, the Hawaii cruise and then out of New Orleans. We've been offerred a third NCL cruise - free - we've delined.

 

[tvguy]

It is all about managing your expections. We've done NCL twice, the Hawaii cruise and then out of New Orleans. We've been offerred a third NCL cruise - free - we've delined.

I don't think you can compare NCL America with NCL to be fair.

 

[woody73]

I don't think you can compare NCL America with NCL to be fair.

I agree.

NCL America's "Pride of America" is a U.S. flagged ship that has an outstanding 7-night circle-Hawaii itinerary, which spends the maximum time in the Hawaiian ports.

But, as a U.S. flagged ship, it has to hire a certain percentage of U.S. citizens as crew -- so don't expect the same level of service as on non-U.S. flagged ships.

Woody

 

[kenzie212]

We are just off the Disney Magci 8 night NYC-Bahama cruise yesterday. Also sailed the NCL Jewel two years ago same route.

Putting aside the kids club & shows on DCL we actually preferred NCL. The shows and kids club on DCL were both fantastic, while we did not see any shows on NCL my daughter really enjoyed the kids club, she did see a show with the kids club and said she like it.

We weren't a big fan of the assigned time dining and prefer the freestyle dining on NCL. The food also we thought was better on NCL. We also enjoy the casino.

Having all the characters on DCL is lots of fun and I think it brings out the kid in everyone but even my daughter who is 5 1/2 after the first few days said she really didn't need to keep seeing the. On the NCL cruise they had Spongebob, Dora and Diego. There were just enough activities set up that we enjoyable for our daughter to see them and not feel overloaded with characters.

The pirate party and 4th of July sail away from Castaway Cay on DCL were both great.

My daughter enjoed both the Mickey pool (except the 2-3 times it was closed when someone pooped in the pool) as well as the Goofy pool. The only issue with the Goofy pool is it's not very big for the amount of people trying to use it. There is no way you could swim in the pool unless you were there very early in the morning. It was mostly just people standing in the pool (only 4ft deep) trying to dodge out of the way from all the kids jumping in the pool. Even thought it's posted all around the pool no jumping there are no lifeguards or anyone from DCL around.

I agree with what others have posted a cruise is what you make of it. Don't get me wrong we all had a great time but as far as future cruises I don't think DCL would be at the top of our list of choices. Given the cost for the 4 of us with what we paid for the cruise plus our end of the week bill it was $10,000+ when we sailed on NCL it was about $3200 for 3 of us. We could do two vacations for the price of one DCL cruise. I know my uncle is a big fan of the Princess cruise line but we have never tried them, Royal or Carnival.

 

[Nola Girl]

We have done Holland America, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, NCL and Disney. My favorites are RCL and Disney. However my mom LOVES NCL. She loved the My Time Dining. She also still raves about a hibachi restaurant we went to on the Spirit. (It was pretty good.). My DD also enjoyed their kid's club the most of any other line. Maybe she was just at the right age? Who knows but she had a ball! (She was about 13 or 14.)