DCL Family does NCL

[canadiandisneyfamof4]

We are a DCL family. We love the line. Last June while in Nassauy kods saw the NCL Getaway with all the waterslides and ropes courses and asked is to cancel our Feb cruise on the Wonder and book this instead.

We just returned last night and here are our thoughts for anyone interested.

Travel party is my husband, me and our 2 kids ages 7&10.

Cruise Review

Things we loved on NCL
Coffee, juice and water in the terminal was a nice touch
Easy embarkation, photo was optional
Lots of embarkation dining options when boarding
Kids liked the water slides and the splash pads
Ropes course etc, provided good activities when kids were tired of swimming
Illusionarium was unique. Good show and food was good
Love the bathroom in the mini suite, huge compared to other cruise lines and in my opinion even better than the split bathroom on DCL.
Elevator location is good, never a far walk for a large 4000 passenger ship.
Wine package easy and well priced and really convenient
Love pub concept, open 24 hours for food
Theming is nice, not overdone
Specialty restaurants were great
Shows were good, kids loved the deck parties
Movies shown in the atrium, good option when you want to get a break from the sun
Fireworks were done well and were themed with an 80s dance party.
Sponge bob and other Nick characters were on hand for meet and greets etc.


Not bad, but We loved Disney more
Kids club - more age groups than disney kids spent very little time in them
Main pool is adults only, both pools cold and salt water. Kids pool is only 4 feet deep and away from the main pool area. (I believe NCL made the main deep pool adults only after an incident with a child in the main pool)
No lounge chairs beside kids pool
Smoking area adjacent to splash pad
Casino placement means smoke smell through atrium
Reservations for comedy etc means no spontaneity
Towels have to be signed out

Overall we enjoyed NCL and would book it over Carnival. It had a different feel than Disney, overall I'd say Disney is a better line, but for the price thus was a great cruise. We are returning to DCL in Sept, but I'd definitely book another NCL cruise in the future.

These are just some quick thoughts so let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[cbonebt]

Where did u sail from? We are dcl people but sister planning a sweet 16 on ncl out of ny and I am so scared...

 

[canadiandisneyfamof4]

We sailed from Miami.

 

[canadiandisneyfamof4]

The NY ship is the Breakaway which is the sister ship to the one we were on. (There might be another NY ship, but I know the Breakaway is there too) Mighty Ships has 2 episodes on that ship that you can watch to get a close up look at that ship.

 

[cbonebt]

Ok thanks....it will b like half the price and no airfare but Disney is Disney! Thanks for your input!

 

[bceagle76]

I NCL once out of Boston. It was the worse couldn't wait for cruise to end.
But that being said I have been looking at the Breakaway.
My gut with NCL the longer the ship is in service the more run done it will get.
But glad to see you had a good experience.

 

[bceagle76]

Reservations for comedy etc means no spontaneity

Question did you have to make reservations for all shows.
Also was Rich Pampura on NCL he used to do Disney in the early days but they moved on other acts.
They do bring him back for special sailings.

 

[darwinsrule]

Too funny. Pretty much sums up our experience on the Getaway last August. The only time we smelled smoke however was when the **** below us lit up. NCL banned smoking on balconies late last fall so that shouldn't be an issue going forward. Love DCL. On the Wonder 2 week today (yes I am counting down). We did book Getaway again for late August this year a few weeks ago under the KSF promotion they had going in Feb.

 

[canadiandisneyfamof4]

We had to make reservations for Legally Blonde the musical
The dance show burn the floor

You also needed reservations for the comedy show and duelling pianos, but not for the opening show or final night variety show. They also had a standby line if you just wanted to wait. Overall it wasn't an issue and we were able to move around our days/times if it didn't suit us, but it did mean we had to plan ahead.

The name of that entertainer doesn't ring a bell sorry.

 

[Melissa S]

Too bad about the smoke. That is a HUGE deal breaker for us. I will gladly pay double to not subject my family to that. So glad DCL contains smoking to a small area which is very easy to avoid the entire sailing.

 

[Mickeyhugger]

Great to know you had a really good time.

We're sailing the Getaway the first week of June. Can't wait!

 

[canadiandisneyfamof4]

Too bad about the smoke. That is a HUGE deal breaker for us. I will gladly pay double to not subject my family to that. So glad DCL contains smoking to a small area which is very easy to avoid the entire sailing.

It really was only an issue if you were in the casino or parked a lounger on that side of the pool deck. It wasn't a deal breaker for us and I'm very sensitive to smoke.

 

[Melissa S]

You noted smoke smell throughout the atrium. I'm confused. You also noted that's where they play movies so that's not the casino right? I'm picturing the atrium like on DCL where it's unavoidable.

 

[kyrymom]

So great to hear your thoughts. Thank you! We sailed DCL back in the KSF days and loved it. We are now booked on the Getaway during our fall break, October 10-17th. We are also in a mini-suite, stateroom 10840. What was the layout and the bed situation for your kiddos? Does the couch convert and another bed come down like on the Wonder? I am very excited for this cruise and can't wait to cruise again. We have boy/girl twins who will be 9 when we sail, we are hoping this ship is a great match for us. Also, did you find plenty to do at night? I do worry we will miss the nightly shows. We do have the Ultimate Dining Package so will have fun dinners to go to and we will do Illisionarium for sure as well.

We had the greatest time on DCL, but are among the many who can't justify the costs anymore. Our cruise fare, with all taxes, for the four of us in a mini-suite with a (albeit, very small) balcony is $2471. Both kids are free and we also got the Ultimate Dining Package for free. I just did a mock booking right now and the KSF is still going on, fare was $2557. It's a 7 day cruise, 3 at sea days. The Getaway was new in 2014.

I just did a mock booking on Disney, leaving on the same date on the Fantasy. Verandah stateroom. Fare is $7662. Itinerary is very similar. Both ships have one day at St. Thomas. There is simply no way I could ever justify a $5100 difference for the Disney "magic".

I don't post much, but have been an avid reader of this board for over 5 years. Sorry to hijack your post Canadian, but if someone clicked on this link, I figure they are at least interested in what NCL has to offer. I hope our cruise experience this fall is as good as yours was.

 

[canadiandisneyfamof4]

You noted smoke smell throughout the atrium. I'm confused. You also noted that's where they play movies so that's not the casino right? I'm picturing the atrium like on DCL where it's unavoidable.

Atrium is 2 parts - front part of the ship is 2 stories where they play music, second story is the pub (non smoking) second part of the atrium (mid ship) is a restaurant on deck 6, casino deck 7 and bars deck 8. It was the mid ship atrium where it was noticeable.

 

[canadiandisneyfamof4]

So great to hear your thoughts. Thank you! We sailed DCL back in the KSF days and loved it. We are now booked on the Getaway during our fall break, October 10-17th. We are also in a mini-suite, stateroom 10840. What was the layout and the bed situation for your kiddos? Does the couch convert and another bed come down like on the Wonder? I am very excited for this cruise and can't wait to cruise again. We have boy/girl twins who will be 9 when we sail, we are hoping this ship is a great match for us. Also, did you find plenty to do at night? I do worry we will miss the nightly shows. We do have the Ultimate Dining Package so will have fun dinners to go to and we will do Illisionarium for sure as well.

We had the greatest time on DCL, but are among the many who can't justify the costs anymore. Our cruise fare, with all taxes, for the four of us in a mini-suite with a (albeit, very small) balcony is $2471. Both kids are free and we also got the Ultimate Dining Package for free. I just did a mock booking right now and the KSF is still going on, fare was $2557. It's a 7 day cruise, 3 at sea days. The Getaway was new in 2014.

I just did a mock booking on Disney, leaving on the same date on the Fantasy. Verandah stateroom. Fare is $7662. Itinerary is very similar. Both ships have one day at St. Thomas. There is simply no way I could ever justify a $5100 difference for the Disney "magic".

I don't post much, but have been an avid reader of this board for over 5 years. Sorry to hijack your post Canadian, but if someone clicked on this link, I figure they are at least interested in what NCL has to offer. I hope our cruise experience this fall is as good as yours was.

We had the UDP and had reservations every night. We planned the shows around our dining reservations.

One bed come from the couch, the other was from the ceiling.

At night there are deck parties 4 nights at 10:15, our kids enjoyed the shows at night. A few nights we had dinner at 8/8:39 so we would go to a deck party after and then head to bed around 11.

 

[MC0810]

Can you please compare the food to disney...I have read that the free mdr is not.very good so to get good meals you feel like you have to upgrade to the charged dining.

How was the buffets

 

[canadiandisneyfamof4]

Buffet was stations like Cabanas on the Fantasy and Magic. The buffet food was good.

We only ate at the free MDR for breakfast and lunch, both were good. We had a specialty restaurant for dinner each night as dining is something we enjoy on our cruise and they were all great.

 

[darwinsrule]

Last August the MDR was fine. Wasn't anything that I regretted putting in my mouth. Outside of the Nick Jr. Pajama Jam brunch which was the worst thing I have eaten at sea. If you are going on Getaway plan to hit the Tropicana Room (MDR at the back of the ship) for dinner the evening the Burn the Floor cast does a show.

For us we will miss the buffet in the evening when we do the Wonder in a few weeks. After pool, shows, whatever we were doing we would hit the buffet for a snack. Have photos of DD10 chowing down on lobster tails one evening.

 

[mkmommy]

One thing just found out about NCL which is great for Canadians, if you book over the phone, you can get rates in CAD. The exchange rate is very favorable, have gotten a few cruises quoted and the rate is about 10%, which makes for a huge difference when compared to DCL.

The 30% exchange rate is making DCL hard to justify.