Had to finally book with NCL because Disney wanted me to sell my house... lol

[jahber]

Definitely. I had to recheck the numbers a few times to believe it. To be fair, I was comparing Star Wars at Seas cruises with a Kids Sail Free promos on Royal. Still, a huge difference. I'm really happy with the price we got.

Well, to be fair, the only reason SWAS sailings exist is because they were sailings that were selling poorly and DCL didn't *want* to discount them, even though they usually had in the past. They rather astutely realized that they could make them more popular by adding some very inexpensive extras and now they are some of the more popular sailings. Genius! Royal goes the other route with discounts. Personally, I prefer the discounts

 

[FLVacationGirl]

Well, to be fair, the only reason SWAS sailings exist is because they were sailings that were selling poorly and DCL didn't *want* to discount them, even though they usually had in the past. They rather astutely realized that they could make them more popular by adding some very inexpensive extras and now they are some of the more popular sailings. Genius! Royal goes the other route with discounts. Personally, I prefer the discounts

Wow! Yes, definitely preferring the discounts too. As much our group loves Star Wars, the $30k in savings wins hands down.

 

[RedSox68]

IMO not NCL. We watched no shows any evenings save the magic show, which I would not personally recommend.

We liked dining around 6:30 or so. Dinner would take ~ 2 hours. Then we'd just stroll around as a family and then put the little ones to bed. We are very much go to bed "early" (9/10) people and be up early and off the ship ASAP.
Evening entertainment is one area DCL has a MAJOR leg up.
I felt like (for us) NCL had more daytime offerings.

We did not like NCL entertainment when we sailed in 2008 and could not even sit through one show. For our cruise this October, however, they have a Cirque show that I am looking forward to and now have "Burn the Floor" and, on some ships, Blue Man Group. I think they have come a long way in that department.

 

[jahber]

Wow! Yes, definitely preferring the discounts too. As much our group loves Star Wars, the $30k in savings wins hands down.

Our upcoming Sept sailing on the Freedom of the Seas was $4500 less than the Fantasy for the comparable sailing for 7 people in 2 comparable rooms. We got a BOGO plus free port fees offer. So. Yeah. I'll take the discounts if it means I'm paying less than half. That's a lot of "free" soda.

 

[FLVacationGirl]

Our upcoming Sept sailing on the Freedom of the Seas was $4500 less than the Fantasy for the comparable sailing for 7 people in 2 comparable rooms. We got a BOGO plus free port fees offer. So. Yeah. I'll take the discounts if it means I'm paying less than half. That's a lot of "free" soda.

That is a great deal! Enjoy your cruise.

 

[momof2n2]

Service- I had a billing issue that I had to go to Guest services twice and the restaurant and in the end it still wasn't corrected when I was assured it would be. Sent an email when I returned... still waiting

Kids club- My kids did not care for the club at all... very limited programming and if they are in different groups they can't be together aside from the designated times.

Main dining- Crappy service.. the meal took 2hrs with minimal interaction

Entertainment- On DCL I found there was always something to do... NCL not too much...after the first few nights we were bored. Didn't care for the shows.

We sailed on the Escape.

Thank you for responding.
Four of my six kids didn't like the clubs, and I agree the entertainment is not on par. If those are both important to you, then absolutely NCL would disappoint.

I actually prefer for us to stay together, so I was fine with the kids not liking the clubs. Even though the ages are broken up, I found whenever I looked in the kids were more together than apart.

I agree the entertainment is not on par. I do wish they'd had a fun show or two, but I went in knowing they did not. Thankfully, we'd had a week at WDW before hand.
The entertainment was hard to even figure out. They'd changed the entertainment just weeks before our trip and when I boarded I didn't know what to look for. I also think the entertainment timing suffers with the anytime dining model IMO. On DCL and PCI you know if you have early dinner, you see late show, and vice versa. I loved that our meals took two hours but with them starting at different times each night (as a group of 10 we really had to have reservations) we never got a feel for timing entertainment.
I hope the billing gets straightened out. Do you have a TA that can go to bat for you, maybe?

 

[momof2n2]

The reviews I'm reading of the Escape are not very family friendly at all. The kid pool in particular seems impractical.

I'm interested in some other ships though.

Can you direct me to some of these reviews please? Either here or privately? I very much want to book Escape for 2018 as soon as it is released next spring. We LOVED Getaway. Escape looks great... I'd like to know what I am missing. I thought it was essentially the same thing as Getaway.

I don't want Breakaway b/c I don't like the route.

 

[jenf22]

We did not like NCL entertainment when we sailed in 2008 and could not even sit through one show. For our cruise this October, however, they have a Cirque show that I am looking forward to and now have "Burn the Floor" and, on some ships, Blue Man Group. I think they have come a long way in that department.

We just got off the Getaway on Sunday and we LOVED "Burn the Floor" and "Million Dollar Quartet". They were amazing!

 

[momof2n2]

We just got off the Getaway on Sunday and we LOVED "Burn the Floor" and "Million Dollar Quartet". They were amazing!

I would have liked to have seen Million Dollar Quartet. I could not ever figure out when/Where to see it.

 

[Hundredacre]

About six months ago we traded a 7 night western (no castaway cay) on the wonder out of galveston (2 inside cabins) $9300 for a 7 night western on celebrity reflection for the same exact week with more ports (two oceanview cabins)= $5500 + FREE gratuities, $600 onboard credit, and free internet. It will be our first non disney cruise. I will report back in december. Next year trying an eastern on ncl escape (just switched it from western on the getaway) and southern on carnival vista. Also sqeezing in 4 bahamas night on dcl. 2 inside rooms on dcl fantasy eastern next summer? For us, almost $14000. Yes that is a seven night cruise. No way. I dont care if we "have" the money, it is just a joke.

 

[TestingH2O]

Can you direct me to some of these reviews please? Either here or privately? I very much want to book Escape for 2018 as soon as it is released next spring. We LOVED Getaway. Escape looks great... I'd like to know what I am missing. I thought it was essentially the same thing as Getaway.

I don't want Breakaway b/c I don't like the route.

I've been reading them on cruise critic. Gambee has one with lots of pictures including the pool on different days.

 

[lizzyb]

Thank you for responding.
Four of my six kids didn't like the clubs, and I agree the entertainment is not on par. If those are both important to you, then absolutely NCL would disappoint.

I actually prefer for us to stay together, so I was fine with the kids not liking the clubs. Even though the ages are broken up, I found whenever I looked in the kids were more together than apart.

I agree the entertainment is not on par. I do wish they'd had a fun show or two, but I went in knowing they did not. Thankfully, we'd had a week at WDW before hand.
The entertainment was hard to even figure out. They'd changed the entertainment just weeks before our trip and when I boarded I didn't know what to look for. I also think the entertainment timing suffers with the anytime dining model IMO. On DCL and PCI you know if you have early dinner, you see late show, and vice versa. I loved that our meals took two hours but with them starting at different times each night (as a group of 10 we really had to have reservations) we never got a feel for timing entertainment.
I hope the billing gets straightened out. Do you have a TA that can go to bat for you, maybe?

Contacted my cruise consultant who told me to email guest relations after cruise. Still nothing...

 

[lizzyb]

I would have liked to have seen Million Dollar Quartet. I could not ever figure out when/Where to see it.

I had booked Million Dollar Quartet and then when I boarded it was gone and been replaced with "Oh what a night"

 

[tinkerone]

Can you direct me to some of these reviews please? Either here or privately? I very much want to book Escape for 2018 as soon as it is released next spring. We LOVED Getaway. Escape looks great... I'd like to know what I am missing. I thought it was essentially the same thing as Getaway.

I don't want Breakaway b/c I don't like the route.

Here's a review I was just reading last night. He seemed to love it, quote 'This is the story of the best cruise we've ever taken... and that's saying a lot, since this was our 34th cruise!'.

I haven't seen any negative reviews on her so I am also thinking about Trying the Escape for a sailing. Gotta spread those wings.

http://www.jimzim.net/NorwegianEscape.html

 

[TestingH2O]

He seemed to love it, quote 'This is the story of the best cruise we've ever taken... and that's saying a lot, since this was our 34th cruise!'.

Yes, I've seen lots of positive adult only reviews. I haven't seen any with small kids. It looks like an amazing ship but I'm hoping to see some more family info soon.

 

[momof2n2]

Yes, I've seen lots of positive adult only reviews. I haven't seen any with small kids. It looks like an amazing ship but I'm hoping to see some more family info soon.

It looks like Escape has an awesome splash area. That's the only thing my little girls wanted to do. I think we'll be ok with that.

I love ropes courses!

Too bad no bungee trampoline though. That was awesome.

 

[TravelandLeisure]

We had an amazing time on our first Disney cruise (a 3 night Bahamas on the Magic) this past March, and I was looking forward to booking a 7 night Fantasy cruise with the obb discount. However, when I ran the numbers I was shocked to see that a 7 night for 3 would end up costing us around $5500 even with the 10% discount! I love DCL, but that is definitely past my limit. I ended up booking a 7 night on Oasis of the Seas during their 50% off second passenger and no port tax sale for slightly under $3100. I also booked a 3 night on the Dream for a little over $2000 so I could try out the Dream class ships. So BOTH of these cruises are costing less than what ONE 7 night Fantasy would have cost. That's insane.

 

[tinkerone]

Yes, I've seen lots of positive adult only reviews. I haven't seen any with small kids. It looks like an amazing ship but I'm hoping to see some more family info soon.

Very good, valid point. We have no small ones so that thought would not have even occurred to me.

 

[RedSox68]

I would have liked to have seen Million Dollar Quartet. I could not ever figure out when/Where to see it.

We saw it in NYC and it was wonderful. Keep an eye out -- it is still traveling the country, and I think they are making a movie. We don't have that offering on the Breakaway, but they do have "Rock of Ages", which we're not interested in. We have seen Burn the Floor three times in various city performances, and just love it.