Anyone been on or considered the Norwegian Cruise Line

[Tasmen]

43??? That's a huge group. If I recall, the after-hours club isn't expensive. And the regular hours do go to 10:30.. So within the regular hours, you can have about 7:15-10:30 free.

Yeah it's a pretty large group. We are a little under 2 years out so people may back out or add. Still, all those folks have put down deposits as of now. The good deals they were running right now really got a lot of folks to sign up in our group.

 

[gilsan]

Partially that. Also, as of my last cruise, the kids club was closed from 12-2 and from 5-7. So you had a long line of parents checking their kids out at 12, then a long line to check them back in at 2. Meaning, forget any of the adult-type activities from 11:45-2:30 for 4:45-7:30. Forget meals without the kids, etc.

That is disappointing. My daughter never spends much time in the clubs anyways, but 2 hours in the afternoon barely makes it worthwhile.

 

[LemonNeko]

I've just priced out cruises for my 40th birthday in October and I'm having a hard time justifying the Disney Price. It's for 3 people. It's $1500 for a 3 night Bahamas on the Dream or I can take a 7 day on Norwegian for roughly the same price so Disney is literally twice as expensive. My son is 3 and loves characters (any characters even if he's never seen them before) but I've heard that if you don't go during high season there is very little in the way of the Dreamworks characters. The only cruise I've been on was Disney and it was in 1998. My mom who is going has only been on Royal Caribbean and Norwegian.

 

[perdidobay]

Thanks to everyone's input on this thread, and wanting something special for our anniversary, DH and I have decided to drop our DCL cruise in favor of the NCL Getaway this fall. We decided that we've been there done that with DCL (so much so that we don't go to any of the evening shows anymore), and we want to try something new. The Getaway looks beautiful compared to the pics I've seen of the Pearl (still doing that one in Sept with my Dad and sisters).
We were able to get a Haven balcony penthouse suite with free UDP, free UBP, daily tips paid for, and $300 onboard credit, not to mention all the perks that booking the Haven gets you. All that for what a cat 4E costs on the cruise we just cancelled.

 

[gilsan]

Thanks to everyone's input on this thread, and wanting something special for our anniversary, DH and I have decided to drop our DCL cruise in favor of the NCL Getaway this fall. We decided that we've been there done that with DCL (so much so that we don't go to any of the evening shows anymore), and we want to try something new. The Getaway looks beautiful compared to the pics I've seen of the Pearl (still doing that one in Sept with my Dad and sisters).
We were able to get a Haven balcony penthouse suite with free UDP, free UBP, daily tips paid for, and $300 onboard credit, not to mention all the perks that booking the Haven gets you. All that for what a cat 4E costs on the cruise we just cancelled.

It really is an amazing deal. I will be interested to hear about the trip. We are not going until Feb 2016.

 

[ilovebassets]

I haven't read all the replies, but will just throw in my two cents. We have been on two NCL cruises. The first was before we had kids on the Majesty. I believe this ship has been taken out of their fleet which it desperately needed to be. The cabins were small, old, and dingy. We found the entertainment to be mostly adult-themed or at least adult-appropriate and not really for families. We do not like freestyle dining. The food in the main dining room isn't great as they try to push you to the fee-based restaurants. You never have the same servers twice, so they never get to know your preferences.

The second NCL cruise we went on is the Dawn, which is still doing Bermuda cruises from Boston (the same trip we did). We had our 11 month old with us. The cabin was much better. We had a junior suite which is probably equivalent to an oceanview with verandah on DCL. The service was better overall though I'm not sure the food quality was. They had nursery area to take your children and play with them but obviously there is no true dropoff nursery. I did not like how they were CONSTANTLY pushing paid restaurants and beverages. I also did not like the constant presence of barstaff wandering around the pool area. Way too much of the public space was dedicated to paid restaurants. It was hard to find public area that had a view of the ocean. Definitely needed the verandah on that ship.

All in all, I would not take NCL again. I hear amazing things about their suites and dedicated suite areas, but those aren't cheap and the whole point of sailing NCL to me would be to save money. I just don't buy into the "freestyle" thing. It's just a way for them to make more money. I'd rather pay more upfront for a quality product.

 

[perdidobay]

As adults who cruise on DCL without kids, we tire of the poor design of the adult pool area on the Fantasy, (the ship which we usually cruise on due to taking week long cruises) and we have begun to feel like so much of our fare is subsidising the kids areas and other areas we no longer take advantage of. Our last few cruises we spent most of our time in 3 places- the adult pool, the rainforest room and the tube after dinner. So for us, the Getaway with its comedy club venue, Illusionarium magic dinner show venue, Grammy experience show, dueling pianos, casino and the awesome rope course and water slides make this choice a no brainier for us as we are looking for more adult choices. The ability to dine at so many other types of resturants other than the regular dining rooms is a bonus. The menus on the Disney ships never change and we have tired of the same choices at dinner. First world problems for sure, but we are ready for some varity. Our NCL cruise isn't cheaper than what we had booked with DCL, but we feel we are getting so much more for what we are paying, things we will actually use and enjoy.
Don't get me wrong, we still love DCL and have a cruise booked for next January with good friends we met 3 cruises ago.
And gilsan, I'll be sure to pm you a short review after our NCL cruise

 

[momof2n2]

Please include me in PM!
We are going 5/16!!!
We are super excited!!!

As adults who cruise on DCL without kids, we tire of the poor design of the adult pool area on the Fantasy, (the ship which we usually cruise on due to taking week long cruises) and we have begun to feel like so much of our fare is subsidising the kids areas and other areas we no longer take advantage of. Our last few cruises we spent most of our time in 3 places- the adult pool, the rainforest room and the tube after dinner. So for us, the Getaway with its comedy club venue, Illusionarium magic dinner show venue, Grammy experience show, dueling pianos, casino and the awesome rope course and water slides make this choice a no brainier for us as we are looking for more adult choices. The ability to dine at so many other types of resturants other than the regular dining rooms is a bonus. The menus on the Disney ships never change and we have tired of the same choices at dinner. First world problems for sure, but we are ready for some varity. Our NCL cruise isn't cheaper than what we had booked with DCL, but we feel we are getting so much more for what we are paying, things we will actually use and enjoy.
Don't get me wrong, we still love DCL and have a cruise booked for next January with good friends we met 3 cruises ago.
And gilsan, I'll be sure to pm you a short review after our NCL cruise

 

[perdidobay]

Will do!

 

[perditax]

Lurker, but I've been reading about cruises non-stop for the last couple of weeks and I'm on the cruisecritic forums a lot. People looking at NCL may want to be aware that they've just added an 18% auto-gratuity onto the specialty dining venues that regular NCL cruisers seem pretty irate about. I think it's being auto-added to the UDP package, as I understand it. (The issue is that the 18% is being added *in addition* to the other gratuities you are already charged for your cruise, so essentially a 'double dip' by NCL.)

 

[momof2n2]

Lurker, but I've been reading about cruises non-stop for the last couple of weeks and I'm on the cruisecritic forums a lot. People looking at NCL may want to be aware that they've just added an 18% auto-gratuity onto the specialty dining venues that regular NCL cruisers seem pretty irate about. I think it's being auto-added to the UDP package, as I understand it. (The issue is that the 18% is being added *in addition* to the other gratuities you are already charged for your cruise, so essentially a 'double dip' by NCL.)

Thanks for the info.
My CC sign in hasn't been working but you can be sure I'll look into that. That WOULD qualify as nickel and diming IMO.

 

[Littlelulu01]

I am SO happy to hear this. I won't lie, the idea of the butler got me really excited. And how was the pillow menu? Of all the things, that probably has me the giddiest. Did you travel Haven with children? We are going with a huge group of people (43!!!!) and the three of us that have haven rooms will have a total of 5 children 7 and under. Curious how it was in the private Haven areas with small ones.



Same one we booked. East Caribbean.

So sorry. Just noticed the question. Wh have not sailed in the Haven on one of the new mega ships. We sailed to Alaska in a two bedroom haven suite on the Pearl. I did not have kids with us and there were only a few in the Haven during our sailing. The Haven was basically empty almost every time we used the hot tub so I assume as long as it's empty the kids can have at it. If there are other people trying to relax and especially if some kids are not actually staying in a Haven room they would put a stop really quick if someone complained.

You would be allowed to bring a non Haven guest to your room but even regular suite guests are not allowed up there in the Haven common areas just to hang out and use the pool, steam room, hot tub area. No nobody would care if the area is empty though. There is a Seperate Haven butler who keeps the area stocked and clean. The other issue you might run into is meal times. All suite guests, including non Haven, get to eat in a seperate dining room for breakfast and lunch. It's nice because we had the same server every day, no wait, just down the stairs from the Haven. Non suite guests can't eat with you so if you wanted to meet for breakfast or lunch you would have to forego this wonderful perk and join them in the more hectic areas.

Can't comment on the pillow menu. All I can say is that we were given a ton of pillows and our bed and bedding was heavenly. The tub was also incredible. It has a huge window that looks out at the sea. Also so nice to have the butler serve us breakfast in the room on glacier bay morning. For any meal you want you just tell him what time and it will be delivered. Even speciality dining will come at any time you want it. They have all the menus in the courtyard.

The new ships have many more haven rooms so many more people in the Haven. I think they also typically have a lot more kids.

Have fun planning. I will say the only thing I have to compare NCL to is RCI, HAL and carnival. My husband could not stand RCI and CArnival. He liked HAL and loved the Haven. I don't think he would have enjoyed it as much if not in a suite. He did not sail on NCL for our inside room trip. The constant announcements about bingo, jewelry sales, art auctions just about did him in on RCI and Carnival. That happens on NCL too but not as bad as on Carnival. We did not hear any announcements about this sort of thing in the Haven courtyard. Sorry about typos in the post. I am not able to fix anything after I type for some reason. Kim

 

[Tasmen]

So sorry. Just noticed the question. Wh have not sailed in the Haven on one of the new mega ships. We sailed to Alaska in a two bedroom haven suite on the Pearl. I did not have kids with us and there were only a few in the Haven during our sailing. The Haven was basically empty almost every time we used the hot tub so I assume as long as it's empty the kids can have at it. If there are other people trying to relax and especially if some kids are not actually staying in a Haven room they would put a stop really quick if someone complained.

The kids I'm talking about are all in haven rooms (or at least 5 of them are). I don't want to disturb people's peace but at the same time, was curious if this would impact the service we paid for as well.

 

[cypressmom]

We have sailed the Magic and Fantasy. I currently have us booked on the Magic in Nov 2015 and NCL Getaway for Nov 2016.

 

[MousseauMob]

Partially that. Also, as of my last cruise, the kids club was closed from 12-2 and from 5-7. So you had a long line of parents checking their kids out at 12, then a long line to check them back in at 2. Meaning, forget any of the adult-type activities from 11:45-2:30 for 4:45-7:30. Forget meals without the kids, etc.

We've experienced similar hours on other cruise lines and didn't find it to be a problem at all. It meant we could have lunch and dinner together, or we'd use the time for family activities or swimming with friends etc, and adult meals without kids was still possible by feeding the kids while they are out of the clubs and eating later as adults while they are in the clubs. Its really only 4 hours a day they are closed, and we found it to be no big deal and allowed us to spend time together without my kids feeling like they might be missing something at the club.

 

[havoc315]

We've experienced similar hours on other cruise lines and didn't find it to be a problem at all. It meant we could have lunch and dinner together, or we'd use the time for family activities or swimming with friends etc, and adult meals without kids was still possible by feeding the kids while they are out of the clubs and eating later as adults while they are in the clubs. Its really only 4 hours a day they are closed, and we found it to be no big deal and allowed us to spend time together without my kids feeling like they might be missing something at the club.

With younger kids, only hours we would use the club would be about 10am to 8pm. So of the 10 hours we might use the club, closed for 4. Throw in check in/check out lines... And not worthwhile to check in kids at 7, when we would really be picking them up by 8/8:30...

Made the club only usable for 3-4 hours, total. Wanted to do 1:00 art auction on NCL, but couldn't because of kids. Wanted to do 1:30 martini tasting, couldn't.

Stopped even trying to use the club after the first few days.

 

[momof2n2]

We've experienced similar hours on other cruise lines and didn't find it to be a problem at all. It meant we could have lunch and dinner together, or we'd use the time for family activities or swimming with friends etc, and adult meals without kids was still possible by feeding the kids while they are out of the clubs and eating later as adults while they are in the clubs. Its really only 4 hours a day they are closed, and we found it to be no big deal and allowed us to spend time together without my kids feeling like they might be missing something at the club.

Yeah. This is what I'm thinking. We aren't adults-only people and we absolutely want as much family-time as possible. Especially meals. I like the idea of clubs for sea days, but I don't anticipate much use. They barely used DCL's!!
But in glad the ages line up for us at this point in case we do use them.

 

[KashasMom]

Lurker, but I've been reading about cruises non-stop for the last couple of weeks and I'm on the cruisecritic forums a lot. People looking at NCL may want to be aware that they've just added an 18% auto-gratuity onto the specialty dining venues that regular NCL cruisers seem pretty irate about. I think it's being auto-added to the UDP package, as I understand it. (The issue is that the 18% is being added *in addition* to the other gratuities you are already charged for your cruise, so essentially a 'double dip' by NCL.)

RCI just did a similar thing with their drink package. Drinks are now very expensive. Must be a way for these lines to pay for their new, big ships! We've never eaten in any of the specialty restaurants on any ship. You don't HAVE to....

 

[Littlelulu01]

The kids I'm talking about are all in haven rooms (or at least 5 of them are). I don't want to disturb people's peace but at the same time, was curious if this would impact the service we paid for as well.

If you are on one of the mega ships I can't imagine there not being kids in the Haven courtyard so I wouldn't worry. There are adult only sections of the ship and the Haven courtyard is not one of them.

 

[ktate82]

Well we took the plunge and reserved a room on the Getaway for Oct 2016 in a mini-suite with a large balcony. His mom and sister booked in an inside across the hall. Not sure if we want to do the cruise, but at least if we decide to, we were able to get the drink package for our room for free.