Dreams Unlimited Travel Podcast: Vacationing with Norwegian Cruise Line

[WebmasterJackie]

In this episode, the panel discusses everything you need to know about planning a vacation with Norwegian Cruise Line!

Request a no-obligation quote from Dreams Unlimited Travel!

 

[hertamaniac]

NCL is often overlooked, but my takeaway is they are stellar. The studio rooms are a bargain and were impressed with the value/security/lounge for only those guests.

The food in the buffet was sub-par, especially compared to Celebrity. However, the standard dining room offerings and quality easily surpassed Celebrity.

The private island in Belize is adequate, but the zip-lining over a tropical beach needs to be removed.

The shows on NCL Epic were outstanding. The Howl at the Moon offered dueling pianos, comedy (I got picked to participate at my own mocking expense) and wonderful vocalists.

We found it to be a very comfortable balance between adults only and children activities.

The only downside of NCL sailings out of Florida that go to their "main" island Great Stirrup Cay is that they are/were tendered. Since there is/was no dock, it made the probability of visiting this island much lower (in fact, the waters were too choppy for the narrow inlet for our most recent cruise). So we looked at Royal Caribbean's private island, practically adjacent to NCL's Great Stirrup Cay, having a docked RCL cruise ship.

The Epic's thermal spa is among the best at sea. I purchased the whole cruise length package and spent at least 3 hours/day bouncing between the different saunas, steam rooms and the hydro pools. The hydro pools completely invigorated me after a day of activities or port itineraries. I could live in these warm, not hot, bubbling waters. There are multiple bubbling/jet stations that hit different parts of the body. You can walk, in the warm water, between almost all of the stations. I also enjoyed the fresh fruit infused water (they also had several teas). I would fill up my water bottle and just melt away in peace. Here's a picture I took.



We are booked for a 10-day cruise over Christmas into 2022 and are going to book a private villa at Silver Cove once the window opens. I think we're going to book on the lagoon side. I definitely can see these luxury villas sold out for overnight itineraries if and when they offer it.

 

[disneyland_is_magic]

NCL is often overlooked, but my takeaway is they are stellar. The studio rooms are a bargain and were impressed with the value/security/lounge for only those guests.

The food in the buffet was sub-par, especially compared to Celebrity. However, the standard dining room offerings and quality easily surpassed Celebrity.

The private island in Belize is adequate, but the zip-lining over a tropical beach needs to be removed.

The shows on NCL Epic were outstanding. The Howl at the Moon offered dueling pianos, comedy (I got picked to participate at my own mocking expense) and wonderful vocalists.

We found it to be a very comfortable balance between adults only and children activities.

The only downside of NCL sailings out of Florida that go to their "main" island Great Stirrup Cay is that they are/were tendered. Since there is/was no dock, it made the probability of visiting this island much lower (in fact, the waters were too choppy for the narrow inlet for our most recent cruise). So we looked at Royal Caribbean's private island, practically adjacent to NCL's Great Stirrup Cay, having a docked RCL cruise ship.

The Epic's thermal spa is among the best at sea. I purchased the whole cruise length package and spent at least 3 hours/day bouncing between the different saunas, steam rooms and the hydro pools. The hydro pools completely invigorated me after a day of activities or port itineraries. I could live in these warm, not hot, bubbling waters. There are multiple bubbling/jet stations that hit different parts of the body. You can walk, in the warm water, between almost all of the stations. I also enjoyed the fresh fruit infused water (they also had several teas). I would fill up my water bottle and just melt away in peace. Here's a picture I took.

View attachment 552192

We are booked for a 10-day cruise over Christmas into 2022 and are going to book a private villa at Silver Cove once the window opens. I think we're going to book on the lagoon side. I definitely can see these luxury villas sold out for overnight itineraries if and when they offer it.

Thanks for taking the time to write this up and share it. This was a great overview.

 

[SorcererHeidi]

My only cruise, besides a 3-night on DCL in '09 was a 7-night NE./Canadian on the NCL Dawn in Sept. '10, and I loved it. My friend and I were supposed to have a 3rd friend with us, who backed out, but we decided to keep our balcony mini-suite - FANTSTIC idea. Especially when it came to the bathroom - the split bathroom on DCL annoyed the HECK outta me, as I took showers with the curtain plastered to my butt, and the shower head poking me in the head - NOT fun, and I HATED it. The NCL mini-suite hade an actual tub, and full sized shower, which was GREAT. And PLENTY of room in the stateroom itself, and LOVED our balcony.

Ate most of our meals in the buffet, which was fine quality for both of us, since we like buffets, and are not foodies. At the time, NCL was the only (or one of the only) who had "eat when you want" dining (Freestyle I'm pretty sure it was called), which is why we chose them, even tough we mostly ate at the buffet, like I said. We still wanted that flexibility.

Also had lots of fun in the casino. The Dawn has since been re-homeported, but at the time she was out of NYC (another reason we chose the line, and also due to our desired itinerary) and we LOVED the Statue of Liberty on her bow, and the red ribbon on front that looked like she was smiling. And the fact her godmother was Samantha on Sex and the City - have a pic of her pic christening the ship that was displayed on the ship.

I know at the time the prices were very attractive. I would have no problem whatsoever choosing NCL again. Only reason my NE/Canadian this Sept (maybe!) IS ON RCCL is that I wanted to try going out of Bayonne, NJ vs. NYC. If the trip gets cancelled again this time (been postponed two years already - once by me, once by RCCL) I may even consider NCL, and going out of NYC instead again, if something tips the scales in NCL's favor. Can't wait to watch this show.

 

[rchristiansen]

I‘m so excited to watch this episode. I’ve got it queued up now to watch. I love NCL and prefer it much more over DCL.

Quick question. We are booked on the Joy this October. Can we transfer this reservation to Dreams? We’ve only paid the deposit. Thanks!

 

[CampbellzSoup]

I sincerely miss cruising and will not take it for granted once they are operational again what a great way to vacation...

 

[samsteele]

Really enjoyed my 5 night NCL Sun cruise last winter. While a small and older ship, it was perfectly comfortable and a more traditional throwback to old-style cruising vs the new super ships. Thought the buffet was on par with RCL but the standard dining room a step up. We had a free at sea package and enjoyed Le Bistro and Cagney's. Both excellent and at least as good if not better than Jiko and Yachtsman at WDW. The free wifi was spotty and the $50 off one excursion was a bit disappointing in the package but the food and great service balanced it out. Would absolutely cruise again on NCL. A significantly better experience than my 2 RCL cruises.

 

[SorcererHeidi]

I‘m so excited to watch this episode. I’ve got it queued up now to watch. I love NCL and prefer it much more over DCL.

Quick question. We are booked on the Joy this October. Can we transfer this reservation to Dreams? We’ve only paid the deposit. Thanks!

@WebmasterJohn - Tapping you so you can see this, and possibly help.

 

[SorcererHeidi]

I sincerely miss cruising and will not take it for granted once they are operational again what a great way to vacation...

@CampbellzSoup - Have you done NCL, or RCL, or just DCL? If you've done others besides DCL, what did you think?

 

[hertamaniac]

@WebmasterJohn - Tapping you so you can see this, and possibly help.

We're in the same boat (see what I did there) as this poster regarding our bookings. I don't want to jeopardize our bookings.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

For those of you that have done Norwegian, any thoughts on them for kids (kids program, etc)

We've done one Disney cruise and while we liked it, it wasn't, um, cheap - and the kids have indicated they would like to do another cruise some day (whenever that can happen).

They see the Royal Caribbean commercials and get excited with the stuff the show on the ship and on their island, so they are on my radar, but curious about Norwegian as well

 

[SorcererHeidi]

Just watched - nicely done show - and it was very nice to see an agent I don't remember having seen before - Susan Kelly - she was fantastic!

 

[SorcererHeidi]

For those of you that have done Norwegian, any thoughts on them for kids (kids program, etc)

We've done one Disney cruise and while we liked it, it wasn't, um, cheap - and the kids have indicated they would like to do another cruise some day (whenever that can happen).

They see the Royal Caribbean commercials and get excited with the stuff the show on the ship and on their island, so they are on my radar, but curious about Norwegian as well

@TheMaxRebo - I know several people/families who have cruised with kids/teens on NCL, and they raved about the Breakaway and Breakaway-Plus class ships - the newer, bigger ones. They said SO much for the kids to do! Don't have any more info than that, sorry.

 

[rchristiansen]

For those of you that have done Norwegian, any thoughts on them for kids (kids program, etc)

We've done one Disney cruise and while we liked it, it wasn't, um, cheap - and the kids have indicated they would like to do another cruise some day (whenever that can happen).

They see the Royal Caribbean commercials and get excited with the stuff the show on the ship and on their island, so they are on my radar, but curious about Norwegian as well

I can’t comment on the activities for younger kids as my daughter was a teen each time we went. She seemed to enjoy the teen area. i remember they had lots of planned activities including pool parties and a formal night for the last night where they went to dinner together.

One thing I was really impressed with was the response to an emergency. (someone In the teen club injured themselves on some broken glass). My husband and I were in the comedy club at the time. All of a sudden the comedian’s mic shut off and an announcement came in over the entire ship that there was an emergency at the teen club. Of course we left to go to the teen club, and learned what happened. Our daughter just went back to the room. But I loved the fact they basically stopped every activity on the entire ship to make sure medical was sent and everyone knew something happened so they could check on their kid.

BTW. That was on The Getaway.

 

[FoodieFriend]

COVID foiled my first attempt at cruising (we were booked on DCL) & now I'm wondering if I should go with NCL at much more reasonable price? It's nice to hear about other cruise lines besides DCL.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

@CampbellzSoup - Have you done NCL, or RCL, or just DCL? If you've done others besides DCL, what did you think?

Disney I’ve only done two cruises with and they were absolutely the top-tier in terms of crew standard however I’ve done multiple Royal Caribbean and Norwegian and I have had a blast on every single one of them

 

[hertamaniac]

For those of you that have done Norwegian, any thoughts on them for kids (kids program, etc)

We've done one Disney cruise and while we liked it, it wasn't, um, cheap - and the kids have indicated they would like to do another cruise some day (whenever that can happen).

They see the Royal Caribbean commercials and get excited with the stuff the show on the ship and on their island, so they are on my radar, but curious about Norwegian as well

On our most recent cruise on NCL's EPIC, I went up to the top deck just to see the activities for children (this trip was as an adults only). There was a separate building called Entourage that housed various forms of entertainment just for teens. It was very impressive and, combined with the outdoor basketball court and rock wall, offered something other than the pools/slides. I didn't do it this past trip, but there are 2 separate 2-lane bowling alleys for a negligible cost. There is also the Splash Academy on deck 14 designed for tweens, etc.

The slides and aqua parks are for both younger children and teens. There is a bowl slide and more traditional slides.

Here is a partial list of activities/attractions that goes into more details for children/adults:

https://www.ncl.com/cruise-ship/epic/whats-on-board/Activities

 

[hertamaniac]

Just watched - nicely done show - and it was very nice to see an agent I don't remember having seen before - Susan Kelly - she was fantastic!

I think their remarks about the appearance of the Epic is justified. But there is more to the story about her.

The Epic is known as the cyclops cruise ship of the sea due to it's unique design. The reason for the huge monolithic brow is that the ship was halted during construction due to a contract dispute and was then finished with the addition of The Haven suites/pool/dining room atop the fore of the ship.

For us, we don't hang off the balcony to look at the external aesthetics of the ship; it has no real impact on the selection of cruise.

 

[WebmasterJohn]

I‘m so excited to watch this episode. I’ve got it queued up now to watch. I love NCL and prefer it much more over DCL.

Quick question. We are booked on the Joy this October. Can we transfer this reservation to Dreams? We’ve only paid the deposit. Thanks!

You can transfer an existing cruise to Dreams Unlimited Travel and get our Shipboard Credit BUT there are certain criteria that must be met for RCCL to allow the transfer.

Send me an email at John@DreamsUnlimitedTravel.com and we will see if it qualifies.

If it doesn't we could always reprice it for you and if we can get the same/lower price you can cancel and rebook with Dreams and get our Shipboard Credit.

 

[rchristiansen]

You can transfer an existing cruise to Dreams Unlimited Travel and get our Shipboard Credit BUT there are certain criteria that must be met for RCCL to allow the transfer.

Send me an email at John@DreamsUnlimitedTravel.com and we will see if it qualifies.

If it doesn't we could always reprice it for you and if we can get the same/lower price you can cancel and rebook with Dreams and get our Shipboard Credit.

Great! I will forward you my reservation details Thanks!