Long-time DCL'ers, trying Norwegian

[DCLMP]

No Disney characters, and a casino are going to be the big differences. Booziest cruise I have been on was DISNEY.
Cruised Paquet, NCL, RCCL,HAL, Disney, NCL America, and Celebrity. All great trips. NCL America was a notch lower, but that really isn't a cruise, it's a floating hotel. You overnight in two ports, no sea days and you are sleeping most of the time the ship is in motion.

Disney used to let you bring all the alcohol onboard you wanted. I’m sure there was a lot more alcohol being consumed than was apparent. They are still pretty generous allowing the beer and wine.

 

[Carohs]

Always shop based on price and itinerary. Depends what I want to do on vacation, too. For sea days, relaxing, and knowing the kids are engaged and entertained, DCL all the way. For exploring new destinations, while enjoying some evening drinks and music NCL offers a good bargain. Just got off the POA and while that vacation was all about the islands and we spent very little time onboard comparatively, what we did eat and see and do on the ship was overall more good than bad. Otoh we also have a LP/CC cruise booked for next year which will be a whole different type of vacation.
I also have to say that on DCL I have very little if anything to complain about vs on NCL there are always little annoyances that I could easily overlook but also they're there.

 

[DisneyConvert]

Just got back. 5 days on NCL Escape to/from Bermuda. Not DCL, but in many ways, very good. Pricing was attractive even with the "extras" we purchased.

MUCH bigger ship .... 5,000 passengers, longer, wider (but surprisingly vertical, w problematic elevator transportation) and like other big shopping mall ships, filled with many "markets" of different kinds of people, though I can't imagine how/if the Kids Clubs can even compare.

Job#1, as far as we were concerned, "Would my lovely wife get sick?"
She is VERY allergic to fish (oil) and moderately to mushrooms and eggplant. NCL was close to DCL-like wrto to watching out for her food, so 's all-around.

A portion of the almost 5,000 folks on board can get boisterous, so 7am dining in the various breakfast locations looked quite a bit different than the party scene at 5pm (We retired and got ready for bed at 8pm'ish, so can't say much about the late-night crowd). We went to a mediocre magic show, an ok PG comedian. Skipped the "Choir of Man" when our resv. was cancelled for laryngitis.

Positive benefits of the larger passenger list: the "Friends of Bill" meeting had a broader than usual range of people in, or at least discussing, recovery.

Food was diverse as well, given the offerings and expectation that one would try one or more of the specialty dining (which are often offered pre-boarding as an upgrade "deal"). While it may be hard/difficult to say NCL is better than Palo . . .
Japanese Hibachi was a treat for a cruise ship and amazing. Cagney's Steakhouse was as good as most top urban steakhouse and the Cuccina was good (not as good as Palo). Except for the specialty dining, where extra tips were encouraged, the "Intensity to service" is/was more laid back than DCL, but not bad. That could also because of the layout of the prep stations.

We went to the big buffet for many of our meals, and I thought it was fine, but DW said Cabana's was better. When one considers other DCL pool-deck options, such as Daisy Delights, I think DCL has a slight edge. Free soda is very convenient vs. waiting in line at the bar (yes) inside the buffet.

Center of Ship "6-7-8" certainly smelled a bit of cigarettes. Casino is right in the middle of Deck 7, and there are adherents who subsidize the cruise for the rest of us. "Tour" of the ship was mostly to upsell the various boutiques and show us all the bar locations - embarrassing.

Balcony "Suite" is roomy enough and veranda on 13th(!) Deck was fine. Single bathroom borders on spacious. And shower was better than the tiny Disney bathtub. Bed was a modified short'ish King and VERY comfortable.

Spa was above/beyond that of DCL with many offerings and capacity controlled. DW says Spa experience/$$$'s has become problematic on Magic/Wonder so not a surprise. . .

Thanks for the many comments. When combined with the fact that NCL with its large fleet covers the world, we would consider another NCL cruise if itinerary and calendar was a fit. Otherwise for sea days, theming, attention to detail, and overall entertainment, it's not really close.

 

[Lesverts]

Yes, that's the cost for the "gratuities" on the "free" drinks. I don't drink alcohol, so the drinks package doesn't work for me. For some reason, they don't let adults downgrade to a free soft drink package instead.

If I am not mistaken you can opt out of the included drinks and not pay the gratuity. At least you can on the Canadian booking site. And 125-175 for 85 drinks if you max out every day is pretty darn good.

 

[Kwami]

If I am not mistaken you can opt out of the included drinks and not pay the gratuity. At least you can on the Canadian booking site. And 125-175 for 85 drinks if you max out every day is pretty darn good.

Right, you can opt out of the drinks package. That's what I did. I don't really understand your last sentence, though.

 

[Lesverts]

Right, you can opt out of the drinks package. That's what I did. I don't really understand your last sentence, though.

The included gratuity ranges from 125 to 175 for a 7 week cruise (no idea why NCL changes the value they assign to included drinks between cruises) and you can have 15 drinks per day so the 85 should have been a 105. Paying only 175 for up to 105 drinks is pretty good. And I am pretty sure you need the alcohol package to get the fancy coffee and juice stuff included. So not all those drinks need to be alcohol.

 

[Kwami]

The included gratuity ranges from 125 to 175 for a 7 week cruise (no idea why NCL changes the value they assign to included drinks between cruises) and you can have 15 drinks per day so the 85 should have been a 105. Paying only 175 for up to 105 drinks is pretty good. And I am pretty sure you need the alcohol package to get the fancy coffee and juice stuff included. So not all those drinks need to be alcohol.

Well, if you get coffee or juice, then you're "wasting" one of your 15 drinks because those drinks are much cheaper than the ones with alcohol. So, the math gets even worse in that case.

The unfortunate reality is that NCL only offers the alcoholic package for adults as part of their "free at sea" scheme. If you want the soda or coffee package instead, then you pay full price for it.

 

[Kwami]

Just got back. 5 days on NCL Escape to/from Bermuda. Not DCL, but in many ways, very good. Pricing was attractive even with the "extras" we purchased.

MUCH bigger ship .... 5,000 passengers, longer, wider (but surprisingly vertical, w problematic elevator transportation) and like other big shopping mall ships, filled with many "markets" of different kinds of people, though I can't imagine how/if the Kids Clubs can even compare.

Job#1, as far as we were concerned, "Would my lovely wife get sick?"
She is VERY allergic to fish (oil) and moderately to mushrooms and eggplant. NCL was close to DCL-like wrto to watching out for her food, so 's all-around.

A portion of the almost 5,000 folks on board can get boisterous, so 7am dining in the various breakfast locations looked quite a bit different than the party scene at 5pm (We retired and got ready for bed at 8pm'ish, so can't say much about the late-night crowd). We went to a mediocre magic show, an ok PG comedian. Skipped the "Choir of Man" when our resv. was cancelled for laryngitis.

Positive benefits of the larger passenger list: the "Friends of Bill" meeting had a broader than usual range of people in, or at least discussing, recovery.

Food was diverse as well, given the offerings and expectation that one would try one or more of the specialty dining (which are often offered pre-boarding as an upgrade "deal"). While it may be hard/difficult to say NCL is better than Palo . . .
Japanese Hibachi was a treat for a cruise ship and amazing. Cagney's Steakhouse was as good as most top urban steakhouse and the Cuccina was good (not as good as Palo). Except for the specialty dining, where extra tips were encouraged, the "Intensity to service" is/was more laid back than DCL, but not bad. That could also because of the layout of the prep stations.

We went to the big buffet for many of our meals, and I thought it was fine, but DW said Cabana's was better. When one considers other DCL pool-deck options, such as Daisy Delights, I think DCL has a slight edge. Free soda is very convenient vs. waiting in line at

Center of Ship "6-7-8" certainly smelled a bit of cigarettes. Casino is right in the middle of Deck 7, and there are adherents who subsidize the cruise for the rest of us. "Tour" of the ship was mostly to upsell the various boutiques and show us all the bar locations - embarrassing.

Balcony "Suite" is roomy enough and veranda on 13th(!) Deck was fine. Single bathroom borders on spacious. And shower was better than the tiny Disney bathtub. Bed was a modified short'ish King and VERY comfortable.

Spa was above/beyond that of DCL with many offerings and capacity controlled. DW says Spa experience/$$$'s has become problematic on Magic/Wonder so not a surprise. . .

Thanks for the many comments. When combined with the fact that NCL with its large fleet covers the world, we would consider another NCL cruise if itinerary and calendar was a fit. Otherwise for sea days, theming, attention to detail, and overall entertainment, it's not really close.

Thanks for the report!

Was there anything interesting going on during sea days?

How "short" is the modified king bed?

 

[Lesverts]

Well, if you get coffee or juice, then you're "wasting" one of your 15 drinks because those drinks are much cheaper than the ones with alcohol. So, the math gets even worse in that case.

The unfortunate reality is that NCL only offers the alcoholic package for adults as part of their "free at sea" scheme. If you want the soda or coffee package instead, then you pay full price for it.

Speciality coffee and juices are about 5-8 dollars. 175/105 is 1.67. So no it’s not a waste. And much more responsible then consuming 15 ‘drinks’ a day to get ‘value’ out of something you paid the rough equivalent of 10-12 alcoholic drinks for. Free at sea has a lot of carve outs and is designed for guests to spend more up front because they are getting ‘more’ included. And to allow for the encouragement of spending more on the boat.

 

[JM_97]

Wife, son and I are all Platinum, but the attraction of a last-minute cruise out of NYC in a couple of weeks led us to NCL.
(Have already tried RCCL twice, and no thanks.)

Partly, we wanted someplace to go that wasn't a lot of planning or driving or arranging -- a reason we like the floating resort.

Schedule and pricing for NCL was appropriate. Also, we have become curious about going non-Disney to Canada and/or the Med., as alternative itineraries seem attractive.

We are booked for 5-days out-and-back to Bermuda. We've done that on DCL too. Curious, but with some trepidation. Does that make sense?

Three main differences I am guessing:
* Not Disney, which encompasses culture, politeness, training of staff, yes fellow guests.
* DCL is of course way more expensive, but we expect the many $.05's and $.10's on NCL to add up.
* Dozen+ "little things" that may be better on NCL (edgier comedy shows, Sports bar that offers more than ESPN, steak that is grilled? non-watery oatmeal, lower Spa prices). Maybe 2xDozen+ that are worse (Casino?!, more smoking? boozier atmosphere from all-you-can-drink packages? No owned IP => fewer shows and entertainment offered, no Mickey or other characters!?)

Happy to hear your experiences and advice, but we are going either way.

I've sailed on the NCL Breakaway and had a great time. It's different from DCL, but not in a bad way.

I loved their freestyle dining setup. There are no set dinning times. Whenever you want dinner, you just go. Now you don't get to know the wait staff obviously but I liked how it made dinner so flexible. Want an upscale meal? Get a reservation. Want one of the dinning rooms? Head down to the restaurant. Want to have a cheeseburger by the pool? Go to the buffet. It truly made it a vacation. You also have more options as a whole.

It is slightly cheaper than DCL, but I wouldn't say it's substantial. One thing to account for is that they will nickel and dime you more than Disney. So you more or less make up for it at the end of the day.

Service isn't Disney service but it's in no way bad service. Everyone was so friendly and made sure we were having a good time. One of the bar tenders would always strike up a conversation and it was fun getting to know him. I didn't have one bad interaction. Cabin steward was fantastic as well.

A slightly more of a party vibe, but it's not like a rager. You have all you can drink packages and things aren't as G or PG rated as Disney. Like any other place, don't be a jerk, know your alcohol limits, and have a good time. The casino isn't my thing but it doesn't really bother me either. You have to occassionally walk through the smoke but it is what it is. I don't let it ruin my trip.

So I would definitely recommend it. You will find a lot of differences, but also some overlap. I would put Disney before Norwegian, but would not hesitate to go back to NCL again.

 

[Kwami]

Speciality coffee and juices are about 5-8 dollars. 175/105 is 1.67. So no it’s not a waste. And much more responsible then consuming 15 ‘drinks’ a day to get ‘value’ out of something you paid the rough equivalent of 10-12 alcoholic drinks for. Free at sea has a lot of carve outs and is designed for guests to spend more up front because they are getting ‘more’ included. And to allow for the encouragement of spending more on the boat.

I don't really follow your numbers.

The package is $436 for two people over 10 nights, so $21.80 per person per day. That's all "gratuities", but whatever. If you get three drinks a day (or any sort), then you've paid $7.27 per drink. If one of those three was a soda, then you've overpaid for your soda by quite a lot. You can balance that by getting an alcoholic drink (if you drink alcohol), and then maybe we're back to $7.67 per drink.

But I don't see how it's a good deal unless you actually drink 3+ drinks every day that are each worth at least $7.67 (or two overpriced alcoholic drinks, I suppose), and even then, you aren't saving all that much compared to just buying drinks. To really make this work, you need to drink quite a bit.

 

[Lesverts]

I don't really follow your numbers.

The package is $436 for two people over 10 nights, so $21.80 per person per day. That's all "gratuities", but whatever. If you get three drinks a day (or any sort), then you've paid $7.27 per drink. If one of those three was a soda, then you've overpaid for your soda by quite a lot. You can balance that by getting an alcoholic drink (if you drink alcohol), and then maybe we're back to $7.67 per drink.

But I don't see how it's a good deal unless you actually drink 3+ drinks every day that are each worth at least $7.67 (or two overpriced alcoholic drinks, I suppose), and even then, you aren't saving all that much compared to just buying drinks. To really make this work, you need to drink quite a bit.

When I went it was about 135USD (at the time roughly 175 my money) per person for the gratuity (7 nights when they charged at 18%. Now it is 20 ). And this is just bar package. It’s not a fair comparison to include the service and speciality restaurant ones in as well. That 135 dollars entitles you to 15 uses of the package per day. 105 uses for a seven night cruise. One glass of wine at lunch. One at dinner and two sodas in a day would be something like 28-40 dollars a day. Any way you slice it as long as you are drinking more than water. It is going to generally be worth it to pay the tips and keep the package.

Does it suck NCL passes it on to the consumer unlike HAL and Celebrity. Yea. But overall not having to worry about your 15$ glass of wine with dinner is worth it.

 

[Kwami]

When I went it was about 135USD (at the time roughly 175 my money) per person for the gratuity (7 nights when they charged at 18%. Now it is 20 ). And this is just bar package. It’s not a fair comparison to include the service and speciality restaurant ones in as well. That 135 dollars entitles you to 15 uses of the package per day. 105 uses for a seven night cruise. One glass of wine at lunch. One at dinner and two sodas in a day would be something like 28-40 dollars a day. Any way you slice it as long as you are drinking more than water. It is going to generally be worth it to pay the tips and keep the package.

Does it suck NCL passes it on to the consumer unlike HAL and Celebrity. Yea. But overall not having to worry about your 15$ glass of wine with dinner is worth it.

To be clear...

1. I'm always using USD unless I say otherwise.
2. The price that I quoted is the current price. It is currently $436 for two people on a 10-night cruise, or $21.80 per person per day.
3. I'm not including anything else. This price is only for the drinks package that you get as part of "free at sea" when you book a cruise.
4. A soda is $3 + 20% gratuity, so $3.60. Two sodas and a drink at dinner is nowhere near $28-40 per day.

My math is simple. At $21.80 per day, I need to drink three drinks with a value of $7.67 each or two drinks with a value of $10.90 each. It's barely cheaper than just buying your drinks unless you're having multiple alcoholic drinks every day.

Anyway, it is what is it. The package probably works great for people who like to have 3-5 drinks every day, as some people certainly do. It's just not for me. I do wish that NCL would let me get a "free" soda or coffee package instead, though.

 

[Carohs]

To be clear, NCL FAS drink package does not include water or specialty coffee. The soda package is 9.99 per day pp, so it's about half cost of the gratuities of FAS. At least FAS includes other fun drinks like smoothies and virgin piña coladas, so it can be worth keeping just to try some of those.

ETA that there is no 15 drink limit on NCL.

 

[Kwami]

To be clear, NCL FAS drink package does not include water or specialty coffee. The soda package is 9.99 per day pp, so it's about half cost of the gratuities of FAS. At least FAS includes other fun drinks like smoothies and virgin piña coladas, so it can be worth keeping just to try some of those.

ETA that there is no 15 drink limit on NCL.

It's $9.99 per day per person before gratuities. It's actually $11.99. Since a soda is $3.60 (including gratuities), you'd have to drink four sodas every day to make the package worth it. Unfortunately, that package also doesn't include coffees.

 

[DisneyConvert]

Thanks for the report!

Was there anything interesting going on during sea days?

How "short" is the modified king bed?

Well, the ship is a large, floating resort with a big ropes course, water slides, lots of trivia contests in main atrium, bar/cover bands, and they have a big game room/arcade with bowling alleys. Movies are almost a joke compared to Disney (I think they showed "Frozen I" five times!?) . . . and there is 1 (one!) entertainment guy vs. the team on DCL. No special tea's or meet & greets. I think they had tours of different parts of the ship, but after our 1st "introductory tour," we didn't pursue.

King Size Bed is supposed to be 80" long . . . and I am 5'`10" => 70".
Bed extends under the headboard for ~2 inches of mostly wasted space (for bottom pillow?), and my head at headboard meant that my feet are close to foot of the bed.
So I estimate 72~74" in length, which is the length of a Twin.
So maybe, as per many sites have speculated, the "King" on NCL is really two "Twin's" put together.
But it sure was comfortable.

 

[DCLMP]

I don't really follow your numbers.

The package is $436 for two people over 10 nights, so $21.80 per person per day. That's all "gratuities", but whatever. If you get three drinks a day (or any sort), then you've paid $7.27 per drink. If one of those three was a soda, then you've overpaid for your soda by quite a lot. You can balance that by getting an alcoholic drink (if you drink alcohol), and then maybe we're back to $7.67 per drink.

But I don't see how it's a good deal unless you actually drink 3+ drinks every day that are each worth at least $7.67 (or two overpriced alcoholic drinks, I suppose), and even then, you aren't saving all that much compared to just buying drinks. To really make this work, you need to drink quite a bit.

Three drinks a day isn't that much for a lot of people and you are leaving out that it includes coffee drinks, non-alcoholic drinks, soda, juices, and bottled water. The unlimited bottle is a huge plus. It might even include energy drinks and Gatorade, but I can't confirm that.

For the majority of people yourself not included it's a smoking deal. You also are not forced to buy it even though it's free. I would love to pay 22 dollars a day on DCL for unlimited drinks. I could spend that much just on coffee,

 

[lklgoodman]

Three drinks a day isn't that much for a lot of people and you are leaving out that it includes coffee drinks, non-alcoholic drinks, soda, juices, and bottled water. The unlimited bottle is a huge plus. It might even include energy drinks and Gatorade, but I can't confirm that.

For the majority of people yourself not included it's a smoking deal. You also are not forced to buy it even though it's free. I would love to pay 22 dollars a day on DCL for unlimited drinks. I could spend that much just on coffee,

When we salied on the Encore this past June, the FAS drink package that we were offered didn't include coffee, smoothies, water, or soda. The one we were offered was a little bit over $400 for my dh and me for our seven night Alaska cruise. That was for alcoholic drinks only. If we wanted coffee, smoothies, water, or soda we would have had to upgrade and paid an additional $150 pp. A soda package for my daughter was going to be around $200 I think. We ended up not getting the soda package, so I don't remember exactly how much it was. She doesn't drink a lot of soda, so it was cheaper to just buy it when she wanted it.

 

[Kwami]

Three drinks a day isn't that much for a lot of people and you are leaving out that it includes coffee drinks, non-alcoholic drinks, soda, juices, and bottled water. The unlimited bottle is a huge plus. It might even include energy drinks and Gatorade, but I can't confirm that.

For the majority of people yourself not included it's a smoking deal. You also are not forced to buy it even though it's free. I would love to pay 22 dollars a day on DCL for unlimited drinks. I could spend that much just on coffee,

I was very clearly talking about myself and my use case. I didn't ignore anything and I didn't leave anything out. If you can't be bothered to read what I actually wrote, then there's no point in having a discussion.

In any case, the drinks package is obviously not "free". It also does not include coffee drinks, unless you mean the basic coffee that everyone gets for free.

 

[DCLMP]

I was very clearly talking about myself and my use case. I didn't ignore anything and I didn't leave anything out. If you can't be bothered to read what I actually wrote, then there's no point in having a discussion.

In any case, the drinks package is obviously not "free". It also does not include coffee drinks, unless you mean the basic coffee that everyone gets for free.

Relax, It's still a good deal for most of us. You've been posting about this cruise you don't want to go on for months. I've never seen anyone so stressed out about a cruise. You think you were going to jail or something.

I hope you have a good time when all is said and done.