Long-time DCL'ers, trying Norwegian

[mjkacmom]

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.

Actually there is no max on NCL, drink to your heart’s content.

 

[mjkacmom]

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.

I sail NCL, soda IS included with the UBP. Water, fresh juice and specialty coffee drinks are not. Most alcoholic drinks are over $10, so drink just 2 a day and you break even, add a soda and you’re ahead already. The 15 limit is carnival, not NCL.

 

[DCLMP]

I sail NCL, soda IS included with the UBP. Water, fresh juice and specialty coffee drinks are not. Most alcoholic drinks are over $10, so drink just 2 a day and you break even, add a soda and you’re ahead already. The 15 limit is carnival, not NCL.

The specialty coffees were included in the Royal's package. Of course, it was not free, but they do discount them every once in a while.

I've heard black Friday is a big day for discounts on excursions and drink packages. Maybe on NCL too. If anybody is booked on anything other than DCL I would check next week for deals.

 

[mjkacmom]

The specialty coffees were included in the Royal's package. Of course, it was not free, but they do discount them every once in a while.

I've heard black Friday is a big day for discounts on excursions and drink packages. Maybe on NCL too. If anybody is booked on anything other than DCL I would check next week for deals.

I don’t think NCL could go much lower, the price for RCL’s drink package is usually to steep for me. I think I paid around $50 a day on NCL before it’s was “free” which is more reasonable, maybe I’ll check out RCL’s Black Friday sale (can get to cape liberty and Manhattan in under 30 minutes).

 

[DisneyConvert]

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.

Yes, that's the Soda package we signed up for.

I drink 4+ sodas/day including one~two/day "double" soda waters that most of the bartenders would pour right into my screw-top tumbler so I could carry my own portable seltzer waters around all day, and have in my room. Fridge kept items COLD, so the arrangement was good.

DW likes her "fancy" coffee (and LOVES Cove Cafe), but did NOT procure Starbucks on NCL. Instead, she used the included-upon-request coffee maker to make hot water and then used her AeroPress to make her own . . .

 

[Kwami]

Yes, that's the Soda package we signed up for.

I drink 4+ sodas/day including one~two/day "double" soda waters that most of the bartenders would pour right into my screw-top tumbler so I could carry my own portable seltzer waters around all day, and have in my room. Fridge kept items COLD, so the arrangement was good.

DW likes her "fancy" coffee (and LOVES Cove Cafe), but did NOT procure Starbucks on NCL. Instead, she used the included-upon-request coffee maker to make hot water and then used her AeroPress to make her own . . .

But wouldn't it have been better if you could get the soda package "free at sea" instead of getting the alcohol package? Unfortunately, NCL doesn't do that.

It's a problem common to cruise lines. They all assume that all adults want to drink alcohol. That's why Disney has a dozen different alcohol tasting events and zero soda, coffee, or chocolate tasting events (except for the chocolate one that also has alcohol!). Even at the Remy dessert experience, you have to ask for a non-alcoholic drink because the default is alcohol. They don't pro-actively ask you.

Oh, well. It's just something to get used to, even if it's disappointing.

 

[SeattleSuz]

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.

We have been with NCL twice. The first time, I was more impressed with the food and the customer service. But this last time, in April, we were not really impressed. The quality of food and service seemed to go way down. You pay extra for the specialty dining and for a $100+ meal, you kind of expect it to be spectacular and it was not. I did like their on board Starbucks (we paid for unlimited coffee), but other than that, the embarkation and disembarkation process were both literally H E double hockeysticks. My hubby said, "not again".

 

[DisneyConvert]

We have been with NCL twice... . the embarkation and disembarkation process were both literally H E double hockeysticks. My hubby said, "not again".

This was our third embarkation out of the Manhattan Cruise Terminal (clearly NOT a modern facility), BUT considering the # of passengers, it was not awful.

Disembarkation was another story -- it was AWFUL. I think they had 4 check-out stations for the entire ship. So a 40min queue snaking back/forth thruOUT most.of the 7th Deck made it clear that NCL's cost control was more important than the convenience of their passengers.

 

[Kwami]

This was our third embarkation out of the Manhattan Cruise Terminal (clearly NOT a modern facility), BUT considering the # of passengers, it was not awful.

Disembarkation was another story -- it was AWFUL. I think they had 4 check-out stations for the entire ship. So a 40min queue snaking back/forth thruOUT most.of the 7th Deck made it clear that NCL's cost control was more important than the convenience of their passengers.

How does disembarkation morning work on NCL? Does everyone have to leave at a certain time, or is it more flexible like DCL? Do you have assigned breakfast times, or can you just go when you want to?

 

[SeattleSuz]

This was our third embarkation out of the Manhattan Cruise Terminal (clearly NOT a modern facility), BUT considering the # of passengers, it was not awful.

Disembarkation was another story -- it was AWFUL. I think they had 4 check-out stations for the entire ship. So a 40min queue snaking back/forth thruOUT most.of the 7th Deck made it clear that NCL's cost control was more important than the convenience of their passengers.

Ours was a complete cluster. If you were carrying your own luggage, they told you to be on a certain deck, standing in line. And then it was down the stairs from there, where pretty much everyone else decided that they all needed to crowd the stairs and they needed to get off. It was like a huge herd of cattle down 3 flights of stairs, trying to carry luggage. It was freakin awful. And that was in San Diego

 

[SeattleSuz]

How does disembarkation morning work on NCL? Does everyone have to leave at a certain time, or is it more flexible like DCL? Do you have assigned breakfast times, or can you just go when you want to?

Ha. I guess it depends on where you are getting off. When we got off in Miami, it was fairly easy, not crowded, we had certain times. But in San Diego (April 2023), it was horrible. See my post above.

 

[lklgoodman]

Ours was a complete cluster. If you were carrying your own luggage, they told you to be on a certain deck, standing in line. And then it was down the stairs from there, where pretty much everyone else decided that they all needed to crowd the stairs and they needed to get off. It was like a huge herd of cattle down 3 flights of stairs, trying to carry luggage. It was freakin awful. And that was in San Diego

We had a similar experience after our cruise in Seattle this past June.
You aren't assigned a time for breakfast. We didn't carry off our luggage. The day before disembarkation they will have different colored tags for your luggage. Each color is assigned a specific time. You pick whatever color(time) you want. Our flight wasn't leaving until 3pm, I don't remember what time I picked but it was one of the later times. After eating breakfast we headed to the atrium to wait for our color to be called. What a mess! You couldn't even get off the elevators because the lines were blocking them. Employees telling people to get off 2 decks above and to carry luggage down the stairs. Colors were being called but then some employees telling people to sit back down while other employees would then tell the same people to get in line. No one knew what to do. We got in line when our color was called. Stood in line for over an hour! The line went up and down decks, from the aft to the forward, back and forth. It was a nightmare! I had a really nice conversation with the elderly couple next in line to me though. I had read on another site that the disembarkation system was horrible, but wasn't expecting it to be that bad. We've done 8 DCL cruises and have never waited more than 15-20 mins, usually much less than that. This was the only NCL cruise we have done. I'm not sure if they do the color tags at all ports or not.

 

[mjkacmom]

This was our third embarkation out of the Manhattan Cruise Terminal (clearly NOT a modern facility), BUT considering the # of passengers, it was not awful.

Disembarkation was another story -- it was AWFUL. I think they had 4 check-out stations for the entire ship. So a 40min queue snaking back/forth thruOUT most.of the 7th Deck made it clear that NCL's cost control was more important than the convenience of their passengers.

You do realize it’s run by the NY port authority and not NCL? I’ve had good and bad disembarkments at the MCT, our cruises always returned on Sundays and a few times the MCT was understaffed.

 

[Cfabar1]

I think disembarkation could be done better on all cruise ships, including Disney. That said, Disney did it better than the other line I was on by far.

 

[DisneyConvert]

You do realize it’s run by the NY port authority and not NCL? I’ve had good and bad disembarkments at the MCT, our cruises always returned on Sundays and a few times the MCT was understaffed.

Yes, I do.

But the hold-up for disembarkation was all internal to the NCL ship.
Once our cards were swiped (only 4 stations for 4,500 passengers), the processing thru the MCT wasnt awful.

Embarkation which fine was on a Sunday.
Disembarkation was a Friday.
My mileage varied.

 

[Anna131517]

Did you already cruise? How did it go?

 

[DisneyConvert]

Did you already cruise? How did it go?

Read pp's 2-3.

 

[mjkacmom]

Yes, I do.

But the hold-up for disembarkation was all internal to the NCL ship.
Once our cards were swiped (only 4 stations for 4,500 passengers), the processing thru the MCT wasnt awful.

Embarkation which fine was on a Sunday.
Disembarkation was a Friday.
My mileage varied.

I believe ships will delay getting folks to security if there aren’t enough agents, there is only so much room. On our last cruise it was super fast getting through, almost comical, we were encouraged to run!