Hey everyone!!!!! Nan....this is for you
but everyone can read it, just my mini TR from my cruise to Alaska last week.....comparison of NCL vs
DCL. It looked much prettier in word, the DIS just smushed it all together, sorry!
TR: Norweigan Cruise Line July 4-11 2009 Ketchican, Juneau, Sawyer Glacier, Skagway, Prince Rupert, BC
Overall: Great cruise. Weather was fantastic
.mid 80s most days in Alaska and only one grey day heading into Prince Rupert.
Food: I thought DCL had much better food. Scott liked both. This is the freestyle cruise line so you can eat whenever you want. That is, you can eat in the 2 free restaurants on board
one very nice and one very small. They both have the same menu with one page the same every night of the cruise and about 4 or 5 apps and 4 main dishes a night. Since we werent assigned to a table or waiters, we never really got to know our waitstaff and often felt they were a bit grumpy
..they all pool tips so no one really tried to go over the top to make it worthwhile. We did have one great waiter the second to last night who reminded us of Putu. The girls loved him, he did magic and made towel creatures. He was great
but we never saw him again. There were 5 or 6 other rest on board, but each one had a per person surcharge, from 10.00 per person to 35.00 per person. We ate at 2 of those
.just Scott and I. The girls were at kids club one night and then they went to Aqua (another rest) with some friends just the kids on the last night. Both rest were good, but again, you couldnt order like you could on Disney
scott wanted Lobster and to try the shrimp and they said normally they would have to charge an additional 10.00 for the extra entrée! They didnt but ugh. There is lobster every night
but only 1x in the free dining rooms, the other nights they are in 2 of the pay rest. We never waited for a table and could eat whenever we wanted. They have a buffet as well, for all meals. Jaide said she liked DCLs much better, but I couldnt tell the difference. The buffets are all the same to me (but NCL doesnt have Krispy Kremes). The dessert buffet was much better on DCL
just the artistry was incredible.
Kids Club: Horrible. Had to bribe or force the girls to go into for a few times just so Scott and I could have some adult time. We gave Jaide sign in/out privledges which she enjoyed. She was great about calling us to tell us where she was going. The big negative for me was no pagers. You let the staff know about where you were going to be and they would try and find you. Once when we went to get Tay she was pretty sad because she had wanted to leave earlier (we were just hanging in the room thinking that she was having fun) but no one let us know. I really didnt like that aspect. They also charged you 6.00 per hour after 10:30pm and on port days. DCL definitely knows how to do kids club right! But it is Disney, right?!
Casino: Ok, gotta admit, loved having one on board (probably because we came home a few hundred ahead), but I love to gamble. Scott and I went there a few times and played some 3 card poker . It was a nice option for a night out.
Bar/Nightlife: DCL was much better. Had more activities for the adults at night. We never went to the bars or dances or anything (probably because we had to get the kids at 1030 and because we didnt have any of our DIS friends to hang with)
Soda: had to pay 50.00ish per person for soda for the week (or pay 1.50 per soda plus tip etc). Only free drinks, juice in am and unsweetened ice tea during day/night. Soda not even free at dinner.
Rooms: WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY smaller than DCL. We had an inside cabin this time, but I still think it was about half the size of a Disney room. We pretty much could only all be in the room to sleep otherwise we were tripping over each other!
Smoking: way more on this ship
.even allowed near the pools and such. Definitely big negative for me.
Atrium: kind of sad compared to DCLs beauty.
Ship: overall very nice. The girls liked the kids pool area better on NCL than DCL. There was only 1 pool though but it was never really crowded
bet that is different on southern cruises.
Pictures: well, for those who know me
.looking at the pics was a daily treat for me and I bought 2 pictures! They were expensive and no packages or deals. 18.99 for 8x10s and 8.99 for 5x7s. We only posed for the formal night pics and I didnt like any of them. Even the special on deck ones at the glacier were bad. Photographers were very nice though.
Cost: I know DCL is one of the most expensive ships out there, but I felt like it is more all inclusive. I really felt like I was dinged every time I turned around on NCL. I would rather pay it all up front and then cruise more openly than worry about charges as we go. Scott and I were successful at sneaking (yup, you have to get creative and sneak booze on as it is not allowed like DCL does) on some bottles of wine and vodka so that helped. Since you dont really have anyone specific to tip
.they just charge you 12.00 per person per day or 48.00 per day for our family for tips. Dont remember if that would have been cheaper or not compared to the Disney one. Cant remember what we ended up tipping.
Ports: loved the Alaska cruise. Never wanted to do one, but when you win one, cant say no! All the towns were great. The shopping was fun. The scenery was incredible. We only did one excursion
the train ride and gold camp
it was pretty amazing. Again the scenery is just overwhelming. We took so many scenery pics just hoping for one or 2 framable ones.
Ketchican: cute town. Alaskas first town. Fun just to walk around. We did some shopping and then back onto the boat for the free food! LOL
Juneau: wished we had more time there
.would have loved to have gone to the Mendenhall Glacier but we didnt have time. Almost missed the boat as it was
.needed to get on the tram by 1230 to make the boat and at 1227 we were waiting for the tram to arrive. Thankfully there were about 10 others waiting with us or I would have been a mess!
Skagway: loved the cute old town
..lots of history there. Town had 5 ships in the day we were there so really crowded. Town goes down to 400 people in the winter! Here is where we did the excursion.
Prince Rupert
.waste of time. Got to go to safeway for Canadian candy
.only plus about the port.
Sawyer Glacier
.amazing!
If you consider alaksa cruise on NCL, I would say go on the Pearl not the Star
.they spend more time in Juneau, go to Victoria instead of Prince Rupert and do Glacier Bay National Park for a full day not just an afternoon visit to 1 glacier. We put down a deposit on another cruise to possible take next summer with my mom and dad. Well see
.maybe a Repo cruise reunion on the NCL Pearl next summer?!
If you arent on FB and want to see pics, pop me a message with your email and I can send you a link.
Cant think of anything else to compare
..but ask away, I will try and check the DIS for the next few days.
Missed you all on board though
.it just wasnt the same
Now I have to do laundry and clean the guinea pig cage. Need to vacuum & do dishes & mow too, but probably won't have time before picking Tyler up. 
I sit in our family room, watch 
and 
and she is in her hutch right next to the couch. She is really cute and Molly hardely takes her out so I'm sad for her trapped in there all the time with out a hug or cuddle. 
Most are nasty, but this is the only one that's always very clean, has TV and wireless internet. It's a bit further away than others, but I discovered it when Tyler was very young (they have a playroom with one whole wall as a chalkboard) and have been coming ever since (except for the last 3 years when I had a washer and dryer at home). 
Trying to kill time by catching up on FB. 8 friend requests, 7 friend suggestions, 1 message in my inbox, 1 event invitation, and 104 other requests. 
In case I forgot to mention this, I don't go there very often, folks! 
