daggct

Flying in Friday night either way. More worried about a flight delay/cancellation flying to Anchorage the day before departure. Round trip is not an option, daughter has to be back at work.

Just too many options...

I would like to book a one week Alaska cruise for myself (50f) and my daughter (20s). The only thing that cannot change is the cruise departure date, June 29 or 30.

the possibilities are the HA Koningsdam, Noordam, or Nieuw Amsterdam, Royal or Sapphire Princess, or Celebrity Solstice. Each one has plusses and minuses. 

My initial thoughts were northbound (less worries about missing the ship, many more flights to Vancouver, daughter only has one week off from work), leaving Sunday (same reason), but then was worried that HA would skew a little older and may not be as fun on the ship. Princess is probably a better fit, Sapphire being preferable to Royal due to ship size, but then realized that week they tender in Juneau and have a 6:30 am arrival (absolutely will still be sleeping). Solstice is a good fit, but Icy Straight Point instead of Skagway?

So what do you think? We can be flexible on some things (like southbound over northbound) but not on others (departure dates, 6:30 am wake up).Every time I think about it I come up with a different decision. Please Help!

I don't have any advice. I just wanted to say...You are my hero. I would totally be your wingman if I were there.

The Harmony and the Breakaway are the only two ships we have traveled on as a family. The Breakaway this past December and the Harmony the December before, both during Christmas week. Overall we preferred the Harmony.

My girls (currently 16 & 18) spend all of their time together, preferably without us, and will not go to the teen club.

To give a few side by side comparisons, we thought the Harmony had better entertainment, better pool deck, more fun atmosphere during the day, better internet, and we much preferred the promenade over 678 Ocean (?).

The Breakaway had (much) better food everywhere except the buffet. 

We had wonderful cabin attendants on both ships, and felt wait times at the bars (and in fact overall service) were about equal.

We saw Six (twice!) on our December cruise and loved it. I would describe the staging to be like a concert. There is a band in the back of the stage, with the six singers (wives) in front. It is mostly singing and dancing, with very few spoken lines. There is no set change or "scenes" as you would typically think of a Broadway style production. Some of the lyrics could be deemed inappropriate, but that is up to you. For instance...one of the lines in a song is something like "I wouldn't be such a b**** if you could get it up". Will your kids catch that one line? Maybe. If they did would they understand it? Up to you. (Not saying that is the only time a sexual reference is given, it's just one I happen to remember). 

You can see videos of the songs on youtube. We found the NCL version to be exactly like the West End. 

When we boarded the Breakaway in December there was  VIP/Haven/Handicapped in the same line. It was much shorter than the regular line. 

Happy New Year!

We are on this cruise too!

We cruised last year the same week on a similar ship. You can expect everything on the ship to be very crowded. Many people travel with their extended family, so a lot of large groups. Every restaurant full every night-make reservations if you want the specialties.

In Grand Cayman you can expect most things to be closed Christmas Day. Many of the restaurants that are open are already booked. I contacted The Coral Beach Club, they said they're open-but they're not very responsive so I don't have any other info.

Has anyone been to this new beach club? 

It is the only thing open and available on Christmas Day when we are in port.

Looking for opinions, menus, prices, etc. Can't find much info

Thanks

I can't compare the two for you, but we were in an SJ on the Dawn last week (12012) and I thought it was the perfect choice. You are so close to the public areas on 12 and 13 that we never stayed in the room. There is no noise from above in the morning, we think our room was under an outdoor stairway on 13, it's an unusual space on the Dawn above you-very quiet.

As nomad098 said, they balcony is not very private. Everyone is looking over the rail on deck 13, right onto your balcony. If your sailing has a lot of kids, I would avoid those rooms.

The downside of the SJ is that the windows are very dirty. 

Also, on the Dawn the jogging track is aft, near Moderno. 

The same thing happened to me!

I checked in last night but for some reason it won't save our home phone number. I eventually gave up and went to sleep.

You're not doing anything wrong, it must be the website.

Thanks Dave!

Looking at the excursion choices for our stop at Great Stirrup Cay I see a listing for "Oceanview Villa at Silver Cove". We have never sailed NCL before, so have never been to GSC. Does anyone have any info on these villas? We are a very fair skinned, late sleeping family, so I'd like to know that we will have shade once we get off the ship. There are no reviews on the NCL website. Thanks.

On 5/31/2019 at 10:05 AM, NYcruzzer said:

That was my point..If you are interested in those perks then NCL may come out a little cheaper..Plus their drink package can be used on embarkation day. Cheers on Carnival out of NYC doesn't start until day 2.

Does anyone know the reason for this? The drink package will definitely be part of whichever cruise we choose.

Carnival's probably works better for us, we drink a  lot of bottled water and espresso. And in this case we're not getting on the ship till later in the day of embarkation, so paying for one less day on Carnival is ok.Just wondering.

Thank you all.

We are hoping for a price drop over the summer. Since we're not particularly invested in either, we may just wait and see which is less expensive and decide then.

21 hours ago, NYcruzzer said:

For the date you selected a Balcony on Carnival is $1621.00 (all-in including port ) for two. NCL comes in at $2278.00 (all -in including port,fees, and service charge for UBP and dining package. ) ..NCL's offer includes 4 "free" perks including Drink Package, Wi-fi, Specialty dinner package, and ShoreX credit. .. In essence you are paying for the freebies. I would sail either line in a heartbeat. If there is a major storm a coming then you may get diverted North to Canada instead of Bermuda..Have a great cruise if you go !

Agreed, but since the drinks package and internet are things we will get anyway adding them to the Carnival price makes them pretty evenly priced. 

My husband and I are looking into our first cruise without the kids, second cruise overall. Over Christmas we were on the RCCL Harmony and loved it.

Trying to not use vacation days, I have narrowed it down to the Sunrise or the Dawn. Both are 4 day cruises to Bermuda from NYC (we are local and do not want to have to fly to the port).

The cruises have the same itinerary, similar prices, and are one week apart in Sept 2019. Sunrise is Thursday to Monday, Dawn is Friday to Tuesday. 

Extra info- I know it's hurricane season, but we can't switch to October-too much going on, and by November it's not warm enough for us. We are around 50, kids away at school. Don't want to be the oldest people on the ship-or the youngest. 

Has anyone been on these ships/itineraries before? 

Thanks!

Thank you everyone for the advice.

It looks like we are going to stick with the Breakaway. The shows are too important to our kids. The Seaside sounds better for an adults only trip for us. Everyone on CC makes MSC sound so great I thought it was worth a look, and the price is much better, but it sounds like not a perfect fit for this trip.

Thanks @graphicguy

I think we'll probably stick with the Breakaway. We loved the RCCL entertainment and thought MSC might be similar, and we could save $$ at the same time. But it sounds like it's not quite what we were hoping for. It will stay on my list for when we travel without the kids and shows are not as meaningful to us.

Thank you all for your input. 

We are booked in two Courtyard suites on the Breakaway, and would choose two similar suites on the Seaside, so I'm not sure there would be a huge difference there. And, fwiw, the ports are exactly the same also.

I guess I'm most worried about the entertainment and food. On the Harmony we ate at specialty restaurants and saw a show every night. Concierges would be great so I don't have to worry about reservations, besides that we're pretty low maintenance.

2 hours ago, Até said:

Since you mention two in high school, what cabin type did you book on Breakaway?  Are you considering booking all four people into one YC Deluxe Suite?

No, we booked two courtyard penthouse suites on the Breakaway, and would get two similar suites on the Seaside.

My family has booked the Breakaway for our cruise in Dec 19, but I'm beginning to wonder if we've made the best choice.

The only cruise we've been on is the Harmony Dec 18. We loved almost everything about it, having both the unlimited beverage and dining plans. Our favorite thing was the entertainment- Grease, Ice Shows, Aqua Theatre, etc (production shows hold more value to us than the headliners or music groups). The one thing we hated was the search for chairs every day because we are not early risers. We figured booking the haven would help alleviate that issue. Now that I'm reading more reviews, I'm wondering if the Seaside might also be a good fit? 

Anybody have experience with both? FWIW- We would only book Haven or Yacht. There is a difference in price, large but not prohibitive. We are beholden to school schedules (two high schoolers) so both ships will be full.

Thanks!

PS- Cross posting on NCL to get info from both.

My family has booked the Breakaway for our cruise in Dec 19, but I'm beginning to wonder if we've made the best choice.

The only cruise we've been on is the Harmony Dec 18. We loved almost everything about it, having both the unlimited beverage and dining plans. Our favorite thing was the entertainment- Grease, Ice Shows, Aqua Theatre, etc (production shows hold more value to us than the headliners or music groups). The one thing we hated was the search for chairs every day because we are not early risers. We figured booking the haven would help alleviate that issue. Now that I'm reading more reviews, I'm wondering if the Seaside might also be a good fit? 

Anybody have experience with both? FWIW- We would only book Haven or Yacht. There is a difference in price, large but not prohibitive. We are beholden to school schedules (two high schoolers) so both ships will be full.

Thanks!

PS- Cross posting on MSC to get info from both.

We were there twice on the Harmony this past Christmas. It was our favorite of the specialty restaurants. We had the ultimate dining package, so whether it is "worth it" I can't say. We paid $152pp and ate specialty every dinner and a few lunches, so our price per meal was not the going rate.

FWIW- We are meat eaters so I expected to go to Chops at least two or three times. We had dinner there the first night and nobody liked their steaks (oddly mushy and no crust) so we never went back. The tenderloin at 150 was much better, as was the bread and salts, and desserts. The basil pan cotta was a huge hit if you're willing to step outside the box.

As for comparison, we're not huge pasta eaters so although we went to Jamie's it was just ok. We loved Wonderland, more for the experience than some of the food, which was good but not "special" (but then again, I wouldn't say 150 was "special" either, just a nice dinner).

I think it depends what you're used to at home. We live outside NYC, so restaurants like Wonderland are everywhere. If you live someplace you don't get that too often, I would pick that. 

11231 had it's muster at guest services.