CruizinSusan70

My guesstimate would be day two, sea day one.

Spend hundreds and hundreds more for a 78.00 dinner for two.🤔🤔🤔

How difficult is it to take the price they quote with the perks and subtract the frills free sailaway rate? The difference is what you pay for the perks. That is of course you can find a sail away rate.

Please humor me with an apples to apples comparison when you can sail on X at an all inclusive rate versus a bare bones Carnival rate. I don't even think 7 days on the oldest M Class ship versus the Mardi Gras or Celebration would result in Carnival being more.

You are obviously a NCL virgin and don't know how their marketing strategy works. A smart consumer always looks at the fine print and should never make assumptions. If you just look at the surface and assume that your getting unlimited wifi or specialty dining each night or a totally free drinks package then you'll be sadly mistaken when you find out the truth. NCL is an entry level cruise line along with RCI, Carnival and MSC. Each of them has their own distinctive way of trying to lure new customers and it's obvious that you don't like the way that they promote their product. Only you can decide if a NCL cruise is right for you or not. It's obvious that you don't like their marketing strategy, but at the same time you would have to be extremely foolish or just downright naive to think that an entry level cruise line was going to give you free unlimited specialty dining for each of your cruising nights as well as a totally free alcoholic drinks package with the gratuities already factored in. This is not the first thread on the NCL forums from someone that doesn't like the marketing strategy of NCL, mistakenly assume that they get a drink package with included tips or free specialty dining every night of their cruise. And there will be push back from the loyalists because NCL is their cruise line of choice. The same things happen on other boards on CC as well, no matter the line. The free drinks package that adds on hundreds is 20 bucks pppd to cover gratuities. Nobody is forcing you to pay it, you have the option to opt out as many teetotalers do. You also have the option to sail on MSC, where they have a free drinks promotion on occasion. Carnival and RCI don't have all inclusive pricing, but if you move a step up the chain, there are all in pricing packages on Celebrity, Princess or HAL.

The steakhouse at 39.00 pp is a bargain compared to Celebrity, Carnival, & Royal. Even more so compared to NCL and MSC, whose steakhouses are a la carte.

I thought you were talking about a CBS show that just concluded on Paramount+

The Mardi Gras and Celebration have even more venues to enjoy, including the Limelight lounge doing family comedy and the Punchline doing adult comedy, sometimes simultaneously. And the MG theater does late night comedy a few nights as well.

I will assume you're getting them at Target at a 5% discount through the circle club. You can get them via Allstate or AARP for a 10% discount.

And at $21.24 after tip, no matter how good that 24.00 drink is, I'd pass and enjoy a cheaper substitute (or 2 or 3) that's included with Cheers. Since I don't drink champagne or scotch or will drink cheaper rum or tequila, I'll never have this dilemma.

There's going to be more emphasis on the ship within a ship concept than going after families because of two new attractions.

No you only get it on February 30.

You mentioned in your previous post about receiving two nights of specialty dining. My response is that it's not two, but could only be one if you are residing in an inside or OV cabin up to an 11 day sailing. If you're entitled to more dinners because of length of the cruise or staying in a balcony or above, either way you will pay the 20% gratuity. I will infer that this is your point of contention. The dining is free, just like the drink package is free. They each have gratuities added that are mandatory. If you don't like NCL's marketing, there are a plethora of other cruise lines to choose from.

Depending upon where you're staying and the length of your cruise, it could be only a single night of specialty. That's what it is for inside and OV cabins up to I believe an 11 night sailing. And it's not misrepresentation because they never imply that it's for every night of your cruise.

You live across the pond. P&O, Costa, & AIDA are the Carnival Corporation divisions that are in Europe. Carnival usually has a single obligatory ship there and Princess has about 6 ships there over the course of a year. With the Sun Princess starting in Europe you are implying that the upscale experience can't be done on a larger ship. You stated "No place for same quality at different sizes." It seems like the Sun is starting to take a page from other cruise lines with the ship within a ship concept. Celebrity has it with the Retreat, RCI has it with the Star Class, NCL has it with the Haven and your cruise line of choice MSC has it with the Yacht Club. With the exception of Celebrity, the other 3 lines are doing it with comparable or even larger ships compared to the Sun. It's all speculation at this point, but there will be a market for the Sun and it's unnamed sister coming out in 2025.

Don't know either. He or she cruises primarily on MSC and occasionally on RCI. Doesn't have a horse in this race regarding the marketing of the Sphere Class ships.

If it's a desert, wouldn't it be pretty dry and you would need a lot of coffee to wash it down?

Carnival Corporation is selling off another three. Two Costa ships and an unnamed third. Speculation is that the third could be one of the two remaining Fantasy Class ships from Carnival. The older less efficient ships are falling by the wayside since they need to chip away at the billions in debt because of the pandemic. Those that yearn for the smaller ships are going to have to enjoy the few that are still around and eventually pivot to another line.

Just like chair hogs and balcony smokers.

If someone bestows you a voucher for a free dinner for two at your local restaurant, do you give your server the voucher and leave? Or do you give them a tip for serving you? The dinner was free with the voucher you got, yet you still paid a 20% tip. The same is true with NCL. You pay a 20% tip on the "free" drink package. It's creative marketing. You can opt out of it as many teetotalers do.

To the OP. Here's another thought. Since this cruise is coming after a week of Disney, where it's run and gun each and every day, you could just chill and enjoy whichever ship you choose, especially if it's the Wonder or the MG. There are plenty of things to do on each ship and nobody is forcing you to drop 1000+ on shore excursions. Grand Turk, Amber Cove and CocoCay can all be enjoyed for free as well.

Make that comedy clubs. The MG has two, the Limelight lounge does family shows and the Punchliner does adult shows as well as late night in the MG theater.

Obviously the bean counters at Princess and Carnival Corporation disagree with you, otherwise the Sphere Class would not be coming into existence. Cruise lines evolve and obviously not all cruisers do.

According to your signature your lone Princess cruise was in 2006 or 16 years ago. Are you the same today that you were 16 years ago? Of course not. And it's the same with Princess. We have only done Princess once, for 14 days on their newest ship the Discovery. And our overall experience was just as good as the Mardi Gras, just as good as the Norwegian Prima and just as good as the Celebrity Apex. Have sailed on all four of the newest ships in these respective fleets this year. None of them were perfect, but all were well above average and we would sail on each of them again with no problem.

We have done two cruises on the Discovery, last April on a B2B. The buffet at breakfast was standard, but the pastries were an upgrade. The buffet was terrible at lunchtime. Besides burgers, dogs and pizza on the Lido, the other choices for lunch are the MDR on sea days or Alfredo's for pizza and a few other choices. Since we are spoiled by the vast level of choices at lunchtime on Carnival, it was a letdown on Princess. To alleviate this problem, we ate at Alfredo's and the MDR for lunch the overwhelming majority of our 14 days on board. We only went to the buffet twice at lunch and then gave up. We never do buffets at dinnertime, so I can't comment on it. But, in general, we enjoyed ourselves. We have 14 days reserved next year to Alaska on the Majestic and we'll reserve a cruise on the Sun during the fall of 2024 once the booking window opens, hopefully for 20 days./ Regarding Princess Plus, our cruises this year and next were 40 per day and have since gone up to 50 and are now 60 or an upgraded version for 80.