rhinomike

I hate when people say "if you don't want to dress up go eat at the buffet". My family does not like to eat dinner at the buffet. We HATE to dress up. I wear nice shorts in the MDR on casual nights. On dress up night I wear nice new dark jeans and a polo. That is how I am comfortable. We like eating in the MDR. We don't want buffet food for dinner.

We are very well off. We can afford any cruise line. We stick with NCL and Carnival because of the dress code. Every time I stray and look at Cunard or Princess my wife reminds me about the dress code. I say oh yeah.

We eat dinner at many 5 star restaurants. Many of them do not have table cloths. Our favorite is Morton's Steakhouse. We eat their weekly. Normally I wear jeans but sometimes nice shorts. Some people dress up. Whatever they want it doesnt affect my experience whatsoever. I am a very good tipper and the staff are always happy to see me. They not care what I wear.

I guess I'm just a low class kind of guy. :)

Unless this is a special occasion I don't think even I'd splurge an extra $2500, but I'd keep an eye on these suites prices. When I originally booked our cruises on the Star I'd booked family suites on deck 12, but kept watching the DOS price.

 

Sure enough the price kept dropping, and by the time I added in we'd not need soda packages, and the three bottles of alcohol one of the cruises was actually less than the family suite. The other cruise was only a few hundreds more.

 

Also, keep in mind you'll have the additional expense of the tip for the butler and concierge.

Good advice. Thank you.

There are 6 of us in my family. Our 2 weeks on Spirit is $8k for our 2 rooms. Our airfare came ton$31k...... But we are flying first class. Lol. :)

I've sailed twice in the Star's two bedroom/two bath DOS suites. To answer your question on the trundle bed. No, neither of the living room window "cut outs" will fit a trundle bed. The cut outs are just wide enough to fit one of the club chairs into (I just loved sitting here). I think the NCL rep is confusing the living room windows with the master bedroom. The two times I know of a roll away being used was once where it was placed in the dining area at night, and the other time was with it being placed in the master bedroom under the window.

I really wish NCL had designed the second bedroom more like the two bedroom family suite. Currently the DOS second bedroom is a pull out sofa, vice a trundle bed or sofa and built in bunk. When the sofa is made into a bed the room is wall to wall bed-no walk around space at all. If two people share this room/bed you'd have to crawl over the second person to get up if you were on the far side. Now, as for the bathroom I believe it's the same size as a normal interior cabin. It was very well laid out, and really made it convient to have a second bath (both times our group was 4 adults and we love this suite-but we only had 1 in the second bedroom and 1 on the living room sofa).

What I'm wondering, and would ask NCL, is if one son (the younger/smaller one) slept on the sofa without it being folded out in this room would the trundle fit in this second room? It would still be wall-to-wall bed, but they'd have their "separate" beds. I'm not sure how comfortable your son would be, but it's an option Best bet is probably having a roll-away placed in the dining area at night.

Perfect. Thank you. That is exactly the information I was looking for.....

So is it worth the $2500 upgrade?

My son had his plastic sword and plastic bow/arrow confiscated while boarding at a port stop. The said we could get it back at the end of the cruise. The security supervisor said these were prohibited items and not allowed.

Yes. I saw those threads and videos already. But thank you.

A trundle will not fit there. The couch in the living room is a sofa bed. Why not just use that? When the bed is open is the small bedroom there is no floor space.The second bathroom is more of a 3/4 bath. Shower, toilet and sink. Very nice and functional. Have stayed in that cabin. You will really enjoy it.

Thank you. Yes we will use the sofa bed in the living room too. There are 5 of us. 3 teenage boys. They would all like their own beds. We thought the oldest would take the small bedroom, then one on the sofa bed in the living room, then one on a trundle. There is plenty of room in the master for a trundle but it would be nice if the trundle fit into the cutout. Then me and my wife would have privacy. Not a have to just a nice to. The NCL rep said the trundle fits nicely into the cutout but I was guessing that might not be true.

Right now with the 2 connecting OV cabins they will have their own beds and said that was important to them. I don't want to upgrade if they loose that.

So the small bathroom is smaller than a standard bathroom in an ocean view or inside cabin?

While you have taken a wait and see attitude (which of course is logical) I feel I have been conditioned by continuous disappointments over the years. MY experience over the last few years is improvements at Carnival are synonymous with cost reductions. I hope your wait and see attitude is one that finds that at CCL for the first time in many years, improvements do mean something better. If I am wrong then maybe Carnival finally got the message. If I am unfortunately correct, then I can vote with my wallet. Thanks for your input.

I learned very early in life that bad information equals bad decisions. The more information you have the better the decision. I am not going to get worked up and decide to bash Carnival or make up my mind about something with the very little information we have.

I will wait until it actually happens and we get some facts.

Also it is only a test. It might not even take full effect.

"consistent product at a great value"

That's puffery at its finest, two things that can't be defined.

 

Carnival's main focus is not in providing an affordable product; it is is in making a profit. If they could, they'd charge double for their cabins and watch the cash roll in. They can't as cabin prices are set to market, not by the whims of CCL. This has changed recently as they will no longer drop prices to the point where chips sail full. This is their way of getting prices to increase in the long term. CCL's actions show how wrong you are,

Wouldn't we all charge double and watch the cash roll in? I know I would.

There were some good pictures on here a couple years ago by the same person who posted one of those videos on you tube. I'll have to take a look to find them, but the you tube covered pretty much the whole room. The window cutout comment has me a bit confused - do they mean the one in the living room?

Yes. Sorry. In the living room there are two windows with cutouts. Most pics I see have chair in the cutout area. I am wondering if a trundle will fit in there. Thank you.

Bump.

Funny how people make up their minds with such little information. I am neither for or against the changes. I don't have enough information yet. Maybe after I try it I will form my opinion. But it does sound worth trying.

Google Norwegian Star 12500 and you'll find some YouTube videos.

 

Considering the perks you'll receive if the suite meets your needs it will be well worth it.

Thank you. Yes I did that and saw the videos. Just didn't have any video of the trundle beds or bed in the small room. These are follow up questions to the videos.

I did find a video of cabin 12000 with the bed open. No room for a trundle in there.

NCL rep said a trundle will fit in the window cutouts in the living room but I want to hear it from someone that actually did it.

We are thinking about upgrading ourselves to cabin 12500 on the Star. It is the Deluxe Owners Suite. We currently have booked 2 connecting OV cabins. There are 5 of us total. Me, my wife and 3 teen sons. The room can hold 6 and has 2 bedrooms and 2 baths. The ost will be an additional $2500. Any comments or thoughts?

Does anyone have a pic of the small bedroom with the bed folded out? Will a trundle bed fit in there with the bed folded out?

Anyone have a pic of a trundle bed in the window cutout area in the living room?

Is the bathroom in the small bedroom a regular size cruise ship bathroom or is it smaller?

Thank you.

I think the healthy options are the grill menu. IMHO I believe everyday and spa are gone.

 

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Forums mobile app

John said Spa and other alternative menus will remain.

I love this new innovative idea for the menu but some ports will not be as easy to come up with ideas. For example what about Port Canaveral, can't imagine what the drink, appetizer and main dish would be. Any ideas?

Cuban Food? Seems like that is all we saw while in that area.

We did months of research on this and found the NCL Spirit to have the best itinerary.

Curious as to how long it took to disembark? What were the problems? Any pointers or advice?

It does not bother me or upset me. I do think that it cheapens the CCL loyalty program if you can buy you way in.......

So Ncl is clearly not the line for you.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone - Jim

We still like NCL. Just would like it better if they had traditional dinning option. Isn't that what this thread is all about?

I agree, Jeans + Formal Night = Walmart. I'm from Texas and wear jeans to work but to Church I wear a suit and to a Black Tie affair I wear a Tux. A little class will not hurt you and if you don't want to dress up, there is the Lido buffet where you will feel at home.

No need for the buffet. I feel right at home in the MDR in my jeans. I'm just a Walmart low class type guy. We can't ll be as perfect as you.

Maybe it's different on the newer Carnival ships but I didn't really like the way Carnival does Anytime Dining. It was very difficult to get a table for two (which we prefer). There was always a long wait unless you wanted to be seated with a larger group. Also, the dining room they used was very crowded so when we did get a table for two we were only inches from the next table.

Not sure about that. I have never done anytime dining. I hate to wate. Even 5 or10 minutes. I hate to wait especially on vacation.

We like the early assigned dining time. We like to eat at the same table, same time and just our family. We never wait. Just walk straight to our able We also like having the same wait staff everyday. They get to know us and it makes it fun.

Oh no, do not take away freestyle dining! It's the reason we won't cruise any other line (I've heard anytime dining isn't as good as freestyle).

 

I would like a larger breakfast room service menu (with hot items), better beer selections, a private island that the ships can dock at, and a new itinerary out of NYC for 7 day sailings.

 

ETA, a new format for the UBP, where you don't have to see the charges. It is a constant worry until the last day, when they are taken off (since this is a relatively new program, and there have been some variations of what is and what isn't included).

Oh no. I didn't mean take away freestyle. I know many love it. But maybe just an option of traditional dining. I know quite a few carnival cruisers that say they prefer NCL but cruse Carnival because they like traditional dinning.

1. Tighten up the nonsmoking areas. Maybe one side of the ship balcony rooms could be nonsmoking.

2. Not to start an arguement or debate. This is just my opinion/preference. We like traditional cruise dinning. We would like to be able to have a set time/table and maybe wait staff. I have talked to others that would also like this option. Freestyle is great for some but others do like the traditional dinning. We like the way Carnival does it with anytime dinning but we can still choose traditional dinning.

Hey, Rhinomike, you must have a mighty fine Mamaw! For the MDR, I even put on my big-girl britches.:D

Lol. Oh my gosh. So funny. She is our "Mamaw". Now I'm in the mood for some greasy fried potatoes that she makes me. Lol.