Zoom77

Thanks for your answers, I will into those other companies.

The other thing is to look closely at the itinerary--many of these included excursions provide transportation to places reasonably distant from the dock--not places you could walk to. I have this dream of just being able to get off the boat and walk around some charming town or other--not sure if that's really feasible on most itineraries.

That is how I imagine it also ... I don't necessarily need every stop to be a charming town, big cities are fine with me also. I just prefer if the places the ship docks are places of interest and we don't need to drive for hours to go to some other place. But generally I don't mind if that happens in a few of the stops.

What I don't like is to be taken at very specific places. Like to visit a specific museum, or even worst a specific commercial establishment where in the end they are trying to sell you things.

Thanks hubofhockey!

Not sure how casual you are looking for.

Lets say I want it to be as on the land. So to wear something a bit formal if I go to a steakhouse, but to also have options to go totally casual to eat a burger. The more totally casual / semi-casual places to eat the better for me as I wouldn't want to take clothes specifically for dining.

Options for dinner include dining rooms, Crown Grille steak house, Giovanni's upscale Italian, Alfredo's casual Italian, crab shack, and sushi/seafood place.

Are those options free (included in the price)?

Thanks. For meals I wouldn't mind to pay for them as part of the package, I just want to be free to choose when and what I eat.

But paying for all those excursions brings the price much higher than it would otherwise be. I would much prefer if they were optional. Too bad no company offers this yet :(

on Princess since the free food options are stronger

Thanks. Can you expand on that a bit? Do you mean better quality or more options for free food?

Thanks for the link Dayenu.

rpb718, yes, I noticed that. And with HAL it actually does come a bit lower per person when 3 people share the cabin. However other cruise lines seem to charge much lower for the additional persons. (e.g. Princess is just €223 for the 3rd and 4th person instead of the €1500 - €2300 regular fee)

The fact that all NCL dining venues (except for the upcharge ones) were built with "Freestyle" in mind and have the system down pat. On most other lines it is limited to a smaller area in a dining room that will also have traditional dining times. You might experience something similar but you don't have the option of having dinner in more than one venue except if going to the buffet, whereas on NCL you'll have the MDR's, O'Sheehans, and other areas to choose from.

So is NCL the only one to do that? I see many of the newer and bigger ships having many restaurants. Can't you just eat your lunch/dinner there? Or are they not included in the price and you have to pay extra for them?

Hello,

"River Cruising" sounds interesting but I am not sure if the way I imagine it actually exists.

I visited the website of Viking River Cruises and the routes seem nice. The photos from their new ships, particularly the cabins seem very nice too.

But when I read a bit more it seems that what they offer is a complete organized tour, where they take you to tours with buses, they take you to places to eat etc, which is not exactly what I am looking for.

What I would like is just a nice "flooding 5 star hotel" (or 4*) where we would arrange our day at each location ourselves and any excursions would be optional.

The other thing I would want on the ship would be breakfast, plus a few restaurants where we could order to eat what we want whenever we want (nothing too fancy required in terms of dining)

Is there such thing?

Thanks kitKat!

If the prices were as they are now, would you still choose the Star over the Regal?

The HAL cruise I poster above is also at about the same price, and the itinerary might be a bit better (docks at Stockholm and stays overnight). I just can't seem to find on their website how much they would charge for a 3rd person.

More:

HAL ms EuroDam

http://www.hollandamerica.com/find-cruise-vacation/CruiseDetails.action?webItineraryIdForAudit=E5N12S

Celebrity Silhouette

http://www.celebritycruises.com/cruises/cruise-package-SI12M422?packageid=SI12M422

Thanks. So would you suggest going through a TA instead of doing it online?

Hello,

Which cruise lines do not charge a significantly lower amount for a 3rd person (child in our case) in the same cabin? I though that this was a standard practice for all cruise lines, but I was just checking the website of HAL and it seems that they want to charge full price for all 3 of us? Or am I doing something wrong?

Thanks!

I was considering this cruise with Regal Princes:

http://www.princess.com/find/cruiseDetails.do?voyageCode=G528

Before I was considering the cruise with NCL Star:

http://www.ncl.eu/booking.php?stage=sailing_details&cruise_package_id=2078257

The Regal is a brand new ship and for some reason it is cheaper than NCL Star, even though it is for 11 days instead of 9 with the Star. But Stockholm could be an issue. (The Star docks at Stockholm)

Which of the two cruises seems better?

Any clue for when we will have the results of those simulations for docking at Stockholm?

Also:

I have been looking at cruises by

Regent Seven Seas Voyager

http://www.rssc.com/cruises/VOY150618/summary/default.aspx

Oceania Marina

http://www.oceaniacruises.com/findcruise/balticandscandinavia/mna150814/default.aspx

Seabourn Quest

http://www.seabourn.com/find-luxury-cruise-vacation/CruiseDetailsSuiteDetails.action?voyageCode=6539

Crystal Symphony

http://www.crystalcruises.com/european-cruises/round-trip-copenhagen--5219/

... but the prices are much higher (about 2x or more). In what way would these more expensive cruises be better? (I am comparing rooms with balconies)

Desdichado62, thanks for the info regarding Stockholm! We've been to Stockholm 2 years ago and the mini cruise in the archipelago was one of the highlights! Also I know from our first cruise that we much prefer when the port is in the city we want to visit (like Barcelona, Palma and Monaco and unlike Civitavecchia for Rome).

CruiserBruce, so is there anything special about the "Freestyle" of NCL now? Or will I be able to get that same experience with any cruise line now? In 2010 Freestyle was one of the reasons I choose NCL.

Thanks for your answers.

When I was searching for a cruise in 2010, NCL was one of the very few cruise lines to offer a truly flexible dining and had a casual dress code.

I understand that more cruise lines do that now, but is it really almost all of them? That would be a huge change in just 4 years (a very welcome change for me!)

"Some higher end cruise lines don't have formal nights"

Really? I thought that the more high end the more formal! Are you talking about relatively small ships?

Hello,

After our first cruise in 2010 (Western Med from Barcelona) we are thinking to maybe take another cruise in summer 2015, this time to Northern Europe / Baltic.

What I am looking for (apart from an itinerary that we will find interesting) is:

a) A ship as good or better than the NCL Jade we used for our first cruise, with nice balcony suites.

b) Flexible dining

c) Casual or "semi-casual" dress code

Apart from NCL what other cruise lines should I be looking at?