DreamingBig1

If one of the perks is the classic beverage package, can you pay extra to get the premium beverage package? If so, what does Celebrity charge?

At the end of the day, food on any cruise line has it's good and bad. Much of it is mass produced for thousands of people. The specialty restaurants are closest to what you will find at land based restaurants, because its made to order. Nobody should go hungry on any cruise, with any line.

There is always something.

A lot depends on how far in advance you book, what time of year you are booking, what port you are leaving from, etc. I usually price Carnival, Royal and NCL when we are looking at a cruise. In the past Carnival was hands down the least expensive option and NCL was the most expensive with Royal being in the middle. When we were looking for a cruise a few month ago for next April I found Royal at $1770, Carnival at $2200 and NCL at $3600. All for a balcony cabin for a ship sailing out of the northeast. The bottom line is it pays to shop around when booking a cruise and to avoid the "<insert cruise line> is always cheaper" mentality.

That's certainly true. The age of the ship and port definitely play a role.

Except that you most likely paid for it in your inflated cruise fare. It's well documented thay NCL inflates the fares to cover the "free" perks.

I compared the prices. NCL is still cheaper than Royal on average.

With that said, I think I read that NCL is going to be increasing their prices.

Compare the two.

I think cheaper.

It's 20% off of $89per day.

 

But cabins with free at sea are usually more expensive, although we got our cabin for the same price.

It must have gone up a little. We are never in the cabin, so we get a inside cabin and get the UBP. It's pretty reasonable.

Yes, it is one time charge, collected before sailing. We paid $250 for 2 of us for 7 days.

Which is a absolute bargain.

You still have to pay tips on the "free" UBP on NCL, right?

They make you pay $150 each pre-paid gratuities. So $300. Vastly less expensive than paying for it outright.

Major plus with NCL is that the UBP is included with sailings if you choose. Inside rooms included.

Saying that food on NCL is better than Celebrity is a solid sentence to consider sailing on Norwegian.

We have sailed on Celebrity as well. We were seriously disappointed with their food. Maybe it was a off sailing. I expected far better for a line touted as having better food than many others.

Have been on RCL and NCL. In my personal opinion the food is much better over all on NCL. Plus there are more options both free and paid on NCL.

We also think that the bars are nicer on NCL.

Huge NCL fans. We loved RCL but prefer NCL.

I just sailed the Escape. Thought it was a great ship. Food, drink and entertainment were top notch. We had a fantastic time.

I happen to agree with the OP about port times.

I happen to think NCL leaves St. Thomas way too early, especially when Tortola is literally a hop skip and a jump away. St. Thomas makes no sense.

Tortola was another stop that I believed left WAY too early.

We knew the port times ahead of time, and were fine with it. However, I was just left shaking my head as to WHY? Why leave so early?

If they fix the Azipod absolutely. My wife and I sailed it December 2015, and loved the ship.

The ship is great. Just has a bum ticker.

We are sailing on the NCL Escape in Feb. 2017 and are looking for non-ship sponsored snorkeling excursions. Any recommendations?

Thanks for the review. Great job!

The Canadian cruises probably pull in the older crowds.

Yes, port side of the bar

Thank you!

One more question.

Is there a smoking area in the Bimini Bar and Grill area, similar to the Biergarten on the Star?

Thank you!

Does anybody know where I can smoke my cigars on the Dawn?

I was looking to schedule a cruise out of Tampa in December 2017, and noticed that there are not any offerings. Is NCL going to stop sailing out of Tampa in the future?

Theres no smoking on deck 5. You can smoke on the port side of the prom deck

(deck 7) but theres no chairs there. Smoking is also allowed on deck 12 in a small area port side by the pool (not sure about cigars there but I'm sure there are signs that'll let you know) and definitely cigars on the port side of the bier garten. both deck 12 and the bier garten have chairs and tables. In the daily there is a cigar gathering mentioned for the beir garten each night but I'm not sure how well attended it is. Just go, get a drink and light up!

That's what I meant. Promenade deck. I am a little confused on what deck that is on.

The Bier Garden or the 5th floor deck smoking section.

I am currently writing a review about our trip on the Star in early December. We used Shore Excursioneer for our excursion in Belize, and had a fabulous time. I am posting updates, and the last post I finished was about Belize.

Use them!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2289672

For those who kind of know NCL's tendencies in releasing itineraries, what month should I expect the itineraries to be released for the December 2017 and January/February 2018?

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Our fantastic guide Julian with Jen:

While driving into Altun Ha, Julian started telling us a little history of the Mayans and how they lived in Altun Ha. Along the way we passed by farms, under the fields archeologists have found settlements where the common Mayan’s lived.

We drove into Altun Ha, where we started our journey at the little museum at the entrance of the ruins. Julian took us through and explained the different tools, and brought to life the exhibits.

There were a collection of two or three village’s right next to each other. Similar to the Egyptian’s the Mayan villages were built by specific ruling families and were built at different times. Julian did a fabulous job on detailing the history of all three villages, how they were found, and how they were used. We went to the top of one, where he explained that they were built so the ruler could hear a conversation on the other side of the village. It was amazing, because you could definitely hear people’s conversations below pretty clearly. There was a sacrificial table, where animals and vegetable’s.

We were very lucky to have Julian as our guide, because he really knew the history. There were large groups there, who didn’t get the same personal attention as having a personal guide with them. I highly recommend getting your own guide for Altun Ha.

After walking through a couple villages, and many pictures later we headed back towards the ship. The drive was approximately 30 minutes. There were many little villages we drove past, and it was fascinating to see how the Belizean’s lived.

We arrived back with about 45 minutes to spare. We hugged Julian, gave him a great tip, which he really earned. It was a fabulous day. I highly recommend going on the excursion that we enjoyed.

The tender boat that we took was much bigger than the morning. We were one of the first to arrive on the boat, and it took a while to fill up. The boat was also slower getting to the Star, because of its size, however it was a nice way to end the day in Belize.