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Considering switching my honeymoon cruise to Norwegian


FSU Girl
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We currently have Disney British Isles cruise booked for our honeymoon next September. It’s a week long cruise that we were planning to pair with a week in Paris. I thought I’d finally made up my mind (we’ve switched the cruise around and I’ve considered others a few times, I can’t plan trips this far in advance again lol) but then I just stumbled across the perfect itinerary.

 

We’ve never sailed on Norwegian before (we are looking to book an Alaskan cruise next May for my 30th birthday) Everything about the itinerary is perfect, it’s just the ship that’s giving me hesitation. We are looking at the Spirit, which is an older smaller ship. I was wondering what people’s opinions were on this ship.

 

We absolutely love Disney and have been on the Magic before so I know I’ll like that ship, but Norwegians itinerary is way better. It goes to Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Amsterdam, and Bruge.

 

What should I do?

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This is a tough one. We do like the Spirit and it is the oldest ship in the fleet the last time we sailed was still in pretty good shape.

 

Are you looking at a suite on NCL? If not, no way would I switch. While we like DCL, the Europe prices and especially the one you are booked on are normally crazy high prices.

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This is a tough one. We do like the Spirit and it is the oldest ship in the fleet the last time we sailed was still in pretty good shape.

 

Are you looking at a suite on NCL? If not, no way would I switch. While we like DCL, the Europe prices and especially the one you are booked on are normally crazy high prices.

 

We are looking at just a normal balcony room on Spirit. The suite prices are too high. We currently have a normal balcony room booked on Disney.

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Stay on Disney. Cruising on the Spirit is as bad as cruising on Carnival.

The ship definitely isn’t something I’d normally pick, but the ports are incredible. I figure we’d be in the ports all day and use the three sea days to relax and recover. Is it really that bad that if we’re barely on it it’ll still be too much?

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this cruise will be port intensive, so you wont be on the ship much. i much prefer smaller NCL ships in general, but especially on an European itinerary where you dont have any, or very few sea days. we are sailing SPirit in October and cant wait!

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We just got back from a 14 day NCL Jade cruise from Hamburg to Norway, Shetland islands, Iceland, Faroe Islands, and the U.K. Only 3 at sea days. We had a balcony room. The sights were amazing and the crew, food and entertainment wonderful. Many, many people complimented the cruise and booked future ncl trips while onboard. (We did have unusually warm sunny weather but everything was perfect!). Both beginner cruisers and seasoned cruisers enjoyed.

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I haven't sailed Disney, but I am booked on Spirit for a cruise with a great itinerary.

 

Check out the reviews on cruise critic, and decide if what people say fits what is important to you. https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=625510

I ended up going to bed after 1am reading reviews on the ship lol. I’ve looked over what people say and some of it scares me, but some of it isn’t so bad. The itinerary is what I really love and it seems like fate it fits into our dates perfectly

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this cruise will be port intensive, so you wont be on the ship much. i much prefer smaller NCL ships in general, but especially on an European itinerary where you dont have any, or very few sea days. we are sailing SPirit in October and cant wait!

 

The itinerary is what I love and I agree we won’t be on the ship much. It does have three sea days but they are spread out so we could use those as recovery days from the ports.

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The itinerary is what I love and I agree we won’t be on the ship much. It does have three sea days but they are spread out so we could use those as recovery days from the ports.

 

trust me, you'll need them. when we did the Baltics it was up early (6am) pretty much every day. we had a blast and saw a ton, but it was exhausting. it was the only cruise ive ever done where i was pretty much in bed by 10pm every night!

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We just got back from a 14 day NCL Jade cruise from Hamburg to Norway, Shetland islands, Iceland, Faroe Islands, and the U.K. Only 3 at sea days. We had a balcony room. The sights were amazing and the crew, food and entertainment wonderful. Many, many people complimented the cruise and booked future ncl trips while onboard. (We did have unusually warm sunny weather but everything was perfect!). Both beginner cruisers and seasoned cruisers enjoyed.

 

Is the Jade similar to the Spirit? That cruise of yours sounds amazing with those ports. We would be getting a balcony and probably spend a lot of time out there on sea days

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trust me, you'll need them. when we did the Baltics it was up early (6am) pretty much every day. we had a blast and saw a ton, but it was exhausting. it was the only cruise ive ever done where i was pretty much in bed by 10pm every night!

I did a Med cruise a few years ago and it was exhausting with the full port days we could have used more sea days to recover. And the sea days are spread out so we can use them to recover after a couple intense days. I like that better than having them back to back

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This itinerary is more important than the ship. If this is a dream trip, I'd say book it and just know that Disney is a lot different from Norwegian. There isn't as much pixie dust, but they still do a great cruise.

Couldn't agree more - the itinerary is most important. I sailed on the Spirit (Med cruise) in 2014 - it was nothing like Disney but the ship was just fine as I used the ship mostly as a place to sleep & eat. Doesn't have all the bells & whistles like Disney but the staff was great and food was good (especially liked Cagney's).

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I ended up going to bed after 1am reading reviews on the ship lol. I’ve looked over what people say and some of it scares me, but some of it isn’t so bad. The itinerary is what I really love and it seems like fate it fits into our dates perfectly

 

I'll echo the "itinerary is more important that the ship" comments... IMHO your honeymoon is about destinations... cafe's you drank in, views you saw, shops you bought that doohickey in, dishes you ate. Those are the memories you will treasure and most likely revisit at points through your married life. In this case, the ship is a moving hotel, you won't be lamenting how the cabin carpet was a bit old looking in one corner, you'll be remembering the espresso you drank overlooking the canals of Amsterdam. The ship will be gone... the places will remain.

 

For some on this board the ship is the destination, and I get that, I can be the same... but you are on your honeymoon... that is about experiencing the world together, not carpet or paint (or a large mouse).

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Agree with most everyone else. The itinerary trumps any other parameter.

 

 

NCL and Disney are different. I'm not a Disney person. Couldn't care less about the characters or the whole Disney theme. That's probably the reason I've never sailed them. If you do, that's fine.

 

 

But, understand NCL puts out a good product. Everyone has their wants and mostly they are all different when it comes to a cruise.

 

 

I'm not loyal to any cruise line. But, I've never had anything but a wonderful experience on NCL.

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I have a question. On the site it mentions that Disembarkation usually begins 2 hours after docking. Does that mean that when it says we’ll be in port at 7am we won’t be let off the ship until 9am?

 

And it also says due to security reasons all guests must be on board 2 hours before sailing. So when the port day ends at 7pm does that mean we need to be back on the ship by 5pm?

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I have a question. On the site it mentions that Disembarkation usually begins 2 hours after docking. Does that mean that when it says we’ll be in port at 7am we won’t be let off the ship until 9am?

 

And it also says due to security reasons all guests must be on board 2 hours before sailing. So when the port day ends at 7pm does that mean we need to be back on the ship by 5pm?

 

 

That is only for the embarkation port. Not the port visits.

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I have a question. On the site it mentions that Disembarkation usually begins 2 hours after docking. Does that mean that when it says we’ll be in port at 7am we won’t be let off the ship until 9am?

 

And it also says due to security reasons all guests must be on board 2 hours before sailing. So when the port day ends at 7pm does that mean we need to be back on the ship by 5pm?

 

Those times only apply to initial embarkation and final disembarkation.

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Never been on DCL, so can not compare, the NCL ports sound amazing. Cruised on Spirit years ago and enjoyed, but I enjoy the smaller ships over mega ships, it comes down to a personal choice.

Whatever you decide have a great honeymoon

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We currently have Disney British Isles cruise booked for our honeymoon next September. It’s a week long cruise that we were planning to pair with a week in Paris. I thought I’d finally made up my mind (we’ve switched the cruise around and I’ve considered others a few times, I can’t plan trips this far in advance again lol) but then I just stumbled across the perfect itinerary.

 

We’ve never sailed on Norwegian before (we are looking to book an Alaskan cruise next May for my 30th birthday) Everything about the itinerary is perfect, it’s just the ship that’s giving me hesitation. We are looking at the Spirit, which is an older smaller ship. I was wondering what people’s opinions were on this ship.

 

We absolutely love Disney and have been on the Magic before so I know I’ll like that ship, but Norwegians itinerary is way better. It goes to Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Amsterdam, and Bruge.

 

What should I do?

 

I was on the Spirit back in 2007. It was a great ship then. We had a balcony, and I feel like the rooms/balconies were even bigger than the newer ship. I love NCL, good luck and congrats on the wedding

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