Jumping ship from HAL to sail from NY

[Shadowsmom]

DH and I have sailed HAL for the last 6 years but just don't want to fly to FL. I'm looking at the Gem or Jewel for a March sailing to the Bahama's. Not knowing much about the Norwegian line, I'm looking at the mid ship mini suites. How different would our experience be from a balcony on HAL. Is there much difference between the Gem and Jewel? I'm looking forward to changing. :D

[mommyto2girls]

We have only sailed the Jewel not the Gem. We had a litle culture shock going from the Eurodam and the Westerdam to the Jewel but it was good. Always cruising HAL out of FLL had a very different age demographic than NCL out of NY. I have seen the balconies on both but never stayed in them. The mid ship balconies are nice on the Jewel Class not much different than HAL. We went from the Suite Life of HAL to the Suite Life on NCL. We will probably never cruise HAL again in that category there is no comparison for us NCL wins hands down. Hope this helps a little

[knitlady037]

We also found the suite much better on NCL than Hal. A mini suite on NCL is about the same size as a balcony room on HAL. Mini suite have no extra amenities. We also decided to go on NCL because we prefer to sail out of NY.

[SuiteRose]

DH and I have sailed HAL for the last 6 years but just don't want to fly to FL. I'm looking at the Gem or Jewel for a March sailing to the Bahama's. Not knowing much about the Norwegian line, I'm looking at the mid ship mini suites. How different would our experience be from a balcony on HAL. Is there much difference between the Gem and Jewel? I'm looking forward to changing. :D

 

We are sailing on the Jewel on 1/21/12. The prices for a full suite are only $999 per person. Not sure what a balcony runs on HAL but like other have said, the suites on NCL are amazing. We got a free upgrade to a suite once and haven't been able to book a regular cabin since.

[sun~]

Just an FYI if you are going on the Gem or Jewell from NY in March. It is prime time for kids to be out of school on break. The break in Ontario is the week of March 10th. The last time we were on the Gem at March Break there were 700 students under 18 on board as well as about 300 college/uni students.

 

We had a fantastic time, my lads thought it was great.

 

We have been on HAL a few times, there is a totally different vibe on NCL, much, much livier. Our family definitely prefers NCL over HAL.

[Shadowsmom]

Just an FYI if you are going on the Gem or Jewell from NY in March. It is prime time for kids to be out of school on break. The break in Ontario is the week of March 10th. The last time we were on the Gem at March Break there were 700 students under 18 on board as well as about 300 college/uni students.

 

We had a fantastic time, my lads thought it was great.

 

We have been on HAL a few times, there is a totally different vibe on NCL, much, much livier. Our family definitely prefers NCL over HAL.

 

Thanks for the information. We will be celebrating our anniversary on the 25th, so I'm planning on sailing on the 25th. We'll probably miss the spring breaks?:confused:

[knitlady037]

You should be safe. NYC schools are closed the week before you leave.

[cv322]

I loved our 1 cruise on the HAL Noordam (11 days out of NY)....it was the most beautiful ship...the only problem was very little exciting nightlife. I just got off the Gem & have booked it again for a 9-day next fall...also out of NY. I only book balcony cabins (OK..had a suite once, but that was on CCL) and have loved my cabins on the Noordam and on my NCL cruises. I would highly recommend the Gem...fabulous ship with a remarkable crew.

 

Have a great cruise & happy anniversary!

[Razorback Cruiser]

Hope I am not out of line here but , I aso am a Holland Cruiser trying NCL for the first time .I am a Senior Solo that will share a Oceaniew room with two other senior solo cruisers that I meet on an Alaskan Cruise . I just got off a RCL Cruise that I loved .I will be sailing on the Dawn in Feb . Do you think I will also love this sailing ?( I know , How could I not )I think I will love the free style . Any one care to comment ?I would love to here your input .

[mommyto2girls]

Hope I am not out of line here but , I aso am a Holland Cruiser trying NCL for the first time .I am a Senior Solo that will share a Oceaniew room with two other senior solo cruisers that I meet on an Alaskan Cruise . I just got off a RCL Cruise that I loved .I will be sailing on the Dawn in Feb . Do you think I will also love this sailing ?( I know , How could I not )I think I will love the free style . Any one care to comment ?I would love to here your input .

 

We have not been on the Dawn..but we do love free style. I think you will love the "life" at night on NCL, we found our HAL cruises relaxing but at times a bit too stuffy.Just do not expect the some ambience as HAL I am not a huge fan of RCCL so I won't go there! I think you will love NCL.

[SASA13]

We sailed this past March ( last week of March) on the

Gem, and she was absolutely beautiful. There were not many kids on board, and by the second day, the weather warmed up and we were in the pool.

We love the Gem :) plus, leaving out of NY is a giant plus.

[Dolphins]

We started cruising on HAL (over 100 days) and really enjoyed those ships. We also got tired of flying to Florida so when NCL started cruising year round out of New York, we decided to give them a try. To say we were very pleasantly surprised would be an understatement. We loved the Norwegian Dawn, freestyle dining at ten different venues, many reasonably priced balcony cabins (only suites on the Statendam class HAL ships had balconies). We have been sailing NCL ever since and their perks for repeat cruisers are the best in the industry. We have enjoyed some fabulous musicians in the various NCL lounges. We now book an annual 10+ day mid-winter getaway every January from New York on NCL. We have sailed NCL from New York to Bermuda, Canada/New England, Florida/Bahamas as well as the Caribbean. No more flying for us.

[Shadowsmom]

Thanks for all your input. I'm feeling much better about letting HAL go. I'm pretty sure that we will go to the Gem on March 25. I'm really going to enjoy packing for the cruise and not worrying about the luggage fees and weight for the airlines.:D