Wish You Knew Before Your Cruise

[Cruise Arizona]

Can you think of anything about Norwegian that you wish you knew before your first cruise with them. Something to make it extra special? Something to avoid? A best and and Worst?

[HUBison2008]

Can you think of anything about Norwegian that you wish you knew before your first cruise with them. Something to make it extra special? Something to avoid? A best and and Worst?

 

Great question. For those that answer can you state if its fleet wide or ship specific? Thanks

[glittergal1]

I did not realise they added $12 per day to your on board account to cover service . a big oooopps for me after I had booked (I was not told at time of booking) so an unwelcome surprise

I Just presumed that because it was all "free style dining" that it was included in the total price as when I booked RCI free style dining I had to pre pay extra at the time of booking.

[faith4keep]

I knew cruises had drinks of the day, but I didn't know that NCL offers souvenir glasses as a part of that. Some of them are cheap plastic ones, but I love my "rebellious fish" glass and every time I drink out of it at home, it reminds me of cruising. Anyway- I wish I had I known about it ahead of time because I don't normally leave extra room in my luggage for souvenirs. I had to creatively pack my bags at the end of the cruise!

 

I knew before my cruise but for the benefit of others- bring an all-white outfit for NCL's White Hot Party! My favorite night of the cruise for sure, fun to check it out even if you don't want to stay all night.

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[coffeecat]

First cruise on the NCL Pearl circa 2009:

 

I wish I knew NOT to be worried about all the negative food reviews! Took my dad and his fiancé and was worried that the food would not meet their expectations. In fact, the food was terrific (some resounding hits-some minor misses). We have cruised with NCL several times since then and have always been very happy with the food.

 

I also wish I knew NOT to book a suite on that first sailing! Started out in an aft penthouse and was upsold by the fairy to a haven villa. This pretty much sealed the deal for me to likely never going back to a standard room.

 

I loved my first NCL cruise and so far have not travelled on another line since then (one previous on the RCI Mariner of the Seas which was great). I think you will be pleasantly surprised by the ships, the outstanding crew, and the cruise overall.

 

Coffeecat

[Choochala]

Our first cruise was 2010 Western Med on the Jade. I had no idea how port intensive the cruise would be! We were in a different port every day until the second last day. It was wonderful to wake up in a different city, sometimes country, every day! I just wish we had a chance to enjoy the ship a bit more. I'm not putting blame on any one specific party - we signed up for it, but in reading these boards, I hear so many wonderful things about the Jade that I missed. Soooooo, we are booked on her again this April and we hope to sit back and relax a bit more than we did the first time and are really looking forward to it!

 

One other thing - don't believe everything you read here or on any other boards. You have to have your own experiences and create your own memories. Cruising, I've found, is what you make of it - we just happen to love the two we've been on. Keep an open mind and embrace the experiences. Life's too short not to have fun!

[ihopfar]

Fortunately, this is something we did know -- that NCL has one of the MDRs open for lunch on embarkation day.

 

It was listed in the Freestyle Daily, so we went to the MDR that was open. But being our first cruise, we probably still had confused looks on our face. The hostess asked if we were looking for lunch -- when we said yes, she starting to press the button to send us up on the elevator to the buffet.

 

We said we wanted the MDR, and she told us to go right in -- but she was not offering that option! It was so much more peaceful than the buffet would have been and a great way to start a cruise.

 

--Brad

[philip_eunice1]

i cruised first time with my mum and wish i knew it would be our last together

[linwood77]

I did not realise they added $12 per day to your on board account to cover service . a big oooopps for me after I had booked (I was not told at time of booking) so an unwelcome surprise

I Just presumed that because it was all "free style dining" that it was included in the total price as when I booked RCI free style dining I had to pre pay extra at the time of booking.

 

That's $12 per day per person or $168 for a party of two on a 7 day cruise added to your on board account.

[BruinsFan08]

We learned about the Spa passes on the Epic and managed to get a couples pass for a week on our cruise. It was our favorite area on the ship and we decided to get a spa balcony cabin on this year's cruise on the Breakaway.

[jdvmd]

Not necessarily NCL but I wish I knew that you could have shown up earlier at the ship than the "recommended times." We had an early flight into Fort Lauderdale and we hung around the airport until 1 p.m. and finally went to the port. Stupid.

[lostone65]

I wish I knew to stay in our cabin (unless you have a NCL excursion meeting point somewhere on the ship) until they cleared the ship for disembarking at each port. We were so worried we would miss our exucrsion that the first port we stood for an hour in the hallway waiting for the all clear. The other 3 ports we hund out in our cabin until the all clear and the exit off the ship was easy and we had not problems getting to our meeting point in shore.

 

Also I wish I knew to bring 2 swim suits since they don't dry completely over night sometimes. Nothing worse than putting on a damp suit in the morning.

[JMHAM1]

For NCL specifically, I wish I had known about the pretzel bread. DH said he wished he had known about the crepe station and the made to order omelet stations in the buffet. We did not find any of this until the last day of our first NCL cruise.

 

For all cruises, I wished I had known to bring a power strip and an extension cord as well as a small bungee cord and a nightlight for the bathroom. Even outside or balcony cabins get DARK at night.

[biker@sea]

The cruise Ts @ the excursion desk are great to collect .

I get one every cruise. Oversized for a night shirt.

 

Gives me sweet dreams remembering each cruise .

Most shirts are different with ship names and ports on them.

I did not get one from NCL Sun regrettably .:(

I do have some from NCL Dream, Spirit , and Dawn . :)

[gottahavefun]

To look for Cruise Critic and/or any kind of research before booking a trip. Not that my first trip wasn't still the best. Hawaii and Fanning Island :). I still feel I went in blind and everyone around me seemed like they knew what they were doing.

 

But the best advise I can give is don't over book ports and enjoy your ship as part of the vacation.

[callmebetty]

Crepes...I had never had one before, and I can't wait to have more! They are at the buffet and

 

A random lesson...you cannot get soup to go from the Blue Lagoon...something about traveling with hot liquid on the ship. They had no answer to why coffee was allowed to carry around, but they would not let me take soup...maybe it was just the Gem last year, I will try again this year or order through the butler...

 

The round double lounge chairs on the Gem on the forward upper deck. Found them the first day and never madit back. They are on my to do list this time!

 

The pillow menu. Didn't know it was an option until last week.

[psyfi]

The cruise Ts @ the excursion desk are great to collect .

I get one every cruise. Oversized for a night shirt.

 

Gives me sweet dreams remembering each cruise .

Most shirts are different with ship names and ports on them.

I did not get one from NCL Sun regrettably .:(

I do have some from NCL Dream, Spirit , and Dawn . :)

 

Didn't know about this one. Are they for sale at the excursion desk rather than in the gift shop?

[biker@sea]

Didn't know about this one. Are they for sale at the excursion desk rather than in the gift shop?

 

Yes, usually on clearance sale next to last day of the cruise.

[bbryan5]

Here something we learned the hard way lol... Don't book a specialty restaurant, until you know what is being offered in the main dinning room first! We ended up eating at cagneys, than found out it was lobster night :(

[OceanDreaming2]

If you have a large OBC, don't prebook your dinner reservations or excursions.

[NARM Forever]

The pillow menu. Didn't know it was an option until last week.

 

Interesting! What do they leave as standard in the staterooms and what's on the menu? If you have a link to the information perhaps you could just post that.

 

Thanks

 

NARM

[jdvmd]

Here something we learned the hard way lol... Don't book a specialty restaurant, until you know what is being offered in the main dinning room first! We ended up eating at cagneys, than found out it was lobster night :(

 

But beware of any cancelation fees that you may incur if you don't cancel within the cancelation period stated.

[HUBison2008]

The pillow menu. Didn't know it was an option until last week.

 

What's this?

 

Here something we learned the hard way lol... Don't book a specialty restaurant, until you know what is being offered in the main dinning room first! We ended up eating at cagneys, than found out it was lobster night :(

 

Can you see menus before you board?

[DCP]

Don't open your balcony door AND your room door at the same time! (we had some $1. bills on the desk for tipping room service, and they blew right out that balcony door when hubby opened the cabin door - it was like a vaccum!)

You CAN order the soup from room service, they'll deliver it, so you don't have to get it to go!

Wish I had known to take CASH over to Great Stirrup Cay. Vendors don't take credit/debit cards there, and we didn't take cash. (we could have went back to the ship and got some, but decided not to worry about it)

[HUBison2008]

For NCL specifically, I wish I had known about the pretzel bread. DH said he wished he had known about the crepe station and the made to order omelet stations in the buffet. We did not find any of this until the last day of our first NCL cruise.

 

For all cruises, I wished I had known to bring a power strip and an extension cord as well as a small bungee cord and a nightlight for the bathroom. Even outside or balcony cabins get DARK at night.

 

Pretzel bread huh? I love this stuff. We have a balcony too. We generally bring the surge protector, but didn't think about the balcony at night. Do you use the nightlight out there as well or a separate lighting source?