NCL vs. other lines...but NOT DCL!

[Melanore82]

I actually posted this on HAL, but figured I should post it here too.

 

My husband surprised me with a cruise for our 15 year anniversary. We are going with our children, my parents, in-laws and siblings with their families, 17 of us altogether.

 

We were going to go on a Disney cruise, but after spending the day reading through the posts in the Disney forum, I changed my mind. The way they respond to people who are just seeking information or giving advice, is absolutely nauseating. If the group there is indicative of the people on the Disney ships, then I have no interest in being a part of that. I actually like it that you guys here are so defensive and passionate about NCL. Makes me think it must be pretty special! Here you get angry at "outsiders," but over at DCL they're rude to each other.

 

After speaking to my husband, and looking at the boards here, we have narrowed it down to HAL, NCL and Royal Caribbean. We will probably travel at some time in November 2014 because that is when everyone can get away. I know absolutely nothing about cruising, but have read-up enough to know that each line has it's own style and activities.

 

Can those of you who have been on NCL, or the other lines I mentioned too, tell me if there is anything unique about each cruise line? For example, I have heard HAL is more formal and I know that NCL has this "freestyle" dining. Is this true? Any information you could give would be great.

 

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

[mugtech]

Welcome Melanore, I am sure many people here will be glad to help. NCL's freestyle dining means you can eat at the time and place of your choosing, realizing certain times are more difficult than others. With 17 people, for most dinners reservations will probably be required. It would be helpful to know where you are coming from and where you would like to cruise, how many days, how much do you want to spend, are there any special needs for any of the cruisers? Good luck in your quest for knowledge.

[david_sobe]

Welcome to the NCL board. But you should never pick a cruise or cruise line on how you are treated on a cruise critic message board. That can cut both ways.

But NCL has lots to offer so look around and ask away with anything you like!

Yes Freestyle defines NCL which means you eat when you want and where you want. NCL takes pride on probably more restaurants than other cruise lines which many require more charges. But you don't have to eat at specialty restaurants if you don't want to. But if you feel like Asian, French, Italian, and a good steakhouse, NCL has your back :)

Edited January 21, 2014 by david_sobe

[nets33]

I've cruised on NCL, Princess, RCI and Carnival. There are similarities between each line as well as minor differences. Each line has its own pluses and minuses.

 

Hubby and I usually pick our cruises based on itinerary and cost. Having said that, we do enjoy NCL because of the "freestyle" cruising and overall relaxed atmosphere of the ships. You'll also find that most other lines have "Any Time Dining" which allows you to dine at any time you want. The key difference is that NCL doesn't have any "required" formal dress nights, and the dress code is very flexible.

 

I hope you'll find that each line has more similarities than differences. In the end find an itinerary that you like and enjoy the time with your family whatever line you decide on. :D

[garycarla]

sounds like you are headed in the right direction.

 

Just so you know, if you will read enough, you will come to one of two conclusions.

 

A) No way in hell should you take a cruise. Service, food, costs, are terrible.

or

B) Cruising is the best thing since the toaster. Look at all these people that take repeat cruises.

 

Hope you are a B.

 

I will throw out one bit of advice. With a big group, somebody often decides to get a suite. I would not suggest it - because ONLY the people in the suite get certain perks, which then shut out the rest of the group. Unless of course you can afford suites for everyone.

 

I might also suggest you pick where you want to cruise FROM before going much further.

[crystalspin]

NCL positives: No need to pack formal or even dressy clothes. You can if you want. But you are not relegated to the buffet only on formal nights if you don't -- there is a dress code in the MDRs that is easy to satisfy, i.e. "Smart Casual".

 

Usually good rates! So being able to afford a balcony was a big plus for us.

 

Friendly staff and crew.

 

Fun painted boats.

 

That said, the itinerary trumps all. I would not go somewhere just because NCL went there.

[Melanore82]

We are literally all over the map! NY, VA, CA, IL and FL. We will most likely travel out of Florida. I know I am being impulsive dismissing Disney, it just left a really sour taste in my mouth. Probably because even though there are only a couple trouble-makers, I just feel like others should step-up and defend the "victims." It's silly, I know. Obviously, if DCL turns out to be the only line that meets our needs, we'd book it.

 

Good advice about the suites, but since we are paying for everyone, I guarantee no one is getting a suite! Plain old balconies for everyone.

 

Can I ask some specific questions?

Would like to know if the childrens' programs allow you to drop off the kids and leave them? Can the kids stay together or are they broken up by age? The kids who are definitely going will be 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 10 and 12. My brother has a 1 year old who will probably stay with her other grandparents.

 

I like that it is not formal. Are there sports onboard? Movies? Shows? Adult-only entertainment? Can you get a babysitter at night? Can you bring alcohol onboard?

[carmie3377]

I'm really sorry about the way you were treated on the Disney forums. We love Disney Cruise Line and I have "met" a couple of these people through message boards. I knew I didn't like them by the way they acted and found out that many others felt the same way. I even ran into one on a cruise that solidified the way I felt when she said "Oh, you don't look ANYTHING like I excepted you to look!" in a hateful tone. And I almost said "Well, you're a LOT uglier than I excepted you to look!" but being the person I am, I just smiled.

 

Anyway, the amount of nice people I've met far outweigh those "nasty" people. I keep in touch with many of them and have met up with some of them on other cruises.

 

I don't have any advice on other lines are we are not taking our first non-DCL cruise for a few months. But again, sorry about the way you were treated! Good luck deciding :-)

 

BTW, if you do reconsider and have any DCL specific questions, feel free to send me a PM :-)

Edited January 21, 2014 by carmie3377

[Mom2B&Z]

Considering this is the NCL forum, I feel somewhat safe making this comment :). Our last cruise was on DCL and while our roll call was very pleasant, the "tone" on the DCL cc board was very similar to what I felt on board. Lots of people (but not all) who felt they paid for a phenomenal experience of a lifetime and who did (almost) anything to get it, with complete disregard for fellow passengers. I've never felt like that on NCL. Don't get me wrong, the DCL ship was amazing and some of their features are much better than NCL, but for the cruising experience, I'll take NCL anytime!

 

 

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[bamagrad92]

Welcome! I have a 3 year old son and 6 year old daughter. This march will be her 5th cruise on NCL. She loves "the big boat". While we have never used the actual kids club I have always heard wonderful things. You can drop them off and pick them up but you cannot leave the ship while they are in the kids club. They do break them up by age but I'm not sure of the ages. There are lots of family friendly things to do, movies, cupcake making, lego competition, Dora dancing, kids swimming pool, etc. if you don't take them to the club. Our daughter is shy and I didn't want her to feel uncomfortable. Also, the crew always makes the kids feel welcome everywhere we go. Including the bars and specialty restaurants. (No, not the casino.. :) ) If you do go in November there may not be as many children as during the summer. School may be in.

 

Hope this helps and enjoy your cruise which ever you choose!

 

Donna

[KeithJenner]

You can drop the kids off and leave them. They are split by age, and NCL are strict about that, which could potentially cause a problem if some of them like to stay together but are in different groups. I can't remember the age groups offhand, but they are fairly large, about 4 years covered by each group I think.

 

The one year old couldn't be left.

 

They don't offer in room babysitting, but the kids club is open late, at a charge.

 

You can bring wine on board at $15 a bottle, as much as you like. No beer or spirits.

 

Entertainment varies by ship, but most people can find something they like. The Epic, Breakaway and Getaway have more venues (and choices) than the older ships.

 

 

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[KeithJenner]

You can drop them off and pick them up but you cannot leave the ship while they are in the kids club.

 

 

Actually, you can leave the ship when they are in the kids club.

 

 

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[Kierste]

I have our first cruise booked... And I can tell you why we decided on ncl other than the southern Caribbean itinerary... The freestyle... No dress up clothes, eat when we want with just our family (no assigned times and seats with strangers), lots to do on board (we will be on the Pearl which has a water slide, rock wall, bowling, shows etc), my mom wanted a bathtub-so we booked mini suites. We have good friends who did their first cruise ever on the pearl and are super hooked now. Good luck deciding! Sounds like a fun family trip!

[crystalspin]

I will answer only the question I know! RE: alcohol. You can bring wine on board, not liquor/liqueur or beer. You will pay $15/750ml bottle of wine, whether you drink it in your cabin or take it to a restaurant.

 

If you drink only one type of liquor and figure you can drink most of a bottle in the space of your cruise, you can get bar setup in your stateroom pre-cruising; I believe this is limited to one bottle per adult over 21. You can buy a bottle of liquor/liqueur on board to take you your cabin (different list, same price range, except 15% is added). The price list for the previous two seems exorbitant when you see it but it saves almost half over prices by the shot. If you do this, you CAN pour your drink in your room and take it anywhere on board.

 

For beer, you can buy a bucket of 6 for the price of 5 (this may only be at certain bars on board? DK, didn't do) and take all or any left to your cabin.

 

Additionally, you can buy an all-you-can-drink (up to I believe 15 drinks per day) package. $49 for all sorts of drinks (up to I believe $10 per drink), $44 for beer and wine only. All persons in the cabin must buy the same package unless they are a minor where they must by the soda package. And you must buy the UBP for all days of the cruise that have a night onboard (i.e. embarkation day but not disembarkation day, when the card is deactivated). Note that means ALSO for port days, when you may be happy to drink $1 beers on shore! But some people do the math and decide it makes sense; the monetary cut off is usually 7-8 drinks per day, every day... OR you want to mix up what you drink, try new things like the daily specials, and don't want to feel bad if you try something you don't like and don't finish drinking it.

[dinkydee718]

I have been on both DCL and NCL, though we didn't bring or kids on NCL so I can't respond about the kids' clubs on NCL.

 

There is a lot to do onboard, though as others have said, the newer boats may have more than the older boats. When we were on board last July we saw several family reunions (all wearing matching shirts!). For sports, I think what they have depends on the ship. The Breakaway had mini golf, climbing walls, rope course, yoga, jogging track, boot camp classes, fitness center, other fitness classes, flywheel and a whole area for basketball and such. Pretty much anything but tennis I think! Maybe it did have tennis but I didn't see it ;)

 

Adult entertainment includes Second City, Jazz club, dueling piano playing, ice bar and a ton of other things. Can't remember them all.

 

I believe your other questions were answered already.

 

BTW, left you a message on the DCL board too.

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

I would go with Royal Caribbean. Service is great. The NCL freestyle is not bad, but we felt to get a good meal you would have to pay. Just my oipinion, you may feel very differently. Royal does have a somewhat freestyle dining concept now: My Time Dining. Have never tried that because we like the traditional dining, but it looks nice. However you would have to dress up on formal nights to go to the main dining room even if you chose my time dining. Have never sailed HAL so can't comment on that, but it seems to be much more formal as you said.

Edited January 21, 2014 by cruiserccl1212

[oLEEander]

We did a family cruise a few years ago. We had 25 in our group with ages from 18 months to 72. While I only had experience on one other cruise line, others in the party had cruised a number of other lines. We all agreed after the cruise was over that NCL was the best choice for our family cruise. Freestyle cruising is key when you're dealing with multiple families and a variety of age groups. It's much easier to make plans to fit your schedule, rather than trying to get everyone to adapt to a set cruise line schedule. We also agreed that we didn't have to do everything together so I believe we only all ate together twice,and then we ate at adjacent tables as it was a last minute decision.

 

We had to drag the kids out of the kids club. As others have said NCL is strict about the age groups luckily all the kids paired up in the different groups so they all had a buddy to start off with. The older ones are still in contact with the kids they met in their groups.

 

I usually book direct when cruising, but we used a travel agent who specialized in group bookings. We each received a welcome wine pkg., we had a private 1 hour cocktail party, and each cabin received a free photo voucher. We had a great family photo taken on one of the staircases.

 

Our family cruise is one of my favorite cruise memories. I hope yours is as wonderful as ours was.

[DrNora]

HAL- the kids won't like it as much as any of the others- from my experience it is an older , more formal crowd

 

NCl and RCL have great kids clubs, from the wee ones on up to the teens. I would not hesitate to take them on either line . (We have done both at the ages you listed...but with only our 3!)

 

Freestyle is great , but some families enjoy the 'structure" of a set dining time. I know that my kids like dressing for dinner. Not that they mind NOT dressing up on NCL.

 

That being said- not having to lug blazers and suits and dress shoes for lot of us makes NCL packing easier and lighter than RCL. The ages that you list seem like going Freestyle would be a wise choice!

 

. Disney was great when they were little. They lost interest around age 10. I found the clientele pushy and abrasive- a whole lot of "gimme gimme gimme" .

 

Have a great trip!!!

and , if you can- chose NCL and get all Haven suites. Everyone will be happy!

[KeithJenner]

I just checked the age groups for the kids club, and it's 3-5, 6-9 and 10-12. After that they go into the Teens area, but I don't think that will affect you.

 

 

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[shelly11]

I've only been on NCL and I'm very happy. I picked NCL for the first cruise because of freestyle. I can eat when I want and dress up or not when I want. It's a lot of fun. I have two reviews in my signature of past cruises.

[kirsty_r]

You might find a NCL approach of freestyle dining much easier to manage with the large group, but you may also find it helpful to book the table in advance at the dining room (you can do this with a large group - speak to the relevant officer!) But you will be able to eat at a different time each night, so that is more flexible than other lines.

 

I have no experience with kids, but people I know love NCL - particularly EPIC - for their kids programmes. I think the Nick at sea theme goes down extremely well.

 

and with any cruiseline - the novelty of cruising is everyone will find something they enjoy doing on ship.. because there is sooo much to do onboard.

 

Enjoy picking and enjoy your trip! :)

[RJ2002]

I posted a more detailed response on your HAL thread, which you can read over there.

 

In short, I think your group would enjoy NCL over HAL. I have not sailed Disney or RCI so I can't comment on those options.

 

Whatever you decide, I hope you and your group really enjoy your cruise.

[gskimmel]

I actually posted this on HAL, but figured I should post it here too.

 

My husband surprised me with a cruise for our 15 year anniversary. We are going with our children, my parents, in-laws and siblings with their families, 17 of us altogether.

 

We were going to go on a Disney cruise, but after spending the day reading through the posts in the Disney forum, I changed my mind. The way they respond to people who are just seeking information or giving advice, is absolutely nauseating. If the group there is indicative of the people on the Disney ships, then I have no interest in being a part of that. I actually like it that you guys here are so defensive and passionate about NCL. Makes me think it must be pretty special! Here you get angry at "outsiders," but over at DCL they're rude to each other.

 

After speaking to my husband, and looking at the boards here, we have narrowed it down to HAL, NCL and Royal Caribbean. We will probably travel at some time in November 2014 because that is when everyone can get away. I know absolutely nothing about cruising, but have read-up enough to know that each line has it's own style and activities.

 

Can those of you who have been on NCL, or the other lines I mentioned too, tell me if there is anything unique about each cruise line? For example, I have heard HAL is more formal and I know that NCL has this "freestyle" dining. Is this true? Any information you could give would be great.

 

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

 

I know the Disney board isn't as active as the other boards but please keep in mind that only a small percentage of cruisers post on CC. I'd hate to see you disregard a particular line because of a small minority.

 

With that said, we've been on all the lines you mentioned, including Disney. By far, Disney is our favorite line. HAL is more sedate and I think a gathering of your size would like NCL or Royal Caribbean. But if you are still open to Disney, I would recommend it in a heartbeat but it is more expensive than the other lines (but it includes more).

 

As this is your first cruise, I would select the itinerary that you like the most and then the ship. As you cruise more (at least from my experience), the ports become less important as you've been to them so many times. At that point, the ship weighs-in more as to which cruise we will sail. For example, we do not like Nassau but we love the Disney Dream (which only does Bahamas cruises). So when we are docked in Nassau, we stay the entire day on the ship.

 

 

 

 

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[boya]

We are literally all over the map! NY, VA, CA, IL and FL. We will most likely travel out of Florida. I know I am being impulsive dismissing Disney, it just left a really sour taste in my mouth. Probably because even though there are only a couple trouble-makers, I just feel like others should step-up and defend the "victims." It's silly, I know. Obviously, if DCL turns out to be the only line that meets our needs, we'd book it.

 

Good advice about the suites, but since we are paying for everyone, I guarantee no one is getting a suite! Plain old balconies for everyone.

 

Can I ask some specific questions?

Would like to know if the childrens' programs allow you to drop off the kids and leave them? Can the kids stay together or are they broken up by age? The kids who are definitely going will be 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 10 and 12. My brother has a 1 year old who will probably stay with her other grandparents.

 

 

 

I like that it is not formal. Are there sports onboard? Movies? Shows? Adult-only entertainment? Can you get a babysitter at night? Can you bring alcohol onboard?

 

 

I wish you the best in finding just the right cruise...We have just recently went on our 1st NCL cruise and IMHO not the best choice for families...we have done 5 DCL cruises and the childrens programs/safety are far superior to NCL. Also if you want to be able to have your children reach you while they are in the kids club may want to check with NCL for yourself...i was told i could not have a pager unless my child needed and provided an EPI pen. The childrens club on NCL Breakaway is also perhaps not too well run- my son was assualted by another child and we were neither contacted nor informed...no response as of yet from NCL after 2 contacts on ship, 3 calls to NCL and 3 emails...after 5 DCL cruises nothing but happy memories. :) feel free to shoot me a message if you have any DCL questions. -

[pinkroses]

I booked a RCI cruise for 23 people a couple of years ago. If you do it yourself, be sure to ask what "perks" are available to you. We ended up with some nice additions. This line was perfect for us, although we did not have any children young enough to use the kids clubs.