Rethinking my opinion on cruising

[DMH15]

I love the responses, and thank you for taking time to write. I agree we should not have done a port intensive cruise. I did not think sea days would be boring, but when hubby and I went to dance at 10:00 PM to find about 10 people in the "club", it was disappointing. Also, I believe my first mistake in booking it (I picked it) was not treating the cruise as a vacation in itself, but a conveyance. A cruise of the Caribbean would be good as we have been there several times and more than familiar with the culture, or even a Trans-Atlantic. Bermuda has hit the radar because of the consecutive days in port.

 

I have done cool boutique hotels in NOLA, NYC, Chicago, London and other places. Class and fun are not mutually exclusive and it seems NCL just might understand that concept.

 

Transatlantic cruises tend to have the most advanced age pax mix.

 

 

 

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[Medtech2]

I love the responses, and thank you for taking time to write. I agree we should not have done a port intensive cruise. I did not think sea days would be boring, but when hubby and I went to dance at 10:00 PM to find about 10 people in the "club", it was disappointing. Also, I believe my first mistake in booking it (I picked it) was not treating the cruise as a vacation in itself, but a conveyance. A cruise of the Caribbean would be good as we have been there several times and more than familiar with the culture, or even a Trans-Atlantic. Bermuda has hit the radar because of the consecutive days in port.

 

I have done cool boutique hotels in NOLA, NYC, Chicago, London and other places. Class and fun are not mutually exclusive and it seems NCL just might understand that concept.

Because you like to be active I would suggest Breakaway out of NYC to Bermuda.

Great parties, dancing, slides, ropes course...

[OCruisers]

Good topic for a thread!

All of us really should "rethink" every so often.

Also, it's best if we don't form our opinions from hearsay.

LuLu

[Traveller20074]

Okay, as my signature indicates, hubby and I went on a cruise in 2012 with Celebrity. Overall, I was underwhelmed. I am not sure what it was exactly, but perhaps the stuffiness, or rude lady (passenger, not service) at the bar turned me off, not to mention the faux class so many passengers displayed. Also, we love to immerse ourselves in a culture making the port heavy itinerary we had a mistake. But, after the less than stunning experience with Celebrity, we are considering giving another cruise line a try. What I do like about NCL is the vibrancy and what appears to be an attitude of taking everything less serious. If we decide on this, it will be islands. We have been to the Caribbean several times, so culture immersion is less important or an island itinerary (the Canaries, for example). Why do you cruise with NCL? If you have done NCL and Celebrity, what are the similarities and differences? By the way, I love to dance, and is there lots of dancing on board? Celebrity pretty much went dead about 10:00 PM most nights.

 

:D

 

I've done 3 cruses. My very first one was on the Bahamas Celebration in 2009 when it was new. It used to be another ship and they redid and renamed it. It's a smaller one, and I got pretty seasick. So, the other two were Celebrity and NCL. I did the Celebrity Summit last year to the Southern Caribbean. It was pretty good actually. The wait staff was incredible. I usually like the buffet, becuase eating in the restaurant takes so much time with all the courses. I want to eat and get on with it (SPA time, watching out the balcony, etc why waste time eating lol) The cruise on Celebrity I did last year was quite lively. There was a late party out by the pools that was fun. We danced quite a bit :o NCL has the White Hot Party. The 1st time we did this, it was 70's music, and was fun. The last time, they played weird music I'd never heard before, might have been rap, I coudln't tell lol For dancing, the Celebrity Summit wins in my mind. the staff on both were excellent.

The Garden Cafe buffet is the best in the world I think :D Love the stations. The buffet on the Summit I didn't like, it was one long line. Another thing is the SPA. The one on the Summit (Persian Garden) had no views outside, except in the sauna room. The South Pacific spa on the Pearl is incredible...views all over the place. The Summit did have some pretty cool enclosures where you could sit there and there were hoses with hot water.

 

I love the Pearl. This will be my 4th time on her :o

 

Oh ps. The comedian, Fred Klett, on the Summit was hysterical. VERY FUNNY show! The Pearl had David Naster, and he was good, but I liked Fred Klett better.

Edited May 17, 2014 by Traveller20074

[Traveller20074]

what would have been "stuffy" on Celebrity? :confused:

 

The room stewards were friendly. The waiters were friendly. The crew in the restaurant was friendly.

 

*shrug*

[Kirbafur]

Wow, this thread, and whole forum, is awesome!

 

The hubs and I just booked a cruise with NCL on the Getaway for June. I am so happy to have read this thread! I am not exactly new to cruising. I cruised on The Big Red Boat, which is now Disney, when I was 8. Then again on either Princess or Celebrity to Alaska when I was 14. I don't remember those at all, its been about 18 years since the Alaska one. The hubs has never been on a cruise....so this is kind of a new experience for us.

 

Im glad to read that NCL has a more relaxed feel, and that there are dance parties! :)

I am also glad to read that port heavy cruises are sometimes overwhelming. We almost booked a cruise leaving out of Puerto Rico and stopped 5 or 6 times! Hopefully the NCL is just what we're looking for!

[biker@sea]

Wow, this thread, and whole forum, is awesome!

 

The hubs and I just booked a cruise with NCL on the Getaway for June. I am so happy to have read this thread! I am not exactly new to cruising. I cruised on The Big Red Boat, which is now Disney, when I was 8. Then again on either Princess or Celebrity to Alaska when I was 14. I don't remember those at all, its been about 18 years since the Alaska one. The hubs has never been on a cruise....so this is kind of a new experience for us.

 

Im glad to read that NCL has a more relaxed feel, and that there are dance parties! :)

I am also glad to read that port heavy cruises are sometimes overwhelming. We almost booked a cruise leaving out of Puerto Rico and stopped 5 or 6 times! Hopefully the NCL is just what we're looking for!

 

NCL even has dancing on the dock when you return to the ship . ;) :)

[bowbiter]

NCL has dance parties on ever sailing but keep in mind the dates and locations you travel may change the type of cruisers you get. I sailed the Jewel in Sept to Alaska and it was dead at night. Possibly because excursions started early and time change (we barely made it past 9 the first half of the week). The Caribbean tends to be more lively but I don't think there are ever a lot of dancers. But we most often sail off season during hurricane season Oct - Decish

 

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[JoLoca2208]

Okay, as my signature indicates, hubby and I went on a cruise in 2012 with Celebrity. Overall, I was underwhelmed. I am not sure what it was exactly, but perhaps the stuffiness, or rude lady (passenger, not service) at the bar turned me off, not to mention the faux class so many passengers displayed. Also, we love to immerse ourselves in a culture making the port heavy itinerary we had a mistake. But, after the less than stunning experience with Celebrity, we are considering giving another cruise line a try. What I do like about NCL is the vibrancy and what appears to be an attitude of taking everything less serious. If we decide on this, it will be islands. We have been to the Caribbean several times, so culture immersion is less important or an island itinerary (the Canaries, for example). Why do you cruise with NCL? If you have done NCL and Celebrity, what are the similarities and differences? By the way, I love to dance, and is there lots of dancing on board? Celebrity pretty much went dead about 10:00 PM most nights.

 

:D

 

 

I've never sailed with Celebrity, so can't speak about that, but I've sailed with Carnival, NCL and MSC and NCL remain my favourite. Mainly because of their Freestyle. I've done Caribbean and Canaries and would highly recommend :)

I also like to dance and I can assure you, on NCL real fun is starting after 10pm :)

[pog27]

I've sailed on many mainstream lines and also love to splurge on premium vacations. I am now partial to NCL for cruising because they have the best of both worlds. It's a very relaxed unpretentious atmosphere with lot's going on and if you want 5 star book a room in the Haven. You get amazing service, butler, private pool/sun deck area, etc without the pretentiousness..and when you are ready to party head to the main decks. :) I've cruised NCL both in the Haven and regular cabin and loved them all.

[Erik101]

The OP mentioned faux class on her Celebrity cruise. Well guess what? The other lines have them too! On Carnival, met a woman who only purchased $500 bottles of Dom Perignon for her dinner drinks. On Royal Caribbean, the Crown & Anchor members who felt privileged. And then there's The Haven on NCL and you should meet some of those people if you're interested in meeting snobs.

 

Bottom line….it does NOT matter what line you choose because you are going to encounter faux class anywhere you go. We just got back from the Getaway and it was our first NCL cruise. It was fun!! We didn't let anything ruin what our main intention which was to have a good time!

 

Oh, and there's late night dancing on the Getaway/Breakaway. If that's something you're really interested in, then you'll find it in those two ships.

Edited May 17, 2014 by Erik101

[travelerpair]

Hello, we too have cruised on both Celebrity and NCL and had similar experiences. I think you may have been in a suite, and so have we. However, some trips on NCL Star were very lively and some were very quiet (same itinerary). Same with Celebrity. Some nights the only people awake past 11pm were the entertainers and us. The casino has its late night crowd, in fact many never leave. We found that the disco will play on even if only a few stay up. We try to get a group together and enjoy the music. New ships seem to have younger, or young at heart passengers.

[travelerpair]

The OP mentioned faux class on her Celebrity cruise. Well guess what? The other lines have them too! On Carnival, met a woman who only purchased $500 bottles of Dom Perignon for her dinner drinks. On Royal Caribbean, the Crown & Anchor members who felt privileged. And then there's The Haven on NCL and you should meet some of those people if you're interested in meeting snobs.

 

Bottom line….it does NOT matter what line you choose because you are going to encounter faux class anywhere you go. We just got back from the Getaway and it was our first NCL cruise. It was fun!! We didn't let anything ruin what our main intention which was to have a good time!

 

Oh, and there's late night dancing on the Getaway/Breakaway. If that's something you're really interested in, then you'll find it in those two ships.

Spending my grandchildrens money does not make me a snob. Anything but. Problem is NCL frowns on letting anyone close to a suite unless they stay in one. With freestyle you are not in the dressing competition you experience on some other cruises. I love casual and comfortable and meeting new people. One perk I really enjoy is the Latitudes Silver and up embarkcation. For that I am a snob.