Is Illusionarium worth $140?

[coldflame]

So, entertainment booking just opened for my sailing and was looking to reserve illusionarium for me and my family (2AD/2CH (10 & 5)). I knew it was a charge-up option, but it took me aback to see the $140 cart balance. Seems rather steep for a magic/dinner show. Is it really worth that much?

[LMaxwell]

Only you can decide. To me, personally, no I would not pay that much when there are other dining and entertainment options

[coldflame]

Only you can decide. To me, personally, no I would not pay that much when there are other dining and entertainment options

 

I think what makes it difficult is never having seen it. On DCL magic/variety shows are included in fare (which, granted it's much more expensive than NCL, but that's a different rant) and I'd say they are so-so for adults, but the kids loved it. Not sure what kind of caliber the magicians and performers are in that show, which again makes it difficult to asses whether the experience is worth that much.

[Jenjer]

Our family loved it 2AD/ DD 12 and DS 10 but it was included back then so there wasn't a upcharge.

 

If you take your family out to say dinner and a movie what would you be looking at price wise, think of it that way. The dinner was steak and shrimp. I thought it was very good.

[detroitlions]

That is a lot for a magic show. I have the shows when it was included in the UDP and it was ok and the food was peaty good. Would I pay that on land no I would not. Some times they have it discounted on the first day 25% I might do that.

[coldflame]

Our family loved it 2AD/ DD 12 and DS 10 but it was included back then so there wasn't a upcharge.

 

It makes a huge difference when it's a charge up, specially a non-trivial one.

 

If you take your family out to say dinner and a movie what would you be looking at price wise, think of it that way. The dinner was steak and shrimp. I thought it was very good.

 

We'd be looking at maybe $80-90. The theater being the more expensive part. Kids usually eat off kids' menu so we can have a nice dinner for $40 + tip at a casual eatery.

[coldflame]

That is a lot for a magic show. I have the shows when it was included in the UDP and it was ok and the food was peaty good. Would I pay that on land no I would not. Some times they have it discounted on the first day 25% I might do that.

 

Thanks. This helps.

[SuiteTraveler]

I've seen the show. It is up close magic on a 3/4 round stage which is harder to pull off than large stage magic. The performers are all very skilled and do a good job of pulling off these up close tricks. If you are familiar with magic tricks, there isn't really anything new as far as the tricks go. If you are unfamiliar, you will be wowed. There is a storyline to the show which makes it a sort of play with various musicians playing different characters in the play and the show includes video, laser light effects and animatronics. I would not take an extremely young child to the show (under 4) because I am afraid it would scare them (or the noise and flashing lights would be too disturbing) and there is no safe way to leave the theater once the show has started because the cast is making quick entrances and exits from various places around the room and through the audience. Add in the waiters who have to serve and take up the food at very specific times in order to avoid being in the way of the cast and you have a complex logistical situation that can only be made very dangerous by getting up to leave and in fact, there is an announcement that you cannot leave during the show and should remain seated at all times. There is also quite a lot of audience participation opportunities. I was pulled into the mentalist sequence - really a bad decision on their part as I know full well how to screw up a mentalist act, but chose not to out of consideration for all the rest of the people in the audience.

 

For someone familiar with magic, you will appreciate the magicians skills even if you are underwhelmed by the type of tricks performed.

 

For someone unfamiliar with magic, you will be impressed, even wowed by the tricks performed.

 

Is it worth the money? It really depends on you.

 

I can't say that I absolutely loved the show. It was good, but not truly great - not the "wow" of the Cirque shows on other NCL ships. Still, for a family show, it was very nicely done.

[Rigby the Dog]

So, entertainment booking just opened for my sailing and was looking to reserve illusionarium for me and my family (2AD/2CH (10 & 5)). I knew it was a charge-up option, but it took me aback to see the $140 cart balance. Seems rather steep for a magic/dinner show. Is it really worth that much?

 

It's a very good show. As another poster said - only you can decide.

 

What is the price now - $35? To me the show is well worth a $25 ticket price without dinner - kick in another $10 for dinner and it's a value.

 

Get there early and sit in the front.

[Nola26]

Your family could see the show for $120, it doesn't have to be $140.

 

I spent $108 for our family of three because I expect to enjoy the show, my nephew loves magic and I wanted the premium seating in hopes that he'll see everything. I'm happy with my choice, wasn't even an agonizing one. We sail Saturday and we'll see the show Monday.

 

I don't value specialty dining or alcohol packages but this is an easy choice. Some must have UBP or UDP and choose to skip this show, that's not us but to each his own, hence Freestyle.

 

We've also reserved Burn the Floor and Legally Blonde so we'll see the no extra cost shows too.

Edited August 25, 2015 by Nola26

[Rigby the Dog]

Your family could see the show for $120, it doesn't have to be $140.

 

I spent $108 for our family of three because I expect to enjoy the show, my nephew loves magic and I wanted the premium seating in hopes that he'll see everything. I'm happy with my choice, wasn't even an agonizing one. We sail Saturday and we'll see the show Monday.

 

I don't value specialty dining or alcohol packages but this is an easy choice. Some must have UBP or UDP and choose to skip this show, that's not us but to each his own, hence Freestyle.

 

We've also reserved Burn the Floor and Legally Blonde so we'll see the no extra cost shows too.

 

Well get there early and wait in line so that Jr. is right up in the front. He'll enjoy the show.

[coldflame]

Your family could see the show for $120, it doesn't have to be $140.

 

I spent $108 for our family of three because I expect to enjoy the show, my nephew loves magic and I wanted the premium seating in hopes that he'll see everything. I'm happy with my choice, wasn't even an agonizing one. We sail Saturday and we'll see the show Monday.

 

I don't value specialty dining or alcohol packages but this is an easy choice. Some must have UBP or UDP and choose to skip this show, that's not us but to each his own, hence Freestyle.

 

We've also reserved Burn the Floor and Legally Blonde so we'll see the no extra cost shows too.

 

We end up reserving floor sitting. The $20 difference is not significant. We're already saving a bundle with 3+4 sail free, so we'll go ahead and splurge a little on illusionarium.

 

Thanks all for your input.

[happy cruzin]

That is a lot for a magic show. I have the shows when it was included in the UDP and it was ok and the food was peaty good. Would I pay that on land no I would not. Some times they have it discounted on the first day 25% I might do that.

 

We too did it the first night - because it was included with the UDP.

 

Really enjoyed the show - but was glad we had made other dinner arrangements because the meal was just meh. :cool: Cagney's on the other hand was FANTASTIC!! :D

Edited August 25, 2015 by happy cruzin

[LrgPizza]

We loved the show very much, but it was free with our promo UDP in May, 2014. Would I pay that much for it? No.The food was good, but not any better than any of the other dining areas, and the show was good, but there are plenty of other entertainment options. The last time we skipped Legally Blonde. If we sail GA again, we will skip Illusionarium instead.

[detroitlions]

We too did it the first night - because it was included with the UDP.

 

Really enjoyed the show - but was glad we had made other dinner arrangements because the meal was just meh. :cool: Cagney's on the other hand was FANTASTIC!! :D

Yea the meal was definitely missing. I did enjoy Cirque but I also did not pay extra since I bought the old UDP cause we chose UBP as a perk but that was a no brain decision prices have gone up on drinks and the bill at the end gets crazy and you do not have to be a heavy drinker. I seen a lot of friends that have wine at dinner and random drinks get the sticker shock at the end. Oh well off subject. I do think since NCL wants to be a Entertainment lead on cruises they should include all of these. I think the included ones are just as good as the upcharge ones. But if I only see 2 shows on a cruise I am good with that. It does not feel like a theater experience to me.

[youngestof9]

YES YES YES

 

The show was great (my kids are 16 and 9) and SO entertaining. While I know it's a trick, I'm still trying to figure it out and I was in the 2nd row. My daughter was selected by the mind reader. That wowed me for sure. It was, as mentioned, shrimp and beef for the dinner. I ate my daughter's beef and she ate my shrimp. It was a nice steak - tender and tasty. But the show itself was fantastic.

 

So I would spend the money because I think it's worth it. Spending other people's money is easier, but I will say we all thoroughly enjoyed it.

[SuiteTraveler]

There are actually 2 other meal choices. If you don't wan the beef, they will bring grilled salmon instead. It is marginally better than the beef. There is also a vegetarian option that is pasta supposedly. When they ask if there are food allergies, just say "No beef" or " I'm vegetarian."

[daffodiliaz]

It was very loud and scared my 5 year old nephew. I wouldn't recommend for little kids although I think he enjoyed seeing his favorite aunt pulled on stage to perform a trick. ;) We were also seated right by the stage but on the side so we didn't have a good view of some tricks. Pass.

[LrgPizza]

The vegetarian option used to be eggplant parmigiana, but I don't know if that has changed.

[Donna_In_India]

We've seen a ton of magic shows from local productions to big Vegas names. We've also seen the Cirque shows on the Epic and Breakaway and loved them. So we figured this would be just as good. There were 11 of us. We got there very early to get good seats since we had 4 short kids. Well that didn't work - we were seated in the 4th row of 5 rows of tables. There was no way the kids were going to see around or over the people in front of us. (In fact there were children behind us in the last/5th floor row who talked through the whole show because the couldn't see it.) The show was terrible....the "story" was lame (and probably over many childrens' heads) and honestly the magic was pretty basic. We had 5 in our group who were vegetarian. Their meals were served AFTER the rest of us received our desserts. Since I paid for all of us, I was pretty upset. The whole experience should have been a lot better. The Getaway was amazing but the Illusionarium was one of two terrible experiences. I would save your money!