New to NCL and have several questions

[NCteacherlovescruising]

We just got off our 6th Carnival cruise a couple hours ago. We have also been on Royal Caribbean and Princess. I assume there will be more similarities than differences compared to our other cruises. Could anyone that has done Carnival or RC, in addition to NCL, let me know if there's something I need to be aware of? We will be on the Getaway July 3rd.

 

I've heard we won't need any dressy clothes. Is this correct? I certainly wouldn't miss the extra luggage. Are sun dresses and shorts acceptable for any restaurants? Any need for my husband and son to bring dress pants or dress shirt? I'm sure they would love to wear shorts and a polo. Do they take pictures every night like Carnival?

 

Speaking of restaurants, I understand NCL has several speciality restaurants. Are the free options any good or should we plan to pay every night? Is there a free buffet or pizza? Which speciality restaurants are best? Cost? I've read we need to book these ahead, is this true? Do you also need to prebook shows?

 

We received a free beverage package. (UBP, I think?) I assume there aren't any good wines included. We like red wines, especially a nice Cabernet Sauvignon. How much wine are we allowed to bring with us? We enjoy a nice wine with dinner. How much is the corkage fee? I don't like Pepsi. Are we allowed to bring any soda? If so, how much pp? Is bottled water included in our beverage package? Our son is 19. Is it true they will let him buy beer and wine with our permission? Can we set a daily limit? Do they have any activities specifically for young adults? The last time he cruised with us he was still young enough to meet kids in the teen club.

 

I know this is lengthy and I have asked several questions. Sorry! I'm just really excited about our next cruise and have no idea what to expect. Thanks in advance for any help!

[LMaxwell]

1 specialty restaurant requires slightly dressier clothes and 1 out of 3 MDR's otherwise no issue with shorts and polo.

 

Yes you can sign a waiver for wine and beer for your son. As far as limits I don't know.

 

UBP covers wines by the glass up to $15 so not sure why would assume there are no good ones. The majority will be included so you have to decide when onboard.

 

Yes there is a free buffet.

[mjkacmom]

There are three free MDR's, free buffet, free pub style restaurant, and I think the noodle bar is now free?

 

You can bring as much wine as you like, $15 corkage fee for each, regardless where you drink it. You can sign a waiver for your son to drink beer and wine, but can't limit it (although he will have to charge it to your account, so you can tell him his limits, as you will always be able to access your account).

[ColinIllinois]

Most of your questions are covered in the FAQ section on the website. You'll find this helpful:

 

https://www.ncl.com/faq

[NCteacherlovescruising]

1 specialty restaurant requires slightly dressier clothes and 1 out of 3 MDR's otherwise no issue with shorts and polo.

 

Yes you can sign a waiver for wine and beer for your son. As far as limits I don't know.

 

UBP covers wines by the glass up to $15 so not sure why would assume there are no good ones. The majority will be included so you have to decide when onboard.

 

Yes there is a free buffet.

 

 

Which specialty restaurant has a stricter dress code? What is the dress code for it?

 

Past experience has been ships don't offer wines we like by the glass. The only exception was the Oasis of the Seas. Vintages Wine Bar and some of their speciality restaurants offered some good wines by the glass and we were able to pay the difference from our package limit.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

There are three free MDR's, free buffet, free pub style restaurant, and I think the noodle bar is now free?

 

 

 

You can bring as much wine as you like, $15 corkage fee for each, regardless where you drink it. You can sign a waiver for your son to drink beer and wine, but can't limit it (although he will have to charge it to your account, so you can tell him his limits, as you will always be able to access your account).

 

 

Do they charge this when we board? We have to pay it even if we open it ourselves to drink it on our balcony? Just asking, we really enjoy it with dinner, although we've been known to enjoy a glass on our balcony.

[darrengs]

Do they charge this when we board? We have to pay it even if we open it ourselves to drink it on our balcony? Just asking, we really enjoy it with dinner, although we've been known to enjoy a glass on our balcony.

 

 

Yes, $15 per bottle when you board. You can drink wherever you wish but still the same fee.

 

 

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[ColeThornton]

Which specialty restaurant has a stricter dress code? What is the dress code for it?

 

 

We have to pay it even if we open it ourselves to drink it on our balcony?

 

 

Read the link that ColinIllinois posted. It has the dress code and alcohol policy in the FAQ's.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

Most of your questions are covered in the FAQ section on the website. You'll find this helpful:

 

https://www.ncl.com/faq

 

 

Thank you! This was quite helpful!

[NCteacherlovescruising]

Do they enforce the baggage limits?

[Quilting_Cruiser]

I'm platinum on Carnival and have sailed NCL twice (Jade and Epic) and have my third booked (Sun). The two lines are more similar than different. I've also sailed Princess, but that was about 10 years ago. When I decided to try a line other than Carnival, the dining options on NCL made the choice easy for me as I'm a bit of a foodie. I've found NCL to be a very enjoyable cruiseline and with two FCCs in my pocket, they'll have my business for at least the next year or two. :p

 

Here are some threads in which the two lines are compared. I'd like to say that I did the search and copies the links to be helpful (I did this for someone a few days ago and was called "snarky") and my intent was simply that. :D

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2325783&highlight=carnival

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2305911&highlight=carnival

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2191126&highlight=carnival

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2290778&highlight=carnival

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2276693&highlight=carnival

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2286836&highlight=carnival

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2332990&highlight=carnival

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2332522&highlight=carnival

[NLH Arizona]

Do they enforce the baggage limits?

I've never had them enforce it and on my last cruise, one bag was well over 50 pounds. Edited April 3, 2016 by NLH Arizona

[Quilting_Cruiser]

In response to your question about the food...the MDRs are just fine. Judgment of food is, of course, subjective so take it with a grain of salt, no pun intended. LOL. Personally, I love the cold soups on Carnival and miss that on NCL, but other than that there's not a lot of difference. When you're feeding two or three thousand people at a time, food isn't going to go beyond a certain level of quality. Again, that's just my opinion. I believe the buffet on NCL is better than Carnival's and they're better designed as well. The NCL specialty restaurants are superior to the MDRs and buffet and I can't imagine sailing on an NCL ship and not eating at Le Bistro!

 

So, will you need to pay for food? It's entirely up to you. if you're picky about food or really, really enjoy eating at better restaurants, it's probably worth it for you to eat a few specialties.

 

Enjoy!

[Sauer-kraut]

There is no limit to how much pop and water you want to carry on. Also there is no restriction in which type of container it comes in. Depending on the port you can put luggage tags on the cases of water or pop and it will be delivered to your cabin.

 

Corkage, no matter where it is consumed. You can always get glasses and corkscrew from the steward.

 

The dressier of the specialty restaurants is Le Bistro. HOWEVER, the only requirement is TROUSERS so jeans are acceptable. No need for dress shirts and pants.

[cardbucfan]

We've sailed RCCL, HAL, Princess, Carnival and NCL. You are correct that there are more similarities than differences. None of the differences are enough to make us favor one line over the other.

 

We sailed Getaway last August with our (then) 18 and 20 year old boys. We had to go to guest services with all of our id's and sign the waiver. You have to do it in person so keep an eye on the lines. There was no limit established by the cruiseline but we gave our kids a budget and they stuck to it very well.

 

The 20 year old used the cruise to decompress from college (and miss his girlfriend!) so didn't socialize much. Everybody on the ship knew the 18 year old by the end of the week though. He said he could go to the clubs but couldn't order alcohol and that's where he met the folks he hung out with. The ship did have some "organized" activities for 18-20 year olds in the disco at 11:00 p.m. the first and second night too but he said those were kind of lame and there were folks of all ages there.

 

We had specialty dining so only ate in a MDR one night so can't really compare to Carnival but what we had was certainly acceptable. We did eat at the buffet, Flamingo Grill and o'sheehans for breakfast and lunch and it was all good. The specialty restaurant Le Bistro was delicious and pants and a polo shirt are fine. My menfolk loved being casual all week. Cagneys was also good. If you are going to do specialty dining look at buying a package before you board. It will be cheaper ahead of time and probably cheaper than paying a la carte onboard.

 

It's a big ship with lots of people so we did make reservations for dinner each night and the production shows before we boarded and we never had a wait. I did hate thought hat that kinda took away the freestyle element.

[Mistizoom]

We were on Norwegian Getaway a couple weeks ago, so you might find the recent dailies I posted helpful: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2332251

 

The ONLY two restaurants on Getaway that require long pants (or jeans) and collared shirt are Le Bistro and Ocean Blue. These are both specialty restaurants. All three main dining rooms and all other specialties have a cruise casual dress code (meaning shorts and t-shirt are fine). See the dailies for accurate info for this ship regarding dress code. The first sea day will be "Norwegians Night Out" which means most people will dress a bit nicer and photographers are out in full force. The second sea day will be "Glow night" and a lot of people dressed nicer that night as well (I didn't because I wasn't aware that would be the case ahead of time). Many photographers out that night as well. Not as many photographers other nights that I noticed.

 

I thought the food in the MDRs was very good. We at only at one specialty, Moderno, and also at Ilusionairum one night. Don't miss Flamingo Grill, the Cuban buffet on deck 16, open only for breakfast most days and lunch until usually 5 pm. Not crowded and there was some interesting food served there.

 

As others have said, you can bring as many non-alcoholic drinks as you want onboard, and unlimited 750 ml bottles of wine for a $15 corkage fee. They will charge you the $15 corkage fee after you go through security but before check-in and boarding. You can sign a waiver for you 19 year old to drink beer and wine. They do have 18-20 year old gatherings on board regularly and they will be listed in the Freestyle Daily.

[NLH Arizona]

Which specialty restaurant has a stricter dress code? What is the dress code for it?

 

Le Bistro.

 

Wear smart casual if you are eating dinner in the aft main dining room (our more formal dining room) and in Le Bistro on cruises longer than five days.

 

https://www.ncl.com/faq#packing

[NCteacherlovescruising]

Looks like nice clothes won't be an issue. I'm a bit picky and didn't see anything I would want to pay for at Le Bistro or Ocean Blue. I found a review with menus for the dining room and could easily order off them. I'm more into steak, chicken and salad than seafood or fancy foods. I would probably enjoy Cagneys or Moderno.

 

You have all been very helpful. Thank you!

 

Is Spice h2o a nice place to sunbathe or should we try to get Vibe passes? We enjoy the adult serenity decks on Carnival, the beach pool on the Oasis and the Sanctuary on Princess (loved this!!) We tend to spend the majority of our sea days in these areas. Do you have to be 18 or 21 to go?