New to NCL what should we know?

[oneteeny]

The hubs and I are toying with booking a British Isles cruise for 2018 on the Jade for our family of 4. We have two kiddos, will be 6 and 17, and looking at a mini-suite for all of us. We have only been on Carnival before and have done 7 cruises so far, we are leaving on our 8th next Sunday for a quick 4 day in fact. We have always loved Carnival and are super easy going.

 

So, question is, what should we know about NCL that is different from Carnival and/or tips on the Jade would be fabulous? Thanks so much in advance for your help!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[casofilia]

You will be cramped as a family of 4 in a mini-suite; get two insides.

[oneteeny]

Well we've done 4 on a balcony on Carnival and made it through. I'm not concerned about the cabin choice, so no worries there.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[fshagan]

Dining is "Freestyle", which means you don't have an early or late dinner seating. Whenever your family of four wants to eat between 5:30 and 9 just make your way to one of the two main dining rooms and you will be seated. I think you'll find that is most dramatic difference between NCL and Carnival.

 

The off-shoot of that policy is that it can take longer to have dinner on NCL. Because the food is not coming out all at the same time according to the set dining time schedule, your waiter will seem more like on shore. We have had to flag down someone to finish up to catch a show in time. If you are in a time crunch just tell the server; like on Carnival you'll find the staff friendly and willing to accommodate you!

 

There is also no formal night. They announce a "dress up or not" night and, if your family likes the formal night on another line, you can dress up then and have pictures taken with the ship's officers, etc.

 

There are some other minor differences in how the beverage plans work, etc. but I think you'll enjoy your cruise! We have sailed on the Jade and absolutely loved it.

[anonmom]

We haven't cruised Carnival, so I can't compare the lines, but we took our first cruise on the Jade last January and loved it! Our daughter was almost 5 at the time and she enjoyed the hot tubs, the kids' pool, the kids' club and all of the restaurants.

 

My fiancé and I are heavy drinkers, so the UBP was what sold us on Norwegian as opposed to Carnival. The UBP doesn't have a 15-drink maximum like Carnival's drink package, and you only pay a service charge of $14/day when you get it as your Free at Sea choice.

 

The service was out of this world. Some people come on here and complain that there aren't enough servers circulating around the pool, etc., but that isn't an issue to me. I don't mind getting up and walking 50 feet to the bar when I want another drink.

 

What blew me away was the crew members who really went out of their way to do something unexpected and special. One day our daughter wanted macaroni and cheese when we were at the buffet. I asked one of the chefs if there was any mac & cheese and he said that there wasn't any on the buffet that day, but he'd make my daughter a plate of it to order. He went straight back into the kitchen and came out with a huge bowl of delicious mac & cheese ten minutes later.

 

Another time she had a meltdown after a long day and needed to go straight to bed after a quick buffet dinner. We had been planning to feed her there and then drop her off at the kids' club so we could have a romantic dinner alone in one of the MDRs. We were both bummed, but there was nothing we could do about it. My boyfriend went upstairs to put our daughter to bed and I went down to one of the bars to grab a couple of drinks to drink together on the balcony and decided to stop by the MDR that we had reservations at, to see if I could grab a couple of appetizers and desserts to go. I explained what happened and they said that they couldn't send plates to go, but that they would send it up like a room service order, compliments of the assistant manager.

 

We haven't been on a megaship yet (boarding the Getaway tomorrow!!) so I can't say how the Jade compares to a larger ship with more amenities and activities, but we were never bored. In fact, we never made it down the waterslide even once, didn't make it to a single show, and barely used our spa passes. We wanted to, we just didn't have enough extra time.

 

We stayed in a standard balcony cabin and it was large enough for our family of 3. I haven't been in the minisuites on the Jade, but I think they are the same size as the balconies, except with a bigger bathroom.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Forums mobile app

[oneteeny]

We haven't cruised Carnival, so I can't compare the lines, but we took our first cruise on the Jade last January and loved it! Our daughter was almost 5 at the time and she enjoyed the hot tubs, the kids' pool, the kids' club and all of the restaurants.

 

 

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Forums mobile app

 

 

Thanks so much for the info!! How did your daughter like the kids club when she went? We have been hit or miss for our youngest with the kids club but they always seem to love him!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[KeithJenner]

We stayed in a standard balcony cabin and it was large enough for our family of 3. I haven't been in the minisuites on the Jade, but I think they are the same size as the balconies, except with a bigger bathroom.

 

 

That isn't actually true on ships like the Jade.

 

On the newer ships (Epic, Breakaway, Getaway, Escape), the main difference between the mini suites and balconies is that bathrooms, as you say.

 

However, on older ships, the mini suite has a few more benefits.

 

There is a curtain splitting the bed from the sofa.

 

Also, the room is slightly longer which means that the sofa is bigger. In turn, this means that when the sofa is being used as a bed it doesn't stick out into the room as much as in a balcony room, as they sleep along the length of the sofa rather than out into the room.

 

The practical difference this sofa setup makes is that in a balcony room if is difficult to access the balcony itself if someone is asleep on the sofa bed, whereas you can teach it easier in a mini suite.

 

That is why we always try to book a mini suite if we are on an older ship (where they have them), but aren't as fussed on the newer ones.

 

I will note that there are just three of us. I'm not sure exactly how the drop down bed works, so the benefit may not be the same for four people. My guess is that the slightly bigger room would be appreciated with 4 people regardless of sleeping arrangements.

[RSLeesburg]

I think Jade is also due for drydock this year and will have some new things added and new decor. We are also looking at booking her in 2018 for the PC itinerary.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[oneteeny]

You guys are awesome!! Thanks so much for all the help!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[anonmom]

Thanks so much for the info!! How did your daughter like the kids club when she went? We have been hit or miss for our youngest with the kids club but they always seem to love him!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

She liked it a lot. There were some days that she didn't really want to go because she would rather keep doing what we were doing together (swimming, hot tubbing, pretending to be Cinderella's stepsisters for the millionth time that day, etc.), but even on those days she was always having fun when we got there to pick her up, had a lot to say about the fun things they did, often wanted to stay longer, etc.

 

The best things, IMO, are the pirate parade around the ship one night, and especially the circus show. The kids practice all week for the circus show and they present it on the last sea day. Very cute!

 

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Forums mobile app

[copycat8]

Hi. As you folks seem to helpful, I thought I'd ask a couple questions here. New to NCL, leaving on Escape in two weeks. 1. The Specialty restaurants. I keep reading suggestions about some of them being available for free for breakfast and/or lunch. Is this true, which ones? 2. The comedy club - reserve? How/when? 3. We will be coming off Carnival Glory then going to Escape. Can we walk over, with our luggage? Can we just bring our luggage with us on the ship or do you recommend giving it to the luggage destroyers out front? We are taking it with us on Carnival. Have seen too many suitcases destroyed on other cruises. Also, getting a bit concerned about the number of people on this large ship. Reading peoples' reviews about getting on the ship. Some number system. I'm assuming we show up at our designated time and line up, and get on, and start having fun. Any suggestions for NCL newbes would be greatly appreciated. Thank you thank you.

[anonmom]

Good to know, thanks for clarifying!

 

That isn't actually true on ships like the Jade.

 

On the newer ships (Epic, Breakaway, Getaway, Escape), the main difference between the mini suites and balconies is that bathrooms, as you say.

...

That is why we always try to book a mini suite if we are on an older ship (where they have them), but aren't as fussed on the newer ones.

 

 

 

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Forums mobile app

[oneteeny]

And how do the specialty restaurants work for reservations with the current specialty dinning offer? Looks like with the 12 day cruise we would get 4 specialty dining tickets each. How do you know what you are going to want and when? Seems restrictive and confining.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Sue1260]

Hi. As you folks seem to helpful, I thought I'd ask a couple questions here. New to NCL, leaving on Escape in two weeks. 1. The Specialty restaurants. I keep reading suggestions about some of them being available for free for breakfast and/or lunch. Is this true, which ones? 2. The comedy club - reserve? How/when? 3. We will be coming off Carnival Glory then going to Escape. Can we walk over, with our luggage? Can we just bring our luggage with us on the ship or do you recommend giving it to the luggage destroyers out front? We are taking it with us on Carnival. Have seen too many suitcases destroyed on other cruises. Also, getting a bit concerned about the number of people on this large ship. Reading peoples' reviews about getting on the ship. Some number system. I'm assuming we show up at our designated time and line up, and get on, and start having fun. Any suggestions for NCL newbes would be greatly appreciated. Thank you thank you.

I can only speak about number 2 yes booking for comedy show is a must you csn only get in with a reservation. I was on Breakaway and didn't book a comedy show early enough and it filled up and couldn't get in. They always say you can show up and wait to see if someone with reservation doesn't the they will take walk ups in. I have never heard about or checked about breakfast or lunch in specialty restaurants. My cruise was full but boat didn't seem crowded other than pool but that's same on every boat. We did enjoy listening to a certain singer (can't remember her name) and she preformed in atrium and it would get crowded wish they would have moved her to a larger spot. You will have a great time.