Free at Sea-please help me decide!

[cookie*]

Hi Everyone! Newbie poster here. We just booked our very first cruise as a family on the Escape and I am so excited. Went back and forth between the Escape and RCCL Oasis, but the Free at Sea promotion was too good to pass up.

 

Except that now I am wondering if I made the right Free at Sea selections...Open Bar was a no-brainer (well, hopefully we won't drink away too many brain cells ;)) We will for sure enjoy not paying attention to drink costs. For our second selection we picked the $50 per port shore excursion credit. I then went online and started looking at the excursions and WOW they seem over priced!:confused: I am fairly certain we can handle excursions on our own for much less? Should I have chosen the specialty dining package instead? 3 nights of specialty dining. We booked direct through NCL and our NCL agent said the two of us would be covered, but the kids would have to pay the full price of $30 pp, which did not really seem like a deal to me. No kids menu? Is this correct info?

 

What should I do for my second free choice? What have you all done? Has anyone skipped specialty dining and had regrets? Is specialty dining open for lunch or just dinner? Thanks in advance for any advice!

[BirdTravels]

We always get the dining package.

 

Your kids would have to pay for the cost of the meals that they eat. There is no flat $30 (unless you are talking specifically about Teppanyaki $29.95). For example, if your kid at a shrimp cocktail ($8), bowl of soup ($3), small filet steak ($16), and cake with ice cream ($6) your total bill for a single meal would be $38.94 (with mandatory gratuity).

 

There is a complimentary kids menu at all restaurants.

[casofilia]

Dining as number 1 for us from the ones being offered now.

Drinking as number 2.

[Nola26]

If there are more than 3 in the cabin then Friends & Family free is the best choice. Just take a look at what you're being charged for those passengers and you'll see that it is a no brainer. The beverage package is a good second choice based on how you intend to cruise (enjoying drinks from time to time).

 

I like the ShoreX credit, but I take that after using the Friends & Family free for my nephew to travel with us. We don't need the beverage package.

[NCLfamily]

We as a family would always pick UBP and UDP (beverage and dining). We very rarely do a ship organised excursion, as you say, they are very overpriced.

 

 

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[negn]

Guess it depends how old the kids are. If they are young and enjoy the Splash Academy, you could feed them in the buffet and then you and hubby could enjoy a quiet dinner at a restaurant. If thats not an option, there is kids menu at all specialty restaurants which is free

If the 3rd and 4th sail free is an option that would be your best bet. We booked a cruise on Escape with our grand daughter and cost to add her was only $135

[DipBrat]

Depending on how much appetite your kids, and I guess you, have you could share your food with them if fries and pizza isn't what you want to feed them. There is no cost to this and everyone seemed fine with it.

 

 

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[Nola26]

If there are more than 3 in the cabin then Friends & Family free is the best choice. Just take a look at what you're being charged for those passengers and you'll see that it is a no brainer. The beverage package is a good second choice based on how you intend to cruise (enjoying drinks from time to time).

 

I like the ShoreX credit, but I take that after using the Friends & Family free for my nephew to travel with us. We don't need the beverage package.

 

Should have read "if there are 3 or more in the cabin".

[macandlucy]

On two NCL cruises, we picked drinks and dining, and did have to pay for our son at the specialty restaurants. I got a little smarter by the second cruise and booked him a three (or four --forget what the deal was at the time) specialty dining package of his own, online, in advance of the cruise. It ended up saving us a few bucks. Not tons, mind you, but if you are paying a la carte prices for one person, it can add up.

[Nola26]

I just found an old invoice from our Getaway 2015 cruise. I was charged $349 for our 3rd passenger prior to selecting the Friends & Family free perk. There was quite a happy dance at home that day!

 

$349 is a much bigger savings than paying for the dining package and it doesn't require any extra fees. That is always Choice number one for me.

[mkmaj]

3/4 free, for sure!

 

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[cookie*]

Thanks so much! 3/4 free isn't offered our travel week, but I was happy to get the advice to call and check on that so thanks! I think we have pretty much decided to stick to the NCL excursions. Even if we can save a few bucks doing the same excursions on our own, I like the "back to ship" guarantee you get with the ship. As long as we are doing the NCL excursions, this choice works out better (by $12 ;) we can get 2 bottles of water LOL) than free specialty dining. Now I just need to decide if we want to add the specialty dining package for the two of us or stick to the free dining choices, or eat at a specialty restaurant or two a la carte. We don't normally eat an appetizer, entree and dessert when we go to a restaurant and if it is a sea day we will probably have had a big lunch, so a la carte might be a good option for us? We might end up liking the MDRs/buffet and not spending any extra money on food on the ship? I was tempted by Tepanyaki but it will cost $70 for our two kids and we can take them to a similar place near home for a different occasion for much less money--spreads out the fun that way too ;). Cagney's could be a fun option. Our son loves steak. I need to find the menu with prices.