Lots of questions from NCL newbie

[hayesktrm]

I think I have convinced my parents to spend a little more money (were thinking of RCL Vision or NCL Star) and go on the Pearl for Alaska next year. I really don't understand the freestyle concept. If we just go to the dining room, is there a charge? Do all other restaurants have a cover charge? Do you have to make reservations for the regular dining room or can we just show up? Is there a formal night (we wanted to dress up once).

 

I understand that the Pearl is a sister ship to the Jewel (?), can you tell me some of the fun things that are on the ship.

 

How is the service? I had heard that since tips are now automatically added to your account, it has gone down. Also, I had heard that often the food is cold because they cook it all at the same time and people are coming in at all different times. I can't believe this is true, though.

 

Does the cinema show current movies?

 

How do the kids' programs compare to other cruiselines (we have been on Disney, RCL and Carnival)? I have a 14 yo and a 10 yo and want to make sure they have fun.

 

Anything else I should know?

 

Thanks for helping out. I am stressed because I am planning this for the 6 of us and I don't want to mess up :( so any help would be appreciated.

[immargaret]

I think I have convinced my parents to spend a little more money (were thinking of RCL Vision or NCL Star) and go on the Pearl for Alaska next year. I really don't understand the freestyle concept. If we just go to the dining room, is there a charge? Do all other restaurants have a cover charge? Do you have to make reservations for the regular dining room or can we just show up? Is there a formal night (we wanted to dress up once). There will be 2-3 main dining rooms are free and don't require a reservation. There will be several other restaurants that require a reservation, some with fees and some without.

There will be 1 -2 optional formal nights, and the amount of people that dress formally will depend upon your cruise and the time of year. You may dress up as much as you want, or go with resort casual.

 

I understand that the Pearl is a sister ship to the Jewel (?), can you tell me some of the fun things that are on the ship.

Actually the Pearl is one of the first ever ships to have a bowling alley, so you will get to try something new at sea. The Pearl will also have a rock climbing wall.

 

How is the service? I had heard that since tips are now automatically added to your account, it has gone down. Also, I had heard that often the food is cold because they cook it all at the same time and people are coming in at all different times. I can't believe this is true, though. I've never had any meal served at an inappropriate temperature, last week on the DAWN was the first I have heard of this happening.

I don't believe that service has declined with the automatic tipping at all, at least in my opinion. The NCL crews are the friendliest at sea in my opinion.

 

Does the cinema show current movies? The movies are generally recently released to DVD movies, at least from what I remember. The movies are also replayed in your cabin on the TV throughout the cruise.

 

How do the kids' programs compare to other cruiselines (we have been on Disney, RCL and Carnival)? I have a 14 yo and a 10 yo and want to make sure they have fun. My daughter has enjoyed her last 6 NCL cruises and the kids/teen clubs, but she doesn't have anything to compare it with. I will tell you that the teen center/club usually just gives a list of the activities at the begining of the cruise and the teens choose which activites they want to show up for (some require advance RSVP - like the teen murder mystery dinner). It seems a little unorganized but my daughter has always met great teens to hang out with for the week, and attend the group functions.

 

Anything else I should know?

 

Keep reading CC, I'm assuming Shoreguy will be posting live from the Pearl on the TransAtlantic crossing in December and will let us all know the inside scoop about the new ship.

 

Thanks for helping out. I am stressed because I am planning this for the 6 of us and I don't want to mess up :( so any help would be appreciated.

Don't worry, read the good and the bad here on CC for reference but go and judge the ship for yourself. Go on the cruise with a good attitude and don't sweat the small stuff.:o

[Zeno]

I think I have convinced my parents to spend a little more money (were thinking of RCL Vision or NCL Star) and go on the Pearl for Alaska next year. I really don't understand the freestyle concept. If we just go to the dining room, is there a charge? Do all other restaurants have a cover charge? Do you have to make reservations for the regular dining room or can we just show up? Is there a formal night (we wanted to dress up once).

 

I understand that the Pearl is a sister ship to the Jewel (?), can you tell me some of the fun things that are on the ship.

 

How is the service? I had heard that since tips are now automatically added to your account, it has gone down. Also, I had heard that often the food is cold because they cook it all at the same time and people are coming in at all different times. I can't believe this is true, though.

 

Does the cinema show current movies?

 

How do the kids' programs compare to other cruiselines (we have been on Disney, RCL and Carnival)? I have a 14 yo and a 10 yo and want to make sure they have fun.

 

Anything else I should know?

 

Thanks for helping out. I am stressed because I am planning this for the 6 of us and I don't want to mess up :( so any help would be appreciated.

 

If we just go to the dining room, is there a charge?

 

No - the dining rooms are included in your cruise fare. There is NO extra charge for food and you may order as much as you want (e.g. more than 1 entree if you want)

 

Do all other restaurants have a cover charge?

 

No - some do and some don't. This varies from ship to ship. Generally there will be at least one specialty restaurant that does not charge extra

 

Do you have to make reservations for the regular dining room or can we just show up?

 

UNLESS you are in a large group (say 10 or more) - reservations are neither required or encouraged in the dining rooms. We have been on 3 NCL cruises and always "just show up" when we want to eat. (Our longest wait to be seated was less than 10 minutes at "prime time" (7PM).

Note: If you want to eat in specialty restaurants, you should make reservations for them. Generally they are not busy at the beginning of the cruise but get busy near the end. We were lucky once just turning up (at a non-peak time) at one of the specialty restaurants) BUT they are a LOT SMALLER than the dining rooms - so reservations are pretty much essential.

 

Is there a formal night (we wanted to dress up once).

 

Yes there will be one formal night (As on all NCL cruises it will be optional). In our experience about 1/4 to 1/3 of the passengers will dress-up that night. NOTE: on formal night (which a popular night) in the dining room) I advise dining early or late . On our last cruise on formal night we arrived shortly after 6PM and had no problem being seated immediately. However when we left (around 7:15pm) - there was a large line-up to get into the dining room.

 

General comments:

I have always found most service on NCL ships to be good to excellent. Personally I don't think auto-tipping affects it all. I have never had hot food served cold.

 

I can't comment on the movies or the Kid's Club.

[USC fan]

Ditto to everything Margaret said. The movies in the cinema were current DVD releases and they looked better on your tv in your stateroom!

[johnql]

I think I have convinced my parents to spend a little more money (were thinking of RCL Vision or NCL Star) and go on the Pearl for Alaska next year. I really don't understand the freestyle concept. If we just go to the dining room, is there a charge? Do all other restaurants have a cover charge? Do you have to make reservations for the regular dining room or can we just show up? Is there a formal night (we wanted to dress up once).

There are two categories of restaurants: the main dining rooms and the specialty restaurants. The main dining rooms carry no surcharge and do not require reservations. Just show up when you want. Large parties can make standing reservations but I don't think a party of 6 is considered large. On the Pearl, the main dining rooms are the Indigo and Summer Palace dining rooms.

 

The specialty restaurants are: Lotus Garden (Asian), Le Bistro (French), La Cucina (Italian), Mambos (Latin/Tapas), and Cagney's Steak House. In addition, the Lotus Garden is actually divided into three separate areas: a regular Asian restaurant, a sushi/sashimi bar, and Teppanyaki (a Benihana-like restaurant). All of the specialty restaurants require reservations. Some of them carry surcharges; some don't. The "free" ones are La Cucina and Mambos. The surcharge restaurants vary in price, ranging from $12.50 to $25 pp.

 

Keep in mind that you'll also have the Garden Cafe buffet, the Blue Lagoon (an almost 24/7 venue w/ tasty diner-type menu items), the Sky High Grill for burgers, hot dogs, etc., and 24/7 room service.

 

Yes, there is usually at least one optional formal night on a weeklong cruise. Perhaps 25-33% of the pax dress up, maybe less on an Alaskan itinerary.

 

I understand that the Pearl is a sister ship to the Jewel (?), can you tell me some of the fun things that are on the ship.

 

How is the service? I had heard that since tips are now automatically added to your account, it has gone down. Also, I had heard that often the food is cold because they cook it all at the same time and people are coming in at all different times. I can't believe this is true, though.

I personally think it's a ridiculous notion that service has gone down since automatic tips were instituted. First of all, automatic tips means that the tips are automatically debited to your onboard account. It does not mean that every server knows in advance exactly how much they will be receiving from the tip pool automatically. Their share of the tip pool still depends on their performance, as determined by a whole host of factors (supervisor evaluation, seniority, comment cards filled out by passengers, etc.). The staff is also motivated by other factors: a desire for promotion, a desire for better assignments/shifts, peer pressure, and the ultimate motivation - the desire to keep one's job.

 

Before and after the institution of automatic tips (and keep in mind that it's not just NCL that is doing this), there has been excellent, good, mediocre and bad service. It pretty depends on the individual and his work ethic. This is human nature and will never change.

 

All that said, I do concede that traditional dining (where you have the same wait staff every night at fixed tables at fixed seating times) can provide a more personal relationship between pax and staff. With Freestyle dining, most of the time you will be seated at different tables with different wait staffs each night. If this a critical factor in your cruise experience, you might consider the service in Freestyle dining a notch below what you want. To me, I don't care whether the staff knows my name and my dining idiosyncracies and it doesn't bother me to re-order my favorite drink each night. If the staff is courteous, attentive and efficient, I am more than happy. So far, with 6 Freestyle cruises under my belt, I have not been disappointed by the service on NCL.

 

Does the cinema show current movies?

Current? No. Recent? Yes. Generally, the movies are 3-6 months old.

 

How do the kids' programs compare to other cruiselines (we have been on Disney, RCL and Carnival)? I have a 14 yo and a 10 yo and want to make sure they have fun.

Can't help you there firsthand, but I have read many good comments about NCL's Kids Crew program.

 

Anything else I should know?

 

Thanks for helping out. I am stressed because I am planning this for the 6 of us and I don't want to mess up :( so any help would be appreciated.

Don't hesitate to ask away. That's what CC is all about. There are plenty of NCL veterans here who will do their best to answer your questions.

[all4scuba]

I was on the NCL Dawn for Halloween. Let's see what I can remember. There were 10 restaurants to choose from. 5 of them had surcharges ranging from $10-$20 per person. Reservations were required because space is limited.(great food too)

There were 3 main dining restaurants. There were no reservations required and no surcharges. These were more like cruise ship dining. Typical Cruise menus. I always found something I liked including lobster.

I believe Monday was the only "Formal Night" but as you'll see quite a few people dressed formal every night. They take pics everynight.

For dining they ask that you not wear shorts, t-shirts, or sandals. They prefer "Resort Casual". I saw one lady get turned away because she was wearing shorts. Doesn't always happen though.

The best restaurants get booked early. I advise booking them on the first day for the days you wish to eat there. Early in the day you can see the restaurant's menus posted outside their entrances. If you like what they're serving then atleast you'll know ahead of time, which restaurant you'll be eating at that night. For the restaurants that require reservations, they have a table set up in the lobby up until 5pm taking reservations. But like I said before, the best restaurants get booked full by the second day. I went there the first day. Picked which restaurants I wanted to eat at and on which days. Then I simply ate at the other restaurants the rest of the nights depending on their menu that day.

Hope I haven't confused you. I found this style of dining great. I pick where I want to eat and at what time. If you never make reservations it's not a big deal. Just walk up to any of the Main Dining Restaurants and they'll seat you.

This was on the NCL Dawn. Not sure of the other ships.

[hayesktrm]

Wow, what a wealth of information. It all sounds great and helps with my decision. I really don't care if we have the same wait staff. On our last RCL cruise, our waiter was terrible. The assistant waiter wasn't much better. He was great because he remembered what I had the night before, however, he didn't ask me if that's what I wanted (I wanted milk one night so he brought it out the next night...not understanding that I just wanted it for that night).

 

How's the entertainment? We like comedians and broadway type shows.

 

Anyone on the kids' probgrams?

 

Thanks again!

[all4scuba]

I was on the Dawn last month and kept the Dailies and Flyers. I even grabbed the ones for kid's programs. I can e-mail them to you if you want to see them

[newmexicoNita]

I think I have convinced my parents to spend a little more money (were thinking of RCL Vision or NCL Star) and go on the Pearl for Alaska next year. I really don't understand the freestyle concept. If we just go to the dining room, is there a charge? Do all other restaurants have a cover charge? Do you have to make reservations for the regular dining room or can we just show up? Is there a formal night (we wanted to dress up once).

 

I understand that the Pearl is a sister ship to the Jewel (?), can you tell me some of the fun things that are on the ship.

 

How is the service? I had heard that since tips are now automatically added to your account, it has gone down. Also, I had heard that often the food is cold because they cook it all at the same time and people are coming in at all different times. I can't believe this is true, though.

 

Does the cinema show current movies?

 

How do the kids' programs compare to other cruiselines (we have been on Disney, RCL and Carnival)? I have a 14 yo and a 10 yo and want to make sure they have fun.

 

Anything else I should know?

 

Thanks for helping out. I am stressed because I am planning this for the 6 of us and I don't want to mess up :( so any help would be appreciated.

Iknow I am not the first to answer your questions but I will give my opinion: first of all the Jewel is just an awesome ship, so the Pearl should be as well. The cabins are not large, but very well arranged with great bathrooms and lots of storage.

 

The kids program is rated one of the best at sea. In fact not too long ago, I think it was CC, that gave NCL the top rating for cruising 3 generation families.

 

As for dining, there is no charge for the main dining rooms, the

Blue Lagoon, Tangos, Mama's Italian Kitchen or the buffet, of course. There are a few specialty dining rooms that charge from about $12.50 person to $20.00.

 

As for the food being cold, take what you read with a grain of salt. I don't remember food being particularly cold except maybe at the buffet. Buffets are not noted for quality of food, let's face it. As for the dining rooms, they are not feeding that many people all at once as if there was traditional dining. I would recommend, if there are 6 of you it might be wise to try and eat by 6:30 or after 7:30. Like going to Outback or any place that doesn't take reservations, the wait can get a bit long around 7pm. Of course if you choose to eat in specialty restaurants and have reservations you will be seated with absolutely no wait.

 

Formal dress: there are 2 nights that are referred to as Formal optional. I will tell you cruisers doing Alaska aren't always as formal as some other itineraries, but you will see many dressed to the nines, especially the first formal night. If you want to dress up, do, you will not be out of place, but you are going to see many dressed in resort casual.

 

As for the service, almost all lines have gone with the automatic tipping policy. HAL is another one and Disney puts the tips up front when you make final payment.

 

If you have any more questions we are all here to try and help.

 

NMNita

[hayesktrm]

I did it!!! I just booked the 6 of us for the July 29th Pearl. We are all very excited. They were able to get us cabins right across from each other and for some reason, they put my parents in a stateroom that sleeps 4. I think they need to have their grandkids spend the night one night ;) . I am also very excited because with the ship we stop in Victoria. We live in Indiana now, but when we lived in Seattle, we loved going up to Victoria for the weekend. We are going to take DD to the Empress for high tea.

 

all4scuba--thanks for the offer. Could you email those to me at hayesktrm@sbcglobal.net. It is always fun to get the kids excited about all the fun things to do.

 

Thanks everyone. I can't wait to hear how everyone likes the Pearl.

[all4scuba]

I did it!!! I just booked the 6 of us for the July 29th Pearl. We are all very excited. They were able to get us cabins right across from each other and for some reason, they put my parents in a stateroom that sleeps 4. I think they need to have their grandkids spend the night one night ;) . I am also very excited because with the ship we stop in Victoria. We live in Indiana now, but when we lived in Seattle, we loved going up to Victoria for the weekend. We are going to take DD to the Empress for high tea.

 

all4scuba--thanks for the offer. Could you email those to me at hayesktrm@sbcglobal.net. It is always fun to get the kids excited about all the fun things to do.

 

Thanks everyone. I can't wait to hear how everyone likes the Pearl.

 

I've sent you some Dailies including the Kids and Teen Program. Also some Specials and Disembarkation Info. If any are unreadable, let me know.

[electricron]

Don't forget the new first on a cruise ship, the Pearl will have a bowling alley. Yes, it'll only have four lanes, but you will not find them any other cruise ship.