Opinion about NCL

[greatmom]

I am planning a family cruise for 2008 to Alaska. I like the itinerary on the Pearl going to Glaciar Bay. We have sailed with RCCL and Princess, we really like RCCL but would like to try something different. I would like your opinion about NCL.

 

Thank You!

[Ann262]

Hi there! We just got off our first NCL cruise and we really had a good time. The quality of the entertainment could not be beat. The crew were fantastic. The ship we were on was old and small compared to many but she is in great shape and very beautiful. She lacked some of the glitz and the extras you find on RCCL. I don't know about the Pearl, but I don't think you'll find things like rock climbing walls, grand promenades etc with NCL.

 

I don't think Freestyle is the big boon NCL makes it out to be. On any line you can eat whenever you want but you have the option to go to your assigned seating in the formal dining room. I did miss that with NCL. The food at the grill and in the dining rooms was good. Not out of this world, good, but it was good. The food on the buffet was...food. Not very good at all in my opinion, but it sufficed for a meal when you were hungry and didn't want to go the dining room.

 

Overall, I like NCL. I give it 5 stars for service, cleanliness and entertainment. Only 3 for food. If you like big ships with rock climbing walls, basketball courts, grand promenade, surfing, putt putt courses, skating rinks, etc, then NCL is probably not your best bet.

[pajammies]

I was on the Pearl in Feb. and actually it does have a rock climbing wall and a basketball court.:) This is a new ship so for right now it is in great shape. I would have to say that like most ships the buffet is not awsome however the selection and tempurature of the food was just fine, and it was average to good. The main dining rooms had great food. I thought NCLs food was great in all the resturant where we had eaten. I can't compare the entertainment to Princess or RCI (never been on them) but I did think it was better than Carnivals entertainment (but I only have one cruise on carnival to compare) I don't think you would be making a mistake by booking the Pearl, we had an awsome time!:D

[pajammies]

Oh my goodness I just relized I forgot to mention they had a bowling alley, just in case you didn't know:D

[ce2000]

I have cruised with RCCL (Soverign), Princess (Caribbean Princess) and NCL (Jewel). I think you shoud give the Pearl a try. I think that you will have a very good time on this new ship. I am not saying that you will prefer NCL over Princess or RCCL, but you might. Since this is your first Freestyle cruise don't expect Freestyle to be exactly as advertised. If you can accept this, I'm sure that you will have a good time on the Pearl.

[sneakerstud]

The Pearl is an fantastic ship! NCL a great cruise line!

Defenitely a step above RCCL and Princess, if you do the new ships.

[medicalma'am]

I agree. I have done RCCL and the Pearl was just head and shoulders above that cruise! My sister and I and our DH's plan another trip on the Pearl to Alaska (hopefully) in Sept. of '09. Who knows, they may have another new ship sailing Alaska by then, but I cannot imagine anything being better that the Pearl. We stayed busy having fun on the ship and off. I was impressed with the cleanliness and their attention to clean cruisers to keep the spread of microbes down! Love that hand sanitizer.

 

Robin

[newmexicoNita]

Hi there! We just got off our first NCL cruise and we really had a good time. The quality of the entertainment could not be beat. The crew were fantastic. The ship we were on was old and small compared to many but she is in great shape and very beautiful. She lacked some of the glitz and the extras you find on RCCL. I don't know about the Pearl, but I don't think you'll find things like rock climbing walls, grand promenades etc with NCL.

 

I don't think Freestyle is the big boon NCL makes it out to be. On any line you can eat whenever you want but you have the option to go to your assigned seating in the formal dining room. I did miss that with NCL. The food at the grill and in the dining rooms was good. Not out of this world, good, but it was good. The food on the buffet was...food. Not very good at all in my opinion, but it sufficed for a meal when you were hungry and didn't want to go the dining room.

 

Overall, I like NCL. I give it 5 stars for service, cleanliness and entertainment. Only 3 for food. If you like big ships with rock climbing walls, basketball courts, grand promenade, surfing, putt putt courses, skating rinks, etc, then NCL is probably not your best bet.

It appears you were on the Crown, Dream or Majesty. None of these ships were designed for freestyle, so no, you wouldn't get the total effect. If you were happy with your cruise, I recommend you try one of the newer ships designed for freestyle. You will probably fall in love with it. NMnita

[smeck]

We sailed the Star last summer from Seattle to Alaska and loved it. We loved freestyle, the ship , the crew, and the Itenerary. Have fun!

[Ephraim]

We have sailed on NCL 3 times, The NCL Wind, Sky and Spirit. We have also sailed on Princess and RCL most recently.

 

We like the freestyle on NCL, when it is done right it can be great. We check the screen to see what restaurants have the least wait, we don't usually eat at specialty restaurants (though we have done sushi twice and teppanyaki once) but we have reserved for the Italian (no extra charge) and we don't do buffet for dinner, usually.

 

NCL like RCL hires people from many different origins for the cruise staff, unlike Princess which seems to favour native English-speakers.

 

NCL does use more "commercial" food products and hides them less. That being said, Princess and RCL do use "commercial" food products as well. For us the big difference was that we could clearly see them using a carton off egg product to make omelets in the morning, which surprised us.

 

NCL does seem to plate less food on the plate and while not everyone appreciates that, we actually liked that. It meant that if we wanted to try something there was less waste. NCL also had a restaurant, albeit a very small one, that was open 24 hours a day, while with Princess and RCL you needed to order from room service.

 

The decor is definitely won by RCL, the rooms are well decorated, far superior than any we have seen on either Princess or NCL. (Who the hell was drinking when they chose the colour coral for hallways and bathrooms on Voyager.) I have to admit that the Radiance class ship (we were on the Brilliance) is one of the most efficiently designed ships I have ever seen.

 

Princess is much better at the group meeting thing than any of the other two lines. On every Princess ship that we have ever been on, there have been meetings for people from many different (and diverse) groups and they have always been hosted. In fact, even the CD hosted some of them. NCL doesn't seem to care about hosting such meetings, though they do print them in the dailies. RCL doesn't host and doesn't print them in the dailies, you need to go to the bulletin board and read about them. It's a shame that NCL doesn't take a more active part in this, since meeting people is especially important on freestyle where you can go to dinner with different people that you meet on the cruise.

 

The other thing that needs work on NCL is the front-desk/customer service. On our last cruise on the Spirit they weren't as helpful as they should have been and even refused to answer some questions (some people had asked them what a "Friends of Dorothy" meeting was and they entirely refused to answer the question, which I just found to be plain RUDE.)

 

Casino wise, I seem to win more on NCL than other cruise lines. And it's the only cruise line that offers Pai Gow Poker as well as an frequent bettor's club.

 

As far as customers are concerned, we have met some really nice people on all the cruise lines that we have been on.

[cruizinwithkids]

It appears you were on the Crown, Dream or Majesty. None of these ships were designed for freestyle, so no, you wouldn't get the total effect. If you were happy with your cruise, I recommend you try one of the newer ships designed for freestyle. You will probably fall in love with it. NMnita

 

Actually Ann was on an NCLA Hawaiian cruise.

[davejohn]

I have cruised with RCCL (Soverign), Princess (Caribbean Princess) and NCL (Jewel). I think you shoud give the Pearl a try. I think that you will have a very good time on this new ship. I am not saying that you will prefer NCL over Princess or RCCL, but you might. Since this is your first Freestyle cruise don't expect Freestyle to be exactly as advertised. If you can accept this, I'm sure that you will have a good time on the Pearl.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "don't expect Freestyle to be exactly as advertised". Can you expand on this? Our cruise on the Gem with be the first on NCL, not counting the Norway.

Dave

[frankhi]

We have sailed on Carnival, Celebrity, Costa, Princess, and Royal Caribbean. I think with the exception of "voyager class RCL ships" the newer ships are all the same. We have really enjoyed the alternative dining rooms, available in recent years, and, so, have book a NCL cruise, but doubt that, other than dinner time, the cruise will be any different than the other lines. If cruises vary at all, I think it is by time of year, in particular, school in or out. If you get a big newer ship, (and if you don't have kids with you, don't go when school is out), you'll have a great time no matter what major line you chose.

[Zeno]

Freestyle in MY experience on the NCL Sky and the NCL Sun:

 

Overall: I loved it but on the 3 "traditional" cruises I had taken before my first NCL cruise I did not especially like having to dine at a specific time with the same people every night. I like to eat when I am hungry and not at the same time every night. I also LOVE Freestyle disembarkation (You can wait in your cabin until your colour is called rather than crowd into a packed public area with bored people and cranky kids.)

 

"Freestyle" Dining - my experience:

Is it exactly like the commercials? Of course not. But given a certain common sense it can be pretty close.

 

Main Dining rooms: We were able to eat whenever we wanted during dinner opening times (approximately from 5:30/6:00 to 10:00/11:00). Our longest wait to be seated was less than 10 minutes. However common sense comes into play. On "lobster" night when most people want to dine in the dining room, it is a good idea to dine earlier or later (say before 6:45 or after 8PM)because most people seem to prefer to dine around 7PM. If you choose to dine at 7PM on "lobster' night you can but your chances of having a significant wait to be seated are pretty good (It is just like going to your favorite restaurant on Saturday night). On our last Sun cruise on "lobster" night we arrived at the main dining room shortly after 6PM. We were seated immediately BUT when we were done (shortly after 7PM) we noticed a very long line-up waiting to get in.

 

Also if you are travelling in a large group, you will likely find that you will have a wait to be seated (especially at "prime time"). Just like at a restaurant, they have to find a larger table or tables near each other and get them set up for you. NOTE: when you are in a large group, you can make standing reservations at the main dining rooms if you want to ensure that they will be ready for you every night BUT I believe there are only two times available for group reservations - one early and one late (someone who has done this can correct me if I am wrong). My suggestion - if I were in a large group, I would consider setting aside a couple of night to dine with the group (and make reservations for those nights) but the rest of the time - why not have everyone really give "Freestyle" dining a try and split into smaller groups and dine when you want.

 

The "Specialty Restaurants": The "dine exactly when you want on a whim" thing really only applies to the main dining rooms. Most (all newer) NCL ships have 2 large main dining rooms - if one appears busy when you want to dine, you can always go to the other one. They also have several (the exact number depends on the ship) MUCH smaller specialty restaurants (some of these are "pay extra", some are not). You really should make reservations to dine in the "specialty" restaurants. Your chances of "turning up" and being seated are slim (although on one of our cruises, we did that and lucked out (someone had just cancelled a reservation - so the maitre d' told us that he could seat us if we came back in 1/2 hour - which we did).

 

You also have to be flexible about making reservations for the "specialty" restaurants. We usually decide which nights we want to eat at one of them and a generous time frame for when we want our reservation (say anything between 5:30 and 8PM would be fine at either of two of the "specialty restaurants"). Then we book the restaurant that is available in our time frame on the night(s) we have chosen. We have never had a problem getting reservations. Of course common sense appplies again. If there are 2 or 3 or 4 of you, you should have no major problems with reservations BUT obviously if you are a group of 20, you are going to have to have some flexibility about nights and timing.

 

Basically with a little common sense and some flexibility, Freestyle Dining can work beautifully. I never felt I was eating on someone else's schedule and I got to eat everywhere I wanted to.

[regal2]

the shore excursions that ncl provides are unsupervised meaning

that no ncl rep. is with you during your excursion.

the best of tortola at $59 was a waste of money.

you could hardly understand the tour guide .

the cane garden beach is no coparision to truk bay beach on

st. johns.

the day at each port is wasted because poorly planned

shore excursions.

[laprofesora]

I am planning a family cruise for 2008 to Alaska. I like the itinerary on the Pearl going to Glaciar Bay. We have sailed with RCCL and Princess, we really like RCCL but would like to try something different. I would like your opinion about NCL.

 

Thank You!

Just back from our first NCL trip. Our sixteenth cruise. Twelve days from Athens to Turkey. Jewel. Wonderful itenerary. Maybe if you are going with a group the free style of Norwegian would be for you. Food less than ordinary. Crew nice but hard worked. Saw very few kids for this trip. Last two Princess Cruises found them sliding down on food etc. Maybe you want to keep on with RCCL. At least you have wonderful facilities on the new large shipss. Entertainment still wonderful. Nice people traveling on RCCL and Norwegian. Just no time to meet them because of Free choice options. Our last cruise on Princess was last than a year ago. The people on board that ship included rowedy out of control high school students who obviously thought a cruise was a non stop drinking excursion. Boy has this line slid as far as I can see. Maybe because of the timing and the intinerary. Many of the adults were rude and obnoxious as well.

[mbisson]

I am planning a family cruise for 2008 to Alaska. I like the itinerary on the Pearl going to Glaciar Bay. We have sailed with RCCL and Princess, we really like RCCL but would like to try something different. I would like your opinion about NCL.

 

Thank You!

 

Hi greatmom-We cruised RCCL 4 times prior to cruising NCL. We really enjoy RCL and have had some great times with them and I'm sure we'll cruise with them at times in the future. BUT-we really like freestyle and 5 of our last 6 cruises have been with NCL. If your group is of the type that wants your dining server to know your preferences and have your drink of choice ready as soon as you sit down-and you love the baked Alaska parade in the dining room- you may not enjoy NCL & Freestyle (it's not for everyone).

 

If you're of the type that doesn't want to rush back to the ship and dress up to get to the dining room for your scheduled seating and you might want the flexibility of watching the scenery pass the ship and eat at your leisure freestyle might be right for you. (although if you want to make reservations to schedule your dining and dress up for dinner that's perfectly acceptable on NCL as well)

 

IMO-food is comparable between the 2 lines in the main rooms. NCL offers a lot more specialty dining rooms, some of which charge additional but if you're OK with the main dining rooms, and don't want to pay additional, you'll still be fine. We prefer the entertainment on NCL over RCCL. And we think that on board activities (especially to Alaska) are pretty much the same on these lines (don't expect "pool games" on Alaska cruises ;) ). The RCCL ships that I'm familiar with in Alaska (Vision & Radiance OTS) have solarium pools and NCL doesn't, so if swimming is a big factor, Royal Caribbean might be a better pick. It seems from our Alaska cruises that the mainstream lines (to Alaska) are attracting pretty much the same mix of passengers-but of course, that's just a personal observation and I didn't sit around counting LOL

 

I think you'll have a good time on the Pearl out of Seattle. We like NCL and that itinerary enough that we're booking it ourselves. Haven't sailed the Pearl yet, but have done it's sister the Norwegian Jewel and loved it (but we also think the Radiance OtS is as good a ship as we've ever been on). Either way-it's all good

[Nurse4heartkids]

Hi,

 

I have cruised with Carnival, Celebrity, HAL and NCL. We are sold on the freestyle concept. We were just on the Pearl in April and had a great time. The ship is great my kids loved the rock climbing wall, bowling, and the kids club. The pools were nice with a kids pool and water slide and a separate adult pool. We have been on both the Star and the Pearl. Both ships are great. The best thing about freestyle is the number of dining options to choose from. We ate at all of the restaurants with the exception of Teppenyaki. All of them were fabulous. Our favorite was actually a toss up between the Tex-mex and the Asian Fusion. We loved the fact that we did not have to dress up if we did not want to. Another thing is that it doesn't take 2 hours to eat dinner. This is important if you are bringing kids as well. I noticed that when we ate with the kids they tried to serve us faster and without the kids they slowed it down.

 

I have not sailed with RCL, but with any line there are pro's and con's you have to decide what is important to you. If traditional dining times at the same table with the same waiter is important then you may not be happy with NCL. If you like variety and a casual atmosphere then NCL is a good choice. Hope you have a great cruise no matter which line you choose!

[ce2000]

Zeno's message above does a good job of explainning how freestyle really works. I was on the Jewel with my family on the Christmas 2005 cruise. There were eight of us in our party and we were only able to eat one evening in a specialty restaurant together, it was in Mama's Kitchen. We did get to eat one evening in Cagney's but we had to split up into two groups of four. We just like to eat dinner together and talk about our day of vacation at the dinner table. If you are going as a party of 4 or less, I believe that your experience will be better than mine. If your are going as a party of eight or more, good luck.

[Cosmopolitan]

have your drink of choice ready as soon as you sit down-and you love the baked Alaska parade in the dining room- you may not enjoy NCL & Freestyle (it's not for everyone).

 

My drink "of choice" changes every night...that's why I love "freestyle";)

 

Baked Alaska Parade...I'll pass:)

[pepper55143]

The other thing that needs work on NCL is the front-desk/customer service. On our last cruise on the Spirit they weren't as helpful as they should have been and even refused to answer some questions (some people had asked them what a "Friends of Dorothy" meeting was and they entirely refused to answer the question, which I just found to be plain RUDE.)

 

.

Friends of Dorothy is an anonymous way for a group of people to meet. Most have no problems telling you what it is but just in case the front desk CAN NOT tell you. It's a privacy issue. It has nothing to do with lack of customer service.

[cliffd64]

Friends of Dorothy is an anonymous way for a group of people to meet. Most have no problems telling you what it is but just in case the front desk CAN NOT tell you. It's a privacy issue. It has nothing to do with lack of customer service.

 

 

Exactly. Kind of like asking what the "friends of Bill W." meeting is for...

 

You definitely lose the anonymous nature of the meetings if someone tells everyone about it.

[Jill SC]

We just went on our first NCL cruise and have been on Princess several times. The freestyle dining on NCL is just like the anytime dining on some of the newer Princess ships like the Grand Princess, except the dress is more casual, the formal nights are optional. But the Alaskan cruise especially Glacier Bay is fabulous.