Freestyle ships?

[lgfromdg]

I'm in the process on planning a cruise for my daughter, sister, niece & I. DD & I cruised the Jewel in March and loved it. We are very informal and loved freestyle dining. We never had a problem with getting resrvations or eating when we wanted. My sister & niece have never cruised NCL and I want their first time to be as great as ours. My choices for ships sailing when we need to go are the Dawn, Spirit, Sun & Pearl. I want to choose a ship that was designed for freestyle cruising. I'm pretty sure Pearl was but what about the others? Thanks for your help.

[2Cruise4Ever]

All of those you mentioned were specifically designed for freestyle. Take your pick!!

[MrLee]

Keep in mind the Pearl is less than a year old. That would be my first choice. :)

[2Cruise4Ever]

True. The Pearl has some more features that the others don't: like a bowling alley!!! We've been on the Dawn (going again in 13 days!!!) and it really is awesome. I gues sit boils down to embarkation point and itinerary of choice.

 

Let us know what you choose!

[dwrist]

Why not consider the brand new Gem (another built for freestyle) when she comes over??:) Or the Star (Mexican Reviera), another NCL ship built for freestyle. :)

[lgfromdg]

Why not consider the brand new Gem (another built for freestyle) when she comes over??:) Or the Star (Mexican Reviera), another NCL ship built for freestyle. :)

 

 

Unfortunately, the Gem's March itinerary doesn't have too much appeal for us, but I would love to cruise her sometime. I think the Mexican Riveria was a 9 day cruise and that won't work for us. Since we have to go during the girl's Spring Break :eek: we're limited. I'm looking at 7 night Caribbean cruises so those 4 ships were what I came up with. I wish the Jewel was doing a 7 day and not a 5 day; I loved that ship. I'm leaning towards the Dawn or Sun - both itineraries look good for us.

[silkhair1]

Whichever you chose, have a great cruise!!!!! I LOVED the Star and the Dawn. I can't wait to try the Spirit!

[KeystoneCruiser]

The Sun is the smallest of the Freestyle built ships.

 

The Star and Dawn are sister ships and built right after the Sun

They were followed by: (in order)

Jewel

Pride of Hawaii (soon to be the Norweigan Jade)

Pearl

Gem (soon)

 

All of those ships have similar layouts.

 

The Spirit was originally built for Star Cruises in Asia, but was transfered in 2004 to NCL and refitted for Freestyle.

 

The Pride of America was also purpose built for Freestyle and the Pride of Aloha was built as the Norweigan Sky and converted. (The POA has a similar layout to the Sun and the POAm has a unique layout.)

 

The only ships still left in the NCL fleet that were converted to Freestyle are the Crown, Majesty and Dream.

[lgfromdg]

To everyone who has been kind enough to reply - I realize you don't know me but do you think I would be disappointed on the Sun after sailing the Jewel?

[mbisson]

The Sun is the smallest of the Freestyle built ships.

 

The Star and Dawn are sister ships and built right after the Sun

 

 

The Spirit was originally built for Star Cruises in Asia, but was transfered in 2004 to NCL and refitted for Freestyle.

 

.

 

Thanks for pointing out that the Spirit was originally built for the Asian market (I was biting my lip) ;)

 

I'm confused by the conflicting dates given on various websites as to the age of the Star & the Sun. They were christened on the same day (it was actually a dual christening). Some web sites reflect that in their age and report them being built in the same year. Others sites show the Sun as being older than the Star. I'm wondering if they are reporting when construction started rather than when the ships were completed and went into service? (which to me would be a more important "age")

 

http://164.109.173.40/news/pr/pr110901.htm (info about Christening Ceremony)

 

To the OP-we sailed the Sun then a year later the Jewel and last year the Sun again. We weren't disappointed returning to the Sun at all. While we somewhat prefer the configuration on the Jewel, we've found the Sun to be great as well . I have no problems with either ship

 

-Monte

[Cosmopolitan]

Unfortunately, the Gem's March itinerary doesn't have too much appeal for us, but I would love to cruise her sometime. I think the Mexican Riveria was a 9 day cruise and that won't work for us. Since we have to go during the girl's Spring Break :eek: we're limited. I'm looking at 7 night Caribbean cruises so those 4 ships were what I came up with. I wish the Jewel was doing a 7 day and not a 5 day; I loved that ship. I'm leaning towards the Dawn or Sun - both itineraries look good for us.

 

We love the Dawn:)

[ssv]

The Spirit is the first freestyle ship built for the Star Cruises & NCL group. It was not converted into freestyle however there are slightly less dining spots available compared to the newer ships(Jewel etc.)

 

The Sun is slightly smaller than the Spirit. The Star is about 1 year younger than the Sun.

 

I would like at the itinerary, date and embarkation rather than the ship's facilities because they are almost the same, apart from the Pearl(is this the one with bowling alleys?).

[boeckli]

Norwegian Sun was floated 9/2000 and delivered to NCL 08/31/2001. Norwegian Star (originally ordered by Starcruises as Superstar Libra) floated 09/2001 with delivery to NCL 10/31/2001. Both christened on 11/20/2001.

[lgfromdg]

Thanks everyone. I'm going to have my sister look at the itineraries of the ships since I think that will end up being our deciding factor.

[silkhair1]

I would pick either the Dawn or Pearl. They are a little bigger. Who cares you are going on a cruise!!!!!!

[electricron]

I'm in the process on planning a cruise for my daughter, sister, niece & I. DD & I cruised the Jewel in March and loved it. We are very informal and loved freestyle dining. We never had a problem with getting resrvations or eating when we wanted. My sister & niece have never cruised NCL and I want their first time to be as great as ours. My choices for ships sailing when we need to go are the Dawn, Spirit, Sun & Pearl. I want to choose a ship that was designed for freestyle cruising. I'm pretty sure Pearl was but what about the others? Thanks for your help.

All four ships on your list are built for freestyle ships.

The Dawn and Pearl are sister ships, and are presently the largest ships in NCL's fleet. They are approximately 92,000 tons, Panamax sized. The Dawn entered service in 2002, the Pearl in 2006.

The Spirit was intially designed, ordered, and sailed for Star Cruises in the Far East as the Superstar Leo. It's approximately 76,800 tons, mega sized, and entered service for Star Cruises in 1999, was transfered to NCL in 2004. The Superstar Virgo is its sister ship.

The Sun's hull was initially designed and ordered for Costa Cruises, as was it's sister ship the Norwegian Sky (now Pride of Aloha), but neither ever sailed for Costa Cruises. The first sister, Costa Victoria still sails for Costa. Both the Sky and Sun were redesigned while being built when NCL acquired them, with the Sun receiving the most design changes. The Sun are approximately 77,000 tons, mega sized, and entered service in 2001.

 

All four are fairly new, less than 10 years in age. The Dawn and Pearl have self service laundrymats. The Sun, Dawn, and Pearl have small fridges in every cabin, the Spirit only has fridges in its suites.

 

Between these four ships, I would pick the best itinerary that my pocketbook can afford. While the ships aren't exactly alike, even the sisters in this group, the on board experience should be basically the same.