Ncl

[trock]

Try it.. you will never know til you do if you like it... We have cruised NCL twice..

Our opinions were the food and staff not as good as Carnival but the entertainment must better! (Hey they have the Quest!! LOL)

 

We were on the Dawn (beautiful!) and the Spirit (ok....)

 

The Cabin w/balcony was fine... If they are smaller than Carnival.. I can not believe it is by much.. though the bathrooms are smaller as they have a 'water closet' on one side.. vanity in the middle and shower stall on the other side..

 

I would go NCL again no problem... (we dont eat as much LOL)

[trock]

This is the Dawn

 

 

 

 

 

[Azure Moon]

trock, great pictures!

The Pride of Hawaii (now Jade) has those palm tree lights on her Lido deck also. I love them! It makes it feel like we're already on a beach :cool:.

[ikelmay]

We've just come off the NCL Gem transatlantic - a newer ship with excellent attentive crew. Freestyle works for some and not for others, we loved it. Most restaurant meals were very good to excellent, overall probably more similarities to CCL than differences.

 

As we cruise more lines, I suspect my likes and dislikes relate more to the ship itself than the cruise line. Our first Celebrity cruise was on an older ship and put me off them - whereas our CCL cruises have been on the fantastic Spirit class.

[katiel53]

We have sailed on NCL Star and Pearl. Both trips were to Alaska. We loved Star so decided to take Pearl last May. It was the transitioning week to 2.0. We had pretty poor service throughout the week, but I blame most of it on the transition.

 

We had dinner one night in the dining room, lobster nightl. We went (5 of us) about 6:15 and had an hour wait. It was not unexpected to us as we knew most people would go to the dining room for lobster.

 

We had dinner all other nights in specialty restaurants. Even though there was a charge, it wasn't much. We did have some horrible dinners in those restaurants too.

 

I would go on NCL again if the price were low enough, but I would plan to eat in the specialty restaurants every night again sans lobster night. The lunches in the dining room had lots of hamburger meat. Not my choice for lunch, but meatloaf, meatball sandwiches etc. were served daily.

 

The entertainment was great and the white night was fun too. I think if you go with an open mind, and plan to spend money for the pay restaurants, you too can have a great time.

 

Enjoy!

[Kellismom]

Very similar to Carnival. I like the food better, anytime dining is great!.

 

NCLs entertainment is some of, if not the best afloat.

 

Cabins are a tiny bit smaller but not much.

 

All in all they are more alike than different.

 

If I have the choice between two ships sailing the identical itinerary, the choice is easy, which ever is the least expensive, becasue honestly, CCL, RCCL, and NCL are more alike than they are different and they all do a good job of providing a mass market cruise experience.

 

I 100% agree with you. I love em all!

[wareaglefan]

We went on the Jewel last Dec. 9 days and to beautiful ports. What attracted us was the "Free Style Dining" We had a balcony room, which was smaller than CCL and not laid out as well. Did enjoy the large shower with sliding glass door though! Not as much shelf and vanity room as in CCL bathrooms and I missed not having that mirror in the bathroom which is swing out from the wall. The desk area isn't really a desk area just a little triangle in corner with stool and dim lighting.

 

We ate at the Mexican, Italian and Diner restaurants which were no charge but did require a reservation which was never a problem getting. Maybe a 5 minute wait. Lido buffet was outstanding and the main dining room ok. Didn't eat there as much as we thought we would.

 

Decor was nice and tropical. It was a very active, happy bunch of cruisers. I would sail again with NCL, but my first choice is Carnival and I always seem to get a better deal with CCL.

[arpie05]

We were on the Star in May and there were very few kids. But my son (12) had a good time any though he had to hang out with 6 year olds as they grouped 6-12 together. All the speciality restaurants take a reservatation except Blue Lagoon and that's a tiny walk way that on CCL that food could probably be found on a buffet they just choice to serve in a cafe setting. We are sailing on CCL in January because we missed the personal service in the dining room every night (couldn't get tea or water as it seemed like no one knew who's table it was) and I disagree with having to pay extra (and so much) for the speciality restaurants.

 

Why do people pay so much for the Japanese teppen hibachi? I think the up charge is $15-20. It's cheaper to eat when not on the ship and you've paid already for dinner in the dining room.

[goodml]

We sailed on NCL's Dawn to Bermuda in October after 5 cruises each on RCCL and Carnival and we absolutely loved it. The ship was beautiful. We had an oceanview cabin which was slightly smaller than the ones on Carnival (bigger bathroom though) but prettier and with a better layout.

 

We enjoyed the food and service very much and freestyle dining worked great for us especially in Bermuda. We really didn't think we'd like freestyle as traditional dining has always been one of the things we enjoyed most about cruising. I found the service excellent on Dawn but it's a very different experience than on RCCL or Carnival and sometimes I wonder if that's why people say the service is poor. It's a far less intrusive style of service which really appealed to me. You really don't get to know your servers or even your cabin stewards. The service was very efficient, we had everything we wanted, the servers were very professional but there is less interaction with them than with the traditional dining room servers (and room stewards) on the other lines. I actually really liked it and that surprised me.

 

I've enjoyed all of our cruises and I'd sail with any of them again. I have to say, when we sailed with our kids, there was no beating the kids programs on RCCL or Carnival. I don't know anything about NCL's kids programs.

[CPHS]

I've been on 3 Carnival cruises (LOVED THEM) and one Disney (LOVED IT). I'm doing some research for my brother and I came up with an awesome deal on Norwegian for a balcony. Have any of my fellow carnival cruisers tried NCL and what did you think? Pros and Cons. Thanks!

I have sailed NCL once, probaly wouldn't sail again. The major issue my family had was "Freestyle" cruising. We perfer havng same time, table and waiters for dinner. We found Freestyling lead to long lines at peak dinner times. Also you have differnet servers every evening so you dont get personal service as you get on most other cruise lines.

We sailed on an old ship, Dream, but we found it well kept and staff was very friendly.

[lidodeckbound]

We went on NCL Majesty in July. Had a blast. Well we went with 12 other people and just partied it up. But, the food was so so, and I only went to NCL cause it went from Balt to Bermuda. I also have been on RCL to Bermuda on the Granduer which, in my opinion was much nicer than the Majesty. But they are both older and smaller ships. That being said. I always choose carnival becausw we are carnival people....unless the itenerary doesn't work. I for one am excited about The Pride leaving from Baltimore to the Carribean in May.

 

Now that I have rambled. I always look at Carnival first. Then go from there.

[zqvol]

I have sailed NCL once, probaly wouldn't sail again. The major issue my family had was "Freestyle" cruising. We perfer havng same time, table and waiters for dinner. We found Freestyling lead to long lines at peak dinner times. Also you have differnet servers every evening so you dont get personal service as you get on most other cruise lines.

We sailed on an old ship, Dream, but we found it well kept and staff was very friendly.

 

It's funny. The things that make you dislike NCL are exactly the things that make me like it. Though I will say I never had to wait more than five minutes to be seated.

[karen116]

I haven't sailed on NCL, however, my daughter (16) cruised this past June with a friend on the Dawn to Bermuda. My daughter had only been on Carnival cruises prior to this trip. She didn't like the food, the room or the ship. She was happy to sail this past August on Carnival :)

[Taters]

I sailed on my first and last NCL cruise last January... Spirit from New Orleans. I did not like this ship and will not go back to NCL for the following reasons:

 

1. The ship looked dark and dingy compared to all other ships, both new and old, that I have been on.

 

2. The buffet offered things like warmed up frozen mixed vegetables, Kraft macaroni and cheese and very greasy looking mystery meats. It was absolutely awful!

 

3. The ship has one main pool and then one in the back for the kids. We had some bad weather (cannot be helped), HOWEVER, when we finally had a beautiful day, NCL actually removed deck chairs from the immediate pool area, covered over the windows looking out to sea and put GAMBLING TALBES there! I was shocked! There was not enough room out there for all of the folks that wanted to be out by the pool in the first place. Ridiculous!

 

4. Two hour wait times each time I called room service. I gave up!

 

5. They kept running out of different brands of beer! I've never seen such a thing. We had to keep changing, changing, changing the kind of beer we were drinking. A big thumbs down.

 

A couple of plusses, though, were the lack of formal nights, the main dining room food and the fact that we never had to wait for a table. We generally ate later - after 8 pm.

 

We never tried any of the "pay for" dining venues.

 

We did have a great time, as we can brush the little irritants off, and we were with a great group of people - but with all of the better choices out there, NCL won't ever be an option for us again. There are better cruise lines.

 

Taters

[heathercruisin]

We sailed on NCL Majesty last November, and it was our first and last cruise with them, at least on that ship. That ship needed to be removed from their fleet, it was very noisy (loud clanging sound in our room every morning), smelly (sewage smell in hallways), toilets had a hard time flushing, a piece of tile in the buffet area fell off before my eyes.

 

The service was horrible.... one night I asked for coffee with dessert and she rolled her eyes, said "You want coffee?!?!" and left - never saw the coffee. Most of the employees would not speak to you (with the exception of a few), Food was so-so.. on the buffet one day the meatballs were still raw inside. We did eat in one of the special restaurants and that was good, but the food in the main dining room was nothing special.

 

We took our daughter up to one of the decks outside of the kids club, where they had some toys and a playmat setup, and the oil or grease from the engine was dripping down on the deck - right where the kids were playing! Needless to say we didn't stay long.

 

Yes, I wrote a letter complaining, and all they did was send me a coupon with a $100 OBC if I choose to said with them again. Not worth it for me.

 

Heather

[halos]

I sailed on my first and last NCL cruise last January... Spirit from New Orleans. I did not like this ship and will not go back to NCL for the following reasons:

 

1. The ship looked dark and dingy compared to all other ships, both new and old, that I have been on.

 

 

LOL!!

Isn't that odd??

Other than RCI (which has stunning ships) I have to say the I thought the NCL Spirit was the prettiest ship I have been on to date; FAR prettier than any of the CCL ship I have ever been on.

 

Also, the NCL Spirit just got out of dry dock and is all spruced up so I'd love to book anothe ron her and sail her again.

[Eeyoregon]

NCL is a great line...give it a try and see for yourself.

 

Freestyle dining is great if you don't want to get stuck with the same tablemates everynight. It's also great because you can choose when to eat which is a plus on port days. I have never been a fan of 5:15 dinner on port days as you have to rush, rush, rush to get back on board and cleaned up in time for your dinner. We never had more than a 5 minute wait for a table and we typically ate around 6:00pm.

 

Our ship was very clean and the staff were extremely friendly and accomodating. We liked having coffee pots in our cabins. I appreciated that fact that the casino wasn't the main focus of the ship...hate having to walk through the casino to get to other parts of the ship like some cruiselines.

 

The entertainment was similar to that on my RCCL and Celebrity cruises...Vegas type...not bad but not great. Gonna have to give Disney the blue ribbon for entertainment!

 

My kids (11 and 14) and father (81) LOVED our NCL freestyle cruise. We are taking another one in March.

[Eeyoregon]

Really???Really? How can they charge you for a free restaurant?

 

They don't. We ate in the free venues every night and there is NO charge nor do they take reservations.

[Sea Angel]

I've been on 3 Carnival cruises (LOVED THEM) and one Disney (LOVED IT). I'm doing some research for my brother and I came up with an awesome deal on Norwegian for a balcony. Have any of my fellow carnival cruisers tried NCL and what did you think? Pros and Cons. Thanks!

Have not sailed any other but the NCL Dawn and Gem. We are 3 generations of cruisers with big differences in tastes. NCL exceeded expectations for all of us. We had so many activities we sometimes had difficulty in which one we wanted to do. I do believe your brother will enjoy the pampering from morning til night. I particularly loved the Freestyle concept which translated into pure relaxation. My 13 year old granddaughter loved it so much that we are now taking our third NCL cruise. We all made new friends that we have kept in touch with. It was the bomb!

[halos]

NCL Spirit

 

[halos]

[halos]

[trock]

 

 

HI Halos!

 

We were on the Spirit in September.. The only area I found 'dark and dingie' was the Casino/Maharaja lounge... I felt like I was in someone's basement.. but other than that the rest of the ship was beautiful and immaculate!

[halos]

[halos]

HI Halos!

 

We were on the Spirit in September.. The only area I found 'dark and dingie' was the Casino/Maharaja lounge... I felt like I was in someone's basement.. but other than that the rest of the ship was beautiful and immaculate!

 

I think Maharinis is supposed to be a little dark...what other ships clubs have beds for lounges?? LOL!!!!

 

We hung out in there quite a bit because it's where the crew hung out. We had a blast in there!!