Is NCL any good??

Hi all

my partner and I are slightly addicting to cruising and cruise alot on RCCL and Celebrity but we are thinking of trying NCL in febuary sailing on the Sky.

Has any one sailed on it before?? what did you think?? any tips or inside info that you think 2 gays from London might need to know??

Thanks

Hi all

my partner and I are slightly addicting to cruising and cruise alot on RCCL and Celebrity but we are thinking of trying NCL in febuary sailing on the Sky.

Has any one sailed on it before?? what did you think?? any tips or inside info that you think 2 gays from London might need to know??

 

Thanks

I was on the Sky two years ago, on a 3-night trip to the Bahamas. The shorter cruises tend to attract a party crowd, so it won't be a sedate cruise.

This ship probably has the fewest amenities of all NCL ships, and it is a bit on the older side. I don't think the ship is indicative of the newer Norwegian product, nor will it live up to your Celebrity experience.

I have enjoyed several cruises on NCL, and I especially enjoy the Freestyle concept. The newer ships are on-par with RCCL, but you might want to downgrade expectations for the Sky.

Hope this helps.

Partner & I did a TA with another male gay couple on the Sun 2 years ago, had a great time, large Friends of Dorthy meeting attendance, ( very little chit chat pre cruise on this site ).

NCL, very gay friendly, in fact, fine the staff less formal that Celebrity. Ship wise, not as nice, but plenty good, food good we did a BtB & only had 1 poor meal. Love the free style dining, we are shorts & tee couple, which is fine in 1 of the 2 MDR.

Been on HAL, Celebrity, RCI, & NCL. Would I sail NCL again, yes, if they have the cruise / destination that I want.

Haven't sailed on Sky but Ctldalhquist's comments regarding size, amenities are what I would advise also based on comments from folks I know who have. My partner and I have sailed on Sun, Star, Jade and Gem and enjoyed all of them. We have also sailed on X and enjoyed it but as Cirman52 said, we are also more casual folks so not having to pack a suit or the tuxedo is fine with us. I think X's food was slightly better (but our last trip on them was over 6 years ago) and I KNOW that their specialty dining was significantly better - but back then it was the only specialty dining so can't compare how it is to X's newer ships. We tend to dine half of the time in the MDR and half in a specialty restaurant.

I don't know if you can swing the additional time but occasionally sailings on Pearl's (same class as Jade and Gem) 7 day sailings are only slightly more than Sky's 3 day sailings. Pearl would give you a better idea about what Freestyle is all about.

My partner and I were on the sky for a 3-day 2 years ago. The ship was well maintained albeit older. Food was good, although Celebrity is better in that department. Staff excellent. They list the FOD in the dailies, which Celebrity no longer does. On our cruise, the FOD bartender and his bar back were partners, so it was a nice touch.

I just got off the Celebrity Reflection and, while stunning, I would definitely do the Sky in a heartbeat.

My partner and I have been on the Jewel, Pearl and Sun. My mother, my 4 y.o. twins and I will be on the Sun Feb. 27/13 as my partner can't take that much time off work for an 11-day cruise.

The Sun is the ship we were on when we found out we were 'pregnant' so it holds special memories. I've heard it has been refurbished since our trip in December 2007. Having just come off the Freedom of the Seas and having been on Allure of the Seas a year previous, the Sun will be a different ship in terms of HUGENESS but 'size isn't everything' or so I've heard. :D

As I recall, the freestyle dining experience is great. There should be enough of a selection of specialty restaurants and NCL (as well as Princess) are definitely gay-friendly!

Scott

Hi all

my partner and I are slightly addicting to cruising and cruise alot on RCCL and Celebrity but we are thinking of trying NCL in febuary sailing on the Sky.

Has any one sailed on it before?? what did you think?? any tips or inside info that you think 2 gays from London might need to know??

 

Thanks

Your best bet is to read as many reviews here on Cruisecritic from people who have recently sailed on the Sky. Throw out the best and worst reviews and focus on the middle of the road objective reviews. You don't answer why you want to try NCL Sky. Price, itinerary, date, gay friendly, etc.? NCL is my least favorite cruise line...but everyone is very subjective to their preferences. Remember NCL is not going to be like RCCL or Celebrity. Maybe better, maybe worse or maybe the same. It all depends upon the type of cruise experience you are looking for, but clearly a step down from Celebrity with lots of extra $$ dining options. The short 3/4 day Bahama cruises are very relaxed and party oriented. NCL is very gay friendly line as are most other lines.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=ship&ShipID=150

We are Celebrity fans and tried the NCL Sky over the Labor Day weekend. It is a different product but we enjoyed ourselves. We didn't participate in a lot of the activities, but we rarely do on any cruise. Give it a try..you may like it.

Thanks for all the replies and all the advice.

We've decided to go for it and have booked to go on the Norwegian Sky Feb 4th for a cruise around the Bahamas with some friends.

We though we might as well give them a go and it was a nice short cruise for our friends to try who are first time cruisers.

Nothing ventured nothing gained and all that :)

Again thanks for all the advice and maybe we're see you on the high seas some time.

X

I've done both Celebrity and NCL (as well as several other lines) and while I liked Celebrity a slight bit more (better food, mostly) I didn't like it enough for the extra premium one pays for it. The FoD/LGBT meetings were fun on both lines, and we ended up making some good friends on all of them. NCL was a slightly younger crowd, if I remember correctly, though that may be because I was younger when I sailed Celebrity.

All that said, we're planning for our next cruise to be another NCL.

We really enjoy NCL and have always received excellent service. We are booked on the Breakaway for the first cruise out of NYC in May and then have our wedding scheduled for the following year on the same ship.

We plan on sailing on other lines like Celebrity and Cunard in the future. We have just been able to score some great deals on NCL.

If you can't tell my avatar is a ringing endorsement for NCL. ;)

I have sailed on the Norwegian Sky and she is one of the oldest ships in the NCL fleet. She's been refurbished a couple of times with her stint in Hawaii. For her age and the constant turn over she faces each week (two turnarounds a week), she's in great condition. As others have said the average age skews younger on NCL. There are far more dining options available for the ship so you don't have to worry about main dining room food if you don't want to. The current NCL fleet menu is actually quite good in the MDR. There is far more of a nightlife experience on NCL then most other mass market lines with themed disco nights and the highlight night being the White Hot Party! :)

Enjoy your trip! :D

Love, love, LOVE NCL!

So much so we got married on the Jewel July 2011.

I can only compare her to RCCL and Carnival but to be honest, it's not the cruise line that makes the experience but more so the ship and the kind of experience you are looking for.

There were 14 of us all with different levels of cruise experience and with different taste. I will tell you that not even one of us had a bad cruise! :D

My feelings: if the ship works with your schedule, the places you aim to visit and your budget go for it no matter the cruise line. You may just have the time of your life!!

Dana - So nice to see you posting on here again! I remember helping you get excited for your wedding cruise! I did a turnaround day ship tour on the Jewel in late October! :) It was so nice to be back on her again! I hope you've been well! :)

We love NCL, it probably suits us the most, the only downside for us is that we would like longer cruises, they seem to do mostly 7 day cruises.

Not as keen on the Epic, the layout of the ship is not our favourite.

Our next cruise will be with NCL.

Feel free to ask if you have any questions.

I took my best friend on the Sky and we had a good time. Pics in the links below. I also did the Star with Mom and worked on the Spirit putting a new cast onboard.:p

Dana - So nice to see you posting on here again! I remember helping you get excited for your wedding cruise! I did a turnaround day ship tour on the Jewel in late October! :) It was so nice to be back on her again! I hope you've been well! :)

Hey there Cruisin!

I remember you and all your help and information. You are so correct in that the Jewel is a GREAT ship! We would do her again if she had a different itinerary that we loved.

This year we are taking another NCL plunge on the Breakaway. It will be our first MEGA ship AND our first time on a new ship as we are doing the inagural sail away from NYC to Bermuda.

To add to my 2013 excitement I received an email last night from my god daughter's mom and they are giving her eldest a 21st birthday celebration on the GEM. It's Christmas week and even though we are already booked for the Breakaway in May and the Allure in August, we are trying to be broke just so we can go! I will be eating cereal and ramen noodles for the remainder of 2013 just to get all these cruises in! :D

Hey there Cruisin!

 

 

I remember you and all your help and information. You are so correct in that the Jewel is a GREAT ship! We would do her again if she had a different itinerary that we loved.

 

This year we are taking another NCL plunge on the Breakaway. It will be our first MEGA ship AND our first time on a new ship as we are doing the inagural sail away from NYC to Bermuda.

 

 

To add to my 2013 excitement I received an email last night from my god daughter's mom and they are giving her eldest a 21st birthday celebration on the GEM. It's Christmas week and even though we are already booked for the Breakaway in May and the Allure in August, we are trying to be broke just so we can go! I will be eating cereal and ramen noodles for the remainder of 2013 just to get all these cruises in! :D

That's hilarious! I guess you have been seriously bitten by the cruise bug!! It's a great way to travel. I'm on the Breakaway Trans-Atlantic so I will be on her before you and that's not a very easy thing to do on a brand new ship. No worries as I'll get her to NYC in one piece - hopefully! ;) We're her shake down cruise so we're going to make sure she's all ready for you folks. I can't wait for the polar plunge! We're going to do all the waterslides and freeze our behinds off!

Hopefully I'll be able to get on here before you sail (they've got some pre-inaugural festivities and cruises to nowhere) so that I can share what I've found out about the new ship. 7 days at sea on her is bound to turn up information! Most of what counts about a ship is the crew and how good they are but the layout is very important. I think they've fixed the layout much better on this ship then what Epic was thrown together with. I like the Epic but Breakaway's deck plans make it flow much better. :D

My partner and I are going next week and we will see...I will report back to you in a few days..

Thanks for all the replies and all the advice.

We've decided to go for it and have booked to go on the Norwegian Sky Feb 4th for a cruise around the Bahamas with some friends.

X

I hope to meet you onboard. This is one of the cruises that I had booked. I've mainly sailed Carnival, but have also sailed a couple of times on NCL. I haven't had a bad experience on any cruise. I'm sure that some cruise lines offer a higher class of service, amenities, and food. As long as I'm on vacation away from work, it's all good to me.

We've been on the Sky 3 times in the past year and love it! It is a great little weekend getaway....say hi to Rodrigo in the Plantation Club!! Great bartender (and family)...!!

Thanks for all the replies and all the advice.

We've decided to go for it and have booked to go on the Norwegian Sky Feb 4th for a cruise around the Bahamas with some friends.

We though we might as well give them a go and it was a nice short cruise for our friends to try who are first time cruisers.

Nothing ventured nothing gained and all that :)

 

Again thanks for all the advice and maybe we're see you on the high seas some time.

 

X

My partner and I have just gotten back home from this cruise. We saw at 6 couples on the ship (men and women) and the ship is definitely gay friendly. You and your friends should have a great time, in terms of, people watching, ports of call, and the brief introduction to cruising in a beautiful setting.

We have done 3 cruises on NCL - one on the Sun, which is almost identical to the Sky in layout. NCL is definitely on the lower end of the spectrum of cruise lines, so don't go expecting much. The food is not good, unless you pay for the alternative dining venues (which we did); some of the passengers are a little rough around the edges; service is friendly, but basic. Having said that, we enjoyed each of our NCL cruises, as we geared our expectations accordingly. We always book a suite on NCL, which gives you the ability to have a slightly elevated experience over the rest of the ship. We have always met fun people on our NCL cruises and have found a large gay contingent on these trips. I can't recommend NCL, but I can't not suggest it either. We really enjoyed it for what it was, but probably wouldn't go back unless we found an amazing itinerary. Have fun and report back!

Michael

We have done 3 cruises on NCL - one on the Sun, which is almost identical to the Sky in layout. NCL is definitely on the lower end of the spectrum of cruise lines, so don't go expecting much. The food is not good, unless you pay for the alternative dining venues (which we did); some of the passengers are a little rough around the edges; service is friendly, but basic. Having said that, we enjoyed each of our NCL cruises, as we geared our expectations accordingly. We always book a suite on NCL, which gives you the ability to have a slightly elevated experience over the rest of the ship. We have always met fun people on our NCL cruises and have found a large gay contingent on these trips. I can't recommend NCL, but I can't not suggest it either. We really enjoyed it for what it was, but probably wouldn't go back unless we found an amazing itinerary. Have fun and report back!

 

 

 

Michael

That was funny about the people being rough around the edges...I was just telling my mom the same thing yesterday. There was a guy at breakfast in the main dining room who screamed at one of the servers in a really ruide tone who said "Didnt I ask you for syrup???"...I was shocked that someone would be so rude but I guess you can't really account for manners. My partner and I will probably opt for the balcony or suite next time, just to get a little different feel in the future.

You are definitely right about the food also...you have to pay for the specialty restaurants or stick to the dining rooms for your meals...my partner was tired of the hamburgers after the third day, for sure.

I really enjoyed this reading this thread as we are visiting with family in CT and all going on the "Jewel" this Sunday 1/20/13. We're really, really big HAL fans and a little apprehensive with the whole "Freestyle" experience.