Norwegian here we come!

I just finished booking a Norwegian cruise in the Caribbean for this coming February. I'll let you know how it works out. We've not sailed with them for a decade, but I'm pretty excited to go with them again. Canceled my HAL cruise.

Tired of all the early booking nonsense and rebooking.....on and on it goes. We know. It happens with them all but this was a huge cruise and they wouldn't budge an inch whereas they did last year when the price dropped significantly. Not this year. Not a penny.

I hope you enjoy it. I'm interested in trying ncl.

I hope you enjoy your cruise and will come here to post some comments about it. Which ship?

I hope you enjoy it. I'm interested in trying ncl.

Thank you, the price was right. I'll come back here and tell everyone about it. We were always happy with them in the past.

I hope you enjoy your cruise and will come here to post some comments about it. Which ship?

 

I will come back here. Spirit. Not too large a ship. All kinds of perks and OBC to book....easy decision. No pricing games that I could figure. So very tired of that.

I just finished booking a Norwegian cruise in the Caribbean for this coming February. I'll let you know how it works out. We've not sailed with them for a decade, but I'm pretty excited to go with them again. Canceled my HAL cruise.

Tired of all the early booking nonsense and rebooking.....on and on it goes. We know. It happens with them all but this was a huge cruise and they wouldn't budge an inch whereas they did last year when the price dropped significantly. Not this year. Not a penny.

I was under the impression that if there was a price drop or special offer before final payment, HAL would honor it. Not true?

I was under the impression that if there was a price drop or special offer before final payment, HAL would honor it. Not true?

No, they won't. Not with us, they didn't. They used to in the past but lost us this year when they refused. We were reasonable but the price differential after the "special" booked months earlier was to the tune of $2500.. We were able to somehow work that out with them last year but this year I couldn't even get a small OBC for booking early and losing so much money. They've changed. Oh, we did rebook but it never felt that great that we were treated as less than valuable customers.

Loved NCL 15 years ago before freestyle. Smaller ships and great service in MDR before they were bought out by Star Cruises and started pushing upcharges at alternative restaurants. Good luck.

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Loved NCL 15 years ago before freestyle. Smaller ships and great service in MDR before they were bought out by Star Cruises and started pushing upcharges at alternative restaurants. Good luck.

 

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Well, thanks. We liked freestyle years ago and we really don't go for the alternative restaurants very much so we'll be ok. We like Pinnacle but get put off by the slow service sometimes, so it's all the same to us.

Will be looking for your review/comparison when you return from your NCL cruise.

Loved NCL 15 years ago before freestyle. Smaller ships and great service in MDR before they were bought out by Star Cruises and started pushing upcharges at alternative restaurants. Good luck.

 

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We used to enjoy NCL as well.

But when they started the Freestyle thing, we quite sailing on them.

Looking forward to your comparisons....family just booked one of the newer bigger NCL ships for next Thanksgiving...we have sailed them once...long ago on an older smaller ship....This one has all the bells and whistles especially for the grandkids:):):)

I just finished booking a Norwegian cruise in the Caribbean for this coming February. I'll let you know how it works out. We've not sailed with them for a decade, but I'm pretty excited to go with them again. Canceled my HAL cruise.

Tired of all the early booking nonsense and rebooking.....on and on it goes. We know. It happens with them all but this was a huge cruise and they wouldn't budge an inch whereas they did last year when the price dropped significantly. Not this year. Not a penny.

Sincerely hope you let HAL know why you cancelled a cruise and are 'jumping ship' to NCL so maybe they can understand their stance is not a good thing and they can maybe 'fix' this.

Don't forget they now charge for room service...and the specialty restaurants will add up, too. But, enjoy the cruise...any cruise is a good one!

we'll stick with HAL. Smaller ships and a better crew and food. Weget lots of OBCs and4*benefits

Sincerely hope you let HAL know why you cancelled a cruise and are 'jumping ship' to NCL so maybe they can understand their stance is not a good thing and they can maybe 'fix' this.

I will but they were very stubborn with me. Don't think they'll fix anything.

I got more perks from NCL last night booking than I have with HAL in a while.

we'll stick with HAL. Smaller ships and a better crew and food. Weget lots of OBCs and4*benefits

We actually don't care that much about the free laundry and are far more interested in some OBC when the cruise line slashes the price for our cruise in the thousands. Certainly, we agree that we like the smaller ships but NCL Spirit has only 2,000 passengers which is smaller than some in the HAL fleet.

We've loved the HAL itinerary for so long but confess that we were uneasy about some of the destinations on our planned cruise as well. We'd like to see the unrest settle down some before we embark into some of the nations on alert. Just common sense, we think.

I just finished booking a Norwegian cruise in the Caribbean for this coming February. I'll let you know how it works out. We've not sailed with them for a decade, but I'm pretty excited to go with them again. Canceled my HAL cruise.

Tired of all the early booking nonsense and rebooking.....on and on it goes. We know. It happens with them all but this was a huge cruise and they wouldn't budge an inch whereas they did last year when the price dropped significantly. Not this year. Not a penny.

After your cruise I hope you say to HAL in General McArthur's words: I SHALL RETURN!

Well, thanks. We liked freestyle years ago and we really don't go for the alternative restaurants very much so we'll be ok. We like Pinnacle but get put off by the slow service sometimes, so it's all the same to us.

Be prepared to rethink that. From everything I read the MDR offerings on NCL are not that great. In order to have a good dining experience it seems necessary to go to the alternative restaurants.

We used to enjoy NCL as well.

But when they started the Freestyle thing, we quite sailing on them.

We were on the Pearl last year about this time. Tried the MDR 2x but service was not good and was pretty much the same food as the buffet. Sat in the same section of the buffet every night and received great beverage service from an attendant there. It was also uncomfortable being seated with different people the 2 nights in the MDR. We don't pay extra for the alternative restaurants....we're too cheap. [emoji1]

we'll stick with HAL. Smaller ships and a better crew and food. Weget lots of OBCs and4*benefits

Unfortunately I dissagree, NCL has equally excellent crew if not better than HAL and the food,... well lets just say my cruise that a week ago today we were on our last sea day. I did not have one meal that was not fantastic including those in Tsars Main Dining Room. To be truthful our last couple of HAL cruises the first was just no longer to our liking and had a hard time finding things we wanted to eat in the Main Dining Room. Selection has become so limited with HAL in my opinion. Everyone has different likes and dislikes. NCL has moved to the top of our list :)

I just finished booking a Norwegian cruise in the Caribbean for this coming February. I'll let you know how it works out. We've not sailed with them for a decade, but I'm pretty excited to go with them again. Canceled my HAL cruise.

Tired of all the early booking nonsense and rebooking.....on and on it goes. We know. It happens with them all but this was a huge cruise and they wouldn't budge an inch whereas they did last year when the price dropped significantly. Not this year. Not a penny.

Congratulations, I think you will love your cruise. I understand you are on the Spirit. So many love that ship. We have found even the older NCL ships are so well maintained. Never had a second thought that the toilet might not flush. Showers are perfect, never a clogged drain. Plus the Crew are the friendliest and love to go out of their way to help. Shows are fun and the food keeps getting better every time we sail them. :)

After your cruise I hope you say to HAL in General McArthur's words: I SHALL RETURN!

I am sure, based on some of HAL's itineraries, we will. But, we haven't sailed with anyone but HAL in ten years and we are ready to try something else. I was very disappointed in Holland America recently.

Be prepared to rethink that. From everything I read the MDR offerings on NCL are not that great. In order to have a good dining experience it seems necessary to go to the alternative restaurants.

But you don't necessary have to go to the pay restaurants. We found the Asian Fusion and O"Sheehans (like the Blue Lagoon on the Spriti) to be quite good on the NCL Jewel. And the crew were very, very friendly.

Congratulations, I think you will love your cruise. I understand you are on the Spirit. So many love that ship. We have found even the older NCL ships are so well maintained. Never had a second thought that the toilet might not flush. Showers are perfect, never a clogged drain. Plus the Crew are the friendliest and love to go out of their way to help. Shows are fun and the food keeps getting better every time we sail them. :)

Thank you.