JamieLogical

Celebrity has lobster night in their MDR.

Temporarily back on these forums while I am planning for an upcoming sailing on the Breakaway with my brother. He sucked me in with the super low solo price for the sailing and the fact that I still had $500 of CruiseNext, which I had previously planned to just let expire.

I don't think you will look out of place. One of the things I do love about NCL is that you can dress up or dress down and you will see people all along the spectrum, so you never really feel too dressed up or too dressed down. It's such an even mix.

Those still just mention a limit on main courses. Nothing about appetizers, sides, or desserts.

The OP's exact questions were: "Would like to know what people like about Norwegian and also do not like. Those that have been on other lines what would you say is similar and what is different?" They mentioned they had previously sailed Celebrity, which is the only other line I have sailed, so I was providing my comparisons in experiences between NCL and Celebrity.

You were told incorrectly. Servers frequently say this, but it is clear in the terms of service that the only limitation is on main courses.

Yep. That's why I said there are pros and cons to every line. Everyone has to find the best combination of what they value in a cruise. I enjoyed the go karts and laser tag as well, but to me they weren't worth the loss of deck space. Once I paid the upcharge to do them a couple of times, the novelty wore off and I wished the rest of the ship didn't feel so crowded due to the space they took up.

This is true. Servers may tell you that there is a limit, but there is not. The only limit is one entre.

Definitely agree that the Waterfront on the Breakaway and Breakaway Plus class ships is a great space!

Some of these posts have reminded me of a few things I prefer about Celebrity vs. NCL. Celebrity's "Always Included" includes unlimited wifi (though to be fair it is the equivalent of 90's dial-up), tips, and drinks. Because tips are included, you don't pay a gratuity on the drink package like you do with NCL. Also, to upgrade from the included drink package to the premium on Celebrity is only $12 additional per day, versus NCL's $30 per day. And since the basic drink package doesn't have the $20/gratuity, $12 feels well worth it. Also, as I mentioned before, the included drink package includes premium coffee from their coffee shop and bottles water, which are not included with NCL's basic package. Also, I have found that NCL's excursion costs are inflated because of the $50 per port credit. A simple bus tour on NCL costs ~$100/person, whereas on Celebrity, it costs ~$60/person. Finally, another area in which Celebrity is vastly superior is the spending of onboard credit. You can use your onboard credit to pre-purchase things through the Celebrity Cruise Planner site, but on NCL, you can't spend your OBC until you are physically onboard. Which leads to stupid processes like booking an excursion, paying with a credit card, cancelling that excursion as soon as you are onboard and then rebooking it with your OBC.

I have only sailed NCL and Celebrity. I have my first Princess cruise coming up in December. I loved NCL right up until the minute I didn't, which had to do with their shoreside customer service , not anything to do with the onboard experience. After the restart and swearing off NCL, I have sailed Celerity seven times and I find that I prefer their included food and small venue entertainment to NCLs. NCL wins in the specialty dining and large-scale entertainment categories. I like that there are far fewer kids on Celebrity and no deck space wasted on kid activities. I like that NCL is more casual overall. I love the Thermal Spa on NCL, but it is an big upcharge, whereas toe Solarium is free on Celebrity. I LOVE that specialty coffee, the treats at the coffee shop, and bottled water are included in Celebrity's drink package. There are pros and cons to every line and I think you are only going to have a bad cruise if you go in with the mindset that it will be a bad cruise.

Le Bistro is AMAZING. The updated menu since the restart is fantastic. Get the french onion soup and the filet. Teppanyaki is a fun experience and also has good food, but it's the kind of thing where if you have done it a couple of times, there's no real value in going back. Moderno is great if you wat a LOT of food.

When you make a reservation online, the site doesn't know if you are planning to use one of your specialty dining credits or pay the menu prices, it is just a reservation for a table. Once you are onboard and actually go to your reservation, the host in the restaurant will ask you if you would like to use one of your specialty dining credits. If you would, then you will receive one entre and unlimited appetizers and desserts from the a la carte restaurants. Some of the specialty restaurants do have an upcharge for certain items (lobster) above what the specialty dining credit will cover. Those will be noted on the menu.

I like to get salted, boiled, and steamed. My husband jokes that they just need to add butter! Depending on the ship, I like to spend a little time in the salt room, then a long time in the "lobster pot" which is the portion of the pool you can stand in and there are lots of bubbles, then I try to see if I can last 10 minutes in the sanarium, then I go read my book on the heated loungers for a while.

The only charges you will see for drinks onboard are if you are docked in a port that charges tax or if you order a drink over $15.

It's the kind that uses the packets of coffee like this:

@graphicguy It looks like I could upgrade to a GTY Club Balcony Suite for ~$60 more than I paid for my current angled balcony on deck 13. The room I am currently booked in, I have stayed in before and I definitely enjoyed the slightly larger balcony, since the balconies on the Breakaway are so teeny tiny. But with this being a cold weather cruise, I might not spend much time on the balcony anyway. Think it's worth the extra space and nicer bathroom, but giving up the balcony space and the choice of room location?

There's already been several posts on the Roll Call about the marathon being that day, so most should already be aware.

I had the card first. Got it for a land-crossing trip into Mexico as, while the US accepts enhanced NYS licenses for land border crossings, Mexico officially did not. Most of the time, crossing into Mexico, they won't even check your passport/ID, but that can do random checks and at the time they did not accept an NYS enhanced license. Anyway, once I started cruising, I went ahead and got a full passport book. Even though I didn't need it for the cruises themselves, if there was any reason I needed to fly home internationally (like injured/sick while in a foreign country), then you need the full book. Now my card and my book have different expiration dates, so I have to decide whether to renew the card on its own when the time comes or just stick with the book.

You mentioned that the TV is across from the bed and can't be seen from the couch. Are you able to pull it out from the wall on a swivel or anything? Or is it just a fixed position on the wall?

Yeah, the pricing is nuts. But I guess people are willing to pay it! I paid it for my upcoming Oct. 30 Canada/NE sailing, because I figured on a cold weather cruise, it would still be worth it. It's a port intensive itinerary, so hopefully the spa won't be too packed on port days. But with it being about 40 degrees outside, maybe everyone will decide to stay onboard in the warm spa like me....

Ah, well the OP said he was right around $900, so probably excluding the travel insurance (he didn't say he was paying that), it makes sense you would be seeing roughly double the price. When I booked, I paid something like $486 out of pocket for my balcony, but the pricing was different then. I think it was slightly more than it is currently, but I had $500 of CruiseFirst and a 20% off coupon. I didn't buy the insurance, because I get travel insurance through my credit card. If I were to try to book a Club Balcony Suite right now, as the OP did, the total solo price comes out to $1051.40 without insurance, so perhaps the price has gone up a bit since he booked.

Are you sure you are looking at the same sailing? I can go to NCL.com right now and this is the pricing I see for a solo cruiser for the 10/30 Breakaway sailing:

I would post in the Roll Call for that sailing and ask someone who is already booked to check for you.

I must be bored too, because I think that's pretty cool.