travelexplore3

We decided to finally put a virgin voyage cruise on hold, and will put down deposit tomorrow, and we are absolutely thrilled. My question is this, we can see our cabin number and cannot figure out if it’s a glass balcony or metal? It’s a forward Xl sea terrace. Does anyone know if they are glass or metal?

Hahaha. Thank you all so much for your replies and information. We really appreciate it so much. I think we are going to go ahead and book, and really hoping this will be our new cruise line. I have read So many positive reviews and experiences and it really sounds like an amazing cruise line. Thank you so much.

I have a dress code question. This topic usually causes a debate so before I even ask I just want to say I’m asking because it is extremely important to my husband. I have read over and over there is no dress code other than no wet swimsuits. My question is this, does anyone know the rules on baseball hats in dining rooms? My husband is not comfortable unless he’s wearing a baseball hat for reasons of his own. These are nice baseball hats that match his outfits, not sports team hats. We’ve been asked to leave many restaurants on board NCL on our last 3 cruises because he refused to remove his hat. Some of these were up charge restaurants we paid extra to eat at. I understand rules are rules but if we are paying to be there he should be able to wear a hat while eating. Anyone know if hats are allowed in dining rooms?

Hi there. We have been looking to book with Virgin and have never sailed them before. We’ve been on 14 cruises including Disney, Rccl, Ncl and carnival. We did not care for rccl or carnival and the last 2 times on NCl were not so great either. Huge decline in food and entertainment and customer service. So here we are looking to try a new line….Virgin Voyages. Now I see in the suite it comes with a stocked bar. Is all of that included? Or if we use any of the small bottles of alcohol are we charged any fees? What all is included with booking a suite? Do you have someone to help hook excursions and dining and such? thank you all for any advice of info you can offer.

This is also an option and a great idea. We are last minute planning and deciding , so I appreciate all the feedback. It will help guide us to what will be best for our anniversary. 

I’m sorry about that. We are looking in July 2022 Alaska cruises on westerdam. So it will be very soon.

thank you all so much for your feedback I really appreciate it.

Thank you so much, this is very helpful and I was a bit surprised to see all the items offered on the room service menu. Thank you for including the link! Appreciate it.

I’ve sailed with Disney, ncl, carnival and Royal. This may be the first time we ever sail with Hal. Also better mention we’ve not sailed since 2017. I’m very scared of Covid, and yes, a cruise might be considered a Petrie dish, however I’m desperately trying to plan our 25 year wedding anniversary. We both loved cruising prior to Covid and I swore no more cruises with Covid going on. However, it’s not going away and life moves on. Here are my questions. Based on my Covid fears, IF I book on Hal westerdam for Alaska in an AFT facing verandah room…..can we order meals at restaurants and take them back to our room? I do not want to eat in any restaurants. I would prefer to eat all meals in my room.
Are masks required on board inside? 
how crowded are the shows?
how are the room sizes compared to a balcony on NCL?
how does this have it all package work? 
how does Hal compare to say NCL?
thank you so much for your help,

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Yes they do. I was going to eat there tonight if we had got back earlier.

Yes!!!!! I thought it was gone. We loved that place the food was so good. You'll have to let us know what you think in your trip report, I found your report and am following along.

What can be confusing is how it's being said. I was confused when I booked the UBP as well. Bottom line is this the $28 charge is on your ncl bill. So when you make your final payment to payoff your cruise you will have already paid that $28. There is no other charge. I wouldn't change your package, you will enjoy the dining package more than you would a $50 per port excursion credit.

Will do. We leave September 3, 2017 out of Southampton. I'll be doing a trip report on here for sure.

I can try to help you. Last time I was on the Jade was September 2010 we did a western med cruise. I will Be on the Jade again September 2017. So I'm excited to see her revamped! However we loved the Jade. The Jade is smaller than the breakaway as you said you've been on. I do like the medium sized ships which is what I classify the Jade as, "medium sized". It was fairly easy to navigate the ship after a day or 2 of wondering around. We stayed in a mini suite, which we are staying in a mini suite this time as well. I really liked the size of the mini suite and the bathroom size. We enjoyed all the food onboard, we did pay for La Cucina, and in 2010 they had an Asian fusion place but they no longer have that. We loved blue lagoon, but I believe this place is no longer as it has been updated and replaced and is called O'sheehans now. So we are looking forward to trying this out. Mdr food was good. We only ate at the buffet for breakfast and found we had better seating taking our trays to la cucina to sit and eat in there, the buffet is very very crowded for breakfast. Overall, we liked the ship, entertainment was hit or miss, the casino we went to 2-3 times and played slot machines and enjoyed that. It was just me, my husband and our son who was 10 at the time. This time next month when we cruise it will be the 3 of us again only now our son is 18 so there's no kids club for him to go to, he will hang with us for the cruise. However if you have kids, the kids clubs on ncl are very very good. My son loved the kids clubs. Hope this helps a bit. Enjoy your cruise.

Thank you for that information. I will wait until onboard now before buying a package. I appreciate your feedback.

hi there,

We will be on the Jade September 3-11, heading from Southampton to Rotterdam, Oslo, Hamburg, and Copenhagen. My question is:

How is the wifi on the Jade? We are looking into the unlimited internet package for myself, husband and 18 year old son. We know we can only connect one device at a time, but I just want to know if the wifi is any good? Or better yet, is the unlimited internet package worth it? I do not want to have a day or days where it doesn't work when I'm paying their sky high rates, I'm afraid of that happening. Last time we bought internet while onboard was in 2010 when we did western med. on the Jade. The internet was super slow and we blew through 100 minutes in 3 days, that was just from emailing family to check in and checking social media.

Thanks in advance .

Perfect, yes I was trying to ask if it was customary. We've never done a suite on NCL. We've never had a butler. I really wasn't sure about how it all works. I appreciate your answer. It helps me to understand how this all works. I know tips can spark a large debate, and everyone should tip at what they can comfortably afford to tip, and never expect that anyone is just "covered" in the tip pool. Thank you again.

Thank you all so much for your help. I appreciate it, and this helps me understand how these perks work as well as the butler in the suite. I was not aware the larger suites get free soda and water, I thought it included the penthouse too. But that's ok that it doesn't, for $52ish dollars I can add my son a soda package. We are adding him an ultimate dining package as well for $140 which will include the 18%gratuity.

Do any of you know if over the last few years if they have added vegatarian options to the menus?

I know this can spark a debate, but I am a vegatarian and the last time we cruised there wasn't options. This is the only reason we haven't cruised in 2 years. (3 years actually by the time we sail) my husband and son are meat eaters, I am vegatarian for medical reasons. It's not that there was nothing for me to eat, it was just the same option every day. I do not deprive my husband or son, so we Did go to cagneys last time. However I just ate a tiny side dish of Mac n cheese. In the buffet it was fruit, salad, ice cream lol, I was able to eat well in the Italian resteraunt, we skipped the Brazilian meat place, and the Asian place, and we did try the French but the option they had I tried but didn't like. Just curious if any of you know if

It's true they allow you to meet with someone to plan your meals?

Someone on another thread had said that's an option, but I've never heard that before.

Thank you again so much.

Hi there,

Hoping a few of you can offer me some answers to my questions. It has been 2 years since we've cruised, by the time we cruise next October 2016 it will have been 3 years. Lots I'm sure has changed. So I booked today for a 7 night in a penthouse aft. On NCL jewel. What all is included with a suite?

Do we tip the butler separate from the auto gratuities? I'm assuming yes, but I need to ask since we've not sailed having a butler or suite before.

What is a butler used for?

Does the room have free sodas and waters stocked daily or just once at the beginning?

We were given 4 perks for free.....we received the ultimate beverage package....never heard of this, read a little but not sure I get it, I'm aware there is an 18% gratuity charge, now is this per drink? Or 18% for the package per person upfront?

We also got the ultimate dining included....same question about the gratuity, is it pay per resteraunt or pay up front the entire 18%?

We got the 250 minute Internet use....can this be used in our room? My son is home schooled and he can use it on sea days to get that homework done. Lol

And we got the $75 per port excursion money... How does this work exactly? What if I don't spend it at the port? Can I use it onboard?

Thank you guys so much in advance. I'm trying to get this all figured out, so much new stuff, it's exciting! And our first time on NCL in a suite too!

I've done 4 disney cruises, one of those was in an AFT Suite. I must admit it was amazing. The suite was huge with 2 full bathromms, living room seperate from full dining room with cupboards, a library in the living room, a double balcony that wrapped around to back of ship, a bedroom with a huge walk in closet. Amazing...yes. Worth what we paid at the time... uh no. I'm glad we could afford it at the time, but by no means would I ever do it again. We paid $3,890 for 2 adults and one child who was 9 at the time for a 4 night bahama disney cruise. Insane.... I know. But it was wonderful, the butler brought us fruit baskets daily, water bottles, truffles, candies, cookies, cakes, choc covered strawberries, and on the last night they gave us a limited edition lilo and stitch disney cruise line lithograph we now have framed in our dining room. This cruise was on the wonder in 2008. We have taken 2 cruises on Disney magic and 2 on Disney Wonder. We love disney. However...... the prices have become absurd. Instead of comparing pricing here's some apples to apples comparisons:

We discovered NCL in 2009, we are on our 5th cruise with NCL currently.

Food: We are not big foodies, however i'm vegetarian and both cruiseline cater to my requests. My husband and son LOVE meat, so there is always plenty of options for them. Disney's food is the best overall, but... we have never had a bad meal on NCL. There is more variety at the main dining room on disney, for seafood lovers it can be found almost nightly on disney. The buffets are all the same to me, only Disney has sea food included, but both ships have decent buffets.

Dining times: As others have noted, it is a strict dining rotation and you are going to be seated with random people, and those people will sit with you every night the remainder of the cruise, sometimes this can be good, and other times depending on the people it will be very awkward every night. ( that has happened to us on 2 cruises) On NCL you have freestyle, you can go where you want when you want and get a table for 2 or 3, or 4, or 10. Basically a table just for your party. You can eat whenever you want. Make it a date night or family dinner.

Kids Clubs: O.k. hands down Disney takes the cake in this comparison.... but wait..... my son actually enjoys NCL more. Hmmm, upon getting involved we learned Disney may in fact have a better kids club, but the activities for ages 8-12 are very kiddish, and the staff is very strict with the kids, they are not as patient as there isn't enough staff per kids. One night we counted over 45 kids in there with 3 counselors and they all looked real pissy. On NCL the staff the kid ratio is great, like 1 staff member per 5 kids, there has never been a packed kids club on NCL, but my son enjoys the activities, and the counselors a lot more. (For the record my son was age 8,9,and 10 when we did disney)

Entertainment: Disney is amazing the first time around, then we found ourselves skipping the shows on the next 3 cruises because they are all the exact same. They are very good, some of the best at sea, but 4 times?? same shows.... they need to switch it up with the prices they charge, each ship should offer different shows. NCL: on all 5 cruises... only saw 1 repeat. That's it. The shows are good, they had a cirque show that was just as good if not better than a disney cruise show. It was our favorite by far. (this was on the STAR) They incorporate stuff for kids, and stuff for adults so you get a nice mix, instead of all disney all the time.

Movies: this is a biggie with me, on sea days I love to watch movies in my room. So on DIsney it's ALL DISNEY all the time, they do have a movie theater that plays ONLY DISNEY movies. On NCL: You get everything including first run movies in your room for free. NCL wins this one.

Overall look of the ship: Disney wins hands down.

Pools: NCL gives disney a run for their money....Ncl has all the fancy slides, whereas the new disney ships offer some cool new slide as well, but NCL offers a great pool area for kids with slides for them too. I'd say NCL wins this one too.

Recreation: they both have jogging trails, shuffleboard, basketball area's, vollyball etc. This is a tie.

UPCHARGE restraunts: Disney has PALO at $15 per person, and REMY at $75 per person. (I have never tried REMY) Palo I have eaten at everytime.

o.k. at $15 per person it is 18 and over which meant my kid couldn't go. The food was amazing and better than any food we can get here in California at a land restraunt. AMAZING FOOD!!!! But you cannot book more than 2 times on a 7 night cruise. Whereas NCL has numerous upcharge places that offer steakhouse, brazillian steakhouse, mexican, italian, sushi, chinese, french etc. And there is no age limit and prices vary between $10 - $25 per person depending on the restraunt. And usually kids are half price of that cover charge. Sure we do date night a few nights, but there are nights we take our son with us, he loves a good meal. The food on NCL upcharge places are amazing. I'd say due to the above stated, NCL WINS in this catagory as well.

Staterooms: O.k. I cannot compare suite to suite, I've only done a suite on DIsney. But We always book balconies or mini suites on NCL. Minisuite is very comparable to Disney's balcony rooms, both have bathtub/shower combo, both have queen bed, and fold out couch and privacy curtain room divider, both have same size balcony. NCL has more drawers, and closet shelves. I'd say it's a tie if you are comparing Disney Balcony room to NCL Minisuite. NCL balcony room is smaller than disney's, and will only offer a shower, and no privacy curtain.. room is smaller and will feel a little cramped ( at least it did for 3 of us).

Nightclubs: Don't know, can't really compare. We have walked thru them and they all seem the same, we don't really go clubbing.

Bars: All the same, alcohol is alcohol. LOL

Casino's: None on Disney and always one on NCL

All ships do art auctions, health seminars, golf putt tourny's, etc.

Welcome aboard party: Disney wins hands down, you can't beat the characters on the outdoor stage. The outdoor Dumbotrom movie theater by the pool is amazing as well.

***Disney's pirate night BEATS NCL White hot party BY FARRRRR!!!! Fireworks at sea need I say more.

$$$$$MONEY talks: Dcl is $1,000 plus more than an NCL cruise, comparing apples to apples an NCL 4 night bahama cruise is $1400 for 3 in a balcony room, same room on disney is $3700 for their 4 night bahama. You can do a 7 or 9 night NCL for the price of disney. I even tried to justify the unlimited soda for everyone on disney, but even still on NCL it's $6.25 per person per day. So even that kepps NCL a lot cheaper than Disney.

Hope I helped. It's all up to you in the end. I wouldn't trade any of my Disney cruises, I just won't book anymore because the price is ridiculous. We have enjoyed some AMAZING itineraries on NCL, we have done a 7 night Mediteranean, 7 night Alaska, 7 night Exotic caribbean, 4 night bahama's, and about to takee a 12 night Southern Caribbean. On DIsney we did 7 night Western Caribbean (we did this 2 times), 7 night eastern caribbean, and a 4 night bahamas. Happy cruising!

oooohhh, you are right, I know the cost is gonna be what they can get. During a festival I was aware the costs would be up there. I'm ok with like $200 a night but these are like 2 star locations going for $300 - $400 a night, and I'm not ok with that. Everything is nearly sold out, so I will take a look at the hotels you had suggested and see what I can find, I appreciate the suggestions. I had no idea that Metairie was not a good area, they kept suggesting it to me on sites like Orbitz, Expedia and Priceline. Oh man..... now I gotta see what I can find, and try to cancel this hotel. I just do not want to be in a scary area with a kid.

Unfortunatly we are going the weekend of the Jazz Festival. That seems to be the problem when trying to book a room. I had been searching since last month and most hotels were sold out, or out of my price range of what I would comfortably pay for an average hotel room. My first hopes were to get that "real" new orleans feel and stay in the french quarter in a boutique hotel... they were all sold out, so I tried the garden district and they are all sold out or require a 3 night minimum stay. We are only staying 2 nights before the cruise, and we are flying home the day we dock after the cruise. So we then tried to book in downtown or on the riverwalk and the rooms on the riverwalk were outrageously priced. The Hilton started at $279 per night. Then there was the embassy suites which are $975 per night. Are they insane? And so I opted to check out the wearhouse district and downtown. The only option I found that was decently priced was the Comfort Inn downtown, so I had booked it for $149 plus tax a night. Then I got really angry over paying that much for a comfort inn, that in my opinion shouldn't be more than $79 a night being a 2 star property. THen I researched on trip advisor and saw pictures someone recently took of the room, and I died. There were a lot of complaints about bed bugs dating back to 2009 to current, and the pictures were aweful. And for $149 a night I ecpect something like a Courtyard. But I totally get that we are going during a festival and they raise their hotel prices because of supply and demand, I get it. But I'm not gonna overpay for some nasty property and get bed bugs with it. No thanks. So the only reasonably priced hotels left to book from was in Metairie. SO I took the plunge and booked at the Marriott Lakeviewfor $99 a night. Now because it is 6 miles away we are trying to calculate in taxi fares. The other concern I had was that this is a trip we are taking for our sons 12 birthday, this trip is his birthday present, so traveling with a kid we have to also be careful where we stay for safety reasons. We have never been to New Orleans, and so I did try to research on the New Orleans board, and there was nothing. We do have to take a taxi into the french quarter though on the day before the cruise because we have booked am afternoon swamp tour and an evening vampire tour. SO we plan to spend the entire day in the french quarter before returning back to the hotel, then the next day we would need to go to the port to board our cruise. I also wanted to add, I did look in Kenner and that seemed really far away, the hotels by the airport were reasonably priced but too far away and also in Gretna there were some reasonably priced hotels but the hotels themselves were really rough looking. I did debate over the tower hotel I believe it's a best western called the land mark hotel, but I passed on it because it wasn't as nice as the Marriott I was getting a cheaper rate. Thank you agian for any further help or suggestions.

We are traveling in April for a 7 night cruise out of New Orleans, I had a hotel booked in the French Quarter.... then I read reviews of bed bugs, and dirty rooms. I canceled the hotel reservation, and moved us to a new hotel with rave reviews in Metairie. My question is, does anyone know the taxi rate from airport (msy) to Metairie? Then Metairie to french quarter? and lastly Metairie to Port for my NCL cruise. I tried looking this up but never found any pricing for anything in Metairie. I know it's only 6 miles away from the french quarter. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.