Trying NCL again 10 years later. Will I be impressed?

Cruising Hawaii in 2007 - Yes, that could have been a disaster indeed. I read a lot of negative reviews at the time about the All-American staff not being so good. That problem is unique only to the Hawaii cruises.

My main concern is that the Bliss is a brand new ship, less than a year old, so may have some kinks to work out.

Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) is my favorite cruise line. I have always had a great experience, and keep coming back to them.

Yes, I do consider NCL to be a "nickel & dime" cruise line, and here is my explanation. There are lots of options of what to do, especially on their newest & biggest ship. Some are included, and some cost extra. There are lots of advertisements (printed & verbal) that you will receive for these extras. This was much improved on my most recent NCL cruise, as they toned down on the advertising. Perhaps this is because as more things are added, more advertising results from each individual thing, which overwhelmed customers, and led to lots of complaints. I like that NCL strives to innovate and improve.

However, in my experience with NCL, paying more for something does not make it better. The extra fee options might be something different to try, but not necessarily better. You can have a great cruise experience without paying extra. For example, the food in the main dining rooms and buffets has always impressed me, both the choices and the quality. I don't have children, but I hear NCL has a great kids program, so they should be happy too!

You will love it! Some people just can't be pleased and will say anything negative. Please do and have fun!

We LOVED cruising NCL Escape in April. We previously had only cruised Carnival. We will be going back in May 2018 on Getaway with the kiddos. We opted for NCL due to all the promos when we booked. With those promos it was cheaper than other cruise lines. We loved the freestyle dining. It was a little different, but once we figured things out, we loved it. There are things we have liked better on Carnival (comedy club) but overall NCL impressed us enough to try again and take kids this time. You might check promos and maybe upgrade to a ocean view or balcony room. They will usually change your reservation and give you the current promos. Kids that were on the Escape looked to be having a blast. And I noticed to staff calling kids by there name all over the boat.

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Things we like about NCL:

The variety of food. Tired of the MDR and don't want to brave the buffet? Even if you don't go to the premium restaurants, you still have O'Sheehan's and Ginza available for free. There is NOTHING like either of these places on Carnival.

If you do want a premium restaurant, they have a Japanese place, two different types of steakhouses, a French restaurant and an Italian place. Again, they simply don't have those on the other lines we've been on: it's MDR, buffet, or steakhouse, period.

We liked the different variety of shows in the Spinnaker lounge. We probably spent more time there than in the main theater (and we LOVE the theater shows).

The more casual atmosphere at dinner is great, as is having the MDR open on embarkation afternoon (no jostling with everyone and their carry-on bags at the buffet).

Minor point, but one we did notice: For the mandatory safety drill, Carnival makes you stand out on the deck for a million years, whilst NCL lets you sit inside at your designated gathering place.

YMMV to all of these, of course.

All about how you view things! We had heard wonderful and impressive feedback from others on Celebrity so we tried it this year while it was a nice cruise and we had a great time the hype was not up to the reality. The tables for two were so close I could not just touch my neighbors table and listen to the conversation but eat off my neighbors plate...service was ok, this was where we kept hearing was so magical....we just did not see it. We did love the activity director and shows were awesome we truly enjoyed and that was not an element that we expected to love or that anyone had mentioned as a driver for celebrity. We also moved up to a balcony and my impression was meh...not worth the extra funds neighbors smoking ruined being able to sit. I liked being able to watch the ship dock..but the extra bill to me was not worthwhile.

We love Princess but our last cruise was not our favorite...new ship and oh I do love new ship smell but they seemed to be riding that it was enough not sufficient activities, music choices which were very age specific and overall long waits for anytime dining. Plus it was not cost effective.

We have done a couple on NCL....love not packing dressy clothing, love eating early one night and late another night we are not locked in, love some less fancy meals...we like a good burger and a salad for dinner...the up sell is every line...we go into it knowing that we will spend something extra as someday the spa will call my name or it rains and I shop or I want to play bingo or deal or no deal or we want to eat specialty. I truly think that all the lines we have done are more alike than different but sometimes it is about the crew, group of passengers on a given week and then on how bad the winter weather and work is at home...I find if it is cold and nasty and work has been awful while I am away that cruise is magical!!! Enjoy whatever you do....buyers remorse is hard to overcome!

I'd be more like Depressed back aboard NCL. My last NCL trip was the last straw, and I was in the Owner's Suite with two balconies aboard the Dawn. Suffice to say, I am now booked on the Star Princess for a 15 day RT to Hawaii!;)

I'd be more like Depressed back aboard NCL. My last NCL trip was the last straw, and I was in the Owner's Suite with two balconies aboard the Dawn. Suffice to say, I am now booked on the Star Princess for a 15 day RT to Hawaii!;)

Can you elaborate on what you dislike about sailing on the Dawn? We are due to sail on the Dawn next month.

Cmdchiefthom asked:

> Can you elaborate on what you dislike about sailing on the Dawn?

I sailed on the Dawn this past winter, March 2017. It was a great cruise!

My only two complaints were: 1) The ship is challenging to get around. Things are not layed out very straightforward, and sometimes you need a map to find how to get to certain places on the ship. This is true for the Star, Dawn, Pearl, Gem, Jewel, and Jade, as they use the same layout. Not all staircases and elevators reach all floors, and decks 7 and 12 are the only way to get between the front and back of the ship. 2) Although the ship went through renovation in 2016, some parts still appear worn or dated, especially the 1970's "chocolate sauce drizzled" carpet found in many of the public areas. You have to look hard to notice such things. Overall, she is a very beautiful ship. The decor is appropriate to set the mood for just about everywhere.

If you want me to state some positive things about the Norwegian Dawn and the rest of NCL, I certainly can. Other than these two issues, the Norwegian Dawn is a great vessel, with a great crew, and some great ports of call, and I am sure you will have a good time!

After five Disney cruises, we tried NCL last summer on the Sun. We loved it so much we purchased four cruise next deposits. We loved the whole freestyle concept and found it so much more enjoyable than being told when and where to eat and loved the casual atmosphere and dress code. We also thought the food was terrific, in both the MDR and the specialty restaurants. We aren't buffet people, so we only ate there once for breakfast and it was fine. It's a buffet, enough said. We found the food to be far, far superior to Disney.

I really don't understand the whole nickel and dime description so many like to throw out. Had it not been for purchasing the cruise next deposits and a couple of things from the gift shops, we wouldn't have had a balance to pay at the end of our cruise. I've certainly never had that happen on Disney, not even close! To be fair, we sailed in a suite, so got multiple perks, but even if we hadn't I wouldn't think twice about the extra charges, as they would have been similar to the things we paid for on Disney (soda would be the exception but considering how much cheaper NCL is, I wouldn't blink an eye at that). I would never purchase the drink package as I don't think it's worth it for the amount of alcohol we drink. I'd just pay for drinks like we have done in the past on Disney. But it sure was nice to get it as a free perk!

When I'm pricing out cruises, I don't just look at the cruise fare and go from there. You have to look at what exactly is included and what extras you will want to purchase and price it out in total. Different lines have different pricing structures. You just have to do the research, and then decide which line has the best deal for your budget.

We loved our cruise on the Sun and can't wait for our Gem cruise next Fall! We found the service to be outstanding throughout the ship.

Can you elaborate on what you dislike about sailing on the Dawn? We are due to sail on the Dawn next month.

Dawn / Star are the worst designed ship's in the fleet since NCL decided to removed the deck 12 observation lounge.

Along with the lack of a great outdoors.:(

Having sailed NCL 25 times in the last 10 years I am NOT Impressed with the New FDR NCL.

I’ve mostly cruised with Princess, three times with Royal and my upcoming cruise in May is on the Norweign Epic. I’ve been trying other lines mainly due to itinerary. Hopefully I’ll like it, but any day on a ship is a better day than on land.

Biker@sea said:

> Dawn / Star are the worst designed ship's in the fleet since NCL decided to removed the deck 12 observation lounge. Along with the lack of a great outdoors.

I agree. I miss the Observation Lounge.

This was a lounge perched on the top, forward section of the ship, with floor to ceiling windows, where guests could view where the ship was going, and even pretend to be captain of the ship with a navigation steering wheel put there. For my next cruise, I was torn between the Pearl and the Sun, both of which still have this feature, but I am going to try the Getaway instead since it has solo cabins. To this day, the Sun remains my favorite ship of all time, and I wish NCL would build more ships like her! On the Dawn, Norwegian ripped out the Observation Lounge, and put in more "owner's" suites, in the hopes of generating more revenue and mimicking the Haven suites on her later sister ships. (Say, how many owners does NCL have, anyway?...)

The Great Outdoors was an outdoor extension of the buffet dining area, where guests could eat under shaded canopy in the sea breeze, if they wanted. But on the plus side, I think they have put some more tables by the pool area just forward of the buffet, where folks can now dine outside. I saw some folks doing this on my last cruise (on the Dawn) and said, "That's a good idea."

Hi cruising fans!

 

Here's some background: I love cruising and am not necessarily tied to any particular cruise line, though I have traveled the most on Princess because we like the demographic and can hop on cruises within driving distance. We are a family of 4, Hubby and I are in our early 40's, and 2 kids, ages 7 & 8. We've sailed on Princess (loved it), Disney (didn't love it, but liked it---gasp!), Carnival (great for the kids as long as you stay away from the bars), Royal (before kids), Holland (our family's favorite, if you can believe it!), and finally one bad experience on NCL.

 

We *think* the NCL cruise was bad for two reasons. #1: They had just come out with anytime dining and it was a total fiasco. (Back in 2007). I had to wake up at 6am to get dinner reservations at ANY restaurant. #2: It was Hawaii, so an American crew. Now, for the record, I'm not saying that American's are lazy, but I've had service from people from other countries whose families depended on the money they made, not some kid with a bad attitude who wanted to travel. In our experience, on that one sailing, there were many unenthusiastic Americans.

 

So here we are 10 years later and willing to give them another chance. Surely, the anytime dining has worked out the kinks. Also, we are sailing to Mexico, so not a full American staff. All good things.

 

I haven't looked at the NCL page in years. Why bother when there are so many other cruise lines. So, I booked the cruise and started doing some research. I know many of you are going to lose your minds when I say this, but is this Nickel and Dime Cruise Lines? Did I read right that soda for my family will be $242? And if we want unlimited alcohol, it's $1728??? Hahahaha. One thousand seven hundred and twenty eight dollars??? Not Pesos??? Wow. Is NCL for the rich? (Well, yes, but they're in the Haven rooms, right?) How is the food in the complimentary restaurants? Buffet? I know, I know, food is subjective. Scratch that. Do they really want me to pay over $100 a meal for specialty dining? And you have to pay more for finger sandwiches at high tea? And there's a "convenience fee" for room service???

 

I just don't get it. Help me understand. Why is everything so expensive? How is it worth so much more than other lines doing the same itinerary? Someone please help me out here. I'm not trying to be snarky, honestly, but $7.95 for room service? :o LOL.

 

Thanks in advance,

A *possible* NCL lover :hearteyes:

So I guess I would say go with an open mind. I was use to Royal Carribean and then went on the Dawn I think. Their pool options were definitely not like Royal. But for me I liked the entertainment and the food was ok. So a few cruises later on Norwegian- now twice on the Escape and I am sold. I love the Escape- the spa area (which yes you have to buy) for me was well worth it. The food- very good and you got 3 specialty restaurants included and for us we chose the beverage package. Staff were fantastic. Now I am in your same predicament- planning a cruise on Ruby Princess- no specialty restaurants included, no drink package. Will see.

I have not read through the entire thread but I will give my 2 cents. We just got off of the Breakaway yesterday so it's all fresh in my mind.

Let me start by saying this was our 5th cruise and our second with NCL (last one being 14 years ago on the Dawn)

Let me also preface that our last cruise was 5 years ago with RCCL when our oldest boys were 8 and 6.

Our overall experience this past week was honestly just bleh....

1. we couldn't tender to GSC due to rough seas (not really anyone's fault but a $19 per passenger refund really doesn't come close to covering the disappointment) My wife and children had been planning for months for a tremendous private style beach day...this was a letdown...we made it up in Nassau but that cost me an extra $275 that wasn't exactly planned on ;)

2. everything and I mean everything came with a line involved...no matter what you were trying to do there was a line...we have never had that experience in the past...maybe this is cruising on all lines in 2017...I don't know...I just know that our RCCL cruises have never had that.

3. the food was hit and miss in my mind...the buffet was ehh (i try to avoid that place anyway) osheehans was really a disappointment...main dining room for dinner was hit and miss...not up to RCCL previous experiences overall...and the fact that the lunch menu never changes was baffling to me honestly.

4. service was decent but attention to detail was lacking...I think a lot of that may be due to a few different issues...mainly stemming from the freestyle dining and the fact that there are so many surcharge restaurants....its pretty clear from our experience that the service in the surcharge locations was superior to the main dining rooms....as was the food. This would seem to point to the main dining areas being used as training areas in a sense for the surcharge dining locations....that's not been an issue on other cruse lines we have been on.

5. with all of the *amazing* activities available on deck for kids ect....it's a serious chore to try to actually experience them....the hours that they are open are extremely limited...and with 4000 other passengers on board you can imagine the length of the lines when these thing finally are made available....not fun.

6. the kids program...hmmm...this is up and down...the line to simply check them in and out can take 15-30min at times (no im not exaggerating)...the kids had fun for the most part...but...unlike our last cruise...our youngest 5 and middle 11 at times balked about wanting to go....never had that in the past...i believe the lines and a level of overcrowding may have contributed to that.

7. entertainment: overall...this was a REAL disappointment....My wife and I really enjoy going to the local comedy club and both enjoy improv...NCL advertises the Second City comedy group constantly everywhere...but that group was not on the ship...they had 3 other comedians that...honestly...were rather lacking and did no improv act of any kind...now if they didnt advertise Second City all over the place (including on THIS sailing) then we wouldn't have been so disappointed...but....our local comedy club in PA has a better lineup on a weekly basis to be honest. On the other hand the Rock of Ages show was a huge hit...I went into it not expecting a whole lot (espesially since we had seen the comedy act and heard some reviews about it being just too raunchy) but my wife and I both enjoyed it very much...in fact it was probably more comedic than the comedians. NOT kid friendly...but very good. They also had a magictian that I would say was also very good as a whole....mixed comedy in as well. For us the rest of the entertainment options were very lackluster and also overcrowded. Part of this is due to the design of the ship...which honestly is pretty terrible considering its size.

8. Ship public spaces/design. This is a real weakness of the Breakaway....dont get me wrong...there are lots of places to see...but the layout is just not intuituve and the public areas are very undersized for the number of passengers this ship carries...it gives the ship a clausterphobic feeling...its a huge vessel but it feels small because nothing flows and there are few open spaces. Its by far the largest ship we have been on but it felt like the smallest...which is strange....again...I believe the number of extra pay restaurant options *greatly* contributes to this issue....those locations take up so much space and are so numerous that they effectivly eat up a tremendous amount of space and turn into dead space for the majority of the day.

9. I certainly get many peoples "nickle and diming" complaints....it didnt really effect us so much because we were prepared for it and were not really effected...but the constant upselling and attempts to get people to buy into other things while attending unrelated events was a bit annoying.

We did not have a terrible time....but we could have had a better time and HAVE had better times on smaller and older ships on a different line....bottom line...we wont be back to NCL from what we experienced on this cruise. We will go back to RCCL next time as they have not failed us...and to be honest...NCL is really 0-2.

ofhs93, thanks for an honest review.

I have heard many complaints about the Breakaway, and many positives about her identical sister the Getaway.

I suggest you post your message as a cruise review, in addition to being a message in this thread. More folks could benefit from reporting your experience!

To us NCL ships which we like more (Jewel class) or less (Breakaway class) are strictly warm weather ships. For colder sailings we will always choose RCCL or other lines ships with covered pools and/or solariums. In NYC area this will be Anthem for now.

ofhs93, thanks for an honest review.

 

I have heard many complaints about the Breakaway, and many positives about her identical sister the Getaway.

 

I suggest you post your message as a cruise review, in addition to being a message in this thread. More folks could benefit from reporting your experience!

After I had made that post and realized how much I had listed I did just that ;)

Hi cruising fans!

 

Here's some background: I love cruising and am not necessarily tied to any particular cruise line, though I have traveled the most on Princess because we like the demographic and can hop on cruises within driving distance. We are a family of 4, Hubby and I are in our early 40's, and 2 kids, ages 7 & 8. We've sailed on Princess (loved it), Disney (didn't love it, but liked it---gasp!), Carnival (great for the kids as long as you stay away from the bars), Royal (before kids), Holland (our family's favorite, if you can believe it!), and finally one bad experience on NCL.

 

We *think* the NCL cruise was bad for two reasons. #1: They had just come out with anytime dining and it was a total fiasco. (Back in 2007). I had to wake up at 6am to get dinner reservations at ANY restaurant. #2: It was Hawaii, so an American crew. Now, for the record, I'm not saying that American's are lazy, but I've had service from people from other countries whose families depended on the money they made, not some kid with a bad attitude who wanted to travel. In our experience, on that one sailing, there were many unenthusiastic Americans.

 

So here we are 10 years later and willing to give them another chance. Surely, the anytime dining has worked out the kinks. Also, we are sailing to Mexico, so not a full American staff. All good things.

 

I haven't looked at the NCL page in years. Why bother when there are so many other cruise lines. So, I booked the cruise and started doing some research. I know many of you are going to lose your minds when I say this, but is this Nickel and Dime Cruise Lines? Did I read right that soda for my family will be $242? And if we want unlimited alcohol, it's $1728??? Hahahaha. One thousand seven hundred and twenty eight dollars??? Not Pesos??? Wow. Is NCL for the rich? (Well, yes, but they're in the Haven rooms, right?) How is the food in the complimentary restaurants? Buffet? I know, I know, food is subjective. Scratch that. Do they really want me to pay over $100 a meal for specialty dining? And you have to pay more for finger sandwiches at high tea? And there's a "convenience fee" for room service???

 

I just don't get it. Help me understand. Why is everything so expensive? How is it worth so much more than other lines doing the same itinerary? Someone please help me out here. I'm not trying to be snarky, honestly, but $7.95 for room service? :o LOL.

 

Thanks in advance,

A *possible* NCL lover :hearteyes:

ok, an NCL loyalist here so I am partial and yes, we have cruised all the mass marketed lines more than once. I will try and put you mind at ease. Frist of all, we too love HAL but have only sailed them twice. For us, now that we are older the demographics work well. The first time and we were older than you, the overall age was just a little much for us plus it was just not as high energy as NCL, but the ship was wonderful, so was the service.

You talk about nickel and diming, first of all, almost every booking on NCL now comes with some type of perk that will cover your specialty dining room, or UBP or some such thing. We are cruising again in May and have UBP< UDP, all gratuities paid in advance. On our cruise a few weeks ago our total bill at the end of the week was $372.00 and that included 2 future cruise certificates. I don't consider that nickel and diming at all. As for room service, yes, it is $7.95, for us this isn't an issue, we do not use it, nor do most people. I can't imagine eating in a small cabin and if I want something I can go to the buffet and bring it back to the cabin, that is what more people do. I know Royal is now charging a room service fee as well.

You talk about nickel and diming our granddaughter and her husband, after cruising NCL an Celebrity recently did RCI; they thought they were nickle and dimed to death. Our daughter just got off the Harmany, of course it was a working vacation as her company was having a business conference on the ship so she wasn't paying for much, but she said the price for everything was out of sight, especially drinks. I am not posting this to knock another line, just to bring up the point, all lines will find a way to get an extra penny out of us some way.

No, no more making your reservations for specialty dining rooms early in the morning. YOu can do it on line prior to sailing or there is a restaurant reservation station right at the resecption desk. We usually do ours either as soon as we book or when we get on the ship.

The kids program gets very high marks. I have never talked to kid that wasn't having a great cruise.

Are there places where NCL could improve? Certainly, just like every business and every person, but I think you will be happy with the line. Even the Hawaiian based ship is getting better reviews. You are right, when they first opened up the Hawaiian itinerary because the ship is registered in the USA they reviews were pretty bad. I guess the service was lacking big time.