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New to NCL and have a lot of questions!

Mrs CruisinCritter

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hateswaterloves2cruise

hateswaterloves2cruise

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I think with young children, the freestyle way has got to be the easiest. Kids nap when they are tired and being able to eat anytime has got to be the best thing. Also, in the buffet on this class of ship I think they have a "kids area". It features a small buffet just for kids, with their kind of food and small seating areas for young children.

Also, the Blue Lagoon is open 23 hours a day and offers "comfort food". Their tomato soup is delicious. I know that traveling with kids and differing menus can really upset their stomachs.

We have sailed on Princess, Celebrity and Carnival but we are now dedicated NCL users because of freestyle.:)

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travelnap

travelnap

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Thank you! It took me forever to master the Carnival website so navigating other sites (NCL, RCCL, DCL) has proved to be a challenge. :eek: I'm not used to information being where it should be and ship specific in a lot of cases. The simplicity is killing me! :)

 

I was on the Pearl last November for the Western Caribbean cruise and I think you will enjoy it. NCL is probably more similar than different if you are used to Carnival. I think you will enjoy the Freestyle experience, especially if you are used to anytime dining on Carnival. I think NCL does a better job at it because they have more experience. The Carnival cabins are slightly larger than NCL but you probably won't notice that as much if you are in a mini suite. Food is subjective but IMO I think NCL has a better buffet set up and selection and the MDR's I would probably put at a draw. I do like the specialty restaurants that are available on NCL and have found them to be worth the extra money. I have also found the NCL staff to be among the friendliest at sea, but then the other lines have had friendly staff as well. I would give it try. My first cruises were with Carnival but I have been doing more on NCL lately so I like the freestyle cruising they offer. Happy sailing.

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kjquilts Holiday Sharing Rare

kjquilts

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Don't know if you've ever seen this website but I enjoy it. Here is link to their information on the Pearl - - it has a lot of pictures.

 

There have been a couple of changes since their photo review was done. A couple I can think of is 1) "kids program" has changed & 2) daily menus for the two main restaurants are slightly changed. Link will still give you a good picture and google (or cc) is your friend :)

 

http://www.beyondships.com/NCLPearl.html

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Demonyte

Demonyte

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There are "extra fee" restaurants if you want to use them but most require reservations, you can book on the ship or in advance on the website ( I believe about 45 days out).

 

I have to disagree with the underlined part. Only fleetwide speciality restaurant that is advised to book ahead is the Teppanyaki. We have not had any problems around 6pm or 7pm with any of the others even without reservations (with the exception of special events like Valentines Day etc when people like to do something special).

 

"Special" speciality restaurants like Spiegel Tent on the Epic are in league of their own but I do categorize them more as entertainment rather than a restaurant.

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oLEEander

oLEEander

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One other point to freestyle not mentioned yet is your choices on disembarking. On our first cruise, not a NCL cruise we had to be out of our cabins by 8:00 am, even before anyone was even allowed to disembark. People were dragging bags through the buffet and dining room, clogging hallways and fighting for seats in the atrium. Not the way to end a vacation. Perhaps things are different now on other lines, all I know is what a difference on NCL. You can carry your own bags off early and skip leaving your bags out in the hallway on the last night. Don't want to leave early pick your own time to leave when you choose your luggage tag color. Enjoy your last breakfast on board, or Relax just a bit longer on your balcony. A much nicer way to end your vacation.

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Mrs CruisinCritter

Mrs CruisinCritter

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Now I'm excited about trying Freestyle cruising! I hope I can use this thread to talk my hubby into giving me the thumbs up on booking. I'm dead set on doing it, but I'd hate to do it without him agreeing first. Although I have cruise fever so I may just do it anyway! :D

I've got a few forward cabins in mind that look like they are in a good location on deck 11. Two of them are under the Library and the Card Room. Would you book a room under either of these areas?

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Mrs CruisinCritter

Mrs CruisinCritter

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Oh I don't know...some of those late night bridge games can get awfully rowdy!! :D:eek::rolleyes:

 

Just book it! LOL

 

 

I knew it! :eek::D;)

I figured either of those rooms would be fine, but my hubby just reminded me about the 4 older men who stayed in the card room on our cruise in January. I'm not sure that they ever left. We would often leave the comedy club around midnight and one of them would be up stomping and yelling at the other men over something that happened during their game. It was quite comical, but I felt very sorry for the people who may have been trying to sleep in the cabin below.

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sdmike

sdmike

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If we would choose to eat at one of the higher end specialty dining venues, is there a dress code that must be followed or is it OK for us to wear jeans, sandals and a comfy shirt?

 

You can wear jeans in any venue on the ship at any time, including the nicer dining room and LeBistro (previous poster is incorrect). Sandals are technically not allowed, but I think they are more worried about flip-flops than they are dress sandals, especially for women (there's a fine line between a sandal and an open toed shoe). You can even wear shorts to dinner in Taste and most of the other venues. They just like LeBistro and the more formal aft dining room to be a little nicer

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sdmike

sdmike

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I've got a few forward cabins in mind that look like they are in a good location on deck 11. Two of them are under the Library and the Card Room. Would you book a room under either of these areas?

 

PERFECT place. We were just a few doors down but under the pool deck. We got a little noise from upstairs. The library and game room are carpeted and not used much, so it should be dead quiet up there.

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shark with a laser

shark with a laser

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One possible concern could be the dining and the length of time involved. Granted, your son is 3, and mine was 15 months when we took him on his first (and his last for awhile, but not ours) cruise not on NCL. We found the fixed dining with early seating was actually really good for us, as we had the same waitstaff who knew what to bring him, we had the same people around us every night who would offer to hold him and entertain him for a bit so we could relax and eat, and we still had to remove him from the dining room and take him to a deserted bar across the hall to let him run around and blow off a little steam. As much as I enjoy NCL, I think this cruise would have been a big disaster without the same waitstaff and the same people at surrounding tables on a nightly basis.

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Twelvevman

Twelvevman

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We have cruised with our son at 13 months and at 3 years old. He never gave us any problems at dinner. The only time we had to leave the dining room was if he had to use the potty.

 

The beauty of freestyle is you can go when you are ready, no need to rush or wake him up from a nap. If you think he may be having a tough day, just let the waiters know and they will speed up the meal.

 

You know your child best and know how he reacts to longer meals. Just go with an open mind and be prepared to eat outside the MDR if the need arises. Have a wonderful cruise.

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Mrs CruisinCritter

Mrs CruisinCritter

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Thank you all! This cruise won't be my son's first so he should be accustomed to eating in the MDR, but we don't mind asking if we can take our plates back to the room with us if we have started eating and have to leave in a hurry due to a fussy toddler. His first cruise was last fall when he was 14 months old so we had to do just that one evening. It was actually a nice romantic evening sitting on the balcony to finish dinner while he napped and we had room service bring dessert. :D

 

He will also be going on the Liberty with us next February so he will get a taste of the kids club. Hopefully he likes it and will spend a few hours there throughout the week. That will let us know what to expect when we cruise on the Pearl in late 2014. I need to look into the age requirements for the kids club on NCL. He loves to play with other children, but he's never done it without either me, my hubby or my mother being with him.

I'm a stay at home mom so he has never been to daycare and we haven't had a chance to go and participate in any of the play time activities for the little ones at our local library. Hopefully our weather starts to improve soon so we can go out and find some play groups for him.

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Cruzface

Cruzface

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There is one thing that I forgot to ask. What is the best way to book? Is it better to book online through NCL, call NCL or use a TA/online TA?

 

I prefer to call NCL and speak to a PVP. If anything comes up before you cruise, it's nice to be able to pick up the phone and get answers or resolutions to problems.

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Mrs CruisinCritter

Mrs CruisinCritter

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Must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed or in a debbie downer mood today :)

 

 

Thank you for the support! :)

The whole point of this thread was to get some answers to a few questions to see if NCL sounded like a good fit for us and I'm very thankful for all of the responses that I received. Thanks to all of you, we are now going Freestyle in 2014!

I'm so happy that we have 600+ days to take our time and really familiarize ourselves with everything that NCL has to offer. Now I think I will start to use that search feature that I received a mini lecture on. ;):D

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Cruise_More_Often

Cruise_More_Often

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On top of everything I guess you don't know how to use the CC search engine because there is over 15 pages talking about the Pearl.

 

Here is your link http://boards.cruisecritic.com/search.php?searchid=38163280

And the problem with that is it's 15 pages of results (and maybe a total of thousands of posts) she would have to sift through for some specific information. I'm used to the CC search engine, yet I often look at the results and just back out. Way too frustrating.
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Oldgoat61

Oldgoat61

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There are advantages to using a TA. There are many on CC that have done what I am about to explain....and I learned it here.

What you can do is call NCL, and put down a deposit, which sets the room you choose. Chances are, you will get OBC from NCL. Then start to look at different online sites, which in most cases offer much more OBC. Once you know which TA you want to use, have NCL transfer your reservation to the TA. The OBC from NCL goes with your reservation.

Your TA will know how to do this, as well as your PCC from NCL. The advantage is, it gives you time to research other options and be able to get more perks, if that is what is important to you. If it isn't, stay with your PCC.:)

There is one disadvantage to this process...once you transfer to a TA, NCL will not answer any questions you might have (unless you ask them before you make the transfer).:D

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