New to NCL

[meanjean80]

Hi all. My sister and I are both experienced cruisers but have never sailed NCL (well, she was on the Norway about 25 years ago but not sure that's really representative of NCL today). We're considering booking the Norwegian Star transatlantic (we've always wanted to do one, and the price is phenomenal). Any words of advice or suggestions?

 

About the two of us: we've predominatly traveled Carnival and are not unhappy with them so this isn't a "my god the cutbacks are making me travel another line" situation. Usually we'd choose early seating at dinner (have no problem mingling with others) What exactly can we expect from the freestyle situation? Could we on boarding ask for a daily reservation at the same time (ie 6pm ish?) We generally end up in the piano bar on Carnival after dinner (well, and the Casino). What is the entertainment like on NCL?

 

Anyone have any recomendations on specialty restaurants?

 

And any other hints or "good to know" things you can throw in, about NCL in general or the Star specifically?

 

Thanks in advance!

[texast518]

Hi all. My sister and I are both experienced cruisers but have never sailed NCL (well, she was on the Norway about 25 years ago but not sure that's really representative of NCL today). We're considering booking the Norwegian Star transatlantic (we've always wanted to do one, and the price is phenomenal). Any words of advice or suggestions?

 

About the two of us: we've predominatly traveled Carnival and are not unhappy with them so this isn't a "my god the cutbacks are making me travel another line" situation. Usually we'd choose early seating at dinner (have no problem mingling with others) What exactly can we expect from the freestyle situation? Could we on boarding ask for a daily reservation at the same time (ie 6pm ish?) We generally end up in the piano bar on Carnival after dinner (well, and the Casino). What is the entertainment like on NCL?

 

Anyone have any recomendations on specialty restaurants?

 

And any other hints or "good to know" things you can throw in, about NCL in general or the Star specifically?

 

Thanks in advance!

Have sailed on the STAR twice, enjoyed both, nice size, friendly staff, might suggest mid-ship, entertainment was good but may of changed. Go for it!!

[esp13]

You could certainly make dinner reservations at 6pm in any of the specialty restaurants, but there is charge for those restaurants. If you want to eat in the main dining rooms which are included in the cruise price, you cannot make reservations. However, I have cruised on 3 different NCL ships on 5 different cruises and never had a problem getting seated between 5:30 and 6:00. As it gets a bit later, the rooms get more crowded, but if you are willing to be seated with others, that can make it easier as well. Worst case scenario is that there is a small wait.

 

After dinner, there should be music being played somewhere. It's been a long time since I've been on the Star, so I don't remember the layout exactly, but on the Pearl, there is after dinner music being played/sung near Bar Central and not far from the Casino.

 

I'm not a big "show" person, but I've found the ones on NCL to be entertaining for the most part. I don't know what is currently on the Star, though. The NCL website should have that information.

 

As far as NCL in general, I love the freestyle cruising and have found their staff to be extremely helpful and friendly. I enjoyed the Star, it's just been too long since I've been on it to give any specifics.

[L2S]

I have only cruised Carnival as well, but we want to book a Grand Mediterranean cruise in Fall 2014. So we are looking at the NCL Spirit - Venice to Barcelona.

 

Curious - open dining? Do you have to wait in line to be seated in the Dining Rooms?

 

I'd like as much inside info as possible, or a link to this info, before booking. Just when I think I've learned all about Carnival - they are changing many things, like First To The Fun, great idea, but ugh!, another pkg. What kind of pkgs does NCL have?

[esp13]

You don't have to wait to be seating, but there may be a wait at times. I've sailed several times and don't recall waiting more than about 5-10 minutes to be seated and most of the time there was no wait at all beyond the wait to get to the maitre'd desk. I would guess the first night would be the busiest because that is lobster night, but after that there are enough restaurants and times that it doesn't seem to back up too much.

 

I would say that earlier is better if you want the best chance at immediately getting a table.

[Cruisin&Relaxin]

You could certainly make dinner reservations at 6pm in any of the specialty restaurants, but there is charge for those restaurants. If you want to eat in the main dining rooms which are included in the cruise price, you cannot make reservations. .....

 

This is wrong information. If you are staying in a suite, your concierge can make reservations for you in the Main Dining Room. This way you can avoid the wait for a table . Just bypass the line and tell them you have a reservation.

[nycmode]

This is wrong information. If you are staying in a suite, your concierge can make reservations for you in the Main Dining Room. This way you can avoid the wait for a table . Just bypass the line and tell them you have a reservation.

 

QFT - when I was booked in a suite, the concierge took care of MDR for us. We skipped the lines all the time.

[Sequim88]

We're considering booking the Norwegian Star transatlantic (we've always wanted to do one, and the price is phenomenal). Any words of advice or suggestions?

 

meanjean80 - Looking at the May 2014 Eastbound TA? Yes, that is a truly great price - two weeks with balcony for under $900 when we booked. If you book it then come on over to the all ready rolling Roll Call thread. We too are new to NCL, lured by price and itinerary but liking what we've been finding out about Freestyle crusing. The Roll Call group is already planning a bunch of activities for the sea days and we have our own web site started as a central place for info related to the cruise.

[sdmike]

meals on NCL are very similar to local land-based restaurants. There are "walk in" types where you might have to wait a few minutes if busy, and upscale that request reservations. The main dining rooms are "walk in" types, and the specialty restaurants are "reservation" restaurants. However, in some cases, especially if going early, you can walk up and be seated at a specialty restaurant. Remember, there's an additional fee for these.

 

There is TONS of information in these forms on how NCL operates. You can do a search on "new to NCL" and get lots of threads just like yours. You can also get many, many threads if you put in CCL vs NCL or similar. People always want to compare

[chrisc71]

Curious - open dining? Do you have to wait in line to be seated in the Dining Rooms?

 

As stated there may be a minimal wait. But the big positive is that you do not have to be at the dining room at 6 or 8 PM. Much more relaxing when you do not feel you have to rush to get ready for dinner.

[chill6x6]

I just finished a GREAT cruise aboard the Star last month! You would enjoy Gatsbys' Champagne Bar or the Java Cafe. The entertainment aboard the Star is really super! I really couldn't get over the amount of quality live music available. If you are one that really enjoys live production shows, to say you will be impressed is an understatement. GO TO THE PRODUCTION SHOWS!

 

FreeStyle dining....I THINK the longest we ever waited was maybe 5 minutes to be seated. One thing we were told aboard the Star is that with FreeStyle your food IS cooked to order with a few exceptions(gravys, salads, soups, etc). You really won't need reservations to eat other than in a specialty restaurant if you so choose. There will be two MDRs open for dinner....Aqua and Versailles. Aqua is the more casual(shorts ok) of the two and Versailles request slacks/collared shirts for men.

 

Just like Carnival, go to one of the MDRs when you can for the best food; breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Blue Lagoon really has good "fast-food" although it was somewhat understaffed when we were there. The Grill out by the pool is great as well.

 

For specialty restaurants....I have done two...Teppanyaki and Moderno Churrascaria. Of the two, ESPECIALLY if you are a meat eater I recommend Moderno as the first choice. I'm thinking we were served something like TWELVE different meats! It was awesome and quite an event! Teppanyaki is a lot like any hibachi-style Japanese restaurant you've been to only better!:D

 

Hope this helps!

[L2S]

Great info! Thks! I'll do a search as suggested. I guess I just feel a little intimidated having never sailed outside of Carnival or left the Gulf either. But we're excited and we have plenty of time to research. NCL definitely has the itinerary we were wanting with Carnival - 10 ports in 12 days - so great for the $$. Gives us more $ for the ports.

[meanjean80]

meanjean80 - Looking at the May 2014 Eastbound TA? Yes, that is a truly great price - two weeks with balcony for under $900 when we booked. If you book it then come on over to the all ready rolling Roll Call thread. We too are new to NCL, lured by price and itinerary but liking what we've been finding out about Freestyle crusing. The Roll Call group is already planning a bunch of activities for the sea days and we have our own web site started as a central place for info related to the cruise.

 

Yes, that's the one. My sister is recently (not quite two years) widowed and mentioned that she really wanted to to a European cruise one time. Carnival had not yet come out with its 2014 Europe schedule (for good reason, as it turns out there won't be one) so I was checking other options and stumbled on to this. The price is jaw dropping...my "good deal" barameter is usually 100 per day for a balcony. Of course, the return flight is more than the cruise :-/ The layout of the Star and passenger load seems similar to the Carnival Spirit class (my personal favorite).

 

Thanks for the roll call info. Once we decide to book I will definately join up. We're just about to send in final payment on our September cruise on the Carnival Valor, so we're trying to only get excited for one trip at a time. :D

[mizLORInj]

Hi. I wasn't sure if I'd like freestyle either after sailing with other lines for many years. I liked it and have been back many times!

Note, the Star waterslide will be a big disappointment after the Carnival waterslides. Also NCL cabins are smaller than Carnival's. Other than that, it's all good!

Enjoy!

[Sequim88]

my "good deal" barameter is usually 100 per day for a balcony.

 

Yup - $62/day for a balcony is hard to beat. We've had pretty good success with minimizing the airfare back from Europe. First time using Aer Lingus from London via Dublin and last time using code share on Alitalia that was actually a couple Delta planes - but for hundreds less than booking Delta for same flights. This next one, since we plan to rent a car and drive around Sweden, gives us more airport options - Copenhagen, Stockhom, Olso or even Amsterdam. Probably use Icelandair and maybe stop in Reykjavík overnight.

 

We're pretty comfortable with Star as well since it is about same size as our first TA on RCI's Radiance class. Spring TAs seem to have better weather (although cooler) and less ocean motion than Fall (but exceptions can happen).

 

One thing about this TA - it stops at places normally not stopped at - especially the Azores. Dover also is not frequented much by cruises and Helsingborg is a really rare stop. Sofiero Castle near Helsingborg has an additional plus with it being May - the huge Rhododendron gardens should be in blossom.