Seeking some guidance on NCL choice

[kindatravelsavy19]

Well the cruise bug has bitten me. After booking our first cruise in almost 10 years, yes I know this is sad. You could call me crazy, idk. So we are going to be cruising in feb. 2016 on Carnival Sunshine OV. We have a family of 5 (3 boys less than 10yo) staying all in one cabin. The kids are to young to stay alone. In addition we drive to ports (I think 8 to 8 1/2 hr) max from South Carolina. That giving a little insight into what perimeters we are working with.

On the day we went and talked to a TA about cruises we had a few in mind and she guided us to Carnival and booked. She said, "better bang for your buck." I am fine with for the price and meets our dates and family interest, the water park thing and kids program ect.. We are all excited and can't wait till 2016!

Well I ended back at NCL website poking around last night. I was thinking about checking out cruises for 2017 just for the heck of it. I looked at the similar cruise I was checking out before talking to a TA it is in jan. 2017 aboard the NCL Star. Has anyone had issues booking cruises so far in advance?

When I was checking out $quotes$ online, it is hard when searching for a cabin of more than 4, so I clicked on the "ask online help" from the NCL website. They were helpful and able to get through the areas online that I was getting errors for because I was booking for 5. She gave me a price quote of little over $3,500 total w/taxes and all w/5 ppl in a family suite. To me that seems fair price with lots of added perks it appears. I read somewhere it gets butler and concierge service and priority embark, debark and, tendering. The thing that is driving me to come here and hit the threads asking for feedback that NCL is running this special till April 6th with the 3/4 and 5 cruise for free/ add port fees for each guest. This is a nice deal but with the added promo pick what I though was one of $200 OBC, Free Ultimate Dining Package (not sure the value), Free Ultimate Beverage Package (aprox. value of $394 I think), or Free Stateroom Gratuities (a value of no more than $420 I think). The big, I mean big kicker here is while talking to this online assistant she informed me that all 4 were included in with the room I was looking at! I said no way and she said yes way. Has anyone ever heard of this deal? It seems to good to believe!

Though the itinerary seems kinda blah to me, I kinda like the southern and east carib. But hey I like to try new things. I will be checking out threads on NCL Star but, one thing I did notice was less kid activity areas compared to the Sunshine is this true? What are the biggest differences comparing Carnival and NCL? One last question how was your experience on NCL and this 14/15 year old ship any upgrades lately?

I know this is not the best forum "Ask a Cruise Question" to be asking these questions but kinda wanted a few less bias comments out of the NCL forum. Thanks.

Edited April 3, 2015 by kindatravelsavy19
late night typos

[kindatravelsavy19]

Disregard this post. Found what I was looking for.

[zqvol]

Well the cruise bug has bitten me. After booking our first cruise in almost 10 years, yes I know this is sad. You could call me crazy, idk. So we are going to be cruising in feb. 2016 on Carnival Sunshine OV. We have a family of 5 (3 boys less than 10yo) staying all in one cabin. The kids are to young to stay alone. In addition we drive to ports (I think 8 to 8 1/2 hr) max from South Carolina. That giving a little insight into what perimeters we are working with.

On the day we went and talked to a TA about cruises we had a few in mind and she guided us to Carnival and booked. She said, "better bang for your buck." I am fine with for the price and meets our dates and family interest, the water park thing and kids program ect.. We are all excited and can't wait till 2016!

Well I ended back at NCL website poking around last night. I was thinking about checking out cruises for 2017 just for the heck of it. I looked at the similar cruise I was checking out before talking to a TA it is in jan. 2017 aboard the NCL Star. Has anyone had issues booking cruises so far in advance?

When I was checking out $quotes$ online, it is hard when searching for a cabin of more than 4, so I clicked on the "ask online help" from the NCL website. They were helpful and able to get through the areas online that I was getting errors for because I was booking for 5. She gave me a price quote of little over $3,500 total w/taxes and all w/5 ppl in a family suite. To me that seems fair price with lots of added perks it appears. I read somewhere it gets butler and concierge service and priority embark, debark and, tendering. The thing that is driving me to come here and hit the threads asking for feedback that NCL is running this special till April 6th with the 3/4 and 5 cruise for free/ add port fees for each guest. This is a nice deal but with the added promo pick what I though was one of $200 OBC, Free Ultimate Dining Package (not sure the value), Free Ultimate Beverage Package (aprox. value of $394 I think), or Free Stateroom Gratuities (a value of no more than $420 I think). The big, I mean big kicker here is while talking to this online assistant she informed me that all 4 were included in with the room I was looking at! I said no way and she said yes way. Has anyone ever heard of this deal? It seems to good to believe!

Though the itinerary seems kinda blah to me, I kinda like the southern and east carib. But hey I like to try new things. I will be checking out threads on NCL Star but, one thing I did notice was less kid activity areas compared to the Sunshine is this true? What are the biggest differences comparing Carnival and NCL? One last question how was your experience on NCL and this 14/15 year old ship any upgrades lately?

I know this is not the best forum "Ask a Cruise Question" to be asking these questions but kinda wanted a few less bias comments out of the NCL forum. Thanks.

 

Even though you said to disregard that is the promo that NCL is currently running.