With NCL Changes, Would You Cruise Again?

[CrazyKoi]

Hi there! I'm a newbie! I'm trying to decide which cruise line to book my honeymoon through. I was really leaning a lot toward NCL because of the Ultimate Beverage Package deal that they are running and because it is going where I want to go. I was also thinking about adding the Ultimate Dining Package because I've heard mixed reviews about the food in the MDR and buffet.

 

I've read on some of these boards that there is some unrest about the ways in which the UBP and UDP are influencing the experience on NCL ships. With this said, for those of you who have experienced these changes, would you sail NCL again? Wedding planning is a bit stressful and I was really looking forward to a stress free and affordable honeymoon, and I appreciate all of your advice and honesty as I navigate the choppy waters of honeymoon planning!

 

(Just some background info. My fiance and I are thinking about sailing to the Caribbean in November, although our travel window is wide (October through December). We would sail in the least expensive oceanview room possible. Because weddings are super expensive, we were only looking at inside staterooms until we realized the benefit of taking advantage of the UBP in an oceanview room. I don't think that we will have access to a concierge without being in a fancy suite, right? So far we are leaning toward the Star and the Dawn. Does anyone have experience with those particular ships? We have only sailed Carnival once (a few years ago) and my fiance loved the food in the MDR and insisted on trying to recreate some of his favorite recipes, like the chocolate melting cake. I just don't want him to be disappointed. :cool: Thanks for your help and advice!)

[Sand and Seas]

I have sailed on several different lines and FreeStyle cruising with NCL is my favorite. However, if you liked an assigned table & time to eat, this isn't the line for you. We have gone on the cruises that required dressing up most nights...husband even had a tux...but now we like the more relaxed style of NCL. Yes, many of us long-time NCL cruisers are not happy with some of these changes but overall it's still the type of cruising I enjoy. Right now with the promos they are offering you can still get quite a bargain depending on whats important to you. We mainly eat in the main dining rooms and have enjoyed those. As Platinum with NCL, we each get a free specialty restaurant dinner, but I wouldn't have to have that to enjoy the cruise. (However, it did take us a lot of cruises to get to this status...so we don't want to lose those perks:D)

[BrPanthers99]

I went last week with all the changes on the Breakaway. Had a great time and I am planning on going again. Freestyle dining is the way to go!!!

[Cruisingal22]

I just returned yesterday from our first ever cruise. I was also concerned about all the changes that happened after we booked and was a bit nervous because we also cruised on the Epic which has a lot of mixed reviews.

So, having just experienced all the changes first hand I can say without question I would definitely cruise again! Sure we had a couple minor hiccups, but just 2 venues we really did not care for. The rest was fantastic! No issues with UBP at all. I will tell you that sailing from Miami you are charged tax only while in port. We drank all day and our tax bill was just over $4. No additional charges on drinks at all and good service and drinks. Ship was full and we were able to eat/drink wherever/whenever without issue. More lines wait times during peak, but we had no issues. Our group size varied as well for dinners.

Food quality is subjective of course, but we had mostly very good meals in various venues.

We also used room service a few times for coffee/danish/fruit for breakfast. It was delivered on time and Epic had no charge for this on our cruise. Haven't read if changes were happening after we left but no charge last week. Hope this helps answer your questions.

[www3traveler]

Of course, I will sail Norwegian again. I am about the leave on my 24th Norwegian cruise and have the 25th, 26th, 27th and 28th booked.

[murcor]

Don't hesitate in booking a NCL cruise

[maywell]

Unless you truly need it to save money due to using the extras alot- you really don't need the UDP or UBP and still have a good time on NCL. I have 2 (technically 3) scheduled NCL trips this year and next, will not be needing those 2 things. My 1st trip with NCL was a test run if I need to buy the UDP for dining for any future trips with them and found out I didn't since the complimentary options are good for me (Food was satisfactory to excellent). The room service food options was lousy at best so the new room service menu is a big improvement if I have to self-quarantine myself again - had to due to laryngitis at the start (Martini tasting cure it on Monday :)) and then mild fever in Nassau (that's what I get for playing in the cold ocean on my birthday :)) , plus didn't have a insulated travel mug to just get tea with honey / lemon which is what I really wanted (got it now:)).

 

So yea, I plan to travel on NCL again - Gotta love the freestyle dining of just showing up and done. Plus there's alots to do on NCL ship then just just drinking and eating. :)

[FireEater]

I have only sailed NCL twice. Both within a year. I would not hesitate to book one again if the price was right and the locations were where I wanted to go, during the right time frame.

 

My first cruise (SKY) last year was when we had all our meals in the Main Dining Room. No lines, and got seats right away. Food was always fantastic. Crew was fantastic. My 2nd cruise with NCL was last week (Sun). All meals were in the specialty restaurants. All were fantastic. Crew was fantastic.

 

We had a suite so we got the UBP and UDP with the suite. UBP was a great way to try new drinks without worrying about pushing it away after a sip for not liking it...and I did once...LOL Was GREAT!!! I am not a big drinker (maybe 4 max a day while cruising).

 

I too love Carnivals Chocolate Melting Cake for dessert. I have not found another line that does that dessert.

 

I don't think you will be sorry booking NCL. But I guess you will not know until after it is all over.......I will give you a big heads up. If you do the dining package or want to book 1 or more specialty restaurants without the package, book a time and do not just show up without a set time booked...they do fill up more now with more and more people getting the UDP package. At least that was how it was on the ship last week.

[Mistizoom]

Of course, we loved our first NCL cruise and expect to love our second. I can't imagine any other line that would fit my family better than NCL and Freestyle.

[Solararc]

In a word: Absolutely!!

 

 

*Living Large*

[kchiumento]

Yes. My first cruise was NCL. I have taken one other since then on a different line and have decided that traditional cruising is not for me. I don't want to have to decide at the time of booking what time I want to eat dinner each night. I don't like being seated with strangers all week (I'm sure this works out well sometimes but it was a total bust for us. The other people were not talkative or even friendly. Their loss!) and I don't like having to dress up for dinners EVERY night.

On our NCL cruise we had the UBP and it was worth every penny. We saved our drink receipts- well most of them [emoji4]and the tally at the end of the week was well more than we paid for the beverage package. We enjoyed every moment, even the bumps in the road.

 

I can't say if you are going to enjoy "freestyle"

Cruising. But read some of these reviews and the gloom and doomers with a grain of salt. Those naysayers are just a small minority of the people that sail. Have fun, relax.

 

Best wishes on your wedding and I look forward to reading your review.

[NLH Arizona]

I've already got more cruises booked.

 

I had the UDP on my last cruise and save over $100 if I were to have booked them individually and even if there would have been an 18 percent gratuity, I would have still saved a whole lot. I love the specialty restaurants. Haven't had the UBP yet, will on my next cruise, because I don't drink that much.

 

I always go into a cruise knowing that I'll have a great time and I don't sweat the small stuff and, guess what, I've always had a wonderful time and I've been on over 35 cruises over a number of cruise lines.

 

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding and honeymoon!

[bdink921]

I had to chuckle a little when I read the title of your post. My most recent cruises were on Carnival and Royal. While I was on those boards planning our cruises, I ran across many threads with people discussing the 'changes' and how disappointed they were. I was so nervous that we weren't going to have a good time when in fact we enjoyed both of our cruises very much. Our next cruise will be on the Gem and we are beyond excited to try something new. Relax, happy planning, and congratulations!!!

[missdixie]

There has been lots of changes through the years. Some good some not so good. I keep going for NCL for the freestyle. Having another cruise booked makes me happy.

[SissasMomE]

Just about every cruise line is Freestyle now, with the exception of Disney, so don't let that influence your decision. If you can get a good deal with the UBP, then do it. It will definitely save you money, as there will be no surprise bill at the end.

[ricearoni161]

I shopped around on cruise lines until I settled on NCL, so I've been on Carnival 4 times, NCL twice (the third times is in three weeks!), Princess once, and Royal Caribbean once. My next two are booked with NCL. I think Carnival upped their game on food and is now better than NCL in the MDR, but they were all good. I did the UDP on Epic last year and loved it. Not sure I would again other than as a 1-2 night meal upgrade, because the food is more than adequate in the MDR. Happy to hear that Room service has better options now even at a price because it wasn't good before.

 

I say go for it with NCL and congrats on your upcoming wedding!

[shealea]

I think you would like NCL for your honeymoon cruise. If I were you, I wouldn't purchase the dining package for specialty restaurants. My dh and I really like the food in the main dining rooms.

 

You could plan on eating in the main dining rooms, and then plan on eating a meal or two at a specialty restaurant.

 

Plus, O'Sheehans has specials offered for dinner. I can't remember the exact details, but prime rib was offered and I think also one night with ribs being served. We never tried the specials, but people have reported here that they were good.

[Sotermarler]

I booked another 2 NCL cruises because the deals are so good. Were scheduled for the Escape Nov 2015 and Jade 2016. Ive only got one cruise under my belt so I would like to branch out & try other lines, but with the UBP and KSF no one can come close in price. Seems like each cruise I book gets cheaper! None of the new charges effect us except the DSC, and .95 a day is not a make or break. Maybe next year RCI will match these deals, but for now its NCL all the way!

[alonzo14]

We enjoyed all our cruises on NCL. They have the best deals out there right now. There are things we like about NCL and things we like about Royal Carribean. I don't think you will be disappointed in NCL. I think they offer a good product and most relaxing vacation with their Freesyle concept which is not everyone's cup of tea. Just go and have a good time!

[Carnac767]

We've had a fantastic experience every time on NCL.

[watchdiva]

Life is filled with change....how you deal/cope with those changes is up to you. We will unquestionably continue sailing NCL - they deliver a product that we are happy with at a reasonable price point. Change is inevitable - the problem IMO here has been that NCL didn't communicate clearly (if at all) proactively (rather than the reactive mode they now find themselves in).

[Oldgoat61]

My wife and I just got off the Pearl last week. We have cruised on Carnival twice, but prefer NCL. I would not hesitate with NCL, they are very much like CCL, but have a more relaxed feel to their ships.

 

Personally, I would choose the UBP, and pick and choose your specialty dining. As one poster mentioned, the MDRs' are not that bad....we actually preferred the MDR to the specialty restaurants (go figure).

 

I don't know what part of the caribbean you would like to cruise, although it sounds like the western, but you might also consider the 12 day Getaway cruise to the southern caribbean the end of Oct.;)

 

[buckirj1]

Certainly, given the right price, itinerary, time and ship.

[cruise crazed]

I am sailing on NCL again in July. As long as they have a a good product, I wouldn't hesitate to sail with them

[welove2cruise*]

It seems to me that the UDP is changing dining from freestyle to assigned. I wouldn't buy the UDP for that very reason. It was hard getting reservations at Le Bistro in February on the Getaway (booked the day we boarded by 12:30 PM and had to choose either 5:45 or 8:15). I can't imagine with all the promo packages now what a nightmare reservations will be. Good thing is the main dining rooms should be less crowded so we can go when we want. ;)