What makes NCL so special?????

[isujim]

My wife and I have only sailed to date on RC..........7 times.....we have a Princess cruise scheduled in November, a Celebrity cruise next April and then back to RC in October.

 

I have a group looking for an Easter itinerary and think we may have found one on the Spirit when it starts going out of NY.......

 

We know nothing about NCL..........other than what we have read.........

 

So for all of you regulars.........what makes NCL special in general??? I don't want to lead my group in the wrong direction but on the surface, I like the itinerary.

 

Thanks in advance for your help and thoughts.

 

Jim

[natalunia]

I have only sailed on Carnival and NCL (Star & Spirit), so I can only compare the 2...

 

I like NCL because, in general, the decor is more to my taste (more wood, less neon). The range of ages is diverse, but generally we find there have been more 30-40 year olds on our 2 sailings. We don't go to any of the shows, so I can not comment on entertainment. I like the fitness programs on NCL. The food is comparable to Carnival. I like freestyle dining, so that you don't have to eat at the same time with the same people every night. We enjoy meeting the staff and chatting with them throughout the week.

 

In general, I have trouble pinpointing why I like NCL so much. It's an overall feeling for me.

 

You said you are looking at the Spirit out of NY. I totally recommend the Spirit. It is a great ship, great staff/crew, and we had a fabulous time on her. I don't think you will be disappointed.

 

Natalie

[johnql]

For me, I love the choices that are available under NCL's Freestyle policies.

 

"Resort casual" dress code - I love being able to dress casually every night, including the optional formal night(s). I do enjoy dressing up occasionally, but I like to do it because I'm in the mood not because it's dictated. It also frees up some valuable luggage space.

 

Freestyle dining - I love dining when I'm actually hungry and/or when it fits my schedule. No rushing after a late excursion. I don't hate traditional dining but I definitely prefer Freestyle. I enjoy picking the size of my table as the mood suits me - a table for two if an intimate setting is desired, a larger table if I feel more sociable. I enjoy not having the same set of tablemates for the entire cruise. I've been relatively lucky with my assignment of tablemates, but I've also drawn a few passengers who were less than compatible (not necessarily "bad" people, just not particularly compatible). Also, with no assigned table, I don't need to worry about informing anyone that I won't be at dinner on a particular night if I opt to dine at an alternative restaurant.

 

Alternative restaurants - I enjoy having alternatives available. Depending on the ship, the offering can be quite numerous and diverse. On the Dawn, I loved Cagney's and Teppanyaki. On the Sea, I really enjoyed Le Bistro. I thought the pizza on the Sky was the best pizza I've ever had on a cruise ship.

 

Disembarkation - You get to stay in the your cabin much longer than on most ships. You're not forced to wait in a public room. It's much more relaxed the NCL way.

 

Entertainment - Overall, I would rate NCL's main production shows as some of the best on the seas. In addition, the lounge entertainment is top-notch. (This last item isn't about choices, but I felt it was noteworthy.)

[isujim]

Thanks Natalie:

 

I'm going to direct my group over to this thread and let them read the responses for themselves.........then we can discuss it and ultimately vote on ship, dates etc.

 

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.

 

Jim

[isujim]

Is there a charge for the specialty restaurants??

 

Jim

[natalunia]

Yes, except they have apparently dropped the charge for La Trattoria (Italian) and at the sushi bar it is a la carte instead of the cover charge.

 

Natalie

[gardencat]

It's my impression that the NCL experience differs quite a bit from ship to ship so maybe your question would be more effective if you asked 'What makes the Norwegian Spirit so special?'

 

NCL, in my experience, is not noted for good customer service, so that is something you will have to be prepared for whichever NCL ship you consider.

[curlstravel]

La Trattoria and Endless Summer do not have cover charges. There is also Blue Lagoon, a 24 hour restaurant/snack bar that has very good food especially their Fish and Chips. In addition to these you have the 2 main dining rooms, Market Buffet and the Grill which are all free. There are free ice-cream cones every afternoon from 1-5 at the Juice Bar.

We also had very good customer service on the Star.

[isujim]

Gardencat:

 

When you say poor customer service........are we talking room stewards, service in the dining room? bar service?

 

Jim

[gardencat]

Sorry isujim if I was unclear.

 

I was referring to what NCL calls its Customer Relations Department.

 

If your cruise is completely standard with no questions or problems you (hopefully) won't have to deal with them, however if you need any special services or if anything unusual happens with your cruise ( mine for instance was cancelled by NCL about a month before departure) you will have to deal with that department.

That is likely to be a very not good experience, so let's hope, if you do decide to go with the Spirit, nothing like that will happen to you!

[isujim]

gardencat:

 

Thanks for the clarification........I can tell you this must be universal however.....we have tried to book 2 celebrity cruises and both were red flagged, one cancelled and the customer service department was not very helpful.....so in a way, we are used to that. Our current Hawaii cruise on the Infinity is red flagged and they say it's sold out.............we shall see. Thanks for the clarification.

 

Jim

[natalunia]

isujim, we were on the Spirit May 22 sailing and service everywhere was exceptional. We have had no problems with NCL customer service when we have had to deal with them in the past. If you have any questions about the Spirit I will do my best to answer them, and I have lots of pictures on my webshots album.

 

Also, I am glad you pointed out that other lines have issues with their customer service departments as well. I had to laugh reading a review of an Oceania ship where the guy complained there was no tailor onboard... :rolleyes: I guess we all can find something to complain about if we look hard enough.

 

Natalie

[isujim]

Natalie:

 

What great pictures..........you know from what I see so far........there isn't much difference in this and the Brilliance of the Seas that we were on in April through the Panama Canal.......the Spirit looks like a very elegant and beautiful ship.........I'm going to direct our group over to look at your pictures.

 

Thanks

 

Jim

[jenny368]

Thanks everyone for your input on NCL. Our group just might be trying out NCL in the very near future. I like what I have seen so far.

[gardencat]

isujim

 

:D Well at least you should have experience dealing with problems then. Whatever cruise you decide on, surely after two problematic cruises you deserve smooth sailing on your next one!

[isujim]

gardencat:

 

Either that or someone is whispering in my ear........don't go on Celebrity! :D

 

Jim

[newmexicoNita]

I am, as many know an NCL loyalist and for good reason. Before freestyle is had to do with a wonderful, friendly crew and great itieneraries. Now, it's freesyle added to the above. Yes, there have been many complaints about customer service, most, I am sure legit. As a retired TA I can't tell you about the customer service issue period. Many lines, if all goes well things are hunky dory, but if there is a snag of any kind be prepared. I have been fortunite, with 15 years of cruising NCL and 3 years as a TA I have had no problems. Others haven't been so lucky. go for it and let's hope all goes well! NMNita

[professor]

Granted, NCL's Customer Relations folks aren't the best when major problems have to be addressed. However, assuming that an NCL cruise is relatively problem-free, the on-board experience will be comparable to Holland-America and Royal Caribbean cruises.

A lot has to do with the category of stateroom in which one is booked. Concierge service for people in NCL's penthouse suites will be a different experience from those in the least expensive interior lower-deck cabins. There is a range of "perks" that are coupled with the various levels of stateroom category and, at the upper end, NCL provides a superior cruise environment that's at least the equivalent of H.A. and R.C. -- especially on NCL's larger ships. Although I try to avoid broad generalities, my experience is that, at every stateroom level, NCL is superior to Carnival and approximately comparable to H.A., R.C., and Princess. The "FreeStyle" dining arrangement accommodates all tastes and preferences - even those who like assigned-seating.

[Gadget]

We have taken 3 NCL cruises and one RCCL cruise. We liked both lines and felt that they had good things and bad but actually we received worse Customer service and lies from RCCL. They told us our room had bunkbeds and that we could pay $100 pp to upgrade to two lower beds to make a queen. We decided to decline since we didn't want to pay and thought we'd at least have a joke about who gets the top and bottom and left things alone. When we got to the cabin we did have a queen bed so they were trying to get money out of us for nothing. They probably thought we would pay it and think we got the queen bed because of it so we actually caught them in a lie. We have had to talk to CS reps for NCL for a variety of reasons for the 3 cruises and have never had problems . Everything was done what we wanted. We would do either cruise line again and even try others since we are pretty flexible and love to cruise. We bonded better with the staff on the NCL cruises and we are like some of the others, we loved freestyle but would do traditional again if we had too. We've done 2 freestyle and 2 traditional. We loved also staying in our cabin for debarkation morning. Less rush and hassle.

[DevinScott]

I have been on Princess, NCL, Carnival, and Disney. The reasons I like NCL are the casual dress, the flexible dinner times, the wonderful stage shows (I'm picky), and the large amount of free activities such as language classes, crafts, food demonstrations, etc. I felt like the only activies on Carnival included Betting & Bingo.

[Another ship trip]

I agree with prior poster. NCL for itineraries, value, great entertainment freestyle dining(which I always prefer), and relaxed atmosphere.

I think that all people have had customer service issues with all lines. Princess wins the worst customer service for me if you have a problem. After having a new inexpensive 110.00 electronic item be broken (completely accidentally a screen was shattered) by a steward, Princess would have nothing to do with it and avoided my calls. It belonged to my son who had just bought it with money he had saved for quite a while. I first asked my steward about it and he said yes he might have done it. (He later said he did break it-he stepped on it on the desk when making son's upper berth.) Before knowing any details about how stewards who have "incidents" can be treated, I went to the front desk to see about getting reimbursed in some way for the breakage. I intentionally did not give my room number yet as I didn't want my steward in any trouble. I was told there was no way that they could know if it was broken by employee. After I said, he admitted it, they said, who is it? (I wouldn't say yet based on what other stewards and staff had told me about the possibility of them getting in trouble with their seniors). They said they were sorry but are not responsible--perhaps I should take it home and see if it is covered under the warranty. (*Are you kidding me!) I said no, it would not be for what happened. They then asked if I bought the travel insurance. I said no, but I have never seen anything about crew breaking your stuff being covered. They then suggested I claim it on my homeowner's. Clearly this was going nowhere. They gave me more names to talk to but basically the brush off. This was early in the cruise and I said, I need this item for the next 8 days anyway! Later that day, my steward begged and pleaded for me not to go to the superiors with the issue, and he had money delivered to my cabin within a day. I felt horrible after hearing in broken English how he could lose his job because this was still his first contract and he really needed the job. After speaking with him and several other crew not even in his department, I discovered that he and all new crew fear for their jobs if things go wrong and I heard the phrase "please no problems, I will fix it" many times. I sent him his money back after we arrived home as he would not accept it when I tried to return it on the cruise. I sent it care of that ship with his name and a money order payable only to him so I could be sure he would get it. He was sooo nice and emailed me in broken English. I had the steward's assistant tell me that they have been told never to admit to any breakage or missing things EVER. They even had someone come check our door key slot with a machine that can tell who and what time the door was opened to see who had come in between the time it was reported broken and what I found out, is they were trying to say we were in the room between the time it was reported and the time the steward was in. (we weren't) Basically, with the mass market lines, everyone can have problems. Other than that, our Princess cruises have been great. Management will take NO responsibility for their stewards if something is broken on the Grand Princess I discovered! Ultimately, I felt that I could not make a man who doesn't have much to begin with pay for it.

[isujim]

Thank you all for your responses to date..........In what limited research I have done.........I like what I see so far.

 

As I said in a previous post.........bad customer service is universal.....especially with large companies........I always believe it is because of the multi levels of people you have to deal with from the front line people that answer the phones, all the way to the top......many times with different answers or solutions to a problem.

 

One thing that really impresses me is the itineraries of NCL..........I really thought RC was pretty good and they are.........but agree that NCL has some of the finest itineraries I have ever seen.

 

Thanks so far and keep them coming..............I have directed our group considering NCL for our group cruise to this thread, to read first hand, responses good and bad.

 

Jim

[Zeno]

For me it's Freestyle and the itineraries. I love not having to dress-up and I love eating when I want to and I REALLY love being able to stay in my cabin until our disembarkation colour is called. NCL has a lot of port intensive itineraries and that is very important to me. I am not tempted at all by cruises where one spends half the cruise on ship. I want to see new places and do things rather than spending a lot of time eating and drinking and gambling.

[Xzone940]

Jenny, I dont know about other NCL ships but if you're smart, you'll steer clear of POA.

Ray

[gardencat]

For anyone interested, today's segment of the CC virtual POA cruise is up!

 

Pride of Aloha Virtual Cruise