Anyone been on or considered the Norwegian Cruise Line

[qa4ever]

LOL perditax. I had already read your review

 

[momof2n2]

LOL perditax. I had already read your review

LOL
Peridax - your review prompted me to suggest to my mom and sis to drop their shared verandah cabin for adjoining studios. Just made the switch yesterday.

 

[perditax]

LOL
Peridax - your review prompted me to suggest to my mom and sis to drop their shared verandah cabin for adjoining studios. Just made the switch yesterday.

Oh wow, I hope that works out for them. If the cost doesn't screw it up too badly, that could actually be a more convenient way for two people to travel, esp if they are not concerned about a verandah. Dual full size beds, dual showers, etc. And yes, I believe all the studios (at least on the Getaway deck plan I saw) have a connecting door to another studio. And I loved, loved, loved the studio lounge, mostly because it made getting caffeine/water/snacks so easy. If you are like me and somewhat overwhelmed by crowds and the huge ship, putting your door key into the separate little studio area is such a relief after a long day.

Just warn them it's slightly tricky to FIND if you don't know what you're looking for. I'm not sure I ever mentioned that in my review. The doors that lead to the studio alcove are VERY easy to walk past. They will be on the inside of the hallway (either side of the ship), and have a round sign, but they look just like any other service area or room door. Watching for that little round sign is the visual cue.

 

[momof2n2]

Oh wow, I hope that works out for them. If the cost doesn't screw it up too badly, that could actually be a more convenient way for two people to travel, esp if they are not concerned about a verandah. Dual full size beds, dual showers, etc. And yes, I believe all the studios (at least on the Getaway deck plan I saw) have a connecting door to another studio. And I loved, loved, loved the studio lounge, mostly because it made getting caffeine/water/snacks so easy. If you are like me and somewhat overwhelmed by crowds and the huge ship, putting your door key into the separate little studio area is such a relief after a long day.

Just warn them it's slightly tricky to FIND if you don't know what you're looking for. I'm not sure I ever mentioned that in my review. The doors that lead to the studio alcove are VERY easy to walk past. They will be on the inside of the hallway (either side of the ship), and have a round sign, but they look just like any other service area or room door. Watching for that little round sign is the visual cue.

I do not know why my iPhone always autocorrects Perditax to peridax. LOL.

Yes!!! Looking at the deck plans I was shocked at the labyrinth that is the studios! We are in 12180/12182 & they have 11565/11569. So all in general area.

I figured they both appreciate increased personal space after a few days. My sister loved the idea. My mom was ok after I mentioned they could leave adjoining doors open at night.

It was $40 less per person but the lost UDP. They get $50 OBC for dining. So essentially $90 toward $119 UDP. And personal space.

 

[momof2n2]

Oh. Does anyone use door magnets on Getaway?

 

[perditax]

Oh. Does anyone use door magnets on Getaway?

I saw a few, including this one:

 

[jenf22]

Please do post when you get back. I'd love to know how you liked it. Is it the 9nt?

The Norwegian Fjord cruise was amazing (the 7 night). The fjords are absolutely beautiful! We had a great time on the Star. We thought it was a beautiful ship. We had the UBP and UDP as promos and I really recommend the UDP. I know tastes are subjective, but we did NOT enjoy anything we had at the main MDRs. We LOVED Le Bistro, Cagneys, Moderno, and Teppanyaki. We actually walked out of La Cucina without dessert - we thought the food was bad. But, again, this was our opinion. Neither one of us drank enough to warrant the UBP (but it was nice being free). On our Getaway cruise next year I called Costco and had them switch us to the UDP (we only get one promo). Did you end up booking the Star for next summer?

 

[EPCOTatNight]

We are cruising on DCL one last time before my son hits 18. He's 16 now, but this cruise in September is the cheapest before January 2017. We're doing it because he loves Vibe and the experiance that comes with it. We REALLY want to cruise on RCCL and Norweigian, so next year, we'll start with either the Allure, Oasis, or one of the newer NCL ships.

 

[momof2n2]

I saw a few, including this one:

SOOOOO anyone walking past that door will no longer be under the assumption that DCL is only for the classiest of passengers....
Or most educated...
Good Grief.

 

[Bree]

I jumped ship. I canceled my mid December 2016 Fantasy last week and booked NCL Escape for the week leading up to Xmas (we return Xmas eve). I saved $1300, no longer have to pull my kids out of school, $150 OBC from Costco plus $75 off shore excursions at EACH port. Not to mention the Escape goes to Tortola instead of the WC! I am not a fan of the WC.

 

[momof2n2]

I jumped ship. I canceled my mid December Fantasy last week and booked NCL Escape for the week leading up to Xmas (we return Xmas eve). I saved $1300, no longer have to pull my kids out of school, $150 OBC from Costco plus $75 off shore excursions at EACH port. Not to mention the Escape goes to Tortola instead of the WC! I am not a fan of the WC.

Please report back!!!

 

[Bree]

It's December 2016. So far away.

 

[momof2n2]

It's December 2016. So far away.

Ah. Ok.
I'll be on 5/15/16. I'll report back!

 

[Hotdogdance]

All our cruises have been Disney except for one Norwegian cruise on the Pearl to Alaska (before Disney went to Alaska.) I'm glad we did Alaska with Norwegian because we really wanted to experience Glacier Bay and Disney doesn't go there.

It was not the same as Disney cruise. But it was a unique cruise for us because it was a cold destination (not the tropics) and that means lots of stuff was different. In particular, we were so engrossed by the inside passage sights and critters we saw off our balcony we were glad we did not have to eat at a specific time. We did miss getting to know our wait staff...the food service was impersonal and mediocre with the exception of the meal at the upscale Italian eatery which required an upcharge similar to Palo. We ate a lot at the food court just because we didn't want to be committed to a sit down meal when amazing things were floating by. And because it was June, it was broad daylight even at a later dinner hour and we were riveted to our balcony or the ship's upper balconies looking at the scenery, whales, grizzlies, etc. So that's not Norwegian's fault.

My kids, who were 13 and 16 at the time, LOVED the Norwegian experience. They literally roamed around in pods with other kids (by the way, it seems these pods get formed at the very first night of the cruise, so if your son or daughter misses that, they might find it harder to join an existing pod.) They weren't officially called pods, of course, but DH and I called them that because you'd see them schooling around the ship together, hanging out at the adult nightclubs during the day, or eating at the all hours sit down restaurant with their pod late at night! My kids were die hard Disney Cruise Oceaneer's Lab/Club/Edge/Vibe kids and they still say they enjoyed the teen scene on the Norwegian immensely, but they are also very socially outgoing and I suspect more subdued kids might not find it as wonderful as my two did.

I have two big caveats with Norwegian...and one was largely because it was an Alaskan cruise. The first is that people who had not spent the money on balcony cabins would set up camp in the food court dining area by the windows with board games, books, blankets, etc. all day on sea days. So when you wanted to eat in the food court, there were no tables to sit at. We often ended up having to carry our food back to our room. The Norwegian staff did not seem to discourage this at all.

The other BIG deal was the layout of our balcony cabin compared to the similarly featured cabin on any Disney ship. Instead of the bed/bunk for the kids being parallel to the long walls of the room as they are on Disney, on the Pearl they jutted out perpendicular to the long wall and completely blocked the sliding glass doors to the balcony. Unlike DH and me, my kids are night owls and were still sleeping in the morning long after we were up and about, and to get out on our balcony we'd have to literally climb over the end of the lower bunk and my daughter's feet while ducking under the upper bunk containing my son. Since only the room steward had the tool to lock the top bunk back into the ceiling, it was often well past midday when the bunk was finally out of the way...just a couple hours before the steward put the bunk back down again! For cruisers like us who spend A LOT of time on our balcony, having to navigate around that road block was a huge pain. We've passed the point of no return of sharing our stateroom with our kids (they now get their own) but if we were sharing on Norwegian again, we'd see if there were rooms other than suites that did not have that blocked balcony configuration. Of course, if it had just been the two of us, we wouldn't have noticed.

I think if we had never been on a Disney ship we would have thought it was great, but knowing what we know, it was impossible to stop constantly making comparisons where the Pearl tended to come up short. Just one example...in the atrium where they have a stage with live entertainers, they also had a two story screen with kids playing giant XBox video games...it was just chaos, no elegance whatsoever.

Thanks so much for this. WE were thinking of Norwegian as well and have only experienced Disney. Your post will help us greatly.

 

[Annabell]

I'm just off the Getaway. My first cruise was planned for DCL this September, but I got antsy and jumped the gun and went on a solo trip.

I love reading your review. We sailed on the Getaway last summer and enjoyed it. You are so right about managing expectations. NCL is different than DCL but we had a great time and will not hesitate to cruise with the Getaway again.

Your review makes me want to cruise solo in the studios.......

 

[perditax]

I love reading your review. We sailed on the Getaway last summer and enjoyed it. You are so right about managing expectations. NCL is different than DCL but we had a great time and will not hesitate to cruise with the Getaway again.

Your review makes me want to cruise solo in the studios.......

Thank you! I've been pretty shocked by how many people read and seemingly enjoyed my review, especially since my sense of humor can be dry, and since some of the first paragraphs start with 'ugh' (mostly in re: things before the actual cruise like the Fort Lauderdale airport, which I maintain is godawful, particularly the Southwest terminal).

It's been a few weeks now and I miss the ship terribly, which is not something I've experienced with other vacations, and which I am dealing with by posting a lot about it in threads such as this. I also have my upcoming DCL trip in about two months to look forward to, that is helping a lot. I'm happy to answer any questions about the solo stuff, or whatever. (Unfortunately my knowledge of family activities is low since I have no kids, but as I've said in a couple places, all the kids I saw sure looked like they were having a good time.)

 

[EPCOTatNight]

Bump

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Bump

You needed to bump a 2 year old thread?

 

[EPCOTatNight]

You needed to bump a 2 year old thread?

Yes. You have a problem with that?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Yes. You have a problem with that?

Not particularly. Just curious as to why?