Phonedave
Well-Known Member
Not sure about other lines, but Celebrity is smoking in designated areas only - and all of those areas are outdoors. There are no indoor smoking areas, including in the casinos and lounges.
-dave
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Branching out! Not stepping down! NCL rocked our socks!
- Thread starter sweetpee_1993
- Start date
Not sure about other lines, but Celebrity is smoking in designated areas only - and all of those areas are outdoors. There are no indoor smoking areas, including in the casinos and lounges.
-dave
rob0519
Well-Known Member
We were on the Escape 11/14-11/21. Up to that point, the Casino was advertised as non-smoking. However, starting 11/14 smoking was allowed everywhere in the Casino. Based on the design of the ship, the smoke drifted out into an atrium and could be smelled in the ship's most exclusive restaurant, Le Bistro. Since we don't smoke, I don't know where the other designated smoking areas are located. I can tell you that the person in the stateroom next to me smoked on his balcony for at least the first 3 days of the cruise.
rob0519
Well-Known Member
rob0519 said: ↑
I moved on to food and explained that I had seen a menu for the Supper Club Dinner show and there was nothing on that menu he would eat and asked what could be provided, even if it was a children's meal served on an adult sized plate.
The agent said nothing could be done about the menu and suggested we cancel that reservation, read the menus of the various restaurants and only eat at those or the buffet. I wasn't expecting much, but this response was significantly less than satisfactory. Not sure how we're going to handle this as we have multiple specialty restaurants booked 5 of the 7 nights.
Ok, so we're back from our week on the NCL Escape (11-14-11/21). It's new and it's huge. The service and food in the specialty restaurants were fantastic, in the complementary restaurants we felt service was poor and food was average. Our concern going in was that our son would not want to or be able to eat off the adult menus in several restaurants and the response from the pre-cruise call center was of little satisfaction. The waitress in the Japanese Stake House was very helpful and did her best to get some chicken tenders from the 24 hour bar. In one of the MDRs (Savoy), I asked the waiter if there was any way we could get our son some pizza. He said he did not think so. I asked to speak to the dining room host and asked again. He responded they only served what was on the menu. I asked for a children's menu and was told they did not have one. I told him I would go up to the buffet and bring the pizza down myself if that was his final answer. He said he would see what he could do and sure enough 10 minutes later pizza arrived at our table.
The Escape seems like a great ship for adults, but does not appear to be ready yet to handle exceptions to their policies. Our son was treated very well in all areas of the ship, during all activities with the exception of a few restaurants.
Personally, I would sail this ship again if it were just my wife and I or maybe a group that did not include our son. For our next family cruise I think we need to look at a cruise line that may be more family oriented like Royal Caribbean, Princess or simply return to DCL.
I moved on to food and explained that I had seen a menu for the Supper Club Dinner show and there was nothing on that menu he would eat and asked what could be provided, even if it was a children's meal served on an adult sized plate.
The agent said nothing could be done about the menu and suggested we cancel that reservation, read the menus of the various restaurants and only eat at those or the buffet. I wasn't expecting much, but this response was significantly less than satisfactory. Not sure how we're going to handle this as we have multiple specialty restaurants booked 5 of the 7 nights.
Ok, so we're back from our week on the NCL Escape (11-14-11/21). It's new and it's huge. The service and food in the specialty restaurants were fantastic, in the complementary restaurants we felt service was poor and food was average. Our concern going in was that our son would not want to or be able to eat off the adult menus in several restaurants and the response from the pre-cruise call center was of little satisfaction. The waitress in the Japanese Stake House was very helpful and did her best to get some chicken tenders from the 24 hour bar. In one of the MDRs (Savoy), I asked the waiter if there was any way we could get our son some pizza. He said he did not think so. I asked to speak to the dining room host and asked again. He responded they only served what was on the menu. I asked for a children's menu and was told they did not have one. I told him I would go up to the buffet and bring the pizza down myself if that was his final answer. He said he would see what he could do and sure enough 10 minutes later pizza arrived at our table.
The Escape seems like a great ship for adults, but does not appear to be ready yet to handle exceptions to their policies. Our son was treated very well in all areas of the ship, during all activities with the exception of a few restaurants.
Personally, I would sail this ship again if it were just my wife and I or maybe a group that did not include our son. For our next family cruise I think we need to look at a cruise line that may be more family oriented like Royal Caribbean, Princess or simply return to DCL.
Gojira ゴジラ
Well-Known Member
I found the food on the Disney cruise, good, not great, but good. I went to the Boathouse at the Disney Springs after the cruise, and the best food I had on that 7 days of cruise was pale in comparison to what I had at the Boathouse. Not even close. In my book it's not so hard to beat Disney cruise line's food quality.
totaldisneygirl
Active Member
I am a HUGE Norwegian Fan! #CruiseNorwegianWith all the "stepping down" talk....I thought maybe a quicky share from a seasoned DCL cruiser (12 sailings across all 4 ships in 4 years) would be an interesting read.
Disney's product is unique in its theming and how they use that to shape their experience. Other cruise lines have a lot to offer as well, some aspects better than Disney. There's pros & cons to all. I like to think of the cruise experiences as different flavors, cookies-n-cream vs. mint chocolate chip if you will. Educating yourself on all the options out there is a very smart thing. Educated decisions are not bad decisions. Folks should choose what fits best for them.
Tracey & I took a 7-night Eastern on the NCL Getaway out of Miami without our boys. I'm up to 12 DCL cruises, spent 34 days onboard cruise ships from Sept 2014 to Sept 2015. I think I have a bit of a cruise problem. :O LOL! Anywhoo, first time on NCL. Had a fabulous time. Balcony room, all our adult beverages included, 4 meals in upcharge restaurants, excursions/activities, gratuities, eeeeeverything for 7 nights for less than a Dream 4-night with no drinks, no upcharge meals, no excursions, nothing additional. I'd say Disney's stage shows are better than NCL but it's not like we made a huge effort to go to many. We don't really go to shows on Disney anymore either because we've seen them so many times. Honestly, I think for the 3 cruise lines we've done, Royal Caribbean easily has the best shows in terms of quality and variety. Activities. We only did a few although there were many that I thought looked cool. Again, we don't do so much activities on Disney anymore because we've done so many and they're repetitive now. And let me just say, Freestyle cruising is where it's at!!!! For real! No assigned times. No assigned venues. 20-something venue options, reservations not required. Show up and enjoy. Very laid back. No need to get all dressy. Relaxing, fun, and variety! I was in LOVE! We made several great friends onboard. It was awesome for the group of 2-5 couples to spontaneously decide let's go eat, show up at a fabulous restaurant, and BAM we're seated. Eating what you want when you want it how you prefer was refreshing beyond words for me. I don't know how I'll ever go back to assigned time/place in just a small handful of venues. Ugh! We found the crew to be every bit as attentive and on-point as Disney. Service was great. The ship was clean and beautiful. Our stateroom was arguably in better condition than many we've had on Disney ships. In ports when we returned to the ship they had tents set up with cool eucalyptus cloths, ice & infused water, festive music, etc. Ropes course was off the chain! Rock wall, mini-golf, multiple slides....all very fun things to do. It was an overall fabulous experience and I'm so glad I gave something else a try. It was a huge breath of fresh air.
Was a NCL cruise like Disney? Thankfully, no. I'm sure you can tell, I'm pretty bored with Disney. Really there's only so many times you can meet the same characters, see the same shows, go to the same ports, do the same activities, eat the same foods in the same places, etc. etc. Both our boys are aged out of Disney's youth programs now and are in that no-man's-land where they'd like to find their peers but there is no dedicated venue & not much offered outside of self-organizing. At least when we sail back-to-back on the new NCL Escape next May our boys will be able to buy & be served beer. They're looking forward to that option. The new mega ships offer a lot more things that are a better fit for young adults. Better fit for us & our current season of life overall now.
All that said, while Tracey & I were making our 1200 mile drive home from Miami with plenty of time to reflect on what we'd just experienced, we came up with a million-dollar question for each other: If someone were in front of us right now and offered us a completely free cruise with our choice of cruise line/ship what would we choose? With ZERO hesitation we both said NCL.
I sailed the Disney Dream in Sept. I did not book a placeholder onboard. We sailed NCL's Getaway the following week. We bought 2 Cruise Next certificates.
Enjoy!!!
ChuckElias
Well-Known Member
Well, we've done it. We're booked on the NCL Breakaway on July 1 (9 nights). It's $2000 less than the corresponding 7-night sailing on the Fantasy, and it sails from NYC, so we won't have to fly. I have to say I'm nervous about the change, but looking forward to finding out more about NCL first-hand.
@sweetpee_1993 and @rob0519 , I will take any advice on restaurants/shows/whatever.
First question, how does the Unlimited Beverage Package work? There's a limit to the cost per drink, correct? Is there a "per day" limit to how much you can drink? What prevents you from ordering drinks for your whole party?
@sweetpee_1993 and @rob0519 , I will take any advice on restaurants/shows/whatever.
First question, how does the Unlimited Beverage Package work? There's a limit to the cost per drink, correct? Is there a "per day" limit to how much you can drink? What prevents you from ordering drinks for your whole party?
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nerdboyrockstar
Well-Known Member
UBP will be printed on key card which tells the bartenders and servers that you have the package. Then they'll make your drink, swipe to pay for it, and voila... all you have to do is sign and add any additional gratuity if you like.
No "per day" limit. Luckily the crowd on NCL hasn't required this to be put in place but of course the bartenders or servers have right to refuse service if you seem completely inebriated. As for ordering drinks for the whole party, they might ask to see a key card per drink but usually in my experience it was relaxed.
Try my favorite drink, Rebellious Fish. It's so good. Wishing I was back onboard now!
ChuckElias
Well-Known Member
Ok, we're back from our NCL cruise on the Breakaway. It was underwhelming. Nothing awful happened, but there were so many little things that bothered us, eventually they piled up and we were happy to get off the ship. Very briefly,
1) The servers in the complimentary restaurants were below average to passable. We had a couple of servers who didn't even know what was on the menu. After ordering, my mother-in-law was told "I don't think we have that". Another time, my 21-year-old daughter asked for the Cajun chicken macaroni and cheese; and the waiter brought her a kids mac-n-cheese plate with some chicken tenders on the side. My order was completely lost at Shanghai noodle bar. The only good service we got was in the upcharge restaurants.
2) Our stateroom host was terrible. Our stateroom didn't get made up until 2 or 3 in the afternoon, and didn't get turned down until 10 pm most nights. Two nights in a row my mother-in-law (not a night owl) sat in the elevator lobby on the stairs to wait until 10:30 for him to finish making up the room.
3) The shore excursion process is pathetic. They basically tell you to go out to the dock and look for your excursion leader. That's it. That's their plan. They do put some NCL staff on the pier to help you find your excursion, but with 1,000 people or more disembarking at once, it was very poor.
4) Room service was very inconsistent in filling our order and called us before our requested delivery time to let us know "Early breakfast is on the way." Finally, the last couple mornings, we checked the time we wanted and wrote "NOT EARLY" on the ticket.
5) This is going to vary widely, I'm sure, based on personal preference, but "Rock of Ages" was way too sexual for me. I can't believe it's what they choose as their showcase performance. The opening scene features a girl simulating oral sex on a red-white-and-blue popsicle, and the lead actor makes repeated references to his enormous male genitalia. It was kind of hard to watch with my daughter sitting next to me.
6) The INCESSANT dance club, heavy bass beat, music that plays by the pool, in the Atrium, and on the pier during disembarkation/embarkation. It was hard to get away from. And again, it's a personal preference, but that's just not what I want pumping out at me all day. When we came back from a shore excursion, my wife forgot something metal in her pocket and set off the detector. The crew member joked, "Uh-oh, you have to do dishes tonight!". My wife said, "I'll gladly do the dishes if you can turn off that godforsaken music". The crew member said to her, "YOU think it's bad? Think about us!"
There were things that we enjoyed very much (Le Bistro, Teppanyaki, ropes course, Spice H2O, the itinerary, the free beverage package). But there were enough annoying things that we weren't upset to get to the end of the cruise.
1) The servers in the complimentary restaurants were below average to passable. We had a couple of servers who didn't even know what was on the menu. After ordering, my mother-in-law was told "I don't think we have that". Another time, my 21-year-old daughter asked for the Cajun chicken macaroni and cheese; and the waiter brought her a kids mac-n-cheese plate with some chicken tenders on the side. My order was completely lost at Shanghai noodle bar. The only good service we got was in the upcharge restaurants.
2) Our stateroom host was terrible. Our stateroom didn't get made up until 2 or 3 in the afternoon, and didn't get turned down until 10 pm most nights. Two nights in a row my mother-in-law (not a night owl) sat in the elevator lobby on the stairs to wait until 10:30 for him to finish making up the room.
3) The shore excursion process is pathetic. They basically tell you to go out to the dock and look for your excursion leader. That's it. That's their plan. They do put some NCL staff on the pier to help you find your excursion, but with 1,000 people or more disembarking at once, it was very poor.
4) Room service was very inconsistent in filling our order and called us before our requested delivery time to let us know "Early breakfast is on the way." Finally, the last couple mornings, we checked the time we wanted and wrote "NOT EARLY" on the ticket.
5) This is going to vary widely, I'm sure, based on personal preference, but "Rock of Ages" was way too sexual for me. I can't believe it's what they choose as their showcase performance. The opening scene features a girl simulating oral sex on a red-white-and-blue popsicle, and the lead actor makes repeated references to his enormous male genitalia. It was kind of hard to watch with my daughter sitting next to me.
6) The INCESSANT dance club, heavy bass beat, music that plays by the pool, in the Atrium, and on the pier during disembarkation/embarkation. It was hard to get away from. And again, it's a personal preference, but that's just not what I want pumping out at me all day. When we came back from a shore excursion, my wife forgot something metal in her pocket and set off the detector. The crew member joked, "Uh-oh, you have to do dishes tonight!". My wife said, "I'll gladly do the dishes if you can turn off that godforsaken music". The crew member said to her, "YOU think it's bad? Think about us!"
There were things that we enjoyed very much (Le Bistro, Teppanyaki, ropes course, Spice H2O, the itinerary, the free beverage package). But there were enough annoying things that we weren't upset to get to the end of the cruise.
Tonka's Skipper
Well-Known Member
Seems NCL is making another (another of many over the last year or so). cut back by stopping passengers all soda/beverages from being brought on board the cruises. It has the NCL fans totally ticked off!
AKK
AKK
21stamps
Well-Known Member
We are sailing the Fantasy this coming winter, and I have a MSC UK/Iceland booked for next summer. Well now I have a chance to take a "semi complimentary" Norwegian Alaskan cruise next June (other itineraries as well, but this would be the lowest price I could ever hope to get on Alaska). It's a great opportunity for me.With all the "stepping down" talk....I thought maybe a quicky share from a seasoned DCL cruiser (12 sailings across all 4 ships in 4 years) would be an interesting read.
Disney's product is unique in its theming and how they use that to shape their experience. Other cruise lines have a lot to offer as well, some aspects better than Disney. There's pros & cons to all. I like to think of the cruise experiences as different flavors, cookies-n-cream vs. mint chocolate chip if you will. Educating yourself on all the options out there is a very smart thing. Educated decisions are not bad decisions. Folks should choose what fits best for them.
Tracey & I took a 7-night Eastern on the NCL Getaway out of Miami without our boys. I'm up to 12 DCL cruises, spent 34 days onboard cruise ships from Sept 2014 to Sept 2015. I think I have a bit of a cruise problem. :O LOL! Anywhoo, first time on NCL. Had a fabulous time. Balcony room, all our adult beverages included, 4 meals in upcharge restaurants, excursions/activities, gratuities, eeeeeverything for 7 nights for less than a Dream 4-night with no drinks, no upcharge meals, no excursions, nothing additional. I'd say Disney's stage shows are better than NCL but it's not like we made a huge effort to go to many. We don't really go to shows on Disney anymore either because we've seen them so many times. Honestly, I think for the 3 cruise lines we've done, Royal Caribbean easily has the best shows in terms of quality and variety. Activities. We only did a few although there were many that I thought looked cool. Again, we don't do so much activities on Disney anymore because we've done so many and they're repetitive now. And let me just say, Freestyle cruising is where it's at!!!! For real! No assigned times. No assigned venues. 20-something venue options, reservations not required. Show up and enjoy. Very laid back. No need to get all dressy. Relaxing, fun, and variety! I was in LOVE! We made several great friends onboard. It was awesome for the group of 2-5 couples to spontaneously decide let's go eat, show up at a fabulous restaurant, and BAM we're seated. Eating what you want when you want it how you prefer was refreshing beyond words for me. I don't know how I'll ever go back to assigned time/place in just a small handful of venues. Ugh! We found the crew to be every bit as attentive and on-point as Disney. Service was great. The ship was clean and beautiful. Our stateroom was arguably in better condition than many we've had on Disney ships. In ports when we returned to the ship they had tents set up with cool eucalyptus cloths, ice & infused water, festive music, etc. Ropes course was off the chain! Rock wall, mini-golf, multiple slides....all very fun things to do. It was an overall fabulous experience and I'm so glad I gave something else a try. It was a huge breath of fresh air.
Was a NCL cruise like Disney? Thankfully, no. I'm sure you can tell, I'm pretty bored with Disney. Really there's only so many times you can meet the same characters, see the same shows, go to the same ports, do the same activities, eat the same foods in the same places, etc. etc. Both our boys are aged out of Disney's youth programs now and are in that no-man's-land where they'd like to find their peers but there is no dedicated venue & not much offered outside of self-organizing. At least when we sail back-to-back on the new NCL Escape next May our boys will be able to buy & be served beer. They're looking forward to that option. The new mega ships offer a lot more things that are a better fit for young adults. Better fit for us & our current season of life overall now.
All that said, while Tracey & I were making our 1200 mile drive home from Miami with plenty of time to reflect on what we'd just experienced, we came up with a million-dollar question for each other: If someone were in front of us right now and offered us a completely free cruise with our choice of cruise line/ship what would we choose? With ZERO hesitation we both said NCL.
I sailed the Disney Dream in Sept. I did not book a placeholder onboard. We sailed NCL's Getaway the following week. We bought 2 Cruise Next certificates.
My child is 6, do you think there will be enough for us to do together on Norwegian (we won't utilize the kids club)? I would cancel the MSC cruise, and do that one in 2018 instead.