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I am bringing my own. Luckily, my brother has done professional work taping concerts and even for a news channel. It might be easy to get a professional from a smaller company if you are willing to pay their cruise fare. Plus they get a vacation out of it.

our first is Pride of America in Sept. I booked all our excursions thru NCL. For us it was the right choice. We don't drink or gamble or eat really fancy on vacay. I do like good coffee. To each his own.

My fiancé and I did Pride in Dec. last year (our first cruise) and I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. Here is what we would or would not do differently.

We booked an inside cabin. With as port intensive as this itinerary is, this was the right choice for us. We were only in our cabin to sleep or change. That being said, we are booking an Alaska cruise and hope to get a balcony wholly for the Glacier Bay viewing day. Not having strangers in our pictures should be worth it, we hope.

We did all of our excursions through NCL except Pearl Harbor and the day and a half on Kauai. Glad we didn't do Pearl Harbor through the cruise. We tried to go on Embarkation day and it was swamped! Thankfully we had family to stay with and went back on a weekday. Smaller crowds made it easier to enjoy. Kauai was beautiful, and renting a car was the best idea we ever had. We got a well rated guide book and created our own tour. All the tours we chose through NCL were highly rated, and rightfully so. Our tour guides were knowledgable and funny.

We ate dinner in a different specialty restaurant each night. People we met during our cruise seemed frustrated with the service in the dining room. The prices were reasonable and the servers seemed to really want to give you everything you wanted. We will splurge for this on future cruises (I'm a chef).

My fiancé got a soda package. He used it enough for it to be worth it. I did not, and though I had several cocktails, it was not enough to make it worth paying for the UBP. I pretty much only drink water all the time anyway, and it was hard to break that habit, even though I was on vacation.

We won't spend money for Salon or Spa services. Even at home we aren't fans, beyond me getting a cheap pedicure before vacationing in sandal weather. I will probably get my hair done on our Alaskan cruise for our wedding. Beyond special occasions, it's just seems to expensive for my budget.

Neither of us gamble. There wasn't a casino on PoA anyway.

We ate off the ship lunches a few times. This is one expense I don't have a desire to repeat. Sure, we had some pretty good food, but we should have taken advantage of on board lunches. After all, we already paid for them.

A la carte coffee and food. Sushi was worth it. Watching my fiancé get jitters from double shots of expresso, not worth it. Seriously, it was a little scary. He drinks 5 hour energies at home, it would be cheaper to throw a weeks worth of these into our checked luggage, and they don't make him twitch like an addict.

We bought pictures. Honestly, not worth the money. The problem was, we tend to be pretty introverted. Both a bit shy about talking to strangers, much less handing those strangers our pretty expensive camera. It was nice to have photos of us together, not just selfies, even if they were waaay overpriced.

This is one of those topics where you just have to realistically look at what you want most out of your vacation. Ultimately, you should spend your extra money on what matters most to you. For us: food, reputable tours, and souvenirs.

My fiancé and I did the Ultimate Dining onboard the Pride of America last December. We ate at each of the restaurants once. Here's where they stood for us.

1. Le Bistro. Excellent food and excellent service.

2. Moderno. Would have been #1 if it wasn't so easy to over-eat.

3. East Meets West. Asian fusion. We also had a la carte sushi.

4. Teppanyaki. This would have rated better if we wouldn't have done it on the first night. Everyone was jet-lagged so it wasn't as high energy as it should have been.

5. La Cucina. The Italian venue. Was good, but not great. Not as good as Italian we get at home.

6. Cagney's. We had a terrible experience! They over booked the restaurant and as a result we waited at the wine bar for an hour and a half just to be seated. Took another half hour to get waiter to come to our table. My steak was over cooked. My finance's steak was under cooked. Plus we felt rushed, most likely because they were so behind.

My fiancé would say Moderno was the best but he can eat a lot more than me and probably would have stayed all night if I would have let him! Lol

We would be getting married on Tues. (day 3 on board), and I am using the term "rehearsal dinner" loosely. It would be a group dinner the night before the wedding.

Looking into a wedding on an NCL cruise. Wondering about using Le Bistro or Moderno for my rehearsal dinner. Does anyone have experience with children in the Specialty restaurants? What are the charges for children? They would be 2-3 and other would be 7. I would be interested in the prices for all of the restaurants. Do they offer a children's priced UDP? What are the chances of seating 20 people at the same time? I understand they probably don't have a way of putting tables together but would they be able to get us into one area? Would also be interested in any advice about venues for ceremony and reception with pictures. We are looking at the Jewel for our ship.

Believe it or not, many people don't go on vacation with the thought it will be great as long as they don't starve. It's the posts that say, "you won't starve" that have me rolling my eyes. You could eat potted meat & crackers for a week & not starve. Most people don't go on vacation to eat potted meat, although I'm sure some would be more than happy with that. That's great, if it works for them. I also don't get the "as long as I don't have to cook & clean up, I'm happy" posts. Personally, I'd rather cook & have a great meal than eat a mediocre meal out, but that's me. Some people eat to live others live to eat. Neither are right or wrong, just different. If people are happy with anything as long as there's no effort on their part, good for them. They shouldn't be posting opinions on threads where people are concerned with food quality though. Their opinion on the food will most likely be very different from someone who is accustomed to high quality food.

 

OP, I haven't sailed on NCLA, but have sailed on NCL. From my experience, I would take the advice to eat off the ship when possible & dine in the specialty restaurants when it's not.

I believe you hit my concerns on the head. I do not want to have mediocre meals on my first ever vacation (or any others for that matter).

I also want to say, I feel as though people became offend perhaps by the way I worded my inquiry. I had no intention of bad mouthing any other region's food. I just feel as though I eat quite well at home and would like to be 'wow'ed if I am going to spend a bunch of extra money. Thank you to everyone for your opinions on the subject. You were very helpful.

Thank you so much for your post! I admit I am a little worried about the quality of the food.

I was born and raised in Iowa. Food here tends to be pretty decent quality, evan at bar and grill level restauarants. My BF and I are sailing on NCL's Pride of America this December and I am wondering how the food has been recieved by others from the Midwest. I may be a bit biased as well seeing as I am a head chef and have not only the tools, but also the high quality meat and produce at my disposal. How is food in all of the different.venues? Will I be disappointed by even the specialty restaurants? Should I even bother with the Ultimate Dining Package?

117 days here... the double digits can't come soon enough!

So if it says I should be back by 7:30 and i make my reservations for 8:30, I am probably fine. Thanks so much!

When booking excursions through NCL, there is a duration time posted and I am wondering if this is the duration from the time you leave the ship to the time you get back. I am planing an afternoon excursion and would also like to book a dinner reservation at a specialty restaurant, but I don't want to book a reservation I won't be able to make.