First time NCL cruiser impressions

[julieanne]

We sailed the same itinerary in 2008. Wonderful cruise! We had an excellent cabin steward. He replaced the towels regardless of whether i put them on the rack or not. Always had ice. I will say that I also found the food inconsistent with, believe it or not, the buffet having the best food. Service was adequate and for the most part polite with the exception of a few problems. Our bed was super nice and very comfortable. Since I had major back surgery in 2004, I have a foam top on our home mattress and was provided the same luxury in our economical outside cabin. No coffeemaker and I thought the coffee was pretty horrible as it seems on most now! Maybe I am just spoiled with my freshly ground beans? We love Le Bistro and feel it's well worth the $20 surcharge. While I felt the food was food was good in Il Adagio, I didn't feel it was worth the extra $$. No one has to ask if I'd sail her again as we'll be off to meet her in 7 days! I expect the Sun to move out of NCL's fleet soon, as she doesn't seem in line with the newer ships.

[wack001]

I have to say if this is the new policy, I'm going to be bothering staff A LOT.. LOL.. I'm one of those that die when I got to Europe because I'm VERY American. I want a full glass of ice with my drink. My first trip to Germany we had a great Italian restaurant on the first floor of the hotel. It was so delicious we ate most night there. First night we ate there I got a soda and it had one small cube of ice in it. The next night I asked the owner (a small restaurant where the owners actually served the tables .. it was a really neat place) for extra ice and I got two cubes that night.. LOL. From then on I told them I would gladly pay extra if I could get a full glass of ice..

 

 

 

cb.. if you liked the buffet on the Sun, you will LOVE it on the Pearl. To me, the Pearl has one of the best buffets, not just on a cruise ship, but for any mass market kind of place. And I am like you.. I don't care too much for buffets. 8-)

 

I do have to say I hated the buffets on the other NCL ships we have been on. I don't hold that against them because, as I said, I'm just not that fond of buffets to begin with.

 

Buffet Food on the JEWEL was very good, I liked the different stations with a nice mix, I try and avoid buffets all together but I will admit they where nice on NCL ships. I will NEVER eat dinner in a buffet, all this FREESTYLE is simply an extra FEE, I have an extensive review of that on my blog, I just refuse to pay more to eat dinner especially at 20-25 dollars a person per meal, you could easily run a huge tab on a 10 N cruise, but I still like NCL, I have proposed a latitudes type thing with Freestlye much like the airlines loyalty getting an upgrade, but with the freestyle depending on your level you get a discount.

cruisinbob.com

[Lib0007]

I was on the Dawn last week and we got a fresh bucket of ice every day in our inside cabin. they also filled our little soft cooler every day with ice.

 

Regarding buffets, I was quite pleased with the one on the Dawn. Always alot of selections, lines weren't long, and could always find a table.

[newmexicoNita]

The secret to eating in the buffets, don't over eat so the food tastes blah, and go a little off peak time thus it is easy to find a place to sit. One thing that impressed me on our last 2 NCL ships, at breakfast the milk by the hot cereal was heated. if I ate hot cereal this would be a plus for me. also they had eggs benedict a few mornings on the buffet, a great fruit bar and lox daily.

 

Nita

[GORDONCHICK]

OP - I don't know about in Mexico, but here in the US, the towel thing is very common in 3* and above hotels - if you want towels replaced, toss on the floor. It's supposed to be in effort to go "green" but I think it helps the bottom line a lot. There was a very small sign in our bathroom on the Pearl last month about the towel thing. If you rehang your towels, they expect you will reuse them.

 

Terry - we had a constant supply of ice and glasses in our cabin on the Pearl and we were in an inside. I think we got ice automatically when they made the cabin up in the morning and at turn down.