Why do you choose NCL? or not

[vols_159]

I just wanted to start a thread about why you and your family love NCL.. Theres been alot of one post wonders lately (trolls) where they tell us all how bad ncl is.. Ill start off Ive been on 2 cruises (sky and sun) loved both and will book a 3rd ncl cruise in the near future I love the freestyle concept one reason I have no desire to dress up for anything especially while on vacation.. Ive had a blast on both my cruises The entertainment was good food was good and provided me the perfect chance to see places ive never had the chance to see before.. Plus they offer me the best bang for my buck ive researched different lines before booking both cruises and ncl was cheaper by at least 100$ and in one case $250 Thanks to all that reply

[Fawn524]

I've cruised DCL, RCCL, Carnival and NCL. I feel NCL gives good quality for a decent price. I LOVE the suite perks on NCL...noone else even comes close! Anytime dining ROCKS.

 

Cruising is subjective to the cruiser. I am still interested in trying other lines...but at this point in time, NCL definitely filled our needs better than the other 3 lines I mentioned.

[cabincop]

Hi I have been on 39 cruise, RCCL, Celebrity, Disney, Costa, Carnival and of course NCL. I like no formal dining. I do dress for dinner on some nights but it's nice not to have to. I love the whole casual attitude also. I do love Costa for it's European flair, but for now it's NCL if I want a more traditional cruise again then I will go to another line. People are also so friendly on this line and more relaxed, jmo

[johnql]

Love the Freestyle cruising - the number and diversity of dining venues as well as the resort casual dress code.

[Azure Moon]

❤ Cleaner air due to smoking policy.

❤ Entertainment

❤ Ship decor inside and outside.

❤ Dining style and restaurants.

❤ Itineraries.

❤ Personnel - from those who work on the phone to the officers.

❤ Relaxed dress code.

❤ Inside entertainment venues, such as Spinnaker Lounge, Bliss Ultra Lounge, etc.

❤ The special dining opportunities - Jazz Brunch/Music Variety Brunch, Murder Mystery + Dinner (though I haven't participated in this...yet), etc.

❤ The cabins. Love the storage, the placement of reading lights on the wall by the bed rather than taking up space on the tiny nightstands, the glass door on the showers, ...

❤ The all-Hawai'i only cruise. Awesome for those of us who can only take vacations 9-10 days or less.

 

[fiftyguy]

For us, more than anything else, it is the casual, relaxed atmosphere. We feel it is our decision what we do next, and when - very stress free.

[npsh]

The beauty of NCL(for me)..... no formal nights as I refuse to don suit/shirt/tie while on vacation. I can eat whatever time I like at any of the dining venues, don't have to sit with strange people and I can wear my jeans/t-shirt any time/where ever I like.

 

That's it in a nutshell.

 

;);)

[dfg1027]

not having to dress up

not having to dine with strangers (unless I choose to)

very friendly staff

price :)

[RickB56]

Suite perks and Freestyle dining. No schedules for me on vacation, thank you!

[cruisingberger]

I love freestyle cruiseing and I usually get a good price as well. The combination of the two is irresistable to us!

[edgeman61]

DW and I have only been on 1 NCL cruise (so far). From our point of view NCL has some pluses and minuses.

 

Pluses: Better pricing, casual attire, more port days per cruise, very good nightly entertainment, well laid out ships (easy to get around, at least on the Spirit), unique itineraries (especially Hawaii), wide variety of specialty restaraunts.

 

Minuses: Smaller cabins, food preperation and choices not up to the standard of other lines (in MDR and buffet), ended up only eating with each other rather than meeting other cruisers at meals, not many activities that interested us during sea days.

 

On a side note, on disembarkation there are so many people trying to carry their own luggage off the ship that you may as well take the stairs as there is a monsterous queue around the elevators. We left our bags out the night before, exited the ship and they were easily retrieved when we got to the baggage area of the terminal. We didn't see that on HAL.

 

Remember these are our OPINIONS and may not be applicable to all who experienced NCL. As far as activities go, we may need to explore our options better, on our first NCL cruise we really didn't know all that the ship had to offer. As far a food goes, we hope that NCL steps up their game on our upcomming Hawaii cruise or we will be frequenting the specialty venues more often.

[DMH15]

I like being free to choose where, when and with who to eat. That's a big one. I like the option of keeping it casual. That's a big plus since I have to fly. I like NCL's crews. So friendly and accessible. I love NCL's suite life.

 

NCL isn't perfect but it delivers a vacation value that I am happy with.

[Dolphins]

Freestyle Dining in 10 different venues

Sailing year round out of New York (no more flying for us)

Best perks for repeat cruisers especially Platinum Latitudes Members

Numerous balcony cabins at good prices

Great musicians in the various lounges

Casual Dress Code

[STARFISH*4]

FREESTYLE

GREAT DEALS

9 CRUISES and 4 MORE BOOKED....LOVE NCL--its DEFINITELY OUR CRUISELINE of CHOICE which is what we get with NCL:)

BEST MEMORIES have been cruising with NCL;)

 

HULL ART...my favs the STAR & the SUN:D

[retiredonthesea]

Sweet perks for the suite life. ;) Do not have to worry about what time we HAVE to be to dinner, eat drink, and be merry any time!!:D The crew has always been the best!! Prices are decent and the itineries are great for us!

[sverigecruiser]

When we should book our first cruise, the biggest reason for choosing NCL was probably that they had prices in their brochure! NCL had prices for specific dates and cabin categories and RCI only had a "from" price and since we never are interested in the cheapest inside cabin we couldn't really know how much an RCI cruise would cost!

 

Now we love NCL and can't cruise with anyone else. We love the Freestyle dining (which is far from "anytime dining" or whatever the other cruiselines call it) and since we always will book a suite the NCL suiteperks are important too.

[sverigecruiser]

Pluses: Better pricing, casual attire, more port days per cruise, very good nightly entertainment, well laid out ships (easy to get around, at least on the Spirit), unique itineraries (especially Hawaii), wide variety of specialty restaraunts.

 

Minuses: Smaller cabins, food preperation and choices not up to the standard of other lines (in MDR and buffet), ended up only eating with each other rather than meeting other cruisers at meals, not many activities that interested us during sea days.

 

Interesting that people are so different! Don't missunderstand me, it's good that people are different and it's great that people can find different reasons for cruising with NCL!

 

For you the casual attire is a plus and we should prefer if at least one restaurant was formal only!

 

For you more port days is a plus and we prefer more sea days!

 

For you the Hawaii itinerary is a plus but we don't like that at all, no sea days. (Our first cruise was on the Wind around the Hawaiian islands and to Kiribati with four sea days, that was a great itinerary for us.)

 

For you the food is a minus and we have never experienced a bad meal on NCL!

 

For you only eating with each other is a minus and we really don't want it any other way!

 

You see, we are very different but we both like NCL!

 

I think that is the best with NCL, they have something for everyone!

[craig-n-carol]

Sweet perks for the suite life. ;) Do not have to worry about what time we HAVE to be to dinner, eat drink, and be merry any time!!:D The crew has always been the best!! Prices are decent and the itineries are great for us!

 

Ditto!

[Hikini]

Freestyle! Love being able to eat when and where we want, with whomever we want. (Just us, thank you!)

 

Suite perks!

 

Future cruise rewards!

 

The friendly staff!

 

Love the ships!

 

And so much more....

[sparks1093]

For a family of 7 NCL had the best price by hundreds. Jerry Seinfeld says there is no such thing as fun for the entire family, but cruising certainly comes close. Freestyle lets every family member decide when and where they are going to eat. We don't have to worry about bringing the dressy clothes. While we eventually want to try other cruise lines it will probably have to wait until all of the kids are gone. We would like to try traditional cruising just to get the feel for it, but from what I read on the RCI board they are trying awfully hard to emulate NCL with more relaxed formal nights etc. Not really interested in cruising NCL lite, so we'll see. For now NCL gives us a good return on our vacation dollar.

[che5904]

, not many activities that interested us during sea days.

 

.

 

Not disputing just asking. What type of activities have you enjoyed on the other lines you cruised that you would have liked to see or seen more of an NCL..

[ripjerry95]

Casual atmosphere. I like being given the choice if I want to dress up.

 

I can sail right from my home city. (New York) I can be at the port in 30mins by subway! :D

 

The staff is super friendly and the ship is clean.

 

The prices can't be beat.

 

You can get a great meal at the specialty dining for a great price. We can't get a great steak and lobster dinner in NY for $25-35. As previous poster said they like the Jazz brunches etc. The jazz brunch on the Jewel last year was one of the BEST meals of the week.

 

Maybe I will try other lines. My first cruise was on Carnival. But for now and maybe for a loooong time..NCL is my number 1.

 

I wouldn't know about the suite perks..I am too poor for that..LOL!

[ColinIllinois]

Studio rooms on the Epic for solo travelers at great prices with no fine/penalty for being single.

 

I just looked up a Studio room for a January cruise and with my military discount it was priced at $735. That's only $105 per day. Fantastic.

[dalgirl]

The crew - always nice and interested in the passengers - when they ask "how was your day," they really are interested in where you went and how you are feeling. When you ask for something special - they will accomidate, and when it's your anniversary - they will sing "let me call you sweetheart" in multiple accents - which is both touching and hilarious.

 

Freeystyle dining - eating alone, or eating with new friends you meet on the cruise.

 

Dress up or not - allows us to do carry-on - and to go into a real restaurant not just the buffet - if we don't feel like changing.

 

$250 future cruise/immediate $100 credit

 

Fast checkin - fast checkout (early flight - no problem)

 

Lattitude perks - always a personal welcome back onboard, how can we make your cruise wonderful? I even got a call around the middle of week on the Jade this last trip asking if I was enjoying my cruise, and to inform them if I was not. Can't beat that!

 

Yes, I am a "rah, rah fan of NCL. It's not perfect, sometimes the meal is not to my liking (no problem, they always ask if they can bring me something else), or my pillow is not comfortable (no problem, my steward will bring others), but it works for me:D

[retired rascal]

We pick NCL for 2 reasons...though we are now looking for new options since we'd like to cruise out of CA ports. Our reasons: #1: for the $$$, the suite cabins and perks on NCL can not be beat so we always go in a suite. #2: we do NOT have to get dressed up. We spent too many years of our lives doing the '3 piece suit' or 'dress event' circuit. Now it's ExOfficio's or nothing...we are clean and pressed and presentable...but NO ties, jackets or anything approaching that. Thus NCL is our line. We want to take the trip from Australia to SF but it's only available on another line....can we compromise?? We haven't booked it and may not.