How NCL has changed my life.

[meatball_nyc]

Wow. Good for you, Harriet.

That's great.

I am thankful my husband of 28 years does NOT like ships and does NOT have a passport ;)

 

 

 

~Robin

Every Day at Sea is a Great Day

[Squidward Q Tentacles]

Twelve days from today at this time I will be enjoying a nice lunch in the Place dining room on the Pearl! I really need to start packing soon!

 

I hate the drive to Miami, but the arrival to the port and seeing the cruise ships they is such a beautiful sight. And I was sail past the USCG base there I feel proud seeing the Coasties doing their jobs.

 

[YOUTUBE]FHI4PtMmn3I[/YOUTUBE]

[Squidward Q Tentacles]

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[NH Cruisers]

I was always a 'stay at home mom' raising my 3 children

 

How did it change my life?

 

Well, my husband and I are no longer close, he realized that he can cook and enjoys cooking, he's hired a housekeeper so he doesn't have to clean, he started seeing someone else, he now doesn't work so much and seems to love to travel.....but not with me! We're getting a divorce and I'll have lots of money to travel even more now!

 

 

 

Harriet

You had me for a second. That ain't funny. Something so exciting and looked forward too. To be something that ruins it all. That is tragic story. Glad it was just in jest!!!

[hpecorari]

You had me for a second. That ain't funny. Something so exciting and looked forward too. To be something that ruins it all. That is tragic story. Glad it was just in jest!!!

 

Yes, I was just joking around! Glad you finished reading the entire post.

However, he still hates cruising and we now go on land vacations. I, however, still cruise with my SIL and he's okay with that. :)

 

Harriet

[DMH15]

I have always been around boats and ships since a kid. I grew up lobstering in Maine. Been a shipyard worker on submarines and guided missile cruisers too.

 

 

 

About 25 years ago a co-worker told me about cruising. I thought he was nuts. I had in my mind that a cruise ship was nothing more than a floating Holliday Inn. He told me about all you can eat food, midnight buffets being on ship etc... I was like "Cruiseships are not real ships", how can you spend a whole week in a hotel in the middle of nowhere? Booooringgg! If it were a sailing ship or a destroyer or something I thought that would be fun though.

 

 

 

Ten years ago my wife surprized me with a 10th year wedding anniversary cruise. I wasn't overly excited, but it would make her happy.

 

When I first saw our ship (Explorer of the Seas) I was floored. Humungus and beautiful looking. The food, the shows, the ports, being treated like royalty. I was loving life. And was I wrong about my previous thoughts about a cruiseship.

 

 

 

The next year we went on a land based vacation to Florida. We felt we could save some money. We flew down, rented a car, stayed with family half the time, and ate out every day. Life was good... Then we went to Cape Canaveral. I saw a cruiseship in port. The fun was gone, I wanted to be on a ship. We eventually went home. One week land vaca ended up costing about the same as that awesome cruise the year prior. I was so mad we didn't cruise. Since then we cruise every year. I can't stand to be on a vacation and see cruiseships unless I am on a cruise myself. I feel this may be a sickness or an addiction. I do enjoy the cruises though. To be able to look forward to a cruise vacation is something that is hard to explain to non-cruisers.

 

 

Post of the day. Just loved it.

 

 

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[DMH15]

Another thing I really like is that NCL has added a few new cruises. Next December I will be doing a partial Panama Canal cruise, this a new cruise for NCL and opened the door for a PC cruise. Before this I would have needed to buy two sets of one way tickets and that was an expense I could not afford. I also like the idea of a South America cruise, that sounds like a great cruise!

 

My South American cruise on the NCL

Sun is by far my favorite to date. It will be hard to top.

 

 

 

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[gcjstri]

Cruising has changed my life also. In June 1987 i took my very first cruise on the Nowreigan Star with a girlfriend. I met my husband there on the first nite and we were inseprable.It was his first cruise too. We got married in Sept. 1988 and have been cruising ever since. My husband always tells everyone that it is the most expensive cruise that he has ever been on. We still cruise and have one booked on the Jewel for April 2015 and are taking our DD SIL and 2 grandsons

 

cindi;)

[Lorey2007]

Before our first cruise I spent most of my vacations doing pretty much boring things. We would go to casinos and spend a couple of thousand dollars and leave with nothing but a few days away from home.

 

Our first cruise was on the Sun and it was 5 days full of so much excitement and fun that we got hooked on cruising! Since then, we have spent 52 days on cruise ships and really look forward to each of our next cruises. When I board the ship I let go of all my worries back home, no email, no cell phones, no job worries, just relaxation ahead for the next week or so.

 

I love the food in any of the places we eat, we never go hungry. The shows have always been great, the crew so friendly and I have had only one issue with a cabin once that was taken care of.

 

Lately I have been planning meet and greets, three completed and two scheduled ahead. For our December 1, 2014 cruise we have almost 200 people signed up! I print nice name tags for everyone with a picture of the ship and the date on it that people can keep as a souvenir of their trip. I also print a 4x6 color photo of the ship with the date on it for everyone. This gives me something to do for several months prior to my cruise, it just gets me more excited about my pending cruise.

 

So far we have had inside cabins, ocean view, balcony and a mini suite. One day I hope to be able to book a full suite, just too much for my budget currently. We did have an aft facing balcony on the Disney Dream and that was really special!

 

Being able to get away from home for a nice vacation is great, but being able to see so many different places and meet so many new people is really priceless!

 

To all my fellow Cruise Critic members, may your cruises be as exciting and plentiful!

 

Squidward

 

Wow I wish you were on our POA Hawaii cruise in April. Can't seem to get anyone interested in our roll call there are only 6 so far. I would arrange a Meet & Greet if anyone is interested but that may be iffy. I do post a roll call list and set up a online photo album take a look. http://familylobby.com/allurecruisers/photos/default.asp

I too really love cruising and haven't been able to find anything wrong with any of them. Your PC cruise sound interesting I'll have to check that one out.

[bowbiter]

FYI - The cruise ship provides 'Cruise Critic name tags". They also provide the markers for everyone to write their name on them. And.....I agree. The planning, researching, etc. helps with the anticipation and really adds to the cruise experience!

 

Harriet

 

Does NCL really do this? Since when? I coordinated a meet and greet for my upcoming cruise but we are a small group. Guessing not alot of English speakers on board? The ones who are active seem great though :)

 

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[Barb Nahoumi]

One of the greatest features of a cruise is visiting many places, and only packing and unpacking once.

 

We have done some land vacations, where we had to have our luggage in the corridor every morning before 5am, then board a bus at 7am to be taken to our next destination.

That gets tiring very fast.

[sparks1093]

Does NCL really do this? Since when? I coordinated a meet and greet for my upcoming cruise but we are a small group. Guessing not alot of English speakers on board? The ones who are active seem great though :)

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Forums mobile app

 

I coordinated the meet and greet for our sailing on the Gem and as soon as I got to the room I received a call from the group coordinator to discuss the meet and greet. I am pretty sure that he said that he would bring name tags to the meet and greet for us to use, but I informed him that I had brought some so he didn't need to.

[hpecorari]

Does NCL really do this? Since when? I coordinated a meet and greet for my upcoming cruise but we are a small group. Guessing not alot of English speakers on board? The ones who are active seem great though :)

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Forums mobile app

 

Yes, at least they have on the last 5 cruises I've taken.

 

Harriet

[Utas2]

I like this thread. So here is my story - thanks to NCL.

 

We never thought about doing a cruise. Common perception was that it is for "old people", too much formal stuff, suits, dressing and anyway: boooooooring.

 

We were sitting in front of the TV one day, just in the begginning of 2012, and the news was about the Costa Concordia. Really bad, really sad.

And you saw that marvellous ship, with all its size and beauty. It caught your eyes. And made you think.

 

A few days later - ok, I admit, it is kinda weird - we were thinking about what to do in the spring holiday. Another land vacation?

 

And it came: no, this time we will try a cruise. Don't ask me why, how. We were just in agreement. And the next thing is: yeah, but no formal. I can wear a suit at work enough. Vacation is about......yes, it is about frestyle.

 

So came - out of the blue - NCL.

 

Now, for many of you: we are from Europe. NCL is not one of the big players over here, but still, we somehow ended up booking an NCL cruise out of Venice. Why? Do not ask me why. It just happened like that. And, moreover, we ended up booking a suite, right from the beginning. Another best decision.... Kids were still asking: but what are we going to do there? Do we have to go as well?

 

Arriving at Venice port was a mindblower. Looking at the Jade, first time in my life I saw such a ship up close. Really that big? jeez, she is beautiful.....

 

Escorted on board, musicians, smiling, welcoming crew. Wow!!! Really nice people on board, staff, sailaway party when you feel your legs start to move and dance by themselves, and you feel, that you arrived already to a place of fun, relax....and....yes, it is great time! (washy-washy, happy-happy....)

 

The first CC M&M event....(yes, for us, Europeans, this is a mostly American event, but still...) we were greeted as first time cruisers with a small gift by the M&M organiser....really nice.

 

Leaving a ship after a week of fun was hard. Touching the handrails, saying goodbye, but also feeling: see you back! these were new feelings to us. And we knew: something has changed. We want to come back to this feeling.

 

So we did. Also introducing mother into this (she got the "bug" and later she went to another cruise with her best friend:-))), and lately cruising on the Getaway (Haven, what else....;-))) during her inaugural season....what a blast that cruise was......

 

And finally: as I said, we are from Europe (and within, a small country called Hungary.) This forum is an enormous source to research, exchange, network, inform, prepare. Glad to see that in our native country they recognise more and more the cruising feeling, and small local forums are now also lively places to encourage people to try cruising and give advices to each other on trips, tricks and places.

 

So this is how NCL changed our lives.

 

We look forward to return to the Jade next spring.

 

We promised her, anyway....

[gmasters]

ok we are on the Dec 1 cruise with the OP

 

but let use give you are story...sorry if long but waiting for food to cook I was bored..:)

 

We started traveling together before marriage (not in separate room). But we got to travel and relax from the worries of work, with out cell phones in those times it was a need break from two 24hour on call jobs.

 

We took are first over seas vacation and at the same time got married in Jamaica.

 

From Virginia, a long days drive didn't stop of going to Niagara Falls, Canada..to Miami. My husband can drive 16 hours and be happy at the end.

 

After 8 years of packing for hotels, DH said... lets take a cruise... ALASKA

OH my god, what a way to live, and travel...

 

in 2009 we got a Motorhome, no packing, sleep in your own bed, so for 5 years we traveled any place we wanted for as long as 30 days..

 

Things that were missing....some one to cook, clean, entertainment. SO we made a deal that (I) need a vacation from RVing

 

May 08, 2005-7Day Alaska Norwegian Sun Balcony

February 10, 2007-7Day Western Caribbean Norwegian Majesty

May 05, 2007-Day 7HawaiiPride of America Balcony

October 26, 2008-7Day Western Mediterranean Norwegian Gem Balcony

February 28, 2009-7Day Mexican Riviera Norwegian Star Owners Suite

October 31, 2009-7Day Mexican Riviera Norwegian Garden Villa

 

January 08, 2014-7Day Eastern Mediterranean Norwegian Jade Balcony

December 01, 2014 11Day East Caribbean Norwegian Pearl Balcony

October 29, 2015 10Day Transatlantic Norwegian Escape Haven Courtyard Penthouse

[zlacruising]

I love this thread!!! Great stories!!!!:)

[Utas2]

Hopefully there will be even more stories in the new year!

 

Happy cruising!

[logan25]

Now for my story. I grew up watching “Love Boat”. Endless buffets, meeting people, going to exotic places---sounded like a lot of fun to me. Never really imagined I would ever be fortunate enough to actually cruise.

 

Growing up, my family never took vacations. While married, we took some ski trips to New Mexico and Colorado, weekend trips to Las Vegas or Reno and a couple of long weekends to Niagara Falls. The rest of 25 years was spent visiting my in-laws. I love my in-laws dearly and don’t begrudge them the time, but I would spend that time helping them, shopping as a recreation and checking work e-mails and being just a phone call away if co-workers had a question. In summary, I had never been on vacation (in bold letters with exclamation point).

 

Flash forward 24 years of marriage. My husband suggested we take a cruise for our 25th anniversary. He offered Alaska or Hawaii. I chose Hawaii on POA, because it might be our one and only cruise and I’d rather go warm. We went all out and flew first class and booked a suite. It was a very positive experience. We got the bug.

 

After getting home, I couldn’t wait to book another cruise, so I booked the Epic more than a year in the future. But that was too far away, so I booked a Pacific Coastal a year in the future. But that was too far away, so I booked the Sun just six months in the future. But that was too far away, so I booked a 4-day Sky just three months in the future.

 

Now most of our cruises are booked less than six months in advance and some less than a month before sailing.

 

My husband observed a couple of years after the obsession began, that I (wife) would probably not want to take any more land vacations. Boy, did he get that right!

[sjbdtz]

Many years ago, my parents bought a timeshare unit about 2 hours from where we live, and planned to go there every year for the 50 year leasehold.

 

After about 5 years, they were bored and annoyed at paying annual maintenance fees, so they transferred ownership to me....and I had the joy of finding hundreds of dollars of maintenance money every year just to keep the thing going.... all for a location I wasn't thrilled about.

 

BUT, I found you could trade the week, and we traded for a week in Edinburgh, and a week in Key West, and a week in Provincetown (several times), and then eventually for a sailing on the NCL Sky in Alaska. Total cost for the cruise besides the timeshare maintenance: $ 242 for both of us.

 

DH developed Noro symptoms in the hotel on the day we arrived in Seattle, and by the following morning when I thought we should high-tail it back to Canada for free health-care, the first hospital we arrived at thought it necessary to hook him up to an IV for several hours of fluid replenishment.

 

Luckily I never got the virus, though we saw on a tv report that at least 39 others had reported symptoms from the Sky....so we had a sense of what we were dealing with.

 

I wrote a nice letter to NCL explaining what had happened, how fun the cruise was, but how unexpected the post-cruise costs had been (emergency car rental, hotel night unused in Seattle, etc.) and they sent back a letter reimbursing those expenses along with a credit toward a future cruise, which was more than we'd spent on this one!

 

Thus began our relationship with NCL. They don't always get everything right, but they've been phenomenal in their efforts to rectify.

 

 

Now, instead of taking land vacations (I can't even fathom staying in the same place for a week... 8 hour shore-excursions have created an attention-deficit.... squirrel.

 

We typically tack-on nearby cities to visit pre or post-cruise and have taken on the habit of at least 2 per year.

 

It really has changed everything about the way we vacation. The time-share? I signed it back over to the resort, forfeiting the rest of the lease....but no longer having to worry about maintenance.

 

 

Stephen

 

 

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