New to Norwegian, what do I need to know?

[Aqua23]

Hi,

 

I've cruised before but never with Norwegian. I recently booked my first Norwegian cruise on Escape April 2016. I will be getting married @ sea with a small group of family members to witness. I would like to know all the "need to know" things about Norwegian and their ships. (Dress code, best places to eat, activities that I must do/try, shuttle services, hotels, excursions etc..

Any info is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Docalbe]

CONGRATS!!!!!!! What a better way to start(wedding) then on a cruise...... I just got off the Gem yesterday... POST CRUISE BLUES!!!! And the best way to answer your ???????? is Relax and cruise like a Norwegian.... FREE STYLE!!! Do what you want , when you want... NCL is the best... IMHO... Just go and have the BESTEST TIME OF YOUR LIFE!!!!!! Best WISHES!!!!!:D:D:):)

[mrobstad]

Enjoy the top shelf entertainment and the amazing restaurants! I'm on the a Escape next year, too, and hoping it has a Vibe area like the Getaway. For a romantic dinner, eat outside at sunset!

 

 

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[shapatack0]

Hi,

 

I've cruised before but never with Norwegian. I recently booked my first Norwegian cruise on Escape April 2016. I will be getting married @ sea with a small group of family members to witness. I would like to know all the "need to know" things about Norwegian and their ships. (Dress code, best places to eat, activities that I must do/try, shuttle services, hotels, excursions etc..

Any info is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

You'll have a blast (we did our honeymoon on our first cruise, back in October of 2013). You can wear whatever you want on an NCL ship, the formal night is optional. I generally find the main dining room to be fine (like all things sometimes the service can be hit or miss), if you like Hibachi my wife and I enjoyed Teppanyaki quite a bit, I can't speak to the other specialty restaurants as I've never eaten at them but the Hibachi show is fun. You can start booking some of the entertainment/shows I think either 90 or 75 days out from the webpage, it does fill up so you might want to do that when it becomes available. What is the itinerary you are going on?

[JayinAZ]

I would say be realistic.... there's not much difference (although I'm sure others will disagree) between royal, carnival and NCL. Although NCL pioneered the freestyle concept, all the major cruise lines have adopted it. Don't expect the options that Oasis had to offer. Escape will have some pretty innovative stuff, but just different from Oasis on royal. Really, IMO if you've been on a few mainstream cuiselines, then you know what to expect already. I hope to go on the new NCL ships too. Have fun!!!

[Aqua23]

Hi all,

 

Thanks for the replies and well wishes!

 

We will be sailing a eastern caribbean itinerary.

Departing from Miami Sat

@ Sea Sun

@ Sea Mon

St.Thomas Tues

Tortola Wed

@ Sea Thurs (hoping to have the ceremony this sea day!)

Nassau Fri

Arrives Miami

[shapatack0]

Hi all,

 

Thanks for the replies and well wishes!

 

We will be sailing a eastern caribbean itinerary.

Departing from Miami Sat

@ Sea Sun

@ Sea Mon

St.Thomas Tues

Tortola Wed

@ Sea Thurs (hoping to have the ceremony this sea day!)

Nassau Fri

Arrives Miami

 

If you like watersports/aquariums, I'd recommend Atlantis for your day in Nassau (NCL does several excursions). It's a beautiful property that is a combined waterpark/aquarium. They even have a tube slide that takes you through a shark tank. I haven't been to the other locations yet but i hear St. Thomas and Tortola are both beautiful. As others have said, NCL isn't really that much different from RCL (I've cruised both).

[minnesotamamafish]

I have a few suggestions on where to find information...

 

First, under "vacation summary" on your MYNCL page, go to the bottom of the page. There is a link to What You Need to Know Before You Go.

 

Also there is a ton of information at http://www.escape.ncl.com .

 

You can also do a search for ncl escape deck plans PDF and download the deck plans so you have them easily accessible.

 

On this board, you can see a link to see posts about Norwegian Escape just above the thread listings or go to Search this Forum.

 

And lastly, search google (or whatever) for "ncl wedding." There will be a listing for an NCL wedding brochure PDF. It's 24 pages and has tons of info!

 

If you know any of this already, my apologies, but just in case it's new I wanted to help.

 

Best wishes on your wedding, cruise, and future together!:)

 

(Editing to add that yes, it does have the vibe like getaway. Looking forward to my Escape in January!)

Edited February 1, 2015 by minnesotamamafish

[fshagan]

Hi,

 

I've cruised before but never with Norwegian. I recently booked my first Norwegian cruise on Escape April 2016. I will be getting married @ sea with a small group of family members to witness. I would like to know all the "need to know" things about Norwegian and their ships. (Dress code, best places to eat, activities that I must do/try, shuttle services, hotels, excursions etc..

Any info is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

The main difference will be in the dining options. There is no set dining time or assigned seating. There are (at least) two complementary dining rooms that you can go to at any time they are open to eat (breakfast, lunch and dinner hours). Seating is like at a land restaurant, you walk up and they seat you. We had a group of ten and rarely waited more than a few minutes to be seated. You can, but are not required to, make a reservation for your group at one of the main dining rooms if you need more structure to keep the family members in line!

 

There are no forced formal nights, so you can eat in the main dining rooms every night of the cruise in your "resort casual" dress (officially there's a rule against shorts, tank tops, flip flops, etc. in the main dining rooms).

 

The specialty restaurants cost extra, from $15 to $30 per person. Everyone has their favorites, and most would list Cagneys (the steakhouse) in that category, but I think at $30 it is overpriced (it is like a fancy version of Outback Steakhouse in terms of food quality). But the Italian, Brazilian steakhouse, and others win praise from people too (I like the Brazilian specialty restaurant, as they keep coming around with lamb, filet, shrimp, etc.)

 

The buffets on the newer ships are very nice; we haven't been on the sister ships to the Escape (the Getaway and Breakaway) but were on the immediate predecessor in terms of launch date, the Epic, and found the buffet the best we had experienced.

[bearette]

Actually you can wear shorts in the dinning room. Sometimes it is only in one of the two but my husband did it all the time.

 

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[meatball_nyc]

Congrats on your wedding at sea!

St. Thomas is one of the prettiest ports to dock at. Tortola is nice too. Nassau is good for a day at Atlantis or an all-inclusive resort.

My advice is to study the deck plans of the ship (public decks with restaurants, pool, buffet, gym, etc etc and the deck your stateroom is on) well before you board the ship. This way, when you board, you have a good idea where to go and what you want to do. Since you will be a wedding party, you most likely will be given priority boarding before other passengers.

Best wishes!

Happy Sailing!

 

 

~Robin

Every Day at Sea is a Great Day

[Aqua23]

The main difference will be in the dining options. There is no set dining time or assigned seating. There are (at least) two complementary dining rooms that you can go to at any time they are open to eat (breakfast, lunch and dinner hours). Seating is like at a land restaurant, you walk up and they seat you. We had a group of ten and rarely waited more than a few minutes to be seated. You can, but are not required to, make a reservation for your group at one of the main dining rooms if you need more structure to keep the family members in line!

 

There are no forced formal nights, so you can eat in the main dining rooms every night of the cruise in your "resort casual" dress (officially there's a rule against shorts, tank tops, flip flops, etc. in the main dining rooms).

 

The specialty restaurants cost extra, from $15 to $30 per person. Everyone has their favorites, and most would list Cagneys (the steakhouse) in that category, but I think at $30 it is overpriced (it is like a fancy version of Outback Steakhouse in terms of food quality). But the Italian, Brazilian steakhouse, and others win praise from people too (I like the Brazilian specialty restaurant, as they keep coming around with lamb, filet, shrimp, etc.)

 

The buffets on the newer ships are very nice; we haven't been on the sister ships to the Escape (the Getaway and Breakaway) but were on the immediate predecessor in terms of launch date, the Epic, and found the buffet the best we had experienced.

 

Thanks for the info!

 

On Royal one of the formal nights they serve lobster. Does Norwegian serve lobster in the main dining room during the week at all?

 

Thanks again this is helpful!

Dana

[SaveFarris]

Actually you can wear shorts in the dinning room. Sometimes it is only in one of the two but my husband did it all the time.

 

On Escape, it looks like Taste and Savor will be shorts-friendly while The Manhattan Room will require regulation pants.