Is NCL right for large family vacation - January

[Mayhalf]

Hi, a friend suggested this site as a source for top information about NCL.

 

Here's the story: At our family gathering yesterday, we decided to do a big family cruise for my parents 50th Anniversay next January. I got appointed "the researcher" in trying to find a cruise for us. I have been on Carnival, but I don't think my parents will enjoy it. They don't like crowds and like to eat early. Dad refuses to dress up ("wore suits for 35 years at work and ain't gonna do it no more" he says). From what I understand that narrows our choices to NCL & Princess. (haven't completely ruled out Royal Carribean either)

We are seriously looking at Hawaii as the destination. I am going to look up some cruises on the various websites, but what are the differences between these cruiselines, and I guess specifically on this board, would NCL be a good choice for my parents and our families. (and why)

There will be about 5-6 rooms of us. My Parents (in their 70's); my uncle and his wife (also in 70's - brother of dad); my husband and I and our children, 9 & 5; my sister, her husband and then 4 year old son and my brother and his wife and two children (10 & 7). A close friend of my parents who lost her husband recently is also considering joining us.

 

Thanks in advance. (I am posting the same thing on the Princess Board also)

[garycarla]

You did not mention what part of the country you are from, but you should keep in mind that airfares and travel time to Hawaii and put a real damper on the overall experience.

 

An idea to think about when you put this all together, as we traveled with Gram, two adults and two adult chilren. We booked one mini suite and two inside cabins to save money. We would do a cocktail hour each afternoon in the one balcony cabin. Headed up to buffet a got a few nice plates of goodies. That was on Princess who were not quite so crazy about confiscating booze. Even bought some more in one of the Alaska ports and brought it back.

 

Not sure why Carnival was ruled out, but not Princess. They are pretty much the same - though we did like our Carnival cruise a little better.

[Tutone56]

We went on the Jewel during the February 06 vacation. There was 12 of us (5 rooms). I made reservations for 6 of the seven nights as soon as we got on board. I had no problems reserving a table for 12 at 6:00 or 6:30. There was plenty for all ages to do. I think NCL is a fine choice for large groups such as yours. Hope this helps - Tom

[mathfanjan]

I chose Norwegian for my family's cruise this summer because the rates for children are lower than most other cruise lines. Since you will have five children going this might be important. I have noticed however that sometimes triple and quad balconies or suites are not easy to find on some NCL ships, especially the Spirit.

I also was wanting to try freestyle, because I really wasn't impressed with Princess's anytime dining on the Sapphire to Alaska last summer. Even when we made reservations we still had to wait. Not a big deal, but it could be a problem with a large group.

Since our cruise isn't until May 28 I can't give you any opinion about how well Norwegian lived up to my expectations, but I am VERY excited and anxious. I think it will be the best choice for varied ages and tastes of my family members.

Jan

[tray]

We cruised on a family reunion 2 Thanksgivings ago on Navigator of the Seas. There were 2 grandmas, 2 brothers and wives, 1 wife without her hubby and 6 kids (ages from 9-18). We had such a wonderful time and RCI was great to us!

 

This past Thanksgiving our immediate family went (me, DH, DD, & DS) on the NCL Sun just to try out NCL and freestyle. We were checking out NCL as a possible alternative to RCI for our next family reunion which is this Christmas for my hubby's middle brother's 50th birthday. We decided freestyle was the only way to go with a large group. We know they are going to LOVE it! RCI was great and we all managed to dine together every night, but the men on my husband's side of the family are very comfortable in casual dress. They will be very happy to put on a nice pair of slacks, a short sleeved button down polo and topsiders vs. suits. They are also excited about the open dining times, so that if we all want to hang out and have cocktails before dinner we can do that without rushing trying to get 20 people (we've got more extended family going on this cruise!) ready by a set dinner time.

 

It may not work for everyone, but I think the flexibility with a large group eases the stress level of having to be at a certain place by an exact time. At least in his family---it takes a while to get everyone together!!

 

I hope this helps!:o

[Dolphins]

A question your extended family must address regarding a cruise vacation in January is if you will be required to take your school age children out of school at that time? If the date of your cruise is at a time when most schools are in session, there will be very few school age children on board at that time for your children to interact with.

[tacruise]

Went on Dream with 3 rooms. Gram, 3 adults, 2 kids. Two rooms adjoined, which meant that half the wall disappeared and you had a double size room, with beds back to back with a wall between. It was definitely nicer than a quad.

 

Loved the trip, and the care

[KeystoneCruiser]

Let me see if I can explain NCL to you. (never been on Princess, so I can't explain their system nor can I compare)

 

Freestyle Dining is for me all the way. The best way to sum up Freestyle is that you can eat: "when" you want, "where" you want, with "who" you want and dressed "how" you want.

 

1.) There are no formal nights like on other lines. Formal nights are OPTIONAL for all in all dining venues. You can dress up if you want to or you can wear resort casual. Only about 40% of the people do dress up and that ranges from tuxes to shirt/tie. You do not feel out of place either way.

2.) Resort Casual means no jeans, shorts, tank tops, etc. in the dining venues after 5:00 p.m. A polo shirt and Kahki pants are perfectly acceptable and it is what I do because, like your dad, I hate to dress up. (probably cause I still have to everyday!):D

 

3.) You have no set dining times. You show up at the restaurant when you want to during their open hours and tell the maitre'd how many people are in your party and he will seat you. Just like at an onshore restaurant. If you go at peak dining times, you could have to wait 15-30 minutes. We were in a large family group last year and we never had to wait in the main restaurants when we went early (5:30-6:15). Also, with a group like yours (ours was 12), they will take reservations in the main restaurants for 5:30, 6:00, 8:00 or 8:30.

 

4. On most NCL ships there are two or three main restaurants offering traditional cruise fare. These do not take reservations except for large groups and do not cost. There are also several "specialty" restaurants on each ship. These generally offer a specific type of food like Italian, Steak, European, etc. These restaurants require reservations and most have a cover charge of $15-$25 per person. (some do not have a cover charge) There is also a buffet and room service to dine with and on some ships like the Star, Jewel & Dawn, there is a "Blue Lagoon" which is a 24 hour diner type operation. (I believe they have something similar on the POAm called Cadillac Diner.)

 

That sums up Freestyle dining in a nut shell. Please ask if you have any questions.

 

As far as choice of ships, if you choose Hawaii on NCL. NCL-America will have three ships operating in Hawaii at that time. The Pride of Hawaii (POH) is the newest, not even there yet; The Pride of America (POAm) is the very nice and the Pride of Aloha (POA), which we did in 2004 is smaller but nice. These ships have an American crew as opposed to the Norweigan Wind which will have an International crew. The Wind, being non- American flagged must go to Fanning Island, Republic of Kiribit, in order to meet US law and therefore does 10 or 11 day cruises. The POH, POAm and POA being American flagged do not have to touch a foreign port and so can offer 7 day inter island trips. The Pride ships have very port intensive itineraries so on board time is limited.

 

Another suggestion might be to consider the Star which does a Mexican Riviera cruise at that time of the year. The Star is my favorite ship in the NCL fleet.

 

Hope this helps.

[Mayhalf]

Thank you everyone. I now have done some research and am armed with a few possibilities.

First of all, the children are one of the restraining factors. We basically want to do no more than a seven day cruise because of them. Our school gives three days off at Semester change and along with Martin Luther King Day (another day off), we could do a seven day cruise and only have to pull the kids out of school one or two days. The three days are for a variety of reasons, teacher in-service, teacher record day, etc. I think they do it because we get an overabundance of snow days.

With that restriction, it all but rules out all cruises to Hawaii except NCL's Hawaii ships. Those seem to be more expensive.

I looked up the prices of various seven day cruises on the lines. I just made it easy and looked at 7 day cruises for two people in a balcony cabin. We obviously could adjust accordingly when we decide but used something similar for comparison. I also took Keystone advice and looked at the Star and other Mexico cruises.

 

Mexico: NCL Star = $2300; Diamond Princess = $2200; Vision of Seas = $2100. (Star is 8 days, others are 7)

Hawaii: Pride of Aloha = $3300; Pride of America = $3800

Carribean: NCL Majesty = $1764; NCL Jewel = $2500; Carribean Princess = $2000; Grand Princess = $2100; Rhapsody of Seas = $2000; Jewel of Seas = $2100.

 

We are seriously leaning toward Mexico right now although we like the price of the Majesty and the itinerary of the Rhapsody.

At this point, we need to look at service issues, because my uncle can be a hard man to please.

Freestyle sounds very enjoyable but do the main restaurants cost money too? Is the food good enough in the main restaurants to just eat there. What about kids menus and do kids have to pay in the specialty restaurants? Finally, does NCL have alot of adjoining rooms? I read on another thread that a large group was having trouble booking through NCL and another person had their cabins swithced. Does this happen often?

I'm sorry for the barrage of questions, but we want to make these reservations by the end of June if possible and I want to be able to answer the questions that I know my uncle and dad will ask.

[KeystoneCruiser]

 

Mexico: NCL Star = $2300; Diamond Princess = $2200; Vision of Seas = $2100. (Star is 8 days, others are 7)

Hawaii: Pride of Aloha = $3300; Pride of America = $3800

Carribean: NCL Majesty = $1764; NCL Jewel = $2500; Carribean Princess = $2000; Grand Princess = $2100; Rhapsody of Seas = $2000; Jewel of Seas = $2100.

We are seriously leaning toward Mexico right now although we like the price of the Majesty and the itinerary of the Rhapsody..

 

Although the Star looks more expensive, that is for 8 days while the other two you list are for seven. Do the math, it works out to $300 a day on the Vision. Add a day and the Vision and Diamond are both more than the Star.

 

Freestyle sounds very enjoyable but do the main restaurants cost money too? Is the food good enough in the main restaurants to just eat there. What about kids menus and do kids have to pay in the specialty restaurants?

The Main Restaurants are free. (two to three of those on each ship)

On some ships, some of the specialty restaurants are free. (On the Star for example, LaTrattaoria (Italian) and Endless Summer (tex-mex) are free.)

 

The buffet and a diner type restaurant (on some ships, called the Blue Lagoon on the Star for example) are also free.

 

We have never eaten in any of the pay restaurants and have always enjoyed the food in the main dining rooms and free specialty restaurants. If you go on the Star I HIGHLY reccommend LaTrattatoria!!!! However, I can't say much for NCL's evening dinner buffets.

 

My daughter (now 8) loves the kids menu. It has Chicken tenders, hot dog, hamburger, chicken noodle soup, etc on them. They can also order off the adult menu or mix the two. In the pay specialty restaurants, children eat free if they order off the kids menu but have to pay if they order off the adult menu. The kids menu is the same throughout the ship.

 

Finally, does NCL have alot of adjoining rooms? I read on another thread that a large group was having trouble booking through NCL and another person had their cabins swithced. Does this happen often?

 

The number of adjoing rooms varies by the ship. On the Star and Dawn, there are a lot. On the Pride of Aloha, for example, there are not as many. I have a thread about our adjoining rooms getting switched (back a few pages or you can link to it through my name and going to recent posts.) I was thinking ours was an isolated incident, but there is another thread just today talking about a reservation being lost by NCL and a room assignment disappearing.

 

As far as the group booking. I suggest going through a TA. We always do and usually have a group. (5 rooms this year) Until this year, there has never been a problem with our group booking.

[Cuizer2]

I was on the Star in Oct 2005. Though I had a great time, Freestyle has a down side for large groups (in my opinion). I wrote a very long review of my cruise (about 20 pages) and included a lot of information about Freestyle cruising. You can read my review by clicking on the link below ...

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=13327

 

The problem with a large group and Freestyle dining is that if you go to a different restaurant every night, and if you eat at a different restaurant every night (which you can - 8 night cruise - 10+ restaurants) with a large group you are sure to have someone show up at the wrong restaurant, or at the correct restaurant at the wrong time.

 

You could of course eat at the same restaurant at the same time every night, but then why go Freestyle. Doing the same restaruant at the same time every night is the same as assigned seating on any other cruise line.

 

I don't like to dress up either. On Carnival and Royal Caribbean (RCI) you can get into the main dining room on formal night even if you don't have on formal clothing. You can also eat at the buffet those two nights.

 

NCL is no more or less crowded than Carnival or RCI. If you are going during school time, you are less likely to find a crowded ship. Early seating for Carnival is 5:45pm. Even NCL does not start serving dinner in the restaurants until 5:30pm.

 

I have been on Carnival, RCI and NCL. All offer a quality product. All offer a different experience. Each does somethings better than the others. I would cruise with any of them again.

[Mayhalf]

Many thanks to all. This has been a positive experience. I will admit that I am also posting on the Princess board in order to get a true comparision.

I am leaning toward recommending the Star to the family with the Grand Princess as a second choice. Freestyle just sounds more flexible than Personal Choice, mainly for the dress issues. We have ruled out Hawaii, too expensive for my uncle to have to pay for. Someone on the Princess board made a comment about NCL's newer ships being better equiped than the older ones and even recommended the Jewel & Star. Must be why the Majesty is cheaper.

RCCL seems just to restrictive on dining and dressing.

My only issue appears to be with the problems that have been brought up about NCL's reservation system. I have read the posts about cabins being switched and reservations lost and that worries me. What if we book adjoining cabins for ourselfs and one of my siblings in order to help with watching the younger children and then we get moved. (I'm also amazed that Keystone is still recommending NCL and providng NCL information in spite of what they are going through.) I will continue to watch that situation and the lost reservation story during the next couple of weeks as we make our final decision.

[Tomct]

Our family took a group cruise on the Majesty last June to celebrate our 40th anniversary. It was an outstanding vacation with 7 cabins, and went better than our high expectations. All six of our cruises have been with NCL, so we were not surprised. We love FreeStyle, resort casual dress, automatic tipping, express debarkation, outstanding service, high quality food, and ship management that sincerely cares about providing exceptional service. If you don't get it, let them know about it ASAP so they can take care of the problem.

 

The Majesty cruise was to Bermuda, is an older and smaller ship, but was great for us NCL veterans.

 

Some specific notes on our "group" experience:

 

Our TA, from a major online agency, was most accommodating in getting our rooms close together. Though we had a mixed request for cabins, 3 oceanview, 3 large insides, and 1 small inside, she did a terrific job of getting 6 cabins adjacent or across the hall from each other, and one just around the corner from us. Note there are basically no balcony cabins on the Majesty, possibly no adjoining, and the rooms are on the small side. Frankly, I've never heard about rooms being reassigned without notice, and we certainly never had a problem.

 

As soon as we got on board, we booked two nights in Specialty Restaurants for our entire party, both sea nights, one for the 2nd night, and one for the last night. We followed suggestions from others who had done it that way, leaving our mixed group to decide from day to day on where and when to eat in accordance with the FreeStyle policy. As it turned out, the first night we also ate as a group in one of the main rooms, no problem with our party of 15. Most meals on board we ate in sub groups, depending on what everyone was doing. From breakfast, to lunch, to dinner, we all kept an eye out for each other, and it worked out to perfection. Just make sure each "sub group" leader knows what is going on, and knows how to reach and/or leave messages with the others. Such an arrangment needs some good but not necessarily annoying communication, and a cordial group of relatives. The good thing about the Majesty is that is was small, and we often bumped into each other.

 

We also communicated well on our onboard or on shore activities. It was always informal, but we just kept in touch so nobody felt left out. Again, it worked great.

 

For the record, we are big fans of the Specialty Restaurants, the food is terrific, and the atmosphere is outstanding. They seem to have the best waitstaff, not at the expense of the other rooms, just more of a concentration. That goes for the ones that do not charge an extra fee, too.

 

I certainly hope you give NCL a shot, I think it might be what you are looking for in a group cruise. The Star was our first ship, and have since been on sister ships Jewel and Dawn, very similar vessels, with a few distinguishing differences.

[Mayhalf]

So you can make reservations for some of the restaurants, how do you go about doing that? Can we make them ahead of time? Do they take walk-ups?

 

Finally, what are the restaurants on the Star and Jewel?

 

Thanks again

[Cuizer2]

So you can make reservations for some of the restaurants, how do you go about doing that? Can we make them ahead of time? Do they take walk-ups?

 

Finally, what are the restaurants on the Star and Jewel?

 

Thanks again

 

From my review (see link posted above) ...

 

The ten restaurants are:

 

Cagneys - Steak House - $20 extra The Soho - Pacific Rim - $15 extra Le Bistro - French Cuisine - $15 extra Ginza - Asian Fusion Cuisine - $12.50 extra Teppanyaki - Cooking just for you - A la carte pricing Sushi Bar - Japanese Specialty - A la carte pricing Endless Summer - Tex-Mex cuisine - reservations required La Trattoria - Italian Cuisine - reservations required Aqua - contemporary cuisine Versailles - traditional cuisine Market Café - buffet Blue Lagoon - 24 hour sit down fast food

[KeystoneCruiser]

So you can make reservations for some of the restaurants, how do you go about doing that? Can we make them ahead of time? Do they take walk-ups?

 

You must make reservations for the specialty restaurants. You can do that on the day you board for the whole week. Most of the restaurants fill up early, so we always try to have our dining plans made for the week. I wouldn't chance walk-ups to the specialty restaurants, it is doubtful that they would have room. (especially for a large party like yours)

There is reservation desk next to the information desk on Deck 7 of the Star and I imagine, it is in the same place on the Jewel.

 

Being a large group, you can also make reservations in the main restaurants but they only take large group reservations there for 5:30, 6:00, 8:00 or 8:30. You have to go to the restaurants (or call them) to do this. We had a party of 17 last summer on the Star and only once were we all able to sit together at one table. (in Versailles Main Dining room) The other times they seated us at two tables next to each other.

 

what are the restaurants on the Star and Jewel?

 

Can only speak for the Star:

Free & No reservations: Versailles, Aqua, Market Cafe (buffet) and Blue Lagoon (more later on this)

 

Free but reservations required: LaTrattoria (Italian) & Endless Summer (tex-mex)

 

Cover charge and reservations required: Cagney's Steak House, Soho Room (Pacific rim), LeBistro (French), Ginza (Asian), and Teppanyaki

 

Personally, I love the Blue Lagoon. It is a 24 hour "diner" type sit down restaurant with burgers, hot dogs, etc. Great place. The buffet is also very good for breakfast.

 

There is also room service.

 

I have never been on the Jewel, but I believe her restaurants are basically the same as the Star.