Anyone stay in an NCL Garden Villa with kids? Tips? Reviews?

[Silverspoon]

Thinking of book an A1 Garden Villa on the Pearl. Any experiences?

[jimswims]

Thinking of book an A1 Garden Villa on the Pearl. Any experiences?

 

I have never stayed in a Garden Villa on NCL but they are incredible. It is a wonderful space for families to stay in. I think that the sq.ft. of the villa are bigger than most houses!

 

Three bedrooms, three baths, your own hot tub on deck, another private sundeck above with plenty of chairs, and the butler/concierge perks are plenty of reasons to book it if you can.

 

We have stayed in an AB Penthouse on the NCL Dawn twice and it was great.

 

I do not think that there are many cabins on any cruise line that can beat this villa when you add in the VIP perks.

 

Have a great time.

[Silverspoon]

Thanks for the reply!

[IluvZ]

We were in the GV last January on the Pearl with our DS (then 3) and I can offer a few suggestions.

 

1. Let the butler know what foods your child LOVES and they will magically appear in the Villa. My DS loves chocolate milk and even when I thought we were out he would inform me that "no, Denny brought more."

 

2. Chill out in the room for breakfast - we ordered in breakfast every morning and had the table set by the butler. It was wonderful and an easy way to start the morning. Then when the "I'm hungry" talk started, we could say "Denny will be here is X minutes with your food." And, he was good with that because he always was part of the order the night before.

 

3. Have a pizza / movie party. One of our favorite nights was when we got three DVDs for the big tv and then ordered a bunch of speciality pizzas from the Italian restaurant. Nice!

 

4. When the weather is iffy out, the villa pool is a great place for kids. You'll often not find any other kids in there until the weather gets colder or raining, and then most will be in there enjoying the pool.

 

5. Take advantage of the conciege to get you off the ship if you are tendering. No lines and no waiting for kids for the tenders.

 

Most of all, have a great time. The GV is wonderful.

[kitty9]

When you book the Garden Villas, can you get them as a one bedroom or do you always get the three bedrooms? The reason I'm asking is, I'm flabbergasted by the cost of those suites. On the itinerary my friends were looking at, the cost was $14K per person for a 7 day cruise !!! ( I can go on a Crystal cruise for two weeks, on an exotic itinerary for less than that). They are a couple with two younger teens. If you only want a one bedroom, are you able to do that?

[beachchick]

When you book the Garden Villas, can you get them as a one bedroom or do you always get the three bedrooms? The reason I'm asking is, I'm flabbergasted by the cost of those suites. On the itinerary my friends were looking at, the cost was $14K per person for a 7 day cruise !!! ( I can go on a Crystal cruise for two weeks, on an exotic itinerary for less than that). They are a couple with two younger teens. If you only want a one bedroom, are you able to do that?

 

No, you can't book an individual GV bedroom as a separate cabin/suite. There's no way to make it work. If three separate couples who did not know each other were allowed to do that, then they'd all be forced to share the living spaces and so on with complete strangers. I doubt anyone would be happy with that arrangement. Although the bedrooms all have suite numbers and their own keys, they are part of a whole suite and cannot be booked separately. I certainly wouldn't want to share a house (for that's what it is) with total strangers. The GV is an all or nothing booking designed for people traveling together (friends, family, or what have you). (Also keep in mind that the $14k or whatever the fare is usually applies only to the first two pax. That's because the GV is considered a "family" suite with 3rd and up pax paying a discounted rate all as part of the same booking for the suite.)

 

beachchick

[kitty9]

OK. I understand. On some lines, they have those huge suites that can be converted to a two or three bedroom suite if you also get the two connecting regular suites/cabins, so I thought it might be the same for the GV.

[calikak]

The suite perks on NCL can't be beat. We didn't stay in a GV but did have a penthouse suite on the Sun in October, and boy, did we get spoiled. Our butler made sure we always had milk available for that morning bottle for our son, and we'd put our little guy to bed and then order dinner from the dining room delivered to our suite, so we could still have a nice elegant meal even though we had a kid in bed already. Also, the VIP breakfast room was a nice touch, because it was usually empty on our sailing so we could have a real sit-down breakfast without bother other passengers. And the concierge was so nice to our son, he totally fell in love with her. :)