Norwegian?

[Junebug1029]

Not gonna lie... I've been exploring virtually the Norwegian Joy in the last days (not seen videos yet, keeping that for the week-end) and it looks like a gorgeous and exciting ship to sail on.

We just went on it on August to Alaska. We were very pleased with it.

 

[mevelandry]

We just went on it on August to Alaska. We were very pleased with it.

Any info or recommendations you could give me... I would appreciate very much.

 

[Rjw615]

Can report back in early June, doing a 7 day on the Bliss from Seattle we're excited but all the reviews aren't too fond of the Bliss on here at the moment.

 

[Junebug1029]

Any info or recommendations you could give me... I would appreciate very much.

I just sent you a private message. I thought it would be better that way.

 

[mevelandry]

Can report back in early June, doing a 7 day on the Bliss from Seattle we're excited but all the reviews aren't too fond of the Bliss on here at the moment.

Reviews... I feel like every ship I go on has terrible reviews (terrible food, terrible service, terrible cabin, etc.) ... In the end, I've never had a bad cruise. All of them were quite lovely.

 

[Pens Fan]

Reviews... I feel like every ship I go on has terrible reviews (terrible food, terrible service, terrible cabin, etc.) ... In the end, I've never had a bad cruise. All of them were quite lovely.

I completely agree. The more cruise "reviews" I read, the more I think the majority of them fall into one of three categories:

1. Someone with an axe to grind against a certain company that find fault with anything and everything (ETA: or just the type of person that cannot be pleased)
2. People who are so loyal to a company (sometimes for financial reasons ) that everything is rainbows and unicorns, no matter what happens
3. Vloggers and/or travel agents trying to direct traffic to their sites

I still read them, though! There is good information to be gleaned in a lot of them (and some do seem to be sincere and balanced), but basically I assume that the ones that are completely negative or over the top positive are suspect. I like the ones in the middle!

 

[twoprincesses12]

We have done 2 NCL cruises. Epic and Breakaway. We loved it. Only time I did not feel sad about not being on Disney. We are trying out the Haven on Breakaway this spring. Shows are awesome. Six the Musical is fantastic! Many more food choices than Disney. I hope the new Disney ships have more specialty dining. Only thing missing on Disney is food variety.

Just want to chime in that we are trying the Breakaway in the Haven in April, a spring break cruise for 5K less than the Disney Fantasy Cruise we just came home from. We have cruised NCL several times, most recently Haven on the Getaway. So presume it will be similar - we enjoy both lines, but prefer the food and entertainment on NCL overall.

 

[mevelandry]

Just want to chime in that we are trying the Breakaway in the Haven in April, a spring break cruise for 5K less than the Disney Fantasy Cruise we just came home from. We have cruised NCL several times, most recently Haven on the Getaway. So presume it will be similar - we enjoy both lines, but prefer the food and entertainment on NCL overall.

5000$ less? That's impressive.

 

[SDJEL]

5000$ less? That's impressive

We are doing a Baltic Cruise this summer. Two adjoining verandah cabins, 2 days longer than the Disney Cruise with WiFi, drink package and specialty dining. It is about half the cost of the comparable Disney Cruise. If we all stayed in one room on Disney, it still would have been more expensive than the Norwegian in the 2 verandah rooms. For a port intensive cruise, the ship is less of a factor.

 

[Bonnie1222]

We are doing a Baltic Cruise this summer. Two adjoining verandah cabins, 2 days longer than the Disney Cruise with WiFi, drink package and specialty dining. It is about half the cost of the comparable Disney Cruise. If we all stayed in one room on Disney, it still would have been more expensive than the Norwegian in the 2 verandah rooms. For a port intensive cruise, the ship is less of a factor.

Our upcoming cruise on the Breakaway is the exact itinerary Disney does for the Caribbean and same days - we are saving 60% by going with NCL and I had a place holder and OBC with Disney to use.

 

[argomANIA]

My husband and I (no kids) have done 6 DCL cruises and just got back from our first NCL Escape cruise. I went in with an open mind. We wanted to find a cruise line that a little bit more affordable. I found myself bored on sea days. With DCL i had to sacrifice one thing to do another. While on NCL i felt like unless you're drinking and enjoy listening to the same three artists over and over there wasn't much to do.

I did not enjoy the MDR's on NCL. I found the staff to be extremely rushed and not very personable. I didn't find the food to be very flavourful. I had a hard time selecting an item off the menu and i'm not a picky eater. Meanwhile on DCL i could never just pick one. We did dine in three of the upcharge restaurants and really enjoyed those.

We enjoyed two of the three shows both of which were performers first shows together.

I didn't like the layout of the Escape either. Most game shows or tirivia was held in the atrium which was either poorly attended or way over crowded. This was right next to guest services which made speaking to them nearly impossible due to noise level.

Overall i'm not saying we wouldn't do another NCL...but i think we just prefer DCL as we're not big drinkers or party-ers.

 

[belle032]

Can report back in early June, doing a 7 day on the Bliss from Seattle we're excited but all the reviews aren't too fond of the Bliss on here at the moment.

I would very much like to hear your review as we are strongly considering her for a 2021 Alaskan cruise. My mom actually sailed on her to Alaska last fall, said it was a beautiful ship and she was very pleased with it. All reviews are relative! Just matters what works best for you and your family.

Just want to chime in that we are trying the Breakaway in the Haven in April, a spring break cruise for 5K less than the Disney Fantasy Cruise we just came home from. We have cruised NCL several times, most recently Haven on the Getaway. So presume it will be similar - we enjoy both lines, but prefer the food and entertainment on NCL overall.

We just got back from a Caribbean cruise and the Breakaway was parked next to us in Cozumel. Looked like a really pretty ship and intrigues me to give NCL a try!

 

[Tasmen]

We have done a few DCL cruises and 1 on NCL. We have an Alaska cruise for 2021 booked on the NCL Bliss. We chose NCL for that cruise because we had a great time our one time on the Escape and, more importantly, we wanted to sail out of Seattle and not have to fly to cruise.

For us, it isn't an apples to apples comparison between the two cruise lines. We sail concierge on DCL and Haven on NCL. They are two different experiences. There are things DCL does I wish NCL would and vice versa. Examples:

• I wish DCL had a spa like on NCL. The spa on the Escape had SO many tiled loungers, a huge soaker pool and many other niceties. We spent so much time in there.
• DCL Concierge is so much better than NCL Concierge.
• Pools - DCL is much better. While NCL has more pools, the decks get super crowded and chair hogs are out in force.
• NCL has drink packages; DCL does not. We don't drink to get drunk but we do enjoy our adult beverages. Not having to worry about cost is a plus for us.

Those are just a few compare and contrasts for us.

 

[katmigordon]

We have done a few DCL cruises and 1 on NCL. We have an Alaska cruise for 2021 booked on the NCL Bliss. We chose NCL for that cruise because we had a great time our one time on the Escape and, more importantly, we wanted to sail out of Seattle and not have to fly to cruise.

For us, it isn't an apples to apples comparison between the two cruise lines. We sail concierge on DCL and Haven on NCL. They are two different experiences. There are things DCL does I wish NCL would and vice versa. Examples:

• I wish DCL had a spa like on NCL. The spa on the Escape had SO many tiled loungers, a huge soaker pool and many other niceties. We spent so much time in there.
• DCL Concierge is so much better than NCL Concierge.
• Pools - DCL is much better. While NCL has more pools, the decks get super crowded and chair hogs are out in force.
• NCL has drink packages; DCL does not. We don't drink to get drunk but we do enjoy our adult beverages. Not having to worry about cost is a plus for us.

Those are just a few compare and contrasts for us.

I thought there was a bar in the DCL Lounge?

 

[Dug720]

I thought there was a bar in the DCL Lounge?

They have happy hours before the dinner seatings. It is not an all-day open bar.

 

[mevelandry]

We just got back from a Caribbean cruise and the Breakaway was parked next to us in Cozumel. Looked like a really pretty ship and intrigues me to give NCL a try!

I've seen the Breakaway twice while staying in NYC. It looks amazing!

 

[Tasmen]

They have happy hours before the dinner seatings. It is not an all-day open bar.

^^^^ this. It is also a limited bar. They will sometimes go get alcohol to have at the bar if you order it one night and they don't have it on hand to make the drink you want. Other times, I've had them only serve based on what was stocked.

 

[JM_97]

Went to Bermuda a few years back out of New York. Had a great time. The ship was confusing at first but once you starting walking around, it was pretty easy to navigate. I know Disney is known for the set dining rotation (and it has advantages), but I enjoyed the free style dining more than I thought. You can obviously make reservations but it was also relaxing just to kind of eat whenever we wanted and not what the cruise line told us. If we wanted to just have a burger on the pool deck for dinner, we could. No need to worry about missing a dinner time. It's different than what Disney does, but I like both for different reasons.

Stateroom was good. It wasn't huge, but we didn't spend a whole lot of time there anyway. Balcony could fit 2-3 people and was so relaxing in the morning. There are some obvious similarities and differences between DCL and NCL, but you can't go wrong with either.

 

[twoprincesses12]

5000$ less? That's impressive.

It was my husband’s find 2 days before the most recent January promo expired - he loves to book another cruise as soon as we come back from our annual January trip (with families we met cruising on Disney!). Just to clarify, I did a little adding/subtracting to get to that $5K number and we were able to use 2 cruisenext deposits (which we received 1/2 back in onboard credit on our last )) when I crunched just face value numbers and considered diff in Costco cash cards it was $3800. Extra savings is included perks and savings due to beverage package. Additionally, we are in a 2 bedroom Haven vs a concierge balcony on Disney.

 

[Bonnie1222]

Just curious if anyone who has been on both lines can tell me how the internet compares. I understand each individual ship may be different but DH and I would always get by with the free 50MB on DCL because we only check for emails from parents and our house watcher and check CC balances. NCL sells by the minute. I am starting to plan/budget the extra costs for our cruise later this year and am wondering if the 250 minute package will be enough. I guess my concern is if the internet is slow will it eat up the minutes faster. We are going on the Breakaway and are used to the Fantasy's service.