We jumped ship to NCL!! How did they do??

[GBBTomorrow]

Just chiming in to say thanks, Pens Fan! You are a fantastic writer.

 

[Pens Fan]

Ok, I HAVE to know... Torture couch????

Check out post # 4 - the cabin description. It's not nearly as kinky as one may think!

 

[Dug720]

Check out post # 4 - the cabin description. It's not nearly as kinky as one may think!

Ah, gotcha. LOL. I was going to say...that is a different kind of family dynamic they're going for there.

Sorry it was so uncomfortable!

 

[llachance]

Loved the Norwegian Sun - in fact have done the AFT Suite as well and it was wonderful. The second time on the Sun was a balcony cabin and it was fine. Since I am a fan of the smaller ships I am not sure if I will ever be on a mega ship but you never know. I have sailed most of the standard cruise lines and like them all for different reasons. I have three carnival cruises and 3 disney cruises on the horizon

 

[DCLDVC1]

That's another thing we can thank DCL for. If we had never cruised DCL, I'll bet the suite prices would seem like a bridge too far compared to the regular NCL prices, but when you can remind yourself that a suite on NCL costs what you are used to paying on DCL, it suddenly sounds reasonable!

Very true. I've priced a few NCL cruises and I can get into a Haven suite for about the same price as an Oceanview room on DCL.

 

[Pens Fan]

Loved the Norwegian Sun - in fact have done the AFT Suite as well and it was wonderful. The second time on the Sun was a balcony cabin and it was fine. Since I am a fan of the smaller ships I am not sure if I will ever be on a mega ship but you never know. I have sailed most of the standard cruise lines and like them all for different reasons. I have three carnival cruises and 3 disney cruises on the horizon

When originally researching this cruise, I thought the regular balcony cabins on the Sun seemed really small. Now that I've been on the ship, I'm not so sure. Walking by a few times when the rooms were being cleaned I glanced in and while they are smaller than Disney's they looked fine to me. You can't tell a lot by just walking by, but if the storage was as plentiful as it was in our cabin, I think a balcony would work really nicely - especially for a couple.

 

[dnllmz]

Great comparison of the 2 lines.

 

[mevelandry]

You should check out Eden on the upcoming Celebrity Edge! Makes me laugh at the solariums on RCCL's ships.

Pretty. I like both. Do they have a pool in Eden? Otherwise I see it more like a garden.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I like the Giraffe. She's cute.

But not kidding, the Anthem got me with the solarium (pictures).

OMG. Anthem's Solarium is incredible! Last night of our cruise in March we were in some rougher seas. My friend & I rushed to our room, threw on swimsuits, and headed for the little cascading pools. You know the little center dividers in them? So when the ship was really rolling side to side the water would rush from one side to the other creating a solid current. I got great video of us being sloshed back & forth with the current. It was SO fun!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

You should check out Eden on the upcoming Celebrity Edge! Makes me laugh at the solariums on RCCL's ships.

Anthem's Solarium isn't the same as the others. All the RCI ships should strive for the Anthem's Solarium.

 

[Dug720]

Pretty. I like both. Do they have a pool in Eden? Otherwise I see it more like a garden.

No pool - not designed to have one. Doesn't bother me as I am not into pools.

The ship will have pools though for those into that.

 

[mevelandry]

I'm terrible. Really. I took almost 4000 pictures on this trip, but I don't think I took any of the cabin!

However, here is YouTube video of the cabin right below ours that I found on CC. It's identical with a couple of exceptions. They have the new couch vs. torture couch and our balcony furniture was different. We had these wonderful cushiony loungers that were absolutely sleep inducing. Though they did get pretty soggy after it drizzled one day, so I'm guessing they are changing them out to the ones you see in the video as they refresh the cabins.

Other than those things, that's what our cabin (9276) looked like. It's weird, though. On NCL's website they now classify 9276 as a disabled cabin (it wasn't classified that way when we booked it). It's definitely not a disabled cabin, as you can see in the video.

It's bigger than my house! Lol

Love the verandah. We had one similar on the Disney Dream once.

No pool - not designed to have one. Doesn't bother me as I am not into pools.

The ship will have pools though for those into that.

The Anthem's solarium is very different than other ship's solarium (based on the ships I took a look at).

I'm super into pools but DCL pools are so small. We have been lucky to be able to swim in the Quiet Cove pools because we caught them being almost empty. The fact that we only swim in the morning must help.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

Ok I only got to embarkation so far, just wanted to say thanks for the comparison!
We are starting to consider our first Alaska cruise and don't know if we should go with Disney or another line.
Thanks again and I will continue reading the rest later...

 

[cadien]

Our history is all NCL. One thing that will be interesting about our upcoming first Disney cruise will be going from a suite on Norwegian to an oceanview on Disney. But we are the weirdos who agreed that we'd rather skip suites, given the choice. The cost was reasonable for what you received but there were just things that didn't work for us, especially for DH. He also doesn't care at all for the NCL decor. So I'm really curious to see whether he decides the Disney premium is worth it. Especially since we want to do a Baltic cruise in 2019 regardless.

 

[mevelandry]

Our history is all NCL. One thing that will be interesting about our upcoming first Disney cruise will be going from a suite on Norwegian to an oceanview on Disney. But we are the weirdos who agreed that we'd rather skip suites, given the choice. The cost was reasonable for what you received but there were just things that didn't work for us, especially for DH. He also doesn't care at all for the NCL decor. So I'm really curious to see whether he decides the Disney premium is worth it. Especially since we want to do a Baltic cruise in 2019 regardless.

I would be shocked if you were not to enjoy your first Disney cruise... Because it's going to be new and full of "Disney magic". In that sense, I tend to think that the premium spent on the first cruise is always worth it.

It is when you repeat it that, in my opinion, it becomes less worth the premium: there are not that much differences between the ships, some shows repeat themselves, some restaurants and events are similar, limited itineraries, etc. Some people love doing similar things over and over again but I'm more of those who like trying something new/different.

 

[cadien]

We'll definitely enjoy that first one. And the price was totally reasonable it for what it is. A quick look at Baltic cruises, however, has Disney at at least triple NCL. For an extremely port-intensive itinerary. That I don't see happening.

 

[yargrnhoj]

Fellow Pens Fan here originally from SW PA. It seems NCL does a better job in Alaska or maybe it is the ships. We sailed the Epic two years ago and it was our worst cruise experience ever. Embarkation was chaos (out of Miami), the bar staff was rude (especially if you only wanted a Pepsi on their drink program) and the nighttime entertainment was poor. We didn't think anything was "Freestyle" because you had to book every show if you wanted to see it because they all sold out. But we sailed NCL around Hawaii previously and they were great. So maybe the ship makes a difference.

 

[Shanti]

But for me the clincher was when my principal said that they liked to do that (or Anthem - thus sealing its fate for me as well) on breaks. I do NOT want to be on a ship with her when I'm supposed to be having a vacation.

Ah, the joys of spending your cruise discussing state standards and difficult parents...

 

[Dug720]

Ah, the joys of spending your cruise discussing state standards and difficult parents...

Or more just how I should make my classroom look more like the favorite one's classroom (never mind I've had parents request me and one set of VERY overprotective parents let me take their child on her first field trip), how we could incorporate things from our experiences into the classroom, etc. And all with "rigor" of course. LOL.

 

[#NotMyName]

I'm terrible. Really. I took almost 4000 pictures on this trip, but I don't think I took any of the cabin!

However, here is YouTube video of the cabin right below ours that I found on CC. It's identical with a couple of exceptions. They have the new couch vs. torture couch and our balcony furniture was different. We had these wonderful cushiony loungers that were absolutely sleep inducing. Though they did get pretty soggy after it drizzled one day, so I'm guessing they are changing them out to the ones you see in the video as they refresh the cabins.

Other than those things, that's what our cabin (9276) looked like. It's weird, though. On NCL's website they now classify 9276 as a disabled cabin (it wasn't classified that way when we booked it). It's definitely not a disabled cabin, as you can see in the video.

WOW!