Had to finally book with NCL because Disney wanted me to sell my house... lol

[Tonka's Skipper]

I do read over at the NCL forums and have been for over 10 years. There are many fans who are not going to other lines but you don't mention them. As a matter of fact, I'm in two large cruise meet groups for my two upcoming cruises and no one is deserting. Most of us have cruised NCL multiple times and are still fans. We plan to wait out the "growing pains" of the new CEO.

No one is hiding anything, folks on the Dis are not stupid. They can go right over to cruise critic and read the NCL boards just like YOU and form their own opinions just like YOU.

Well it seems we agree....I am the one telling folks to make up their own minds.

AKK

 

[Ofinn]

Anyone cruised the Pearl in Alaska? Would like your thoughts if you have.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

I edited this to add re Tonka's Skippers comment, I don't think DCL is an evil, overpriced cruise line, and haven't heard other people say that, it's just that we don't perceive the cost to be a good value for us anymore, and the reasoning as to why may vary.

Even with all the recent changes and cutbacks that NCL has made, I am beyond happy to be sailing with them vs DCL in October. Why? Here are a few reasons: more adult entertainment venues (adult comedy shows, the Grammy experience, Howl at the Moon (my very first Disney cruise had dueling pianos, there's one thing I loved that DCL has done away with!), main theatre shows that DON'T have Disney characters in them, 20+ dining venues including teppanyaki, French, Brazilian churarriza, Italian, sushi, upscale seafood, Cuban, an Irish/American pub, and American steakhouse to name a few.
My choice to eat when and where I chose each night.
5 water slides, a rope course, zip line, and a first rate dinner show in a special theatre. What it boils down to for me, I have more choices, of a more adult variety, on the Getaway.

Although because of our booking, we don't have to worry about any of the recent changes on this cruise, I don't feel the changes would be enough to keep me from booking NCL again. Maybe after 15 DCL cruises, I'm just tired of the same old, same old, mostly geared to kids and families, that never really varies year to year.
Vive la difference!
And, I'll be back on DCL next February, due to having friends that want us to cruise with them on DCL. I will totally enjoy that cruise too, I just hope I'm not wistfully thinking about what the Getaway offers that DCL doesn't.

Excellent and all your points about NCL are correct.

As are all the many cut backs.and.concerns many NCL fans are voicing that I have previously listed.



AKK

 

[kaseyC]

I would point out the following:

1. All NCL charters have been removed from the few.vessels that had them.

3. AL A CART menus are being expanded to more buy up dining venues and this will be expanded to any more venues,starting in January 2016. This will mean considerable increases to food/meal costs.

7. Over the 3 or 4 months according to the NCL forums there have been many more minor changes and removal of amenities on NCL.


AKK

First of all, your point number 1 is a not true at all and I can't imagine where you even found that information. It's not on CC. As a matter of fact the official NCL site has a list of their upcoming charters... there are quite a few well know bands who are chartering the ship for their music cruises as well as a Walking Dead themed charter. http://www.ncl.com/theme-cruises

Your point number 3. is true in the sense that quite a few specialty restaurants have gone to A la carte but there are still quite a few free restaurants on board plus a full buffet. A la Carte does not necessarily mean increased meal costs, for some folks they may come out better being able to purchase the individual items they want instead of paying for a full meal. Example, I love the chocolate fondue at Le Bistro, now I can go there and just purchase that item only. The specialty dining plan offered by NCL brings the price of dining down even lower.

About number 7 on your list, what are those minor changes and removal of amenities?

I won't post on this thread anymore and unsubscribe because I don't want to continue this off topic or taint the thread. Let me be clear about one thing for others reading. I'm not trying to convince anyone to sail or not to sail any cruise line. Do a search of my posts, I rarely post on any thread asking for advice or reassurance about sailing or not sailing another line. I truly believe that everyone should have their own experiences and form their own opinions. Happy Sailing All!

 

[perdidobay]

Anyone cruised the Pearl in Alaska? Would like your thoughts if you have.

If you can wait till September 14th, I can give you my review and opinions, as my father is taking my sisters and I on this ship next month. He's paying for everything so I didn't even suggest DCL to Alaska, he's 85 and doesn't tolerate little kids very well, and DCL prices are not in his budget.

 

[Ofinn]

If you can wait till September 14th, I can give you my review and opinions, as my father is taking my sisters and I on this ship next month. He's paying for everything so I didn't even suggest DCL to Alaska, he's 85 and doesn't tolerate little kids very well, and DCL prices are not in his budget.

Ok thanks. I look forward to your review. I have dcl booked in may, but I would rather go July, August. Dcl prices are too high in the Summer.

 

[LeslieG]

Anyone cruised the Pearl in Alaska? Would like your thoughts if you have.

I cruised on the Pearl to Alaska a couple years ago. I've also cruised the Wonder to Alaska. I much prefer the Wonder, but the Pearl wasn't terrible by any means. We didn't eat in any of the specialty restaurants, but I recall the dining room service to be terrible. If you find a decent server, ask for them each night. Good servers seemed to be few and far between. The buffet was small and seemed to be a mad house all the time. Always had difficulty finding a seat. We had an OV cabin, which was very small. On a positive note, I really enjoyed their outside aft area off the buffet. Nice area to sit and watch the scenery. Aside from the dining room servers, I found the staff to be very happy and pleasant. I would cruise the Pearl again for the right price. Alaska really is about the destination, not the ship.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I'm personally gettin' a serious case of the itchy-pants for our Escape B2B next May. We took the UBP offer. I think we might need it sharing a room with our boys for 2 weeks again. LOL! I'm following the construction, etc. at Meyer Werft. Seeing the gorgeous Guy Harvey artwork go up along her bow has been so exciting. I can't wait for the first reviews to start rolling in from her M/V later this year. All the excitement compounds the fun!

 

[TXDCLfan]

I will chime in here. I regularly read this board and over the years have experienced multiple Disney, RCL, and Princess cruises. I find that there are merits to each and am happy to discuss the respective strengths and weaknesses. As this is a Disney board I certainly expect that most people here would select Disney over other lines. However, there is a strong contingent that refuses to concede that any other lines can put out a good product. It seems that they take personally any attempt to show that another cruise line can match Disney.

No disrespect intended, but you seem inclined to defend Disney in every comparison thread that arises. I understand that you may believe that Disney is the best of the mass cruise lines, but perhaps you don't realize that you can come across as a shill for Disney. I don't know whether perditax is referring to you, but I believe that you regularly attempt to convince people that other options are not worthy. Again, perhaps you do not realize it, but you appear to discount and demean the choices others make.

We have fallen into a pattern of booking cruises in late fall for a mid-January sailing. In 2013 we went with a 7 day Disney Eastern Caribbean on the Fantasy. In 2015 we went with a 7 day Eastern Caribbean on the Regal Princess (brand new ship.) Similar itinerary (except for Princess Cays versus Castaway Cay), same week, same basic room category (balcony.) These were adult-only cruises. We lucked out on the Princess fare and booked for under $800 per person. I thought we got a good deal on the Disney fare at $1,300 per person.

From an adult only perspective we liked the Princess cruise better. We paid $1,000 more for the Disney cruise. The food on Princess was far superior. The service on Princess was very good (perhaps not as good as Disney.) We enjoyed the entertainment on Princess much more - the Disney shows were not good. I understand that entertainment is a personal preference. We spent some time in the casino on Princess. The Regal is a beautiful new ship. Princess Cays matches up very well with Castaway Cay.

Princess had a much older crowd - i.e. almost no children which seems right for mid-January. When our children were younger Disney was the right choice. In their early teens RCL Oasis was the right choice. For adults only, Princess is the right choice.

For you to infer that other lines are universally inferior is simply incorrect. Disney is doing just fine and there is no reason to continuously attempt to convince others of Disney's (perceived) superiority.

I have to agree with you here 110%!!

 

[TXDCLfan]

Ahh..........ok................they only removed the $7.95 charge on the food brought into the rooms.


The la A carte costs in the up sell restaurants are going to be expensive.

AKK

I will report back to you directly on this as we will be cruising the Getaway again next month and have some of the "up sell restaurants" booked.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I will report back to you directly on this as we will be cruising the Getaway again next month and have some of the "up sell restaurants" booked.

Which Getaway dates next month? We're *thiiiiis* close to pulling the trigger on 9/19.

 

[TXDCLfan]

Which Getaway dates next month? We're *thiiiiis* close to pulling the trigger on 9/19.

We are doing the 9/19-9/26. Great price and awesome ports, we did this same cruise in June with our Daughter and BFF. Getaway is an awesome ship..lots to do and great crew. PM me with any questions.

 

[darwinsrule]

I will report back to you directly on this as we will be cruising the Getaway again next month and have some of the "up sell restaurants" booked.

The move to 'a la carte' is supposed to start when Escape starts sailing in October and then roll out to the rest of the fleet. If sailing in September you should still have the flat rate. I say should since like everything else that has been done lately things can change with little to no notice.

We are on Getaway August 29th for the second time. As much as we loved Wonder in March I think we are looking forward to this one more. Really looking forward to it and to Tortola. I could always report back after that. If people have questions they should feel free to fire away.

 

[perditax]

Which Getaway dates next month? We're *thiiiiis* close to pulling the trigger on 9/19.

OMG, you're going to jump from the Dream to GA the next day? Jealous!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

OMG, you're going to jump from the Dream to GA the next day? Jealous!

Well the logistics and all. I'll already be in Florida concluding the girls getaway. Hubby wants to pick me up at the port and head down to Miami. The 18th is our 22nd anniversary. We've done similar things the last 2 years when I got off the girls cruise. First year we stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge a couple nights then took a Fantasy Western. Last year we did 2 Wonder double dip sailings b2b. Yeah, 5 stops at Castaway in 2 weeks time.

 

[TXDCLfan]

The move to 'a la carte' is supposed to start when Escape starts sailing in October and then roll out to the rest of the fleet. If sailing in September you should still have the flat rate. I say should since like everything else that has been done lately things can change with little to no notice.

We are on Getaway August 29th for the second time. As much as we loved Wonder in March I think we are looking forward to this one more. Really looking forward to it and to Tortola. I could always report back after that. If people have questions they should feel free to fire away.

If you have never been to the Baths in Tortola it is amazing!!

 

[TXDCLfan]

I'm personally gettin' a serious case of the itchy-pants for our Escape B2B next May. We took the UBP offer. I think we might need it sharing a room with our boys for 2 weeks again. LOL! I'm following the construction, etc. at Meyer Werft. Seeing the gorgeous Guy Harvey artwork go up along her bow has been so exciting. I can't wait for the first reviews to start rolling in from her M/V later this year. All the excitement compounds the fun!

We too are looking forward to the Escape next year ( have the 8 day booked in July). Looks like she will be more beautiful than the Getaway ( and that is hard to beat..lol)

 

[kaseyC]

We too are looking forward to the Escape next year ( have the 8 day booked in July). Looks like she will be more beautiful than the Getaway ( and that is hard to beat..lol)

I'll be sure to report back in November. We are sailing the 10 night Escape M/V - Southampton to Miami 10/29-11/8. Very excited to sail her because we absolutely loved our Breakaway and Getaway cruises.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I'll be sure to report back in November. We are sailing the 10 night Escape M/V - Southampton to Miami 10/29-11/8. Very excited to sail her because we absolutely loved our Breakaway and Getaway cruises.

I've been known to do full-blown cruise reviews with heavy pics. Any chance you'll be doing one???? Would love to see! Please be sure to report back. I'm dying for all the M/V excitement!

 

[Scoobypop]

Yes, please do report back with Escape reviews and thoughts-I have to wait until April for my "Escape"