Norwegian Cruise Line - What to expect?

[Chip&Dale]

Morning all,

At the end of our Australia trip at the end of the year, we have booked an 11 night cruise around New Zealand with NCL.

We have never cruised before, so this will be a new experience for us.

Has anyone cruised with NCL in the past?

We have the 'All Inclusive' option, so spirits, house wine, soft drinks and tea and coffee are included (but not premium spirits, cocktails and cappuccinos, etc). If you wanted a 'premium' drink, do you pay full price for it or do you pay the difference?

If you have any advice, tips or recommendations, I would really appreciate hearing them.

TIA.

[dismadbrit]

Hi, you will pay the full menu price, there was so much to choose from we didn't ever pay for any extra's

[danisleigh]

We have sailed on them, twice on the jade and once on the Epic and we have the star booked for this summer. We find them ok, we prefer RCL and of course Disney but NCL have a bigger variety of interesting itineraries and that is what we mainly go for.

[danisleigh]

Also we have always found the drinks included in the Drinks package very extensive, my husband challenged himself to try all of the whiskeys last time and couldn’t manage it 🤣
We had the free drinks package last time though and this will be our first time AI but I believe it’s the same.

[SHREKS OTHER1/2]

Love them … been on Getaway x 3 and Epic x 2 ...my preferred cruise liner ...doing Marella next month we shall see ...Done MSC not for me

[Lisa123wm]

Originally Posted by SHREKS OTHER1/2

Love them … been on Getaway x 3 and Epic x 2 ...my preferred cruise liner ...doing Marella next month we shall see ...Done MSC not for me

See more...

Surprised about MSC? A Dibber is currently on an MSC cruise and the pics on FB look fab.

[danisleigh]

Originally Posted by Lisa123wm

Surprised about MSC? A Dibber is currently on an MSC cruise and the pics on FB look fab.

See more...

My bil wasn’t keen either, said the ship was amazing but food wasn’t great and they didn’t like other things about them. They did say they would go again if it was a bargain but wouldn’t be their first choice.

[Lisa123wm]

Originally Posted by danisleigh

My bil wasn’t keen either, said the ship was amazing but food wasn’t great and they didn’t like other things about them. They did say they would go again if it was a bargain but wouldn’t be their first choice.

See more...

Ah ok. Cloverlady is currently doing a Med cruise with them, and as I said, the pics look amazing.
Will be good to hear her overall thoughts when she’s back, but it sounds like they’re having a great time.
We’ve only cruised with RC so far, P&O is next. I’d like to try different lines including Norwegian in the future.

[danisleigh]

Originally Posted by Lisa123wm

Ah ok. Cloverlady is currently doing a Med cruise with them, and as I said, the pics look amazing.
Will be good to hear her overall thoughts when she’s back, but it sounds like they’re having a great time.
We’ve only cruised with RC so far, P&O is next. I’d like to try different lines including Norwegian in the future.

See more...

We have sailed with RCL, Norwegian and Disney but do fancy trying celebrity in the future, especially once it’s just the 2 of us.

[SquishTheWhale]

We love NCL! We've been on the Epic and the Escape. The food is great, loads of stuff to do on board and the entertainment is fantastic. We would go on them again in a heartbeat but the prices seem to have skyrocketed since they introduced AI.

When we were last on them (Oct 2017) we had the drinks package included as a free perk (so not the AI scheme). If you wanted anything above $15 you just paid the difference although I can't say for sure if thats still the same for AI. We never picked anything over $15 anyway. Which ship are you on?

Just to add to the MSC debate we really don't like them. The new ships are stunning but everything else is bad. We've done 5 cruises on 4 different lines and would put MSC waaaay at the bottom of the list. Not saying that's the experience of the dibber on there now but that was ours.