I'm considering a cruise vacation in December.?

Question

Does anyone know anything about Norwegian Cruise Lines? I've been on Carnival and Royal Caribbean, but not Norwegian. The cruise would be on the Norwegian Dream that will go out of Houston, Texas. Is this a nice ship? Do they have good shows? How is the food? Any advice or suggestions will be appreciated.

Answer 1

Our last NCL cruise at Christmas was great. Food and shows were excellent. It's the least formal of those three (RC is most and Carnival second). The only criticism I had was the very loose smoking regulations that made some of the hallways smell like bars on the day after.

Answer 2

Norwegian is a contempary cruise line falling into the same category as Carnival and Royal Caribbean. NCL is known for its "Freestyle Cruising" An NCL Freestyle cruise offers diverse and exciting restaurants, a more relaxed dress code.

Dining with Freestyle Cruising, you travel a world of dining options all in one week. There are French bistros and Italian trattorias to sushi and tapas bars. There are up to 10 different restaurants, There are no fixed seatings. Restaurants open from 5:30 pm to midnight so that you can choose from an early dinner before the show or a later dinner. There’s always the option of 24-hour room service.

The Norwegian Dream was stretched 1998, adding 130 feet to its length and refurbished in 2005. The Terraces restraunt has, 20-foot floor-to-ceiling windows look out on the pool and sea. The Four Seasons Dining Room offers views from port to starboard. Watch live games at the Sports Bar & Grill, or get a massage or sauna at the spa. On-board recreation includes basketball, aerobics and volleyball. A broad deck for strolling or jogging encircles the Promenade Deck. Entertainment runs the gamut from Broadway shows and Vegas-style productions to stand-up comedians, movies and theme parties.

Answer 3

NCL is a pretty good line. They are a little different than others because of the freestyle cruising they do. Basically, you have more options this way. Some people love it, some people hate it, so it just depends on what you like.

With NCL you do pay a little for your meals. Other cruise lines it is included unless you eat at one of the restaurants that has an extra surcharge, NCL only has a few restaurants that don't have the surcharge.

As far as the Norweigian Dream, it is a pretty nice ship. It isn't one of NCL's best ships, but it is still pretty nice. NCL is considered a nicer line than Royal Caribbean or Carnival, is also usually costs more. I'm not sure which ships you have been on. But I think you will have a good time.

Here is a link, you can read more about the ships and some reviews that are usually pretty helpful in deciding if you want to go on that cruise or not. http://cruisecritic.com/reviews/review.cfm?ShipID=42

I hope this helps!

Answer 4

I have been on many Norwegian ships, including twice on the Dream; once before it was stretched and once after. Norwegian was at one time my favorite cruise line until the line was bought by Star Cruises and they instituted the "Freestyle Cruising".

Now I do not recommend Norwegian because of their "freestyle" cruising. It means that you do not have to specify a dining option; don't have a table and waiter assigned to you. It means you can go to dinner in the main dining room any time of the evening.

But it also means that you may be standing in line awaiting a table on some days (like we had to a couple times); not what you want on a cruise. Since you go when you want, you rarely get the same waiter and so never really get to know your waiter and he/she never learns what you prefer. The option to this being pushed on NCL is their optional dining which you must pay to use. The dining options can cost $10 to $20 a person for dinner each night; not what you want after paying for a cruise. Then optional restaurants are nice, including French, Sushi, Tex-Mex, Italian, steak house restaurants. But who wants to go pay to eat on a cruise ship where all the meals are supposed to be included. We always skipped the optional restaurants and just got to the main dining early.

The ship was a good one, not as new and modern as some of the newer NCL, Princess and RC ships. It is not one of the ships that has a majority balcony and suites cabins. But it has nice features. I don't remember the shows and they change those periodically anyway.

Since Star took over NCL the line has an Asian flavor; Star is an Oriental company. Some of the performers and musicians were Asian and they had Karioke every evening. Not my cup of tea. You will enjoy, but it will be diferent from what you had on Carnival and RC.

Answer 5

I merely went with my relations until eventually now contained in the 12 months. We stayed with Florida solar homes, that were somewhat less costly and somewhat on the brink of Dieny international. lets hear the fireworks from the position we were. WE spent a week there and did all 4 Disney Parks, Seaworld, Legoland (that's somewhat extra for youthful youthful ones, yet i'm merely throwing it available) and prevalent Studios (that's large if one or both one among you've an interest in Harry Potter, like me and my dad are). It became all somewhat large. We went in Febuary, and we had large climate. Anothe suggestion that made Disney a great number of interesting became the Pin finding out to purchase and promoting...you purchase a lanyard and a stater %., then flow to noticeably a lot any Disney solid Member, and also you commerce pins. It became a great number of interesting and made each day contained in the parks that a lot extra interesting. have interesting!

Answer 6

its really good. amazing shows. movie theaters, pools, great food, internet, trivia games, 24 hr room serivce, ice cream, 13 restrants, ect.

Answer 7

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