Sailing on Norwegian Cruise Line

At the time of this writing, I have set sail on eleven cruises over three different cruise lines.  Suffice it to say that a cruise is truly one of my favorite journeys.  No matter where it happens to be going.

Seven of those cruises have been on Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL).  We’ve sailed enough times that we have earned Platinum status on this cruise line and would have bumped up our reward level with additional sailings had the pandemic not slowed us down.

My husband and I have set sail on the Gem and Breakaway twice each, the Dawn, Jewel and Escape once each respectively.  This is the cruise line that spoiled us and where we became suite people.  All but one of our journeys with this line has been in a suite.  As look back on the one that wasn’t in a suite, I’m thinking to myself, how did I let that happen?  But I digress…

What I won’t review here are the rooms, amenities, activities etc., as those do vary from ship to ship and are often dependent on the capabilities of the crew. 

For instance, we’ve played Bingo on each of the ships I mentioned above and while they are always fun the personality of the cruise director staff can make or break a game.

We’ll save the deep dive details for reviewing individual ships and specific sailings. Instead, I’ll give you our review of NCL as a whole. Click here for our review of the last time we were on the Gem.  

What is NCL known for?

Flexibility.  Going with the flow and doing everything their ships have to offer or nothing at all.  Freestyle cruising is the term they coined, and the ships truly live up to that designation.

Prior to setting sail with NCL, we were accustomed to being told when we would have to dine, go to the show and do just about everything else on the daily cruise planner or we’d miss it. 

Not so with NCL, we decide when we eat, where we eat and if what day we’ll see the main show on because, the main show it is offered at least twice a sailing.

We love this concept and have sailed so often on this line because we enjoy the Freestyle concept.

Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL).  The Good and the Not so Good

The Good

1.   Freestyle cruising, yes this is the number one reason why we’ve kept going back to this cruise line and will return once again.

2.   On the newer NCL ships the suites are in an area called The Haven.  Without exception the service in these concierge level staterooms has been stellar.  The addition of the private restaurant to the Breakaway class of ships has created an oasis away from the hustle and bustle of the main dining room.  The service we’ve received when staying in these staterooms has justified the price of the experience.  

3.   We’re platinum members.  While they’ve amended the tier levels and the rewards at each level since our last sailing, we still get the best of the “perks” offered regardless of what stateroom we’ll choose for our next sailing.  Among my favorite perks are:

a.   The 25% onboard discounts for spas (my favorite activity on any cruise),

b.   30% discount on photos and,

c.   15% discount in the shops

d.   Dinner for two at of one of the two specialty dining venues

e.   Dinner for two with wine at one of the two offered specialty dining venues

f.     Priority Tender and Disembarkation

The Not so Good

1.   Nickel and Diming, it is for this reason and in all fairness also having a little one along for the journey which made Disney vacations seem like the better thing to do so we stepped away from NCL cruising.  Nickel and diming as you may know is the act of charging for things that were previously complementary or changing around the “perks” you receive for your reward level so that you must spend more to get the same experience.  We were finding a lot of this on our last two to three cruises and were happy to step away from them for a while for this reason.

For instance, they added levels to that rewards levels that I mentioned above and put a lot more distance between us and the top tier level.  They at a time when we weren’t in the current economic situation began raising the prices on the specialty dining restaurants.  This made us feel as though we had to pay more for a consistently good meal or deal with the hit or miss nature of the main dining rooms.  Which brings us to…

2.   The Main Dining Rooms, for the most part have been an advertisement for the upcharge specialty restaurants.  Yes, there were some good and completely acceptable meals in the main dining room.  However, the vast majority of the meals were lackluster at best and pushed us to the upcharge restaurants where the majority of the dining experience were consistently solid, particularly on the Breakaway.  As foodies, we like to enjoy our meals especially those we pay others to prepare for us.  Not having that consistence of solid meals across the board no matter where we decided to eat was disappointing. 

3.   The Excursions, and I admit that this is completely subjective.  However, I felt that our choices were more dynamic on Royal Caribbean than on this line.  When I compare the shore excursions on my Royal Caribbean European sailing to the NCL versions in some of the same cities, I didn’t feel that they were comparable or as immersive. 

For instance, at the time of my Royal Caribbean Mediterranean tours they were usually all-day affairs with stops for meals at amazing local restaurants.  While we did have some meals included in our Norwegian tours the level of restaurants didn’t compare.  When on vacation, all roads lead to having wonderful culinary experiences and this trip didn’t deliver. 

Final Thoughts

Should you give NCL a try?  Our answer is yes.  Particularly if you want the freedom to design your day and not feel like you’re missing out on half of the ship’s activities. 

While your mileage will certainly vary be prepared to manage your expectations of the meals you will find in the main dining room and plan to spend some time and money in the specialty dining restaurants.

Will we continue to cruise NCL?  Absolutely, some of our most special memories have been made on their ships and with their crew.  We will continue to sail on this line from time to time particularly on sailings out of the port of New York.

Going forward, we will try to even things out and spend more time on other cruise lines.  In particularly, we’re planning our first Disney cruise and plan to travel on Royal Caribbean and Celebrity as well.

Whichever cruise line you decide, have fun and remember to enjoy the journey!

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