Nice video. Thank you. We're considering a transatlantic on NCL and I think we'll do it. Just as you said, the price, multiple large city destinations and the loyalty perks are attractive. Royal is pretty good with all those free drinks daily but the NCL pricing includes the beverage perk at the same price as Royal so it's a wash. We agree with you that the 2 extra specialty dinners and the other niceties make it a good value. The one thing that we also like about a transatlantic is there will probably be fewer kids.
The longer the cruise, the less likely there will be many kids. Some NCL ships have kids areas, but they are usually conveniently out of the way, and on the longer cruises we take, when I do happen to wander by they are usually deserted. NCL isn't perfect by any means, but with interesting ports being our #1 priority, they keep winning our business.
😊 NCL absolutely. I travel solo and they make that affordable. I love the eat when you want, wear what you want freedom. I've got a 16 day transatlantic in 3 weeks and my solo balcony cabin was $500 less expensive than a comparable inside cabin with other lines. I really like having my balcony. It's important to me. 😊 Oh yeah, the Free at Sea, drinks included, 3x specialty restaurants, $50 shore excursion credits and basic wifi. Sea days are my favorite ❤ Laundry service and the water are the best.
Everyone wants slightly different things, but NCL seems to cater to the things we find most important as well. Enjoy your transatlantic, that sounds fun to us! 😀
Hi boys. Our preferred Line is NCL as well. We’ve done five or six cruises with them. However, like most cruise lines, there are a lot of add-ons. We will be trying Viking for the first time next May. We did some calculations and worked out it was a more economical way to cruise as it’s (mostly) all inclusive. The only extra charge would be alcohol outside of meal times (although that is provided FOC in our stateroom), and spa treatments (?). The other bonuses include a free excursion in every port, free specialty restaurants, free high speed internet and fewer passengers (max 930). We also like that there are no spaces on the ship that we won’t utilise. There is no casino (yay) and no passengers under 18 y.o. There are multiple dining options and the only dress restriction is “no shorts or jeans”in the main restaurant after 6pm. Yes, the upfront cost is higher but if you allow for the inclusions it works out better. Also, because the ship is smaller, it is able to dock closer to the destination (in many cases). There is also a self serve laundry on every deck for passenger use and we get free clothes pressing included.
The cruise lines definitely make it hard to compare apples to apples with all of the different add ons and nickel & diming that goes on. Since we choose very few of the add ons, I'm guessing Viking would still be quite a bit more expensive for us, but you have intrigued me as it has been years since I looked at them. I do think the smaller ships give more of the experience we are looking for. I'll have to look them up next time and give them another chance, thanks for the comment!
I’m so glad you made this video. As eminent NCL cruisers, we much appreciate the info and so far agree! I hope you’re having fun in your current travels!
We only cruise on NCL. Doing our second transpacific from Tokyo to Seward Alaska. We will be on the Jewel. Going on a transatlantic cruise on the Encore in October.
We live in Texas, so we usually choose Royal Caribbean or Princess out of Galveston. We travel before or after our cruise, so we only have a carry on and personal bag. We do not dress up on business casual or formal nights, but we look very presentable. I've never cruised NCL, but I will definitely give it a look. Thanks for your opinions...we learn from others.
Itinerary is always our number one priority, and if Galveston is convenient than that is as good a reason as any! I hope we will get to travel on other lines one of these days to compare, but it just hasn't happened yet. As long as you are enjoying your cruise, that is the important thing! 😀
Thanks for making this video. I was surprised by the price of the cruise. We’ll have to take a look at NCL. We’re thinking it might be nice to take a boat from North America to Sydney next fall if we can find a deal.
Glad you enjoyed it. Keep in mind that price was only for the Sydney-Tahiti or Sydney-Hawaii legs (depending on the line), so to make the full crossing you will have to do book 2 or even 3 back-to-back cruises. For us, we had a time constraint so disembarking in Tahiti worked perfect, and luckily that leg is where the most interesting ports were. And it sure beats the 15 hour flight from LA to Sydney! Let us know if you find a great deal, we know a lot of people booking this route lately and having a great time.
I’m glad you two are having a good experience with NCL. My wife and I did a repositioning cruise through the Panama Canal circa 2012. While the scenery was great, the Jade was terrible. The ship was dirty coming from Hawaii, dinner reservations didn’t work, our zip line shore excursion was mishandled by the ship when the ship docked late. No acknowledgment by the ship and no accommodation were offered. We are strictly RCL now and have diamond status.
I'm so sorry that happened to you! We have heard similar legitimate complaints against NCL, but to be fair we've heard them about other lines as well. Sometimes companies fail, and it just sucks when you are the one left feeling unacknowledged and unappreciated as a paying customer. So far we haven't had a bad experience, but figure it could happen on any line. Maybe we'll feel differently about it if it does happen. For the record the Jade (and it's sister the Star) are our least favorite NCL ships as both lack the very-important-to-us Observation deck. But the Star especially does great itineraries, so we keep eyeing it. lol
@@tendegreeswarmer you bring up good points. We discussed trying NCL again. Many loyal NCL travelers agreed that the Panama Canal cruise was not good but encouraged us to try NCL again. But we are not giving up four free drinks per person now that we have reached diamond status on RCL. - Oh the luxury of having first world problems. I know much of the world population would love to enjoy the “bad” experience we had on the Jade. BTW my wife and I were in an inside cabin, but the rest of my family group scored the Garden Ville at the last minute. That place was amazing.
@@bilo6832 "Oh the luxury of having first world problems." RIGHT??? 🤣🤣🤣 And I totally understand sticking with your RCL loyalty program. Our Platinum status on NCL gives us some great perks - but you get four free drinks? That is truly a great perk and superior to NCL. We generally sail in inside cabins, but my sister came with us once and had a suite in The Haven, and it was pretty spectacular as well. Just depends on what you want to pay for!
Everyone has the things that matter most, and once you figure out what those things are for you, it is much easier to choose between the options. We don't think NCL is perfect, but they hit more of those things for us than the other lines have (at least so far!)
I'm thinking of going on a repositioning cruise from Europe to Florida in October 2024 with NCL. I'm looking at a single studio rooms. Since there are quite a few sea days, I'm curious about the entertainment options. Any idea where I can check out what they offer? I went for the single room because it seems like they organize a bunch of group activities. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of NCL since I'm not into drinking and gambling, and the last one I took seemed to revolve around those activities. Still, the idea of group activities with other solo travelers sounds appealing. Thanks for sharing this info in the video and possibly changing my mind about NCL.
Good question about entertainment, I'm not sure if they advertise the specific entertainment on board, as I'm sure things change frequently with the solo acts coming and going more frequently than the stage shows or singer-dancer acts that can hang on for years. If your ship has a Broadway-style show, that might be something that can (and should) be booked in advance. We gravitate to the smaller ships that don't have a big enough theater for that though (and probably don't have the single studios either.) The only cruise I was ever disappointed with the entertainment was our last Trans-Pacific, where the entertainment was still in a post-pandemic slump - what they did have was good, they just didn't have something every night. We have never gambled and always just avoid the casino altogether. I think most cruises offer solo meetup groups, which could be a great place to meet friends (they also usually have regular LGBT and AA groups as well). You might also want to join the Cruise Critic Roll Call to see if you can meet any kindred spirits before you even get on the cruise. NCL isn't perfect, they have their problems and blind spots like any of the others, but for our priorities, they keep offering the best overall package for us, I hope you have a great time!
We like Holland as well, but that was years ago. Besides the formal nights, which we don't enjoy, NCL always seems to have more interesting itineraries. But we would go back if they offered the right cruise, our loyalty to NCL is functional, not emotional lol 😀
Great video, like you I’m a huge NCL fan although I’m trying other cruise lines to see how they compare. The one thing I miss out on is loyalty and it seems that NCL do have some great perks
I love NCL and did a great transatlantic repositioning cruise on the Gem from Rome to NYC with 9 ports. This year I am doing a repositioning cruise on the Dawn through West Africa from Barcelona to Cape Town. What I need to calculate is whether the added fees for service charges, gratuities, wifi, etc would make it more affordable to take a cruise that is "all inclusive". So far for the exotic cruises I'm looking at, NCL is still cheaper. But it is much more to consider than just the base price.
Ooooh, that West African itinerary is amazing and as far as I can tell pretty unique. We have some friends on that route in reverse right now and I am totally jealous. It's not a budget itinerary though. The Dawn isn't my favorite ship (it has no observation deck which is a shame) but I would love to try that sailing. And yes, we always add in all of the extra fees/charges when making decisions. The "all inclusive" lines, for us, seem to be more expensive because while they bake all the charges into the price, they are including things (like wifi) that I might not use or really care about much, so I'm paying for extras I don't need. With NCL I can pick what I want and I like that (plus they just often have better ports, which is what I care about most.) Let us know what you think about that West African cruise!
Great video. We are taking our first NCL cruise on the Breakaway in 3 weeks. We are really looking forward to it. But I’m seeing a lot of negative comments about NCL and how they’ve changed in the last couple of months. Have you found that to be true recently? It’s made me a bit nervous. Thanks you.
I hope you love your cruise! We haven't cruised this year yet (the one we were eyeing went through the Red Sea and was cancelled), so I don't have any recent intel. Last year we did notice that the entertainment was cut back, but we chalked that up to post-pandemic and a very long transatlantic itinerary. I very much hope those changes were temporary. We have loved all of our NCL cruises, but we are only loyal as long as we are getting what we want, so if they do make cuts we don't like, we will look elsewhere. That said, I find a lot of people complain about things I don't really care about, so I take all negative comments with a grain of salt. If you go looking for problems, you will probably find them. If you go looking to have a great time, you'll probably find that. So have fun! 😀
Adding NCL to my list of cruises to check out. I will say that we didn't dress for the formal nights on RCCL and still ate in the dining room, in fact most people weren't dressed formally and nobody cared. Maybe it's different on other lines?
Every line has different rules, and I think many of them are trending to be less formal. Which for us is great news lol. NCL has been perfectly catered to our needs but one of these days we hope to try some of the other lines to compare. I'm glad you had a good experience!
Thanks for this video. I just booked a transatlantic for me and my adult son for this April and I was starting to get worried. My main concern is that he will get bored because of so many sea days. Also, I have been reading some worrisome reviews of the ship (Norwegian Pearl). I feel a bit better now and I hope I have made the right decision lol
We like some sea days because it forces us to relax. But there's always the pool, or the gym, or be prepared with a good book. Find the roll call for your cruise on Cruise Critic and you can make friends ahead of time and those groups often put together card games and cabin tours and other activities on sea days. And remember, some people go on vacation ready to collect everything that could go wrong so they have something to complain about. NCL isn't perfect by any means, but if you go ready to look for the good stuff, you'll find that too. I'm not familiar with the Pearl, but I hope you have an excellent time! 😀
Hi guys, thanks for the video and your insights. I'm planning a European trip in a few years and am thinking of doing a repositioning cruise back to the US (Barcelona to Florida). I understand that it is possible to get a cheaper tickets the closer to the departure date, but in your experience have you seen discounts when the tickets first go on sale? How far in a advance so cruise lines begin selling repositioning cruise?
Great question. When to buy is always a hot topic, and it really just depends on how flexible you want to be. In my experience, cruises often get cheaper in the last few months right before sailing, but that comes with two very big caveats - this won't apply if the cruise sells out, which is possible - repositioning cruises have historically sailed less than full, but lately more people have discovered them so they are running more at capacity than they used to. The other issue with waiting until the last minute is that everything else you have to book - flights, hotels, etc, will all get more expensive the longer you wait. My advice is once you find the cruise you want, book it if you are ok with the price. Up until the date you have to make final payment, you can always cancel and rebook if the cruise gets cheaper. (A good travel agent can help you with this too.) And then once you've made the final payment and locked it in, just don't look at prices anymore because it will only aggravate you. We booked our Transpacific as soon as we decided to take it, about 4 months out. It did get cheaper after that, but the plane tickets would have gotten way more expensive, so we were ok with it. I suppose the other consideration is if you have a specific cabin or area you want to be in, it might be worth locking that in early, if you cancel and rebook for a cheaper price you might not be able to get that same room assignment. This isn't so important to us, but for some it is important to get that midship balcony room. So really it just depends on what factors are the most important to you. But good luck and happy planning! (And keep an eye out on the channel, I'm working on a spreadsheet to help track cruise prices over time. I'm still fiddling with it but hopefully that will be coming out in the next month or two.)
We cruise NCL all of the time, but I don't remember them asking if we wanted to dine with anyone. The last time that we dined with strangers was on the Sky in 2017. We ate lunch with a psycho nurse who kept telling her sister not to eat the butter because it was margarine and even rats won't eat that. Quite the lunch if I recall. My wife and I still joke about it.
We get asked if we want sit at a shared table now and then, but as introverts we always decline - we frequently meet people ourselves that we might dine with, but a table of strangers is just not my style. But if I had to do it, I guess I'd rather eat with someone weird and memorable! 😆 (As a nurse myself, I'll admit we have a possibly deserved reputation for bringing up questionable topics at the dinner table though because nothing phases us, we've seen too much to lose our appetite. haha)
On my cruise on the NCL Gem, I did shared dining three times. Twice it was a pleasure to meet and chat with people from around the world. But the third time was a hot mess. People were going off about politics, religion, abortion rights, pro life, Black Lives matter... you name it. It was nuts!
@@tendegreeswarmer My wife is forever giving me crap for my dinner conversations. I have virtually no filter. I am a triple threat....39 years Police, 8 years Firefighter and 6 years EMT.
@@jeanettachurchill4203 Cruise ships attract a very wide spectrum of people, talking politics with relative strangers is always a recipe for awkwardness!
Either works, I've done both. Sometimes it is easier just to book direct with the cruise line. But if you use an agent, it doesn't cost you any more, but they can often get you little perks, usually some free on board credit or something. The higher level of cabin you want, the more they can get you.
That is good news for someone like me. Flexibility is very important! My first cruise was on Holland America back in 2005 and we had set times, we made it work but I never want to go back to that.
When you say you book the last minute? Is that a month? 3 months? We are taking our first NCL cruise in January - I think I booked too early it was 3 months out. I've seen it cheaper since I booked. For us it's a repositioning cruise because it gets us from NZ to Australia. So far I'm not impressed for a couple of reasons. The first is they changed a port. I know it happens - but this was the Lyttleton/Christchurch and they changed it to a pretty small town in NZ. Also the drink package thing is goofy for us. We like sparkling water. My husband likes Starbucks. We would have to purchase 2 separate packages for 2 people to get what we want. But it's definitely not a good deal - especially since this cruise has few port days. I looked at Tahiti to NZ/Australia - but the timing didn't work. I still think that one might be in the cards in the future when we return to Oceania. Any idea what your next cruise might be?
As far as when we book, it depends on the cruise and how flexible we are. The cruise itself, as long as it doesn't sell out, almost always gets cheaper in the last few months. However, if it were to sell out, getting airfare and hotels will all go up, so you have to find a balance of finding a price that you are happy with, and then once I book I don't keep checking to make myself crazy if it gets cheaper. For our sailing from Sydney we booked a little over 3 months ahead because we had to nail down the flights and hotels and were happy enough with the price. Port changes are almost always disappointing, we've had a few over the years. Bummer about missing Christchurch though, I haven't been since before the big earthquake and I'm so curious to go back. You have to really carefully check out those drinks packages, whether it be for soda/coffee/alcohol. We've never purchased them because we would never drink enough to make it worth it. We just get drinks as we go, which is more expensive per drink, but cheaper overall. We don't have another cruise planned yet, we will be in Europe over the winter and into the summer, but not sure about what comes next yet. There are some African itineraries that interest us, and some that go into the Persian Gulf, but since we try to use these cruises as transportation and not just a holiday, it will depend on how those might fit in to our overall plans. But I'm sure we will find another one eventually! 😃 But I hope you have a great time on your cruise! Which ship are you on?
@@victw1 Excellent, we loved the Spirit! The Observation deck is terrific, and if they are doing bingo or something noisy we found the library was often deserted.
