Norwegian Cruise Lines
Experience a Whole Different Type of Cruising
Norwegian Cruise Lines - So far, this is our favorite cruise line. And
to be honest if we are looking for a cruise we look at NCL's itineraries first
to see if they have one that we are interested in.
We could tell you about all the different ships etc., but you can find that
information on a zillion other sites - including
NCL's site. We will touch on
some ships and features, but really we want to share why we think NCL is a great
vacation idea.
Norwegian Cruise Lines has revolutionized the cruise industry by
transforming the "traditional cruise" experience into a
Freestyle Cruise experience.
Essentially their service revolves around do what you want, eat where you
want, when you want to. So no real schedules to keep - other than when to
return from shore excursions! (you don't want to get left in the ports I
assume!)
The industry is responding to this way of cruising, as other cruise lines are
starting to offer more options for dining and activities (i.e. Princess
cruises offers a beeper system in their dining room).
Why we think they are great:
To book your NCL Cruise click on the logo
Our
History with Norwegian
Cruise Lines and Why we Love Them
Warren and I enjoy cruising. However I am not a fan of the traditional
cruising - mainly I don't like eating in the dining room at a designated time. Especially if
we didn't get the later dining time. We hate having to rush back, shower and get
changed for dinner.
In May of 2006, we wanted to take a holiday in July as Montana was going to
camp. Warren suggested a cruise and I said, only if I don't have to be at dinner
at a certain time and I haven't seen Bermuda - maybe if the itinerary goes to
Bermuda.
Next thing I know, Warren found NCL - freestyle cruising (so no dining times)
- and the Norwegian Dawn - Itinerary is New York City to Bermuda and the Bahamas.
I
couldn't fight that!
So I started to do some research on NCL and the Norwegian Dawn. At the time
it was one of NCL's newer ships. I found that people either LOVED NCL and the
freestyle dining or hated it. There never seemed to be much middle ground.
This cruise worked for us as we only had a week or so and it departed from
Manhattan. We used our air miles for airfare, however on the night we were to
fly out, LaGuardia was fogged in. We had a business meeting in Manhattan later
the next day so we had to get into New York. We hopped in the car, drove
instead. The benefit of a New York departure and living in Toronto (or the
Eastern Seaboard I would think).
I joined a couple of online boards and ended up meeting a great group of
people that were all going on the same cruise. So Warren started to look into
pricing - he ended up with a great deal for a suite. Then a week before NCL
called us and offered us an Owner's Suite for a little more money. We
couldn't resist. Best decision we ever made - and I am sure it has majorly
contributed to our love for NCL.
This is a video we did of our suite!
We were treated like a King and Queen in the suite and met so many great
people - That was it for us Norwegian Cruise Lines all the way!
Our
Other Cruises with
Norwegian Cruise Lines
The next summer we wanted to book a cruise to either Hawaii or Alaska,
again
we looked to NCL. We decided that we didn't want to be cold so Hawaii won!
NCL was doing the NCL America program and had 3 ships, the
Pride of America, Pride of Aloha and the Pride of Hawaii. We had heard that the
service on the Hawaii ships wasn't as good as the regular NCL ships, but we knew
we wanted to book a suite anyway so hopefully it wouldn't be an issue. As of March of 2009, there is
only one NCL
ship left in Hawaii, the Pride of America.
We chose the Pride of Hawaii, so we could enjoy the bigger ship, while
getting a taste for all the islands. We ended up in a romance suite at the back
of the ship which was perfect for us!
It turned out to be a beautiful romantic cruise vacation in Hawaii -
check it out here.
We also did a cruise to nowhere out of Boston for the inauguration of the
Norwegian Gem in December of 2007. It was a 2 night cruise that cruised out of
Boston in the middle of a NorEaster winter storm. We stayed in a balcony cabin
and enjoyed the ship - but I had never seen waves like that! It didn't matter
though the ship held her own and everyone had a great time.
For Christmas of 2009 we sailed on the Norwegian Jade, formally the Pride
of Hawaii, out of Barcelona. We had a fabulous cruise to Rome, Pompeii, Athens, Egypt, and
Turkey over Christmas and New Years Eve.
March of 2010, we sailed on the
Norwegian
Jewel. It was an amazing family vacation idea!
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One Families Norwegian Cruise Lines Cruise Experience
Check out this one families experience on the Norwegian Pearl. This is
a CNBC video promoting their new
show on cruises. It gives you a good idea of what you can expect. Keep in mind however,
they chose to show how much things cost. It doesn't mean that you have to make
the same choices - you could spend more or less :-)
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Norwegian Cruise Lines to Excellent Vacation Ideas
