Anyone been on a Norwegian Cruise Line cruise? About This Page:

[KathyL]

DH and I have cruised many times in the past; however, we have never done Norwegian Cruise Line. We are considering doing a NCL cruise over Christmas in December 2009. Our reasoning for choosing this cruise line is because they offer a 7 night trip out of NYC and we wouldn't have to deal with flying to Florida. This particular cruise is on the Norwegian Gem and goes round trip from NYC to the Florida and the Bahamas. Please share you experiences (good or bad) as DH is very skeptical about choosing a line we have never sailed on before. The ship gets very mixed reviews on Cruise Critic. Thanks.

[crystalloubear]

We did an NCL cruise out of NYC on the Norwegian Dawn. It went to Port Canaveral. Miami, Nassua and NCL's private island. We have cruised on many lines DCL, Celebrity, Royal Caribean, NCL and Carnival. That is pretty much the order I'd rank them in. NCL is different with the freestyle dining - it was ok with the kids but when my husband and I go alone, we enjoy sharing a table at dinner with others and making new friends and you don't get that on NCL. The food was all good, the ship was nice too. My biggest complaint about the cruise was the people on board were all from the NY, NJ, PA, CT area so it didn't seem as much like getting away from all the hustle and bustle but like going with all our neighbors if that makes any sense.

[KathyL]

Thanks for your reply Crystal. DH and I have really enjoyed the Princess cruises that we have taken, and NCL looks so different. We will probably end up doing Princess again and just fly to Florida. And, since we have sailed on Princess so many times, we get pretty good "perks".

[delilah smith]

DH and I have been on NCL a few times and live in NY. No amount of money could get us to go out of NYC again. We had a BAD time for all 12 days. It had nothing to do with NCL not at all, it was all the 500 + rude people on board, out of about 750. WE fly to where we have to and go from thier. We love that we can eat dinner when we want to. I would say give them a try just dont go out of NYC.

[Courtney892]

I have travelled on about 4 different cruise lines (Disney before they had their own ships, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and NCL),and NCL was my least favorite. Part of that is no doubt due to some of the ppl in our group who I did not know pre-cruise and wish I didn't ever meet. There were a lot of games going on during the days at sea which was a lot of fun for our mostly teenaged group. I went pre freestyle dining, but I still would complain about the food not being up to the standards of the other lines.

I'd be unlikely to take NCL now because freestyle dining doesn't appeal to me.