Norwegian Cruise Line Review Ships, Destinations, Dining 2023
Table Of Content
Both of these smaller cruise ships have a more relaxed atmosphere onboard; they make great vessels for port-intensive itineraries where your destination is the focus of the cruise. Free for and accessible only to passengers booked in Norwegian Encore's The Haven suite enclave, The Haven Restaurant is a serene escape from the usual bustle of restaurants elsewhere on board. I dined there one night, and the food quality was superior to the ship's other available dining options.
Norwegian Dawn Itineraries
Earn one point for every night you spend on a sailing and double points in suites or The Haven category accommodations. Norwegian Viva launched in the summer of 2023, making it the newest ship for NCL. It has special features like a three-tier race track, the fastest slides at sea, a food hall with 11 complimentary eateries and a sustainable cocktail bar.
What Is the Best Norwegian Cruise Ship?
The ship operates on a cashless system where passengers use their room key cards to charge purchases to their onboard accounts. Panama Canal repositioning sailings begin at $43 per person, per night, for an inside cabin on a 21-night voyage from Seattle to Miami in the fall of 2023. At least one performance will be in the main theater, while the rest are held in The Social Comedy & Night Club on Deck 7. Of the two comedians I saw, one was impressive without being vulgar, which I appreciated, while the other was just so-so in terms of laugh factor.
Norwegian Cruise Line credit card
Here, smart casual attire is required for dinner, which means that guests should wear items such as trousers or skirts with a collared shirt or blouse. It’s not necessary to wear a jacket or tie, but it’s always a good idea to dress up a little. If you’re sailing with a family, you’ll have more fun on the newer ships, but the smaller ships offer some of the best itineraries too. The newest ship to launch for NCL is the Norwegian Viva – a new Prima Class ship that is clearly looking to differentiate itself. The key unique features are extra open spaces on deck and a focus on even better service, with a higher staff-to-guest ratio ensuring you never have to wait for everything.
What are the best cruise lines of 2024 for every traveler? - Cruise Blog
What are the best cruise lines of 2024 for every traveler?.
Posted: Wed, 25 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Upon boarding in Spain, we were greeted with cooling towels and fruit-infused water by friendly crew members.
Choir of Man is easily the main event in the Encore Theater on Norwegian Encore. My room was a 214-square-foot standard balcony cabin with a 38-square-foot balcony. It was comfortable and elegantly appointed, and the only gripes I have are related to storage. The idea of the “best” ship is subjective, but the biggest and newest ship is Norwegian Encore, which debuted in 2019.
If a spa experience is what you’re after, consider booking a Spa Suite, Mini-Suite, or Balcony Stateroom. These relaxing rooms are located close to the Mandara Spa and include access to the Thermal Spa Suites, sauna, hydrotherapy pools, steam room, and heated loungers. I enjoyed too much good food in the free and specialty restaurants and did not spend nearly enough time in the gym or spa. The Free at Sea package included 300 minutes of Wi-Fi for this entire 12-night cruise, meaning I had to remember to log off to keep from using minutes. My father quickly learned logging off was not the same as just turning off the Wi-Fi on his device after a bunch of his allotted minutes went away fairly quickly when he wasn’t doing anything. The Norwegian app is available to download on mobile devices and is the place to keep track of things like dining times, activities and expenses.
Audience interaction includes bringing some attendees up on stage for drinks, as well as singing and dancing in the aisles. It's free, but you'll need to make reservations if you don't want to miss out. Of particular note is 678 Ocean Place, a three-story promenade that rises from Deck 6 to Deck 8 and serves as the ship's central hub. There, you'll find several bars, lounges and shops, as well as the casino and the ship's comedy club, art gallery, photography studio and, not far away, the atrium, where the guest services desk is located. It was the first cruise line to eliminate the traditional set dining times when it introduced Freestyle Dining, allowing guests to eat at any time at up to 28 different locations on each ship. We may be compensated when you click on product links, such as credit cards, from one or more of our advertising partners.
The ship has a great range of dining venues, one of the most popular live shows on the entire fleet with Burn The Floor, and a huge amount of venues for guests of all ages, including great kids and teens clubs. Pride of America is the only ship in the world that sails under the US flag, and it is NCL’s primary ship for exploring the islands of Hawaii. And this is why people love it – the ship itself is nothing too special, although people do enjoy the quieter atmosphere and the extra space offered by hosting fewer guests. That’s helped by the shorter itineraries – Norwegian Sky specialises in 3-5 day cruising. It’s a ship that is super lively, has great food and overall just feels like a classic short break cruise experience, without a load of fancy bells and whistles. Norwegian Sky is the longest-serving and smallest ship in the NCL fleet but it’s still really popular with guests.
The ship
Other added-fee options include a teppanyaki venue called, unoriginally, Teppanyaki; Italian restaurant Onda by Scarpetta; seafood eatery Ocean Blue; Cagney's Steakhouse; and Le Bistro if you're hankering for French cuisine. I ordered a burger with fries and a milkshake when I ate there for lunch, and it was the perfect bit of comfort food to hold me over until dinner. Although the American Diner's fare was tasty, you can order similar items (minus the milkshake) for no fee at The Local. Your dining package will cover a meal at American Diner, but milkshakes still cost extra. A wall-mounted TV offered NCL-produced programming, such as ship positioning, port information and shopping talks. It also offered for-fee on-demand movies, a small selection of live TV channels and interactive functions that allowed me to check my onboard bill.
The exclusive, keycard-accessed suite complex called The Haven (found on 13 of Norwegian's 19 ships) comes with private lounges, pools and other tony features. It's essentially a small, luxury vessel that has been planted atop otherwise middle-class, mass-market megaships. These complexes appeal to well-heeled travelers who want a luxury cruising experience while also getting all the fun attractions, entertainment and dining venues only a mass-market megaship can offer. Encore cabins range from compact solo studios to huge family suites that can sleep up to six. Note the "based on double occupancy" caveat in the above paragraph. As is typical for cruise lines, Norwegian charges on a per-person basis, not per room, and it prices most cabins based on two people occupying a room.
Absolutely do not miss the edamame, pork belly bao buns and chicken teriyaki. My seven-day cruise traveled round trip from Seattle and visited Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan in Alaska and Victoria in Canada's British Columbia with a scenic Glacier Bay sea day thrown in. The ports themselves are great and absolutely on many cruisers' bucket lists.
These expansive 6,694-square-foot cabins consist of three bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms and enormous two-story outside deck areas. They can comfortably sleep seven people, providing more space than one could possibly need. The individual bedrooms vary in size and come with impressive bathrooms and closet space. Two bedrooms have king-sized beds and whirlpool tubs, while the third bedroom has a queen-sized bed, a standard bathtub, and a shower.
Let’s start with the positives – Norwegian Epic is a ship that has something for everyone. It is packed with live entertainment, fun activities including bowling, some great water slides and a lot of restaurant choices. Reading the reviews, the negative comments are mainly those levelled at the cruise line as a whole – disorganisation at ports, the expense of paying extra for so much on-board, and pre-cruise service. So it feels a little harsh that this exciting, feature-packed ship is nearer the bottom of the list.
Every vessel has some sort of sushi restaurant, often called Sushi or Wasabi, and there are hibachi-style teppanyaki restaurants on nearly every Norwegian vessel. On Norwegian's recently built Breakaway Plus-class ships, there are up to 20 places to grab a bite, ranging from high-end French restaurants and steakhouses to casual pubs. Like Royal Caribbean ships, Norwegian vessels have an inordinate amount of teen- and tween-friendly attractions — everything from some of the largest waterslides at sea to the only go-kart tracks on the ocean.
Called Entourage, the teen zone is a place for teens to hang out, dance and play games, and it's supervised by counselors who plan activities and challenges. Norwegian also has rooms on its ships for babies and toddlers ages 6 months to 3 years. Called Guppies, the program offers parents a place to play with their youngest children, with occasional youth staff-led activities and games. The top decks of a few Norwegian ships — mostly the bigger ones — also have a ropes course, a climbing wall or both.
But, in trying to offer the variety needed for this to work, the ship ended up with a really confusing layout – packing in restaurants and bars with apparently little thought to how guests would navigate them easily. It’s a smaller ship in the fleet, so better suited to adults who want a more relaxing break. Norwegian Getaway was the second Breakaway Class ship and people love the variety of entertainment and dining venues on board.
Comments
Post a Comment