Thread: Is Norwegian the right cruise line for us?

I'm totally new to cruising and am trying to decide which cruise line to book our cruise with. I don't want the TA BS ... I want the straight info from someone who's been there. We may never take another cruise, so I don't mind paying. I don't like a lot of the fru fru formal stuff. Is this the best line for me?

Sounds like a YES to me, but let me explain. Our first cruise ever was in 2002, and we had no clue what we were doing in regard to cruise lines. As it turned out, it was NCL, we loved FreeStyle dining, and our fate was sealed. We have since taken four more cuises, all with NCL, gotten our whole family involved, including a 15 passenger group cruise this past June on the Majesty.

It appears the line in the sand is the formality issue you mentioned, that being the necessity or privilege of dressing up a couple times, and the requirement or comfort of dining at the same time each meal, with the same passengers, and the same waitstaff. We enjoy having the option to dine whenever we want, wherever we want. We like having different waitstaff attend to our needs, and enjoy interacting with such staff from different countries. Though some may feel that such practice may deter the incentive to provide high quality service, we have found absolutely no evidence of this. We can site example after example of waitstaff providing us with "above and beyond" service. In reality, why would you not perform your job to the best of your ability, in line with your management's objectives, whether or not "tips" were on the line? I don't get tips in my line of work, and I have always strived to perform at the highest level. The other big issue, formal nights, is handled on NCL by having formal option nights. Though not nearly the same as traditional formal night cruising, it does provide passengers the option of wearing that little extra, and not feeling out of place. Some folks choose to dress up every night, and that's certainly OK and not out of place either.

Our bottom line, we like the ships, staff, entertainment, food, itinerary and pricing. You could probably find other cruise lines which meet and maybe exceed any of the particular categories, but it is our experience, much of it based on hearing from other passengers with much more experience and reading other message boards, that NCL offers everything we want in a cruise, all in one place.

Best of luck finding a great cruise, and I hope you do many more.

I thank you for your input, Tomct! I've narrowed it down to either Royal Caribbean or Carnival. I'm going to start shopping around now.

I would have to say that of my 8 cruises, I would rank Princess and NCL at the bottom of the list of cruise lines. I was on the Norwegian Star to Hawaii. I loved the ship. She's a beautiful ship. But what turns me off of NCL is the Freestyle dining. I'm not a dress up to the nines, fru fru type of person. But I do like the whole assigned seating, assigned table, assigned waiter deal with traditional dining on Carnival, RCI, HAL, etc. I certainly felt that I recived much better service on those other lines than I did on NCL.

But that is my own personal opinion. Would I go on NCL again? If the itinerary and price were right, I wouldn't say no. But is it my first choice? No.

Thanks jstducky. I'll keep this in mind. I'm pretty sure we will go with Carnival. I'm still looking though. I appreciate all the information I've received here!