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RocPin
Life's Beachy <3
Member since 2/08 6765 total posts
Name:
Heather
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Norwegian Cruise Line
Does anyone have experience with this cruise line? Did you like the whole "freestyle" cruising?
DH and I just booked a 7 night cruise at the end of the year for his mothers 60th birthday. The entire family is going.
Any experiences? We will be on the Norwegian Epic ship and have our 2 year old in tow.
Thanks!
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Posted 3/1/13 2:19 PM  |
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LSP2005
Bunny kisses are so cute!
Member since 5/05 19461 total posts
Name:
L
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Re: Norwegian Cruise Line
I really like the freestlyle dining concept - not being locked into one time/table is great. With that said you get what you pay for. I feel the quality has gone down a lot and it basically forces you to eat at their expensive places.
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| Posted 3/1/13 4:13 PM |
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jlk51496
Mom of 3 - YIKES! =)
Member since 10/09 6758 total posts
Name:
Katie
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Re: Norwegian Cruise Line
Posted by LSP2005
I really like the freestlyle dining concept - not being locked into one time/table is great. With that said you get what you pay for. I feel the quality has gone down a lot and it basically forces you to eat at their expensive places.
I agree...not really a fan! I didnt like that the "freestyle dining" menus in the regular dining halls were the same thing every night...and it wasn't even that great! So it forced you to spend extra money to go to their specialty restaurants!
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| Posted 3/1/13 5:12 PM |
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Blazesyth
*yawn*
Member since 5/05 8129 total posts
Name:
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Re: Norwegian Cruise Line
Posted by jlk51496
Posted by LSP2005
I really like the freestlyle dining concept - not being locked into one time/table is great. With that said you get what you pay for. I feel the quality has gone down a lot and it basically forces you to eat at their expensive places.
I agree...not really a fan! I didnt like that the "freestyle dining" menus in the regular dining halls were the same thing every night...and it wasn't even that great! So it forced you to spend extra money to go to their specialty restaurants!
Same.
If you add up eating in the speciality restaurants every single night (which we think is a must on NCL, as we thought the free dining rooms tasted like hospital cafeteria food) then the cheaper price you spend for for the cruise goes away.
Plus, it's not even like the service makes up for the food. 
ETA: There are different menus in the free dining rooms every night (one side of the menu is the same, like the favorites and then the other side is something different.) That being said, we tried 2 nights and each night it wasn't good. We basically had 2 bites of the food, left and went up to the buffet and got a hamburger. Then made specialty restaurant reservations for the rest of the week.
Message edited 3/1/2013 10:45:03 PM.
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| Posted 3/1/13 10:36 PM |
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nferrandi
too excited for words
Member since 10/05 18538 total posts
Name:
Nicole
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Re: Norwegian Cruise Line
I've cruised NCL twice. We found the dining room food better on our first cruise with them 6 years ago then on our cruise last year. That said, it wasn't terrible, it just wasn't fantastic either. We liked to food in Blue Lagoon, which is kind of like a diner, and it's free. We did lunch there a lot because we're not big on buffets and the dining rooms took longer. The specialty restaurants are usually pretty good, and to us it's worth the expense. We did the steak house and French the first time and they were both fantastic. On the last cruise we had two kids, so we did the steak house, the Brazilian, hibachi and Chinese. Overall the food was pretty good, but we didn't feel the service was as good as the first cruise.
My DH isn't overly keen on cruising again in general, but if we did I would rather try another cruise line, but certainly wouldn't be opposed to NCL if the price was right.
Message edited 3/2/2013 2:06:39 PM.
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| Posted 3/2/13 10:14 AM |
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MrsFrizzle
<3
Member since 9/09 4628 total posts
Name:
Kristin
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Re: Norwegian Cruise Line
Posted by LSP2005
I really like the freestlyle dining concept - not being locked into one time/table is great. With that said you get what you pay for. I feel the quality has gone down a lot and it basically forces you to eat at their expensive places.
100%. The NCL cruises themselves are great and they make awesome drinks.
But we definitely felt the free dining room food was lackluster at times. The pay restaurants were all out of this world. It was annoying bc we felt forced to eat there but then again NCL cruises tend to be cheaper so we feel like it balances out.
We actually booked one for May
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| Posted 3/2/13 11:27 AM |
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LIVINMYDREAM
LIF Adolescent
Member since 12/07 833 total posts
Name:
Erin
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Re: Norwegian Cruise Line
Posted by jkfris09
Posted by LSP2005
I really like the freestlyle dining concept - not being locked into one time/table is great. With that said you get what you pay for. I feel the quality has gone down a lot and it basically forces you to eat at their expensive places.
100%. The NCL cruises themselves are great and they make awesome drinks.
But we definitely felt the free dining room food was lackluster at times. The pay restaurants were all out of this world. It was annoying bc we felt forced to eat there but then again NCL cruises tend to be cheaper so we feel like it balances out.
We actually booked one for May
We actualy just got back yesterday from a cruise on the Norwegian Jewel, and I will say that I agree with you 100%.. Drinks were great and the pay for restaraunts were incredible especially Le Bistro, The French Restaraunt.
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| Posted 3/11/13 9:47 AM |
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