As those who faithfully follow me (I both thank you and seriously question your judgment) know, I’m not loyal to any cruise line (I’m mostly loyal to one man though, with one exception for cruise ship captains. That time I decorated my cabin door with a s**t ton of pineapples was a naïve and awkward accident!). I look for deals and like variety when it comes to lines, ships, departure ports, and itineraries. However, as it happens, of all the lines I’ve sailed, I have the highest loyalty status on NCL. In fact, I’m gearing up for my first cruise on NCL as a Platinum Latitudes member (NCL’s loyalty program). So I thought I’d jot down the things that keep me coming back again and again for those who may be booked on or considering a first cruise on NCL.
Like many people, I suspect, I first became interested in NCL after seeing the line’s vibrant hull art on ships docked near the Carnival ships I sailed on almost exclusively back in the day. It was a few years before I took the plunge and tried NCL, but I’m glad I did! I’ll get more into why in a minute, but first a few words about the thing that most distinguishes NCL to the casual observer: the hull art.
NCL started their hull art program with the Dawn back in 2002. Early designs were either provided by large design firms or, in the case of the Epic, were designed in-house by NCL’s creative service team. In 2013, staring with the Breakaway and the Getaway, NCL stepped up their game and began commissioning world-renowned artists to design hulls. Some of them include: Peter Max for his New York theme on the Norwegian Breakaway, Guy Harvey for his Miami theme on the Norwegian Escape and Tan Ping for his China theme on the Norwegian Joy.
My favorite NCL hull art is on the Bliss and was designed by famous marine artist Wyland. It features marine life, including a mother humpback whale and her calf. Living in Seattle, I’m familiar with the many Wyland murals found around the city. Keep your eye out for them if you ever cruise from here!
So let’s move on to the other things I love about NCL, beginning with the most important one: FOOD!
I’ve always said I should have been born in India. And China. And Thailand. And Italy. And Mexico. Maybe I just love to eat. But I especially love Indian food. Those who share my love of both cruising and Indian food will probably agree that, surprisingly, some of the best Indian food you can get is on a cruise ship. And NCL does Indian food very, very well – it’s both delicious and plentiful.
On most NCL ships, you’ll find a spread of Indian selections on the buffet at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I eat it for lunch nearly every day on my NCL cruises. This also makes NCL a great choice for vegetarians. On some lines, lunch for a vegetarian at the buffet consists of a salad, a pile of mashed potatoes, a hot pasta dish if you’re lucky, bread, and some fruit. You can get all of that on NCL (I mean, I do love me some mashed potatoes!), but you’ll also get dal, aloo gobi, raita, naan and many other rotating dishes.
While many other lines are moving closer and closer to NCL’s model of dining, NCL has been ahead of the curve in offering flexibility and choice to diners. While some lines still have set dinner times in the main dining room (either an early or late seating) where guests sit at the same table, often with strangers, every night, on NCL you dine each night at whatever time you want and generally only sit with those in your cruising party (unless you request a shared table, which can sometimes be accommodated if others have also requested that). The dining experience on NCL is much more like a regular land-based restaurant.
Speaking of restaurants, I love the number and variety of specialty restaurants offered on NCL. On larger NCL ships, you’ll find everything from a traditional steakhouse to international fusion dishes offered at Food Republic. Mexican? Check. Japenese teppanyaki? Check. Seafood? Check. BBQ? Check. Italian? Check. And on most ships there’s a Chinese restaurant and a pub-style restaurant available at no extra charge. NCL also offers dining packages and “free at sea” offers that can make dining at specialty restaurants a bit more affordable (always price out a few options to make sure you’re getting the best deal for what you want).
While I find the evening performances in the main theater on cruises entertaining enough, I wouldn’t pay to see them on land. They’re more like something I’d drag myself out to sit on a lawn somewhere to see for free because some relative was in it: “that wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.” That changed when I sailed on NCL for the first time and 10 minutes into “Jersey Boys” wondered, “where the heck am I? New Jersey? New York?” That’s to say the performance was so good, it felt like I was actually on the streets of New Jersey or seeing the show on Broadway in New York. Okay, it wasn’t actually Broadway quality, but it was pretty darn close!
Larger NCL ships feature full-length Broadway shows with a full cast and they’re really, really good! Current productions include: “Kinky Boots” on the Encore, “After Midnight” on the Escape, and “Six” on the Bliss and Breakaway.
Since I usually book based on the lowest price for the general dates and itinerary I’m looking for, the fact that I’ve cruised so much on NCL tells you what a great value the line can be. I used to default to Carnival because I believed it was the cheapest line. NOT ALWAYS TRUE! In fact, I’m taking two cruises to Alaska from Seattle this summer and I paid more on Carnival than on NCL.
Many people also love NCL for the “Free At Sea” program. Fares on NCL will often include a drink package, dining package, internet credit, shore excursion credit, or free extra guests or flights. However, I usually purchase a “sail away” rate that does not include most of those things which raise your base fare and come with a charge for gratuities (that may or may not actually be more than what you would normally spend buying drinks and dinners al la carte). Again, always price out a few options and see what makes the most sense for your situation. Free At Sea often isn’t a good value for me, so I opt out. But for many it will be.
Of all the cruise lines I sail on regularly (Carnival, Celebrity, Holland America, NCL, Princess, and Royal Caribbean), NCL has the best loyalty program (by leaps and bounds) in my opinion. Go here to see a rundown of all the benefits of each tier level. Now that I’m Platinum, I’m especially looking forward to priority embarkation and debarkation, two free dinners for two at specialty restaurants, chocolate covered strawberries, a free Behind the Scenes Tour, and a free bag of laundry on each sailing.
NCL has some great itineraries, some of which are difficult or impossible to find on another line. Some of my favorite itineraries, a 7-day Hawaii, a 21 day Panama Canal full transit from Miami to Seattle, Bermuda, and Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska, have been on NCL. If you want to cruise the Hawaiian Islands without having to first sail there from the West Coast with a stop off in Mexico or Canada, you’ll have to sail NCL. The Pride of American on NCL is the only American flagged cruise ship which allows it to sail the Hawaiian islands without stopping in a foreign port. And it includes a scenic cruise along the spectacular Nāpali coast (as shown in the photo above).
As someone who frequently cruises solo, I really appreciate how solo friendly NCL is. NCL offers one of the highest number of studio cabins designed especially for solo cruisers of any line. These studio cabins are available on the Bliss, Breakaway, Encore, Epic, Escape, Getaway, and the Pride of America. There will also be studio cabins on the Prima which debuts in 2022.
On those ships with studio cabins (with the exception of the Pride of America), NCL also offers an exclusive and included Studio Lounge with sofas, TVs, coffee, snacks, and organized activities for solo cruisers. The Lounge and the dedicated solo activities can be a great way to meet other solos to eat dinner with or meet for a drink at the bar or even, uh hum, make out with in the back seat of your parent’s car (or, at least, what feels like the back seat of your parent’s car – those studio cabins are SMALL).
I know it’s risky to end with this one, because opinions and experiences are so varied, but I’ve personally been impressed with how NCL has handled Covid protocols from the very beginning. They’ve stood firm on vaccinations and testing where some other lines have been more wishy washy and scrambled to adjust (at the expense of passengers) when they started seeing positive cases (looking at you Carnival). NCL sails 100% vaccinated ships and requires universal testing administered by the line at check-in. I know there have been some hiccups with regard to testing (I saw the looooong lines of people waiting to be tested prior to boarding the Encore in Seattle), but NCL is doing the right thing by administering the test themselves at no extra expense to guests. I’d go so far as to assert that an NCL cruise is probably one of the safest vacation options right now. Agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments along with anything else you love about NCL that I missed!
And with that…
Class Dismissed.
Homework (10 points): Check out the 10 Things I Wish I’d Know Before My First Cruise and my 20 Pro Tips For Saving Money On A Cruise Ship.
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