Slight correction. The shore excursion credit is $50.00 per cabin, per port. Not per person. The racing Kart has also increased in price to $15 for 8 minutes 😊
We first began cruising with Norwegian, and with one exception (and one upcoming exception), we've cruised nine times on NCL. My favorite part is the freestyle dining, which they were the first to implement, and still (I think, and I've heard) the best at doing it. So I think that's a somewhat unique aspect of NCL that is done better and that someone would want to know before cruising NCL!
Hi Guys love the reviews keep them coming we have just done a 11 nights on the Pearl which we really enjoyed One thing we didn’t realise there’s no washing facility laundry unless you get them to do it which very expensive our cabin steward told us to wait a couple of days until they had special deal 20 US dollars for a bag the one on the hanger in the cupboard so we filled that up got us out of trouble for rest of the cruise
If you take the drink package you will be charged a gratuity on the value of the package - hundreds of dollars. If you take the optional dinners you will also be charged the gratuity and if you there are three in you group the third pays full price. I have always turned down the optional dinners since the included dinners are excellent
@@sarah06324 oh it was an amazing experienced. The NCL epic cruise ship crews were all kind and helpful. Glad it wasn’t that crowded at all. The only kind of disappointments were the food bec it seems they’re all same menu everyday, lol. If you want a diff kind, you need to go to a restaurant like Cagney’s, O’Sheehan and it’ll tell you on the freestyle pamphlets they give out everyday what restaurants are free. Other downside, are the excursions bec Italy are restricted right now, so you need to stayed with the group. In Spain, you can go on your own which I do recommend going on a hop on hop off bus. It’s cheaper if you buy your bus ticket right at the bus stop compared to buying them at the cruise ship. There are diff colors of buses you can get on and it depends on where do you want to go but make sure to get some Euros before you get to your cruise bec the buses only takes local currency. Florence, Italy are closed so we took the excursions to Pompeii and then went to Leaning Tower of Pisa the next day. There are some choices and they’re extra. I think costs us $54/pp per excursions. If you bought some pizza at Naples better eat it there coz the cruise ship will not let you take any opened food at all. Mine, I end up throwing my pizza away 😔 There’s lots of free shows too that you can watched. You just need to make reservations. I love the Priscilla Queen of the Dessert and Burning the Floor. Hope to do it again someday.
Hey Guys... I think you said the shore excursion package was $ 50.00 per person per port... but it is $ 50.00 per cabin per port. Just wanted to bring that to your attention. By the way I love your videos.
Great information! Celebrity has some similar perks, however Celebrity is now charging $14/day if you take the drinks package perk. Not sure if other cruise lines will follow.
"FREE" IS NOT "FREE" service charges apply on everything - on a 21 day cruise for two, The NCL beverage service charge is $1039.76 CAD . Cabin gratuities amount to $813 CAD - all extra..
When I booked my next cruise, I noticed found out that NCL had both a Sail-Away rate, which did not let you choose a cabin, and did not let you get the free at sea offers, and a slightly more expensive Guarantee Rate, which did not let you choose your cabin, but did let you get the Free at sea stuff. In addition, if you are a Latitudes Member, booking through the Latitudes offer can be amazing. I booked a month or 2 ago, and got an extra point per night, 20% off, AND ALL free at sea offers. Make sure to check this out before you book.
Be careful of the very misleading advertising about their sale away fares and what it includes and mostly what it doesn't. Do you homework on this line.
I have just returned from a Med cruise on the Epic. Im a little confused about the comments regarding gratuities on the free drinks package. I was not charged gratuities on the drinks package. I was only charged the daily gratuities.(I think it was $15 a day). Also I booked my own tours online. Saved at least 50% on NCL prices for similar tours.
I hope you enjoyed it!, we will go on the end of june, I have one question please is it manduatory to pay “pre-pay servise charge 378$” ? Before the trip? This is what you mean about (gratuities)?, thank you
@@mahasheikho9139 No. You can pay it at the end of the trip. You can challenge it if you believe you have received poor service. As a European I think the cruise lines should pay their staff a decent wage rather charging customers gratuities but then the price would go up so you would pay anyway. Its accepted as the norm in America.
Thank you so much for your reply!, got it!, if you allow me for another questions please, are the drinks( water, juice, coffee, tea, non alchohol) whole day included with the our payment? Or I need to buy the drink package?
@@mahasheikho9139 Not entirely sure because I took the drinks package. This info should be on NCLs website. Tea and Coffee is free in the buffet. Im not sure about the bars. They put water in your mini bar but it's €5.50 for a litre!
I am brand new to cruising! I love these videos! I am wondering how to find out what the themed night are? I am going on the Norwegian Getaway in November.
Gr8 Video guys, I know one thing about NCL, they have Solo cabins and offers very reasonable price cruises as compared to others, that said their itinaries are not always up to snuff as compared to Princess, especially if your cruising through the Panama Canal coast to coast, in my humble opinion its worth paying the little bit extra for some longer shore time and stops in Panama as well, just my take. 👌🏼
Yeah, if both of you are lushes. I see I'd be charged over 500 US for gratuities with the open bar drink package on ia 14 day trip. I drink, but my partner doesn't, and I generally only want a glass of champagne or a pint of strong beer, neither of which is incluced, a day, in addition to some espresso in the morning. Also not included. This drinks package only makes sense if everyone in your party drinks 4 or 5 cocktails every day. I'll probably have 2 or 3 on the whole trip, if any.
hi we are going on the encore from southampton-new york -we have pre-paid tips and have speciality dinning for 4 days -do we have to pay any tips on top-thanks
One last question and I promise to leave you guys alone😋. Would you recommend the Sky princess or Carnivals Panorama? I just want to find something fancy. If you have time to reply thank you and if not I totally get it. Take care friends.
Do you think the Haven is worth it, also have you been on cruises over the holidays, or are they over crowded? Alas I already got both for this Christmas. Signed concerned
Love your vlogs, great job boys keep it up! I've heard some negative things about the food, what's the food like, not the specialty dining, but in the main dining room and the buffet? Also heard that NCL is like a 3 star hotel, is this accurate?
I wouldn't say its a three star hotel. Thats a harsh opinion. I would say it is on par with Royal Caribbean. Main dining room food was similar to our recent Royal sailing and we love the food from the pub onboard which is totally included. Buffet was fantastic too.
I wish I had known how few people actually get to attend the big shows. Two showings are not enough to accommodate all the guests that wish to see them.
I know. I had the experience of reserving a seat, but I didn’t get there a full 15 minutes before hand. They gave away all the seats and dozens of people who had reservations were not seated. The supply didn’t meet the demand.
That's the problem with the Mega ships. Forget anything above 4000 passengers unless you like the amusement park atmosphere. I prefer under 3000 passengers. My absolute favorite is about 2200 passenger. No worries about crowds and still a lot of ship to enjoy.
Great ship. Skip NCL as the food and passenger service is far superior on all Princess ships. Very consistent quality unlike NCL. On Princess if two of you are in a cabin and only one person drinks Princess will allow you to purchase only 1 package.
For clarification. Are there any cruise lines that , when asked, will not take off the daily gratuities from your account? I know that Cunard and Fred Olsen will do this if you fill in a form citing, for example, that you prefer to reward staff individually for their customer service.
@@J1gs0r3 because those people work their asses off for you your entire cruise & work mainly for tips. U must be the person who doesn't tip on food delivery too! Your food will sit for hours without an upfront tip, just in case u are that person & wonder y it takes a long time to get ur order. Tipping shows ur appreciation for people doing things for u that u don't want to do urself
Keep in mind the $50.00 per port shore excursion credit being offerd is per cabin and not per person :)
Thanks guy for pointing this out.
I was caught off guard about this and not happy!
Best to travel solo then
@@karenrementer5374 THEY SCREW EVERYONE.
Slight correction. The shore excursion credit is $50.00 per cabin, per port. Not per person. The racing Kart has also increased in price to $15 for 8 minutes 😊
We first began cruising with Norwegian, and with one exception (and one upcoming exception), we've cruised nine times on NCL. My favorite part is the freestyle dining, which they were the first to implement, and still (I think, and I've heard) the best at doing it. So I think that's a somewhat unique aspect of NCL that is done better and that someone would want to know before cruising NCL!
Princess offers both anytime or traditional dining and their food is much higher quality and consistent.
The number of nights of specialty dining in the package depends on the length of cruise as well.
Hi Guys love the reviews keep them coming we have just done a 11 nights on the Pearl which we really enjoyed
One thing we didn’t realise there’s no washing facility laundry unless you get them to do it which very expensive our cabin steward told us to wait a couple of days until they had special deal 20 US dollars for a bag the one on the hanger in the cupboard so we filled that up got us out of trouble for rest of the cruise
Hey Ian, Good tip on the Laundry bag. We did this on our last cruise.
11 nights!!!!!! you definitely do not need to cruise that area again in your life LOL:)
This is super helpful!! Thank you, we are finally going on our first cruise
Love you guys you both do awesome videos on cruises and always great tips too keep up the great work ❤️
Thanks Wendy!
Love watching you two...good information delivered with humour and accents that make me happy (I'm English living away)
“Yeah and if you’re not a drinker I really recommend that YOU START.”
There, fixed it for ya!
If you take the drink package you will be charged a gratuity on the value of the package - hundreds of dollars. If you take the optional dinners you will also be charged the gratuity and if you there are three in you group the third pays full price. I have always turned down the optional dinners since the included dinners are excellent
Cruising solo in June and got all the promos free. Great deal, can’t wait
How was it?
How did it go?
@@MaryJanuary0107 June was cancelled , but will be sailing in 8 days to Alaska.
Never been on a cruise and will be travelling solo so started to look at Norwegian as they come recommended.......it's all new to me at the moment!"
Ours will be this October on NCL Epic and can’t wait.
@@MaryJanuary0107 how was it if I may ask?
@@sarah06324 oh it was an amazing experienced. The NCL epic cruise ship crews were all kind and helpful. Glad it wasn’t that crowded at all. The only kind of disappointments were the food bec it seems they’re all same menu everyday, lol. If you want a diff kind, you need to go to a restaurant like Cagney’s, O’Sheehan and it’ll tell you on the freestyle pamphlets they give out everyday what restaurants are free. Other downside, are the excursions bec Italy are restricted right now, so you need to stayed with the group. In Spain, you can go on your own which I do recommend going on a hop on hop off bus. It’s cheaper if you buy your bus ticket right at the bus stop compared to buying them at the cruise ship. There are diff colors of buses you can get on and it depends on where do you want to go but make sure to get some Euros before you get to your cruise bec the buses only takes local currency. Florence, Italy are closed so we took the excursions to Pompeii and then went to Leaning Tower of Pisa the next day. There are some choices and they’re extra. I think costs us $54/pp per excursions. If you bought some pizza at Naples better eat it there coz the cruise ship will not let you take any opened food at all. Mine, I end up throwing my pizza away 😔 There’s lots of free shows too that you can watched. You just need to make reservations. I love the Priscilla Queen of the Dessert and Burning the Floor. Hope to do it again someday.
NCL is my favourite line ... o can’t wait for mi next trip from Athens to Rome in the fall 2021 an in summer 2022 a great trip to island and Greenland
From one blonde to another, I love, love, LOVE the new blonde on you, Ben!! Love your channel too, guys!! Thanks!
Thanks Jennifer 👨
Hey Guys... I think you said the shore excursion package was $ 50.00 per person per port... but it is $ 50.00 per cabin per port. Just wanted to bring that to your attention. By the way I love your videos.
Thanks Marsha for letting us know. :-)
Great information! Celebrity has some similar perks, however Celebrity is now charging $14/day if you take the drinks package perk. Not sure if other cruise lines will follow.
For the *NON BOOZE DRINKERS* NCL has PEPSI all other cruise lines have 2nd rate COKE
Good note Kent!
Pepsi is disgusting, only thing I hate about NCL
Pepsi 🤢🤮
"FREE" IS NOT "FREE" service charges apply on everything - on a 21 day cruise for two, The NCL beverage service charge is $1039.76 CAD . Cabin gratuities amount to $813 CAD - all extra..
Yep, I found it was cheaper to go for the $72 soda pack, because the free drink package was going to be $200 per person in gratuity.
When I booked my next cruise, I noticed found out that NCL had both a Sail-Away rate, which did not let you choose a cabin, and did not let you get the free at sea offers, and a slightly more expensive Guarantee Rate, which did not let you choose your cabin, but did let you get the Free at sea stuff. In addition, if you are a Latitudes Member, booking through the Latitudes offer can be amazing. I booked a month or 2 ago, and got an extra point per night, 20% off, AND ALL free at sea offers. Make sure to check this out before you book.
Wow fantastic tip David. Thanks for letting us know.
Be careful of the very misleading advertising about their sale away fares and what it includes and mostly what it doesn't. Do you homework on this line.
Ben and David we like know about gem ship
please do a Norwegian EPIC Cruise tour & review
We would love to! Hopefully we will one day.
I have just returned from a Med cruise on the Epic. Im a little confused about the comments regarding gratuities on the free drinks package. I was not charged gratuities on the drinks package. I was only charged the daily gratuities.(I think it was $15 a day). Also I booked my own tours online. Saved at least 50% on NCL prices for similar tours.
I hope you enjoyed it!, we will go on the end of june, I have one question please is it manduatory to pay “pre-pay servise charge 378$” ? Before the trip? This is what you mean about (gratuities)?, thank you
@@mahasheikho9139 No. You can pay it at the end of the trip. You can challenge it if you believe you have received poor service. As a European I think the cruise lines should pay their staff a decent wage rather charging customers gratuities but then the price would go up so you would pay anyway. Its accepted as the norm in America.
Thank you so much for your reply!, got it!, if you allow me for another questions please, are the drinks( water, juice, coffee, tea, non alchohol) whole day included with the our payment? Or I need to buy the drink package?
@@mahasheikho9139 Not entirely sure because I took the drinks package. This info should be on NCLs website. Tea and Coffee is free in the buffet. Im not sure about the bars. They put water in your mini bar but it's €5.50 for a litre!
I am brand new to cruising! I love these videos! I am wondering how to find out what the themed night are? I am going on the Norwegian Getaway in November.
So am I 😀
@@judithlocke3094 YOU SHOULD HAVE SAVED YOUR MONEY
Gr8 Video guys, I know one thing about NCL, they have Solo cabins and offers very reasonable price cruises as compared to others, that said their itinaries are not always up to snuff as compared to Princess, especially if your cruising through the Panama Canal coast to coast, in my humble opinion its worth paying the little bit extra for some longer shore time and stops in Panama as well, just my take. 👌🏼
The shore excursion credit is only for ONE cabin member.....
the 50 credit for the port is for the cabin not per person. It's 50 per port per cabin. Your video was really good.
Thanks for letting us know Pam.
You two crack me up
How do excursions work? This is the first time I’m going on a cruise and I would like to do an excursion. How do you know where your going?
Great tips! Im so glad I booked Haven!
Gosh this needs to be updated. Prices are higher for extras and "Free" is not really "free"
Yeah, if both of you are lushes. I see I'd be charged over 500 US for gratuities with the open bar drink package on ia 14 day trip. I drink, but my partner doesn't, and I generally only want a glass of champagne or a pint of strong beer, neither of which is incluced, a day, in addition to some espresso in the morning. Also not included. This drinks package only makes sense if everyone in your party drinks 4 or 5 cocktails every day. I'll probably have 2 or 3 on the whole trip, if any.
Great video!
Thanks.
As reviewers, I'm shocked that you didn't know about this.
good video, guys
hi we are going on the encore from southampton-new york -we have pre-paid tips and have speciality dinning for 4 days -do we have to pay any tips on top-thanks
Can I book using my debit card or do I need a credit card? Thanks friends! I've been binge watching your series. Good stuff guys.
Hey Sky Pilot. You can book with either credit or debit card.
@@Cruisewith Thank you! Have a blessed day
One last question and I promise to leave you guys alone😋. Would you recommend the Sky princess or Carnivals Panorama? I just want to find something fancy. If you have time to reply thank you and if not I totally get it. Take care friends.
Pack white clothing for the white party... I think they still do that 😅
Great tip!
Do you think the Haven is worth it, also have you been on cruises over the holidays, or are they over crowded? Alas I already got both for this Christmas. Signed concerned
Yes it’s amazing!
Love your vlogs, great job boys keep it up! I've heard some negative things about the food, what's the food like, not the specialty dining, but in the main dining room and the buffet? Also heard that NCL is like a 3 star hotel, is this accurate?
I wouldn't say its a three star hotel. Thats a harsh opinion. I would say it is on par with Royal Caribbean. Main dining room food was similar to our recent Royal sailing and we love the food from the pub onboard which is totally included. Buffet was fantastic too.
luv u 2!!! but.... the racetrack has been $15.00 for quite awhile now.
I wish I had known how few people actually get to attend the big shows. Two showings are not enough to accommodate all the guests that wish to see them.
You can book a seat for free before your cruise. They have general admission 15 minutes before the show for anyone who has not booked.
I know. I had the experience of reserving a seat, but I didn’t get there a full 15 minutes before hand. They gave away all the seats and dozens of people who had reservations were not seated. The supply didn’t meet the demand.
That's the problem with the Mega ships. Forget anything above 4000 passengers unless you like the amusement park atmosphere. I prefer under 3000 passengers. My absolute favorite is about 2200 passenger. No worries about crowds and still a lot of ship to enjoy.
Going on the epic soon🎉
Have a fab time!
Cruise with Ben & David thank you!
The back of the epic has a heated swimming pool
How did it go? We’re going on Epic too!
@@MaryJanuary0107 We loved it! Great restaurants with great food. Always something going on, wish we could go back tomorrow!
I really want to cruise on Sky Princess
Great ship. Skip NCL as the food and passenger service is far superior on all Princess ships. Very consistent quality unlike NCL. On Princess if two of you are in a cabin and only one person drinks Princess will allow you to purchase only 1 package.
Can you have the daily % taken off if you request on board?
I have travelled on NCL cruises- they used to remove the automatic charge on your account if requested : however our booking was done from Canada…
What about Disney Cruises?
For clarification. Are there any cruise lines that , when asked, will not take off the daily gratuities from your account? I know that Cunard and Fred Olsen will do this if you fill in a form citing, for example, that you prefer to reward staff individually for their customer service.
Please update
hi can you tell me the official site of the norwegian cruise please
www.ncl.com/uk/en/
Can somebody give me the cliff notes on this video? I'm at work and can't watch
Yes. In brief, there will be many additional charges for eating and activities. There will loud race cars.
The idea of sitting on a ship, having to listen to the roar of race cars makes me ill. Id rather sit on a beach and listen to the crash of the waves.
DONT PREPAY YOUR GRATUITIES. YOU CAN GET THIS $100-$105 BACK AT THE END OF YOUR TRIP!
Why would you want to do that?
@@alisiamarie2396 umm to save money because its expensive as is? Why should you have to lose $105 extra if you dont HAVE to?
@@J1gs0r3 because those people work their asses off for you your entire cruise & work mainly for tips. U must be the person who doesn't tip on food delivery too! Your food will sit for hours without an upfront tip, just in case u are that person & wonder y it takes a long time to get ur order. Tipping shows ur appreciation for people doing things for u that u don't want to do urself