Holiday Cruises

Take A Holiday Cruise

If the workaday world has worn you down, you may be interested in taking a truly memorable holiday trip or vacation aboard a Norwegian Cruise ship -- this cruise would be a vacation of a lifetime! Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) provides a wide range of destinations and points of call for its guests, including ... Alaska; Bahamas; Bermuda; Canada; New England; Caribbean; Europe; Galapagos; Hawaii; Mexico; Pacific Northwest; Panama Canal; South America and Trans-Atlantic.

In 2001, NCL revolutionized the cruise experience by introducing "Freestyle Cruising", making itself very attractive to potential cruisers who find strict dining times and dress codes counter-intuitive to being on vacation. This service, now in operation on all of their ships, offers open seating dining and a huge choice of onboard restaurants. Passengers have the option of traditional cruise dining procedures such as as meals included in the cruise fare served at specific times at reserved tables in the dining room, or they can opt for another dining room where the mealtimes and seating are open ... lastly; they can select from several onboard alternative restaurants offering a variety of cuisine, most of them carrying a service charge.

"Freestyle Cruising" also increased entertainment options, improved casino services, increased staffing, and flexible debarkation arrangements. Passengers are encouraged to try a different restaurant and style of cuisine every night of their cruise, and may do so in everything from French Bistros to Steakhouses to Sushi Bars; and of course, room service is available around the clock.

The Norwegian Cruise Line Experience:

To experience the best of Free-style cruising, seek out the newer vessels, as bargains can be found on them as well. Norwegian Sun, (2001), was the first purpose-built vessel as a "Free-style" ship ... Pride of Aloha (one of the NCL-America Ships) was originally Norwegian Sky (1999) ... Norwegian Star, Norwegian Dawn (year-round from New York City), and the brand new Norwegian Jewel are lovely, new ships built for Free-style cruising ... Norwegian Sea (which left NCL's fleet in fall 2005) and renamed it Norwegian Spirit, is now sailing out of New York.

Similar to Norwegian Jewel

Norwegian Pearl and Norwegian Gem are scheduled for launch in February and October, 2007. The new "Bar Central" connects three venues - a martini bar; champagne and wine bar; beer and whiskey pub. The new ships have 10 restaurants, a passenger capacity of 2,376 and are capable of 24-25 knot speeds ... Norwegian Pearl has something which is a first at sea - an actual bowling alley. Pride of Hawaii is the same design, sailing under the NCL-America banner (but no bowling alley).

The main dining rooms are unlikely to serve you anything to make you swoon with delight, but there's a wide variety of alternative dining on all the ships, and these restaurants almost all offer excellent cuisine and service well worth the additional service charge ... if all else fails, there's a "Chocoholic Buffet" on every cruise to pacify your sweet tooth.

Fitness and sports programs vary by ship ... Europe, Hawaii, Bermuda and Caribbean cruises offer golf instruction on special Tee-Up Golf cruises, and the Dive-In Snorkeling program is a popular feature of Caribbean, Bermuda, and Hawaii cruises ... of course, what cruise wouldn't be complete without courts for paddleball; volleyball; basketball; and jogging tracks.

When it comes to service, the main thing to understand about NCL is that there is a huge difference in the way the NCL ships are crewed versus the NCL-America ships sailing in Hawaii ... Hawaiian ships experienced tremendous service issues when they first came out, due to the fact that U.S. young people had never held cruise ship jobs before, and (due to no fault of NCL at all) they did not prove to be of the temperament required to do such a job. The non-U.S.-crewed ships have very personable crew and staff-members, many of them gracious Asians who understand the benefits a loyal and humble disposition add to a service position.

Special Programs:

NCL's tours run the gamut from bus rides to private helicopter tours. "Dive-in Snorkeling" and the "Sports Afloat" programs help scuba and snorkel enthusiasts prepare for their destination dives while still onboard the ship. Shore excursions are outlined on the NCL web site.

NCL insists that visitors to its casinos be at least 21.
There are no casinos on NCL-America ships. There is one NCL ship (Norwegian Wind, currently) that does sail the Hawaiian islands on an 10 or 11-day (alternating) itinerary that includes a visit to distant Fanning Island. This ship is not US,-flagged and therefore has foreign crew-members and a casino.

Tipping:
NCL automatically adds a fixed service charge of $10 to the shipboard accounts of passengers over 13 to make service personnel feel appreciated; children between three and 12 are charged $5. Those under three get off scot-free. While further tipping is not compulsory, NCL recommends a 15 percent gratuity for bar service and urges the beneficiaries of concierge or butler services to come up with a little something extra. All else is at the passenger's discretion.

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