Since this is our last day at sea, I am going to write about some thoughts of this trip. We still have two more important ports, (1) Amsterdam and (2) Brugges, Belgium but I want to write this now in case I do not have time once we get home.
Brian and I love cruising. We think it is the best way to see the world. We understand that there is limited time at each port but with cruising we can see more locations than traveling on our own. The cruises we pick tend to have very few number of days at sea which means each day we are in a different port. For example, this cruise we only have 2 days at sea. That is pretty impressive for a 13 day cruise.
We have cruised five times with Royal Caribbean International (RCI), once with Carnival, and now once with NCL. We love RCI. So throughout I will compare this experience with RCI not really for you per say, but basically for my own comparison although I hope you might find it insightful.
One of the most common asked questions we have encountered this trip is, why did we pick this cruise. Going into I thought it was obvious (London and Paris), but now experiencing the trip maybe not so much especially for the British and French people that we have met. We have to be one of the youngest couples on the ship. I think almost everyone we have talked with are retired although there are some families with children. We don't look at that as bad, but it is different. This cruise has been very similar to Alaska with respect to weather and demographics of the people on board although there are many different nationalities here.
At the start of the trip, we arrived in London. London was everything I thought it would be and more. I really love the city. The only problem we had was the weekend closing of the underground which made getting to our hotel a bit of a challenged. We managed okay. We did a lot our first day and are glad we did.
Once on the ship, it was difficult to have so many ports of call in the beginning. A sea day would have been much appreciated early on but we knew the itinerary going into it. The embarkation progress was similar to RCI. Once on board, a glass of champagne was offered to everyone. I think that is unique to NCL. We could not get into our room until 2:00pm but that was okay and I believe similar to any other cruise line.
Our first port was Paris. We were impressed by Paris. I even think someday we would like to return. Going into this we would not have thought that. We did everything we could there given the small amount of time we had. Luckily the weather was great for us and our view of the city from the Efiel Tower was spectacular.
Then we went to Southern England and Ireland. The weather was not great. We realized that it was going to be cold (50's low 60's) and cloudy. Here rain is the norm. That is not what we expected. Okay I knew it could be rainy but not so cloudy and cold. We left 90 degree weather back home and for once in our lives we really wanted some heat. I did not pack for this weather. It was sad not to see the pool used at all for much of the cruise.
Then we got into Scotland. Our the weather was in the 60's with sun. Oh sun! It made everything perfect. Scotland was not somewhere that we had high expectations for and it turned out to be one of our favorite places. The land there was beautiful and we really enjoyed our stay there.
The first sea day, the waves were a bit rough and it was cloudy and cold again. No one was outside. Today (our second day at sea) people are everywhere by the pool including us. It is a steamy 65 degrees and sunny outside. I am up on deck right now typing away. There are even a few kids in the pool. The sun is shining and there are no waves. We can't even tell we are on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean.
Here our my thoughts on freestyle cruising. It worked for us for this trip, although I am not sure we would prefer it. We got to eat when we wanted (the good part). With us in port most days 8-6pm we did not often eat lunch so instead of having to wait till 8:30pm for dinner we would go eat early and just skip lunch. We really missed not eating with the same people every night (the bad part). We have met some great people while cruising and unfortunately you don't get to know anyone well over an hour meal. Also the wait staff does not get to know you and your likes and dislikes. For example, our waiter usually knows that we like to drink our water and keeps it refilled. Now I know that is a little thing but it can be a bit annoying. Brian has also wondered about accountability, since our evaluation card comments are not directed at anyone specific. Some waiters are good, some are bad. What do we put on our comment cards?
To put things in perspective, we have eaten dinner 8 times in the regular dining rooms (excluding buffet) to date. Every time we have requested to be seated with other people (“sharing” as the staff here call it). Our request has only been honored 3 times. The other 5 times it was ignored. Frequently we were still seated at a table for two.
As we have found out, the staff prefers to seat you at your own table if at all possible. If you do not specify anything, they will not ask and will assume that you want to be seated by yourself. You have to specifically request sharing. We think it should be the other way around. Even if you ask to “share” a table, you are unlikely to have your request fulfilled unless the restaurant is very busy and sharing is absolutely necessary. They just assume that everyone wants to sit by themselves. It is rather unfortunate.
If you have a large group, this may not be a problem since you may always want to sit together. Generally though one of the benefits of cruising is meeting new people. This is especially true for couples traveling by themselves. We thorough enjoyed being exposed to other cultures and other people. We have eaten with interesting French and English couples so far. Unfortunately NCL's policies prevent us from being able to meet additional people. We expected that freestyle cruising would allow us to meet more people in less depth, but in actuality it just has us eating dinner by ourselves most nights.
For the record... it is not that we don't enjoy each other's company, but after spending the entire trip together there is not as much to talk about that has not already been said earlier in the day!
The food, I would have to say, has been about the same. Some things are better on RCI and some things better on NCL. The chocolate chip cookies at the Garden Cafe last night were the best ever! However the tiramasu we had was terrible while it is always wonderful on RCI! So it is a give and take. Also we do not like that for lunch and dinner the only cold drink options are water and iced tea. We would like to have fruit punch or lemonade like they have on RCI.
Our room is rather large for a cruise stateroom. I think it is bigger on NCL. There is more drawer space and the bathroom is a little bigger. We have a good stateroom attendant, but with freestyle cruising they can never learn your routine like when you will be out of your room. There have been many times that we would need to leave so she could clean it. I guess we could stay but that feels awkward.
Overall this trip has been excellent. It was a little different than we had expected but that does not change what a great time we have had. We still generally prefer RCI, however we would consider booking an NCL cruise again if we liked the itinerary. Both companies are definitely on par with each other. Unfortunately we have disliked the anti-social format of free-style cruising. Before our first cruise, a friend told us that the two best companies were RCI followed by NCL. After cruising both and Carnival too, we would definitely have to agree.
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