Well, DH and I just returned from our first Norwegian cruise this past Saturday. We sailed on the Breakaway out of PC on a Western Caribbean. We had a great time and found many things to be comparable, it not better than Disney.
Embarkation - was organized and easy - we arrived at the port at 10:39 (time on parking ticket) dropped off our luggage, parked, got through security and check in and were on the ship eating lunch by 11:15. And they apologized for taking so long because they were doing a more in depth passport check.
Food - we found the food to be as good as Disney if not better. And we found that we really enjoyed the freedom to each when we wanted and not being tied down to a specific day and restaurant. We felt like we actually ate less this cruise because we went to the buffet or other location when we were hungry. And all the options (pay/or included) were great. We didn't do any of the pay options but will be next time.
Staff - they were friendly and helpful just like Disney
Cool Activities - I really loved that they offered the painting classes. I got a chance to do one, but would have loved to do more- they offered 5 different pictures to paint on a 7 day cruise. I have been waiting for Disney to offer this on the Fantasy but no luck. The ropes course was something DH enjoyed (I'm afraid of heights) and he would have done it more than once but high winds closed it on the day he wanted to go back.
The Room - we had an inside stateroom. It was small, much smaller than a Disney room, but it didn't bother us. They could use some drawers to put stuff, but we new they didn't have that and used packing cubes on shelves instead which worked fine. They need to add an outlet or USB charging spot near the bed. The shower was great - roomy and DH who is 6'4" didn't have to hunch over to get clean... he had plenty of head room. And the Breakaway used a lighting system over each door to show if you were in the room (white), do not disturb (red) and please clean room (green). And we found with so much to do on the ship we were hardly ever in the room - and on Disney we would retreat to the room to watch a movie on demand because we had times with nothing to do.
Pools - DH and I do not do pools or sunbath. I might get in the pool for an hour on the Fantasy and maybe do the hot tub for an hour too. WTS the pool deck was always busy, with almost 4000 people on the ship (we sailed full) it seemed crowded so I didn't bother trying. I did see later on during the cruse that dinner/shows time would have been a good time to try because it was much quieter but I had other things to keep me entertained.
Shows - we normally don't do shows and did not go to any of the theater shows on the Breakaway so I can't comment, but I loved Howl at the Moon!
Debarkation - NCL has this down to a science and puts Disney to shame! They work off a color coded time system where you pick your time to get off the ship and they separate times by individuals and those with transfers. We chose 10am, and were called to get off the ship at 9:20. There were no long lines, no cues at the terminal like with Disney. They also used a new Facial Recognition customs and border protection check. They actually were on the ship, you walked up to the screen, looked at it and if it turned green you were clear to leave. If it turned blue you had to present yourself to an agent. We walked right off the ship, into the terminal, grabbed our suitcases and walked to the car. We were on the road to home in about 20-25 minutes from the time they called our color. Very impressive how efficient the process was considering there was almost 4000 people on the ship. And the ship was full. They had signs at check in that said do not ask for an upgrade we are at capacity.
Private Island - We could not get to Great Stirrup Cay - the Caption made the announcement at 8am - it was unsafe to tender so we had an extra sea day.
Internet - with the exception of 2 late nights the system was down for a short period of time the internet was great. It was so much faster than Disney (for what I used it for) and I like having the usage track by minutes not megabytes. 250 minutes gave us plenty of time for what we needed to do (Thanks
@Pens Fan ) and we ended up with 30 minutes to use up on the last night. We only used it for checking emails and FB messenger to communicate with friends we were meeting up with at different ports and researching items we wanted to purchase on ship to compare pricing.
To sum it up... We are so glad we branched out and tried something new. So much so that we have decided that we are going to cancel our next
Disney cruise (and loose a place holder with OBC) and book another one with NCL instead. We can get a longer cruise with all the perk included plus an on board credit and save over $1000 than we have paid for a comparable room on Disney with zero perks.
. It's cruise ship internet and it's really dependent on where you are located. For example, last fall we were cruising in the Eastern Med. We had pretty decent service when we were near Italy, but it was basically not even usable when we were near Greece. But then I had the same experience with my Verizon cell service. Italy was fantastic, but cell service in Greece was often nonexistent.
It’s amazing.
