About to Go on Cruise for 1st Time (Norwegian Cruise Line)?

Question

I'm a teenager (14 and a half) and this will be my first cruise (Norwegian Spirit) so I have some questions.

1. Are all the foods for free when you payed for the cruise?

2. What does it mean when it says "tipping" $10 per day?

3. What kind of games will there be? (I heard maybe a Nintendo Wii. What about some jacks for gaming consoles?)

4. Do they provide towels/bathroom things aka soap+toothbrush+towels.etc.?

5. Free Cable TV? (like baseball games/football) What kind of movies are there in the theater?

6. What do you do when you reach your destination? For example, Im going to the Bermudas from NY. You just get off and then do stuff?

Answer 1

I am 13 and went on a cruise on the Norwegian Star in April this year.

If you plan on going to the teen club it is not open except for the time that they have a event planned. If you go when the American School student are still in school there will only be around 15 other teens on board the ship. If less then 5 people turn up the event that the teen club have plan, the event will be cancelled. This can make the cruise very boring when you go to the meeting point and no one shows up.

Answer 2

1) No, not all of the foods on the cruise are free. There are specialty restaurants; Shogun Asian Restaurant, Le Bistro French Restaurant, Teppanyaki, Cagney's Steakhouse, Sushi and Sashimi Bar, and La Trattoria all have a covercharge which you have to extra for. The prices are between $10 and 20 per person and they're different at each restaurant.  The Blue Lagoon Cafe, the garden room, windows, Bier Garten Grill, and room service are all free. You do have to pay for soda, alcohol, or special drinks, but if you intend on drinking a lot of soda you can purchase the soda card. room service is free but tipping one or two dollars is nice depending on how much food you ordered.

2) The tipping on norwegian is different than most other cruise lines because the tipping is automatically charged to your account- you don't have to pay in cash like the other lines. if you want to raise or lower the amount to pay your room steward, maitre'd or waitor you can go to the main desk and they'll take care of it

3) There is a wii in teen club, but i'm not sure of what else they have. They do have a ton of games for the wii though

4) In your hotel room you will find towels that you use to take a shower, take to the beach(if you need more or clean ones leave them on the bathroom floor and leave a note to your cabin steward), there will be soap and shampoo, but there will not be a toothbrush or toothpaste, or anything of that nature. There is a hairdryer in your room as well.

5) There is a tv in your stateroom but it will not have many channels. It will cover the basic channels, possibly showing a game or two. To watch sports, go to the sports bar where they have several tv's going on at once. I'm going on the Spirit on the 23rd of this month, and I have been told that the theatre is no longer running movies, I don't know why.

6) When you get to your destination you will either be tendered(taken off the Spirit onto a smaller boat and then taken to shore) or dock at the port(walk right off the ship and there is the destination. when you arrive, you can either go on your own, shopping, etc. or you can book an excursion. There are numerous amount of things to choose from. since you are a first time cruiser, I reccomend booking your excursion through Norwegian just so you get a feel of what it's like.  

Definitely look at

http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/home.html

and also

http://www.cruisecritic.com/

Cruisecritic is an excellent website to learn so much information about cruising, definitely check it out.

Hope this helps and have an awesome time!

p.s. i'm a 14 year old girl, and i'm going on the spirit for the second time on august 23. you're going to have an awesome time!! (:

Answer 3

I am a very expierienced cruiser. All I can say to you is please DON NOT SAIL WITH NORWEIGEN. I sailed with a party of 15, and we all agreed it was the worst cruise ever.

My favorite was princess, out of all the lines. Lots of stuff for kids to do as well as the adults.  

Answer 4

Most of the major dinning rooms on board are included there are some that have an extra service charge.

Tipping is added to your cabin bill at the rate of $10 per day per person. The tips go to your cabin steward, waiter and assistant waiter.

They have Wii on big screen in lobby. Teen club has games also

Towels and soap are provided. You bring your own personal items

They have first run movies on tv. CNN and stuff like that.

You go shopping on shore tour the islands or go to the beach

Have a good trip and enjoy.

Answer 5

1) All food is free except for meals in the restaurants the require reservations.

2) That is what you are asked to tip your cabin steward, waiter and assistant waiter, per person, per day.

3) I don't play video games and I don't remember there being game controllers on the TVs. I suspect there aren't any and you should bring your DS or PSP to drive your parents crazy. There will probably be a game room on your ship and probably some games in the teen lounge. Of course there is shuffleboard and maybe pool.

4) Towels and soap, shampoo and conditioner are provided. There will probably be a blow drier as well. You can purchase a toothbrush (deodorant, t-s***s, coffee mugs, etc.) on board, but they aren't provided.

5) Yes, the TV is free - except PPV of course. You should be able to catch baseball and other sports, but there is no saying which teams will be covered.

6) If I were you (14) I'd talk you parents in taking you to Blackbeard's Cay. They have a fenced off lagoon where they keep stingrays (without the stingers). They are fun to touch and feed. You can also get a day pass to Paradise Island which has water slides and cool aquarium. There's parasailing, watercraft rentals, etc. If I were me, I'd go deep sea fishing. Nassau (the town) isn't all that interesting too teenagers and all of the above cost $$$ so mow the lawn, clean your room, do your homework and ask dad for a little cash for this trip.

Answer 6

I just took my first cruise in May. Answers to like numbers:

1 - Food is free unless you go to a special restaurant and you will know when you do.

2 - You pay in an envelope 7 day cruise = $70 in an envelope at the end of your cruise. It covers all tips to your maid, waiter, drink waiter, etc.

3 - They have all kinds of the latest stuff.  And you will meet many teens your age.

4 - soap - yes towels - yes (unless you want a large beach towel) toothbrush - no.  

5 - Cable TV will only have limited TV.  There will be a news channel, kids channel, about 13 in all. I don't think there was a sports channel.  There usually a sports bar but with most of the staff being int'l they watch soccer.  Movies are from the past two years.

6 - You can go on an excursion which is a planned tour with a company that Norwegian supports (saying that they are reliable).  You can just go and shop on your own.  Make sure you are with someone though.

If you have any more questions you might want to check out cruisecritic.com.  They have a lot of good info.  For example they told me in San Juan where to go for the best shopping.  

Answer 7

all the foods, water, tea, milk all for free.  There are special restaurants which will cost an extra Fee.(but you don't have to eat in those)

soda pop will cost you extra money

tipping is suggested at 10.00 per day per person.

soap and towels are provided, you need to bring a toothbrush,paste.

Limited TV.  i think ESPN, News channel, one Kids channel.

and shopping.

movies that are fairly recent sometimes play in the theater.

yes at your destination you get off and do lots of things, shop, see the sites.

enjoy your cruise

cruisecritic.com has great info for 1st time cruisers

Answer 8

1. On the NCL Spirit, the food is free at the main dining rooms (Windows and Garden Room), the buffet Raffles Court and this other place called the Blue Lagoon. All of the other restaurants have a cover charge between 10-25 dollars per person.

2. The 'tipping' thing is just money that they charge to cover fuel costs and tips for servers so you never have to give them anything. The only people we tipped were the housekeeping people (at the end, you have the same person for your whole trip).

3. Yeah they have the wii and they also have other kinds of games like trivia and bingo.

4. Yes, they have soap, towels and other things like that. There was no toothbrush in the stateroom but they would probably give you one if you wanted it.

5. Yeah the TVs in the rooms have cable tv. The Spirit does not have a movie theater but it has a regular theater that has really good shows every night.

6. Yeah you get off and do whatever you want. You can book a shore excursion with NCL right now on line or when you get on your cruise. They tell you what time to come back and everything like that.

http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/shorexLanding....

Answer 9

Soda pop is extra or you can get an all day wrist band for one price.some specialty restaurants have an extra charge but the main dining room and cafeteria buffet are free all the time and the ice cream bar you will have a menu in your cabin for room service it is all free. The bottled water is extra there is so much stuff to do on those cruises you won't know what to do first. you will love it every evening you get a small news bulletin under your door telling you whats going on the next day party's and everything that's happening ad any excursions  when you get into your ports of call.Like snorkeling we had a blast  there are tons of things to do and see. you can plan what you want to yourself or take one of the excursions offered.

take your own toothbrush and deodorant and any personal things you want. tipping is added $10 a day per person to the bill at the end of the trip and we always leave an envelope with extra $ in the room you have to know these people really bust their butts for you and they are trapped on this ship for weeks and months at a time and they sure earn it.We have been on 3 and we loved every one and can't wait for the next. Have Fun.

Answer 10

I went on this ship last August.

1.  Not all foods are free. The specialty restaurants have a fee, and are not cheap at all. For example, the Tepanyaki restaurant (which is like a Benihana) has a $25 cover fee. The dining rooms, room service, and snack areas (Blue Lagoon Cafe) have no charge at all.

2.  "Tipping" $10 a day is just what you are recommended to pay the maintenance, but you do not need to pay $10. That can be changed based on performance.

3.  There is a Wii in the kids area and there are multiple times when they are on the children's schedule. I believe there is only Wii Sports, from experience.

4.  Towels and some toiletries are provided, but you'll want to bring your own toothbrush, razors, etc.

5.  The cable tv is basic channels and some movie channels that repeat the same movies. There are also channels just for the cruise line. The movie theater does not always play recent movies.

6.  You do not need to get off the ship once you reach the destination. You can get off whenever you want, but you need your room key to get on and off the boat. Once off the boat, you can take a shore excursion planned by the line or do your own thing. There also may be something planned for just the teen group, such as a scavenger hunt on the beach.

Hope this helps!

Answer 11

Hi!

I just went on my first cruise with Norwegian last March.  Here are some answers from my experience:

1.  Yes and No.  The drinks are not free except for coffee, tea, iced tea, milk &  fruit juice.  Soda, beer, wine and cocktails are extra. The meals are free unless you eat in one of the "Specialty Restaurants" that has an extra charge.  They require a reservation and if you look on NCL's website they will say something "Like worth the extra" under the description.

2)  The cruise line will automatically add $10 per person to your bill each day for tips.

3)  Sorry, I'm not a gamer so I can't answer this one.

4) Towels are provided and typical hotel-type soap. Personally I like my own brand so I brought my own.  Bring your own toothbrush & toothpaste unless you want to buy one in the gift shop.

5) I didn't watch much TV.  I think it was limited to a few channels - mostly shipboard and some news.  I didn't go to the theater to watch any movies either.

6)  Check out the shore excursions to see what types of activities are available at your destination.  You can also just go ashore and do your own thing - just make sure to be back in time before the ship leaves!

If you would like to read more details about my cruise go to:

http://www.squidoo.com/Mexico_Cruise

Answer 12

Norwegian is a horrible cruise line!  We took a cruise to Bermuda almost 2 years ago, and by far the worst cruise we have ever been on!  As for Bermuda, it's interesting but nothing over the top!  Keep in mind that the weather there is very similiar to that of the weather in SC/GA area.  We didnt know that and expected VERY WARM weather and it really wasnt.  For kids your age, unless your family books some kind of on shore excursions there isnt much to do besides swim at the beaches!