This is the 3rd time we use NCL. Overall the trip experience is up to our expectation. We like the free style concept which means we can go and eat anytime at the dinning room and without a Captain night, we did not need to bring a suit and gowns for the lady.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Very smooth. take less than 15 min
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Buffet is good at lunch and dinner. The staff clean up the empty dishes pretty quickly. We eat at the main dinning room every nights except one night and the service is pretty quick. We go at 6pm and never miss the shows at 7:30pm. We went to a dinner show one night and is well worth it.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Lot of variety but need to wait for a bit when we are at SEA. This is understandable since there are over 4000 customers on board
Entertainment
5 out of 5
We enjoy the entertainment very night. The tips is study what kind of shows you want to see and book all of them on the first day on board.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Everyone is very friendly. Room steward cleaned the room 2 times per day. The waiters at the buffet clean up the empty dishes pretty quickly. Although there are over 4000 customers on board, we never need to wait over 5 min to find an empty tables.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
The room steward cleaned the room twice a day including changing of towels. The wash room is pretty big compare to other ship I went before.
Ship tip
Install NCL apps call iConcierge before going on-board. You can use it to check you account balance and book the shows. You can use it to call your partner anywhere on the ship for a price (which is not worth it).
We did not go to Berlin since it took 6 hours to and back. We took the Schwerin and it's fairy-tale castle tour from NCL which is less than an hour travelling time. After the tour, we went back to the ship and had a light lunch and went to Warnemunde for a tour of our own.
This is the most exciting city with several Palaces and museums. We took the 2 days deluxe tour organised by SPB Tours. The price is less than US$300 which is about half the price organised by NCL. SPB used a 20 passenger van and we are with a small group of 18 people. The tour even provide a bottle of water and raincoat. Lunch is provided on both day and is typical Russian food which is not bad. (SPB recommend 10% tips for the tour guide and 5% for the driver)
Again we use SPB tours (7 hours Helsinki + Porvoo) and is around US$90 each. Lunch is also provided on this tour and is a Finland style buffet. The tour use a large 50 people tour bus but they only had 20 people on each bus. (I think we had about 6 tours bus from SPB) The reason is if one of the bus broke down, the other bus can pick up the people without waiting for a replacement bus.
We use SPB again (the tour is Stockholm highlight and is also about US$90 per person). Since Nynashamn is about an hour from Stockholm, the organiser will bring a group of 20 people to a large bus like in Helsinki. The bus driver will pick up the local tour guide at Stockholm.
Precisely why I love NCL, and especially the Getaway! Back on her this January! No more formal clothes for this chick! And no more dragging the hubby's suit! Hallelujah!!
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