Norwegian Cruise Line

Summary

Talk about innovation: These ships get straight A's. Want dining choice? How about 8 to 10 different restaurants apiece, from fancy steakhouses and teppanyaki restaurants to casual Tex-Mex and burger joints. Want something other than the generic Caribbean theme so prevalent on many ships? The ships mix it up with touches of Latin Miami, Indonesia, and urban lounge. Want the biggest suites aboard any ship, anywhere? The ships' Garden Villas spread out over a mind-blowing 5,350 square feet and feature private gardens, multiple bedrooms with extravagant bathrooms, separate living rooms, full kitchens, and private butler service. Zowie! Zowie, too, on their price: $26,000 a week for six guests. Normal cabins, on the other hand, come at normal prices. The ships' childrens' centers are such a knockout -- so huge and completely kid-centric -- that we wished we were 5 again. Ditto for our reaction to the buffet restaurant's Kids' Café, a miniaturized version of the adult cafe, accurate down to tiny chairs and a miniature buffet counter. It's the cutest thing going.

Don't get us wrong, this isn't paradise: Though many spaces aboard the ships approach high style (Dawn's and Star's elegant Gatsby's Champagne Bar, for instance, Jewel's "Bar Central" on deck 6, and Spirit's Maharini's Lounge), hints of NCL's near-budget past still hide in the wings, including the individually wrapped butter pats used even in the fancy restaurants, and fast-food-style napkin dispensers in the buffet. But those are minor quibbles. Overall, these ships are winners. They're nearly identical in layout, though Norwegian Spirit, which came to NCL from the Star Cruises fleet, is slightly smaller and has a slightly different (though no less attractive) layout.

At press time, few details were yet available about Norwegian Pearl and Norwegian Gem (which are due to launch in Nov 2006 and sometime in 2007, respectively), though we do know that Pearl will have a full-size, four-lane, 10-pin onboard bowling alley. How cool is that?

Cabins

Standard cabins, though not overly large compared to some in the industry (particularly those of Carnival and Holland America's ships), are larger than elsewhere in the NCL fleet. Decor is a mix, with stylish elements (such as cherrywood wall paneling and snazzy rounded lights), kitschy elements (such as bright island-colored carpeting), and cheap touches (such as some spindly chairs and end tables, and wall-mounted soap dispensers in the bathrooms). Each comes with a small TV and minifridge, a tea/coffeemaker, private safe, and cool, retro-looking hair dryers. Closet and drawer space are more than ample for weeklong sailings, and bathrooms in all categories are well designed, with large sinks whose faucets swing out of the way, a magnifying mirror inset in the regular mirror, adequate though not exceptional counter/shelf space, and (in all but inside cabins) separate shower and toilet compartments. Balconies in standard cabins accommodate two metal pool chairs and a small table, but aren't terribly roomy.

Minisuites provide about 60 more feet of floor space than standard cabins, with a large fold-out couch, a curtain between the bed and the sitting area, and a bathtub, while the so-called "Romance Suites" really are, with 288 square feet of space, stereo with CD/DVD library, bathroom with separate shower and tub, and nice wooden deck chairs on the balcony. Penthouse Suites offer the same, plus gorgeous bathrooms with a whirlpool tub and tiled, sea-view shower stall; a larger balcony; and a walk-in closet. Some suites offer a separate kids' room and bathroom. Those facing the bow on Decks 9 and 10 have large windows and deep balconies, but safety requirements mandate that instead of a nice glass door, the balconies are accessed via an honest-to-God steel bulkhead that's marked, "For your own safety, open only when the vessel is in port."

The ships' Owner's Suites are huge, with two balconies, living and dining areas, powder room, guest bath, and 750 square feet of space. Compared to the two Garden Villas up on Deck 14, however, these suites are peasant's quarters. The Garden Villas are, in a word, HUGE, the biggest at sea today, with three bedrooms, enormous living rooms, private Italian gardens with hot tub, panoramic views all around, private butler service, grand pianos, and totally extravagant sea-view bathrooms with whirlpool tubs. They're priced beyond the range of . . . well, pretty much everybody. Norwegian Jewel (and the yet-to-be-launched Pearl) offer an intermediate level of smaller Courtyard Villas on the same top-of-the-ship deck as the Garden Villa. They offer spacious suite accommodations coupled with access to a villa-guests-only courtyard, a private sundeck, and a staffed concierge lounge. The courtyard is a stunner, with a small private swimming pool, hot tub, and several plush, shaded sun beds. Suites (which due to safety regulations open to a hallway around the courtyard rather than right into it) are also knockouts, with separate bedroom and living/dining room; a huge, gorgeously appointed bathroom with oceanview whirlpool tub and shower; large private balcony; and floor space that ranges from 440 to 572 square feet. The larger Courtyard Penthouses also offer a separate children's room with fold-out couch bed and second bath. This year, prices were hovering in the $4,400 to $5,400 range for weeklong itineraries.

Four cabins are wheelchair accessible aboard Spirit, 20 on Star, 24 on Dawn, and 27 on Jewel and Pearl.

Dining Options

These ships are all about their restaurants, with between 8 and 10 options on each -- two or three main formal restaurants plus a buffet, at least one casual diner/cafe, and several alternative specialty restaurants, serving Italian, steakhouse, and Asian cuisine, the latter with a main restaurant as well as a separate conveyor-belt sushi and sake bar and an intimate Japanese teppanyaki room, where meals are prepared from the center of the table as guests look on. Dawn, Jewel, and Star also have a casual Tex-Mex/tapas eatery and a high-end French restaurant, Le Bistro, serving classic and nouvelle French cuisine in an atmosphere of floral tapestry upholstery and fine place settings. (On Dawn it's adorned with original Impressionist paintings by van Gogh, Matisse, Renoir, and Monet, lent from the private collection of Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, chairman and CEO of Star Cruises, NCL's parent company.) Star has a restaurant serving Pacific Rim cuisine. Specialty restaurants cost between $10 and $20 per person.

Out on deck, each ship has a casual grill serving up burgers, dogs, and fries during the day.

Public Areas

You'll be in a party mood from the moment you step aboard into the ships' large, broad, skylit atrium lobbies. Public areas throughout are fanciful and extremely spacious, done in a mix of bright, Caribbean- and Miami-themed decor and high-style Art Deco, with lots of nooks and some downright wonderful lounges and bars mixed in among all the restaurant choices.

On the main entertainment deck, a multideck theater has a thousand seats sloping down to a large stage flanked with opera boxes where musicians sometimes perform. There's also a nightclub for smaller-scale cabaret entertainment and dancing, plus a British-themed pub with piano entertainment, a big-screen TV for sports, and tasty fish and chips. Back in the stern and taking up the full width of the ship, the Galleria Shops are a veritable department store at sea.

Deck 12 features a complex of "sit-down" rooms, including a comfortable cinema with traditional theater seats, a library, a card room, a reading room, a "lifestyles" room (used for classes, private functions, and so on), several meeting rooms, and a small wedding chapel. Forward of these is an observation lounge/disco with some fanciful Alice in Wonderland seating. Up top, on Deck 13, there's a nice bar/lounge with piano entertainment in the evening. Spirit and Star also feature a covered outdoor Bier Garten stocked with German pilsner, hefeweizen, and wheat beers, while Jewel offers a new concept on Deck 6: a trio of themed bars one right after the other, in a kind of "bar central" arrangement. Its Maltings beer and whiskey bar is the best at sea, with 46 beers and 63 whiskies to choose from. Next door are a martini/cocktail bar and a champagne/wine bar. Aboard Star, a renovation in 2005 resulted in a new room called Maharini's, which combines Bollywood Indian themes with a kind of fashion-world ambience, its mood-lit nooks separated by thick velvet curtains and outfitted with large, comfortable daybeds strewn with pillows. Stylish!

Other rooms include a spacious casino, an Internet center, and a coffee bar.

For kids, these ships have some of the better facilities at sea, with a huge, brightly colored crafts/play area, a big-screen TV room stuffed full of beanbag chairs, a huge ball-jump/crawling maze play-gym, a computer room, and a nursery with tiny little beds. Outside, the pool area is fantastic. On the Dawn, it's right out of The Flintstones, with giant polka-dotted dinosaurs hovering around faux rock walls, slides, a paddling pool, and even a kids' Jacuzzi. The Star's has a space-age rocket theme. There are video arcades and teen centers on all three ships, with computers, a dance floor equipped with a sound/video system, and a soda bar.

Pool, Fitness & Spa Facilities

Main pool areas have the feel of a resort, ringed by flower-shaped "streetlamps" and terraces of deck chairs leading down to the central pool and hot tubs. A huge bar, running almost the width of the ship, serves ice cream on one side, drinks on the other. Nice space, but the real plaudits go to the spa, especially on Dawn, where you'll find a large lap pool, hot tub, jet-massage pool, and sunny windowed seating areas furnished with wooden deck chairs, the latter harking back to the classic indoor pools on the transatlantic liners. Spirit also has an "Aqua Swim" room with two stationary lap pools. Spas are generally stylish, with the one aboard Dawn taking the prize with its sunlit entranceway that rises three decks high and is decorated with plants and Maya reliefs, with a juice bar on the side. Jewel has one of the better onboard gyms of recent years -- large and extremely well appointed, with dozens of fitness machines and a large aerobics/spinning room. Contrastingly, Dawn's gym and Jewel's spa are sort of blah -- large and well-enough appointed, but nothing to write home about.

Outside there's an extralong jogging track, a sports court for basketball and volleyball, golf-driving nets, and facilities for shuffleboard and deck chess, plus acres of open deck space for sunning. Dawn and Star offer a nice spot on the tiered Sun Deck, where a lone hot tub looks out over the bow. Spirit, on the other hand, has a beautiful tiered, amphitheater-like stern looking down to a pirate-themed kids' pool.