So blah blah...my question is, to make the experience a little different, we were considering the de

My husband and I are considering las vegas casino hotels a fall cruise this year, and we want to sail out of the East Coast (I don't fly), so our options are limited. We're toying with the idea of NCL Gem to Bermuda in September. We've been on the Gem already las vegas casino hotels and went to Bermuda last fall on Dawn. Honestly, I liked Bermuda OK, but I prefer the island hopping. I loved the Gem, though, and I absolutely adore NCL (this would be our fifth NCL cruise in a row).
So blah blah...my question is, to make the experience a little different, we were considering the deal going on right now where you can get a minisuite for the price of a balcony. Except for on our honeymoon, when we got a balcony, we've always gone with oceanview obstructed or oceanview because we didn't really see the point of spending extra money for a room you're las vegas casino hotels rarely in. But with the deal going on, and the fact we've already been on this ship, it's something we're pondering.
A mini-suite on this class of ship is essentially a larger version of a balcony cabin. We had one booked on Norwegian Jade, yet accepted an upsell later on, so we didn't actually sail in one. I looked at it out of curiosity, and it seemed nice. Note that you don't receive las vegas casino hotels suite benefits for this category.
Oh, sorry - should have mentioned, the deal extends downwards to other categories as well. So you can get a balcony for an oceanview price and a mini-suite for the balcony price. But you have to buy the top classification for that category...
Now, please don't get me wrong as I enjoy NCL. But, have you checked into Princess? They do have some Caribbean cruises out of the north. I think they had an itinerary that went to Bermuda, las vegas casino hotels St. Thomas, and St. Maarten. I believe it was a 9 day out of New York?
I'm willing to consider Princess but it seems like most of the ones I want to go on are out of Florida. My first-ever cruise was on Princess, and I'd like to do it again, but I'd rather go on a different ship than Caribbean Princess, which I think is the main one going out of NYC right now. Plus, I don't think I'll be able to take that much time off work for a 9-day cruise in Sept since I just did a 10-day and we're driving to Fort Lauderdale for a Carnival cruise next Feb.
But we ended up booking a balcony on Gem...decided that the extra room probably wasn't going to be worth it for just two people, rather spend the money on excursions and wine. I think I'd rather save and splurge later on a suite that has suite privileges, you know? I'm DYING to do that.
Cortney, my favorite Princess ship is the Sea Princess, probably because she was my first Princess cruise. However, I love the layout. She's large, but not huge, easy to get around and a fantastic crew. I've sailed on the Sea, Sun, Dawn, Caribbean, Royal and Emerald. The Emerald was amazing, huge, but a little hard to get around. Some decks didn't go all the way through forward to aft and I'd forget and couldn't get to where I wanted to go. However, she was a beautiful ship. The Sea, Sun and Dawn are sister ships. I've sailed the Sea twice, the Sun twice and the Dawn once. The Royal was the smallest, but very easy to get around. Since it was a 14 day, you got to know practically the entire ship. I think it was around 850-900 passengers.