Redditor Mock-Apologizes to Richard Branson for Sailing Norwegian's Escape
If you're booking Norwegian's Escape or similar ships, the article notes crowding tends to spike when school is out, so travelers hoping to avoid families and teens should consider sailing at other times, as u/Rough-Tradition-149 suggests. If you're an NCL loyalty member, weigh the program's perks — specialty dining credits, spa discounts and a free cruise at the top tier — before deciding whether to switch lines.
What jumps out to me is the split reaction in that Reddit thread — some readers piled on Norwegian, others jumped to defend it, and a few pointed out the obvious: sail during school session and you'll get families, sail off-peak and you won't. That's not a Norwegian problem, that's a calendar problem. Still, CEO John Chidsey's own admission of "missteps" in reaching the line's "core customer" tells me NCL knows its brand identity has gotten muddled, especially next to Virgin Voyages' clean 18-and-up positioning. The 1,600 loyalty members mentioned on that sailing are the real story here — those dining credits and free-cruise perks at the top tier are exactly why NCL's most loyal cruisers stick around even when they gripe. If I were booking, I'd take u/Rough-Tradition-149's advice: pick your sailing dates and ports carefully before blaming the cruise line for what's really a crowd-timing issue.