Comparison Celebrity to NCL

After being long-time Celebrity cruisers (more than 30 cruises over 25 years), we are considering an upcoming NCL cruise due to itinerary and pricing. Can someone help me with what the primary differences would be? I expect (and correct me if I am wrong) the experience to be a little less 'classy', a little more lively, a little less quality in food and service, but overall a nice experience. Is this true? Also, practically speaking, what might differences be. For example, can you bring any wine onboard like you can at Celebrity at embarkation? (I see they offer liquor packages as an option, but I cannot drink liquor right now due to medication so we would likely not pick that as an option).

I know I can find some of this info with hours and hours of reading these boards, but if any kind fellow Celebrity fan can help me out here it would be appreciated much!

What ship? They have some awesome new ships and great entertainment. We were going to do alaska with them since they do glacier bay but then my husband deployed. I think it's just a totally different experience. Don't think you can go wrong.

Having only been on NCL getaway and Breakaway I was totally impressed. i also was a Celebrity cruiser been on there ships many times. Celebrity is a good cruise line but when it comes to entertainment they outshine Celebrity by a lot. Also did not think I would enjoy the freestyle. But I did and and it was great and did not miss the formal nights at all. Also being old timers it was nice to be around a younger crowd. Service and food was very good also. Just my opinion and lm sure someone will have a different opinion.

Not sure what ship - still shopping. Thanks for the answers so far - will be away from my computer for awhile but appreciate any further answers and will check in later today

We've cruised both. I like both NCL and X but for different reasons.

I find the food on X to be much better in the main dining room but the specialty restaurants on NCL are good. So with the cheaper prices, we don't have a problem paying for the specialty restaurants. The buffet for dinner on NCL has a lot more choices than on X if you don't want to do a sit down meal. We generally don't go to the MDR on NCL, we don't enjoy it.

The beverage package on X is better because it includes water and coffee, on NCL it doesn't, we've never gotten it but we probably would next time.

You can bring on bottled water with no problems on NCL, we've never tried on X because we always have the beverage package.

We find the entertainment on NCL MUCH better than X. The newer ships have Howl at the Moon (dueling pianos) and other music venues, Grammy experience and Fat Cats blues bar which there is really nothing to compare to on X.

Also, we aren't fans of the big production shows but they are much better on NCL.

And if you are considering a suite, the Haven on the NCL ships is amazing. I've never been in a suite on X so I can't compare.

You can bring on 2 bottles of wine on NCL and they charge a corkage fee, not sure how much, we've never tried.

We've found the service on NCL to be just as good as on X, very friendly, professional at all times.

For a port intensive cruise where we won't be on the ship much, we'd be just as likely to do NCL as X but for a cruise where the ship is more of the destination we would lean towards X but we do miss the entertainment at night.

Hi Phoenixdream.

Havent sailed on Celebrity as yet however have sailed on 3 NCL ships and loved them all. Good Food, Entertainment and Service. Wouldn't hesitate to do another cruise with them.

I also believe Celebrity are great, particularly their food. Will try them in the future if the itinerary is right for us.

Cheers Bob.

IMHO, we have found the food on Celebrity to be so much better than on NCL. Another big plus for me is the non-smoking in Celebrity casinos. On my last 2 NCL cruises, the smoke was horrendous just walking past the casino on both the Breakaway and the Star.:mad: I did, however, save money since I couldn't go into their casinos...just sayin...:D

We are elite on Celebrity and sailing Sunday on the Eclipse TA. In July we tried our first NCL cruise, on the Jade around the Greek islands. We travelled with our children and grandkids and imagined we would enjoy cruising with the family but not the cruise. The whole casual, laid back Freestyle concept didn't appeal. In fact we loved every minute and have another NCL cruise booked next April. We found the service on a par with Celebrity, we had no complaints about the food, after so many Celebrity cruises we enjoyed the different menus. The buffet was also excellent as were the speciality restaurants, and vastly cheaper than X. Entertainment we found NCL had the edge. Our fellow passengers were polite, good fun and friendly. It was school holidays so there were quite a few children but the kids club seemed to keep them well occupied. None of this was what we had expected. So now we are looking forward to our Celebrity cruise on Sunday and we're excited about sailing NCL again in the spring. Others may feel differently but this was our experience.

Sue :)

Changing it up is a good move, keeps cruising fresh.

Celebrity is my cruise line of choice but I like variety and have booked the new NCL Escape in January. Impressed with what this new boat offers. This ship has 7 complimentary, 8 specialty restaurants and 10 bars and lounges. The entertainment is not your typical go to the theater production or individual shows. Very unique cruising concepts. Give this new ship a look, from what I've seen can't wait to try her in January.

The suite experience on NCL is amazing.

Haven't tried their newer ships yet, but I agree that their specialty restaurants are good and reasonably priced.

Entertainment has always been their strong suit.

Can anyone offer a comparison of the suite restaurants?

I've been on NCL Breakaway, Celebrity Solstice and Celebrity Equinox.

I liked the food better on Celebrity. A real standout though for lunch was the gourmet burgers they had on the Breakaway.

I did not like the way "freestyle" was handled on Breakaway, but in fairness we were a large group going to dinner so I could forgive the wait.

Balcony was a lot smaller on Breakaway.

Since Breakaway left from NYC, we were able to drive and save a lot on airfare.

Really liked "Rock of Ages". The theater was too crowded the first night, but we got good seats for the second show later on in the week.

Much better nightlife on NCL. Second City was enjoyable too.

I did not care much for the layout of the pool deck- about a quarter of it is sectioned off for the Haven, so the rest gets squished together.

I had a lot of fun doing the rope course on Breakaway.

All in all to the OP, your assumptions are correct- better in some respects, worst in others.

For wine, there is a $15 corkage fee per bottle that you pay right after security check in the terminal. They will put a sticker on the bottle, but you can then consume it anywhere onboard. I believe there is no limit to how many wine bottles you can bring as long as the fee is paid.

We are elite on Celebrity and sailing Sunday on the Eclipse TA. In July we tried our first NCL cruise' date=' on the Jade around the Greek islands. We travelled with our children and grandkids and imagined we would enjoy cruising with the family but not the cruise. The whole casual, laid back Freestyle concept didn't appeal. In fact we loved every minute and have another NCL cruise booked next April. We found the service on a par with Celebrity, we had no complaints about the food, after so many Celebrity cruises we enjoyed the different menus. The buffet was also excellent as were the speciality restaurants, and vastly cheaper than X. Entertainment we found NCL had the edge. Our fellow passengers were polite, good fun and friendly. It was school holidays so there were quite a few children but the kids club seemed to keep them well occupied. None of this was what we had expected. So now we are looking forward to our Celebrity cruise on Sunday and we're excited about sailing NCL again in the spring. Others may feel differently but this was our experience.

Sue :)[/quote']

 

This, in general, is in line with my experience. I have been on NCL's Sky (with my adult sons) and the Getaway (solo). The Sky is an older, smaller ship and not terribly impressive except that you can do a quick cruise for a great price. The Getaway is a fabulous ship. The balconies are very small. I had a minisuite and the bathroom was very nice and spacious. I would say the food is not quite as good quality but I really enjoyed it--lots of options. Lots of options on entertainment too, and very high quality and, I thought, more designed to appeal to adults than the entertainment on the similar-sized Oasis of the Seas.

 

I love Celebrity and I have 2 more upcoming cruises on X, but I would have booked my December 2015 cruise on Getaway if they had lowered their prices for that week a bit! I'll definitely be back on NCL's big new ships in the future. Give NCL a try!

This, in general, is in line with my experience. I have been on NCL's Sky (with my adult sons) and the Getaway (solo). The Sky is an older, smaller ship and not terribly impressive except that you can do a quick cruise for a great price. The Getaway is a fabulous ship. The balconies are very small. I had a minisuite and the bathroom was very nice and spacious. I would say the food is not quite as good quality but I really enjoyed it--lots of options. Lots of options on entertainment too, and very high quality and, I thought, more designed to appeal to adults than the entertainment on the similar-sized Oasis of the Seas.

 

 

 

I love Celebrity and I have 2 more upcoming cruises on X, but I would have booked my December 2015 cruise on Getaway if they had lowered their prices for that week a bit! I'll definitely be back on NCL's big new ships in the future. Give NCL a try!

I was torn for my upcoming December cruise. The second week of December on Getaway did drop (at least for studios, by several hundred dollars), but only after I had firmly committed to trying the Eclipse instead. But going back to the GA was tempting.

I was torn for my upcoming December cruise. The second week of December on Getaway did drop (at least for studios, by several hundred dollars), but only after I had firmly committed to trying the Eclipse instead. But going back to the GA was tempting.

I need the week of the 5th-12th for work scheduling purposes, so that's the only week I was watching. And until, maybe, I'm retired and have more time than money, I'm a balcony person! The studios are intriguing but I just can't make myself give up the balcony. Maybe NCL's next new-build will have balcony studios! :)

In any case, I'm all paid up on the Reflection for the 5th-12th--in my first aft cabin!--so I'm not looking at the Getaway prices for that week anymore. I'll just feel bad if I find out they've dropped a lot!

This is interesting. I think two or three years ago there would be far more pro-X and far less pro-NCL responses. It used to be you expected NCL fares to be less than those of X. Having been turned off by HAL after two recent cruises, I will give NCL a try again based on what has been said here.

We are Elite Plus with Celebrity. We recently took our first NCL cruise on Getaway because Celebrity doesn't sail the Caribbean in September. We LOVED Getaway!! Specifically, we loved that a MDR was open for lunch on embarkation day. (For everyone; we were not in a suite.) We loved Taste and Savor, the smaller of the three MDRs. We ate many breakfasts in Savor and it felt like a nice small restaurant, not a huge cavernous room. Every breakfast order was perfect. An over easy egg perfectly cooked every time.

We loved having a coffee machine in the cabin. We loved that you could get a cooked to order cheeseburger in O'Sheehans 24/7. On Celebrity the Mast Grill does not cook to order and it is not open 24/7. The specialty restaurants on Getaway were much more reasonable in price than Celebrity. I did not spend time at the pool, I fell in love with the Waterfront area. A comfy sofa, in the shade, looking out at the water.

Regarding smoke, I understand Escape's casino will be smoke free except for a high rollers room.

We had the drink package and it is much more inclusive than Celebrity's. All drinks up to $15 are included and if a drink is more you just pay the difference. This was the package we picked as a promotional perk. The one Celebrity uses as a perk has a lower drink price value and you pay the full price of any drink over it.

The entertainment was much, much better than Celebrity. Burn the Floor was fantastic!

I came home and cancelled my January Reflection cruise and booked the Escape. I still love Celebrity and have other cruises booked with them....but I could see myself becoming a devoted NCL cruiser....

Helen, did you have to pay gratuities on the drink package?

My understanding of the NCL drink package is that if you book now, and select it as your perk you do have to pay the gratuities.

But still, drink package for just the price of gratuities is better than full price.

I've never had the NCL drink package but from what I'm reading, it doesn't include bottled water or coffee which are a LOT of what we get with our X drink package.

We do get cocktails but I'd say it is about a 60/40 split alcohol to non alcohol on our drinks tab with the package.

So I'm not sure the NCL package would be good for us, if we'd still be paying for lattes and bottled water etc.

And from reading the NCL board lately it seems that the specialty restaurants are going to a la carte pricing soon, so I'm not sure how that will be. Since we really did not like the MDR dining last time we had it.

We have sailed in the haven and found the food to be tasty but not much variation in the menu, I can't remember how often they changed it but we did get bored on a 7 day cruise. Never been in an X suite, can't comment on Lumiae.

I did not have to pay grats on the bev package on our Getaway cruise as we booked it before the changes. I have had to pay them for my Escape cruise...still a great value to me! I am happy with water by the glass and don't drink specialty coffees so I'm happy with the package.

What's the difference between Escape and Getaway?

I find this thread interesting because after looking at the photos of Escape that ship looks real nice with things I would be interested in. I'm 49 and have only cruised X, mainly because my parents have always done celebrity and we usually cruise together. I'm not looking for water slides or rope courses,but it would be nice if X uped their game abit in entertainment. From the sounds of this one thead they better, as someone eariler noted a few years back this subject would have been dejected by the majority of X cruisers.

Interesting that a few yrs back no one would seriously be comparing X to Norwegian or Carnival but seems to happen quite a bit these days....

Even happening on Princess boards, as well. Eventually, in the not too distant future, they'll all be the same.

We are long time Celebrity cruisers & went go the Breakaway to Bermuda in 2013. The only reason we sailed NCL was to be with our extended family of 11; 2kids, 1 teen, 8 adults. We all loved NCL.

I have to agree with many others in their comments.

The 2 biggest negatives to us are the MDR food & service, & the overcrowding of the pool area.

The MDR food is kind of bad, & the service matches the food. To be fair, we only ate in a MDR twice, the 1st & last nights

NCLs specialty dining is very good, & much more reasonably priced than X to excellent, with service to match.

Overall service, including room attendants & bar service, is on a par with Celebrity.

NCL evening buffet was outstanding.

Entertainment, hands down better on NCL, although we have found Celebrity's to be much improved.

I can't speak to the balcony size because we had an outside cabin, which was fine except that there was not even a chair to sit on, other than a kind of high footrest that my wife sat on to prepare to get her face on.

Strictly a personal choice that most here will not agree with, but I LOVED the casual dress code. If one wishes, one can dress formally on the not so formal nights, & not feel out of place.

Bottom line, we would not hesitate to sail NCL again if the price & itinerary were right.

We are long time Celebrity cruisers & went go the Breakaway to Bermuda in 2013. The only reason we sailed NCL was to be with our extended family of 11; 2kids, 1 teen, 8 adults. We all loved NCL.

I have to agree with many others in their comments.

 

The 2 biggest negatives to us are the MDR food & service, & the overcrowding of the pool area.

 

The MDR food is kind of bad, & the service matches the food. To be fair, we only ate in a MDR twice, the 1st & last nights

 

NCLs specialty dining is very good, & much more reasonably priced than X to excellent, with service to match.

 

Overall service, including room attendants & bar service, is on a par with Celebrity.

 

NCL evening buffet was outstanding.

 

Entertainment, hands down better on NCL, although we have found Celebrity's to be much improved.

 

I can't speak to the balcony size because we had an outside cabin, which was fine except that there was not even a chair to sit on, other than a kind of high footrest that my wife sat on to prepare to get her face on.

 

Strictly a personal choice that most here will not agree with, but I LOVED the casual dress code. If one wishes, one can dress formally on the not so formal nights, & not feel out of place.

 

Bottom line, we would not hesitate to sail NCL again if the price & itinerary were right.

Rich. What did u think of the waterfront area. I think in the future more ships are going to copy this concept. I've seen no line copy the lawn concept.