We are running back to Celebrity after trying NCL

First let me say that we have only been on three cruises, so I do not think it would be fair for me to compare these two cruise lines. I will leave that to you lucky ducks that have been on far more cruises than me and have a better sample to base that on. However, the three cruises I have been on were Southern Caribbean on Celebrity Summit in 2016, Western Caribbean on Norwegian Dawn in 2017, and back on Summit for Eastern Caribbean last month. So I do think I am qualified to compare those 2 ships. Spolier Alert: We ended up booking Summit for another cruise next year so you can guess where I am going with this review.

Comparing these two ships is interesting because they are remarkably similar for being two different lines. They are very close in size and have almost identical amenities. They are both older ships and may not have as many of the "extras" as the bigger ships in their fleets, but I think they both are still great options for people that are looking to have a great time on a nice relaxing vacation. That said, just as the OP is alluding to it seemed to us that the Summit edged out the Dawn in so many different little ways that separately would not be a big deal, but added up really made a difference. For instance, I think the decor on the Summit is a little nicer. The layout and seating in the theater are much better on the Summit. Subjectively, the staff seemed friendlier most of the time on the Summit. Also subjectively, the food in the MDR and the buffet tasted better on X. I will say though the Specialties on Dawn were on par with Summit and they are much cheaper so that point goes to Dawn.

Like I said it was not any one thing between the 2 that was vastly different but just enough little things that made us happier on Summit. That said however, with the right itinerary/price/timing I would be more than willing to book on another NCL cruise, or a cruise on a different X ship. It just has worked out with our availability and options available at the time we just keep ending up back on the Summit.

Sailed on many Celebrity ships and also on Jade and, our favourite, the Spirit.

Enjoyed both lines. Always enjoy our cruises except our last one on P&O Ventura. Never again Pando!!!

Too much disappointment to delineate.

What would have been the price difference between your NCL cruise and the Celebrity cruise that you did not take?

Do any of NCL's specialty alternatives offer better soup at a price?

Different folks, different strokes.

 

25+ cruises on =X=, 15+ on NCL. Both sailed extensively in the last year.

 

Funny that you brought up French Onion Soup. The worst actual French Onion Soup ever experienced, anywhere in the world, was on Celebrity. Tried it 3 times on 2 different ships (after having it previously many times). Total onion presence in those 3 bowls? Maybe 1/5th of an onion. Maybe. A small onion. Loads of salty broth, dried out bread, sad cheese. Kept hoping it would get better. Simply awful.

 

Although we find the food on Celebrity overall pretty good, we prefer the extensive menus available in the MDR on NCL. More choices. And the Specialty Restaurants on NCL are every bit as good as Celebrity, at only a nick above half the price.

 

Will continue to sail both, and have a number of days booked on each, but really have never seen, in pretty extensive experience, the vast differences that people claim. Again. Different folks, different strokes.

French onion soup in Le Bistro is on par with Celebritys and I love Celebritys.

I've never not had my cabin cleaned. I've always found a quiet shaded place to sit and read or watch people. I've never seen a lot of drunks running around the ships. I agree the casino is very smoky and wish they would go non-smoking. I don't do the MDR on NCL, because I don't think the food or service is great, but have had some of my best cruise ship meals in NCL's specialty restaurants. I get free laundry on NCL, just as I do on Celebrity.

I guess I've just had better luck that the OP on my NCL cruises. Never had a bad NCL cruise or Celebrity cruise.

Too much disappointment to delineate.

The differences between the lines can be summed up, actually and also symbolically, in the differences between the French Onion Soup they each serve,

Celebrity serves a beautifully crafted French Onion Soup, with rich broth, lots of soft onions and a crown of browned parmesan bubbling over the bowl, with good bread just underneath the cheese. NCL serves a thin slice of bagel in watery canned bouillon, with 1/4 teaspoon of onion pieces and 1/4 teaspoon of inferior parmesan stirred in. The only good thing is that it's in a tiny bowl.

Hi, and thanks for your review and comparisons. We have found the NCL is OK if we cruise with our kids and grandkids because there is so much for the young ones to do. I don’t think we’d ever consider them for a couples cruise. They are kind of like a Motel 6 compared to a 4 star hotel. We have found that their service is like someone being trained in the service industry. Their standard food is barely passable; you have to eat in their specialty restaurants to get food comparable to Celebrtity’s standard fare. But, their cruise fares are less, and living close to NYC, we don’t have to fly. We have found that Princess provides a comparable experience to that of Celebrity. It’s great to have choices!

BTW, we LOVE Celebrity’s onion soup!

We have found that the food on NCL seems to be improving in recent years. Our last NCL cruise was September 2016 and it was the best, on the Sun. The food was closing the gap with X, but still not there.

The Sun had a new Chief Chef that was from India and he was great. One night we had superb Indian food.

We still prefer Celebrity, but their pricing has mushroomed, especially with the bundled pricing with drink packages.

NCL does the same, but they manage to keep their prices down.

Our first cruise in 2010 was on NCL and we went to Celebrity because NCL didn't have the cruise through the Panama Canal down to Chile. At that time price differences between NCL and Celebrity were less apparent.

Still, we find good cruises with Celebrity on TA cruises or repo cruises where bundling is not done.

Also, because Royal Caribbean made us Diamond (Elite transfer), and they don't bundle, we booked two cruises out of Sydney, Australia in April. The Royal cruise to NZ was a little over half the price of the Celebrity cruise that was one day shorter. I will report our experience on Royal in May after we are done.

The onion soup was offered as an example. I can vouch that none of the food on our NCL cruise (even the specialty restaurants) came anywhere near the level of Celebrity food.

Next month will be our 6th cruise. Yes still rookies by most standards. We will be on NCL's Breakaway for the Transatlantic. We sailed her once before for our all family cruise. Celebrity is our favorite line having sailed 4 times. The other being Princess once. NCL is standing alone in 3rd place of the lines we sailed. We chose this cruise b/c of it leaving out of NYC. Only a 4 hour drive from our home in Patriots Nation. They also offer perks for TAs where X does not. We did our 1st TA last year on Eclipse. No perks offered and prices were "not that cheap". We came close to sailing Reflection for next months TA but the no perks drove us to NCL. If X doesn't offer perks on TAs in the future we will most likely try one with Princess.

Unless you book Suites or Aqua, there is not much difference between NCL and Celeb. except for price.

The MDR food is now very poor, so to make Luminae and Blu look better.

The atmosphere and clientele is similar to NCL

My wife and I are Elite Plus on Celebrity and Platinum on NCL, but we had not been on NCL for a few years until recently, preferring to cruise on Celebrity and Royal Caribbean.

In February, we spent two wonderful weeks on the Equinox. We were going to stay for a third week but could not get the same room. Since we had to change rooms and pack things, we thought we would try a week on the Norwegian Escape. So we disembarked the Equinox and walked down the pier in Miami to the Escape.

The ship is quite nice and we thought the mini-suite room on the Escape was fine, especially the wonderful bathroom. We ate most dinners in the specialty restaurants and thought the food was good, as was the service. Service and food in the main restaurants was also good, in our opinion.

However, we have never been on a ship that felt so crowded. Walking along the indoor promenades with the restaurants and bars felt like being in a mall the day after Thanksgiving. The pool deck was also always overflowing with people. The buffet was a madhouse no matter when we were in there.

Perhaps the crowds were because it was President's Day week, but we will have to think twice about going on one of the NCL megaships again. It simply was not a very relaxing week. While the Equinox sometimes felt crowded, the only quiet place we could find on the Escape was our balcony.

The only food NCL does better than Celebrity is their amazing cinnamon buns. Celebrity's sticky buns do not hold a candle to the yummy cinnamon buns on NCL Pearl.

Another difference is that Celebrity has lots of comfortable seating in their public spaces. I couldn't find a comfortable chair or sofa on Pearl.

The only thing that would get me back on an NCL ship is if they were to offer an absolutely irresistible itinerary.

We sailed NCL Getaway a couple of years ago in September before Celebrity based Equinox year round doing the Caribbean. We loved the Waterfront area! Could always find a seat looking out at the Ocean in the shade. We liked that a MDR was open for embarkation lunch. We liked the coffee machine in the cabin. We liked the phone charging ports on the bedside lamps. We liked that NCL had three MDRs and the two smaller ones have the ambiance of a specialty restaurant. We liked that NCL’s tables for two are tables for four that they remove two set-ups from. NCL’s specialty restaurants are much less expensive than Celebrity’s. We thought the entertainment was better on NCL. We liked being able to get a hamburger 24/7 at O’Sheehans as opposed to Celebrity’s Mast Grill closing at 6. Food is subjective but we certainly enjoyed some different menus. Celebrity remains our favorite line but we really enjoyed our cruise on Getaway and Escape.

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Unless you book Suites or Aqua, there is not much difference between NCL and Celeb. except for price.

 

The MDR food is now very poor, so to make Luminae and Blu look better.

 

The atmosphere and clientele is similar to NCL

Not sure how the MDR food on X is poor. We just returned from a 10-day Reflection cruise and MDR food was excellent, sometimes even better than specialty restaurants. Lobster on Chic night in the MDR was more tender than that served in Murano.

Not sure how the MDR food on X is poor. We just returned from a 10-day Reflection cruise and MDR food was excellent, sometimes even better than specialty restaurants. Lobster on Chic night in the MDR was more tender than that served in Murano.

Agree 100%. The poster to whom you’re responding has posted the same sort of thing on several recent threads. I’m beginning to wonder how many trolls are on these threads.

What would have been the price difference between your NCL cruise and the Celebrity cruise that you did not take?

Do any of NCL's specialty alternatives offer better soup at a price?

Actually the French Onion soup in Le Bistro on NCL is much better than what Celebrity serves in the MDR and buffet. I have never tried it in Murano or Tuscan so cannot compare it to them. In general soup on most cruise lines is pretty bad since they must make it in the morning and keep it simmering all day until dinner...not a good thing so they must make it super thin. (This as told to us by a cook on a cruise ship.)

What would have been the price difference between your NCL cruise and the Celebrity cruise that you did not take?

Do any of NCL's specialty alternatives offer better soup at a price?

We were not considering a comparable cruise, but decided to take this particular NCL cruise because we were considering the 14 night May 25 sailing of the Jade because of the excellent itinerary. The cost for us, not including airfare, excursions, or any extras onboard, was over $8,000 for a balcony cabin with an unobstructed view. We decided to take this shorter, less expensive ($2,000) cruise first to see if we would be happy with NCL before plunking down that chunk of change. We are glad that we have had the opportunity to see that the ship, and the line, is not a good fit for us.

It was not a cheap "experiment", but I have consequently decided that we are better served taking a land vacation to certain places (which we do even more frequently than we cruise) if we can't find the itinerary on a ship we want to sail on, at a price we want to pay.

I make a great French Onion Soup at home, so I wasn't craving it enough to pay extra for it on board.

Interesting thread. We too tried NCL last year as it was an itinerary we wanted to do and I had always wanted to sail with them due to the variety of dining options.

We enjoyed our holiday but not because of the NCL experience. We were particularly dissapointed with the quality of the food.

We enjoy Celebrity and where the itinerary is what we looking for it will always be one of our top choices. We sailed with Azamara a couple of years ago too which we really enjoyed but their cruises tend to be too costly for us but where there is an offer available we would definitely look to sail with them again. An added bonus was that as they are a sister company to Celebrity they converted our CC Elite membership into the equivalent in their program.

Not sure how the MDR food on X is poor. We just returned from a 10-day Reflection cruise and MDR food was excellent, sometimes even better than specialty restaurants. Lobster on Chic night in the MDR was more tender than that served in Murano.

That was not our experience on the 14 day Eclipse this February. Ate in MDR 3 times, that was enough. Could go into all kinds of details, but that should be a thread in itself. We were not alone in our opinion. The Oceanview Buffet , was packed every night.

They are kind of like a Motel 6 compared to a 4 star hotel. We have found that their service is like someone being trained in the service industry. Their standard food is barely passable; you have to eat in their specialty restaurants to get food comparable to Celebrtity’s standard fare.!

Comments so extreme like this is why many are ignored. Have you really ever stayed in a Motel 6? I doubt it. “Food barely passable” - so hard to believe.

I have sailed both lines, and while different in style and feel, I saw/tasted nothing that was vastly different between the 2. Love that NCL offers more variety with places to eat that are complementary than Celebrity. I guess I feel like I paid for a cruise along with food, I shouldn’t need to pay more for the specialty rest.

I also will sail again with both.

DH and I are considering booking our next cruise on something other that X for a change of scene. Although I get that food is subjective I think your review just eliminated one choice for us. Thanks.

NCL in December and X in February re: Food

No big difference. Didn't think I'd ever say that as Celebrity food has always been the best of any line we've sailed. Lobster night was great but the rest of the nights in the MDR did not have the variety of choices that we had on the menu in February on NCL.

Buffet was better (in my opinion of course) on NCL but neither as good as HAL's buffet where they serve most of the MDR menu in the buffet.

We choose based on price and itinerary.

My following comments are based on 7 cruises on Celebrity and 3 cruises on NCL.

I have had positive and negative food experiences on both cruise lines (both quality of food and the service aspect). However, I can see that the OP is indicating that "onion soup" is a metaphor for other issues and yet the folks posting here are only speaking of the differences and "personal preferences" as it pertains to food.

From my personal experience on NCL, the food in the specialty dining venues is every bit as good (and sometimes better) than what i have experienced on Celebrity. What I particularly like is that NCL can provide this high quality food in specialty dining venues for half of what Celebrity charges.

Because I have only booked into The Haven when on NCL, I do not have any current experiences of some MDR venue options available on NCL to compare to my MDR dining experiences on Celebrity. I will say that the MDR dining experience and quality of food on Celebrity was excellent on our recent 12-day Silhouette Caribbean itinerary (December 2017).

Given everything that has been posted already, I can say is that you truly have to take some of the comments here (on this thread, and others) with a grain of salt, especially when the comments appear so extreme and without much substance to evaluate pros and cons.

Both Celebrity and NCL will remain options for me in the future; however, I am expanding my search to look even further.

Walter

That was not our experience on the 14 day Eclipse this February. Ate in MDR 3 times, that was enough. Could go into all kinds of details, but that should be a thread in itself. We were not alone in our opinion. The Oceanview Buffet , was packed every night.

Interesting. I wonder the reason the OVC was packed every night was more a function of the particular demographic on that specific cruise rather than the food quality/service in the MDR. Although we've walked past the OBV to check it out many times in the evening, we've only seen it quiet and under-utilized for the most part, the only exception being on a late port departure day. We have never dined in the evening at the OVC primarily because it's our vacation and I serve food to my family every evening and prefer to sit down and be served. Yes, the selections some nights are less pleasing than others, I always find something to satisfy my appetite. All that being said, we still find X to offer more of what we're looking for than other cruise lines. I especially enjoy the smoke free indoor atmosphere that allows we to walk without care anywhere inside the ship and to utilize the casino, which I cannot do on any other cruise line I've tried.

The Beef Wellington in the MDR was the best meal that I had during our whole 10 day cruise. Every dish was amazing. The only issue was a dish of lamb chops slightly chewy and overcooked. Our waiter immediately brought a new dish for my wife, as well as a bowl of pasta for us to share. I thought the food was just a good as any of the specialty restaurants we visited. I agree with blueboro, the lobster was better in the MDR than Murano. I enjoyed the specialty dining, but would've been more than happy to eat in MDR every night.

The Beef Wellington in the MDR was the best meal that I had during our whole 10 day cruise. Every dish was amazing. The only issue was a dish of lamb chops slightly chewy and overcooked. Our waiter immediately brought a new dish for my wife, as well as a bowl of pasta for us to share. I thought the food was just a good as any of the specialty restaurants we visited. I agree with blueboro, the lobster was better in the MDR than Murano. I enjoyed the specialty dining, but would've been more than happy to eat in MDR every night.

Just shows how everyone sees things differently. While we were totally underwhelmed by the MDR, rushed staff, noisy, tables too close together, average to poor food, we thought Murano the best meal we have ever had at sea. Amazing food and service.

To the OP

I can understand your feelings about returning to Celebrity after a recent NCL cruise.

My DH and I felt the same way , although with Princess, after a cruise on the Breakaway.

There were a number of reasons we were not pleased with that NCL ship.

Smokey casino overflowing smoke into the public areas ( Atrium?) of decks 6,7,8 ,lack of seating in the atrium area ,walking/jogging track situated in front of a restaurant and arcade center, pushing the drinks packages with consequential behavior of guests, addressing crew in an unprofessional manner in public ,to name a few things that made us appreciate Princess cruises and decide not to sail on NCL again.

We will be sailing Celebrity Summit this Summer to Bermuda.

Reading the threads on this forum and looking forward to the cruise.