NCL 4 times .... What cruise line next???

[x2tpd]

I was wanting to do an Alaska cruise next year. Have done four prior with NCL and am thinking about trying another line-- Mainly for comparison. We don't want to have to sit with anyone at dinner and my husband does't want to have to dress up beyond Dockers. What lines would you recommend?

[SeaShark]

I was wanting to do an Alaska cruise next year. Have done four prior with NCL and am thinking about trying another line-- Mainly for comparison. We don't want to have to sit with anyone at dinner and my husband does't want to have to dress up beyond Dockers. What lines would you recommend?

 

 

 

You've come to the NCL board to ask us to recommend a different cruise line for you? :confused:

 

 

Do I have that correct?

[AmyinVail]

we've enjoyed Holland America...but there is dressy times. You can't beat NCL.....why change? Keep filling up your latitudes membership...

[uneamie]

You've come to the NCL board to ask us to recommend a different cruise line for you? :confused:

 

 

Do I have that correct?

 

Seems like a good question to me. Why would she ask anyone on other cruise boards if she wants a "comparison"? I don't get why you have a problem with this. Are you a "NCL" groupie"???

[amistad]

RCCL and Carnival are both relaxed in their dress, Carnival has my time dining and you can ask for a table for 2, and RCCL serves almost exactly the same food in the buffet as they offer in the MDR which comes in handy for Alaska. Princess is a little more formal, but they also offer anytime dining. I think on the Alaska trip people do dress a little more casual because it is pretty port intensive. I love HAL, but Alaska has an older clientel to begin with and by your pictures you look pretty young if that matters to you. HAL is dressier, but I believe they still offer a relaxed, but still nice dinner in their buffet. I know I jumped all over the place, just some thoughts.

[SeaShark]

Seems like a good question to me. Why would she ask anyone on other cruise boards if she wants a "comparison"? I don't get why you have a problem with this. Are you a "NCL" groupie"???

 

:confused::confused:I just asked for a clairification....where did you get that I had a "problem" with it?

 

 

Maybe it's me, but when I want to buy a Ford...I go to the Ford Dealership. When I want to buy something other than a Ford...I DON"T go to the Ford Dealership.

 

Wouldn't you rather get information from people who are "experts" in the specific line on which you want to cruise?

[DMAB]

RCCL and Carnival are both relaxed in their dress, Carnival has my time dining and you can ask for a table for 2, and RCCL serves almost exactly the same food in the buffet as they offer in the MDR which comes in handy for Alaska. Princess is a little more formal, but they also offer anytime dining. I think on the Alaska trip people do dress a little more casual because it is pretty port intensive. I love HAL, but Alaska has an older clientel to begin with and by your pictures you look pretty young if that matters to you. HAL is dressier, but I believe they still offer a relaxed, but still nice dinner in their buffet. I know I jumped all over the place, just some thoughts.

 

I just did a 19 day HAL cruise last November. They have anytime dining as an option. It looked to me like over 1/2 the MDR was anytime.

 

Dress in the MDR is fairly casual except for formal nights. No shorts in the MDR in the evening and collars on mens shirts. Lunch and breakfast was looser in the MDR. 5 formal dinners were scheduled but we only had 4.

 

The clientele is older, entertainment was just so-so, service was excellent.

 

HAL has been described as stuffy, I would call it more sedate than stuffy. The people we met were generally nice easy to talk to people but it wasn't party ship.

[ce2000]

I would recommend Carnival. I think that you will be surprised,it is not like you think it is.

[Richie2pies]

>>>>Keep filling up your latitudes membership...

 

To get WHAT???

[x2tpd]

Thanks for the replies....I went to NCLs board because I wanted a comparison from people who like NCL and can be objective. I was afraid if I went to the other boards people who were hooked on that line would talk it up non-objectively. I think CCL might be the right choice for us but I was afraid it was a bunch of 18-25 year olds running around drunk everywhere. Then at the same time I was thinking that since Alaska tends to have an older crowd that it might be fine. I am guessing CCL over spring break in Mexico would be quite different. We are 40-50 and not stuffy but I dont want to be kept up all night with partiers either. ;) Thanks again.... If I can go on the Pearl I may stay with NCL but not for the Latitudes....

[zimmerjulie]

PRINCESS gets my vote for Alaska and is my #2 cruise line after NCL. I find them very similar with lots to do during the day and at night, with passengers (and crew members) spanning all age groups. (Also 24 hour fresh water pools). They have anytime dining down very well and still do some dress up optional events, but offer casual dining in the buffet on formal nights.

 

I agree that the best word to describe HAL is sedate. IMO, the ships are gorgeous, but I just had a hard time with a significant number of my fellow passengers disappearing at 9pm and being snobby and pretentious when they were awake...I hate that.

 

I also enjoy Carnival, but after having 2 kids that constantly interrupted me during dinner when they were babies, I get annoyed about being interrupted during dinner for their nightly dining room waiter singing/dancing. If I hadn't been at one of the last tables served each night, maybe I would have felt differently, as the festivities would have followed dessert, as opposed to delaying it. I guess what I am realizing about myself is that dessert is serious business.

 

So, those are the first things that pop into my head about your question.

 

Good luck with your decision!

 

(Oh, and I just read that Princess now does not charge for their soft serve ice cream. That was the biggest complaint I heard when sailing on them. I guess I'm not the only one that is serious about their dessert. :D)

 

So, again, I vote Princess.

[Terrafreaky]

I've been looking around a little on Carnival myself. I can't imagine that it's that different from NCL.

[DMAB]

nt. We are 40-50 and not stuffy but I dont want to be kept up all night with partiers either. ;) Thanks again.... If I can go on the Pearl I may stay with NCL but not for the Latitudes....

 

It's been 4 years but we went to Alaska round trip form San Francisco on Celebrity. There was a mix of age groups, very few children *school was in session, that helped). There were a lot of 40/50 year olds. Entertainment was excellent and varied and the naturalist lecturer was also excellent. Take that with a big grain of salt because it was 4 years ago and things change.

[Colorado Beach Bum]

Thanks for the replies....I went to NCLs board because I wanted a comparison from people who like NCL and can be objective. I was afraid if I went to the other boards people who were hooked on that line would talk it up non-objectively. I think CCL might be the right choice for us but I was afraid it was a bunch of 18-25 year olds running around drunk everywhere. Then at the same time I was thinking that since Alaska tends to have an older crowd that it might be fine. I am guessing CCL over spring break in Mexico would be quite different. We are 40-50 and not stuffy but I dont want to be kept up all night with partiers either. ;) Thanks again.... If I can go on the Pearl I may stay with NCL but not for the Latitudes....

 

We enjoyed our NCL cruise and also enjoy Carnival. Both lines have many similarities and if you like NCL you'd probably like Carnival. And no, it's not a bunch of 18-25 year olds running around crazy. You'll certain things on one line better than the other but overall either is a great cruise.

[blondie1234]

We don't like to sit with random people either so in the past we have often gone Princess which have free dining. Now alot of the cruises like Holland America, Royal Caribbean, Carnival and even Celebrity I think also offer a free dining option whereas before it was only Princess and NCL who had that option among the mainstream carriers. I just got off the Gem and I think that Princess and Holland America offer a better experience than NCL. They have more of the finishing touches that NCL does not offer. However, it would depend on what you are looking for. If you want a variety of restaurants and are looking for nightclubs, I think NCL would be better than Princess.

 

For instance, entertainment - Princess usually offers 2 different types of shows a night and the quality of the performers is better. They have more production shows. Princess offers on many ships "Movies under the Stars" on a giant screen TV outside everynight with popcorn; they also offer alot of movies, etc. in the room whereas NCL had only movies late at night and virtually nothing to watch in the room. On Princess you can get filet mignon in the main dining room wheras on NCL you can't. NCL focuses more than Princess on the specialty restaurants. They have alot more specialty restaurants and they offer more variety, i.e., Princess would not always have both a sushi and mexican restaurant for instance whereas NCL would. On NCL, it seemed like you have all different stateroom attendants (at least that was my experience on this last cruise) and you don't really get to know them. On Princess you always see the stateroom attendant in the hallway and you have the same one everynight. Princess (and Holland America) have a formal afternoon tea and cookies in the main dining room whereas NCL does not. NCL offers free ice cream whereas on Princess they have an ice cream parlor you have to pay for. NCL has a chocaholic buffet. Princess sometimes offers historical talks on random topics (for instance on one of my cruises, they had a talk by one of the people who advised the director of the movie Titanic).

 

NCL and Princess probably are comparable in terms of food though I think NCL may be slightly better. NCL has more restaurant style dining- by that I mean in the dining room, no one ever asks if you want to sit with people - they just sit you as in a restaurant. On Princess, you can always get your own table but they often ask if you want to sit with people. I guess you can do that on NCL as well but I don't think people on NCL mix and match eating alone or eating with people as much as Princess (though like I said you don't have to eat with people - they just always offer you that option).

 

Both are comparable in terms of the ships since I think most of them have the same basic layout. I think the crew on Princess is friendlier - everyone always say hi (which can actually be annoying sometimes since you are constantly saying hi walking down the hallway), but with NCL I did not find the same level of friendliness of the staff. I also think that the service of the waiters was better on Princess than on NCL. Princess generally has more pools. On many of the big ships, there are 5 pools and at least one is inside. The pools on NCL were so crowded that it would be impossible to do laps, etc.

 

I think in terms of partying, probably NCL is better- I noticed that the casino on NCL was busy whereas at least on my experience with Princess virtually no one is ever in the casino. This may be partly due, however, to the iterniary I was on (Caribbean on NCL) as well as the fact that Princess I think has an older crowd. NCL also has more "cool" public lounges than Princess. NCL has a nicer buffet area. It seemed to me that NCL also has a better kids program (though I can't be sure since I did not take advantage of it but it did seem that alot more kids were involved in the program, there looked to be alot of cool rooms for them to go in and they were always doing things around the ship wheras in Princess, I generally did not see too many kids (though again this may be due to the iteniary)).

 

I've been on Holland America as well and I think Holland America is more comparable to Princess and that my comments above would apply to them as well. Holland America is slightly more formal than Princess, i.e., for traditional dining they have a butler ring a bell throughout the ship alerting you to dinner. Though with their change offering passengers to dine as they wish, some of these things may have changed. Holland America too is very nice. There are of course little differences between them and Princess (for instance on Holland America alot of the ships have bathtubs even in regular rooms).

 

And of course there are differences in the types of staterooms. NCL, especially on some of the newer ships, seems to offer more "cool" staterooms, but if you are just interested in a regular outside or balcony that wouldn't apply to you. I thought that my recent outside stateroom on NCL was smaller than I had on Princess.

 

I usually choose a ship based on the ports. I often choose Princess because they seem to offer less sea days than for instance Royal Caribbean. For instance, on many European cruises, RCCL has a few sea days whereas Princess only has like 1 on a 12 day cruise to similar ports. NCL, it appears, seems to be choosing to abandon expansion of its global brand outside of North America and Europe, as evidenced by its recent pulling out of South America cruises.

[blondie1234]

Also, regarding dressing up, NCL is great in that there are no formal nights. Both Princess and Holland America have formal nights (like 2 a cruise). At least on Princess, I've found that it is not really that formal. While a small amount of people wear tuxes, plenty of people just wear an outfit like black pants or nice skirt, nice shirt such that you would not feel weird not being decked out. I just wear a slightly nicer outfit than normal and wear pearls and that is sufficient for the main dining room! Men could just wear a sportsjacket. The buffet serves the same food as the main dining room so that too is an option if you want to avoid the formal night. Holland America I think is slightly more formal, so I don't know if my pearls trick would work as well - I haven't been on HA since they introduced "as you wish" dining.

[Sparkylok6]

I would recommend Princess. I have been researching ALOT about them and based on what I have seen and heard they do Alaska like no other cruise line.....sea AND land. If you are booking a Balcony (recommend for Alaska) I would suggest one on the Caribe Deck of one of their newer ships. I was very fortunate and was able to get a AFT cabin on the Caribe Deck. The balconies are quite large.

 

The dress code on their ships is Resort Casual, the same as NCL. If you don't want to do Formal Night you can opt to eat in the Buffet or one of the Specialty Restaurants. I have chosen Anytime Dining and I am hoping that it is at least similar to NCL's Freestyle Dining. I am pretty sure that it will be.

 

As far as entertainment though, I am getting the impression that NCL has them beat. That isn't something that bothers me though as I tend not to go to the shows on a regular basis.

 

I can let you know in 2 weeks how it is when I come off the Emerald Princess. Good luck with your decision.

[DMH15]

I was wanting to do an Alaska cruise next year. Have done four prior with NCL and am thinking about trying another line-- Mainly for comparison. We don't want to have to sit with anyone at dinner and my husband does't want to have to dress up beyond Dockers. What lines would you recommend?

 

 

You stated your wants... Sounds just like NCL.

 

I cruised X to Alaska. I loved their Spa cafe for Breakfast and Lunch. But had to pack a few dressy outfits. That was before I tried NCL. With luggage restrictions and just preferring to be more relaxed on vacation, I find NCL to be my line of preference.

[Oldsweets]

I would suggest Royal Caribbean. This could work well because many if Royals Ships have the movable roof that they can close over one pool in bbad or cool weather.

[2Cruise4Ever]

I've been looking around a little on Carnival myself. I can't imagine that it's that different from NCL.

 

On the contrary, in my opinion. We have sailed both lines and have found major differences between the two. We still like Carnival and will consider them when planning a cruise. But, we go to NCL first. NCL has Freestyle, which is not just about anytime dining. We can stay in our cabins until our color is called on disembarkation day. On Carnival we're asked to leave. We can wear comfy clothing to dinner. Carnival requires more dressy attire (in our experience). And, the suite perks on NCL can't be touched by Carnival. We booked a Suite on Carnival and the only perk we got was priority embarkation. On NCL we have a Butler, Concierge Service, priority embarkation, tender tickets, and specialty restaurant reservations. While both lines are good. In our opinion, NCL is above the rest.

[MrLee]

You've come to the NCL board to ask us to recommend a different cruise line for you? :confused:

 

 

Do I have that correct?

 

Why not? Most of us have sailed different lines and, if the OP feels comfortable with the folks here I totally understand.

[sunshine nana]

Our first two cruises were Princess (Alaska and New England/Canada.) They were great. Then we tried NCL to get a Hawaii only cruise and liked that too. So we went NCL on Western Med. and then Princess again to get a 10 night Baltic rather than waste 2 nights to/from Britian. We have now booked NCL again to get a 7 night Venice/Athens. They are both good lines. We get a table for 2 at both at the time we want to eat. We don't go for formal, but don't mind wearing a tie, nice pants and top for the dress-up nights. Princess has better food and somewhat better service. NCL has great suite benefits if you want to pay more. We have had balcony or mini-suites in each.We book direct with the cruise line early enough to pick our own cabin and still get great rates. Go for best price for the time/place you want to go whichever line it is.

[jaja]

On the contrary, in my opinion. We have sailed both lines and have found major differences between the two. We still like Carnival and will consider them when planning a cruise. But, we go to NCL first. NCL has Freestyle, which is not just about anytime dining. We can stay in our cabins until our color is called on disembarkation day. On Carnival we're asked to leave. We can wear comfy clothing to dinner. Carnival requires more dressy attire (in our experience). And, the suite perks on NCL can't be touched by Carnival. We booked a Suite on Carnival and the only perk we got was priority embarkation. On NCL we have a Butler, Concierge Service, priority embarkation, tender tickets, and specialty restaurant reservations. While both lines are good. In our opinion, NCL is above the rest.

 

 

good analysis...:)

[Terrafreaky]

On the contrary, in my opinion. We have sailed both lines and have found major differences between the two. We still like Carnival and will consider them when planning a cruise. But, we go to NCL first. NCL has Freestyle, which is not just about anytime dining. We can stay in our cabins until our color is called on disembarkation day. On Carnival we're asked to leave. We can wear comfy clothing to dinner. Carnival requires more dressy attire (in our experience). And, the suite perks on NCL can't be touched by Carnival. We booked a Suite on Carnival and the only perk we got was priority embarkation. On NCL we have a Butler, Concierge Service, priority embarkation, tender tickets, and specialty restaurant reservations. While both lines are good. In our opinion, NCL is above the rest.

 

Thank you, that is very valuable input. The suite perks are the main reason I've gone back to looking at NCL, and will likely be booking my next cruise on the Jewel. :)

[AmyinVail]

>>>>Keep filling up your latitudes membership...

 

To get WHAT???

 

Nothing. I didn't say that she would obtain anything. I like the idea of continuity.....