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Ncl Gem or Rccl Navigator?

royalcaribbean101

Gem or Navigator?  

74 members have voted

  1. 1. Gem or Navigator?

    • Gem
      12
    • Rccl
      56
    • Neither
      6

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seadude

seadude

Posted
Posted

I think that is a very personal decition but I think that the food is better in NCL also the free style works well on the age of your family. something for each but if you think that you can't live with the promenade and if bean Diamond is important go to RCI. On both of them you are going to spend a wonderful time so... you are going to have a good time deciding also just think all the things that you can do with the extra $$$ that you are going to seve on Gem. May be you can pay your drinks and Spa services...

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Yurita

Yurita

Posted
Posted

You know what I do? I usually go to you tube dot com (I'm sure you're familiar with this since you are young) check videos of both ships and see for yourself. Note your pros and cons.

We are also considering the NCL Pearl after our Liberty of the seas cruise, maily because of ports of call and price. I think they are cheaper than Carnival!!!:eek:

I love Royal because I'm 26, and enjoy doing the flowrider, the promenade, big pools, ice skating, rock climbing. Royal is our favorite cruiseline, but we wouldn't mind trying The Pearl or the Gem (I wouldn't go on any other NCL ship)...

The Navigator is a beautiful ship also... but hey, check out some cruise videos on you tube and see what you think.

Let us know what you decide!!! happy cruising!

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akcruz

akcruz

Posted
Posted
Thanks for the help guys! I think I'm going to go with Navigator.:D

 

I think you are making the right choice, especially with kids that age. I was only on the Gem for a 1 night to nowhere (wanted to see what it was) but it felt very closed in to me. We had a very hard time getting around the ship, felt like we always had to go up or down to get to the other end of the ship. Was the ship nice, yes it was, but I just kept saying I don't think I could handle this ship for a week.

 

One word on $$. While NCL is usually less than RCI to book, if you want to really take advantage of the free style dining you need to eat in the pay restaurants. With 4 people paying those fees they add up. I would take that into consideration when looking at overall $$. We ate in the main dining room for 1 meal and did not like it at all. The pay venues were much better.

 

BTW I have teens as well and while they didn't go with us on Gem, I know they would much prefer RCI.

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Nekochan

Nekochan

Posted
Posted

I have been on the NCL Gem, and the RCCL explorer OTS. Hands down, I prefer RCCL for myself and for my teenage boy - better activities, better pizza, Johnny Rockets and I thought the service was better. HOWEVER... since it is a port intensive itinerary, you are probably not going to be on the ship that much, and the 'freestyle' dining might be better for you. 'Freestyle' is really only 'Freestyle' if you eat in one of the 3 main dining rooms or the buffet. The other restaurants on the ship all have to be reserved in advance or you might have a long wait to get in to a particular restaurant on a particular night, and most of them there is some sort of charge (bananas foster in the steakhouse and chocolate fondue in the french restaurant are STILL remembered with great fondness). I like the vegetarian options on RCCL much more, but some of the desserts on NCL were better. The bowling alley on the Gem wasn't so spectacular and the rock climbing wall on the explorer were better.

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Nekochan

Nekochan

Posted
Posted

I have been on the NCL Gem, and the RCCL explorer OTS. Hands down, I prefer RCCL for myself and for my teenage boy - better activities, better pizza, Johnny Rockets and I thought the service was better. HOWEVER... since it is a port intensive itinerary, you are probably not going to be on the ship that much, and the 'freestyle' dining might be better for you. 'Freestyle' is really only 'Freestyle' if you eat in one of the 3 main dining rooms or the buffet. The other restaurants on the ship all have to be reserved in advance or you might have a long wait to get in to a particular restaurant on a particular night, and most of them there is some sort of charge (bananas foster in the steakhouse and chocolate fondue in the french restaurant are STILL remembered with great fondness). I like the vegetarian options on RCCL much more, but some of the desserts on NCL were better. The bowling alley on the Gem wasn't so spectacular and the rock climbing wall on the explorer were better.

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mtchg

mtchg

Posted
Posted
I think you are making the right choice, especially with kids that age. I was only on the Gem for a 1 night to nowhere (wanted to see what it was) but it felt very closed in to me. We had a very hard time getting around the ship, felt like we always had to go up or down to get to the other end of the ship. Was the ship nice, yes it was, but I just kept saying I don't think I could handle this ship for a week.

 

One word on $$. While NCL is usually less than RCI to book, if you want to really take advantage of the free style dining you need to eat in the pay restaurants. With 4 people paying those fees they add up. I would take that into consideration when looking at overall $$. We ate in the main dining room for 1 meal and did not like it at all. The pay venues were much better.

 

BTW I have teens as well and while they didn't go with us on Gem, I know they would much prefer RCI.[/QUOTe

 

Some good points about NCL. My family and some friends and their child did Disneyland then

an 8 nite on the NCL Star Mex. Riviera. We are RCI and Carnival folks for the most part;

and went in with modest expectations; it was VERY inexpensive rate wise. The good news is, in general the Star exceeded our expectations and the staff and C.D. were GREAT (better than some of our other cruises frankly..REALLY friendly and helpful) ..and out of

our 19 cruises, the NCL Star was the only cruise that offered us a glass of (admittedly

cheap) champagne as we boarded; that was a nice touch and set the stage for mostly

pleasant suprises.

 

BUT, the free main dining areas food AND service were mediocre and didn't match up to

the MDR experiences of it's two main competitors. We deferred to the specialty restaurants (most, but not all with an extra fee) and they were very good to EXCELLENT. I am thinking NCL drives folks to their extra fee areas; so this needs to be kept in mind when sailing NCL;but if the price is right we would sail with them again.

 

Mitch

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Tes_

Tes_

Posted
Posted

I haven't been on RCCL yet but did go on the Gem last year. The service in the main dining area was horrible in our experience. I think it's because you aren't with the same server the whole cruise so they aren't trying as hard to get tips. Also, I personally felt so harassed for more money at every turn, that while I won't say I'll never sail them again, it will be a good long time before I give them another shot. People are right about the pay resteraunts though! The service is outstanding and the food is great if you don't mind paying extra every night and reserving in advance. I'm excited to try out the bigger ship this year!

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scg1a0

scg1a0

Posted
Posted

We were on the Gem last year and Navigator the year before. We only have sailed the one time on NCL and we did not like it. There are no open spaces because there are so many restaurants making it an odd ship to navigate. There were some hallways so small that we assumed we were where we did not belong a few times. We sailed on NCL because of the lower fare but were very unhappy with the food and service. (We ate in every restaurant onboard and the buffet was the best food) We saved a few hundred dollars which we would have gladly spent if we could have done it again.

 

From my experience you are right to go with the Navigator. We had a wonderful time, good foor and outstanding service!!! We are back to RCCL in a few weeks on Explorer and cannot wait to experience good food and service again!!!

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akcruz

akcruz

Posted
Posted
Thanks for the tips! I was also wondering: does anyone have any pictures or cruise compasses that they can send to me? My email address is royalcaribbean101@gmail.com. Thanks!

 

Here is a link to a great website showing lots of info on the voyager class of ships http://www.voyager-class.com/ .

 

As for compasses I would post another thread asking for those. There are some sites out there but most are old.

 

The other option is to go to webshots and do a search on the ship you are looking to sail. Lots of great pics out there.

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pcutrone

pcutrone

Posted
Posted

I did the Gem and then got off and went right on the Independence of the Seas. As I have seen in other posts, the food in the main dining room on the Gem was horrible. Service? Forget about it. Several times we waited at least 30 minutes for a drink. The food wasn't even edible. Yes, they have speciality restaurants and you can eat when you want, but there is an extra charge for that. As for the ship itself, I agree with akcruz - the ship is VERY choppy, there's no continuity, you cannot easily move around as you can on the RCI ships. I've been on a few NCL cruises now and the only one I liked was the Star in Hawaii and that's only because I was in Hawaii! Skip NCL unless the price is low enough and you go in with very low expectations.

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emilygrace

emilygrace

Posted
Posted

Everyone always mentions Freestyle dining as an advantage of NCL. But now that RCL has My Time Dining you have that freedom to eat whenever you want.

 

I think you usually get what you pay for.....my one experience with NCL (on the Pearl, brand new at the time) was inattentive dining service, small cabins and that "you can't get there from here" feeling all the time. I also didn't like the fact that the adults only pool was right next to the regular pool, so there was no quiet sanctuary.

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FLCRUISINGCPL

FLCRUISINGCPL

Posted
Posted
Hi! I have a wife, a 14, and 17 year old. We want to go on a cruise to the eastern Mediterranean. We've been on RCI 3 times already and we've enjoyed it so much! But, now we see NCL's low fares and restaurants. Which one should I pick????!!!:eek:

 

We took Gem this past May and it cost half of the Voyager (same class as Navigator). No way to justify the 2X expense for RCCL, even though we just got off the Indpendence of the Seas this past weekend.

 

Gem is a beautiful ship, more like a Radiance Class is size, and the crew was outstanding. We love the food and Entertainment on NCL and prefer them to RCCL. We sail RCCL mostly due to the ships and our Diamond benefits, but cannot pay that large a premium vs NCL.

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