Norwegian vs Royal Caribbean

[travel12]

My husband and I are Norwegian fans. We like the ships, and are fans of freestyle dining. We want to go back to several of our favourite islands on our next cruise. We both like the Spirit itinerary as it is now. But we are very opposed to the shift to New York for the Spirit next winter. Coming from Canada we get enough of the cold winter. I cannot imagine why anyone would want to waste at least the first and last days ( and maybe more) of precious vacation time departing from New York. I have heard and read all the arguments about closer departures, and no flying, but none make a bit of sense to me.

So that has led us to look at the itineraries of other cruise lines. Royal Caribbean has a very good itinerary with the Empress of the Seas. Not withstanding the size and age of the ship , which we are aware of, I would be interested in hearing the comments of posters in regard to the overall service levels and quality of cruises offered by both Royal Caribbean and Norwegian. I realize it would be back to set meal times, but I just cannot rationalize paying for at least two days of my next winter vacation cooped up inside.

I'll welcome any of your thoughts.

Thanks,

Brenda,

Burlington, Ontario

[Ollie_WA]

We went on the NCL Dawn, July 2003, and then the RCCL Explorer of the Seas, May 2004. We are going on RCCL Navigator of the Seas this July.

 

We absolutely love RCCL...hubby and I did NOT like the freestyle dining at all. We also feel that RCCL has a better system with their excursions. We (the family) all sat down this past week and decided what excursions we all wanted to do. I went on-line and booked them all, and paid for them. When we went on the Dawn we pre-registered for our excursions, only to find out when we boarded they didn't have them at all. That was very disappointing.:confused:

I like the idea that everything is paid for before we board. We had a verly large bill after the Dawn cruise, since we had to pay for all the excursions on the ship.:eek:

I would try NCL again if it wasn't for the freestyle dining.

I don't think you can go wrong with either cruise line......just my opinion....

Ollie:)

[Pumbaamd]

We were on the Empress when she was the Nordic Empress. We also have been on the NCL Sun and NCL Sky. We loved the Freestyle Dining. Last week we were on the Brilliance of the Seas and had a set dining time. It was just fine as we were seated with some very nice people. The Empress also has Portofino's, Windjammer and Johnny Rockets for alternate dining, if you get tired of the dining room. We also choose our trips for itinerary, as you seem to be doing. Enjoy the Empress and "Get Out There!"