Comparison between cruise lines

[twinkle toes]

No flames please:) but I am curious about something. Most people do not cruise on only one specific cruise line, so I wanted to ask the princess people here a question. My family has cruised on princess on all our cruises except one and that was on Royal Caribbean. Of the cruisers posting here, who has cruised on NCL as well, and how did you rate it compared to Princess? I am asking because our daughter wants to go during her spring break, but I am not able to find an itinerary that she wants to do in the small window of opportunity we have that is feasible with the airline schedules, etc. I have found one on NCL, but don't know if I want to take the chance of possibly being dissappointed. We have loved our cruises on Princess and don't have any desire to switch. We really want to go during spring break, but if it will be a dissapointment, I'd rather pass on it. We love princess because it is everything Carnival isn't. We don't like the total "party" atmosphere that Carnival ships have, and want to know how NCL rates. Any replies will be much appreciated. Thanks, Sue.

[owt205]

Hi

We have cruised on RCL. Carnival. NCL, and Princess...would rank NCL #4.

That being said, we did have a good time with the friends we travelled with, and the price was right. Would we go on NCL again....we may have, BUT then we spent 19 glorious nights on the Coral Princess, and probably will not cruise with any other line...unless we win a cruise!

 

I believe that you can have a great time on any cruise, but some are better than others. NCL has good parties, and we had a big cabin...but overall, it just did not measure up. Just my opinion. FWIW ;)

[BobT172]

While we favor Princess, we find Princess and RCCL fairly comparable, both with their +'s and -'s.

 

NCL is at the bottom of our list...our experience has been that 'Freestyle Crusing' is an acronym for people behaving poorly.

[Ginnyfyr]

Well I just totally can't read tonight...I replied to your post thinking you were asking about Princess vs RCI, lol. We haven't sailed with NCL so can't help you there. Good luck in your search!

[CruizinSherry]

We have previously cruised on Princess, but decided to cruise NCL last summer to Bermuda. We kept wishing we were back on Princess the whole time we were on the NCL cruise. No comparison, the whole NCL cruise just felt cheap to us. I guess the biggest disappointment would be the food. I think you may be better off with Carnival if that is one of your options.

 

Read some of the most recent NCL Spring break reviews. Some of them were just awful!

[Seabreeze8]

My mother-in-law and brother-in-law cruised Princess and Norweigan and they did not like NCL at all. They didn't have anything good to say at all about the food, staff, space or the passengers. My TA said that if you have cruised Princess and other lines, and then cruised NCL, you would not like NCL. But if you cruise with NCL the first time, it's fine because you don't have anything to compare with.

[Richie2pies]

NCL is OK for the price, but can't compare to Princess. You will find the NCL cheerleaders and TAs who get a larger commission from NCL will disagree.

[traveler525]

Sue, we have tried Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, NCL and Princess. And they were all great cruises!!! Sure there were things we liked/disliked on each line/each cruise (not much in the dislike column really :)). NCL had great entertainment (of course IMO but my DH agreed), they had the best gluten free foods for my DH, the crew on our ship were all very helpful and friendly, and the food was good (pretzel bread was great!). NCL really does the anytime dining etc. right if your party likes that.

 

While our next cruise is back on Princess we would go back to NCL without hesitation if it worked best for us. Hope that helps :).

[CRUISERTN]

Princess-quality of cruise, food and service =BMW; NCL = Kia Enough said!!

NCL is at the bottom of the list, and I have cruised more than 80 times on a wide variety of lines, including NCL. NCL was a decent product until they were bought out and started all of the Freestyle stuff....quality of everything went downhill fast.... Prefer Celebrity and Princess. If you like Princess, you will be disappointed in NCL.

[caribill]

Have not cruised on NCL, but a relative who has says she would rather not cruise at all than take a cruise again on NCL.

[Smee]

In order of preference for us

 

1. Cunard

2. P&O

3. Thomson

4. Princess

 

In comparison to the other cruise lines we have been on Princess do not do very well at all.

 

I think Princess rely on first time cruisers or people who have never sailed with anyone else and do not know any better.........:cool:

[bythehex]

In order of preference for us

 

1. Cunard

2. P&O

3. Thomson

4. Princess

 

In comparison to the other cruise lines we have been on Princess do not do very well at all.

 

I think Princess rely on first time cruisers or people who have never sailed with anyone else and do not know any better.........:cool:

 

Yet here you are on the Princess boards. Did you only come to bash it? That's what it sounds like. :rolleyes:

[treasure4two]

Yet here you are on the Princess boards. Did you only come to bash it? That's what it sounds like. :rolleyes:

 

Because someone has a different opinion does not mean they are bashing something, ie: Princess. Someone asked a question and someone gave their opinion. Not everyone agrees on everything. I am on the Princess site because I am going to take a Princess cruise in July, as SMEE might be. I personally love Oceania, Azamara, and Carnival-in that order and I have been on RCCL,NCL, and HAL(never again on HAL). I hope I will love Princess, but at the end of my cruise, if I would put Princess as #4, it would not mean I did not like Princess but that I put them in great company.

PS-I just re-read SMEE's comments and it appears they might have been taking a hit at Princess but they also may prefer cruise lines that have more of a European flavor as shown by their preferences. Again, everyone has their opinion-I just take it as one person's thoughts.

[mizLORInj]

IMO they are all good and I'd go on any (and I have!). Their slight differences are welcome by me. And I'm glad I've tried them myself to form my own opinion!

I always chuckle when I read about "party" atmosphere on Carnival because I can't say I've noticed. Too busy having a great cruise myself! :D

[sunshine nana]

We have been on 3 Princess with one booked for this June and 3 NCL. We took NCL around Hawaii to avoid the 6 sea days to get there and back and it was fine. NCL is less expensive and if you can get a suite (not mini), you will like it as much as Princess. You can eat breakfast and lunch in the lovely Cagneys restaurant with only suite passengers and have great service and food. With the lower price, you can eat at the specialty restaurants for dinner some nights and the food will be better than the MDR on Princess.Service from our stewards has been great on NCL and we liked the entertainment.Both of our NCL cruises after Hawaii have been port intensive E. and W. Med. and they were fine! NCL will not allow wine to be brought on unless you pay $15 per bottle and they have taken out the self laundries. These are 2 areas where Princess is better.

[willysgrandma]

IMO there is no comparison between NCL and Princess.

 

NCL is less expensive but the service we have experienced on NCL has been awful. I am trying the EPIC again in less than two weeks to see if there has been any improvement.

 

The NCL ships are very gaudy. I find the cabins smaller with very little storage space. Food is okay, nothing to write home about. I don't like the way they handle dining - while they started Freestyle, they don't do it as well as other cruise lines. I rarely find myself waiting to dine on other lines like I do on NCL.

 

But what I do love is the that I don't have to dress up at all on their ships for formal nights.

 

I like Princess' entertainment and itineraries much better as well.

 

NCL is a fine line for many people - but if I had to choose one or the other, I'd opt for Princess

[Clutterlady]

You are going to get a lot of varied opinions, but since you asked....having sailed NCL, it is at the very bottom of our list. Will you have a good cruise, probably. But, in my humble opinion, there is no comparison. Would we sail NCL again? Maybe, but not anytime in the near future. Enjoy no matter which line you chose:)

[geoherb]

NCL is at the bottom of my list as well. I'm sure some people have great cruises on them. But I think most of those people are the ones who don't have other cruise lines to compare NCL with.

 

We sail more often on Princess for the repeat passenger perks, but the other two lines I'll consider are HAL and Celebrity. I keep looking at RCI, but haven't found one of their cruises to fit our schedule and budget better than my top three choices.

[dickinson]

I have only sailed on NCL and Carnival. As you can see in my signature our NCL cruise was a long time ago. It was ok but no where near as good as our Carnival cruise so we stuck with Carnival. We are not party people at all and don't even drink and still love Carnival. the "party" rep was from 20 years ago. Today you see all ages just like any cruise line. I see you have not taken a Carnival cruise so I don't know how you can say they are everything Princess isn't. Our next cruise is on Princess to Alaska next year and I am looking forward to it. From everything I read you can't go wrong with Carnival, Princess or Royal Carribbean. Of course every cruise is different based upon the passengers and the ship. Any cruise during spring break is bound to have tons of kids running all over so no matter what line you pick if you have a lousy time just blame it on timing.

[schittenden]

We sailed Princess in December and NCL a couple of weeks ago. The crew (NCL Spirit and Crown Princess) on both ships were fantastic. We had great service on both.

 

The Crown was the most beautiful ship I've been on. The Spirit was lovely as well. Our cabin (BA Caribe vs BA) on Princess was far nicer than on NCL. Our comforter on NCL had a stain and the room was much smaller. The bedroom area maybe felt a little larger though as it has a small sofa that the Princess balcony room was missing. The bathroom was larger on NCL with a MUCH larger and more comfortable shower. The storage space on Princess was much better (but that may be less of an issue for a shortish cruise).

 

As for the food, hands down, Princess is far far better in the dining rooms. The buffets are a closer call, but I'd probably give the edge to Princess in quality and NCL in selection. The Blue Lagoon on NCL had great snacks, but the treats from the International Cafe still linger in my thoughts sometimes even four months later.

 

As for entertainment, we allow ourselves to enjoy the shows regardless of how bad they might be, but the NCL productions were much more polished and had more elaborate staging along with better performers.

 

Given a choice, I'd probably take Princess over NCL. That said, NCL is a good value if you can get past the poor food quality and smaller rooms. I hope this helps. If you have specific questions, feel free to ask.

[drlynn]

We have sailed with Princess, Celebrity and most recently NCL. As some others have said NCL is the very bottom of the list. If you are used to the more classy feel of Princess you will be very disappointed.

[michigan tim]

Far more similarities than differences. I've been on Carnival, RCL, Costa, with the last 3 on Princess (and another upcoming), following 3 in a row in NCL.

 

As far as vibe and demographic goes, RCL and CCL are both loud, high energy, rah rah rah... let's get the party started vibe. Lots of announcements and very little of anything subdued. Both lines offer vastly more poolside/family activities and I'd put the mean age at about 10-15 years less than NCL and Princess.

 

I find the vibe and demographic on NCL and Princess to be very similar. I've not noticed much, if any price difference between NCL and Princess. According to DW, Princess has better deserts than all the other lines. I find the MDR to be somewhat underwhelming on both lines. The NCL Pearl had the finest buffet I've experienced at sea. No question, Princess pizza is very good (best would be reserved for Costa). NCL's production shows are typically excellent, whereas Princess' I'd rate as marginal, but Princess does have very good second string entertainment in the lounges.

 

Just put me on a ship and I'm going to be happy...

[Woobstr112G]

What works for some, others will not do. We've recently sailed exclusively on Princess. Sure there are are some bumps in the road, but all in all, Princess fits our needs at the moment. I have never sailed NCL and doubt I ever will. I've talked to people who have and most have said their cruise experience was sub par.....

 

Bob

[Smee]

Yet here you are on the Princess boards. Did you only come to bash it? That's what it sounds like. :rolleyes:

 

I just like to read what other people think of Princess cruises :cool: The blind leading the blind...............:D

[shepp]

I just like to read what other people think of Princess cruises :cool: The blind leading the blind...............:D

 

And the snarky insulting the posters.