For Those Who Have Sailed NCL

[TravelGal22]

How would you say they compare to Celebrity?

[A Sixth?]

How would you say they compare to Celebrity?

 

NCL is closer to Carnival :p But if you like cruising, they all get you out on the water and feed you.

[islandgirlejfan]

How would you say they compare to Celebrity?

 

NCL was more like Celebrity back before freestyle, but now they are much more activity oriented. You aren't going to find a bowling alley, rockwall or slides on the ship, the nightlife is going to be much more sedate on Celebrity than NCL, Celebrity ships are not as brash as NCL ships (the Norwegian Breakaway looks like things might be changing in that department though) I know people talk about the food on both, but the only thing I really found is that the food was a little more upscale on Celebrity where NCL's food is more what what people eat in their every day lives. We never starved, it just was a little more basic. I'm consider myself an amateur gourmet cook and what is served on Celebrity is more what i would be doing at home on my weekends. We ended up cruising in a suite on them for a more sedate experience, but we were really wowed by our first cruise on Celebrity, so much so that we bought two cruise credits and have both of them booked for next year.

[4774Papa]

We have done three NCL cruises (Gem, Jade and Epic) as well as two on Celebrity.

 

We enjoy both for different reasons.

 

Celebrity goes to more places in the World (Asia, Australia/NZ, South America, Black Sea and British Isles) that NCL doesn't go.

 

NCL's prices can be lower, especially if you go with an inside or OV cabin, although on many cruises the prices are comparable.

 

Celebrity's MDR food is superior to NCL. The NCL MDR food is not necessarily bad, just not up to X's quality. However, if you pay extra for the NCL specialty restaurants, the quality is on par with X's MDR.

 

Entertainment is a little better on NCL, especially on the Epic.

 

Cost of shore excursions tend to be a little cheaper on X.

 

Celebrity has fixed times dining for 80% of cruisers, while NCL has no fixed tables and times.

 

Celebrity has formal nights ( three in a two week cruise) while NCL doesn't.

 

NCL has water slides while X has a great indoor pool area.

 

Both have good fitness centers.

 

Staff is friendly on both, with service on X a little quicker.

[Nebr.cruiser]

We've cruised on Celebrity several times, the NCL Jewel once. I was prepared to be disappointed, but we did enjoy that cruise quite a bit. The food was fine; we never even ate in an alternative restaurant. Probably Celebritie's food is better, but it wasn't a big difference. We're not big foodies, though.

 

The entertainment was really great--the best we've seen. Also, the casual atmosphere as to dress was less casual then I thought it would be. Quite a few people dressed up.

 

Also, surprisingly, this was the only cruise in over 25 where I saw a man turned away at the MDR who had (nice) jeans on!

[SFCAcruiser]

How would you say they compare to Celebrity?

This topic was just discussed last week in this post There were quite a few responses.

[Zubsin]

I like them both. NCL is more relaxed and at times I felt "more fun". I like the entertainment on NCL much better than X but than I think X has the worst entertainment on the seas. I thought the food on NCL was just as good and really enjoyed the speciality dining choices. I really like X CC class cabins for the little perks if you want to spend the extras $. I like that I can bring as much wine as I want on NCL and pay the $15 fee per bottle but we have never had problem bringing a couple bottles each on X.

[Winters in NZ]

We just came off the NCL Dawn, Oct. 26-Nov. 11. I didn't bother bringing my tie or jacket, and the ambience and decor of the Venetian Dining Room was comparable to either HAL or CLC, both of which we have sailed a number of times.

 

Excellent food and service on these three cruise lines are universal, and we enjoyed superb musicians, comedians, magic acts, jugglers and vocalists on the Dawn.

 

The bonus on our recent repositioning Dawn cruise was the great number of ports, although we were forced to skip NYC and Portland Maine as a result of Sandy.

[MTL=CRUISEFAMILY]

They are comperable in some areas only

NCL Food is not their strong suit, Celebrity is

Entertainment on NCL is livelier, Celebrity is low key, subdued and reserved

Staff on NCL is, in my opinion too pushy on whatever they are selling, Celebrity is not

 

Celebrity passengers are more refined and polished, NCL? Freestyle, need I say more?

[mum and son]

It really depends what/where/how long the cruise is...

 

I did a 12 night NCL Jade cruise out of Barcelona and there was very little night life and as it was in cold weather, there was no real "pool" activity either. It was certainly not what I would consider to be a "Carnival" crowd.

 

If you can afford to travel in a suite on NCL then there is no comparison. Eating your breakfast and lunch in Cagneys is exceptional. The suite perks on NCL are second to none.

[momofmeg]

They are comperable in some areas only

NCL Food is not their strong suit, Celebrity is

Entertainment on NCL is livelier, Celebrity is low key, subdued and reserved

Staff on NCL is, in my opinion too pushy on whatever they are selling, Celebrity is not

 

Celebrity passengers are more refined and polished, NCL? Freestyle, need I say more?

 

I agree with your post, but will add a couple more points.

 

NCL/s specialty/pay extra has decent food-not as good as Celebrity's but then again there is no restaurant fee over $25 a person. At least that was the prices in April 2011-the last time I was on NCL.

 

I also understand NCL has a great kid's program that goes into the evening-so parents can have time to themselves in the evening. They will even feed the kids dinner.

 

In my opinion NCL is better than Carnival-but it does attract more blue collar type families. I am not bothered by families nor am I snob-I "came" from blue collar. However, I do dislike too many party until you drops singles, so I would pick NCL over Carnival any time.

 

Anyway, if the OP is traveling with family NCL is a decent choice-however RCI does offer more attractions for families-so they may would prefer RCI. In my opinion Celebrity over all is a much better line than RCI, NCL, or Carnival.

[momofmeg]

It really depends what/where/how long the cruise is...

 

I did a 12 night NCL Jade cruise out of Barcelona and there was very little night life and as it was in cold weather, there was no real "pool" activity either. It was certainly not what I would consider to be a "Carnival" crowd.

 

If you can afford to travel in a suite on NCL then there is no comparison. Eating your breakfast and lunch in Cagneys is exceptional. The suite perks on NCL are second to none.

 

Oh yes-NCL's so called "adult pool" is right next to the family pool on the Lido. Another area Celebrity tops NCL with their solarium pool areas for adults.

 

I do know NCL has some garden villa suites on their newer ships-that has it's own private pool for those guests. but those run around $10,000 a person for a 7 day. I understand you only pay that for the first two, less for after the first 2 and it sleeps 6 people (3 bedrooms) -but still why not go on Crystal or Regent if you are spending that kind of money?

[mum and son]

I do know NCL has some garden villa suites on their newer ships-that has it's own private pool for those guests. but those run around $10,000 a person for a 7 day. I understand you only pay that for the first two, less for after the first 2 and it sleeps 6 people (3 bedrooms) -but still why not go on Crystal or Regent if you are spending that kind of money?

 

On NCL, I travelled in a Courtyard Villa (2 bed/2 bath) that slept 6 people, but there were only 3 of us in it. We were on the private level with keycard access, private pool, spa, gym, rooftop deck etc shared by only 12 cabins. In total the cabin cost was less than $7K for 12 nights. We could've added extra guests for $99pp as well.

 

I upsold into this cabin (NCL are great at upselling). I started in an aft facing entry level suite and after final payment when the prices dropped my TA phoned NCL and made an offer for the suite. I only paid $900 to upsell. :D

 

Like I said to the OP - it all depends on what/where/how long the cruise is. The guests during a 12 night out of Barcelona are probably not going to be prevalent on a 4 night Caribbean cruise, and we don't know which one the OP is taking.

[momofmeg]

On NCL, I travelled in a Courtyard Villa (2 bed/2 bath) that slept 6 people, but there were only 3 of us in it. We were on the private level with keycard access, private pool, spa, gym, rooftop deck etc shared by only 12 cabins. In total the cabin cost was less than $7K for 12 nights. We could've added extra guests for $99pp as well.

 

I upsold into this cabin (NCL are great at upselling). I started in an aft facing entry level suite and after final payment when the prices dropped my TA phoned NCL and made an offer for the suite. I only paid $900 to upsell. :D

 

Like I said to the OP - it all depends on what/where/how long the cruise is. The guests during a 12 night out of Barcelona are probably not going to be prevalent on a 4 night Caribbean cruise, and we don't know which one the OP is taking.

 

You lucked out-didn't you? But that does not always happen. My price range is more the mini suite or better balcony prices-and I would rather book an oceanview on Celebrity between the 2 if it is just hubby and I.

 

Of course we have no small children. With every cruise we have taken on NCL it was at holiday times when prices were higher (because of our teacher daughter)-even Carnival was higher-we found only NCL price was not so much higher.

 

For example-the week before Christmas one year, the Celebrity Balcony was $950 a person-but Christmas week it was double that. Whereas on the NCL ship the week before a mini suite was $1000 but Christmas week it was $1200 a person. So it saved us $1200 to go with NCL.

 

If we could have gotten Celebrity for just a couple hundred a person more as it is normal weeks we would have went with Celebrity. We did book last minute also, (about 6 weeks out) waiting to see if any line had a good price drop also.

 

BTW- when we took our Med cruise this past summer-we found that NCL is not that much a savings over Celebrity, so we booked Celebrity. Our daughter's first time on Celebrity and she loved Celebrity. Now, because of airfare, we also did not book that last minute.

[rubrrick]

I don't think that there is much to compare between NCL and Celebrity today.

 

Some time ago, I thought that both lines were fairly equal, but that has been some years ago. We did a 28 day cruise from Vancouver, B.C. to Gingang (port for Bejing, China) and the service (we had an Owners Suite) from our butler to concierge to attendents was some of the best of the best.

 

But today on Celebrity, which we just returned from a 16 day Panama Canal cruise on the Infinity, where we had a large Sky Suite, and the butler service was again excellent, the MDR food excellent, that was served in our cabin, and the only complaint, again food, which is subjective, is that the cafe had much of the same dishes every day for lunch and dinner.

 

Shows were good to great.:)

 

I guess that I need to try NCL again to have a better feel for the line in todays world.

 

Rick

[Nebr.cruiser]

I agree that probably the length/destination of a cruise makes a difference. Our only NCL cruise, which we really liked, was on a transatlantic on the Jewel in April--13 days, I think.

 

Almost any cruise or cruise line will be a different experience if you are doing a shorter cruise, especially during school vacation times, with lots of kids and families.

 

Longer, more exotic cruises, during the school year, will have a different demographic and atmosphere, just due to the length, cost and difficulty of taking kids out of school or using more vacation days for those still working.

[Jetswdo]

A few years ago my husband and I were in a mini suite on NCL Jewel--Carribean- Xmas and New Years. On that sailing, there was a convenient self serve laundry. We found the food quite good and we ate in all the venues, including pay extra restaurants. The only complaint I had was a bit too many announcements on loud speaker at times.

 

My adult daughter was on this same ship a year earlier and thought the food was quite good as well.

 

I've been on Princess where either the food was ok, nothing great, to completely unedible (I lost 5 pounds!)-- but I really think it depends on sailing, which ship taken, etc.

[Kellie Poodle]

I loved sailing with NCL way back in the late 80's and early 90's. We had several fantastic cruises with them.

 

And then came "Freestyle":(

 

Did an Alaska cruise with them in 2005 and that is the last time I'll ever set foot on one of their ships. Worst cruising experience I ever had.

 

I was in a regular balcony cabin, not a suite. The food was terrible, the service was abominable, the constant barrage of announcements was more than annoying. They were eternally trying to sell something or another. The ship was dirty. Our cabin attendant was wither inept, ill-trained or just plain lazy.

 

I stood in a line for 45 minutes to go to a chocolate buffet. When I got there I was handed a paper plate with the "attitude" of take some stuff and get out of here. The used plate was still in my cabin on debarkation several days later. A dirty coffee cup sat on our balcony from day one and was still there when we left.

 

The entertainment was good but not good enough to convince me to ever go back even if you gave me a free cruise.

 

The only thing NCL has that compares to what Celebrity has, in my personal opinion, is a ship and Celebrity doesn't paint graffiti on their ships.

[NLH Arizona]

I've done a number of Celebrity cruises and one NCL cruise.

 

I only ate in NCL's "fee" restaurants (because I heard their MDR food wasn't that great) so I can't comment as to the differences on the MDRs. The service on both were about the same, as far as cabin attendant; both very efficient. Someone commented that NCL attracts more blue collar passengers, which I disagree with. On the Summit, which I disembarked today, had the same mix of passengers as was on the NCL Pearl I was on in April. I thought the buffet was better on NCL, especially their pasta bar. Celebrity's front desk personal was much better, as does their embarkation staff. Cabins on Celebrity larger, however storage space was about the same. Celebrity wins hands down on desserts; they are awesome! Celebrity is dressier, while on NCL some dressed up, but most were casual. More children on NCL.

 

I enjoyed both lines and have two booked on each line. I think a cruise is what you make of it. I didn't go on NCL expecting it to mirror Celebrity and

visa verse.