Norwegian vs Princess

[brownie9]

Please compare Princess vs Norwegian. My last several sailings have been with Princess with no complaints but just found a great trip with Norwegian but an afraid to switch..

 

 

Thanks,

 

Brownie9

[Gunner22aa]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1985267

[GoVikes]

We have enjoyed both lines. NCL does a great job with the freestyle dining. We like the "dress up or not" aspect of NCL. It is nice not to have to lug dress clothes for all five of us, but still be able to eat in the dining room. The quality of the food and entertainment seem similar. I feel that the NCL ships are nice(loved the Epic!), but not quite as glitzy as Princess. We really like the Piazza area that the Princess ships have, and do miss that on NCL.

[tailspintom]

Hello Brownie,

 

We cruise Princess as our preferred carrier, but have cruised NCL twice. The first cruise was on a newer ship to western Mexico. It went off very nicely. The second cruise was on a refurbished older ship to the Hawaiin Islands. My main peeve was with the anytime dining and with the food preparation on the second (and last) trip. We found that the food preparation came up continuously short in the MDR. It was better in the specialty restaurants. Now, Dolores and I are not overly picky with the way we dress for dinner, but my goodness, if you have a dress code for the MDR and specialty restaurants please enforce it. T shirts and flip flops is pretty inappropriate in any evening dining room outside the buffet. I found myself humming "Cattle Call" as people lined up 20-30 minutes before dinner to get to dinner. As if they may run out of food. At any rate, we have not gone back since then.

We do have friends who travel NCL frequently and have not found the any problem. So, if the itinerary looks good and the pricing is favorable, try NCL. If you don't care for it, so be it. You may find that our experience was an anomaly.

[baldercash]

What ships are you considering for the sailing and whats the itinerary?

Sort of like saying I am considering buying a Honda or Ford what do you think is better?

[msmoger]

We've only been on one NCL cruise (Jewel 7 day Florida and Bahamas out of NYC). It was very convenient for us since there was no airfare and the price was right.

 

We had a good time. It was much more of a party atmosphere than Princess and the ship décor is louder and less refined than Princess.

 

The food, and I know this is subjective, was pretty much mediocre to just awful, especially the MDR. The only good meal was at the French specialty restaurant Le Bistro. The Brazilian place was ok also. We pretty much ate at all the specialty restaurants as well as the MDR. The buffet was not horrible either.

 

Our balcony cabin was smaller than the standard Princess balcony but the bathroom was bigger, especially the shower. However, there was limited storage.

 

I'm not a great judge of entertainment since I'm not a huge fan of cruise ship entertainment in general. However, I'd say the non-main theater entertainment on Princess was better.

 

Would we sail on NCL again? Never say never. The Breakaway which now does the Jewel NYC itinerary seems like it might be a great improvement and I've read lots of good things about it. However, our next 2 cruises are on Princess and we're just really comfortable and happy with their product.

 

Hope this helps.

[hsmcruise]

I. Have sailed both and if I had to choose I would pick princess, but it is just

By a small amount.

What I like about princess - no smoking on balcony, wow factors of atrium,

Excursions are paid for at the end of your trip not before u step foot on ship,

Princess signature dessert! Mutts and the sanctuary

What I like about Ncl- no formal night, staff, spas ( especially the epic)

Slightly younger crowd (although this was not true for our last cruise out of New Orleans ) I thought food was pretty much the same

[fishin' musician]

I've enjoyed several NCL cruises and would not hesitate to book another. The decor is certainly more vibrant and the signage a bit whimsical ("please don't throw items overboard, we get complaints from the fish"). The production shows are the finest at sea IMO of course. Customer demographic may be a couple years younger on shorter cruises, but much closer to Princess demographic than RCL or CCL.

[IdahoCruises]

Please compare Princess vs Norwegian. My last several sailings have been with Princess with no complaints but just found a great trip with Norwegian but an afraid to switch..

 

 

Thanks,

 

Brownie9

 

Having done both, we prefer Princess due to more subdued décor, service, and food.

 

While subjective, we just feel more at home on Princess...

[brownie9]

Thanks so much for your help. We found a trip on NCL we are tempted to book. We have cruised Carnival, HAL and Princess. Once we found Princess, we said we would never try another. Sometimes the timing and itinerary are just right and you have to. Glad to hear that some of you had good reports.

 

 

Thanks again,

 

Brownie9