NCL Ship Comparison Question

[platypus1972]

Hello everyone. I just got back from a cruise on the Celebrity Constellation and I am looking to book a Caribbean cruise in Novemebr on an NCL ship. I have cruised 10 times, but never on NCL. I am looking forward to it!

 

We are taking the kids and my question is how do the older ships like the Jewel, Dawn, and Sun compare to the newer ships like the Epic and Getaway

 

I have always felt that the newer ships are better, but I am always open to saving money. Will I miss out on a lot my taking the cheaper route?

 

I look forward to hearing your responses. Thanks.

[dak0tak1d]

Wow no help yet. I hope someone gets some ideas to you. Good luck

[Love my butler]

Hello everyone. I just got back from a cruise on the Celebrity Constellation and I am looking to book a Caribbean cruise in Novemebr on an NCL ship. I have cruised 10 times, but never on NCL. I am looking forward to it!

 

We are taking the kids and my question is how do the older ships like the Jewel, Dawn, and Sun compare to the newer ships like the Epic and Getaway

 

I have always felt that the newer ships are better, but I am always open to saving money. Will I miss out on a lot my taking the cheaper route?

 

I look forward to hearing your responses. Thanks.

 

While the Epic is fairly new, you can book her for about the same price as the older Jewel, Dawn and Sun. The Getaway still has higher pricing due to being so new. I have been on all except the GA. Epic is very unique and sort of a bridge between the old and the new (Breakaway/Getaway). If you like the older style tradition cruises take Sun, Dawn or Jewel. If you want to try something unique do the Epic. If you have the money and want something really new go with the GA.

[ZoneHPH]

While the Epic is fairly new, you can book her for about the same price as the older Jewel, Dawn and Sun. The Getaway still has higher pricing due to being so new. I have been on all except the GA. Epic is very unique and sort of a bridge between the old and the new (Breakaway/Getaway). If you like the older style tradition cruises take Sun, Dawn or Jewel. If you want to try something unique do the Epic. If you have the money and want something really new go with the GA.

 

just reminiscing...

 

i remember when Dawn/Star...Sun/Sky...Jewel/Pearl/Gem were the "new" when compared to Wind(ward)/Dream(ward)...Sea(ward)...Majesty :D

 

singing "those where the days..."

[Love my butler]

just reminiscing...

 

i remember when Dawn/Star...Sun/Sky...Jewel/Pearl/Gem were the "new" when compared to Wind(ward)/Dream(ward)...Sea(ward)...Majesty :D

 

singing "those where the days..."

 

Don't forget the Norway.

[ZoneHPH]

Don't forget the Norway.

 

i was just about to come back and edit. in my mind i typed "norway"...unfortunately that didn't translate to my fingers. :rolleyes: i thank you for the assist.

[dexddd]

Hello everyone. I just got back from a cruise on the Celebrity Constellation and I am looking to book a Caribbean cruise in Novemebr on an NCL ship. I have cruised 10 times, but never on NCL. I am looking forward to it!

 

We are taking the kids and my question is how do the older ships like the Jewel, Dawn, and Sun compare to the newer ships like the Epic and Getaway

 

I have always felt that the newer ships are better, but I am always open to saving money. Will I miss out on a lot my taking the cheaper route?

 

I look forward to hearing your responses. Thanks.

 

How old are your kids? Sun is least geared towards kids with Dawn a bit more friendly especially for smaller kids.

[4774Papa]

We have 7 cruise on Celebrity and 3 on NCL. We have done the Epic, Gem and Jade. The Epic is a larger ship for about 4300, while Gem and Jade carry 2600. We are booked on the Star in September and it is the same class as the Dawn and is more the size of the Gem.

 

We liked some things about the Epic, but didn't like it as much as the smaller ships. The main pool area was very small and extremely overcrowded. It has a smaller pool area at the aft of the ship, with even smaller pool and hot tubs. The food was better on Epic, but we did not like the bathroom configuration in our cabin. If you had visitors, they had to leave the cabin if you used the toilet (opaque glass doors).

 

The entertainment on Epic is excellent, but there is no regular show every night like on Gem or Jade, Entertainment on Gem and Jade was excellent as well.

 

Compared to Celebrity, NCL seems to have more programs for children. Also, the average age of cruisers on NCL is younger than Celebrity.

We find the food on Celebrity to be better than NCL in the MDR, but NCL's has more variety with its specialty restaurants, which are excellent.

 

NCL tends to charge a bit more for its excursions than Celebrity, but generally is cheaper for the basic cruise.

 

We like both cruise lines and generally go for the itinerary. Celebrity does have the overall edge over NCL.

[platypus1972]

How old are your kids? Sun is least geared towards kids with Dawn a bit more friendly especially for smaller kids.

 

Thank you everyone for the responses so far. To answer this question, there are four kids 6, 9, 10 and 11.

[Sauer-kraut]

Pick one of the ships that has Nickelodeon on board. The 2 younger ones will enjoy the Slime Time Live activities. The SUN is very limited for children's programming. There is a a great Kid's Club on board but for waterparks and climbing wall there is nothing.

 

I personally loved the SUN, I've also sailed the EPIC and thought she was fun, but very different. The slides on the EPIC would be fantastic for all the children, as long as they are 45" tall.

[LrgPizza]

We sailed on the Spirit, which is a smaller NCL ship when my son was 6. There were plenty of activities in the kids club for him, and he loved the kids' pool area. The freestyle dining was perfect for a picky eater, which is one of the things that makes NCL good for our child. Sorry I haven't sailed any others YET. He is 11 now, and getting ready to go on the Getaway where I notice there is a Splash Academy excursion to Blackbeard's Castle on St. Thomas. What could be more fun for a kid?! Although there is likely more for kids to do on the larger ships, just like there are more adult options, that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of options on the smaller ships, as well. I hope that helps.

[zoya19]

We were on the Sun in Jan. My two children 6 and 8 loved the kids program but there was not a lot of things to do with them outside the kids program. The little kids pool area is very tiny/shallow and a lot of older adults sat in their kids hottub in that section, they did not have kids with them. A few times the one pool was closed/drained were the kids could swim and the other pool was adults only so it was quite disappointing. Plus they were so packed and was hard to even get to the pool. It was too windy/rough most days for ping pong, they did have a basketball court but a lot of adults playing. There was a few driving ranges we used a couple times with them. We did the scavenger hunts, which were fun. Some of the nightly entertainment was fine for them (singing/dancing shows) but I only took them to some of them as I didn't feel the hypnotist, piano player, comedian and stuff would work for them.

 

We still had a fantastic time but I think next time we would look for a ship that offers more to do with the kids when they don't want to use the kids club. Years ago we were on Royal Caribbean and the kids loved the miniature golf and ice rink for example.

[dexddd]

Thank you everyone for the responses so far. To answer this question, there are four kids 6, 9, 10 and 11.

 

For those ages Epic or Getaway will give them the most with Jewel a distant third (based on the ships listed in the first post) as you probably already know. Unless the price difference is huge, for four kids I'd go for the newer ships.

[Quincella]

For those ages Epic or Getaway will give them the most with Jewel a distant third (based on the ships listed in the first post) as you probably already know. Unless the price difference is huge, for four kids I'd go for the newer ships.

 

I agree with this. More importantly, so do my kids!

 

Of the ships you're considering, we've been on the Epic and the Jewel, and also on the Pearl (sister ship of the Jewel). While they've enjoyed all of our cruises, they both love the Epic most of all, without a doubt. In fact, it's the only ship we've ever sailed twice, and would go again without hesitation.

 

I will say that the Jewel has a nicer pool area than Epic, but Epic has the great water slides as well as a ton of other entertainment options that everyone enjoys.

 

My kids are now 17 and 11, but their first cruise was on the 11 year old's 2nd birthday, for reference.

[walty]

Hello everyone. I just got back from a cruise on the Celebrity Constellation and I am looking to book a Caribbean cruise in Novemebr on an NCL ship. I have cruised 10 times, but never on NCL. I am looking forward to it!

 

We are taking the kids and my question is how do the older ships like the Jewel, Dawn, and Sun compare to the newer ships like the Epic and Getaway

 

I have always felt that the newer ships are better, but I am always open to saving money. Will I miss out on a lot my taking the cheaper route?

 

I look forward to hearing your responses. Thanks.

 

The Epic, by far, is the worst ship I have ever sailed on. I absolutely hated it from the screwed up design of the cabins to the rest of the ship. They ruined the Great Outdoors and I felt like I was on an enclosed, luxury prison ship no matter where I went.

 

The Sun is a nice older, smaller ship that like most of the other NCL ships has the Great Outdoors aft where I enjoy eating breakfast lunch and dinner, but it also has the Tapas Bar on the second level above the Great Outdoors.

 

My two favorite NCL ships would be the Gem and the Pearl which are sister ships to the Jewel, but both of them were built after the Jewel and have some modifications to the Garden Cafe that make them much better ships.

 

For comparison, my favorite ships are the RCCL Navigator of the Seas, Celebrity Millennium, NCL Gem and NCL Pearl in that order.