Celebrity Cruiser Sailing Norwegian for the First Time

[FrequentFlyKid]

I realize my question is subjective and will lend itself to subjective answers.

 

We are seasoned cruisers who primarily sail Celebrity and occasionally Royal. I am booking a western Mediterranean cruise on the Epic for November for my parents and grandmother and it will be their first cruise. They don't know what to expect so I am not worried about them. (In the sense they may be disappointed or anything like that).

 

For us, however, I am concerned whether we will be disappointed with Norwegian after becoming accustomed to Celebrity. What are the opinions of those of you that have cruised both?

[Sixtytwo]

In 2010 we did the Norwegian Gem on an Eastern Med cruise, our first on NCL (we are Platinum on CCL). In a nutshell...we loved it!!! The ship was great, the crew fantastic, and our fellow cruisers were great. Lots of Europeans and every evening meal surprised me with so many of them dressing up for every evening meal! You'll have no regrets.

[Turtles06]

We've cruised five times with NCL and three with Celebrity (the X cruises being the most recent). We have enjoyed our cruises on both lines. We've never sailed on the Epic, so I can only make general comparisons between NCL and Celebrity for you. And I'm glad you recognize that most of this is subjective! :)

 

The biggest single difference imho is NCL's freestyle dining, which I happen to love; eat when and where you want. I think that's a big plus for NCL. (We recently tried Select Dining on X and it was great.)

 

Overall, we think the food on Celebrity is better than it is on NCL (keeping in mind of course that food is subjective). That said, we've had some very good meals on NCL, particularly in the specialty restaurants.

 

The overall atmosphere on NCL is less sedate, if you will, than on X, and of course X has formal nights, whereas NCL is casual, casual, casual. I like the "quiet" part of X -- no blaring announcement for bingo, art auctions, etc. On the other hand, I sometimes thought X was too laid back on our recent TA.

 

NCL still allows smoking in the casino, so that could be a big negative for some.

 

We had a wonderful cruise five years ago in the Med on the NCL Jade, one of our best cruises ever. I can't say that you will be disappointed in NCL after sailing with X, but I think you'll feel a different "vibe." I will say again, however, that we haven't sailed on the Epic...

 

I hope you all have a wonderful cruise!

[FrequentFlyKid]

I appreciate the feedback so far.

 

I think we enjoy Celebrity so much because the food has been the best we've had on a cruise. We could not care less about the formal nights so the Freestyle aspect is intriguing. That being said, we don't want to have a Carnival (sorry, Carnival lovers) experience during Spring Break in the Bahamas. It's hard to articulate that but I think everyone get's what I am saying.

[SuiteTraveler]

We have cruised Celebrity 3 times and NCL 3 times. IMO, both are good cruise lines and I agree that Celebrity has really good food in the MDR. However, NCL is a completely different experience than Celebrity and in a good way!

 

Imagine going to Las Vegas, except that it is on a cruise ship and you have The Epic. Days in sun and at the spa, great shopping, evenings at great shows, a fantastic casino, wonderful dining of every type you can imagine. Epic is a beautiful ship. Definitely book a dinner in Le Bistro - food is amazing. The Cirque show is great (food not so much - you might eat elsewhere or ask for the vegetarian option - otherwise it is a fillet mignon and some shrimp - not so great plus hard to watch the wonderful show and eat at the same time.) All of the other entertainment is great. One of the things I loved about the Epic was the incredible spa. I hope you have a spa stateroom or get a spa pass as it it just amazing and such a peaceful and lovely place to relax each day. The food is not quite as good as Celebrity in the MDR, but the extra cost restaurants are all FANTASTIC and equal to Celebrity and I would recommend you get the Specialty Dining package and just consider it a part of the cost of the cruise, then you can all eat wherever you want whenever you want. I thought when we went on Epic we might eat in the MDR a few nights and didn't buy it. Silly me. We ate in specialty restaurants every single night! They were fantastic! We also enjoyed the ice bar (bring shoes that cover your feet if you intend to try it otherwise it is so cold!) There is so much to onboard this ship it is impossible to do it all in a week.

 

My husband and I have always cruised in a The Haven Suite on NCL and we especially love that experience. If you are in a The Haven Suite (including The Haven Spa Suite), then you get butler and concierge service enabling you to make dinner reservations anywhere on the ship almost anytime you want. You also get good seating for shows. But there is so much more to it. You get butler service and they literally never say "No" so you are spoiled rotten by the end of the cruise. There is welcome aboard champagne and flowers in your stateroom on embarkation and you are escorted to your suite by your butler. There is a Lavazza coffee maker in your suite and upscale amenities and the suites are FANTASTIC!!!! I can't emphasize how great they are enough! On the Epic, there is also the Epic Club - a private restaurant and bar for suite guests where you get an upscale breakfast, lunch and dinner experience included with your suite. There is also a private pool in The Haven Courtyard for suite guests. I think that this Haven suite experience is one of the best at sea and highly recommend it. Your entire party would need to be in suites for this to work for your situation, however. But it is well worth it and the suites are gorgeous! So if you are considering trying this, do. I know you will be delighted!

 

We LOVE Freestyle. It is so great to not have to dress up. I bring sundresses and maxi dresses and my husband brings trousers with men's dress shirts and that's about as dressy as we get. We also like being able to dine at a table for 2 in different restaurants.

Edited January 5, 2015 by SuiteTraveler

[FreestyleNovice]

We've cruised five times with NCL and three with Celebrity (the X cruises being the most recent). We have enjoyed our cruises on both lines. We've never sailed on the Epic, so I can only make general comparisons between NCL and Celebrity for you. And I'm glad you recognize that most of this is subjective! :)

 

The biggest single difference imho is NCL's freestyle dining, which I happen to love; eat when and where you want. I think that's a big plus for NCL. (We recently tried Select Dining on X and it was great.)

 

Overall, we think the food on Celebrity is better than it is on NCL (keeping in mind of course that food is subjective). That said, we've had some very good meals on NCL, particularly in the specialty restaurants.

 

The overall atmosphere on NCL is less sedate, if you will, than on X, and of course X has formal nights, whereas NCL is casual, casual, casual. I like the "quiet" part of X -- no blaring announcement for bingo, art auctions, etc. On the other hand, I sometimes thought X was too laid back on our recent TA.

 

NCL still allows smoking in the casino, so that could be a big negative for some.

 

We had a wonderful cruise five years ago in the Med on the NCL Jade, one of our best cruises ever. I can't say that you will be disappointed in NCL after sailing with X, but I think you'll feel a different "vibe." I will say again, however, that we haven't sailed on the Epic...

 

I hope you all have a wonderful cruise!

 

Exactly this. :)

[GORDONCHICK]

I've cruised all three and X happens to be our 2nd favorite - behind NCL. Different types of birds, but birds nonetheless. First, expect there to be differences. Second, decide to roll with the flow. Third, don't try to make this cruise like your others.

 

That being said, it's been since 2007 since we've been able to sail X. DH hates to have to fly to cruise, so if they had a ship home porting out of NOLA, Houston, or Galveston, we'd hop on in a heartbeat. I'd love to try their newer ships.

 

Since it's been a few years, I don't know if X's food quality is what it was back in 2007. We did see a fairly big difference between 2004 & 2007, and there had been a decline. The X service was really good, but also fairly formal - even aside formal nights. AKA a little stiff. NCL's service is very friendly all the time, especially among the very visible officers. The entertainment (all types) is much better on NCL. And the Meet & Greets are much much better on NCL if someone on the roll call coordinates with them.

[macruise]

Have also sailed both Norwegian and Celebrity. Celebrity has more plates and silverware at the dining table, but other than that, I didn't find the food nor the experience better. I enjoyed both lines and as GordonChick put it so well: First, expect there to be differences. Second, decide to roll with the flow. Third, don't try to make this cruise like your others. You should not try to constantly compare, go in with pre-conceived notions or assume. Change and differences are good things and maybe the reason that some of us enjoy sailing with different brands and have great experiences.

 

The Epic has lots to offer and being a Med cruise, it won't be the same as a 3-day party cruise. Have a good time.

[sjbdtz]

The biggest thing for you, will be to realize how EPIC's cabins are designed & structured.

 

They are unique within NCL's fleet, and may come as a shock to you if you're unaware.

 

Otherwise, if you're able to survive in a city (figure out where people want to eat (cheap or expensive, Italian or French, etc.) and then go there...and if there are tables you eat...and if the entire ship chose the same venue and the same time, then you either wait...or choose an alternate....just like in real-life.

 

I don't eat in the MDRs, because I love the menus & ambiance at the specialty restaurants...and because the upcharges for them are relatively nominal I just go there most nights. The food there is typically quite good.

 

 

.

[Iluvcruising2]

Hey OP,

 

We are seriously thinking of sailing on the Epic this Nov or Dec too!

 

Anyway, we sailed with NCL for the first time last December, on the NCL Jade, after sailing many times with Royal.

 

This was my review thread. I did some comparisons and it may answer some of OP's questions.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2139138

[Dave85]

A lot of terrific advice already. I'll just add my $.02 as someone who recently sailed Celebrity and also recently took our first NCL cruise:

 

Don't be afraid of Freestyle! We were a little bit and booked lots of dining reservations, etc., but once we got on the ship (Breakaway) and saw how everything worked we really got into the whole Freestyle vibe and ended up loving the experience. So much so that, in fact, I booked my second NCL cruise today on Norwegian Escape :D. I will wholeheartedly second the 'NCL is livelier" comments. We found Celebrity terribly sedate. Breakaway had a really great unpretentious fun vibe going on that we really enjoyed.

 

We're doing 2 RCI cruises between now and Escape. Variety is a great thing!

[mizLORInj]

I'd go on either line, although I prefer Celebrity's solstice class ships over their older ones. Best way is to try out NCL for yourself! :) I'm sure glad I did.

Edited January 6, 2015 by mizlorinj

[FrequentFlyKid]

Interesting reads from all of you that responded.

 

The Celebrity Solstice class ships are amazing. We really enjoyed the Silhouette this past summer out of Venice. We were on the Summit a few weeks ago and while it was a good cruise I felt a little disappointed. Part of that is my own fault for subconsciously comparing it to our Silhouette cruise. Human nature, I suppose.

 

Looking forward to our third trip to Europe and sailing with our family for the first time. I think. I will let you know in November...