I Cheated on NCL

[Solararc]

So the question arises' date=' why the strong loyalty? I mean for me, all things being equal, I'll take Princess, but all things are never equal and I will and have sailed HAL, X, NCL, RCI, Costa and even CCL. All these lines, while providing a similar basic cruise experience, have enough differences to make the comparison a good topic for discussion.[/quote']

 

 

I suppose it comes down to people's experiences, taste, and the little things onboard that would create a pleather of differences more than enough for debate and comparison

 

 

*Living Large*

[Bocadude85]

We cheated with Royal about two years ago and came running back to NCL

[twokids0204]

Still looking for my cruiseline of choice...

 

We have done Carnival out of Baltimore for the same reason as you, we were able to drive there and alleviate airfare.

 

We did Royal Caribbean because we wanted to try the largest ship in the world.

 

We are now trying NCL (In August) to try Freestyle cruising.

 

My initial opinions of Carnival vs. Royal are:

 

- Food on Carnival was marginally better. Although there were more options on RC.

- Entertainment on Royal was WAAAAY better

- Staff on Carnival and over all cruise experience seemed more personal, maybe it was due to the fact the Royal ship was so large.

 

Can't wait to try NCL and compare.

 

(that mini comparison was really my way of saying "subscribing" to this thread)

[Solararc]

Enjoy your first NCL voyage!! You will love it

 

 

*Living Large*

[sail7seas]

Nice introduction. :) You've caught our interest.

 

[triptolemus]

Will OP return and post, or will this be one of those threads with 500 posts telling the OP how wonderful their writing style is with no follow-up?

 

Let's get the show on the road already... :rolleyes: SOGOTP.

[Siora7777]

Subscribe

[triptolemus]

Subscribe

 

[cliffd64]

Will OP return and post, or will this be one of those threads with 500 posts telling the OP how wonderful their writing style is with no follow-up?

 

Let's get the show on the road already... :rolleyes: SOGOTP.

 

I kind of feel the same way... why the suspense?

[Solararc]

Will OP return and post, or will this be one of those threads with 500 posts telling the OP how wonderful their writing style is with no follow-up?

 

Let's get the show on the road already... :rolleyes: SOGOTP.

 

 

Hahaha

 

 

*Living Large*

[Siora7777]

 

Thanks

[newcastlemam]

We are cheating too opposite way though usually sail royal but sailing getaway in October

[ronandannette]

Will OP return and post, or will this be one of those threads with 500 posts telling the OP how wonderful their writing style is with no follow-up?

 

Let's get the show on the road already... :rolleyes: SOGOTP.

 

Thanks for saying what we were all thinking...(er, more than one of us were thinking).:)

[buckirj1]

Loved the intro, and looking forward to reading the OP's impressions of RCI. I didn't like either of my RCI cruises, but they have some interesting itineraries at better times of year than some of the other cruise lines. I'm hesitant, but not willing to give up on Royal Caribbean completely. Besides, I love the OP's writing style!

[CasinoCruzGirl]

Several month ago there were a few threads with reviews that never finished. I don't think this OP will do that (I hope not).

 

Ps better watch out for the NCL police tag team who are on a mission to report posts and threads.

[NCLbigfan]

Thanks to everyone who has subscribed to this thread and thanks to everyone who has complimented my style. Please understand that I fully intend to follow through with my story. Between traveling to and from work, and work itself I spend an average of 12 to 14 hours a day doing that. This doesn't give me much time to write. But I will.

 

So without further ado, here is my first installment:

 

The Sailaway: For the wife and I, one of the high points of any cruise is the sailaway. It’s the beginning of the cruise, we’re pulling away from the dock, a live band is playing and the cruise ship hosts, along with the cruise director and assistant cruise director are leading the charge toward fun. We’re outside, and celebrating around the pool. We’re doing all those Caribbean dance numbers as well as a conga line. The longer the sailaway party the better. On the Sun this past February, the sailaway lasted an hour and a half.

 

On Royal’s Grandeur, the sailaway lasted just 20 minutes. It was over before it began and it was held indoors, in the middle of the ship, to pre-recorded music, in an area called the centrum. That is the small open area to four decks, highlighted by glass enclosed elevators. In all fairness, it was in the 50’s and there was an 80 percent chance of rain. That was the reasoning behind having the sailaway party indoors as it was originally scheduled for outside. However, I have sailed from New York in October, November and January on NCL through freezing temperatures and the sailaways were held outside. Although the Royal sailaway was short, I did notice one difference that I liked. There were several officials and chefs who were having a great time dancing to the music and who were introduced at the end of the sailaway. I had never seen that before on NCL.

 

Dinner Time: One of the many things that we love about NCL is the freestyle concept, especially when it comes to dinner. We can eat wherever we want to, whenever we want to and with whomever we want to. With Royal I was given the option of early dining with assigned seating which was at 5:30, or late dining with assigned seating which was at 8:00 or choose “my time” dining which is Royal’s way of saying freestyle dining in which I could eat anytime between 5:00 to 8:30 but without assigned seating That is the one I chose. On the Grandeur ship, assigned seating and eating for both times were on the lower level of the dining room while “my time” guests were seated upstairs in an area that was about half the size of the lower level.

 

The first night I was asked by the maître “D if I wanted to have a standing reservation for a particular time throughout the cruise. I did not want this and politely said, “no thank you.” However, he didn’t seem to take “no” for an answer and told me he could guarantee us the same waiter every night in the same location if we wanted, without having to wait long for a table. All we had to do was give him a time. I understand that there are many traditional cruisers who would have liked this but I wasn’t interested. A few days later we were again approached and told that the following night was lobster night and that they planned on being busy and that we should make a reservation. I don’t eat lobster and again told him that I didn’t want to make reservations.

 

Five of the eight nights were eaten in the dining room and not once did we have to wait for a table. We walked right in and were seated in the same place and with the same waiter for four of those five nights and without needing to make any reservations.

 

One thing that I did notice that was the same is that both NCL and Royal offer a selection of items available every night from a standard menu in addition to different selections each night.

 

As far as the food is concerned, I am the last person you want to ask about food. I am a terrible eater as I don’t like to try new things; I won’t eat a lot of foods and I am happy to eat the same things that I enjoy all the time. On the five nights in the dining room I ate the same steak, with the same salad and the same desserts. Yet, the waiter still managed to mess up the dinner almost every night.

 

One other thing that really bothered me on the Grandeur is that the main dining room and buffet closed at 8:30 every night. On the Sun back in February, the dining room and buffet closed at 9:30 every night, one hour later. There were a couple of days on the Grandeur when we got to the dining room just before 8:30 and were rushed. We were told during the main course that we had to order dessert because the kitchen was closing.

 

On NCL they have Blue Lagoon or O”Sheehan’s or whatever they are calling it this week, as a 24 hour eatery in which you could get hot food. On the Grandeur, once the dining room and buffet area closed at 8:30 a small snack bar area way in the back of the ship opened until 1am. Their items included hot dogs and very small slices of pizza, along with cookies, other small desserts, and packaged sandwiches, the kind that you would find in a 7-11 or other convenience store. Not very appealing and actually very tacky.

 

In my book, the eating concept is so much better on NCL.

 

Next up: The Cruise Critic meetings and a comparison between NCL’s Freestyle Daily, and Royal”s Cruise Compass daily listings.

[spotfish]

Great posts so far! As a person who works also I don't think 24 hours between updates was TOO long. Signed,,, Patiently waiting.

[Pluto_fan]

As far as the food is concerned, I am the last person you want to ask about food. I am a terrible eater as I don’t like to try new things; I won’t eat a lot of foods and I am happy to eat the same things that I enjoy all the time. On the five nights in the dining room I ate the same steak, with the same salad and the same desserts. Yet, the waiter still managed to mess up the dinner almost every night.

 

This just made me laugh. :D Maybe the waiter wanted to encourage you to try mixing it up a bit.

 

Really enjoying your report so far! Thanks!

[dshefter]

Always good to try another line to gain a different perspective. We have sailed RCL, NCL, Carnival and Princess. All offer different things. You can find likes and dislikes on all of those lines.

[BritChickBN1]

You are very naughty but I look forward to reading your thoughts on the differences between ncl and royal. :p

[dolita22]

You have me intrigued! I sailed the Grandeur back in 2010 with friends and my hubs and I sailed the Indy in 2014 for our honeymoon, sailing NCL in between. We came back to NCL and have two more NCL cruises booked. Always good to try different things, and I'm intrigued to hear another perspective! Thanks for taking the time to post. :)

[NCLbigfan]

To continue with my comparisons of NCL and Royal….

 

Cruise Critic: Since discovering Cruise Critic a few years ago I have joined many of my journey’s roll calls. They were basically all the same with people getting to know each other before the cruise begins. One person usually steps up to create the meeting and contacts NCL for confirmation of a time and place which he or she then posts on the roll call. At these meetings sometimes we played games and had prizes and sometimes there were slot pulls, cabin crawls and bar crawls, all coordinated by the cruisers themselves. I even got name badges and lapel pins from my fellow cruisers.

 

As you all probably know the NCL Cruise Critic meeting is held with some of the ship’s officers attending. Sometimes the Captain appears. Sometimes the Staff Captain appears. But mostly it’s usually the hotel director, or the guest services person, or the cruise director or the beverage manager, or the chef. I’ve been given a card with the names and telephone numbers of all the big shots and encouraged to call with any issues or problems. A question and answer section usually followed. There was always a table set up with water, coffee and some sweet snacks.

 

The Royal Cruise Critic meeting was done a little differently. First you had to click on a link on their web site before the cruise to officially register for the meeting. There has to be a minimum of 25 people registering. If not, I guess they might not have one. When I registered for the meeting I was sent an email telling me that we were the 59th and 60th people registered for the meeting. So that meant the meeting was scheduled. In the email I was given the day, time and location of the meeting.

 

Once on the ship, I was given two paper notices in my cabin inviting me, and the wife, to the event. The Cruise Critic logo was on the paper with the following:

 

Dear (my name or her name)

Welcome Aboard! Royal Caribbean International and Cruise Critic invite you to have fun and mingle with the friends you’re met online at a gathering just for you.

Day 2 Sea Day

Venue: name of location

Time: 10:00 am

Please bring this invitation to the event.

 

Well, I had never gotten a paper invitation from NCL before. In my experiences with NCL, the Cruise Critic meetings were held as closed door sessions with a sign stating, “Private Meeting” just outside the room. On Royal there was no sign and the meeting was held in an open area.

 

The only big shots to attend the Royal meeting was the cruise director, the assistant cruise director, who they call, the “Activities Director” and the guest services manager. The cruise director spent more time talking about himself and his life history than anything else. There was also a table set up with water, juice, coffee and some sweet snacks.

 

There were two things done at the meeting that were different from NCL meetings. First, everyone attending was given a free logo souvenir. In this case it was a pad and paper set that was contained in a little zippered case. Each item had the “Royal Caribbean International” name on it. The other thing that was done differently was that all attending members received a raffle ticket from the guest services manager. Then raffle tickets were drawn for prizes. There were mugs, tee shirts, bingo cards, free internet minutes, and free spa treatments given away. It reminded me of the latitude meetings on NCL. Although I did not win anything this Cruise Critic meeting was certainly different from NCL.

 

The Daily Diaries: I am one of those guys that love to plan everything out to the smallest detail. While there was a daily schedule left in the cabin the night before I always go to the reception desk in the morning to get two more copies. I keep the copy that is left in my cabin as a free souvenir and the two that I get in the morning are used by the wife and myself. I am proud to say I have all the cruise diaries from each cruise I’ve been on over the years.

 

The NCL diary is called “The Freestyle Daily” while Royal’s is called “Cruise Compass”. Both diaries had tons of information in them like when the restaurants were opened, when the shops were open, what times certain events were being held, tidbits about the port of call, temperature forecasts, and tons more information designed to make our stays more enjoyable.

 

However, one thing really annoyed me about the Royal diary. It would list when an event was being held and where but it wouldn't give the general location. Like the Freestyle Daily would say, 10:00 Bingo, Galaxy of the Stars, Deck 9, FWD. The Cruise Compass would say 10:00 Bingo, South Pacific Lounge, Deck 6. It just wouldn't tell you where on deck 6. Now this probably isn't too important to some but when you are on a new ship, on a new company, and you have no idea where anything is you could find yourself walking to the back of the ship when you should be walking to the front of the ship. Guilty! After a couple of days I would find my way around but I can’t tell you how many times I had to ask someone where something was.

 

I was also amazed by the number of spelling errors in the Compass. I know no one is perfect but don’t they have spell check? Also, one day the date was listed as January, instead of April. I thought I had the wrong issue until Reception told me I had the right issue. One day the diary was promoting their new ship, Quantum of the Seas by saying, “Be the first to experience this ship when it sails Fall 2014.”

 

Up next: “Dress up or not night” versus you better dress up with a tuxedo.

[Out to sea!]

I cheated on NCL

 

Didn't know it was possible to "cheat" on a business. :confused:

[kchiumento]

I really wish CC had a "like" button.

[Budget Queen]

I cheat all the time, am not loyal to anyone. :) Itinerary is my priority. :)