Would Celebrity Elite be happy with Norwegian or better off with Princess

[aneka]

We are looking for a Norway Fiords cruise for 2017. We would like to go up the coast to North Cape. Celebrity does not offer this option. We have never sailed on either Norwegian or Princess. Norwegian is about 2T less expensive than Princess for the aft balcony we hope to book. If anyone has sailed these lines I would love to hear your thoughts.

 

Thanks in advance for your time.

[wallie5446]

Princess.

 

Here http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2317130 is a great

comparison from a long time Princess pak who just returned from their first Celebrity cruise.

[Cruise Raider]

We are looking for a Norway Fiords cruise for 2017. We would like to go up the coast to North Cape. Celebrity does not offer this option. We have never sailed on either Norwegian or Princess. Norwegian is about 2T less expensive than Princess for the aft balcony we hope to book. If anyone has sailed these lines I would love to hear your thoughts.

 

Thanks in advance for your time.

 

We sail almost exclusively on Celebrity and Princess after earning our elite status on both of these lines. We have sailed on Norwegian several times in the past, though and did enjoy those cruises.

If you like a less formal atmosphere, you would probably like going on Norwegian. However, I do think Princess is more similar to Celebrity than Norwegian is....so if you like what Celebrity offers, then I definitely would choose Princess.

Norwegian has more specialty restaurants and Princess only has a few, although their pricing so far is very reasonable.

However, 2T is a lot of money so that would drive my decision right off the bat. I don't think you would dislike either but it really depends on what you enjoy on a cruise. Less structure = Norwegian and similar to Celebrity = Princess.

[clojacks]

Are you wondering if your Celebrity Elite status would allow you some benefits on either of those 2? I'm not sure what difference your level in Celebrity would make other than on Azamara or RC?

[Keith1010]

The on board experience will be quite a bit different than Celebrity and also Princess. I am not knocking that but just saying it's two different experiences.

 

Keith

[FTLcruisers]

We are elite on Celebrity and diamond plus on Royal - have always sailed almost exclusively on these 2. But we recently did a 4 day on Princess (which was a gift) and liked it enough to do a 21 day TA. We were extremely happy with Princess - felt their food in the MDR was better than Celebrity. Of course, we had to adjust to the way a different cruiseline does things but we did not encounter any big issues. We have even booked another cruise with them in 2017.

 

BTW Princess allows you to combine credits - on our 2017 cruise, we will get $250 military OBC plus $125 each OBC for booking a 'future cruise' while we were on our TA.

 

Marianne

[DebbieMacG]

I've sailed both lines, in fact my first non Celebrity cruises was a North Cape cruise with Princess.

 

The ship was not as modern as the Celebrity Solstice class ships ( I was on Caribbean princess) but it was clean, comfortable and we got used to the look of it with more wood used and darker colours.

 

Service was excellent, in fact in some aspects it was better than Celebrity. The food was outstanding in the MDR, better than Celebrity MDR but the buffet wasn't as good a selection for me, we tried Crown Grill a speciality restaurant and it did not live up to the speciality restaurants on Celebrity.

 

We loved international cafe, open 24 hours with a wide selection of food and the coffee cards are such a great deal, once you buy one you get free filter coffee, speciality teas and hot chocolate.

 

There were more pools and we liked MUTS but the weather was too cold to enjoy these at all.

 

We liked the cabin, it was small and had the clingy shower curtain but there was plenty of storage, the cabin attendant was good and the bed comfy.

 

If you are thinking of doing the North Cape route then it was a great itinerary, we would do it again in a heartbeat :)

[DrivesLikeMario]

I'm Elite on both Celebrity and Princess and have sailed with NCL also. IF you go with Princess (personally, my favorite), then just be aware that the aft cabins on their ships move more than any other aft-facing cabins I have ever had on any other cruise line. You'll hear more creaking, popping, and ship noise than any other cruise line's ships too. There will be a lot of movement, especially the rolling from side-to-side. There won't be as much pitching. As long as you're prepared for that and it doesn't bother you, then you won't be surprised and will most likely have a great time.

 

With NCL, I think you would be disappointed unless you went with the Haven suites. Service otherwise is pretty bad IME. The regular balcony cabins are pretty sparse.

 

You just have to weigh what's most important to you - the itinerary at a low cost or the itinerary in comfort and a higher cost. Both have their places and both are appropriate at different times depending on your needs. ;)

[Aquahound]

We are looking for a Norway Fiords cruise for 2017. We would like to go up the coast to North Cape. Celebrity does not offer this option. We have never sailed on either Norwegian or Princess. Norwegian is about 2T less expensive than Princess for the aft balcony we hope to book. If anyone has sailed these lines I would love to hear your thoughts.

 

Thanks in advance for your time.

 

Personally I would pick Princess, but that's because I would pick just about anything over NCL.

 

In my opinion, neither are as nice as Celebrity though. Princess has tiny little standard staterooms without couches. You would need to upgrade to a deluxe room to get a couch. Also, their decor is very dated and the ships feel very crowded to me.

 

NCL has larger rooms, but the Freestyle concept doesn't work for me. It creates too much waiting and poor, impersonal service. Also, they are the kings of nickel and dime. Even room service has a charge of $7.95.

 

But those feelings aside, I think the atmosphere on Princess is much more like Celebrity than NCL.

[smtcan]

Celebrity is our usual line of choice, but we have cruised several times on Princess and enjoyed the experience. The lack of a couch doesn't bother us, and the generous storage space makes up for the smaller cabin.

 

We cruised once with Norwegian and unless they have a really spectacular itinerary at a ridiculously low price we will not try them again. I hear their suite experience is outstanding, but it is not in our price range.

[OCruisers]

While Princess is our favorite cruise line, we have always enjoyed our Celebrity cruises as well. Think you'll be fine cruising on Princess. :)

 

We aren't at all fond of NCL.

[A Sixth?]

"Norwegian is about 2T less expensive than Princess"

 

If it was me, I'd take the $2K and have some fun.

 

NCL is fine. Princess and "X" better but $2K yells. :p

[RCKM43]

I would say Princess is most similar to Celebrity. We enjoyed our Princess cruises. The food was a definite step down from Celebrity, but about the same to NCL. But service, dress, clientele sailing you will probably find princess is more similar to Celebrity than NCL. NCL will probably have a more active nightlife if that matters.

[kelmac]

If you love Celebrity food, here is my take on it (Elite Plus):

 

I'm not a huge fan of Princess; I've tried their ships three times and I don't get it. Nice, large ships with small crowded dining rooms and very crowded buffet.

The food is fine, but not great, and the alternative restaurants I rate mediocre.

 

NCL has great food if you follow these three rules -- purchase the UDP (ultimate dining package) and eat every evening meal in one of their alternative restaurants; they have several. -- eat breakfast and lunch in the MDR. -- stay out of the buffet if possible.

NCL Entertainment is better than Princess or Celebrity. Cabins are small, but well designed. About the same number of families as Princess, but more than Celebrity. Space ratio is less than Celebrity, but better than Princess (i.e. --

Solstice = 42.81, Caribbean Princess = 37.66 and the NCL Jewel = 39.35 -- Note: this is with two people per cabin)

 

NCL is usually cheaper than Celebrity or Princess, but of course you have to have the add ons of $152.22 pp for the UDP. This includes meals + gratuities. We alternate between 4 to 5 of these alternative restaurants during our cruise. You can select specific dining times and make reservations 60 days in advance online.

 

Good luck and enjoy!

Kel:)

Edited February 27, 2016 by kelmac

[cynbar]

We are Elite on both Celebrity and Princess, enjoy both, each has a couple of advantages over the other but we find the overall products to be very similar. However, we have also enjoyed our NCL cruises, we just have different expectations going in. NCL has lovely ships, a lively ambiance, great and varied entertainment, and a much larger assortment of specialty restaurants than the other two. Atmosphere is way more casual, basically no dress code and no requirement to dress for dinner (except at a couple of the specialties) if you don't want to. Food in the MDRs is fine but less elaborate, generally simpler choices, but service is pretty good. Our 2 NCL cruises were both in Europe and the more casual approach worked well for us there, less clothing to lug across the Atlantic and no pressure to dress up after a long port day. You would find Princess to be much more similar to Celebrity, but if you think you could go along with the more casual lifestyle, the savings might be enough for you to give NCL a chance.

[lor74]

Princess is closer to Celebrity than NCL. Which ships are you choosing between?

[LovetheSea]

I have been on Norwegian and lots of Princess and Celebrity, Holland and RCCL. A couple of Carnival. I think in some ways Carnival is better than Norwegian. It would be way down on the list for me. Princess is much better.

This would be MY personnel choices

Celebrity

RCCL

Princess

Holland America

Carnival

Norwegian

[denatravels]

I actually have both of these cruises booked (one on HAL too) until I make up my mind. The NCL is two (or four, depending on what option) days shorter but most of the ports are the same. I'm leaning towards NCL since I am going for the ports, not the ship itself. If I do choose this, I will get the drink promo and purchase most nights for speciality dining. I can do the NCL cruise and a 9 day Northern capitals cruise for less combined than the princess one by itself.