My X to Princess to NCL Review/Comparison

[klfhngr]

Glad to have helped.....

[ccmo]

I too consider myself a Celebrity snob but also had a good experience on NCL. My daughter and I did the four night sailing on Norwegian Sky to Cuba for her 30th birthday. I went in with very low expectations especially when it is billed as open bar.  Had visions of drunk people all over the ship. Well we ended up having the best time. Our room steward was amazing. Only ate in the MDR and food was good. Service was inconsistent though. Shore excursions were top notch. It was a smaller, older ship which I liked. Not sure about the large 4,000 plus passenger ships. Anyway, we were pleasantly surprised with our cruise.

[4774Papa]

We have done 10 Celebrity, 7 NCL and 1 Royal Caribbean cruise.

We still cruise all three lines, but prefer Celebrity, Royal and NCL in that order.  However, the ultimate decision in our selection of a cruise depends on itinerary, price and bennies.   For example, we selected the NCL Sun for our Alaska cruise in September 2016, due to a great promo (3rd and 4th passengers in our cabin were free-we had three in the cabin).  Also, NCL went to Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glacier, while X went to Hubbard.

 

Since Celebrity's bundled pricing with promos that we don't want has pushed up their prices, we did an Royal cruise and booked another while on board.   Their Diamond Happy Hour (we are Diamond since we were Elite on Celebrity) is fantastic, you drink from 4:30 until 8 and drink what you want in the Diamond Lounge as well as three drinks on your key card anywhere on the ship, including the MDR.  Because of this on our 23 day Transpacific cruise, we didn't spend a penny on alcohol.

 

Celebrity has the best dining, but Royal is not far behind and NCL has improved considerably.  

Royal and NCL have the best entertainment, especially with Royal's great ice shows.

 

Excursions tend to cost less on Royal and Celebrity than NCL, but we mainly do private tours anyway.

[Marelaine]

Thank you so much for posting your review here on the Celebrity board. I've seen some nice itineraries on NCL, but was afraid to take the chance. We only get to cruise once a year so I'm really careful in my choices. Maybe NCL for 2020? Your review has convinced my to give it a shot. 

Edited October 29, 2018 by Marelaine

[rsquirrel]

Glad you enjoyed NCL.

 

I'm not willing to give them a chance after what happened with our booking last year.  They cancelled our cruise and offered us nothing.  So I went with Celebrity and now I have another cruised booked with Celebrity.

[Still Dreaming]

34 minutes ago, rsquirrel said:

Glad you enjoyed NCL.

 

I'm not willing to give them a chance after what happened with our booking last year.  They cancelled our cruise and offered us nothing.  So I went with Celebrity and now I have another cruised booked with Celebrity.

Funny!  Same thing happened with us except it was Celebrity that cancelled!!   It happens!   

[cheeseheads4ever]

Thanks for the informative review. We appreciate the comparison between the 3 cruise  lines. We have never traveled on NCL. Its been on our list to try but just havent pulled the trigger yet. Will check into NCLS cruise in Jan and Feb timeframe.

Thank you again.

[PROCRUISE]

Thanks for the interesting review. I cruised on the NCL Star and aside from the itinerary, Panama Canal, it was the worst food and crew I have ever come in contact with before or since. Then I took a cruise on the NCL Sun and it was everything that The Star was not: very good food, very friendly crew, beautiful ship. Sometimes it not just the cruise line as much as it is the individual  ship and its crew.