RCCL vs NCL: Questions about suite pricing

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, tomservo said:

 

It's interesting how much of this is subjective, I was trying to leave out some of the more subjective parts out of the comparison (shows, specialty restaurants, etc), but I've seen this come up a few times about how the specialties are way better on one or the other. One surprising comparison was people saying the production shows on RCCL were better than NCL. I was always under the impression that NCL had the best production shows at sea (Million Dollar Quartet, Jersey Boys, Choir of Men, etc), and the RCCL was good and catching up, but overall not quite as good as NCL. But just goes to show you how subjective it is.

 

I haven't been on NCL in a while, but the Oasis production shows blow NCL out of the water.

Ice shows

Aqua Theater shows

Comedy Club

CATS, Grease, Mama Mia, Hairspray

Plus the original productions

 

No contest, best at sea

[tomservo]

25 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

I haven't been on NCL in a while, but the Oasis production shows blow NCL out of the water.

Ice shows

Aqua Theater shows

Comedy Club

CATS, Grease, Mama Mia, Hairspray

Plus the original productions

 

No contest, best at sea

Good to hear, I've never see CATS but I look forward to seeing it on the Oasis. I am pretty excited about trying out the Oasis for the first time.

 

On a side note, how high can those in balconies bid in to?

[ourfamilylovescruising]

6 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

I haven't been on NCL in a while, but the Oasis production shows blow NCL out of the water.

Ice shows

Aqua Theater shows

Comedy Club

CATS, Grease, Mama Mia, Hairspray

Plus the original productions

 

No contest, best at sea

the newer ships On NCL have better production show Million Dollar ,jersey Boys  for me  they are best shows I have seen at sea 

in today's world you have to compare newer ships to the same level even in the same cruise line

so if you have never been on a breakaway ship you cant compare the shows or food

we love both cruise lines just for different things 

but one thing know matter what ship we have never had a bad meal on NCL and I have had at Rccl  and after 9 there really isn't much open on RCCl to grab something where NCL has a 24 hour PUB restaurant open

 

 

[John&LaLa]

6 hours ago, tomservo said:

Good to hear, I've never see CATS but I look forward to seeing it on the Oasis. I am pretty excited about trying out the Oasis for the first time.

 

On a side note, how high can those in balconies bid in to?

 

I think up to Sea Class

[Clarea]

1 hour ago, ourfamilylovescruising said:

the newer ships On NCL have better production show Million Dollar ,jersey Boys  for me  they are best shows I have seen at sea ...

 

 

 

I like the sound of that!

[John&LaLa]

49 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

I like the sound of that!

 

That covers one night. 

No ice show, no Aqua Theater

[BNBR]

9 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

That covers one night. 

No ice show, no Aqua Theater

 

Exactly.  We went in to our Haven cruise on Escape hearing all about how great the entertainment was... oh boy.  The theater itself feels like a 1980's movie theater, so the venue itself is a turd.  But whatever, maybe the shows will be good.

 

Then the shows... unbearably bad.  After Midnight was horrible.  We walked out halfway through. It's just the same low budget song/dance type shows from any small ships.  No real stage props or anything of the sort.  The quality of entertainment isn't even in the same league as Oasis class, and with all of the amazing venues on Oasis, you get really awesome shows almost every night with a ton of variety.  And even some daytime sea day shows.

 

And that's not including live music and entertainment all over the ship beyond the big budget shows.  Especially in the evenings.  From the jazz club to piano sing a long at the schooner, guitar at the pub and beautiful string quartet in central park...  latin band and dancing at Boleros, and it just goes on and on  - all at the same time! You can wander around and enjoy endless venues and entertainment.  Oasis is truly in a league of it's own.

 

 

Edited July 1, 2019 by BNBR

[BNBR]

9 hours ago, tomservo said:

I will gladly show my work and explain my methodology. My pricing ranges are the median ranges, not average. Here are the search parameters I used:

 

Haven

4 passengers

Breakaway/Breakaway+ class ships: Bliss, Breakaway, Encore, Escape, Getaway, Joy

Dates: all available

Itineraries: all available

Length: 7 Days

Cabin class: Haven

Link to search

 

Royal Suite Class

4 passengers

Oasis class ships: Allure, Harmony, Oasis, Symphony

Dates: all available

Itineraries: all available

Length: 7 Days

Cabin class: Star

 

Link to search

 

The above search results will return a row for each sailing. The price listed for each sailing is for the cheapest cabin in its respective category. I arrived at the numbers above by giving a range for the median prices. If I sort the results by Total Cabin Price, the low end is the range I see for some of the results on the first page, the mid range for the results on the middle of the range (ie page 15 of 30), and the high range from the last page. My methodology isn't perfect or scientific, it's not meant to be, but it does give a general feel for what the pricing is.

 

Also just wanted to give a quick shout out to cruiseplum for all my cruise pricing research!

 

 

Personally, I don't think any 7 day cruise is worth $10k+ and I'm very much their target income demographic.  I would definitely not spend that for Haven.  We paid $7k and felt ripped off.  The prices are totally out of control.  You just don't get that much more than a nice balcony, which is a testament to how good standard cruising really is.  But if I was going to spend that kind of money, you better believe I'd factor in the ship itself and it would be Oasis class with Star Class.

[tomservo]

2 hours ago, BNBR said:

 

 

Personally, I don't think any 7 day cruise is worth $10k+ and I'm very much their target income demographic.  I would definitely not spend that for Haven.  We paid $7k and felt ripped off.  The prices are totally out of control.  You just don't get that much more than a nice balcony, which is a testament to how good standard cruising really is.  But if I was going to spend that kind of money, you better believe I'd factor in the ship itself and it would be Oasis class with Star Class.

 

How much would you spend on a Star class suite? I don’t think I’ve ever seen them for less than 10k. Have you gotten them for less than that?

[BNBR]

13 minutes ago, tomservo said:

 

How much would you spend on a Star class suite? I don’t think I’ve ever seen them for less than 10k. Have you gotten them for less than that?

 

How much would I spend?  I'd pay an extra $3k over a standard balcony I think.  I don't sail suites anymore, however, as the pricing has been out of control and not worth it to me.  As mentioned in other posts, we just don't really care about the bigger room and the perks aren't that important.  Especially since you can get The Key and Unlimited specialty dining for a very reasonable cost plus beverage package.  The room doesn't matter to us and the ship is full of awesome bars, lounges and restaurants, so why would I care about an exclusive bar/restaurant and pay thousands more for it?

 

But everyone is different.  For some, having a really nice, bigger room is worth every penny.  For example, I'll spend $3k on an international business class ticket, but then I scoff at $7k for a 7 day cruise for a family of 4 in a suite.  It's weird like that!  We all value things differently.

 

Of course, it's nowhere near $3k to upgrade to Star class.  For example, we have upcoming Symphony sailing.  Our total price for a balcony stateroom with The Key, Beverage Package, and Unlimited Dining is $5100.00.  It's $1500 to add The Key/Bev/Dining to a Stateroom.  A Sky Class owners suite on this sailing, not even Star class?  $19,000.  Lol.  Yeah, uh. no.  

 

So we view it as, how much more than $1500 would we spend to get the bigger room, suite sun deck, and that nice "exclusive" feeling you get being in the suites?  Not a whole lot.  Certainly not a new Honda Civic.

Edited July 1, 2019 by BNBR

[ownedbypets]

1 hour ago, tomservo said:

 

How much would you spend on a Star class suite? I don’t think I’ve ever seen them for less than 10k. Have you gotten them for less than that?

 

 

We cruised in December, In Star Class for under 10k.  There were 4 of us.

[tomservo]

2 minutes ago, ownedbypets said:

 

 

We cruised in December, In Star Class for under 10k.  There were 4 of us.

How much under? Which room did you get, and how far in advance did you book? I've seen X drop the price of their suites close to sailing, but I don't think Royal does that, right?

[ownedbypets]

1 minute ago, tomservo said:

How much under? Which room did you get, and how far in advance did you book? I've seen X drop the price of their suites close to sailing, but I don't think Royal does that, right?

 

We were in a star loft suite on Oasis.  We were booked in a crown loft suite and I was playing on the computer about 6 months before sailing and it popped up. I think someone canceled.  We paid just under 9k.  We booked another one 2 years in advance, in 2020.  For 2 of us it started around 11k but I have gotten a few small price drops and saved about 1k. I have too much time on my hands because I do check or call a few times every day.

[ourfamilylovescruising]

11 hours ago, BNBR said:

 

Exactly.  We went in to our Haven cruise on Escape hearing all about how great the entertainment was... oh boy.  The theater itself feels like a 1980's movie theater, so the venue itself is a turd.  But whatever, maybe the shows will be good.

 

Then the shows... unbearably bad.  After Midnight was horrible.  We walked out halfway through. It's just the same low budget song/dance type shows from any small ships.  No real stage props or anything of the sort.  The quality of entertainment isn't even in the same league as Oasis class, and with all of the amazing venues on Oasis, you get really awesome shows almost every night with a ton of variety.  And even some daytime sea day shows.

 

And that's not including live music and entertainment all over the ship beyond the big budget shows.  Especially in the evenings.  From the jazz club to piano sing a long at the schooner, guitar at the pub and beautiful string quartet in central park...  latin band and dancing at Boleros, and it just goes on and on  - all at the same time! You can wander around and enjoy endless venues and entertainment.  Oasis is truly in a league of it's own.

 

 

I will give you that After midnight is not a Broadway show but Jersey Boys , Million Dollar Quartet and you mention sing along bars on the Oasis, how about Howl at the Moon on the escape and all the music around the ship is the same for both ships

I like both cruise lines but I am over watching Cats on the Oasis , NCL at least moves the shows from ship to ship so your not watching the same shows all the time

 

I have said it more then once the perfect cruise line would be an Oasis ship with NCL food and they both have good shows just swish  them up some so it not the same show over and over

[BNBR]

36 minutes ago, ourfamilylovescruising said:

I will give you that After midnight is not a Broadway show but Jersey Boys , Million Dollar Quartet and you mention sing along bars on the Oasis, how about Howl at the Moon on the escape and all the music around the ship is the same for both ships

I like both cruise lines but I am over watching Cats on the Oasis , NCL at least moves the shows from ship to ship so your not watching the same shows all the time

 

I have said it more then once the perfect cruise line would be an Oasis ship with NCL food and they both have good shows just swish  them up some so it not the same show over and over

 

Howl at the Moon is ok, I like dueling piano shows.  But a big part of these shows is the venue.  A nice, comfortable lounge with a great vibe.  The venue for Howl is also a turd.  A steaming turd.  Just rows of chairs in a stark venue, feels like a weird conference.  Uncomfortable to say the least.  And when they were doing comedy in the same lousy venue, they closed the bar!!!  Couldn't make that up if I tried.  I somewhat like Escape.  They do a lot right.  The band they had in the casino venue was great and some live music at District was nice.  But the theater and comedy/how at the moon venues are just flat out awful.  We did enjoy the Wine Lovers Musical (extra charge), to be fair.  And I think they do another dinner/show that I didn't get to do, for an extra charge which may be good.  But lets be real, they can't compete with the stage/ice/aqua shows on Oasis class, not even close.  I've never thought of myself as a show person, but Oasis certainly changed that.

 

As for moving shows ship to ship... Royal has 4 Oasis class ships all with totally different shows.  Just sail a different one.

 

I mean, really?  Who wants to sit and watch piano shows in a venue like this?  Just sitting in rows of hard wooden chairs in a poorly designed, cheap warehouse looking space. I want a nice bar with lounge seating like just about every other ship (even Carnival).  Just got off Magic, and I'd take Escape over Magic, but at least their piano bar was a really fun, nice, and personable venue.

 

 

Edited July 1, 2019 by BNBR

[tomservo]

I appreciate everyone’s input in this thread. I would like to hear more from those that have done and enjoyed both, to hear a more balanced comparison of the value of the 2. Most of the people who’ve done both seem to really like one and were disappointed with the other. 

 

I do think at the end of the day I will have to decide it for myself, it’s just that the idea of paying 10k+ for a single week long cruise in Star class, especially when I could do 2 Haven cruises for a little more, is tough to overcome. 

[dodgestang]

You need to visit the Casino more ;).  Number seem wonky to me 🙂

 

Star Class in Owner's Loft on Anthem for Spring Break (7 night) book 102 days before sailing.....12k...booked using a Casino Comp Cruise)

Star Class in Grand loft on Anthem in August in April (9 night)....12k....booking using casino prime cruise then I upgrade it to Royal Loft Suite when someone cancelled for basically 20k

 

Royal Suite on Grandeur (doesn't have star class, but you get treated extremely well when you book in that room)....the first time was 10k (first cruise we ever took on Royal last year, 9 night, booked 104 days before sailing)....Booked it again in Dec of that year using a casino cert for 5k for 9 night (booked 90-100 days out).....I booked it again now for April next year (so basically 290 days in advance) for 8k....and I haven't actually applied any casino comp to the room yet....I'll do that after I get back from my August cruise.

 

We are only lowly Emeralds right now, but we will hit Diamond in April 2020 after our August and the April cruise.  If we add another one (we were thinking of taking one of these 'free' balcony cruises for a change and not use a suite to see what its like which would put us into Diamond early and we can probably swing another couple hundred off the April above the casino comp we will use.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 6, 2019 by dodgestang

[psac]

Definitely the ship matters, but over the last year we did the Escape in the Haven courtyard penthouse and the Anthem in a Grand Suite (sky class).  Just sailing for two. 

 

First, After Midnight IS a Broadway show, in that literally, we saw it on Broadway (staring Dule Hill from Pysch at the time), and loved it then and loved it again on the Escape. We also loved Choir of Man, and the Brat Pack, but that’s gone. Agree Howl of the Moon is a great show but the venue lacks for sure. The Athem entertainment was also good but very polarizing. We liked all the shows but some people hate them.  We’re looking forward to the Encore and Oasis entertainment for comparison on those ships. 

 

The Haven perks are WAY better than the sky class perks on the Anthem. But, we just booked the Oasis expecting it to be a bit better. Also agreed the Haven perks are somewhere between the sky and star class.  Sky class has no butler, the Athem suite lounge was terrible (terrible location, terrible service, and I think it did have the P/D+ overrrun), and the sun deck is very barebones, but no problem with overrun. The Oasis looks MUCH better in every category I just listed. (Except no butler but that’s fine.). Coastal Kitchen dinners were great, but the breakfast was nowhere close to the Haven Restaurant. Getting the variety of dinners every night was a big plus in CK.  

 

We we also thought the non-suite areas were better on the Anthem than the Escape, but that may be a matter of personal preference. I don’t know how that translates to the Oasis...

Edited July 6, 2019 by psac

[Luckybee]

The $ must vary significantly depending on dates/category etc, if you're finding the Haven at a better price point than Star Class. I say that because dh and I have been trying to take a cruise on either for the past number of years, and various things have caused us to change our plans. We decided to book one of the the 2 for late next year. We had been comparing and comparing the Star Loft with the Deluxe Owners with large balcony(think its an H2) and finally booked a Star loft suite for Nov. at a much better price. At the end of the day we've now switched to the Royal Loft Suite on Oasis which we're getting for less than the H2 for any cruise we looked at in Nov and I dont think NCL has any suite that compares to the RLS(and this is without taking into account the extras we get on RCCL not included on NCL). Granted had we chosen the Symphony/Harmony we would have paid more for the RLS, but the pricing for the Star Loft on Symphony was still less less than the H2 on Escape/Joy or Breakaway for any date we looked at and based on my comparison the Star Loft is the most appropriate comparison to the H2.

We had actually started out wanting to do the Haven for the whole ship within a ship thing, esp the private pool/ haven restaurant etc. but the prices were just so out of whack we couldnt justify the difference when comparing the various suites to each other. 

[3shar]

We have done NCL 2 bedroom family villa in haven which is amazing (except for deck size). Love the bar and haven restaurant are all in one area. Also like the Haven pool area. We are doing the Harmony of the seas 2 BR Aquatheatre for the first time . Im a little nervous as we love the Haven. Only downside with Ncl was that "free" perks were always only  for first 2 guests.

[GUEST71919]

We love the Haven suites. It is hard to compare it to rccl suites, but you are correct that the Haven suites fall between sky and Royal on RCL (but in our opinion that is a very good thing). In our experience sky class on RCL isn’t quite as strongly customer based as it needs to be on the ships below Oasis and Quantum classes. That is, you get shanked on benefits (like you are left to pay full price for the internet and drinks!). We enjoy the RCL suites, we just often feel cheated a bit. But then, Royal class on RCL is just way over the top in our opinion. It is far too much like we are paying to live like royalty; some people may like the over the top kiss-up stuff but we personally don’t (no need for anyone to attack, I said it was my opinion, everyone gets one 😉)

 

Haven has butlers, but the butler service is really more about personalized service rather than feeling as if they are in true service to you (again, perfect for us). They don’t show up without you needing them. Also, again on our experience, the Haven restaurants are far better than the two CK’s we have dined in (the service and quality of the food was just no where close to what we would expect). With Haven you get free drinks and free internet. And best of all. In the owner’s suite and 2br2ba you have this crazy big master bath with huge windows at both shower and garden tub. LOVE!

[Luckybee]

We dont really car about the ott service either, though I have to admit the escort off the ship is a biggie for us.  This isnt why we've chosen Star Class over Haven though.

Dh and I take few cruises but have traveled by land extensively. We are used to large accommodations be it suites, condos or villas. In the few cruises we've taken we've had average size cabins (300 ft on Paul Gauguin), small suite on RCCL, and a Royal Suite non Oasis class on RCCL. Dh previously took a regular cabin on RCCL. 

 

As we get older we've thought more about cruising as an alternative but so far we havent switched mainly because we simply cant get what we get on land at anywhere near the price point we spend. We really are not hard to please. We have made the comparisons we've made first and foremost by comparing the things that are important to us and what we get on land. The first thing is the suite itself which includes the space, balcony, decor and features, Privacy, ability to find chairs in the sun, not being overly crowded when we dont want to is second. Thirdly is the dining. All of those things factored into our decision.

 

With Star class we get an amazing suite with an amazing balcony, we can go to all the fine dining restaurants each and every night at times we choose, we can find chairs on the suite deck even if we dont show up until the afternoon, we have all the space and privacy we desire, our wine is included unless we want a bottle, and that is discounted and we're doing that at a price that is less than the Haven for a suite twice the size.  Next time if the price is closer we'll likely try the Haven but what Im not doing is giving up the larger suite just to do so !

 

I think from what Ive seen in comparing prices is that for the lesser categories of suites/haven on the 2 lines the prices are comparable but not for the Star suites and top Haven suites

Edited July 6, 2019 by Luckybee

[lovescats5]

On ‎7‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 9:04 AM, BNBR said:

How much would you spend on a Star class suite? I don’t think I’ve ever seen them for less than 10k. Have you gotten them for less than that?

Our next cruise on Anthem for November 2019, over Thanksgiving, we found a Grand Loft Suite (Star Class) for $9k.  So yes, you can get Star Class for under $10.

[tomservo]

So I did some more thinking on this and wanted to see if the numbers make sense. I think part of the issue is the makeup of my group. We are 2 adults and 2 children, so in essence the full benefits of Star class are wasted on my kids since they aren't using the drink/dining packages (although the paid DSC would apply to them). I think Star class is probably more beneficial for groups of 4 or more adults. That being said, if I exclude the Genie service, I can mostly replicate the Star class experience for a much cheaper price with the following:

 

Book the cheapest Sky class suite (typically GS guaranteed)

Add 2 drink and dining packages

 

For example, I could get a GS gty on a 7 day on the Allure in September 2019 for 4700 with the KSF promo (includes 300 OBC).

GS 4700

UDP 350

DBP 700 (varies, let's say 50pp pd)

DSC 490

OBC -300

Total 5940

 

So for under 6k, I'm looking at pretty much the whole Star Class experience minus the Genie, who I probably would not be using very much anyway (we didn't use the butler much in the Haven), and maybe the Sky class rooms aren't quite as nice as Star Class. This is significantly cheaper than booking a Star Class room outright, which in my situation starts around 10k for a 7 day on an Oasis class ship. Plus being in Sky class gives me the opportunity to bid up into Star class as well. Coming from the Haven, I think this is the way I need to approach suites in RCCL. 6k is about what I pay for a week in the Haven.

 

Thoughts?

[tomservo]

For the sake of a more complete comparison, there are a few more fringe benefits to Star over Sky class:

 

Expedited Embark/Debark (vs Priority)

“Best Seats” (vs Reserved seating) at select venues

Priority Entrance to Onboard Activities

Chef’s Table included

Laundry and Pressing included

Stocked mini-bar in room

Duxiana Mattress/Pillows, Frette Linens

 

I’m not sure what the differences are for the first 2 items, maybe those who have experienced both can chime in.