NCL - NEVER Sailed with them - GOOD and BAD?

[MagentaandRiffRaff]

Hi all,

 

I have never sailed with NCL (only RCI and Celebrity) but feel the need to branch out! If I asked you what was the good and bad about this cruise line, what would you share with me. Thanks so much!

Wendy (AKA Magenta) :)

[Liljo22]

More similar than different to those lines although its closer to RCI in that its geared toward attracting families. 

 

NCL's biggest advantage is the Freestyle dining.  They do not have traditional dining where you have an early or late time and you sit at the same table every night.  Freestyle dining is similar to Royal's "My Time Dining" but they do it better.  No need to make reservations.  All MDRs are set up for Freestyle so you just show up to the MDR that you want at the time you want and will be seated.  

 

The Free at Sea is a big advantage also.  If you are a drinker, you just pay the gratuities up front on the package and you get unlimited drinks.  Gratuities are $21.80 per person per day so if you drink two drinks a day you are already saving money.  On Royal, with the dynamic pricing, you are paying somewhere between $60 and $100 per person per day plus 18% for their package.  You also get at least one specialty dining credit(more for longer cruises and higher categories) for just gratuities which is around $9 per credit.  Depending on the restaurant on Royal, you are paying $50-$80 for that credit.  You will also get 150 minutes of wifi free for the first two passengers.  

 

NCL's biggest issue is communication.  Precruise if you have to deal with customer service is not great. they are really unorganized on shore so if you have an issue, it may take several calls to find someone to fix it.  They are also not great with communicating when issues arise on the ship like missed ports or delays.  

Edited August 14, 2023 by Liljo22

[DCGuy64]

37 minutes ago, MagentaandRiffRaff said:

Hi all,

 

I have never sailed with NCL (only RCI and Celebrity) but feel the need to branch out! If I asked you what was the good and bad about this cruise line, what would you share with me. Thanks so much!

Wendy (AKA Magenta) 🙂

We like NCL because of its great value, the ships are lovely and it's a good mix of passengers aboard, be they families, young couples, older couples, singles, Americans, Canadians, British, AUS/NZ, Europeans, etc. People seem to be pretty easy-going as a rule. It's not fancy cruising, but it isn't low-class, either. We love the specialty dining options, and the unlimited beverage package is a great deal for us. Negatives? I sometimes wish the meals in the main dining rooms were a bit better, and while I love the option of 24-hour included dining at O'Sheehan's/The Local, some of their dishes could be better (although we all know taste is subjective). Can't comment on communication issues precruise because our travel agent handles all of that, and when we were on our last cruise, the captain did a great job informing us ahead of time regarding ports that had to be skipped due to safety concerns over bad weather. NCL and MSC are our favorites, though we've enjoyed other lines like Carnival, Costa and Royal in the past.

[ggTexasGal]

We have found that no matter what, reading and understanding the Terms and Conditions of each cruise line makes a huge difference.

NCL is not great at clear and/or consistent information, so can be confusing when they make changes to things.  If we choose our stateroom well and make certain that we choose the items we truly want, and find an itinerary with pricing that looks acceptable, we enjoy our cruises!

For the most part, @Liljo22 and @DCGuy64 have already covered the rest.

[RocketMan275]

1 hour ago, MagentaandRiffRaff said:

Hi all,

 

I have never sailed with NCL (only RCI and Celebrity) but feel the need to branch out! If I asked you what was the good and bad about this cruise line, what would you share with me. Thanks so much!

Wendy (AKA Magenta) 🙂

Consider booking thre Haven, a Ship-within-A-Ship.  More expensive but better than a suite on RCCI.

this is a very long thread but  you can get the gist in just a page or two.

[schmoopie17]

NCL is one of the only cruise lines where your deposit is both manageable and refundable...which comes in extremely handy for people who like to change their minds (like us).

 

They also give a 10% discount to Veterans, if it applies in your case.

 

 

Edited August 14, 2023 by schmoopie17

[destar]

I sailed both NCL & Celebrity. Love NCL free style cruising/dinning, no set time for you to eat dinner. You can have dinner at one of the MDR and after walk right into another. Great selection on specialty dinning. No need to be dressed up, just casual. NCL also has great entertainment, Broadway caliber productions. The FAS drink package, I think its one of the best out there.

 

But my question is, what do you have to lose?

[Liljo22]

32 minutes ago, schmoopie17 said:

NCL is one of the only cruise lines where your deposit is both manageable and refundable...which comes in extremely handy for people who like to change their minds (like us).

 

They also give a 10% discount to Veterans, if it applies in your case.

 

 

To this point, look out for cruisefirst deals where you can purchase a certificate for $250 and get $500.  You can make the purchase and apply the $500 to cover the deposit.   Normally its $150 for $300.  

[kasimir]

I sailed NCL, Celebrity and RCL (and others) and while they are not too different, they are different. I would say NCL is closer to RCL than Celebrity, but there are certain things that are closer to Celebrity. 

 

But most importantly, I believe NCL is somewhere in between, while offering better value for money if you compare to Celebrity. 

 

But in a way NCL is bit more unique in a certain areas and thats where they stand out. Some have mentioned the anytime/freestyle dinning concept (first on NCL), specialty restaurants (first on NCL), the ship in a ship concept the Haven (first on NCL), Starbucks onboard... With the new ships the food hall concept, which is a great idea, but needs some further tweaking. 

 

NCL also tends to have more interesting itineraries compared to RCL, and we actually love that NCL embraces NYC (Manhattan Cruise Terminal) as one of their major cruise departure ports as it is such a great place to start your cruise. 

Edited August 14, 2023 by kasimir

[graphicguy]

Just in general, NCL seems to split the difference between RCCL and Celebrity.  NCL is family oriented like Royal, but their service reminds me more of Celebrity.

 

And, as has been pointed out, NCL is unique with both their FAS and Freestyle programs.  Neither Royal nor Celebrity has anything comparable to Freestyle.  They try to mimic it, but in reality, you still have to make reservations for dinners or face long waits.  FAS is WAY cheaper than the Royal Drink packages and their Specialty Dining.  

 

Celebrity offers a nice "all inclusive" deal where drinks, tips, and some internet is included (albeit no excursion credits or specialty dining included).  But, you pay for that in the form of much higher fares.

[mskaufman]

I agree with others that differences are not that large.  It also depends on the specific ship.  We had a much better experience last year on Epic than we did this year on POA.

[edspec]

I like NCL for their freestyle cruising and itineraries.  Things to watch for:

-if you're a wine drinker or like coffees, water, or soft drinks you will need to upgrade the drink package

-new thing of cabins not ready till after 3 on the first day?  No way.  I have a 2025 cruise booked, hoped they've addressed this by then

-taking entertainment options away....this is ongoing and again, hope they have it fixed by 2025.  The product is not what it was pre-Covid or even after the re-start

-housekeeping very late to get to cabins, deal breaker for my sister who sailed them once and will not book again due to this

I really, really used to enjoy NCL but they need to get their act together on the housekeeping and entertainment.  

[destar]

1 hour ago, mskaufman said:

We had a much better experience last year on Epic than we did this year on POA.

POA is a complete different experience, hopefully the OP is not considering POA as their first NCL cruise.

[BrianLo]

I agree with others. RCL is the standard bearer for mass market, high quality, high tech, family ships. They remain poised to continue to own that market. NCL was like RCL, but recently they seem to be trying to swim a bit more upstream to Celebrity. The Prima vessels and the Spirit overhaul both demonstrate how NCL is trying to move towards a bit of a higher class and slightly less mass market.

 

RCL I find the entertainment and activities generally are higher quality. Though for a moment you could see two broadway/west end like productions on a ship like Bliss, but RCL ensures there is almost always three baked in headline productions on every ship, if not more.

 

NCL advantages are definitely itinerary driven. RCL I feel offers almost exclusively mass market itineraries, in this regard NCL is more like Celebrity. I would like to sail RCL more than I do, but find myself too itinerary driven and wind up almost always finding a superior option with NCL.

 

Food is subjective and both have faced some cuts. Generally I find RCL MDR < NCL MDR < NCL Specialty < RCL Speciality. Though very ship specific. Celebrity is going to have better food. Though the newest Prima class really steps up the free included food in a surprising and positive way. NCL simply has more choice and way more diversity of speciality restaurants. 

 

RCL has a much stronger loyalty program, though one of its key tenants (drinks) is sort of baked into NCL. Unlike Celebrity, NCL's Free at Sea really is baked in. If you drop it out the savings are not as significant. Celebrity I felt like is merely just a trick to get you to buy the drink package upfront rather than true subsidized savings.

 

Pricing wise I honestly find because of some of the itinerary diversity you can land some pretty great deals on NCL. NCL constantly have price drops closer in and I've experienced significant savings with them. They are much more flexible with repricing without dropping promos.

 

NCL are also significantly more solo cruiser friendly and perhaps industry leading on that regard.

[graphicguy]

 

 

I have read a couple of people say entertainment is worse on NCL recently.  I've found it to be better.  Syd's band is some of the best entertainment at sea.  Yes, it's in a smaller venue.  But, in a larger venue it just wouldn't work.  Yes, you have to wait in line to see the shows. Sure of any good entertainment.   Is it worth it?  Absolutely. 

 

Million Dollar Quartet, Choir of Man, Donna Summer, etc....all are broadway caliber shows.  I know SIX is going away (which his fine by me), but they're replacing it with something internally developed.  If the quality of the internally developed shows is anything like the bands in the Cavern Club or Syd Norman's, my bet is it will be quite good.  On smaller ships, shows are different because of the venues.  But, on Breakaway and Breakaway plus ships, the entertainment is outstanding.

 

Not starting yet another NCL vs Royal vs Celebrity vs Carnival thing.  All of them have their fans and all of them are sailing near capacity, again.  I'm Sapphire on NCL, Diamond on Royal and Elite on Celebrity.  So, have sailed those lines quite a bit over the years.  I can't remember what level I am on Carnival as I haven't sailed them in quite a while.

 

They are all similar.

 

To make a blanket statements about any of them is really a fools errand.  And, your last experience on any of those lines tends to be a lasting one (hence my lack of recent Carnival Cruises).  Does that mean all of the cruises on any given line is below par?  Nope.  

 

But, I've sailed NCL more than any of the other lines.  So, that makes me prefer NCL just from the personal data I have amassed.

 

Reasons?  

 

-Afore mentioned Freestyle Cruising.  Others try to duplicate it.  But, they can't seem to get it right the way NCL does.

-Overall quality seems to be a step above with NCL.  ALL ships are beautiful.  ALL ships are well kept with appealing accommodations.  

-It just seems NCL crew are more than willing to go over the top to make their guests happy.  Will there be snafus?  Sure.  But, overall NCL seems to focus more on making the guests happy...even sometimes when guests are being unreasonable.  

-I have never encountered a grumpy NCL crew member.  Can't say the same for either Royal or Carnival.

-I've never encountered the lines on NCL or Celebrity as I've encountered on Royal.  Lucky?  Perhaps.  Just a personal observation.

-You have to try really, really hard not to find food you like on ANY cruise line.  That's why I always chuckle when I hear someone state they didn't like the food on any given line.  If that's the case, you aren't looking.  Now, special food requests may be an issue.  But, I've never had any problem finding something I like to eat on any cruise.

 

All that said, I've never had a bad time on any cruise...on any cruise line.

 

 

[mjkacmom]

12 hours ago, edspec said:

I like NCL for their freestyle cruising and itineraries.  Things to watch for:

-if you're a wine drinker or like coffees, water, or soft drinks you will need to upgrade the drink package

-new thing of cabins not ready till after 3 on the first day?  No way.  I have a 2025 cruise booked, hoped they've addressed this by then

-taking entertainment options away....this is ongoing and again, hope they have it fixed by 2025.  The product is not what it was pre-Covid or even after the re-start

-housekeeping very late to get to cabins, deal breaker for my sister who sailed them once and will not book again due to this

I really, really used to enjoy NCL but they need to get their act together on the housekeeping and entertainment.  

Sodas are included with the UDP. As for housekeeping, someone is first, someone else is last, I sincerely doubt staff is sleeping in and then enjoying a leisurely breakfast. At home my garbage gets picked up at 7 am and my mail comes around 4 pm, landscapers 8 am on Tuesday’s. Obviously they are all working all day.

[edspec]

26 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:As for housekeeping, someone is first, someone else is last, I sincerely doubt staff is sleeping in and then enjoying a leisurely breakfast. At home my garbage gets picked up at 7 am and my mail comes around 4 pm, landscapers 8 am on Tuesday’s. Obviously they are all working all day.

I didn’t say staff was lying in bed. I said the rooms weren’t being serviced in a timely manner. I think all of us are aware that ship staff work incredibly hard. Unfortunately if staff has been cut to bare bones inadequate service is what you get. I know some are unfazed by an unmade bed or piles of used towels but those things greatly impact my enjoyment of my cabin. No, I’m not making my own bed on vacation, I do that early every morning at home.

[DCGuy64]

1 hour ago, mjkacmom said:

Sodas are included with the UDP. As for housekeeping, someone is first, someone else is last, I sincerely doubt staff is sleeping in and then enjoying a leisurely breakfast. At home my garbage gets picked up at 7 am and my mail comes around 4 pm, landscapers 8 am on Tuesday’s. Obviously they are all working all day.

+1. We've occasionally come back to an un-made bed, etc. Who cares? We know the steward will get to our room eventually, it's not the end of the world some people make it out to be. We're just glad to be on a ship, on vacation, enjoying ourselves and having yummy food and drinks. You really have to wonder how far people will go to find something to nitpick over. Whatever, life's too short to spend it complaining all the time. Like @mjkacmom said, it's not like they're just sleeping in...

[mjkacmom]

1 hour ago, edspec said:

I didn’t say staff was lying in bed. I said the rooms weren’t being serviced in a timely manner. I think all of us are aware that ship staff work incredibly hard. Unfortunately if staff has been cut to bare bones inadequate service is what you get. I know some are unfazed by an unmade bed or piles of used towels but those things greatly impact my enjoyment of my cabin. No, I’m not making my own bed on vacation, I do that early every morning at home.

You said they were late to clean cabins. Not all cabins can be finished by 11 am, some are getting serviced at 3 pm. Even with twice a day cleaning ours weren’t always serviced first thing, sometimes late morning or early afternoon (we are 7 in 2 cabins so there might’ve been times when someone put do not disturb on). Carnival and RCL are down to once a day cleaning, I suspect others will follow.

[BrianLo]

8 hours ago, graphicguy said:

 

 

I have read a couple of people say entertainment is worse on NCL recently.  I've found it to be better.  Syd's band is some of the best entertainment at sea.  Yes, it's in a smaller venue.  But, in a larger venue it just wouldn't work.  Yes, you have to wait in line to see the shows. Sure of any good entertainment.   Is it worth it?  Absolutely. 

 

Million Dollar Quartet, Choir of Man, Donna Summer, etc....all are broadway caliber shows.  I know SIX is going away (which his fine by me), but they're replacing it with something internally developed.  If the quality of the internally developed shows is anything like the bands in the Cavern Club or Syd Norman's, my bet is it will be quite good.  On smaller ships, shows are different because of the venues.  But, on Breakaway and Breakaway plus ships, the entertainment is outstanding.

 

Not starting yet another NCL vs Royal vs Celebrity vs Carnival thing.  All of them have their fans and all of them are sailing near capacity, again.  I'm Sapphire on NCL, Diamond on Royal and Elite on Celebrity.  So, have sailed those lines quite a bit over the years.  I can't remember what level I am on Carnival as I haven't sailed them in quite a while.

 

 

Quality is in the eye of the beholder. Having said when I personally said RCL entertainment was better does not make NCL's bad, far from it. What NCL has is high quality, there is just a little bit less of it right now.

 

Unfortunately, in this exact moment, we exist in a strange bubble where most ships in the NCL fleet are down one of their core three headline shows. Replacements will help bring it up, but none have yet been announced. The intimate dueling pianos, cavern club or Syd's are also excellent. But most RCL ships have a true larger scale pop-off that isn't quite matched by NCL. Whether that be Two70, the skating rinks +/- the aqua shows.

 

Not to be minimized, but RCL continues to generally always have a small orchestra attached to the theatre, which even helps a bit with the one-off traveling secondary acts. Which have to otherwise sing along to pre-recorded tracks when they appear on NCL.

 

I also find the daytime entertainment programming on RCL is a little stronger, even if that just means more trivia. 

 

Finally, not the fault of NCL (it's a pro), but RCL tend to run shorter itineraries so what entertainment they have ultimately 'locked in' gets more concentrated. Really making it seem like more available per day.

 

It's not a criticism, but NCL can't do everything better than RCL. In my opinion of course!

Edited August 15, 2023 by BrianLo

[LatinaInTexas]

Sailed NCL first time in May and liked it very much. Small complaint would be that the cabin seemed to be the smallest I have stayed in. So little storage space, not even one drawer, so odd. Food, entertainment, private island all great and it seemed to me they had the strongest drinks I have ever had.

[Panhandle Couple]

2 minutes ago, LatinaInTexas said:

Sailed NCL first time in May and liked it very much. Small complaint would be that the cabin seemed to be the smallest I have stayed in. So little storage space, not even one drawer, so odd. Food, entertainment, private island all great and it seemed to me they had the strongest drinks I have ever had.

Ship, deck, and cabin category?

Simply saying a "small cabin" doesn't mean much, when they have 8 or 9 categories, and overall cabin sizes vary by class of ship.

 

[rhobbkf]

12 hours ago, edspec said:

I didn’t say staff was lying in bed. I said the rooms weren’t being serviced in a timely manner. I think all of us are aware that ship staff work incredibly hard. Unfortunately if staff has been cut to bare bones inadequate service is what you get. I know some are unfazed by an unmade bed or piles of used towels but those things greatly impact my enjoyment of my cabin. No, I’m not making my own bed on vacation, I do that early every morning at home.

Currently on NCL Sun. The room stewards said they went from 14 to 22 rooms each.  It was beyond annoying that rooms weren't released until after 3 pm the first day. All venues were jammed because there was no where else for people to disperse to.  Also, while tv is not normally a highlight , we had rainy days and only 2 movie channels, no on demand at all.  We've cruised NCL before and this was a step down for NCL. One big plus though was having a coffee maker in the room (you must ask for it). 

[LatinaInTexas]

9 hours ago, Panhandle Couple said:

Ship, deck, and cabin category?

Simply saying a "small cabin" doesn't mean much, when they have 8 or 9 categories, and overall cabin sizes vary by class of ship.

 

It was the Getaway deck 11 inside cabin. Almost always stay in an inside, don't know the actual sizes of cabins on this or the other lines cabins but this one seemed the smallest/tightest.

[graphicguy]

9 hours ago, rhobbkf said:

Currently on NCL Sun. The room stewards said they went from 14 to 22 rooms each.  It was beyond annoying that rooms weren't released until after 3 pm the first day. All venues were jammed because there was no where else for people to disperse to.  Also, while tv is not normally a highlight , we had rainy days and only 2 movie channels, no on demand at all.  We've cruised NCL before and this was a step down for NCL. One big plus though was having a coffee maker in the room (you must ask for it). 

Yes, but the stewards are now cleaning rooms 1X/day vs 2X/day that they used to do.  They have more rooms to clean, but only have to clean them ½ as many times as they used to.

 

As always, on embarkation day, trying to jam into the typical places (buffet, bars, etc) with people hauling luggage in tow jams things up.  Finding bars in out of the way spots (this changes depending on the ship) is helpful.  Spice H20 is my “go to” spot when I board as there is plenty of space, it’s outside, and has a bar.  Stay away from the pool bars.  They tend to be jammed. Leave  your luggage with the porters at the pier.  Using stairs vs elevators also helps.

 

I think NCL is modeling hotel like room availability.  Usually, check in is at 3:00 p.m. at hotels.

 

These are all tips I’ve learned by cruising NCL for a long time.

 

Not sure it matters, but the Sun is among the smallest ships in the NCL fleet.

 

Can’t comment on the movie front.  I don’t think I’ve ever watched TV on a cruise other than to check my bill, make reservations or to see what the weather was going to be.

 

 

Edited August 16, 2023 by graphicguy