Considering ncl for first time from Royal - prima vs encore

[colesc15]

Hi all. My wife and I are mid 30s and have been sailing royal our entire life. We recently received a casino comp to almost any ncl sailing so we're giving it a try. I think I've narrowed it down to two caribbean itineraries, but not sure which one to choose since I don't know a ton about the ncl ships. 

 

Our favorite ships with royal are oasis class. With ncl, I think I've narrowed it down to Prima or encore. I know prima is considerably newer. What will I miss on prima if we go with encore? Prima is out of San Juan so much pricier flight to get there,how ever the cruise price itself doesn't matter since it's comped. 

 

Help me decide between the two ships

[colesc15]

I meant viva not prima. Sorry. 

[RocketMan275]

1 hour ago, colesc15 said:

I meant viva not prima. Sorry. 

Why not Prima out of Galveston?

[colesc15]

1 hour ago, RocketMan275 said:

Why not Prima out of Galveston?

No interest at all sailing from Galveston on any cruise line 

[BirdTravels]

5 hours ago, colesc15 said:

Hi all. My wife and I are mid 30s and have been sailing royal our entire life. We recently received a casino comp to almost any ncl sailing so we're giving it a try. I think I've narrowed it down to two caribbean itineraries, but not sure which one to choose since I don't know a ton about the ncl ships. 

 

Our favorite ships with royal are oasis class. With ncl, I think I've narrowed it down to Prima or encore. I know prima is considerably newer. What will I miss on prima if we go with encore? Prima is out of San Juan so much pricier flight to get there,how ever the cruise price itself doesn't matter since it's comped. 

 

Help me decide between the two ships

 

Either ship would be fine. We are Diamond on Royal and Diamond on NCL, so have sailed on both cruise lines a lot (our next cruise is on the Utopia - oasis class here we come!).

 

The Encore is a 4000 passenger ship. The Viva is a 3000 passenger ship. The Encore will be undergoing a major dry dock (kinda of an Amp) in November, so she'll be new and fresh. 

 

The Viva will have a lot of deck space for getting sun. The Encore is 25% bigger, so the restaurants and venues will be bigger. 

 

Here are links to my live posts from the Encore (to the Caribbean in March) and the Viva (December). The links have photos of the ships and some general information (example Dailies)

 

 

 

Edited September 6 by BirdTravels

[dohboy43]

Encore would be a closer comp to the Oasis class. My wife and I are in our 30s and the Encore is our favorite of the 10 NLC ships we've tried. I'm currently on the Prima - not overly impressed with some of the ship layout choices so far. The cabins are really nice (balcony on Prima beats Club Balcony on many other NCL ships), but the public areas are smaller and not as easy to navigate.