Possibly my first NCL cruise

[vanessa5076]

Hi All 

We are considering our first NCL cruise to Canada and wonder if you could help with a couple of questions. 

Firstly, how does NCL compare to Princess?  We have done 3 Princess cruises but have been a little disappointed with the last one so wonder how NCL would compare. 

 

My other query would be how the dining works with the Free at Sea.  We normally do 1 or 2 of the speciality restaurants on Princess (if we can get in) and are happy to pay but I cannot work out how the promotion works. 

 

Thanks for any assistance.   

[kitkat343]

I was just on the Enchanted Princess.  I've found the food to be stronger on Princess than NCL.  

People seem to really like NCL's drink package, and also some people prefer the lack of set dining times.  NCL has no formal nights, but honestly Princess has relaxed their enforcement of formal night to the point that it isn't an issue for me personally (I take small children on cruises and can't deal with dry clean only clothes because the kids will stain my clothes at some point).  

 

There is a fee for the specialty dining and unlimited drinking Free at Sea promotions.  If you won't drink or don't care about specialty dining, you are welcome to decline the promotions and just pay the base fare (it's confusing because of the name.  Just ignore the free name and understand all the promotions carry a fee but you can easily decline the extras if you won't use them enough.).  

 

If you book specialty dining ahead of time, there is availability on NCL (I know this is an issue on  Princess.)  The absolute most popular restaurants might not have a lot of availability on sea days for dinner, but if you aren't booking last minute, you will be able to use your specialty dining credits, although possibly on port days at the most popular restaurants.  Some reservations open up when you board, so if you didn't get what you wanted ahead of time just make them immediately upon boarding.  

 

 When I first sailed with NCL 10 years ago, MDR food was weak but specialty dining was amazing.  On my last NCL cruise, the specialty dining had issues - cold food, steak restaurant running out of all the sides I wanted to order like mashed potatoes.

 

Please note the big issue with NCL  is NCL potentially

dropping ports for sustainability efforts after final payment (if they drop ports they can sail more slowly to the next port and burn less fuel).  I don't know if the Canada cruises are scheduled to also go to Bar Harbor, but that's been an issue.

 

 

This itinerary change of embarkation port to another country after final payment with only 300 OBC and no opportunity to cancel  is really significant:  

 

And here's the most recent thread overview of the itinerary changes:

  

Edited 8 hours ago by kitkat343

[JandC_Cruising]

4 hours ago, vanessa5076 said:

My other query would be how the dining works with the Free at Sea.  We normally do 1 or 2 of the speciality restaurants on Princess (if we can get in) and are happy to pay but I cannot work out how the promotion works.

The Free at sea specialty dining promo is very simple.  I'll use a 7 day cruise in a balcony stateroom or better as example:

If you select the promotion, you will get 2 specialty meals each for passengers #1 & #2 in the cabin. The promotion will cost you 20% of the value of those meal vouchers as pre-paid gratuity ($21.80 per person), paid as part of the total cruise fare and due at final payment.  Actually a pretty good deal for 2 specialty meals each.

These meals let you go to any of the specialty restaurants on the ship.  A la carte venues will serve you a App, Soup or Salad, Entree, and dessert all at no charge.  Several venues will have an all inclusive experience meal.  Then other venues, such as Sushi bar, will allow you to pick any 4 menu items.

 

Number of meals in the promotion varies by length of cruise and cabin category.

Hope that helps a bit.

[mexicobob]

Not an expert on either cruise line but felt they are about the same. Norwegian seems to be a bit more laid back than Princess. Food and service about the same. On the Norwegian Breakaway some of the specialty restaurants have outside dining which we really enjoyed. Of course, we had nice weather. 

You can purchase additional specialty dining before the cruise and would be cheaper than if you bought it onboard.

We enjoyed a "club balcony suite" (I think that is what it is called) Not a suite but has bigger bathroom and balcony. You also get to make dining reservations 5 days before the rest of the ship which helps.