difference between NCL and RCCL

[Squirtreena]

I was considering a cruise on the Pride Of Hawaii around the hawaiian island...maybe two back to back cruises cause i wanted two weeks...has anyone done this?? anyhow when people say it is not a luxury cruise liner in comparison to RCCL what do they mean?? what is it really missing?? Is it all buffets? do you have to dress up or is it all casual... anything helps..thanks

[Tatka]

My DH just returned from NCL cruise, and he cruised on RCCL Splendor before. He said that NCL is not worse than any other mass market line. It's not luxury line, but RCCL isn't either.

 

NCL is not a line with traditional dining. It means that there are many different restaurant and passengers pick where to dine every night. You won't have assigned tables and same table-mates everynight, you also don't have exact time when you have to eat. It's actually very convenient for people who want to dine alone, like to seat by the window, don't won't to rush from the shore tours, people with the kids.

 

You can go to the one of the several main (free) dining rooms,or reserve and pay for special restaurants (steakhouse, italian, japanese etc). Cost of these specialty restaurants is lower than the cost for specialty restaurants on RCCL and other traditional dining lines.

 

Other than that NCL experience isn't much different from other lines. My husband loked entertainment (3 production shows a week!) , pool band, live music everywhere etc.

[Squirtreena]

thanks Natalia...on NCL is there formal nights? or is the whole thing casual? what about the pay restaurants? is it semi formal? or formal or casual??

[jhodg56010]

We are diamond members of RCI and just returned yesterday from our 1st cruise on NCL, a delightful 7 night cruise on the Pride of America. The two cruise lines are very similar and we enjoyed them both. The extensive writeup by travel writer, Jana Jones, on the home page of Cruise Critic today is accurate, I'd say. We are three generations ranging in age from 11 to 71 and we all enjoyed the PoA and the cruise. My 34 yr old son said that he liked the Radiance a bit better and thought the NCL Pax were slightly lower class, but that is his subjective observation. Conversely, my wife thought the Pax on HAL were a bit classier than either line. The Pride of America is very, in a word, "colorful". Lacking a large centrum, it is a little harder to find your way around, but really not a problem. NCL has several advantages: a powerful hair dryer and a coffee maker in the cabin and a soap dispenser in the similarly small bathroom. The crew speak English and were cheerful and helpful. The ship has 4 hot tubs and a large workout room with few exercising participants, at least in the afternoon when I usually go. We prefer fixed seating with no need to make dinner reservations or to wait for a table to open up at prime eating time (eg. 7 PM) and we are used to planning our activities around the dinner times on RCI, yet we navigated the the freestyle system OK with a party of 8 by making reservations on the first day for the entire week. The biggest challenge of a Hawaiian cruise is the long boring flight to and from the islands. Two weeks in Hawaii via back to back cruises would be great as there are multiple excursions and destinations on every island. We encountered no illness, and no sewer smells, and no wild behavior by teens or children despite spring break. Lots of families and the average age is way younger than HAL, and similar to RCI. No bingo and no Casino, and fewer daytime activities, as most are off the ship all day seeing the beautiful islands. All cruise ships are luxurious including the PoA, with quality materials, lush rugs, uniformed crew, and many glamorous restaurants. The food was good, but the dreaded "ranch steak" vilified on RCI a year or so ago seems to have reappeared on the PoA as Paniolo steak, tasty, but full of gristle(at least mine was). The entertainment was a bit better on RCI in my opinion with better production shows and a live orchestra, but still enjoyable on PoA, especially the comedians, and the crew show (which I enjoyed much more than on HAL). People dressed appropriately, mostly casually, but not sloppy or grunge. We saw no seasickness and no overt drunkenness. There is an optional formal night, and a few dressed up in formal wear, especially for formal portraits, but we brought no suits or even jacket. We bought a lot of nice photos. Be aware that it rains almost every day in Hilo. Our assessment is that PoA was perhaps a notch below RCI, but still very good. Every line has strong supporters, expecially on these boards, where a few frequent posters blast any criticism of their favorite line or ship day after day, even year after year.If you look for deficiencies you can find some. You can't go wrong on NCL which I felt was better than I had expected after reading these boards for several years. We have enjoyed every cruise, including Disney and Celebrity too, and find all the lines to be similar and nearly all cruisers to be happy friendly people on vacation. Two weeks in Hawaii would be great. Jim

[Squirtreena]

wow thank jim for the long response i appreciate it...you never mentioned any pools....there are pools right??

[Tatka]

wow thank jim for the long response i appreciate it...you never mentioned any pools....there are pools right??

 

My family was not on PoAM, but on Sun ... They loved pools. On of the pools was actually about 6 ft deep, so kids couldn't swim in it and adults enjoyed this pool a lot. Water was salty.

[Twaincruisers]

NCL cruises in Hawaii are unique in that 2-3 of them have American crews (required by law)...which for me is neither a plus or a minus. NCL America ships are the only ships that can cruise ONLY in Hawaii; other ships must touch a foreign port. So you get more Hawaii in shorter time than with other lines. The other main difference is freestyle cruising with no fixed dining times and no formal dress required. Otherwise NCL is comparable to RCI, except for the Voyager-class ships--and soon to arrive Freedom--which are all in a class of their own due to the Promenade, ice rink, and huge variety of sports choices. Neither NCL or RCI are luxury.

[Squirtreena]

thank you all this really helps me.