NCL -vs- Royal and Celebrity

[momtobradley]

Hi.

My husband and I are planning in advance our 10 year Anniversary Cruise to Hawaii. I've sailed on Royal (nice) and Carnival (nice but to much flash), but am considering NCL since they cruise the islands without having to go to Mexico or Vancouver. Then we can do a pre and post stay. But I'm not hearing to many good things about the staff or the size of the rooms. Convince me to book with NCL!!!

Thanks!

MomtoBradley :)

[howard6933]

I took my very first cruise on NCL WAY BACK in 1978. Well, I can tell you

that NCL has come a LONG, LONG WAY since that time. When Star Cruises

took over NCL, everything changed, and for the better in my opinion. Since

Star Cruises came on the scene I have sailed on Norwegian Dawn and

Norwegian Star as well as Norwegian Wind. I would now put them up against

Princess, Royal Caribbean, and Holland America, and they would certainly

fare well against all of them. Their "Free Style" dining has apparently been a

big hit since many of the others have followed their lead. They have good

food, excellent entertainment, reasonably sized cabins, and excellent

service in all areas. You wouldn't make any mistakes if you choose NCL for

your next cruise. By the way, I am not an NCL stockholder, just telling it like

it is.

[jkrislc]

I'm in a similar boat (no pun intended). I've cruised Princess, Royal Carribean, and Carnival and opted to do NCLA for Hawaii to avoid the Pacific crossing and to allow for a pre/post-cruise stay. Thus far, I am looking forward to the flexibility afford by "freestyle" cruising although I am a bit hesitant at the same time for fear of the unknown. However, I am confident that my wife will take to freestyle cruising as it counters everything she hates about cruising (i.e., eat at this place, at this time, etc.)

[Weeburn]

One question, will you be bringing Bradley? If so, I would definitely recommend RCCL or Celebrity over NCL, they have much better programs and facilities for kids. I've sailed on all 3 lines. Also, I have to disagree with Howard, you can make a huge mistake in choosing NCL over the other 2, since both RCCL and Celebrity were far superior in most every way, especially service. What NCL did do better than the other lines was entertainment, I thought it was the best of all my cruises. However, the service was far from excellent, in fact, it was horrendous. Slow, mixed up orders, long waits, really bad buffet food, mediocre dining room food that was often served cold, difficulty getting the waiters attention, no delivery of condiments or even water, etc.

 

On the other hand, I don't know what choice you have for a Hawaiian cruise? Who else sails there? So long as you go in not expecting the service you're used to on other lines, and consider the ports the highlight of the vacation rather than the cruise, you'll be OK. Just don't compare NCL to other lines, it won't stack up IMO.

[momtobradley]

Now I'm not sure what I want to do. I also don't like the eat here at this time aspect of the other lines, and the free style dinning does appeal to me. But if the everything else is below what I'm use to, I guess I'd rather eat at a certain time.

And, nope, Bradley will not be coming :) This will be my husbands and my first official vacation without any kids since we went on our Honeymoon ( I have stepkids).

Thanks for all the help and advice :)

[Guest alexMD]

The jury is still out on NCL America (which I suppose is becoming an All-American wholly owned subsidiary of NCL which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Star [based somewhere in Asia and under private control]). Give it a few weeks.

 

Right now, the only tried-and-true choices are 10-ish day cruises from Ensenada or Mexico, with horrendously-expensive open-ended airfares; or the 7 day Fanning Island (lets face it 4 getting back and forth to Fanning and 3 days in Hawaii make it a "Fanning Island" cruise) cruise.

[DEL67]

We prefer RCCL and Celebrity to NCL. Although we liked the Freestyle concept, we did not like the reality. On our NCL Hawaii/Ensenada trip in 2000 we found the food so-so fair and almost always cold. We also missed meeting new table mates. In addition, we thought that the cabins were small and the entertainment only fair. As a result, even though we would not rule out NCL, we would choose either of the other two (or Carnival) over NCL.

[ljones]

You didn't say when you plan to cruise, but Celebrity is planning 15 day roundtrip San Diego - Hawaii cruises for 2005. The 1st (experiment) is this Dec 5 - 20, 2004 sailing on the Infinity.

[sbcs5390]

My mom is a teacher and I'm a student, so cruising can pretty much only be in the summer months for us. We had no other option than NCL for Hawaii, though we could have done another cruise- this was a good deal for an awesome vacation.

 

We've cruise aboard X on the Zenith and Galaxy and the Norwegian Sea. Never have done RCCL, but want to. Celebrity is primarily various brain-washing techniques to make you believe that they're "Simply the Best". If you want to get caught up in stuff like frosty towels, then go Celebrity. I also don't know if you want to be dressing to the nines when on a dream vacation as an anniversary cruise.

 

It's up to you. You have to think about what you want to do, how elegant you want things to feel, etc.

 

-Brian

[gardencat]

sbcs5390

 

 

 

Are you the one who was looking to book a Bermuda vacation this year? If so have you found a good deal on a cabin yet?

[sbcs5390]

Well, as I said somewhere on here, we kind of missed out because I had a bad Asthma flare up. My Mom didn't want that risk at sea. If something comes along, we'll jump on, but we're content with our Hawaii cruise in August. The Dawn, Majesty, and Crown seem to be pretty low. Thanks for asking.

 

-Brian

[Dolphins]

We did a 15 day Hawaii cruise, round trip out of San Diego on HAL's Statendam. We liked it very much. I believe HAL still has that cruise so you might consider it as an option and save the air fare to Hawaii.

[sbcs5390]

That sounds very nice. What month was it?

 

-Brian

[rocketrobin]

We did Hawaii on the Wind back in 2003. We had a Category E room, with a sitting area, and had plenty of room. We have done both Royal and Celebrity, and enjoyed all our cruises on them, but except for a few problems with tendering (missed some Maui do to bad weather) the cruise was great. Fanning Island run does take extra time, but I love days at sea anyway. Freeystle cruising is great because you can eat when you want, where you want. If you are late getting back from an excursion, you don't have to rush to make your seating. I argree that the entertainment is excellent, and you can often get special that include air/hotel with pre & post cruise stays.

Good hunting

[sbcs5390]

Rocketrobin, we really need to talk to you!

 

We are also in a Category E on the Wind!

 

-Brian

[rocketrobin]

What info can I help you with? I don't think wind has changed to much since I was on.

[gardencat]

sbcs5290

 

Sorry your Bermuda trip got knocked out, hope you have an awesome time in Hawaii!

[RichardK]

I've sailed on all 3 lines, and give an overall rating as follows:

 

1. Celebrity

2. RCL

3. NCL

 

However, having said that, if the itinerary and price were right, I'd sail on NCL again in a heartbeat!!!

[gourmetgal]

we've been on about 7 cruises so far, several with Ncl that were great but then last year we were on the Celebrity Millennum, it was incredible, very classy, like a floating art gallery, live orchestra at dinner, champagne bar, cappucino bar aqua spa and cafe,delicious food! It was t he only cruise where we didn't care if we ever left the ship! I can't praise this ship enough, the itinery is nothing special since we've been Eastern and Western Carrib .before but the service was impeccable,I 'd say the only thing better would be to go on Raddison, or Crystal cruises, I don't know about the older ships ,but the Millinnium, Constellation and the other newer vessels are the way to go. We are sailing on the NCL Dawn this Sunday ,hopefully it will be as nice as Celebrity, which we would have taken maybe the Horizon to Bermuda, but my husband is spoiled and wanted a balcony cabin ,( none on the Horizon or Zenith) and we wanted to stay close to the U.S .as our daughter is away(For the first time) at a college program at Brown University in Providence RI. My vote is for Celebrity!

[mary4165]

Celebrity, RCCL, NCL in that order. Celebrity is your best choice.

[furkidsmom]

We just got home two weeks ago from Northern Europe on Celebrity Constellation. This was our 3rd Celebrity cruise and we loved it.

 

We got home to find out that DH's family reunion 11/2005 is going to be a cruise on NCL Pride of Aloha. We are not sure we are going to like it. We booked a room at the back of the ship (which we prefer). We are not sure about the freestyle dining. We love having our own table each night and the same waiters and drink waiters. There is such a nice pampered feeling when you come to dinner and they know what your preferences are. I love the elegance of Celebrity.

 

We also hear that a lot of families choose NCL. We don't mind a few children, but don't want to be in a dining room with a ton of screaming children either.

 

I vote Celebrity first...........will let you know about NCL in 05

[Traveler39]

NCL is having too many problems and it may only get worse.... Why even consider them. I have cruised several ships and prefer RCCL and Princess... I am over 50... So my taste may be different than yours... good luck...

[newmexicoNita]

We have cruised all 3 lines more than once. Celebrity is a step up, but not as many steps up as we had been led to believe. Guess that left us a little disappointed, but we did love the Constillation. We have cruised RCL 3 times and will never try again. There was nothing horribly wrong, just nothing in our minds particularly good. We love Freestyle cruising though it isn't for everyone. Picking the right ship for the right person or persons is just so hard. NCL is differently very layed back and the crew friendlier than many though we did find the crew on Celebrity very personable. This was not the case so much on RCL and again, that is just our experience. I thing the thing that we disliked the most about RCL was the quality of food with rare exception.

 

NMNita

[plarimer]

We have not taken an NCL cruise before but are scheduled for July 2005 on the Pride of Aloha. We love Celebrity -excellent service and food. Our favorite overall cruise line is RCCL. We just got off the Radiance and I cannot praise the cruise enough. The food and cabin were wonderful.

 

The itinerary is the thing for us. The idea of hopping islands, planes, hotels, and all of those lines, with time taken out for checking in and out and all of that repacking and unpacking, a cruise seemed the answer for us. We didn't want to waste the time of all those days at sea to sail from CA as our vacation time is short, so NCL seemed just right. This way our hotel floats to 4 islands. We will spend 2 days in Honolulu to see the sights and get over our jet lag from the east coast. If the food is bad, we will eat on the islands. A cruise is what you make of it and you can't please everyone. Hopefully this one wil be fine.

[sbcs5390]

They are all fine, in my opinion. Though I can't truthfully say about RCCL, because I've never cruised them. But from what I've heard, RCCL will be fine. I think there's something to find in each line. NCL is no fuss, Celebrity is elegant, Carnival is a fun time. I'm not saying that I wouldn't go back on Celebrity ever again- I certainly would. I wish Galaxy would be in Galveston in the summer, since my grandparents live in Texas. You may not find it to be all it's cracked up to be- most certainly aboard Zenith and Horizon. Hope we were of help!

 

-Brian