brand new to celebrity and worried

[2martinis]

we have sailed on about 15 cruises, rccl.princess,costa,regent seven seas,hal, and many more but never on a celebrity. We have been wanting to for a long time. Now we have a choice, this dec. we are booked on ncl dream and celebrity infinity for a south america cruise. on ncl we have an outside cabin guarantee and on celebrity we have a balcony concierge for just a few hundred dollars difference. I am confused since I have never sailed on either line before and I find bad reviews and good reviews on both which one to really go on.They both do the same itinerary so it comes down to service and food. Food is really important since we just came back from a Costa trans-atlantic and the food was not very good.As a matter of fact we both lost weight on that cruise, can you believe that. Can someone please advise me as to which ship we will be happiest on. thank you.

[Host Anne]

That's an easy one for me and it's not because you are asking this on the Celebrity board. We have sailed Celebrity and NCL and we do not care for the NCL freestyle cruising. We much prefer Celebrity's traditional style of cruising and the Celebrity ships. We haven't been on NCL in a few years so I can't comment on the food quality at this point, but we've always had very good food on Celebrity.

 

I'm sure you'll get varying opinions depending on which board you ask this question. For us, we don't even consider NCL any longer since they have gone completely to freestyle.

 

Good luck and enjoy whichever you decide to go with!

[sheeng]

I am sorry but this is a no brainer!!! The NCL ship is tired and old, terrible food and indifferent restaurant staff. Unless you want to eat very early or very late you will wait in lines to enter the dinning room. I could go on and on but I wont. Go with Infinity! We took the Santiago to Buenos Aires cruise a couple of years ago and it was the best trip of our lives!

[caviargal]

I have sailed on the Dream and she is old and tired. Cannot recommend even a little.

 

And if food is important, Dream was truly awful:(, even worse than the other NCL Freestyle ships IME.

[GBarrontine]

I've never sailed on the Dream, but I have been on the Sky and did not like NCL at all. Their food was the worst I've had on any ship. Carnival's food is MUCH better than theirs and that's saying alot. Of course Carnival has really improved their product in the last years, but Celebrity is still #1 on my book.

 

I didn't care for the freestyle dining either. I've always enjoyed meeting people at dinner and getting to know them and you don't get that with NCL.

[bububr]

Well, I'd add another line to your roster just for the comparison.

 

Take X. Its not regent, but we think its a step up from Costa, Hal, Princess, and RCCL. Athough the X experience is becoming more like RCCL, but with better service and dining.

 

Go for it!

 

Dave:eek:

[caviargal]

 

Take X. Its not regent, but we think its a step up from Costa, Hal, Princess, and RCCL. Athough the X experience is becoming more like RCCL, but with better service and dining.

 

Go for it!

 

Dave:eek:

 

Dave, I agree except for HAL, which is my personal preference these days.

[chessbriar]

X will compare well with your HAL experiences.

 

NCL will likely not satisfy you needs for quality of food or service.

[GORDONCHICK]

Find the made-to-order Belgian waffles on the aft deck and the almond croissants on Infinity - promise you won't go home lighter!!!! I have not sailed NCL, but I have Princess, and X is a step above Princess in my book.

[pattyj 1204]

We have sailed on 3 Celebrity Cruises and have loved each one. We are planning cruise #4 in July 08, my husband wouldn't be going if the food wasn't very good. There was such a variety for every meal that made each day an experience in dining. We have never eaten in the specialty restaurant as the food in the Dining Room was so good, we didn't see the need for it. Try Celebrity you will not be disappointed.

[AFriendlyCruiser]

Since you have been on 15 Cruises you know that you can be having the time of your life and your next door neighbors can be having what they consider a cruise from ...(a not so great cruise).

 

As far as food is concerned you can expect good dinners (remember they serve a lot of people at one time on Infinity) that are nicely plated and served by excellent and friendly staff. However, this is just the begining of your food experience. Do not miss the Aquaspa cafe (the best food on the ship in my opinion), the waffles at breakfast, the fresh made ice cream daily, the sushi, the burgers and fries at poolside, the nightly late night bites, and the croisants at the Cova. There is more but I think I made my point.

 

If you enjoy relaxing on a ship that has everything from a state of the art health club and spa to acupuncture then you will be wise to sail on Infinity!

[Almagetty]

I am a huge fan of NCL and their Freestyle experience. That being said, the Dream was not built as a freestyle ship. She has been adapted to the freestyle concept, but is not suited to it as are the larger NCL ships that were purpose built with 10 restaurants apiece. We were on the Dream two years ago in Alaska and had a good time, but we knew what we were signing up for (the itinerary). I wouldn't recommend the ship to others very highly.

 

I've never sailed on the Infinity, (we've only been on the New Century and will be taking our second Celebrity Cruise on Galaxy in 2 weeks!!!!) but my vote goes to Celebrity anyway, in this instance.

 

Happy sailing!

[Skeezics]

We have done South America on the Infinity. We had a regular balcony and had a great time. Would recommend to anyone. Only negative, because of pod problems, we missed our Falkland Island stop. My husband spent hours following the Falkland Island War and was eager to visit; so he was very disappointed. But. . . . gives us a reason to return!

[grandsix]

Have sailed on every major line multible times and find Celebrity to be as good if not better in regards to food, service etc. When any one makes a comparison, they must do so on a current years basis, not what was a year or so ago. The industry is constantly changing. Have even done back to back on different ships of the same line and had differnt experiences.

[geoherb]

To be honest, I don't even look at NCL cruises anymore (or Carnival, for that matter). We're happy on Celebrity, Princess, and HAL.

[Schasz]

We are also new to Celebrity...soon we will take our 7th cruise with all of them on Carnival and Royal Caribbean ships. We are not concerned in the least about choosing Celebrity Galaxy for our first Celebrity cruise in March 2008. We will be going with dear friends who have been on several Celebrity cruises and they tell us that Celebrity is their favorite cruise line.

 

John & Shari

[flag fan]

Having sailed on only one NCL ship, which I enjoyed, and no Celebrity ships (yet; I booked on Summit next February) my advice is based on a lot of reading--cruise books and these boards. Celebrity is generally accepted as a premium line, whereas NCL is more standard mass market. For example, the Norwegian Dream was rated 3+ stars by Berlitz, while Infinity was rated 4+ stars. The main advantage to NCL is freestyle cruising. If you prefer not to have set meal times and a designated table, NCL is the line to take. If you prefer traditional dining or don't care that much about it one way or the other, I would recommend Celebrity, particularly if you can get a balcony for just a little extra cost. If it were me, I would go on the Infinity.

[C 2 C]

We have been on one NCL cruise: the DREAM :rolleyes:. The "Dream" is frequently in the news about things going wrong.. I have never read anything about things going right. However the Dream took us to Israel and it has been our most memorable cruise because of the ports we visited.

 

We have sailed many times on Celebrity HAL and Princess.

In March we sailed on Infinity for 28 days from BA to FLL . I want to go again and look at the prices every week.

Did I mention we have cruised on NCL only once ;) out of 100 weeks at sea.

[DeepWaterMariner]

We've sailed on the Dream twice, once before freestyle began and once after. We've sailed Celebrity three times. I agree that the Dream is out of date and doesn't fit well with the NCL freestyle approach. With that said, I prefer their standard outside cabins compared to the Celebrity outsides I've had. There is no comparison on service and food quality, Celebrity wins hands down, but NCL has a better variety of cuisines to choose from. Having cruised all the major lines with the exception of Costa, I am always impressed with NCL's production shows. They are generally better than every one else but that is only my opinion.

[prakmel]

Dave, I agree except for HAL, which is my personal preference these days.

 

Please clarify what cruiseline is HAL?

[2martinis]

Thanks for the great responses. We have decided to go with Infinity. Have never had concierge service before so looking forward to that and was able to get our cabin changed today from the dreaded 8108 to a better cabin. We are really looking forward to seeing South America never done it before. thanks again.

[hammybee]

Please clarify what cruiseline is HAL?

 

Holland America

[hammybee]

I sail almost all mass marketed cruise lines. This is an easy one. Take the balcony, better food and service on X and let the NCL Dream go. Freestyle is pathetic on a ship not built for it.

[Schasz]

Please clarify what cruiseline is HAL?

 

HAL is Holland America Line which is an upscale line owned by Carnival.

 

John & Shari