Princess VS. Norwegian

[cmalibu1]

I have NEVER had the ship "fall asleep", on Princess......There's a mix of people.....Old and young who will dance and drink you into the ground on Princess......At least that's what we've found on all of our Princess cruises and we've done quite a few.......

We were on the Diamond and the people on board were such a lively group it was hard for us to keep up with them.....and they were much older than us!

It can vary from cruise to cruise.....depends on the folks onboard!

 

Thanks for the info! That makes me feel a lot better. While it will be our honeymoon, during the day we want to relax, and have nice dinners but after....we really enjoy a more upbeat nightlife!

Age doesnt matter, as long as they know how to have fun!

[newmexicoNita]

PRINCESS wins in food, ambiance, cleanliness, bedding, entertainment and all around cruise ship experience.

Anytime dining and the commericials on T.V. about it are not true; it is just not all that great! There were long, long lines in the most popular venues and it took a toll on the passengers and the staff!

Cookies & cakes available were amazing on NCL but I can't cruise just for the "cookie" experience!

Our fellow passengers were a bit "dressed down!" Not that I'm a snob but I do love that dining with class experience!

It mst depend on the particular ship and time you sail. We found many things about the 2 lines similar, we did like the food in the main dining rooms for dinner better on Princes, but breakfast on Princess was the worst. as for long lines and waiting we have sailed both lines choosing flex dining, NCL does it much better with much shorter lines in our opinion. Which NCL ship were you on and when?

 

Nita

[wizard-of-roz]

NCL Star, 8 days to Mexico, in Fall of 2006.....Didn't like it!!!!!!

When we got home I was so disappointed, I called my TA and booked another cruise, on Princess, for the following month.....

I told my DH that it was the "makeup" cruise! It was on the Golden and we loved it!!!!

I could be more specific.....bit I'm afraid it would bore all!!!

[karatemom2]

On NCL you don't need to have reservations for the two main dining rooms. These are more equivalent to your traditional cruise dining rooms, but without the traditional scheduling. When we dined in the regular dining rooms we usually went between 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. and we never waited for a table. It is usually necessary to have reservations for the specialty restaurants and you can make those the first day you board. We chose to dine in the specialty restaurants on two nights of our 7 night cruise and they were very good, but we found the food in the regular dining rooms to be very good as well.

 

As far as evening activities go, I think the activities on Princess are much more extensive and varied. There is always something fun going on. Except for the production shows which were outstanding, I found the evening entertainment on NCL a little bit lacking.

[cmalibu1]

Anyone know the dining times if you chose the traditional? Do they have a n early serving and a late serving? Also with the anytime how does that work? Can you just go to the dining room and wait to be seated?

Are the menus for the evening the same in either dining room....and lastly..is it actually a different dining room you go to for either choice?

 

Thanks everyone! This truly does help. Everyone is so friendly on these boards it really makes this whole experience quite fun!

[quincytoo]

The decor on NCL, both IN and ON the ship is really garish! The buffet area is bit like high school and the long lines in their "Freestyle" Dining areas was anything but freestyle!!!! The beds were not very comfortable.

 

All that said....would I do NCL again? If the price were right and I drank a little more, yes!

 

I'd have to drink alot more before I was caught on a NCL cruise again!

 

The Diamond Princess was my DH's *make-up gift* to me for the NCl Spirit cruise we did and The DP impressed me so much we have booked two more princess cruises :)

[karatemom2]

We've not done traditional dining on Princess so I'm not sure what the set times here, but I'm sure someone here can answer that.

 

As for Anytime Dining, you can show up whenever you are ready to dine and go to any of the Anytime Dining rooms you choose on the night in question. Each of the Anytime Dining rooms has a different theme and has it's own unique specialty dish that is always available. Other than that the menu is the same in all of the dining rooms (including the Traditional Dining Room) every evening. We have never waited more than 15 to 20 minutes for a table, and it's usually because we are requesting a table for four. If you are open to dining with others you can usually get seated right away. The only evening we have experienced a wait is on formal night, so we've learned to make reservations on those evenings. It's really easy to make a reservation. Just call first thing in the morning and you can schedule a reservation in Anytime Dining for seatings up to 6 p.m. and from 8 p.m. on. From 6:01 to 7:59 p.m. they don't schedule reservations as it is reserved for walk-up only.

[CrusinAgain]

There is no comparison to me. After sailing on the brand new Pearl we will not be sailing on NCL ever again. The rooms are small and the service is very slow in both cabin and dining. The selection of free daytime activities was practically non existent and after the show at night there was nothing else to do except gamble or dance.

 

Princess has always given us excellent service and entertainment. Even Carnival beats NCL in every way in our book.

 

Good luck with your decision.

[Mbouck1]

I have sailed NCL a couple of times and Princess quite a few times. Princess is tops in most categories, specifically dining,entertainment,decor, and rooms. NCL has bigger balconies and bathrooms. I also prefer traditional dining over anytime dining in which that's all NCL has or even personal choice.

 

Like I stated I would much prefer Princess but when the price is right and seeing how it is only a 2 hour drive to NYC for an NCL cruise I would jump right on board. It is pretty easy not to compare cruiselines for me and enjoy the cruise. As long as I am on the water I'm sure it will be great.

[GottaLuvCruising]

Princess has always given us excellent service and entertainment. Even Carnival beats NCL in every way in our book.

 

I have to agree. If the fare and itinerary were perfect, I might sail NCL again. But I'd prefer about any other cruise line.

 

Our NCL experiences were "OK", but all of our other cruises would get better reviews. NCL staterooms were small, food was just OK, service was good, entertainment was lousy, drink & photo prices were high, not enough activities, way too much smoke and we absolutely did not enjoy their "freeystyle dining" (lines & reservations...what's "freestyle" about that?).

[Umbarger]

I have been on 4 Princess, 4 NCL and 1 NCLA. Loved all of them.

 

We never had to wait to be seated for dinner on NCL, however we ate at 5:30-6pm every night. I liked NCL varied restaurants. Could have Mexican or Italian (no charge) but you did need to have reservations for these restaurants as they were smaller.

 

Go with the right attitude and you'll have a good cruise.

 

Linda