My Thoughts: Comparing Norwegian with Celebrity

[bqkali]

I just returned from a cruise on the Celebrity Millennium and thought I would compare this cruise with my experience on the Norwegian Spirit for anyone comparing the two lines.

Let me start off by saying that comparing my NCL cruise to this one on Celebrity is like comparing to apples to oranges. My NCL cruise was 7-days to the Caribbean in December on the Spirit; Celebrity was 10-days to Alaska in September on the Millennium. NCL was my first cruise; this time I knew what to expect. On NCL, I cruised with my sister; this time I cruised solo. In other words, they were different experiences. I really did enjoy both and would consider both lines in the future, especially considering that my #1 deciding factor is itinerary, not cruiseline.

Cruising Style – Celebrity is very traditional, even elegant or refined. I enjoyed it, I really did. Norwegian, on the other hand, is “freestyle”, casual, and easy-going. I also really liked that.

What is similar: the ships. The Spirit was built in 1999 and refurbished about two months before my cruise. It is 75,000ish tons (879 feet long) with 1950 passengers and 970 crew members. The Millennium is similar, built in 2000 and refurbished about three months before my cruise. It is 91,000 tons and 965 feet long – so a little bigger but still not even close to a “mega-ship”. There are 1950 passengers and 1000 crew members. Both were in good shape. The Millie did feel less crowded, probably due to its slightly larger size.

The cabin goes to Celebrity. I think my cabin on the Millie (both times were insides) was slightly larger (or perhaps just laid out better) and it was definitely more elegant in decoration. Both were comfortable and adequate.

Service, hands down, goes to Celebrity. Waitstaff were more attentive, even at breakfast and lunch when you don’t always have your “usual” waiter. Drink servers were everywhere but never annoying. I would say room stewards were comparable.

Activities goes to Norwegian. There were always more things going on that appealed to me, but this probably has a lot to do with the average age on the Spirit being 40ish where as the Millennium was 60ish. Honestly I would say both lines have room for improvement as far as developing fun things to do onboard. (As a side note, there were lots more kids on the Spirit than on the Millie)

Entertainment also goes to Norwegian, but by a smaller margin. I was really disappointed with Celebrity’s shows in general whereas there were some Norwegian shows I could watch over and over again.

Food goes to Celebrity. The quality was much better in the main dining room, and most importantly was always served warm (when applicable), whereas on the Norwegian Spirit, it was consistently only lukewarm. Spirit’s advantage was the Blue Lagoon, a 24-hour “comfort food” area while the Millenium has no equivalent. Still, Celebrity wins.

Disembarkation goes to Norwegian. While tendering was inefficient on both cruiselines, there was a noticeable difference between self-disembarkation. On Celebrity, I had to meet at the theatre at a certain time, lugging my suitcase, and wait until I was told to leave the ship. Everyone doing self-disembarkation left at the same time. On Norwegian, it was much more flexible. If you carried your own suitcase off, you left when you wanted to. You could leave early to catch a flight or you could wait until you were done at breakfast. Since timing was more scattered, there was no huge rush of people trying to go through customs at the same time.

The pool area goes to Celebrity. I liked how the outdoor pool area was set up better than I did on the Spirit and having the indoor pool was a huge plus.

Dress Code goes to Norwegian. I loved getting dressed up on formal nights and seeing everyone at their finest on Celebrity, but the other nights, it was an inconvenience to dress for dinner and pack extra clothing. I loved going from port to dinner in the same outfit (assuming I wasn’t too dirty or sweaty) on Norwegian but was disappointed that on “Dress Up or Not” night, barely anyone dressed up so I felt out of place when I bothered to fancy myself up.

Prices were similar – the per day cost was remarkably close in both cases, specialty restaurant costs were similar, bar drinks were similar…

Like I said, I liked both cruiselines and would consider both in the future. Assuming everything else was equal – price, itinerary, ship amenities – I would probably give Celebrity the edge, but Norwegian is still a great cruiseline.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

[hon2u]

Originally Posted by bqkali

I just returned from a cruise on the Celebrity Millennium and thought I would compare this cruise with my experience on the Norwegian Spirit for anyone comparing the two lines.

Let me start off by saying that comparing my NCL cruise to this one on Celebrity is like comparing to apples to oranges. My NCL cruise was 7-days to the Caribbean in December on the Spirit; Celebrity was 10-days to Alaska in September on the Millennium. NCL was my first cruise; this time I knew what to expect. On NCL, I cruised with my sister; this time I cruised solo. In other words, they were different experiences. I really did enjoy both and would consider both lines in the future, especially considering that my #1 deciding factor is itinerary, not cruiseline.

Cruising Style – Celebrity is very traditional, even elegant or refined. I enjoyed it, I really did. Norwegian, on the other hand, is “freestyle”, casual, and easy-going. I also really liked that.

What is similar: the ships. The Spirit was built in 1999 and refurbished about two months before my cruise. It is 75,000ish tons (879 feet long) with 1950 passengers and 970 crew members. The Millennium is similar, built in 2000 and refurbished about three months before my cruise. It is 91,000 tons and 965 feet long – so a little bigger but still not even close to a “mega-ship”. There are 1950 passengers and 1000 crew members. Both were in good shape. The Millie did feel less crowded, probably due to its slightly larger size.

The cabin goes to Celebrity. I think my cabin on the Millie (both times were insides) was slightly larger (or perhaps just laid out better) and it was definitely more elegant in decoration. Both were comfortable and adequate.

Service, hands down, goes to Celebrity. Waitstaff were more attentive, even at breakfast and lunch when you don’t always have your “usual” waiter. Drink servers were everywhere but never annoying. I would say room stewards were comparable.

Activities goes to Norwegian. There were always more things going on that appealed to me, but this probably has a lot to do with the average age on the Spirit being 40ish where as the Millennium was 60ish. Honestly I would say both lines have room for improvement as far as developing fun things to do onboard. (As a side note, there were lots more kids on the Spirit than on the Millie)

Entertainment also goes to Norwegian, but by a smaller margin. I was really disappointed with Celebrity’s shows in general whereas there were some Norwegian shows I could watch over and over again.

Food goes to Celebrity. The quality was much better in the main dining room, and most importantly was always served warm (when applicable), whereas on the Norwegian Spirit, it was consistently only lukewarm. Spirit’s advantage was the Blue Lagoon, a 24-hour “comfort food” area while the Millenium has no equivalent. Still, Celebrity wins.

Disembarkation goes to Norwegian. While tendering was inefficient on both cruiselines, there was a noticeable difference between self-disembarkation. On Celebrity, I had to meet at the theatre at a certain time, lugging my suitcase, and wait until I was told to leave the ship. Everyone doing self-disembarkation left at the same time. On Norwegian, it was much more flexible. If you carried your own suitcase off, you left when you wanted to. You could leave early to catch a flight or you could wait until you were done at breakfast. Since timing was more scattered, there was no huge rush of people trying to go through customs at the same time.

The pool area goes to Celebrity. I liked how the outdoor pool area was set up better than I did on the Spirit and having the indoor pool was a huge plus.

Dress Code goes to Norwegian. I loved getting dressed up on formal nights and seeing everyone at their finest on Celebrity, but the other nights, it was an inconvenience to dress for dinner and pack extra clothing. I loved going from port to dinner in the same outfit (assuming I wasn’t too dirty or sweaty) on Norwegian but was disappointed that on “Dress Up or Not” night, barely anyone dressed up so I felt out of place when I bothered to fancy myself up.

Prices were similar – the per day cost was remarkably close in both cases, specialty restaurant costs were similar, bar drinks were similar…

Like I said, I liked both cruiselines and would consider both in the future. Assuming everything else was equal – price, itinerary, ship amenities – I would probably give Celebrity the edge, but Norwegian is still a great cruiseline.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks for your excellent review and comparison of these two cruise lines. I felt like you were fair and shared your honest opinions. I have only cruised with NCL but since the demise of the BoA Mastercard points I am considering other lines. DH loves NCL because of the casual dress. I can go either way. What women does not like a fancy gown and feeling pretty?

[pcreek]

Thanks for the comparison, bq!

Nice to hear that there were more similiarities than differences!

I've only cruised NCL- {primarily because of the freestyle & dress code. I just don't want to HAVE to dress up if I don't want to!} and have found no reason to want to try other lines at this point.

Maybe when we retire, have more $$ and / or more time we might try another line to compare.

Thanks again! (neighbor!)

[MrLee]

Thank you for the review. I've sailed both lines and I think you managed to be fair to both. Of course we all know that mostly we all have our own likes and dislikes in all aspects of life but it's nice to see spmeone trying to be as balanced as possible without the bashing that seems to happen a lot.

Again, thank you.

[DMH15]

NCL's ranking goes way up if booked in a suite and throw in a few specialty restaurants, especially dining ensuite in pjs. But I must agree on Celebrit's food... My dinner on Celebrity Summit's Normandie ($25 upcharge) was elegant and most delicious, my favorite meal at sea, to date.

[bqkali]

Originally Posted by pcreek

I've only cruised NCL- {primarily because of the freestyle & dress code. I just don't want to HAVE to dress up if I don't want to!} and have found no reason to want to try other lines at this point.

Hey neighbor

Celebrity does offer some more casual dining options if you want to cruise with them without dressing up. At dinner, there is a huge salad bar, made-to-order pasta, pizza, stir fry, and sushi where the dress code is casual. There is also a sit-down dining where you order off the menu (different from the main dining room menu) but you can dress as you please. Lastly, Celebrity lets you order off the main dinner menu as room service, so you can dine comfortably in your room if you so choose.

But to me, a lot of the enjoyment of cruise dining is the MDR experience so I chose to eat there most nights.

[bqkali]

Originally Posted by DMH15

NCL's ranking goes way up if booked in a suite and throw in a few specialty restaurants, especially dining ensuite in pjs. But I must agree on Celebrit's food... My dinner on Celebrity Summit's Normandie ($25 upcharge) was elegant and most delicious, my favorite meal at sea, to date.

I ate at the Millennium's specialty restaurant (the Olympic) and loved it. The food and service were both superb. I didn't try the specialties on the Spirit, so I can't really compare or comment on the differences there. My food "score" was based only on things I tried on both ships.

On my next NCL cruise, I hope to try Cagney's and/or Le Bistro.

[flashdog_1]

Thanks for the review!

I am a fan of both lines. it depends on who I am traveling with as to which line I choose for a particular itinerary. My husband hated having to dress up on Celebrity, so he only goes on Norwegian and loves it!

For my first NCL cruise I was used to Celebrity or Holland America. Was I ever surprised when it was FUN on the first day, being invited to be in a conga line! That really broke the ice.

My daughter loves to dress up for dinner (she will do so on our upcoming Hawaii cruise on Pride of America if she has enough room in her suitcase), too. She preferred Celebrity over Holland America. She hasn't been on NCL yet. I hope she loves it.

We both prefer Celebrity's food and service and 172 sq ft inside cabins, and being able to get room service using the main dining room's lunch and/or dinner menus (at scheduled meal times only, of course. It is not served course by course. It is all brought at once for you to deal with. You just tell your room steward you'd like to do it and he/she brings you the menu and orders for you). We've never been in a suite, but a mini suite w/large balcony was quite roomy on Celebrity Century, and we did have a butler, and used him. yes, in a mini.

Usually X is more costly, but last year we found an identically priced cruise, same date so we didn't have to cancel air or hotel, to Alaska, so canceled our reservations on NCL Sun and jumped to Celebrity Mercury (where we did have to pay $150 for the two of us to use the thallossotherapy pool same as on NCL). Yes, you get the heated loungers, but they don't look out to sea.

The 4 Millenium Class ships on Celebrity (X) which include Millenium, Infinity, Summit and Constellation, have two things NCL does not have: the aqua spa cafe where healthy food is laid out buffet style, and the FREE for adults Thallossotherapy indoor heated pool.

All of X's pools are salt water.

Celebrity CHARGES for capuccinos unless you are in a mini suite or above, where they are free via room service.

Celebrity, like NCL, has free ice cream, but X has many more flavors. Of course both lines offer ice cream in the main dining room, and have interesting flavors.

Celebrity furnishes a stainless steel water pitcher as well as s.s. ice bucket, which are replenished 2x a day. Your room is always made up.

BTW all 3 of us are doing Canada/New England next September on Dawn.

[bqkali]

Originally Posted by flashdog_1

Thanks for the review!

I am a fan of both lines. it depends on who I am traveling with as to which line I choose for a particular itinerary. My husband hated having to dress up on Celebrity, so he only goes on Norwegian and loves it!

It was interesting reading your take on things. Enjoy your cruise on the PoA and Dawn!

[terrymtex01]

OP.. Thanks for sharing this with us. It is honestly what I would have expected in comparing the two lines. Me personally, and I am sure I will get flamed for this, I do not consider X and NCL in the same "class" of cruiselines, but we have never sailed X so that is just how I feel about them from what I have read.

Thanks again for sharing.

[Arwenmark]

While I think Celebrity is the more Formal line I love some things they are now doing, I love the no smoking on any balcony or in cabin and now they are starting an anytime dining program. Those were the two areas that made me less than enthusiastic in the past But they have moved up on my list.
I would agree about normal cabin size on the two but not decoration when it comes to suites at least and overall ship. the Spirit is a much more elegant ship and the suites are beautiful.
Other than that I would say your review is right on, and very well balanced, thanks.

[mtwingcpa]

Thanks for posting that great comparison!

I have been a big fan of NCL and have not yet tried Celebrity. But I am attracted by Celebrity's non-smoking policy. I am also becoming disenchanted with NCL's non-enforcement of a dress code (see my latest NCL review here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1068337).

At the moment, I'm waiting to see how Celebrity's anytime dining program shapes up.

[bqkali]

Originally Posted by mtwingcpa

Thanks for posting that great comparison!

I have been a big fan of NCL and have not yet tried Celebrity. But I am attracted by Celebrity's non-smoking policy. I am also becoming disenchanted with NCL's non-enforcement of a dress code (see my latest NCL review here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1068337).

At the moment, I'm waiting to see how Celebrity's anytime dining program shapes up.

I was glad to read your review - the Pearl is a ship I'd love to try sometime.

The anytime dining on Celebrity is supposed to roll out fleetwide sometime soon. I, too, am interested in hearing how it goes...

[slotaddict]

Nice to read your observations. Celebrity used to be my cruiseline of choice, I have Elite status on Celebrity and have not sailed them since 2006. I tried NCL and loved it - I prefer not to dress up and since Celebrity is a more formal line I gravitate towards NCL.

[sottovoce]

Our Celebrity experience on Galaxy was of overall comparable quality to what we've experienced on NCL, in terms of main dining room food quality and service. We were not taken in by all the bowing, scraping, and kowtowing done in an effort to increase tips. We were annoyed by an assistant housekeeper who knocked on our stateroom door to butter us up the night before the also-annoying envelope distribution.

Tablemates were late getting back from a Celebrity excursion and missed their early seating. They were not allowed to join late seating and had to dine in their stateroom. Reservations are required for the so-called casual dining area, which is just a cordoned-off section of the buffet. If you were casually-dressed on formal and informal nights you were told not to be seen in other public areas of the ship.

The furniture in our Sky Suite was rather battered and bumped. Our deck 12 balcony furniture had burn holes, likely from output from the stack. The balcony was huge, however. Many lounge chairs around the aft pool were missing and many others were broken where your butt would rest. There was nothing "refined" about the suite. The butler was no more efficient than our Jade butler, and suite perqs were nowhere close.

Celebrity is just another mass-market cruise line, comparable with what we've experienced on NCL, Renaissance, and HAL. It does have an overblown dress code and a rather pretentious attitude, neither of which added anything to the cruise experience for us. Apparently it's just now offering a variation on freestyle (called "select" dining, I think) but with many caveats regarding availability.

[WinnieinWA]

Originally Posted by hon2u

What women does not like a fancy gown and feeling pretty?

ME!

To the OP...thanks for your review and comparisons. I won't cruise Celebrity because of the Dress code. I'm very happy with NCL, Princess and Carnival. I've ruled out RCI after my one cruise with them. I appreciate the time you took to write about your 2 cruises.

[islandgirlejfan]

Originally Posted by hon2u

What women does not like a fancy gown and feeling pretty?

It's doesn't have to be a gown I will never have the opportunity to use again to make me feel pretty. I don't mind dressing for dinner, but it could just as easily be resort casual or a cocktail dress for me. NCL may be too casual for some people, but I like not having to pack my sea trunk for my cruise!

To the OP, wonderful review....I think you highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of both cruise lines very nicely! We are trying right now to decide which line we want to take on our next cruise. I'm not a brand loyal sort of person, but the reason that NCL really does appeal to us is because of the freestyle concept and not having to drag the fancy gown. We are not bums (well unless you include the fact we consider ourselves aft bums now ) but we just don't feel the need to be in a tux or gown in order to dine. We dress professionally for work everyday....vacation time is to relax!

[macruise]

Originally Posted by mtwingcpa

Thanks for posting that great comparison!

I have been a big fan of NCL and have not yet tried Celebrity. But I am attracted by Celebrity's non-smoking policy. I am also becoming disenchanted with NCL's non-enforcement of a dress code (see my latest NCL review here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1068337).

At the moment, I'm waiting to see how Celebrity's anytime dining program shapes up.

You probably may be surprised to hear that it doesn't seem that Celebrity enforces its dress code either. I was on the Infinity and on formal night there was a family to whom the dress code did not apply; the teenaged daughters wore their best cheek-peeker shorts on that evening and not a word was said.

Another woman wore the same leggings with cowboy boots every night ( and this was a 14 day cruise) including formal night and nothing was said.
I wish I had taken a photo.

But, check out this photo of this woman wearing her pink-bottommed pajamas to the breakfast buffet on the Millennium. Nobody said anything. Celebrity used to have a suggestion to not wear your robe in public areas. I thought that it was fine to wear it from you cabin to the spa or pool, - much preferable to just wearing your bathing suit down the hall.

So please don't assume that lines with stricter dress codes enforce them or that guests respect the dress code. After all, they are on vacations so why should they have to follow the rules? Or at least that seems a popular excuse for dressing inappropriately.

[cliffd64]

To the OP:

Thanks for the honest and impartial comparison

Many times you read these types of comparisons where it appears the author had a conclusion already formulated before-hand. Your comparison is thoughtful and unbiased

Thanks again!

[trojangirl90066]

Thank you for the review. I have a friend who will only sail on Celebrity. I have sailed twice on Crystal (many years ago) and am taking my first NCL cruise in a week. I don't want to dress in a gown for dinner and my DH would have never agreed to go on this cruise if he had to wear a suit to dinner. Plus I don't always want to eat at the same time. We are in a suite so really looking forward to NCL!