I Cheated on NCL

I cheated on NCL

 

I debated whether to start this thread on the NCL boards or on the Royal boards but I chose here and you’ll see why. Let me first say that I had no intention on cheating on NCL. It just happened and here is my story:

 

I, along with my wife, had gone on about 15 NCL cruises, sailing well over 100 nights and becoming Platinum Latitude members. We’ve sailed on the Gem, the Dawn, the Spirit and the Breakaway, as well as on the Crown, the Majesty, and even on the Southward. We’ve sailed from our home in New York, from Charleston, from New Orleans, from Los Angeles and from Miami. We’ve sailed on overnight trips, on week-long trips, on repositioning trips, on back to back trips and on the Crown’s last sailing. We’ve done the eastern Caribbean, the western Caribbean, the southern Caribbean, Florida-Bahamas, and Bermuda. We would love to do the Alaska, the Hawaii and the Panama Canal routes but haven’t been able to. Not yet, anyway. That’s how seriously in love I, and my wife, is with NCL. You could even call us NCL cheerleaders.

 

I get two weeks’ worth of vacations at my job and in February we flew down to Tampa and boarded the Sun for a fantastic week, a new ship, as well as a new embarkation site for us. I had to plan another vacation for April and since we had already flown once this year I was not looking forward to flying anywhere for my next vacation.

 

One option was the Breakaway again but we really didn’t like that ship and have no intention of going back on that one for a long time. My travel agent suggested I try Royal Caribbean and go out of Baltimore. What? I would never cheat on my NCL! With Royal?! Are you kidding me?!

 

Well, I could drive to Baltimore which would alleviate the flying problem. OK, tell me more… Also, the Royal ship out of Baltimore is the Grandeur of the Seas, a smaller and older ship than many that are currently sailing. I love the smaller ships. Go on… It also goes to the almost the same places as the Breakaway does; Port Canaveral, Nassau, and a private island in the Bahamas, which coincidently is right night door to the NCL private island but Royal tacks on an extra day on this route and goes to Key West. That’s seven days for NCL and eight days for Royal. Wow, I thought! The final decision to cheat was confirmed when I learned the price. The Grandeur price was actually a lot cheaper than the Breakaway price. OK sold.

 

I didn’t plan on cheating on NCL and I didn’t want her to find out. She would never let me live it down. She would be mad at me. Like a weakened man, I succumbed to temptation and I deeply regretted my decision for cheating. I knew I would have a bad time on Royal and actually wanted a terrible time as punishment for my indiscretion.

 

The reason for starting this thread on this board instead of the Royal board is because I will not do a review. I will, however, discuss some observations I had as to the differences between the two. Now, keep in mind my observations from NCL is based on many cruises, on many ships, and my Royal observations are based on one trip, on an older ship. However, there are some things that NCL does that is so much better than what I experienced on Royal but to my surprise, Royal did some things better than what I have experienced on NCL. Oh no! I so wanted to play the grumpy old man and complain about everything but I couldn’t.

 

My next installments will focus on many things including the sailaway, the dinner situation, the safe in the room, the game shows, the entertainment, the towel animals, the cruise staff, the gambling, Bingo, the room key, prices, the goosebumps, the tears and many more items. I hope you’ll tune in.

Can't wait to read more. I'm interested in your point of view comparing the two cruise lines. I have friends that love Royal Caribbean and wouldn't step foot on another cruise line.

We booked Grandeur out of Baltimore too. But sadly we couldn't go and had to cancel. I am curious to hear more now. We would have had 3 kids with us and we were worried that Grandeur would not have had enough to keep them entertained. Plus the "Anytime" dining worried us too. Please continue.

Very interesting set-up. I am certainly looking forward to reading more. :)

 

One small thing...based on the picture painted in describing you and your wife's

cruising history/preferences, the idea that your travel agent would make such a recommendation is very odd. Was this a new travel agent who wasn't aware of your situation?

Grandeur was a great ship, and I enjoyed our cruise on her. Granted, it was some time ago ... but, it was a great cruise.

Def want to read more! I have been curious about RCL myself.

Can't wait to hear more :)

Is cc always like this,

If by "this" you mean many opinions and reviews then yes, CC is always like this, welcome aboard the ride of your life, Buckle up Hos. To the OP I say this; looking forward to your comparison.

 

 

*Living Large*

Edited April 21, 2015 by Solararc

If by "this" you mean many opinions and reviews then yes, CC is always like this, welcome aboard the ride of your life, Buckle up Hos. To the OP I say this; looking forward to your comparison.

 

 

*Living Large*

 

 

Again thank you solar arch, you seem to be everywhere

It's Solararc lol

 

 

*Living Large*

Subscribing - hmmm, this is going to be very, very interesting to read about and ya know what, maybe it's time to hide my full signature while cruising next on the RCI board ... That's NOT cheating - it's calling voting with the wallet & going with the social conscience ;)

 

DW went to bed already but wait till I tell her we have another option - she's not crazy about driving to NJ out of Cape Liberty but if we are crossing the Hudson River anyway, what the heck - I can handle the 3.5 hour leisurely drive down the N.J. Turnpike to "launch" our vacation out of BWI - afterall, lived/worked inside the Capitol Beltway for 4 years and used to do plenty of weekend commuting - especially when dad was around & in frail health then ...

 

For our 2016-17 Asia trips, our cruise radars already locked onto RCI and CCL for options and NCL isn't even in the competition at this point. :D

 

OP, please also tell us about the relative size of your cabin - just about anything floating these days are bigger than the *Away class ships in the NCL fleet - unless one is in those top-tiered $$$ or comp'd upgraded cabins. Older ships are fine as long as it is roomy, comfortable - afterall, we sailed in the SS SeaBreeze in the 90's.

Grandeur of the seas was the first ship I had ever cruised on We did a Spanish Mediterranean cruise out of Palma , well after this cruise I was hooked :) for our first evening meal we sat in the restaurant next to a huge circular window the sun was setting over the sea and dolphins were swimming with the ship that did it for me

The only thing I'm surprised by is that you didn't consider the Gem - also sailing 8 day itineraries, out of NYC this spring, to FL & Bahamas. Extra sea day vs extra port day though.

Very interesting set-up. I am certainly looking forward to reading more. :)

 

One small thing...based on the picture painted in describing you and your wife's

cruising history/preferences, the idea that your travel agent would make such a recommendation is very odd. Was this a new travel agent who wasn't aware of your situation?

 

This travel agent was one that I used a few times but only because I was able to get a better price with her/them. Otherwise I just go where I can find the cheapest price.

The only thing I'm surprised by is that you didn't consider the Gem - also sailing 8 day itineraries, out of NYC this spring, to FL & Bahamas. Extra sea day vs extra port day though.

 

A couple of reasons. I knew the Gem was sailing 8 days with the extra sea day that I really don't like. I knew that this was designed to get into Port Canaveral in the morning and giving us an extra long day at the Disney Parks. I also thought about taking my two weeks vacation at the same time and doing this trip as a back to back with the 6 days to Canada that follows. Howwever, my boss would not let me take off two weeks in a row. I am also basically limited to taking my vacations in February and April.

Looking forward to more

I'm also looking forward to this, because I'm planning on cheating in the opposite direction. I'm Diamond Plus with Royal Caribbean, but after our next cruise (on Grandeur, no less), we're jumping ship to the Norwegian Escape early next year. We don't have any definite cruise plans after that, but we're tentatively looking at then trying the latest and greatest ships from Celebrity, Princess, MSC, etc., so it may be years before we go back to Royal Caribbean.

 

I have previously cheated on Royal once with NCL, onboard Norwegian Pearl in 2009. At the time, I thought there were far more similarities than differences, but there were definitely areas where one line had a noticeable edge over the other. Especially with all the changes made in the last few years, I'm really interested to see how they currently compare.

Great intro, OP!! Love your writing style....I really thought we were discussing a clandestine encounter with a mistress....LOL!!!!

 

Looking forward to reading more about the differences/similarites between the two ladies! We're considering "cheating" too...in 2016.:p:p

Yeah, we "cheated," last year--also with Royal. This summer will find us back with NCL.

I cheated on NCL

 

I debated whether to start this thread on the NCL boards or on the Royal boards but I chose here and you’ll see why. Let me first say that I had no intention on cheating on NCL. It just happened and here is my story:

 

I, along with my wife, had gone on about 15 NCL cruises, sailing well over 100 nights and becoming Platinum Latitude members. We’ve sailed on the Gem, the Dawn, the Spirit and the Breakaway, as well as on the Crown, the Majesty, and even on the Southward. We’ve sailed from our home in New York, from Charleston, from New Orleans, from Los Angeles and from Miami. We’ve sailed on overnight trips, on week-long trips, on repositioning trips, on back to back trips and on the Crown’s last sailing. We’ve done the eastern Caribbean, the western Caribbean, the southern Caribbean, Florida-Bahamas, and Bermuda. We would love to do the Alaska, the Hawaii and the Panama Canal routes but haven’t been able to. Not yet, anyway. That’s how seriously in love I, and my wife, is with NCL. You could even call us NCL cheerleaders.

 

I get two weeks’ worth of vacations at my job and in February we flew down to Tampa and boarded the Sun for a fantastic week, a new ship, as well as a new embarkation site for us. I had to plan another vacation for April and since we had already flown once this year I was not looking forward to flying anywhere for my next vacation.

 

One option was the Breakaway again but we really didn’t like that ship and have no intention of going back on that one for a long time. My travel agent suggested I try Royal Caribbean and go out of Baltimore. What? I would never cheat on my NCL! With Royal?! Are you kidding me?!

 

Well, I could drive to Baltimore which would alleviate the flying problem. OK, tell me more… Also, the Royal ship out of Baltimore is the Grandeur of the Seas, a smaller and older ship than many that are currently sailing. I love the smaller ships. Go on… It also goes to the almost the same places as the Breakaway does; Port Canaveral, Nassau, and a private island in the Bahamas, which coincidently is right night door to the NCL private island but Royal tacks on an extra day on this route and goes to Key West. That’s seven days for NCL and eight days for Royal. Wow, I thought! The final decision to cheat was confirmed when I learned the price. The Grandeur price was actually a lot cheaper than the Breakaway price. OK sold.

 

I didn’t plan on cheating on NCL and I didn’t want her to find out. She would never let me live it down. She would be mad at me. Like a weakened man, I succumbed to temptation and I deeply regretted my decision for cheating. I knew I would have a bad time on Royal and actually wanted a terrible time as punishment for my indiscretion.

 

The reason for starting this thread on this board instead of the Royal board is because I will not do a review. I will, however, discuss some observations I had as to the differences between the two. Now, keep in mind my observations from NCL is based on many cruises, on many ships, and my Royal observations are based on one trip, on an older ship. However, there are some things that NCL does that is so much better than what I experienced on Royal but to my surprise, Royal did some things better than what I have experienced on NCL. Oh no! I so wanted to play the grumpy old man and complain about everything but I couldn’t.

 

My next installments will focus on many things including the sailaway, the dinner situation, the safe in the room, the game shows, the entertainment, the towel animals, the cruise staff, the gambling, Bingo, the room key, prices, the goosebumps, the tears and many more items. I hope you’ll tune in.

 

Great start and a wonderful way to do an objective comparison. I think these are the types of posts we all like to see. I can't wait to see what you have to say.

I guess that makes me a serial cheat.

 

After sailing with Royal, last year we tried NCL Jade and loved it.

 

This year we are going on the MSC Preziosa.

Edited April 21, 2015 by Iluvcruising2

We sailed Royal's Allure three years ago and it was a great cruise. Then did 3 NCL after that. We keep coming back to NCL. Will sail Escape this December.

Is cc always like this,

Welcome to our world: CC is a lot of things to a lot of people. There are reviews,both official and comparisons between ships. You will pick up advise on what to expect when you cruise and you can get answers to almost any questions you have. I will add, you will witness some heated debates from time to time as most of us, as much as we like to think we are objective are biased one way or the other. Enjoy!!!!

So the question arises, why the strong loyalty? I mean for me, all things being equal, I'll take Princess, but all things are never equal and I will and have sailed HAL, X, NCL, RCI, Costa and even CCL. All these lines, while providing a similar basic cruise experience, have enough differences to make the comparison a good topic for discussion.