If not Royal Caribbean....who?

We have been cruising RCCL lately. Met a lot of RCCL vets on board recently and the conversation at the Schooner Bar was the same as this thread. When someone mentioned about sailing on NCL as their next cruise, the whole bar went silent. Like, "What are you, crazy?" There was a silence for a short time, then some one changed the topic.

Is NCL a big step down from RCCL?

I'd like to try MSC.

We sailed on the MSC Divina in March of this year and then went directly to the NCL Getaway on the same day we disembarked the Divina. Both were 7 nighters.

The Getaway was a much better experience for us and we bought a FCC for another NCL adventure in the future.

We caught the Divina at a super low price of $299 pp, so no Yacht Club for us. They have a drink coupon book where you get 18 cocktails for $99 (includes gratuities), so that's $5.50 per drink. The entertainment was very good with a string quartet in the Piazza and Opera / Ballet a couple of nights in the theater. The food was not particularly good in either the dinning room or the buffet. The dinning room restaurant tables were so close together we could not get to our chairs on two nights and had to be reseated (MTD). Worth doing once to get that "first time cruise" feeling again, but we won't go back - well maybe if we see another 7 nights for $299pp again.

The Getaway was one of the best cruising experience we have had in a long time; and we cruise 30 to 40 times a year, mostly RCI and Princess. The meals were excellent, with a dance band playing in The Tropicana Restaurant every nite. The outside promenade deck had very comfy wicker chairs and couches with plump cushions. Spent a lot of time there. Shows and entertainment were good, especially "Legally Blond", "Burn The Floor" and "The Grammy Experience". They have big slides and a rope course which we did not try. Cocktail prices about the same as RCI and Princess, if it weren't for the fact that we get free drinks on these two lines.

We have been cruising RCCL lately. Met a lot of RCCL vets on board recently and the conversation at the Schooner Bar was the same as this thread. When someone mentioned about sailing on NCL as their next cruise, the whole bar went silent. Like, "What are you, crazy?" There was a silence for a short time, then some one changed the topic.

Is NCL a big step down from RCCL?

I've never cruised NCL, and we've obviously (Diamond) become "loyal to Royal", but I kind of view that question in that setting as the equivalent of asking about a Camaro SS at a Mustang owners rally, or an Audi A4 at a BMW Car Club of America event.

Each of the cruise lines has its niche. Otherwise they wouldn't still be in business. If you fit the RCCL niche, you may not fit the NCL niche as well.

A friend cruised on Divinia last spring since she got a very good price. However, she said she wouldn't bother going again. The food was awful. Nice ship, but nothing else was very good about the experience. Not much to do on board and service was mediocre.

Have you read the latest on Celebrity? Almost sounds like an all-inclusive but you don't have the beach all the time.

http://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Celebrity-Cruises-to-go-exclusively-with-bundle-pricing/

We just sailed on the NCL Getaway and enjoyed it very much. And they are currently offering great incentives. However, if you are a pool person, this ship is not for you. They do have a wonderful spa if you don't mind paying extra or if you get a spa cabin. We had the spa mini-suite and it was nice until we saw our niece's suite in the Haven area~~that is extremely nice. Dining was very good. We also avoided the buffet~~but that's on all ships.

We have been on many main stream cruise lines and find them pretty much the same.

Ncl for me

Having only completed 10 cruises so far I don`t have a favorite yet. Have been with a few different companies.

I suppose my favorite of these would have to be my very first cruise on Carnival Inspiration. The only reason I have not been on Carnival since is that they rarely visit the UK and the cruise costs more than triple when you add on the airfare to the US from the UK!!!

I have to say that I have enjoyed all my cruises though and look forward to many more with lots of different companies.

I do want to try the Oasis class as well with RCL, but am also wanting to try Carnival Vista and MSC Seaside as well.

RCL prices are also a big factor in going with other companies.

On a last note, I have not EVER had a bad cruise so do not feel loyal to just one company. Each cruise has its good points and I feel you will only find these out by trying the different cruise lines.

So whatever you decide enjoy your future vacations,

Mark. :)

We have never had a bad cruise but some have been better than others. Tough to have a bad time in 80 degree weather when home is 10 t0 25 below. I am thinking that if we do cruise again maybe just look at each companies newest ship and go with one of them. I would have to guess that would narrow us down to a few a year or every other year. Would be nice always going on the latest greatest ship I would think. Being in our 50's with no kids the only requirement would be good pools for the wife.

We also like Celebrity and Princess.

When we first started cruising, we tended to alternate between cruises and all inclusives, both have to pro's and cons.....we actually just got back from an all-inclusive in Aruba and had a blast. But here's my take on it:

-All-inclusives are great in a group-I know my husband and I would get bored if it was just the 2 of us, although we never have gone just us. I feel like cruises are more active without even trying because there is always something going on. We have cruised just the two of us and with a group-and we love it both ways.

-We like the all-inclusives because you do get to see more of one place vs. a little bit of a few places

-On the flip side, we love that we can get a taste of different places on a cruise to maybe look into a place we'd like to stay at for vacation in the future. Aruba was our very first port we stopped at on our very first cruise over 10 years ago...we always knew we wanted to go back and we finally did. Great island with great people and fantastic beaches/water.

-Our last few cruises have been on Carnival due to our families preferences (itineraries and $$$-my sisters have kids so cost is much more of a factor for them) My husband and I have decided that Carnival is just not for us, at least for now. We have really never had a bad time and their newer ships are nice....but we just feel their ships are no comparison to any RC ship we've been on.

-I love the idea of having everything paid for on an all-inclusive. We know we will go out for drinks and dinner still, but to be able to at least have most of our food and drinks taken care of makes it much easier to budget for vacation. We REALLY want to try RC's drink package-Carnivals was very limiting in comparison. While 15 drink limit is probably plenty for most people, we did hit our limit multiple times throughout the cruise....many can say that we should probably just limit our intake of alcohol and they'd probably be right ;) but for now we have no kids to watch out for so when we go on vacation, we like to indulge. The aspect of "all-inclusive" on a cruise is very appealing to us at this point.

We are in the planning stages for our next cruise-we are mostly looking at RC, but I feel like pricing is fairly high right now. We are looking at NCL a little...I just worry about crowds. One part of me says that we only get one vacation a year, go with what you know you like (RC) but then the other part of me wants to just try something else (NCL) since you don't know what you're missing til you try.

Also, the Dream was a nice ship, but our least favorite out of that class. The Magic and the Breeze have more of their upgrades (restaurants and bars) Now it's been a few years since we were on the Dream, so it may have changed. Good luck with your decision....as you can tell, I'm torn myself lol!

We have sailed Princess and have had wonderful cruises with them but our preference is Royal. We found the balcony cabins smaller on Princess and crew seem more serious but we would sail Princess again. Can't comment on Celebrity, Carnival or NCL.

Have been on Princess 5x and Carnival 3x aside from Royal 7x. Loved Princess and would go back in an instant but there isn't as much for our son to do as he is just shy of 4. Liked Carnival as well. Most lines have their good points and bad. Princess, to us is the best overall line. We are in our late 30s & early 40s. Only came over to Royal because of our son and the flowriders. RC has been really disappointing on our last few cruises, we have one more coming up shortly and we will most likely jump ship back to Princess or NCL. We are interested in NCL due to the Haven as 99.9% of the time we book a full suite. RC is becoming boring and disconnected from the sea.

A suggestion for you since you are interested in the Haven on NCL, get the same 'ship within a ship' on MSC Divina in the Fall/Winter/Spring in their Yacht Club, and its about a $1,000. less per person then NCL's Haven!:D

We sailed on the MSC Divina in March of this year and then went directly to the NCL Getaway on the same day we disembarked the Divina. Both were 7 nighters.

 

The Getaway was a much better experience for us and we bought a FCC for another NCL adventure in the future.

 

We caught the Divina at a super low price of $299 pp, so no Yacht Club for us. They have a drink coupon book where you get 18 cocktails for $99 (includes gratuities), so that's $5.50 per drink. The entertainment was very good with a string quartet in the Piazza and Opera / Ballet a couple of nights in the theater. The food was not particularly good in either the dinning room or the buffet. The dinning room restaurant tables were so close together we could not get to our chairs on two nights and had to be reseated (MTD). Worth doing once to get that "first time cruise" feeling again, but we won't go back - well maybe if we see another 7 nights for $299pp again.

 

The Getaway was one of the best cruising experience we have had in a long time; and we cruise 30 to 40 times a year, mostly RCI and Princess. The meals were excellent, with a dance band playing in The Tropicana Restaurant every nite. The outside promenade deck had very comfy wicker chairs and couches with plump cushions. Spent a lot of time there. Shows and entertainment were good, especially "Legally Blond", "Burn The Floor" and "The Grammy Experience". They have big slides and a rope course which we did not try. Cocktail prices about the same as RCI and Princess, if it weren't for the fact that we get free drinks on these two lines.

Interesting, your take on the Getaway vs Divina, we saw it the opposite, the Divina was better for us!

Also at St Martin, both ships were in port, and ran into quite a few unhappy Getaway cruisers! All subjective I guess!

PS Divina was muck lower priced for us also.:)

Ncl for me

NCL is only line I will not cruise with again, what we do cruise on besides RCCL is

Hal

Costa

Princess

MSC

Celebrity

We also like the Sandals resorts

When we first started cruising, we tended to alternate between cruises and all inclusives, both have to pro's and cons.....we actually just got back from an all-inclusive in Aruba and had a blast.

I am curious, where did you stay. Maybe Divi? We have cruised to Aruba twice and really liked it. We are looking at Aruba or Antigua in January for an AI. DW doesn't want to cruise 1.5 months prior to another cruise. I give her this look :rolleyes: but you know the expression. :) wife :) life.

Thanks in advance.

I am curious, where did you stay. Maybe Divi? We have cruised to Aruba twice and really liked it. We are looking at Aruba or Antigua in January for an AI. DW doesn't want to cruise 1.5 months prior to another cruise. I give her this look :rolleyes: but you know the expression. :) wife :) life.

Thanks in advance.

If it's an A1 in Aruba you want, we've stayed @ the Tam & highly recommend it.

You can see from my cruising signature that my cruising history is all over the map :D

When we first sailed Oasis, we had a good time, but I left thinking I was done with cruising or done with Royal. I can't put my finger on what was wrong, it just missed something. {lol - we are sailing Oasis again, but we are sailing with friends who picked the ship}.

We did an all inclusive. Perhaps we didn't pick a good one. I missed cruising.

then we sailed Celebrity. I fell in love. It's Royal but better. With drink packages, it has that all-inclusive feel to it. Better food and better service too. The entertainment is not as good, but I get that at home, I don't "need" it on a cruise.

I think Celebrity is where most of my cruising business will go, but you never know.

change is good.

We like to mix it up and usually go to an all inclusive in Mexico every year. That is much more relaxing than a cruise!

We love Princess and are going back on NCL after a 9 year absence.

But, the cruise we loved the most was on the MSC Divina in the Yacht Club. You can't beat the food or service and the ship is spotless. We really had no idea what to expect and were blown away by the YC experience. It has ruined regular cruising for us. I wish I lived in Florida - if so I would sail MSC all the time.

I've cruised Royal, Carnival, and NCL. NCL is definitely my favorite of the 3. I actually liked Carnival better then Royal too. I cruised on the Carnival Dream in September 2014 and overall everything was great. It is my least favorite of the ships I've been on though. I didn't like that it seemed so closed off to the outside. It was the best for smoke though. It was pretty much contained in the Casino.

Obviously I'm not tied to any line, my next cruise will most likely be a Royal. They're the only ones who offer longer cruises out of the NY area in the fall.

We have been cruising RCCL lately. Met a lot of RCCL vets on board recently and the conversation at the Schooner Bar was the same as this thread. When someone mentioned about sailing on NCL as their next cruise, the whole bar went silent. Like, "What are you, crazy?" There was a silence for a short time, then some one changed the topic.

Is NCL a big step down from RCCL?

The primary difference with NCL has been with dining (no traditional, all open, lots of specialty venues). The recent changes RCCL has been making has been moving in the NCL direction as far as the primary differences go.

I do think the all inclusive may be a more relaxing vacation but I am not a sit at the pool all day guy. That is what my wife says she wants until that time comes and she is bored. Lots of good ideas here. We usually book our cruises about 15 months ahead so still have plenty of time. Should book in about Nov. I think I want to try chasing the newest ships. Why not? They should have the latest greatest. Itinerary is not as much of a concern as it use to be as we have been to a few places now although we do have our favorites.

Regal or Royal Princess might work for you

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We're big fans of NCL. You'll find their ships are similar to RCI's in taste and décor and their service is better IMO. I also am a fan of NCLs food whereas RCI's has gone downhill for me. The big thing is prices. NCL is far more competitive right now.

I have never been to an All inclusive =resort before. I feel that I would get bored.

I have cruise RCCL, Princess, Norwegian, Carnival and Holland. Of all Carnival was my least favorite. The other four are neck to neck. I have never had a bad cruise. My leases favorite was Carnival during Spring Break. Did it twice. Sooo many kids..... My latest cruise was Holland to Alaska. It was marvelous! Wish I would have been to Alaska sooner.....

River cruises are are all inclusive.....indcudling mist tours, and another vote for MSc yc