British Isles--NC vs. Princess

I couldn't decide where to put this thread since it's referring to two cruise lines. I'm hoping for some feedback on which cruise you think might be better for DH and I.

We want to take a British Isles cruise for our 10th anniversary--May of 2019. I am looking at either NCL Jade -or- Caribbean or Royal Princess (not sure since sailings aren't released yet). I'd love to try Celebrity but its out of our price range. I see that RCCL has a British Isles cruise, but it doesn't look like they have a lot of options for excursions. I've ruled them out unless somebody can convince me they would be the best choice :)

So, here's some info. about us. I am 34, DH is 49. I don't drink, he does a little bit. We don't gamble or participate in art auctions. Beverage packages will not be a consideration. We like to do fun, off the beaten path activities and shore excursions--as opposed to bus tours and sightseeing tours. Example--we did a rainforest/waterfall hike in Hawaii and also a volcano hike in Hawaii and those were two of our most memorable cruise excursions ever. We also kayaked in Key West and had a blast. We usually book ship excursions (just because I am paranoid about something happening and missing the ship). We have always done any time dining.

We sailed Princess for our 1st cruise--interior cabin to Alaska. We thought the food was really good and we felt pampered the whole time, but we were verrrrry bored during the two sea days. We resorted to Bingo out of desperation.

We sailed NCL's POA for Hawaii and it was an amazing time. We loved the shore excursions and the destination. The staff was great and service was really good; we felt the food was just okay. We didn't spend a lot of time doing ship stuff since we were in port every day.

We sailed Carnival this past February to Key West and Cozumel and had so much fun. We felt like as far as on-board experience, Carnival was the most enjoyable. We also felt the food was good. Of course, Carnival doesn't have a British Isles itinerary but I'm just including this so you have an idea of what we consider fun.

All that being said, would NCL Jade or Caribbean (or Royal) Princess be a better fit based on our likes and dislikes? Prices are comparable, so what we are most looking for are sea days that aren't boring, really good food, and interesting shore excursion options.

Anybody? NCL Jade vs. Royal Princess vs. maybe RCCL Brilliance of the Seas--based on the info provided above?

Interested also! I am also looking at Viking Ocean cruises

I'm interested in this thread as well. I wonder whether you could copy and paste your original post over on both the Princess and NCL boards for better visibility and responses?

I'm interested in this thread as well. I wonder whether you could copy and paste your original post over on both the Princess and NCL boards for better visibility and responses?

I'll try that!

Not knowing the itineraries, usually these are pretty port-intensive cruises, so lots to do on sea days may not be an issue. For us, though, we like to just relax on those days; the more sea days the better. But I understand that's not for everyone.

Also, don't cross out Celebrity, as we find they often have very good sales.

I did it on the Caribbean Princess last year and it was an awesome, though tiring, experience. It's a very port intensive itinerary with few sea days and we found ourselves heading for the cabin right after dinner because we were beat from all the walking. The few sea days felt more like days off from work!! We enjoyed just lolling around and relaxing on those days.

There were oodles of tour options available, including some "off the beaten path" ones, and some with just transportation to/from a city center with time there to do whatever interested you.

If Scotland ports include the Orkney Islands, I highly recommend visiting Skara Brae ... a Neolithic site that is extremely different and interesting, if you have an interest in ancient history.

Thank you for the feedback! It sounds like Caribbean Princess won't be sailing this itinerary in 2019 so it would probably be Royal.

For those who said they were interested in the thread, I cross-posted on the Princess board and the NCL board and have gotten a lot of great responses!

Thank you for the feedback! It sounds like Caribbean Princess won't be sailing this itinerary in 2019 so it would probably be Royal.

For those who said they were interested in the thread, I cross-posted on the Princess board and the NCL board and have gotten a lot of great responses!

Well, in reality, which Princess ship it will be that's doing the British Isles in 2019 should not make all that much difference as far as the itinerary, excursions, etc. It's still cruising Princess style!

This is just my opinion, but I absolutely positively would NOT under any circumstances book any ship tour in the British Isles. I would book all private excursions to do whatever I wanted to do. Here's the thing, the cruise lines love to try to scare you into thinking that they will only wait for ship's tours, BUT, the truth is that the private tour companies bread and butter is these tours and they make absolute certain that they are never late getting you back to your ship because if they screw up, then they are done as a company. So, really, you have nothing to worry about as far as taking private shore excursions go. The ship's tours are usually extremely crowded and move at the pace of the slowest in the group - often someone on a walker. They are large bus tours which means that the bus can only park fairly far from wherever you are trying to go, whereas these private tour companies can actually go into the town and drop you close in to where you want to go which actually saves you a ton of walking and time. Also, the private tours move at your pace and you get to decide what is interesting to you and what is not. So, you see more, waste less time waiting on others, and get to actually see and do exactly what you want. You can get on the roll call for your cruise and join others doing private excursions or if you find a private excursion you want to do, then you can invite others to go with you to share costs. And also, in the end, usually private excursions cost a lot less than the ship's excursion. So, to wrap it all up: Private excursions are more economical, you get to see more of what YOU want to see AND they cost less when you share with one or two other couples. There is no downside to booking your own excursions.

I have to agree. I have enjoyed and highly rate all of our private excursions, often done with a group from a CC roll call. I have been disappointed in the quality of every ship tour. We also go off on our own at times if the port has walkable places of interest.

Use the ship's excursion descriptions to uncover some of the highlights of the port and then start your research for private excursions.

On the other hand, if a person has physical limitations, the ship's excursions may be the best bet.

Well, after getting feedback from CCers to choose based on itinerary, I made a spreadsheet last night of 8 different itineraries--4 on Princess, 1 on NCL, 2 on RCCL, and 1 on Celebrity. Based on itinerary alone, the Princess itinerary that includes the Orkney Islands is the winner! Soooo as long as that is still being offered in 2019, I think we've got our cruise picked

I will definitely take everyone's advice regarding booking private excursions. While we have done mostly ship excursions on our previous cruises and been highly satisfied with them, they were also more active/a lot different in terms of the types of excursions. I understand that the British Isles are more about sightseeing and we don't want to spend every day stuck on a big bus with 40 other people. I've been spying on some BI roll calls to get tour ideas.