Princess cruiser new to Ncl

Hello all looking at booking our first cruise on. Ncl. We would love know what makes you keep travelling on Ncl and any comparisons to princess.

Have had lots of exp on Princess.

Not sailed on Princess before, only Royal, NCL, Celebrity and HAL (2006).

NCL is freestyle dining...they are more relax...some nights are party nights...

NCL has freestyle dining which is like Pincess anytime dining but done better. There is no traditional dining venue. NCL has a more relaxed dress code with no formal nights, but you can free to the 9's if that is your preference. Food was good on both lines. NCL has more choices for specialy dining. There is no champagne waterfall on NCL.

NCL uses salt water in the pools unlike the fresh water on princess. There is no MUTS screen on NCL. Rooms are a little smaller on NCL, but I found they had a better layout that more than made up for the difference. Bathrooms are much better on NCL (excluding EPIC). NCL uses glass doors and have bigger showers. No need to soap the curtain and spin :eek:

I personally like NCL beter, by would go on either.

I LOVE Princess ships and have been on several myself.

Which NCL ships are you considering--the cabin size comparison will depend on that. NCL's newer ships have cabins that are the same size as Princess if not larger. Yet, I do still like the Jewel class ships too.

I would say the Freestyle dining is different from princess though I know Princess now offers a similar style dining (as do other lines). There are no self-appointed formalwear police on NCL. If you want to dress up, great, do it. If not, that's ok too. There are more upcharge dining options on NCL than Princess.

I tried out NCL in 2009 and have been back many times since! I have found that it's best to try out the various cruiselines myself. Have had great cruises on all!

The entertainment is much better on NCL, so is the coffee. I miss the self laundry on Princess - even though we are Elite, it is still nice to have that option.

For DW and me Princess is like going home and NCL is like goiing to a good friend's house. I think the demographic of the clientele between the two lines is similar (a bit older than RCL and CCL and younger than HAL). The overall vibe on NCL is a bit looser/relaxed. The entertainment, especially the production shows on NCL is superior. Pizza on Princess is unbeatable. Overall food quality is similar, but DW much prefers Princess deserts. And any coffee is better than the swill that Princess serves. Bottom line, I have and will continue enjoy the NCL experience.

Thank you everyone for all the great info. We are looking at the Sun. Has any one sailed her.

We love Princess-have sailed 3 times now and would love to return again; however, NCL is a better fit for us for several reasons:

Living on the East Coast, there are more options with NCL for us to sail from either Boston or New York.

Freestyle allows us to be more casual, both with wardrobe and dining options.

Lower pricing.

And, agreeing with previous posters, while not the greatest, at least NCL's coffee is marginally acceptable. Princess has terrible coffee! That's why we absolutely have to purchase a coffee card if sailing on Princess.

Will give the edge to Princess, though, with MUTS, the International Cafe, Self-service laundry and the overall classier decor.

Thank you everyone for all the great info. We are looking at the Sun. Has any one sailed her.

Last summer DW and I did NCL's Authentic Alaska land pkg followed by a southbound on the Sun. We had an amazing time on both portions. We had 2 previous Alaskan cruises on Princess; the Sapphire round trip from Seattle and Coral northbound. NCL does far less volume in land pkgs than Princess and as a result, rather than import college students they utilize an Anchorage based operator that features local drivers and guides which I believe must be more authentic/accurate/informative (but in all fairness I've not done a Princess land pkg).

The Sun is a great vessel, the staff was top notch; the hotel director joined NCL in iirc, 1969! I did a CC review in August if you want more details.

Thank you everyone for all the great info. We are looking at the Sun. Has any one sailed her.

I have sailed on the Princess Sapphire and the NCL Sun.

The Princess has their "friendly" shower curtains but you ain't seen nothing until you try a balcony or lower shower curtain on the Sun. The curtain is way more " friendly" than Princess and the little round showers are really really teeny tiny. Did I say that they were small? Personally I would never sail on the Sun unless it were in a minisuite or above. The attached pic shows our balcony shower.

I have never sailed on Princess and am enjoying reading the comparisons. Curious....what is MUTS?

Ncl doesn't have a large offering out of the West Coast (San Francisco) which is really disappointing since we live in the Bay Area. I would choose NCL for the informality every time if I could.

Thank you everyone for all the great info. We are looking at the Sun. Has any one sailed her.

We have sailed her 3 times; I can assure you the cabins on the Sun are a bit larger than those on the 3 Princess ships we have experienced. Well, not necesarilly larger,but laid out better. WE thine the crloset/dressing room area on Princess ships are a bit of a wasted space.

I am not going to sit and blast Princess, obviously you like the line, but for us and this is a personal thing: we like the food (0verall) and the servide better on NCl,. This goes for the specialty dining rooms as well. Our first 2 Princess cruises we choose to eat in Sabastinis' (spelling) the service was not great, but the food was wonderful. The last time it was visa versa. The service outstanding, my Lobster was raw. No,I didn't send it back because I had eaten so much it really didn't make much difference. We do like the steak house: maybe better than Cagney's but NCL has many more choices for specialy dining. For us the true freestlye. works better. Even though Princess says you do not have dress up even on formal nights, on our last cruise we decided to take the literally and felt very uncomfortable even in the buffet.We ended up back in our cabin very early.

The entertainment was probably comparible, with NCL being a tiny bit better but Princess having more options. There are 2 catagories we found better on Princess: 1-the selection on the TV. No we do not cruise to watch TV, but we do like to spend some quiet time in our cabin and watch a litte TV. NCL has lousy choices. And 2-The Princess ships are prettier. They are pretty and modern without being gauady like some cruiselines. I think Princess gives the opinion of being a tiny bit more upscale, and NCL is a tiny bit more laid back and fun.

I have sailed on the Princess Sapphire and the NCL Sun.

 

The Princess has their "friendly" shower curtains but you ain't seen nothing until you try a balcony or lower shower curtain on the Sun. The curtain is way more " friendly" than Princess and the little round showers are really really teeny tiny. Did I say that they were small? Personally I would never sail on the Sun unless it were in a minisuite or above. The attached pic shows our balcony shower.

OMG, I had forgotten about the shower size on the Sun: yes,they are small, but unless you are huge, I can't imagine the size of a shower influencing my ship choice and I am not small by any stretch of the imagination.

I have never sailed on Princess and am enjoying reading the comparisons. Curious....what is MUTS? .

Movies Under The Stars. Princess' jumbo movie screen on the pool deck. Nice to sit under the stars with a cocktail & popcorn or milk & warm cookies and watch a movie.

OMG, I had forgotten about the shower size on the Sun: yes,they are small, but unless you are huge, I can't imagine the size of a shower influencing my ship choice and I am not small by any stretch of the imagination.

We did a 10-night on the Sun in a porthole cabin and had absolutely no problem with the shower. Yes, the shower is small and I'm not petite, AND I have a LOT of hair, but I managed to escape without shower curtain-induced post traumatic stress. Clearly that is not the case for 99% of the people who sail the Sun. :rolleyes:

Movies Under The Stars. Princess' jumbo movie screen on the pool deck. Nice to sit under the stars with a cocktail & popcorn or milk & warm cookies and watch a movie.

Also great for watching NCAA tournament, but when on NCL Pearl they had the final on a huge screen in the atrium.

NCL does have the movies under the stars in the H2O area of the ship. We watched several movies out there on the Epic. The Getaway and the Breakaway and the new Escape all have the outdoor theatre. NCL has a laid back atmosphere and their food is awesome. If you can book with the Ultimate Dining or Ultimate Beverage package, you have definintely gotten a bargain.

Princess is great in Alaska, but prefer NCL over them. Tie between RCCL and NCL.

We had 8 Princess in a row, but our last 3 have been on NCL. We miss the sanctuary on Princess(Vibe can't touch it)but we love the dining choices and entertainment on NCL. Oh, and NCL has corona!

NCL does have the movies under the stars in the H2O area of the ship. We watched several movies out there on the Epic. The Getaway and the Breakaway and the new Escape all have the outdoor theatre. NCL has a laid back atmosphere and their food is awesome. If you can book with the Ultimate Dining or Ultimate Beverage package, you have definintely gotten a bargain.

 

Princess is great in Alaska, but prefer NCL over them. Tie between RCCL and NCL.

I did not know there was movies under the stars on Getaway until a couple of days later...the Getaway was huge...didn't even mange to visit every corner of it.

The Sun is my least favorite NCL ship, and, while older, it's still very nice.

I don't care for the way you have to walk through/around the lounge to get to the theater. The theater has weird seating with many posts blocking views. It's also much smaller than on other ships.

Another thing I didn't care for is the location of public restrooms. They are in "crew only" areas.

But, on the other hand, the Sun has much larger staterooms than Princess ships. We were just on the Grand Princess and our balcony stateroom was small in comparison to the OV we had on the Sun. We had a small sofa in our OV; Princess balcony staterooms do not. The shower we had on the Grand also had a shower curtain. I don't remember getting tangled in it or the curtain on the Sun.

I think the service is friendlier on Norwegian, and they also do flexible dining much much better than Princess, IMO. Better Meet & Greets on Norwegian with very visible officers, though I did adore the CD on our one Princess cruise - he hung out with our CC group because he thought we were fun.

I think the service is friendlier on Norwegian, and they also do flexible dining much much better than Princess, IMO. Better Meet & Greets on Norwegian with very visible officers, though I did adore the CD on our one Princess cruise - he hung out with our CC group because he thought we were fun.

Now, I do miss MUTS from Princess - that was really ingenious! SO much so that Carnival has their own version.

I will be on the Sun for the first time at the end of May, so I can't speak to specifics on this ship - yet.

I think the service is friendlier on Norwegian, and they also do flexible dining much much better than Princess, IMO. Better Meet & Greets on Norwegian with very visible officers, though I did adore the CD on our one Princess cruise - he hung out with our CC group because he thought we were fun.

I totally agree about the M&G. NCL does the very best of all lines I happen to think,but that is a personal experience. I have to admit I have been to a M&G on every mass marketed line and none can compare with NCL nor can their freguent cruiser parties. i don't expect any of them to be all that great, but NCLs really are a bit nicer plus they have the door prizes.

I totally agree about the M&G. NCL does the very best of all lines I happen to think,but that is a personal experience. I have to admit I have been to a M&G on every mass marketed line and none can compare with NCL nor can their freguent cruiser parties. i don't expect any of them to be all that great, but NCLs really are a bit nicer plus they have the door prizes.

Wait a minute! We've NEVER had door prizes at any of our M&Gs! Who's holding out on us????