After 12 cruises, 5 on Princess we tried NCL for the 1st time. Review below

A bad experience can leave a taste in ones mouth that last a very long time. How long ago was you cruise on the POA? The current reviews are pretty good.

2006. It is lasting a long time......

Folks, you need to understand that a unionized crew behaves differently than those from other countries. You get far more respect from Philippine crew than Americans. POA is an anomaly, one I would never consider nor recommend. So many ships do Hawaii, so you don't need this one.

B-I-N-G-O! Attitudes were incredible. Had breakfast in the dininng room with my family, waited 25 minutes to even get served (other tables around us who came in afterward were served), made a comment to the waiter and he started to get snippy with me. After all the things that happened on that cruise, that's all I needed!

NCL offers a great product in our opinion. We wouldn't ever hesitate sailing on her.

Food quality is no worse than any other major line and the entertainment is livelier/better regardless of the venue.

Fair review, thankya!

We have cruised both lines enough to reach the top loyalty levels on both. We find them very similar in many aspects, and have enjoyed all our cruises on both lines.

However ---The recent changes NCL has made under their new "regime" have us looking more favorably at other lines. The particular item that triggered our dissatisfaction is the restriction on taking food to the cabin on NCL

We have a trip booked on NCL in October and will see how diligent they are on enforcement of this. The result will determine where we go for our next cruise.

We have found the onboard crews on both lines to be very efficient and friendly. We have never sailed on the POA, so we have no info on that one except what we have seen posted and have heard. It is not positive.

Quick follow up. I filled an emailed survey from NCL and it was mostly positive so to my happy surprise they replied the same day and gave us $300.00 OBC for a future cruise.

it was when they still had self service washers and dryers. I am not very picky with food, and found the food quite good. On Princess: Island Princess 15 days r.t. food was ok, nothing great- Saphire Princess- food was undedible- I lost 5 pounds which is not easy for me to do. However on The Royal Princess, food was quite good. Sometimes, I think, a sailing on any cruise lines, just tries to use up food from prior sailings, or a change of chef- etc. luck of the draw at times.

Before going on the Royal Princess last year, I reluctantly went on NCL's newest ship, Getaway, expecting a sub par experience after my 2 previous NCL experiences over 12 years ago. My cruise was completely the opposite and it was a great cruise. IMHO, people need to try NCL's latest (Breakaway Class) - Breakaway and Getaway to see how NCL's management has truly made NCL cruising a pleasure now.

From my Point of View having cruised 9 times on Princess and comparing it to NCL Getaway:

1) Getaway has better food / entertainment compared to the Grand Class ship of Princess (Golden/Grand/Star) and Island Princess.

2) Royal / Sapphire / Diamond Princess have better food compared to Getaway but NCL excels in entertainment (not even close!!) and activities.

3) Princess still is better than NCL when it comes to customer service but NCL was not bad at all.

4) Embarkation / Disembarkation / Fire Drills / Loyalty Perks are still better on Princess than NCl (actually better than any mainstream line I have been on).

If the management at Carnival / Princess continues to cut corners while NCL continues to aggressively improve their image, the Princess brand will fade away (maybe over dramatic but I see the writing on the wall).

I love Princess (many fond memories) and I am still encouraged after cruising on Royal but I have doubts about the current Carnival / Princess management's mentality on cutting corners (the end product speaks for itself) compared to other cruise lines. It would be nice if Princess went back to the drawing board and came out with a new ship design to stay competitive (the Royal class IMHO is barely keeping up with the newest ships from other mainstream lines).

Thanks for the comparison. :)

I don't recall my wife finding much humor in it. But it wasn't just the toilet; it was the callous "s**t happens" attitude of the hotel director.

 

Jim

Yes... yes, it did. (happen)

It's funny how different people on the same ship can have completely different experiences. Just got back from the same Getaway cruise. Two years ago we had our worst cruise ever on the Norwegian Pearl. Thought we'd check out the new ship and give NCL a second shot. We even splurged for the Haven. Unfortunately our experience in the Haven, at a $1500 per person premium (over a regular balcony), equaled our experience on 3 princess and 2 Holland America cruises in standard balconies! The Getaway has only 1 pool for 4000+ passengers and EVERY interior public space is designed to take your money: casino, bars, extra charge restaurants and shops. There was a small library and card room for games, and a big screen in the second atrium that shows Cake Boss reruns all day (so you can step right over and buy the Cake Boss cakes in the same atrium.) The main lounge was free, but only open for shows that required reservations. That leaves the lido buffet, which was always frenetically busy, and the very good Flamingo Grill, which had limited hours. That's it for the no-charge public areas! An atrium and a buffet. The Thermal Suite was crowded, the Haven pool and sun decks were crowded, the nice Waterfront area had limited hours but was hot or windy when open, and the entire ship reeked of smoke - for some insane reason all outdoor smoking areas are towards the front of the ship, which means all non-smokers are down wind! The ship itself is very beautiful, but I felt like I'd be charged by NCL just to admire it. Princess has never let us down: great food, beautiful un-crowded ships, decent shows and lots of pools with lots of open decks. Even the Regal had free on demand movies in our standard room; the Getaway charged $10 per movie, even for Haven guests. It was fun once, we had great weather, but we'll never sail NCL again. I can't believe the new Escape has even more passengers, but basically the same amount of already crowded public space... and still only 1 pool!:eek:

Just found this news article.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/cruiselog/2015/05/26/norwegian-cruise-food-ban/27970863/

NCL is retracting their policy about taking food from the buffet back to the cabin. Different cliental of passengers? I don't recall seeing Princess passengers slopping gravy all the way down the halls. (Need to read the article.) I do agree that there are sometimes too many room service trays in even Princess' hallways.

We are moving towards Princess, having sailed NCL (in Europe) several times.

We are not pleased by the direction NCL's management seem to be taking them, and Princess offered such a good deal it would have been churlish to refuse.

I am interested to read the comparisons and will endeavour to do a comparison review myself when we return in a couple of months.

Interesting review. I've been looking at trying both X and NCL.

I have to say in my opinion, the first three issues (embarkation, luggage and boat driill) were self induced. Rules or directions by the crew are there for a reason and when you prefer to ignore or not abide by them you take the risk of getting your hand slapped for it.

Thanks for the interesting review, we have not tried NCL and generally don't look at there product when we look for cruises but will take a look and maybe try it after reading all this :)

the Getaway charged $10 per movie, even for Haven guests.!:eek:

Was that an in room movie?

We have had s toilet backup problem on one of our cruises. It happened 3 times during the week. I talked to the maintenance guys that were in the hall fixing it and they said it's almost always caused by someone flushing something down the toilet that shouldn't be. I told him we never do that and he said it can be from another room close by. He said there were kids in the room by us and they were causing the problem by clogging up the system by putting things into the toilet and causing a backup. Another thing he said was if the first flush dosen't go call and report it don't try a second flush.

Interesting review. I've been looking at trying both X and NCL.

 

I have to say in my opinion, the first three issues (embarkation, luggage and boat driill) were self induced. Rules or directions by the crew are there for a reason and when you prefer to ignore or not abide by them you take the risk of getting your hand slapped for it.

Maybe you did not read or understand what I said.

1st point is that we have done this before and there never was a problem nor was there anything written about this before embarkation.

2nd point is that it was a hand slap which is not how clients are to be treated, get it?

3rd point is that in every situation there is a proper way to speak to people. The boat drill was handled poorly by them and when they finally got around to conducting it people listened properly.

Glad NCL saw it my way too and good thing you are not in their CS dept.

I have found that it is difficult to compare lines and it is better to compare ships. Every ship is different and has a different personality. There are some NCL ships that I have enjoyed and some that I didn't.

It will also depend somewhat on your travel mates and the crew that you encounter. Personal prejudice and what you are looking for in a cruise make a huge difference.

Lately I have been enjoying the Princess cruises that we have taken. The last one was the Royal Princess. People who did only Princess cruises reviewed it poorly when it began sailing as I recall. I enjoyed it a lot.

I sailed Hawaii on one of the first trips when NCL changed to American flagged. It was pretty awful. I did Hawaii in a small Princess ship and enjoyed it even with little entertainment. The people especially the crew were top notch.

Maybe you did not read or understand what I said.

1st point is that we have done this before and there never was a problem nor was there anything written about this before embarkation.

2nd point is that it was a hand slap which is not how clients are to be treated, get it?

3rd point is that in every situation there is a proper way to speak to people. The boat drill was handled poorly by them and when they finally got around to conducting it people listened properly.

Glad NCL saw it my way too and good thing you are not in their CS dept.

No I fully understood what you wrote. However without making this a proverbial pissing match I just dont agree that you were void of responsiblilty.

I'd never survive as a customer service on a cruise ship, or least my hair wouldn't remain on my head. :)

Thanks for the link. I've seen people dribble drinks in the elevator, but never any gravy slopped. It would be difficult to ban taking drinks out of the bars :)

We often go to the Horizon to get a cookie or desert and sometimes get a burger or pizza to have in the room on our balcony. I couldn't imagine being forced to eat a donut from the IC in the piazza.

This rule was pretty dumb. I'm glad they realized that.

Tom

Just found this news article.

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/cruiselog/2015/05/26/norwegian-cruise-food-ban/27970863/

 

NCL is retracting their policy about taking food from the buffet back to the cabin. Different cliental of passengers? I don't recall seeing Princess passengers slopping gravy all the way down the halls. (Need to read the article.) I do agree that there are sometimes too many room service trays in even Princess' hallways.

Thanks for the comparison review. We've toyed with trying NCL since they often have what sounds like pretty good deals, but so far we haven't given it a shot. When we ask people they either really love it or really hate it so it's difficult to make a judgement call. Your review seems pretty fair and balanced.

Thanks,

Tom

No I fully understood what you wrote. However without making this a proverbial pissing match I just dont agree that you were void of responsiblilty.

 

I'd never survive as a customer service on a cruise ship, or least my hair wouldn't remain on my head. :)[/quote

I am not responsible for rude CS but NCL chose to be and did the right thing. Sorry but I think you are way off base here. You missed the points.

 

Larry.

No I fully understood what you wrote. However without making this a proverbial pissing match I just dont agree that you were void of responsiblilty.

 

I'd never survive as a customer service on a cruise ship, or least my hair wouldn't remain on my head. :)[/quote

I am not responsible for rude CS but NCL chose to be and did the right thing. Sorry but I think you are way off base here. You missed the points.

 

Larry.

 

I will put an end to my posts on this matter by saying we won't agree on this.

 

Have a good day.

No I fully understood what you wrote. However without making this a proverbial pissing match I just dont agree that you were void of responsiblilty.

 

I'd never survive as a customer service on a cruise ship, or least my hair wouldn't remain on my head. :)

 

I will put an end to my posts on this matter by saying we won't agree on this.

 

Have a good day.

I agree. At least it's bilateral :)

Cheers.

Thanks for the comparison review. We've toyed with trying NCL since they often have what sounds like pretty good deals, but so far we haven't given it a shot. When we ask people they either really love it or really hate it so it's difficult to make a judgement call. Your review seems pretty fair and balanced.

 

Thanks,

 

Tom

Thank you. For years we avoided them but they have tried to improve and it shows. After 5 Princess cruises I think their CS is at a higher level but it seems NCL had closed the gap