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Norwegian or Princess


cruizinonup

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We have cruised Carnival multiple times but are wanting to try something new. I was hoping for some opinions on Norwegian Pearl vs. Emerald Princess from anyone who has tried these ships or lines. We will be cruising in Oct. or Nov. of 09 celebrating our 15th anniversary. any advice?

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Haven't cruised on either ship per se but comparing lines IMHO Princess a little more elegant and subdued...NCL a bit livelier....

Princess staterooms a bit larger though and seem to be laid out better...

NCL casinos more fun than Princess...food about the same on both...

Choice of fixed seating or anytime on Princess...

With NCL all freestyle dining but we never had trouble getting a table on NCL...even requested certain waiters each night with no problem (as long as you get there early)

Have a great trip no matter which you choose!

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After quite a few cruises on both NCL and Princess over the last few years

it would be our opinion that there is more to do on NCL, more fun on NCL, better speciality restaurants on NCL but much better food and service from more experienced crew and shorter lines in the main dining rooms on Princess.

 

Of course this can vary from ship to ship but seems to us to be generally the case.

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50 and 55

 

Love the Wii's for free play everyday on NCL, but on Grand Princess last cruise they had 4 of them on the ship and a huge open air screen, they only used one Wii once for bowling, once for baseball and twice for tennis in 21 days cruising. 45 minutes per time. What a waste.

 

On Princess older folk had lectures to attend, arts and crafts, and aggressively played trivia 3 times a day. That was pretty much it. Not enough fun for us.

The TV programs hardly changed in 21 days,just ran round and round, best thing on TV for us was the Love Boat season! We never saw it the first time round in 1978.

 

We love the variety of specialty restaurants on NCL Jewel class ships and eat there pretty much all the time as we gave up on the main dining rooms. Good food and service in the specialty restaurants.

 

On Princess there aren't as many specialty restaurants (maybe they are bringing in more on the newer ships) but also the food and service was so good in the main dining rooms that we didn't feel the need to pay extra.

 

Evening entertainment was much the same we felt, pretty much individual preference anyway as to what you like in shows etc.

 

Smoking - more places to smoke inside on Princess at the moment.

There was a no smoking section in the casino on Grand Princess for those who wanted it.

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We haven't done either ship but have done both lines in the past 10 months: we prefer the way NCL handles Freestyle to the way Princess handles PErsonal Choice dining, but Princess does offer traditional dining as well: NCL does not: Entertainment is equal as is the food. Certain aspects of food NCL does better, and some Princess does better. Someone mentioned PRincess has slightly larger cabins and better laid out, I would disagree 110% on that. NCL has cabins the same size or a bit larger and we like the layout better. Princess wastes too much space on their closet area plus NCL has much nicer bathrooms. Again, this is opinion, not always fact. Both ships offer a mixture of great, good and questionable service.. Booze is cheaper, by just a little on Princess and I like the layout of Princess casinos better, but think NCL is more fun than Princess with a slightly younger crowd and not as subdued. Probably NCL has a bigger age mixture, depending on the cruise time of course. Either line is good, if the price is close and the itinerary what you would like, go for NCL, otherwise do Princess.

 

Nita

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We haven't been on those 2 specific ships, but, like elgato2, we found Princess to be more subdued and elegant. Other than that, they were very very similar. I think there was a greater variety of shows on Princess, but that could have been that the shows Pricess was offering on those cruises were more appealing to us than the shows NCL offered on that specific cruise. Food, service, and cabins were comparable. Between the two lines, we now go with the itinerary and price, because other than NCL's speciality restaurants, there wasn't really that much of a difference.

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As others stated we did not cruise on the Emerald or Pearl but have been on her sister ships. Princess is a bit more elegant and I personally like traditional dining which Princess still has. We also like NCL for it's convenience out of NYC and a lot of times they have good prices. Hey, a cruise is a cruise whichever ship you are on and to me that is all that counts.

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Princess is more "elegant" I suppose, but also sort of bland. I thoroughly enjoyed my cruise on Sapphire Princess but it was very quiet. It may have been the itinerary (off-season repo cruise) as there were very few children on board, which is good in one way, but also usually means no young adults too, which can make the disco pretty dead. Boy was it dead on the Sapphire. Yikes.

 

Other than that though, there is no doubt that the new Princess ships are beautiful in their own right. Just not very colorful. NCL ships are beautiful and colorful, but less stuffy than Princess. Food is similar. Not outstanding but pretty good and about what you would expect cooking for thousands.

 

My wife and I are 40 and 38 yrs. of age. I prefer NCL, particularly Jewel-class, because it seemed more fun and a bit younger than Princess, but demographics vary greatly based on the type of cruise, length of cruise, and date of cruise, so it is difficult to generalize.

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It definitely seems NCL is the preferred line here. I appreciate all the answers. I hope it is not just because I am on the Norwegian board.:rolleyes: I have weeded out Costa already. Maybe I will now check princess off the list too. The last choice was Holland America Westerdam.

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It definitely seems NCL is the preferred line here. I appreciate all the answers. I hope it is not just because I am on the Norwegian board.:rolleyes:

 

Well, a lot of the folks on the Norwegian board are big Norwegian fans, so obviously you're going to find a lot of pro-NCL responses. That being said, there's a reason why they're NCL fans. ;)

 

You could also post the same question on the Princess board and see what they say there. You could also post it on "Ask a Cruise Question" because you don't get specific cruise line partisans there.

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I have to chime in here. We have sailed on the Crown Princess and the Norwegian Gem, both sister ships to the ones you are considering. We had a lovely cruise on the Gem and would definitely sail NCL again, but overall, we prefer Princess. The decor on the Gem was a little too loud for my taste, and the food in the regular DRs wasn't as good. We have never found Princess dull, but admittedly this can vary from sailing to sailing. Crown Princess has themed dinner buffets at Cafe Caribe, 24 hr food available at the International Cafe in the atrium, Skywalkers nightclub which opens at 11:00 pm, and Movies under the Stars which is real pleasure. Again, we enjoyed our Gem cruise, but please don't rule on Princess -- you'll get very different responses over on the Princess boards.

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We are sailing on the Pearl in two weeks, our first NCL cruise. Sailed on Crown last two years. We are 48 and kids are 15 and 12. We love the Crown and were never bored . Dining room food was just good but the two specialty restaurants were outstanding. The new Princess ships are beautiful. You can't go wrong with Princess as long as you stay on the new ships. We hope NCL compares favorably.

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Having been on multiple cruises on both lines I would have to say that Princess ships and there the ships themselves are much more classy and make you feel more like your staying in a luxury hotel. NCL on the other hand makes you fell more like your part of a large party. If you’re looking for more of a relaxing mood cruise, I would choose princess. If you want more of a fun colorful atmosphere, that always has something fun to do, I would try NCL. As far as food and service, I give the nudge to NCL. I do think however that price and convenience should be your main determining point as the lines are much to comparable to try and get an answer out of CC.

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Princess is more "elegant" I suppose, but also sort of bland. I thoroughly enjoyed my cruise on Sapphire Princess but it was very quiet. It may have been the itinerary (off-season repo cruise) as there were very few children on board, which is good in one way, but also usually means no young adults too, which can make the disco pretty dead. Boy was it dead on the Sapphire [for us it was the Coral Princess and Golden Princess, both of which were identical in furnishings and decor, Bland]. Yikes.

 

Other than that though, there is no doubt that the new Princess ships are beautiful in their own right. Just not very colorful. NCL ships are beautiful and colorful, but less stuffy than Princess. Food is similar. Not outstanding but pretty good and about what you would expect cooking for thousands.

 

My wife and I are 40 and 38 yrs. of age. I prefer NCL, particularly Jewel-class, because it seemed more fun and a bit younger than Princess, but demographics vary greatly based on the type of cruise, length of cruise, and date of cruise, so it is difficult to generalize.

OMG, I could have written this! It is exactly the way I feel and we are 64!

 

Picture a 3-piece string ensemble in the tiny atrium while you're headed into your dining room [Princess]; or a lively group singing tunes you'll know [NCL]. Or the two-toned salmon and aqua colors literally everywhere throughout the ship [Princess] vs bright, lively, modern and really fun interiors [NCL].

 

The Pearl is gorgeous! We're already booked on her for 2010.

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I just returned from a cruise on the Crown Princess, the sister ship to the Emerald, and have done the Norwegian Dawn twice, and the Majesty 5 times.

 

I like both NCL and Princess...for me, Princess has a slight edge over NCL. The Crown had three pool areas, while the Dawn only has one.

I also found the on board shops much better on Princess, with a nicer selection of all kinds of merchandise.

 

Food is subjective, but I found the food selections and preparation to be more to my liking on Princess.

I will be going on the Dawn again next month and am looking forward to a special dinner in LeBistro, the specialty restaurant

This might sound silly, but the burgers and hot dogs at the poolside grill

seemed to be of a better quality of meat than what we had on our last NCL cruise. The Pizza was very good.

Princess also had a late night buffet that was open until 4:00 AM

Don't get me wrong, I love NCL. but I have noticed that the food wasn't as

much to my liking after they changed the menu's a couple of years ago.

Who knows...perhaps I'll find a big improvement when I go on the Dawn sine there is new management at NCL

 

 

Princess had a punch card that you could buy to purchase specialy coffees and unlimited brewed coffee. Cappachino's are free on NCL in the dining room.

DH purchased the unlimited soda card on Princiess and never had a problem

getting a soda. In fact, the buffet had waiters going around to the tables in the buffet bringing people soda, iced tea and water.

The soda card was much less expensive on Princess than on NCL also.

I think the cost was around 35.00 for the seven days. The NCL card cost a lot more

 

Both Princess and NCL have good music, comedy and shows.

 

I would say pick the itenarary that you like on either line and you can't go wrong.

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We just returned from the Spirit (12/14) and took an Alaskan cruise on the Coral Princess this past June.

 

We found the cabin on Princess a little better laid out and easier to move around (we had an oceanview double on the Coral Princess, and a BA balcony cabin on the Spirit.) The Coral Princess had the tiniest shower we've ever seen and the bathroom on the Spirit had a decent sized shower, sink area and separate (sliding frosted glass door) toilet area. I think that the food in the main dining rooms on both was quite good, with a slight edge in food and service to Princess. We chose the Anytime Dining on Princess, as we like the flexibility.

 

The passengers on NCL were of all ages (few kids this trip due to the time of year) and Princess skewed a little older, we thought.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed both.

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We have taken cruises on virtually every cruise line, and generally try to avoid NCL (sorry, I know this is an NCL board). We are not fans of free style cruising because we hate to eat extremely late, or extremely early. Traditional dining is a much better experience for us. We also found the cabins on Princess larger, and better kept. The food on Princess has been better in most cases, and the entertainment geared more to our liking. I guess the "hairy leg contests etc." got old many years ago for us.

 

Now for the NCL positives. Their product is less expensive, and offer more varied itineraries year round. FYI we are in our mid 50's

 

We are leaving on the Jade on January 2nd., and selected NCl since they spend an overnight in Egypt which greatly interests my wife.

 

Perhaps I will change my thinking after this next trip, but I guess you do indeed get what you pay for, and NCL is among the less expensive cruise lines. Given the state of my finances these days, I doubt we will be doing another Seadream trio for a while, and no doubt will grow to like NCL more.

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Well, a lot of the folks on the Norwegian board are big Norwegian fans, so obviously you're going to find a lot of pro-NCL responses. That being said, there's a reason why they're NCL fans. ;)

 

You could also post the same question on the Princess board and see what they say there. You could also post it on "Ask a Cruise Question" because you don't get specific cruise line partisans there.

that certainly is true, each board will favor that line, but NCL loyalist are a little more objective most of the time. PRincess as well as Celebrity are the two lines with the most loyal followers.

 

Nita

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We have taken cruises on virtually every cruise line, and generally try to avoid NCL (sorry, I know this is an NCL board). We are not fans of free style cruising because we hate to eat extremely late, or extremely early. Traditional dining is a much better experience for us. We also found the cabins on Princess larger, and better kept. The food on Princess has been better in most cases, and the entertainment geared more to our liking. I guess the "hairy leg contests etc." got old many years ago for us.

 

Now for the NCL positives. Their product is less expensive, and offer more varied itineraries year round. FYI we are in our mid 50's

 

We are leaving on the Jade on January 2nd., and selected NCl since they spend an overnight in Egypt which greatly interests my wife.

 

Perhaps I will change my thinking after this next trip, but I guess you do indeed get what you pay for, and NCL is among the less expensive cruise lines. Given the state of my finances these days, I doubt we will be doing another Seadream trio for a while, and no doubt will grow to like NCL more.

I have to question a couple things you are saying, I certainly am not questioning your preferance. Cabin size, Princess cabins, overall are not larger than NCL, in fact in some cases they are inclined to be a few feet smaller(not enough either way to make a difference) of course i don't know what NCL ship or ships you have cruised. As for pricing, yes, Princess does seem a little more expensive but we have cruised them because their prices have been lower at certain times than NCL, so this isn't always the case.

 

Nita

 

ps, SeaDream is a dream line huh???

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I have cruised on Princess, Carnival, Costa, and Royal Carribean and love Costa...so don't exclude it yet. It seems to be pretty lively and more themed towards an adult crowd. My husband and I are 29 and 39 and he loves Costa. We are going on our first NCL cruise next week so we will see how it compares.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Cruzinonup: If you're still checking this board. I've been on the Emerald and it is beautiful. I've tried Carnival, Commodore, NCL, Celebrity, and Princess. It really depends on what you want. It's a tossup as to whether I prefer Princess over Celebrity. My teenager prefers Princess. But, we enjoy dressing up and being pampered and Princess offers more of that than NCL. Either line you choose, enjoy yourself. Princess is more formal, but a cruise is what you make it. Carnival (the party ship out of New Orleans) was my worst cruise ever. Too much wildness for my taste. I've been on Celebrity ships where the highlight of the day was the Geritol cocktail. SO, it really depends on the rest of the passengers as to how much is going on.

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It definitely seems NCL is the preferred line here. I appreciate all the answers. I hope it is not just because I am on the Norwegian board.:rolleyes: I have weeded out Costa already. Maybe I will now check princess off the list too. The last choice was Holland America Westerdam.

I tryed both and they both have good and bad. It depends on what you like. I find the age groups are mixed more on Princess and there are alot more things to do on Princess ,but the service isnt as good as it is on NCL. The food is about equal."Princess is every man for themselves"...... I took my kids on Princess and they loved it but its not for me. My daughter met alot of people her age on Princess, shes 28. If your an active person you will love Princess, but if you like peace and quiet then NCL is better.I will try princess again only for the movies under the stars....thats a thing i really loved about princess and another good thing about Princess is the security was great. Other than that NCL is better for me.Because the security is so good.....its a good line to travel with kids.

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