Comparison points for live threads/review between NCL and RCI

In about two months' time, I'll be boarding Norwegian Getaway. After we return from that cruise, I'll then be boarding Allure of the Seas for a second cruise. I'm very interested in seeing the two cruise lines in a back-to-back comparison.

My experience up to now is that I'm basically "Loyal to Royal", but I'm very excited to see what NCL offers. I'm thrilled to have this opportunity to sail on an NCL ship, especially their latest and greatest.

As I've done in the past, I'm hoping to have live threads for each of the two cruises. I'm also hoping that I can do them slightly differently this time in that I want to be able to comment on the similarities and differences between the two cruise lines and the two ships. I've read similar comparisons in other threads and found them to be very useful and enlightening, and I'd like to be able to contribute in the same way by sharing my opinions.

I'd like suggestions for topics that I can use to help guide areas for the comparisons. For example, some that I can think of off the top of my head would be:

• Embarkation
  
• Disembarkation
  
• Cabin
  
• Guest Services
  
• Dining
  • Main dining
    
  • Buffet
    
  • Specialty
    • Italian
      
    • Steakhouse
      
    • Brazilian Churrascaria
      
    • ...

    [*]Room service

  [*]Entertainment

  • Broadway show
    
  • Dancing/Performance show
    
  • Comedy
    
  • ...

  [*]...

You get the idea.

So, I'm looking for suggestions of topics. Ultimately, I'd like to be able to take about fifteen of them and be able to assign point-values to them to come up with scores for each category and the cruise experience overall.

And since I want the live threads to be interactive as well, I'm hoping that I can get your involvement in the creation of this list. By posting this into both the NCL and RCI forums, I want to be able to get input from each lines' fans who can help make sure that I don't miss covering something that is special or unique.

Thank you all for helping me out with this!

I will be looking forward to reading your comparisons of the 2 ships. I have also been considering NCL and the Breakaway or Getaway. Many of my friends are NCL cruisers, and I know their feeling but interested in how someone who usually sails on Royal feels. I think the basic points you outlined will make for good comparisons. Enjoy!

Activities. I know Allure has Flowrider, the Rockwall, Zipline, and the Sports Court. Getaway has the rope course, water slides and sports court.

How crowded are they? Are there limited hours?

Availability of free food?

Nice additions!

I saw a video of Getaway's mini-golf course and from what I could see I was much more impressed than Royal Caribbean's generic mini-golf course. Getaway's is pirate/shipwrecked (perhaps a questionable choice for a cruise ship) themed.

How about:

* Pool Deck/Hot Tubs

* Adult Area

* Fitness Center

Those are good, too!

I'm very curious about how the pool decks will compare between the two. It's not a fair comparison between Getaway and Allure, but I'll probably consider Freedom of the Seas as a more apt comparison point to Getaway. From what I've seen of videos on Getaway, the pool deck looks like a sea of deck chairs and little in the way of the actual pools. I'm curious to see what it actually looks like in person.