Dawn of a New Day: Royal Caribbean Guy May Join You

I took my first cruise when I was 17, on RCI, and have sailed them almost exclusively every since. I love them and am loyal to royal.

But....

I'm looking to cruise this march out of New Orleans, and the itinerary for Serenade of the Seas is pretty lacking in my opinion compared to the Norwegian Dawn.

So, we're thinking of making a switch.

I wonder if there are some others who are big RCI fans who also cruise NCL and can help me compare the two.

Finally have it all worked out and narrowed down and need help choosing between two cruises.

Us: Wife Michelle and I are taking a spring break cruise with our two daughters who at sail time will be 6 years old, and 1 year old. We live in Tennessee.

My sister in law came to our home earlier this year for 2 weeks and helped up with our newborn. She's a stay at home mom, and her husband, my wife's brother, works hard, to care for them but doesn't make a lot of money.

As a thank you we thought, we'd invite them with us on our cruise and cover there cabin for them.

It's them and their 5 year old daughter.

Ship 1:

We're looking at Serenade of the Seas out of New Orleans

7-nights

Visits Falmouth, Grand Cayman, & Cozumel.

Looking at a Junior Suite for us, and an inside cabin for the bro/sis in law.

Total $6,008 no airfare needed for anyone, we'd all drive to port

Ship 2:

NORWEGIAN DAWN out of New Orleans,

7-nights

Visits Cozumel, Belize, Costa Maya, & Roatan. (2 new ports for us)

Based on rooms I could go from $4600 (mini suite & inside) to 6300 (aft penthouse & outside)

I don't know the rooms or the ship well.

I'm told to get the suite because, it will help compensate for the RCI diamond level perks I'm missing.

Rooms looks smaller to me than RCI. I usually get a Junior Suite or Grand Suite on RCI.

What's comparable on NCL Dawn?

Any Advice?

I am Platinum on NCL and D+ on RCCL.

If I were you, I'd look at a Family suite plus an IC across the hall on deck 12. An SJ works OK for us as pool deck is right down the hall and more open deck one flight up. In you case the SJ might be in a quieter location (you may be on with college spring breakers who will use that forward elevator to get to pool deck and also hit the jogging track one deck up, which is over some SD's...ask me how I know many college kids do not remember to use inside voices when going to pool deck) But if a private balcony is a must for you, then carefully choose an SD.

You might want to consider booking 5 in the SJ and 2 in the inside so one of the adults could join you at suite events if desired...maybe even help with kids. Of course, everybody sleeps where they belong.

The family suites have nice space. They are in a remodeled space, as are those insides, so they should still be in very nice condition. The bathrooms are a delight with tub and separate shower. Your extended family can join you easily. You will all be close to the pool, to fresh air and to each other.

I took my first cruise when I was 17, on RCI, and have sailed them almost exclusively every since. I love them and am loyal to royal.

 

But....

 

I'm looking to cruise this march out of New Orleans, and the itinerary for Serenade of the Seas is pretty lacking in my opinion compared to the Norwegian Dawn.

 

So, we're thinking of making a switch.

 

I wonder if there are some others who are big RCI fans who also cruise NCL and can help me compare the two.

 

 

Finally have it all worked out and narrowed down and need help choosing between two cruises.

 

 

Us: Wife Michelle and I are taking a spring break cruise with our two daughters who at sail time will be 6 years old, and 1 year old. We live in Tennessee.

 

My sister in law came to our home earlier this year for 2 weeks and helped up with our newborn. She's a stay at home mom, and her husband, my wife's brother, works hard, to care for them but doesn't make a lot of money.

 

As a thank you we thought, we'd invite them with us on our cruise and cover there cabin for them.

 

It's them and their 5 year old daughter.

 

 

 

Ship 1:

 

We're looking at Serenade of the Seas out of New Orleans

7-nights

Visits Falmouth, Grand Cayman, & Cozumel.

 

Looking at a Junior Suite for us, and an inside cabin for the bro/sis in law.

 

Total $6,008 no airfare needed for anyone, we'd all drive to port

 

 

Ship 2:

 

NORWEGIAN DAWN out of New Orleans,

 

7-nights

 

Visits Cozumel, Belize, Costa Maya, & Roatan. (2 new ports for us)

 

Based on rooms I could go from $4600 (mini suite & inside) to 6300 (aft penthouse & outside)

 

 

I don't know the rooms or the ship well.

 

I'm told to get the suite because, it will help compensate for the RCI diamond level perks I'm missing.

 

Rooms looks smaller to me than RCI. I usually get a Junior Suite or Grand Suite on RCI.

 

What's comparable on NCL Dawn?

 

Any Advice?

I read that pretty quick, but there are 6 of you in total? If so, you could book one of the two DOS in the front on deck 12 (no balcony however). Basically it is a suite with an inside cabin as part of the room - you could put the relatives in there and they would get suite perks. You could also do the 2BR suite which would hold all of you. Basically directing you this way as if you get a suite (not mini-suite) you'd get suite perks but the others wouldn't if you book them in less than a full suite.

I read that pretty quick, but there are 6 of you in total? If so, you could book one of the two DOS in the front on deck 12 (no balcony however). Basically it is a suite with an inside cabin as part of the room - you could put the relatives in there and they would get suite perks. You could also do the 2BR suite which would hold all of you. Basically directing you this way as if you get a suite (not mini-suite) you'd get suite perks but the others wouldn't if you book them in less than a full suite.

I read 7...4 adults and 3 children

yep 7 ---- four adults and three kids.

and we can't be all the way forward.

Their daughter went went us on Indy last year and was GREEN the first 3 days onboard. Sea wasn't rough.

That's why I planned on putting them mid-ship and low.

We were shocked they want to bring her again, but they do.

yep 7 ---- four adults and three kids.

 

and we can't be all the way forward.

 

Their daughter went went us on Indy last year and was GREEN the first 3 days onboard. Sea wasn't rough.

 

That's why I planned on putting them mid-ship and low.

 

We were shocked they want to bring her again, but they do.

Oh, then deck 12 forward is not the way to go. I hope she has less trouble this time.

I can't offer any help on cabin categories, since I usually sail bottom-of-the-barrel guarantee inside cabins, but I think you'll find much to like about NCL.

We took our first NCL cruise last month on Breakaway to Bermuda. Our previous trips have been on Carnival. Since I won't get on an airplane, my son and I only sail out of NYC.

Best cruise ever. I know you are looking at Dawn and I have never sailed RCI, but wanted to say how we much we enjoyed sailing NCL.

IMHO they really do so many things right. For example, little things like welcoming you back to the ship with refreshments and cold towels. Offering clean replacement beach towels at the dock after your day at the beach. It really makes a difference among many other things.

We didn't stay in a Haven Suite or even a mini suite. Our BD balcony was just perfectly fine and we were quite comfortable with its port, aft location to the stairs and elevators.

I highly recommend NCL.

Hope you have a great cruise no matter which you choose.

Happy Sailing!

~Robin

Every Day at Sea is a Great Day

Something to consider is that on the Dawn you are considering a "mini suite". That cabin does not come with any suite perks so would not make up for any benefits you are missing on RCL. There is also the issue that if you book a true suite on NCL for yourself and a lower category for your relatives, they would not be allowed to join you in any of your suite perks as they are not in a suite. Just as they would not be able to join you at Diamond events on RCL if they don't also have Diamond status.

I did an SJ on the Star, sister to Dawn, and highly recommend that cabin. Besides the perks the room had a lot of space. We are a family of 5.

I wish Norwegian would put cabins like that on the ships they are building.

Nobody has addressed the itinerary yet so I'll give it a go. We cruised NCL Jewel out of New Orleans last February on the itinerary you are showing. We've also done the other ports that the RCI ship is doing. IMO the NCL itinerary is much better. We loved that one and just found the other one okay. That alone would make the choice for me.

We've sailed both RCI and NCL and found them to be pretty comparable. We like some things better on each of them but nothing really significant. I can't help you with suite options as we've only done mini suites on NCL and Jr Suites on RCI.

Enjoy your cruise, whichever one you choose. Cruising out of NOLA is fun.

Serenade is my favorite ship ....the itinerary on the dawn is much more interesting to me having done the traditional western ports a couple of times......she is a nice ship but not nearly as elegant as the radiance class ships.....I would snag that aft penthouse in a heartbeat!.......if you want to have all of your family having the same choices just get 2 aft balcony cabins and spend what you save on the pay restaurants and excursions....I am one of those people who had no trouble going back to a regular cabin after a suite but I would be loathe to not have an aft cabin.....whatever you choose have a great trip with your family!

I gotta be honest here. If you're a regular RCI cruiser, there's a good chance you're not going to like the Dawn. IMO, Dawn and her sister ship Star are the 2 worst ships in the NCL fleet because of the way they eliminated the Spinnakers Lounge that was located all the way up top and forward on the ship. The ship no longer has a scenic lounge.

However, I much prefer Dawn's itinerary over the Serenade. If you do go with a nice suite on Dawn, I think that would be the better cruise for you - but that's only if you book a suite. If you were considering standard rooms, I wouldn't recommend Dawn.

Have you also tried pricing out the 3 bedroom garden Villa on the Dawn? Since there are 7 of you it may work out to be close in cost and that way everyone will get all the perks. It also comes with 6 bottles of alcohol and sometimes comes with a $300 OBC as well.

Have you also tried pricing out the 3 bedroom garden Villa on the Dawn? Since there are 7 of you it may work out to be close in cost and that way everyone will get all the perks. It also comes with 6 bottles of alcohol and sometimes comes with a $300 OBC as well.

I see $17,681 for 7 people in GV...probably 2.5 times the cost of an SJ plus an inside. GGV is a great space though and certainly would make for a memorable trip if it is comfortably within budget.

My DH DD SIL & 2 grandsons are booked on the Jewel out of Houston 2015. My DH and i are booked in an SC Suite which is a 2 bedroom family suite and is awesome & we booked a insde cabin acroos the hall from us for my DD SIL & 2 grandsons. If you could afford it that is what you should check into. The SC on the Dawn is between mid ship and foward so your niece should not have a problem with the motion sickness. We have done 14 cruises with NCL starting in 1987 when i met my DH and probably 8 of the cruises were in suites. Suites on NCL are the best. We went on a Alaska princess cruise last September and had a suite & we did not get the service and attention that we get on NCL. We love the freestyle concept that NCL has.

Happy cruzin

cindi :)

We ended up on the Serenade...

Serenade has the Royal Family Suite which sleeps 8, and gives us 2 separate bedrooms and a pull out couch in the living room.

With the sale RCI had going we were able to score that cabin at a great price with Suite perks for everyone.

We tried to do a suite on NCL but none would accommodate our party of 7.

We tried to get into NCL's two bedroom suite but it maxes out at 6, and even though one of our passengers is an infant, we were told no.

If we did the penthouse suite aft and a plain outside room on NCL it was running more than 1K more expensive.

I really want to try NCL but based on pricing this time around, and some rough reviews on the ship, I think I'm going to wait to try Epic or Breakway 1,2,3 for my first NCL experience.

We agree NCL won with the ports, but ship, service, and price kept me on old faithful for now.

Thanks for the advice though.

That sounds like a nice set up for you and your extended family. Have a wonderful time and enjoy sailing out of New Orleans.

Like you, we're big RCI fans and you can tell by my sig I've got a few more booked. We did sail on the Pearl a few years ago and were quite happy and impressed and we've got the Sky booked for this fall. On the Pearl, food was good, service was excellent and in fact I think it was a bit better than RCI. They have the anytime dining concept down to a science and their specialty restaurants are as good as anything you'll see on RCI. Also, the ship is well maintained and you'll feel like you're on an RCI ship in truth. They do a great job at sailaway with the BBQ, they have great shows and headliner shows. In short, if you told me I could pick any line to cruise on except RCI it would be NCL, hands down.

You'll enjoy NCL.

we experimented with Celeb and enjoyed it, I think we will add NCL to the list soon.

I'll keep my eye out for some sales :-)