Ncl vs royal vs celebrity

Between NCL, Royal and Celebrity

Which is your favorite cruise line & why?

Which is your least favorite cruise line & why?

Which is your favorite ship on each cruise line & why?

I've sailed on Royal Allure & Oasis and Celebrity Eclipse. I'm sailing on NCL Escape in November. I loved all 3 cruises but the Allure & Oasis have the edge over Eclipse because I enjoyed the entertainment much more on Allure & Oasis. All 3 ships were beautiful but Allure & Oasis had the promenade and Central Park.

I will post this on the 3 sites.

I have sailed on all three lines several times. I love Celebrity ... love the S and M class ships on Celebrity and don't really have an absolute favorite as have been treated so well on any and every Celebrity cruise. I like everything about them ... a bit more of white glove service in my opinion.

Royal and NCL are pretty much tied in third place for me. Princess, on which I have sailed on the most, takes second place in my book.

I like the casual feel of NCL. I have never sailed on one of their newer ships so cannot really speak to the Escape. Friends that we cruise with on other lines sail a lot on NCL, in those newer ships, and they like it. I am not crazy about the painting all over the hull of the ship, although I have seen Princess has gone in that direction as well. The service has always been great and their food ok, not great, though. They were kind of stingy if you asked for something extra. I did enjoy the entertainment a lot on this line. They just don't do many itineraries I am interested in out here on the west coast.

Royal has the prettiest ships on which I have ever sailed ... but wasn't crazy about their food except in the specialty restaurants. I also didn't like that they close the buffet down in the middle of the day. The service ranged from excellent to pretty bad. Their entertainment was awesome, though!

The crowds on Royal were crazy ... lines, lines, lines for everything! :( Too many passengers for my liking and my sailings were never even on the larger ships of the Oasis class.

I have sailed on all three lines several times. I love Celebrity ... love the S and M class ships on Celebrity and don't really have an absolute favorite as have been treated so well on any and every Celebrity cruise. I like everything about them ... a bit more of white glove service in my opinion.

 

Royal and NCL are pretty much tied in third place for me. Princess, on which I have sailed on the most, takes second place in my book.

 

I like the casual feel of NCL. I have never sailed on one of their newer ships so cannot really speak to the Escape. Friends that we cruise with on other lines sail a lot on NCL, in those newer ships, and they like it. I am not crazy about the painting all over the hull of the ship, although I have seen Princess has gone in that direction as well. The service has always been great and their food ok, not great, though. They were kind of stingy if you asked for something extra. I did enjoy the entertainment a lot on this line. They just don't do many itineraries I am interested in out here on the west coast.

 

Royal has the prettiest ships on which I have ever sailed ... but wasn't crazy about their food except in the specialty restaurants. I also didn't like that they close the buffet down in the middle of the day. The service ranged from excellent to pretty bad. Their entertainment was awesome, though!

The crowds on Royal were crazy ... lines, lines, lines for everything! :( Too many passengers for my liking and my sailings were never even on the larger ships of the Oasis class.

We have done six cruises on NCL and nine of Celebrity. We haven't done any on Royal, but have two booked for April 2018 out of Sydney, Australia.

Celebrity is our favorite. The dining is the best. Service is excellent and consistent. Love the atmosphere. Also, Celebrity has great itineraries all over the World.

NCL has a little better entertainment and more variety and cheaper prices for dining in specialty restaurants. We don't normally dine much in Celebrity specialty restaurants, due to the cost and that the MDR is good.

NCL is more attractive to young people. We have done cruises with my Son and his friends as well as my Daughter and her family.

The MDR food and service is more inconsistent regrading quality, but our last cruise on the Sun in Alaska was the best in that regard.

One key point, Celebrity once had prices that were rather close to NCL's. Not anymore. Celebrity's prices are bundled now and not as competitive. That is why we booked the two Royal cruises, one for NZ and the other a TP from Australia to Seattle. Also, we are elite on Celebrity and now diamond on Royal.

Regarding NCL, they sometimes offer free third and fourth person in the cabin. We took advantage of that for our Alaska cruise and invited our Daughter, who had a free cruise. It was a huge savings.

Note, for Alaska, Celebrity doesn't do Glacier Bay, NCL does and I would advise not to miss Glacier Bay.

Another issue, Celebrity and Royal have great benefits for a free happy hour drinks, while NCL does not. They do give two free meals at specialty restaurants with a bottle of wine. Further, NCL charges 18 percent gratuity on their beverage packages, which causes us not to take them, since the wine choices are also poor.

We haven't sailed on Royal C. but have had many, many cruises on NCL through the years. I think it has really gone downhill and we swore the last cruise (on the Gem) would be our last one. The food was terrible (IMO) and the constant

noise and crowds were terrible. We were so glad to discover Celebrity and it is now our only cruise line. Can't imagine sailing in any class but Aqua and dining in the wonderful Blue!

While there is no doubt food on Celebrity is better than on NCL, I think ncl food has improved in recent years.

I always hesitate to comment on threads like this, for fear of being flamed, but here goes, with just my and my DH's thoughts on all three.

We have traveled on all three lines you asked about. A little over a week from now we are sailing on Celebrity Summit, our third time on this ship, fourth time on this cruise line. We tend to favor Celebrity in recent years, though we have had many very nice cruises on Royal as well. Our one cruise on NCL was so disappointing that we decided to never sail on that line again, though the itineraries and prices are very tempting.

What disappointed us about NCL was the following: long waits in the MDR, huge crowds at the buffets, including first day sailing, and last day sailing (could not find seats at all), lack of handicap accessibility (one passenger could not get out on deck because there was a "lip" to get outdoors, and no ramp available; she was distraught, missed the outdoor buffet lunch the first day and by then the MDR was closed, and saw the cruise staff inform her she could still get room service; not a lot of care shown. For whatever reason, the bars seemed to close down whenever they wanted, often before 10:30 p.m. In general we saw a lack of service compared to Royal and Celebrity. That said, the cruise director on that cruise was probably the best we have seen in 30+ years of cruising! He went out of his way to make everyone feel comfortable and happy, and he was loads of fun at the "White Hot Party." Food was excellent in the specialty restaurant we ate in one night, best I've ever had onboard any ship. But the regular dining food was average. Oh also, we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary on that cruise, and they had a special party for a few of us couples doing so, which was very nice. However, they "lost" the roll of film of photos they took of us, ALL of us couples there, and only offered us a free photo off the photo rack in replacement. HUGE disappointment. Passengers remember things like that when considering what line to sail on again.

Royal used to be our favorite line, but it has changed over the years (and yes I know, so have DH and I). What we like about Royal is, beautiful ships, well cared for. Cheerful staff, so they must enjoy working there. Our last cruise on there two years ago we had a balcony cabin, not a suite, and it was plenty roomy with a fantastic balcony, and the decor of the cabin was bright and cheerful. The mattress was wonderful. Service was consistent and good. Food used to be superior and so fresh on Royal, but now it seems frozen and nuked at times. What bothers us most about Royal anymore is all the raucous activities, often out on deck all day and into the late night. Noisy big crowds. LOTS AND LOTS of kids, often unattended by their parents. Royal sometimes offers great discounts on cruises which are hard to resist! We don't rule out sailing on them again in the future.

Celebrity: What we like about Celebrity is that it seems slightly more upscale. The shows are excellent. Everything seems very well organized; embarkation, debarkation, port tours, activities, etc. Staff is very polite and will go out of their way to make sure you are happy and content. The captains always keep passengers well informed. We received personal attention when buying an expensive anniversary piece of jewelry last year, and couldn't have gotten better treatment anywhere else on the planet, they were so accommodating and wanting to make it a special occasion. While the MDR is just average, the food in Luminae last year was very good (we were in Aqua class). One downside of Celebrity is that the cabins are VERY small. For our cruise this summer we booked a Sky Suite, which is very roomy but $$. But worth it for a nine day cruise.

Of course these are just our observations. NCL and Royal seem to cater to younger people (DH and I are in mid-fifties now). Celebrity seems to have fewer onboard activities, but we enjoy the slower pace and the ability to find serenity just sailing without overhearing loud activities outdoors all day. Also just remembered, Celebrity has the "Solarium" which is an adults only pool, enclosed, which is a sort of Shangri La just for adults. A nice place to sunbathe, swim or just read a book.

All three cruise lines have their good points. :) And no cruise is ever perfect. We do try to just enjoy the positives of whatever ship we sail on. I was only pointing out our experiences, not those of anyone else. Happy Sailing!

Having sailed all 3 (but Celebrity once), I'll jump in here.

Had high hopes for Celebrity....sailed Solstice about 5 years ago. Was disappointed in service, which was a surprise to me. It was a family cruise for us (all adults), and we had 5 cabins, all ocean balcony, all on different parts of the ship.

Beautiful ship. Service at the bars was, at best, spotty. Sometimes it would be OK. Then, it would be like we were being ignored, no matter what the time of day, or the bar (or bar area). Not sure if the size of our group was intimidating or what the issue was. We even tried to throw in some extra tipping to change our fate, but mostly nothing changed. Food service was OK, for the most part. Food overall was fine (have had better on MSC and NCL).

Entertainment was subdued...nowhere near the quality of NCL or RCCL. The highlight was the glass blowing exhibition. Not exactly scintillating, but interesting. We did enjoy playing bocce ball and crocket in the unique lawn area.

Long and short of it, I paid for, and expected an upscale experience. Was disappointed. Would have been disappointed even if the price was similar to NCL, RCCL or Carnival.

Have an RCCL Harmony cruise coming up in about 4 weeks. I've been on the Liberty, Allure and Anthem....all beautiful ships. I have high hopes for Harmony. But, I know what to expect. It's a huge ship. There will be lines, and there will be crowds. I expect the entertainment to be good, and food (at least the specialty restaurants) will be exemplary.

Service will be commensurate to the crowd. Service personnel do what they can with the amount of people on board. Mostly, they succeed.

I've never been disappointed on the cleanliness or the looks of RCCL ships. They're well designed and have lots to do. My hope is that hasn't changed.

Love the Solarium area and have spent, and will spend, a lot of time there. Reading, relaxing, with a cocktail.

NCL is my favorite. Lots to do. Food and service are consistently good. Entertainment (at least on their newer ships) is the best at sea, and equals ANYTHING you'd see in Vegas.

I've stayed in solo cabins, regular cabins, and Haven Suites (which are a whole different experience). NCL has been consistently good.

Ships are very clean and beautiful.

Pools are small, though. Not that I want to do laps, and I certainly would not try to muscle my way to a 7 foot by 2 foot area around an already crowded pool. But, there are other areas to retreat to on the ship.

Mostly, I stay away from the pool areas on any of the ships, regardless of the cruise line. Just not worth the crowding and hassle.

Pricing ebbs and flows it seems. I could have actually secured a pretty good deal on Celebrity Equinox in July, and chosen from some nice perks (like a drink package). Still, my earlier experience steered me away. Maybe some day I'll give them another shot.

RCCL had competitive prices and the opportunity to be on their newest ship was appealing, so I booked them.

NCL really had some nice deals a year or two ago. They have different management now. And, prices have gone up, sometimes steeply. So, I'm staying away from them until they become competitive, again.

Not my favorite, but rising is MSC. They only have one ship sailing in North America right now (Divina). But, I sailed them late last year. Their Yacht Club (suite experience) is amazing as is the ship itself...just beautiful.

Entertainment isn't a match to NCL or RCCL. But, the service, the food, the ship, all of it was exemplary.

Icing on the cake...at the time, the Yacht Club fare was similar to the fare on an regular balcony cabin on either NCL or RCCL.

I like it so much I booked a Mediterranean Cruise this Fall on their newest ship, Meriviglia.

We've been on all three and enjoyed Celebrity most. :D

I guess it all depends on a ship and particular cruise. Service was always the best on Celebrity, except for last time on Silhuette from out assistant waiter.

We never experienced crowds in NCL MDR, but we do like to schedule dining times, same goes for X and RCCL.

We enjoy entertainment with all three lines a lot, but it again depends on the ship. Once on RCCL Brilliance it was weak, on larger ships it was much better, especially on Allure. We enjoyed entertainment on Jewel class of NCL, but on Breakaway shows were just not our style.

While we've not sailed NCL, there are opinions on RCI and X. (for who doesn't have opinions?)...

We were RCI people for YEARS.

We are now X people exclusively.

RCI doesn't care if you come back or not, honestly. There are SO MANY new people just starting out in cruising that they fill their ships and are making money hand over fist. They have proven that with our last two cruise, VERY poor quality, mediocre food, piss poor service. This is from TWO recent cruises.

X is the line for us. It's top notch and quality. I realize they are 'owned' by RCI and that's fine.

Until Fain gets his act together and goes back to a quality product with RCI we're keeping them at arm's length.

YMMV.

Do you think food got worse on RCCL?

We sailed with them in 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2013 and twice in 2016 and never for food. Worst food was on Splendor in 2004, next three on Explorer were ok. 2013 (Brilliance) was the best, and next two Allure and Anthem were decent.

Of course Celebrity is much better in food department. Always was.

I've never sailed RC or Princess, but I have NCL and Celebrity, and of the two, Celebrity is the better product for me. While the NCL ships are beautiful. they felt more crowded in the public spaces than Celebrity(I'm excepting both pool and buffet areas on both ships because they are crowded no matter what). I also found the staff on Celebrity more welcoming, accommodating, and personable. I liked the food on both lines, Celebrity gets more points for flavor but NCL had more variety of restaurants. I would love to try RC one day, in watching various video tours of the newest ships(one professionally shot by the company, one 2 part episode of "Mighty Ships" on Smithsonian Channel, one by an independent TA who is an authorized seller of RC and other lines who was taking a vacation, and several by passengers on vacation), they are beautiful, the various cabins and suites are beautifully appointed and everything looks beautiful in the public spaces. What puts me off a bit is the mall like atmosphere of the Central Park and shopping areas and how crowded it looks in those public spaces. Maybe one time in the winter for a 5 day, as RC sails all year round from Bayonne, and it's a close to home port for me.

Do you think food got worse on RCCL?

We sailed with them in 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2013 and twice in 2016 and never for food. Worst food was on Splendor in 2004, next three on Explorer were ok. 2013 (Brilliance) was the best, and next two Allure and Anthem were decent.

Of course Celebrity is much better in food department. Always was.

There was a time in the 1980's when MDR food on RCCL as was really very good but no more. :(

Happily, now their Specialty Restaurants are. :)

I've never sailed RC or Princess, but I have NCL and Celebrity, and of the two, Celebrity is the better product for me. While the NCL ships are beautiful. they felt more crowded in the public spaces than Celebrity(I'm excepting both pool and buffet areas on both ships because they are crowded no matter what). I also found the staff on Celebrity more welcoming, accommodating, and personable. I liked the food on both lines, Celebrity gets more points for flavor but NCL had more variety of restaurants. I would love to try RC one day, in watching various video tours of the newest ships(one professionally shot by the company, one 2 part episode of "Mighty Ships" on Smithsonian Channel, one by an independent TA who is an authorized seller of RC and other lines who was taking a vacation, and several by passengers on vacation), they are beautiful, the various cabins and suites are beautifully appointed and everything looks beautiful in the public spaces. What puts me off a bit is the mall like atmosphere of the Central Park and shopping areas and how crowded it looks in those public spaces. Maybe one time in the winter for a 5 day, as RC sails all year round from Bayonne, and it's a close to home port for me.

Actually atmosphere in Central Park is quite nice... it is quite, green and birds are singing. :) But Oasis class is sailing only out of Florida.

Smaller (still huge) Anthem is sailing out of NJ, but it is hardly represents RCCL although it has its own strong points ... like great Solarium. If I wanted to try Royal, I'd sail on any other classes than Anthem (Quantum)

What I like are the posts that state 'xxxx is a better product for me', or 'I personally like xxxx Line because....'. These statements capture what is really in each post, personal/biased(in a nice way)/subjective opinion. We pick the Line that meets our personal needs within our personal budget.

I've sailed all 3 and will continue to pick Celebrity as the Line I go to unless there is a specific reason such as an itinerary or join friends.

RCL has much more activities and options, but to me is also very crowded and noisy. I tried to use the Central Park venue but it was always crowded. I loved the entertainment and the dining was ok, but I'll never go on such huge ships again. I want to know I'm at sea, I'm not looking for a floating hotel or amusement park.

As for NCL, no thanks. Just not my cup of tea, or more appropriately, my glass of wine! All the venues were crowded and of little use. Unless you go Suite and get the special private areas, not that great. Not a great ratio of service people to customer and it showed.

With all those negatives, I loved all my cruises. I tried not to compare and complain, But I enjoy cruising more on a Celebrity ship. The best ship: S-Class is Eclipse, M-Class is Constellation. I think the T-Spa pool on M-Class is the best pool afloat. I get a SR well forward so we can zip up each morning and bubble away.

Looking forward to the Edge Class. Heck, already set to go in 2019!

All enjoy your specgic choices or if you love to go on a variety of Lines.

Den

Have experience with X , NCL, HAL, Princess. I agree with may posters, NCL has lesser food quality, more congestion especially with open dining, and the (in my mind artificial) pump things up it's party time atmosphere which we don't appreciate. What has caused me to leave them completely are their drink package policies (we require this on any Carib itinerary). They give you 'free' Ultimate Beverage package and then ask you to pay an 18% gratuity on an inflated price (79 per day I believe). To add insult to injury no bottled water included and you cannot bring any on board.

X is our favorite line but find Princess and HAL compelling. These mid status cruise lines do a creditable job and each have positives and negatives based in part on ship and itinerary. I really don't think you can do wrong on X particularly the S class vessels.

Have sailed NCL and Celebrity, not RCL.

Positive/Negative (my preference) for each.

NCL

+ entertainment, esp larger ships (Epic) as they give you options in the evening.

+ relaxed feel of the ship, casual dress (shorts in MDR), more pub like feel to areas

- embarking, seems you wait longer and more line up approach and wait for number to getting on ship first day

- smoke in main areas ... really minded this on Epic

- disembarking, nightmare on last sailing with them - almost fights in the line ups

- line ups at Guest Services speaks volumes

Celebrity

+ embarking and disembarking. surprised to see it could be so good both ways

+ no smoking in any main area, to include casino. LOVE THIS!

+ calmer feel to the ship which not sure if ship design or clientele

+ service seems better ... to compare to above, Guest Services one can walk right up so guess everyone happy

- can feel a bit too dressy uppy for me in the evening, thus my + for NCL dress code; I am more a no pretense person

- entertainment. find this really lacking so can feel a bit lost especially in the evening, though if port intensive it matters less

I am also not a foodie really so I cannot say I found one ship blew me away more than the other with their food. But the buffet on Celebrity has been a better experience as it seems better able to handle the people, could be due to many more that choose the MDR for all meals?

I will add that asking this question will not necessarily help anyone with their own selection. Things are too subjective and depends so much on what matters to you. I've sailed Celebrity most recently, and next one booked with them for May 2018 on Equinox; pricing comes out better than all others I've been researching. NOTHING prices better for me right now and I check all the time. I would love to try RCL Quantum ships but when I price a 9 day (balcony) it comes out almost same price as I'm paying for 10 day around same date and that is not counting the $500 US OBC and Classic drink package included. Maybe RCL one after that :cool:

Between NCL, Royal and Celebrity

 

 

 

Which is your favorite cruise line & why?

 

 

 

Which is your least favorite cruise line & why?

 

 

 

Which is your favorite ship on each cruise line & why?

 

 

 

I've sailed on Royal Allure & Oasis and Celebrity Eclipse. I'm sailing on NCL Escape in November. I loved all 3 cruises but the Allure & Oasis have the edge over Eclipse because I enjoyed the entertainment much more on Allure & Oasis. All 3 ships were beautiful but Allure & Oasis had the promenade and Central Park.

 

 

 

I will post this on the 3 sites.

RCCL. So much more to do. I also like the overall atmosphere of RCCL

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We have only sailed on Celebrity once before, and Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas once. Oasis was way too big for my taste. The crowds were overwhelming to me, and being such a big ship impacted which ports / docks we could go to. I really loved the balcony room we had on Oasis however, and there was a great deal of high quality entertainment. Our next cruise is going to be on Celebrity however - smaller ship, smaller crowds, less over-stimulation.

I'm interested in why the OP did not include HAL in the comparison - as I have always enjoyed HAL - though I found the age skewed pretty old. We have sailed on NCL, RC and HAL quite a bit then took a break from cruising and returned to it with Celebrity 3 years ago - we enjoyed Celebrity very much. Last year was Oceania which was very nice. In 2 days will be on the Eclipse.

While I've found Celebrity is good - I think the entertainment was much better on RC and NCL. I've been looking at some NCL cruises - but seeing the comments re the food quality is a bit concerning and not getting bottled water with the drink package just sucks!

Very interesting post, and love the discussion.

We are not the most experienced cruisers, but have sailed 1 cruise each on NCL, HAL, Carnival, MSC, and X (in that order). Our second X cruise is coming up in 11/2018 (Silhouette). Would like to try Princess, but the right opportunity has not come along. I agree with previous posters that this is so subjective as everyone has different tastes. Generally, we found something to like about every cruise we have been on, but now that we have tried a few lines, we have solidified some preferences.

My wife and I are in our mid-50's, and prefer a more relaxing experience, so cannot imagine sailing the large mega-ships with tons of activities, but I do see why they appeal to others. Given that we booked our 2nd X cruise (our first "repeat" experience with any line), we think we may have found a "home". We had a great experience with the food, and did did not feel the need to do specialty dining. The Classic beverage package suited us perfectly, and loved that it covered all of the coffee's, bottled water, soda, etc. We loved that it did not feel like a "party boat". It did not feel over-crowded. It was easy to find places to relax. In short, "it fit us".

That said, we truly enjoyed our experiences on HAL and MSC, and certainly would cruise with them again. Again, both of those lines are very different, but much to like about each.

We've sailed about 15 celebrity, 18 ncl and 6 Royal.

We love celebrity and ncl and find them really different apart from one thing, service and visibility of officers is high on both. Because royal sits in the middle for us we only do it if the itinerary isn't available with the others.

Ncl, done everything from sun and spirit, through the Jewel ones to big ones like epic, Breakaway and escape.

Love the entertainment on the big ships, so much choice. Specialty restaurants are great and a decent price for a meal package. I find packing easy, jeans, shorts, couple of sun dresses.

The pool areas get crazy however vibe on the big ships is a bonus and good price, quiet area for limited number of people.

Celebrity, love the product, not as crowded, like dressing up a bit more but hate the packing to do this. Main dining room so much better than ncl but specialty restaurants no better and so much more money than ncl. I wish they would learn a bit from ncl when it comes to entertainment in the theatre.

We have a great time no matter what we choose and we would do Royal again and enjoy it but nothing stands out for us, sort of middle of the road and were either in the mood for classier or fun.

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We have sailed all three lines and had a good time each time. Here is my summary:

Food: Celebrity #1 by a long shot; NCL #2 and Royal #3. This is of course subjective and if our two experiences with food on Royal were typical, it would not be a popular cruise line. We just completed a NCL cruise. I thought the food was good but heard both raves and rants about it, lol. Unlike a previous poster, we had no waits for a table in the main dining rooms. I think this is due to the many options now available and the number of people on the specialty dining packages. I did see some waiting around 7-7:30 p.m. as we were leaving. We did not enter as they first opened which is a sure way to avoid a wait.

Entertainment: NCL and Royal tied for #1; Celebrity distant third.

Price: NCL generally cheaper followed by Royal and then Celebrity but this can vary and might depend on the perks available at the time of booking. NCL has an automatic upgrade offer that you can bid on your own. We have successfully bid upgrades from inside to balcony on our last two cruises with NCL. Note that the beverage package on NCL requires prepayment of gratuity on the package so it is not "free" but does include most drinks but not water like Celebrity.

Passengers: This depends more on the length of the cruise. NCL and Royal generally have more families and activities for children but their longer itineraries have the same demographics as Celebrity. The one week one we took on Celebrity had many families and many children; longer ones very few on any of the lines we travel. The atmosphere on NCL is more casual. If you prefer dressier, Celebrity is best. If you like casual, it's NCL. Haven't been on Royal for a while so can't say for sure about that but the ones we took had few young people and dress was more like Celebrity than NCL.

I'd choose based on price and itinerary.

Me too.

However there is a rule of thumb for (productive) comparisons: we compare ships, not cruise lines.

If we compare their best ships: #1 RCI, #2 NCL, #3 Celebrity.

If we compare their worst ships: #1 Celebrity, #2 RCI, #3 NCL.

 

We have sailed on

RCI on Oasis & Allure

Celebrity on Eclipse

NCL on Escape

We are going with the family in Jan on the RCI Freedom. How do you rank this ship for RCI? Thanks

I'm interested in why the OP did not include HAL in the comparison - as I have always enjoyed HAL - though I found the age skewed pretty old. We have sailed on NCL, RC and HAL quite a bit then took a break from cruising and returned to it with Celebrity 3 years ago - we enjoyed Celebrity very much. Last year was Oceania which was very nice. In 2 days will be on the Eclipse.

 

While I've found Celebrity is good - I think the entertainment was much better on RC and NCL. I've been looking at some NCL cruises - but seeing the comments re the food quality is a bit concerning and not getting bottled water with the drink package just sucks!

I've cruised NCL twice and had good experiences. Both times, I got a 3 or 4 night specialty dining package and the food was excellent in the specialty restaurants. I recommend that package and it sometimes is included in the price if there is a sale. Food in the MDR on NCL was ok but I liked NCL's buffet much better than the Windjammer on RCL. NCL also has a great spa. We do like RCL and are sailing the Harmony of the Seas in March. We sailed Celebrity once many years ago with my parents and before our son was born. They are not kid-friendly. However, my son is 15 now and I can see us trying Celebrity again in a few years.