seaofwonder

We think the prices have climbed too. We stopped cruising for almost two years (we're close to D+) and more than that since Royal. Just booked a cruise for next summer and ended up with Royal because of the itinerary....otherwise, we found NCL to be a great experience and can be considerably cheaper.

Who knows....another artificial price increase to make it look like a deal. These new "sales" are such a joke.

I am also a carry on person (longest was a 6 week trip). I never wear clothes more than once (it's a weird quirk). I use the ship laundry service or hand wash. Takes a few minutes of my time.

I have free checked luggage due to status and credit cards, but I don't like being burdened with it.

Well drats. We were never informed that was an option. Royal would place the menus in our room each day, but ncl did not do that.

Well, maybe not the exact price of the cruise (although it is good info), but the % discount.

Maybe folks can post the rates they are getting if they book?

We get almost weekly emails now from the casino.

Yes, NCL suite perks were very nice. I only wish they had better in suite dining. That is one area that Royal does better. You can get MDR meals in your room and I didn't see that option on NCL.

Pompeii definitely deserves more than 2 hours! Would love to return someday.

So many places to visit and not enough time!

Should also add....now that we stepped out of our comfort zone, we feel more at ease with trying a new line. So we are open to everything now. For the right itinerary and the right price :)

The loyalty benefits on royal aren't enough to pay so much more. We are not drinkers, so the nightly diamond event just doesn't do it for us.

But I'll be back on royal as I have a nonrefundable ncc that I have to use sometime.

Well, for us, since we spend most of our time in our room, the experience would have been different. Here are the ways I can think of:

Similar:

Balconies were similar size. So we could still enjoy that.

Bed: same size and comfort level.

Shows and bars: same

Meals: same

Differences:

Less movies to watch as we wouldn't have had access to the dvd menu

No chocolate covered strawberries

No free champagne (which we gave away)

Would have had to pay for room service (which we used almost every morning)

Longer line up to get on shuttle bus in Rome, losing 30 more minutes of port time

Honestly....it wouldn't have affected things. I've cruised on both suites and non-suites on royal and so I was trying to compare our two suite experiences.

The lines are more similar than they are different.

We were in a penthouse suite and it was much larger than a junior suite on Royal.

Thanks DebJ. I am glad we are not alone in our cruising style.

Keep checking out NCL. Their promotions have been really good. Also, if it's after final payment and there is a price drop they will work with you for a better room and they even gave us some OBC, even though we didn't ask.

I booked this exact cruise for next summer on NCL. I've only sailed on Royal Caribbean and was a bit nervous about trying NCL but figured a port intensive Mediterranean cruise is all about the destinations and not the ship. Would love to hear your thoughts on the ports of call, what tours you booked etc...

Hi there,

Most of the ports were return visits for me. I booked the cruise for the new ports of Venice, Barcelona, and Istanbul. We travel a lot in Europe, so I did almost everything as diy, including car rentals. Only did one tour. I prefer being off by myself and using a good guidebook or just getting lost. Here is what I did:

Kusadasi - rented a car and drove to sirince. Had the place to myself for several hours. Had tea with a local shop owner and chatted for awhile with him. Stopped on selcuk on the way back because I saw some signs for sites. Last time I did Ephesus and highly recommend it.

Mykonos - just wandered around the streets on my own. Very easy to do. Some ppl do beaches here and I heard those were harder to get to on your own. Not really a whole lot to do here.

Istanbul - went on my own with a guidebook. Tram is only a 10 minute walk and is super easy to find. Only 4 lira each way! Saw everything that the tours saw, but at my own pace. This was the highlight of my cruise....many people expressed that they did not like turkey, but I love the culture and the mix of east and west. The call to prayer was great to stop and listen to.

Athens - caught the express bus for 4 euros for the whole day. This was a return visit, so I went back to the Acropolis and then visited a lot of sites I didn't see before. I actually preferred being on my own than on a tour. I feel like I saw more.

Rome - skipped Rome as we had been there for 4 days before the cruise (and a few weeks stay a couple years ago). We caught the shuttle bus and rented a car (super easy). Drove to Orvieto (a return visit to purchase pottery that I love) and San bagnoregio. So much fun driving around!

Florence - skipped Florence as we had visited a few years ago. Rented a car right at the port. Quick stop at Pisa, then over to San gimignano and volterra. Mostly enjoyed the beautiful Tuscan scenery and stopped a lot taking pics.

Toulon - this port was a big meh for me. We rented a car and drove to aix. I wish ncl would replace this port with another French port that is more accessible to other cities.

Barcelona - we stayed overnight at Jazz hotel (great hotel!). Spent most of the day visiting gaudi sites. Metro is very easy to use.

Venice - stayed at hotel Europa near the grand canal. Great hotel that is close to st. Mark's. We only spent 1 night pre-cruise and had a whole day to visit. For me, that was more than enough. I thought I would love Venice more than I did. My Italian heart is in Rome.

Naples - joined a tour organized on the roll call. AP Tours. They were good. Pompeii was great. Wish I had more time there though.our guide was just ok. Then went to position and sorrento. Was very rushed with only an hour in each town. I think I would have skipped one to allow for a more leisurely meal in the other.

We cruise for a few reasons:

1. For the ports. The ship doesn't really matter as much to me. It's about the destination. The thought of staying at an all inclusive hotel resort for a week would drive me bonkers. But I don't really like water or drunk people...so that probably explains it.

2. A compromise between hubby and I. I like the ports and he likes to veg out on the ship only getting off at 1 or 2 stops (he is disabled and cruising makes it easy for him).

3. On previous ships we spend a considerable amount of time, and money, in the casino.

4. I do attend shows....on the big ships that have good shows (Broadway shows).

Everyone vacations differently. And no, I don't want to socialize with people on a cruise (I like to talk with locals when I visit a new place, but don't really want to talk with other cruisers onboard)....a few minutes of idle conversation at dinner is enough. Fortunately, cruise ships allow me to be able to do...while everyone else can do what they like.

Again, different strokes for different folks. Also, lots of cruisers are like us....they get a suite and enjoy their room and private balcony.

Cruising is good value (generally). Hubby gets the resort feel and I get to visit new places. I much prefer to rent apartments and stay put, but that isn't hubby's idea of fun.

Sorry for the confusion. Yes, our first cruise was on NCL and we didn't like it. This cruise was good though.

The outside of the ship doesn't affect me at all. It's all about what is inside, particularly the room.

Yes, the concierge was MuCH better on NCL. To the point that she was getting a bit annoying checking up on us everyday (calling and knocking on door). We asked her to stop after the third day. But then she would catch us at dinner or around the ship, which worked well for us.

The pricing at Royal is just not worth the experience.

Hello all,

We recently jumped ship to NCL for a cruise and I thought I would share my thoughts on the differences. We decided to jump ship because NCL had a great itinerary and their prices for a 12 day Med cruise were cheaper than Royal's 7 day offering.

Who we are: Diamond cruisers on Royal. We tried NCL as our first cruise and disliked it. We attributed it to being our first cruise and not knowing what to expect. We have no children and are late 30s and late 40s.

Our cruising style: we are very laid back. We hate dressing up. Usually book junior suites or full suites. We don't really go to shows as we find Royal's offerings to be poor (except for Allure, which was great). We don't swim or drink. We usually veg out in our room watching movies. I tend to get pretty antisocial on vacation. I just want to relax and be alone. We are not foodies and usually eat in the buffet with trips to the MDR for breakfast and a few dinners.

THE COMPARISON:

Itinerary: we wanted a cruise leaving Venice and stopping in Istanbul. NCL's offerings blew Royal away. It was 12 days from Venice to Barcelona with stops in: Istanbul, Athens, Mykonos, Kusadasi, Naples, Rome, Livorno, Toulon. Some were repeat ports. NCL WINS.

Ship: we were on the Spirit. This is their smallest ship and I would equate it to the older Rhapsody class. We have been on several of those ships pre-enhancements. I found the Spirit to be very comparable to the pre-enhanced ships. Which I was fine with. I don't need big movie screens at the pool or anything. The ship looked really good for its age. Honestly, no worse than any of Royal's ships pre-enhancements. Things were laid out similar to Royal ships. There was an atrium area, shops, spa, casino, etc. buffet at the back on the pool deck. Smoking on one side of pool deck and on the outside promenade deck. Plenty of elevators. NCL AND ROYAL TIE (ROYAL WINS WITH NEWLY ENHANCED SHIPS).

Stateroom: We upgraded to a penthouse suite about a week before the cruise. This came with some benefits that are different from Royal. The actual room was somewhere between a grand suite and an owners suite. I thought the size was small for a suite, but it is an older ship. We loved that it had a separate bedroom, unlike Royal's owners suites. There was a Keurig-style coffee maker. All TVs had a DVD player. TV in living room and bedroom. They provided bathroom amenities just like Royal as well as robes and slippers.

Being in the suite allowed us access to Cagney's restaurant for private breakfast and lunch. This is really nice and better than Royal who just lets you sit in a special area of dining room (at least that is how it was on a few of our cruises). We also had special seating in the theater (never went though).

They escorted you on the ship to your room and also escorted you off the ship. I don't recall that happening with Royal.

The concierge was also present everywhere on the ship. Not just sitting in a room. We found the concierge on our Royal cruises to be pretty useless. This one walked through restaurants and said hi. When we asked for some strawberries she had them delivered every time.

The other big difference was the butler. She was great! Brought us movies and our room service every morning. Also brought us snacks every day(we only got snacks 1-2x on a 7 day Royal cruise). It was nice having someone who got to know your needs throughout the cruise.

ROYAL WINS FOR SIZE. NCL WINS FOR OVERALL SUITE EXPERIENCE.

Food: this is very subjective. We had a free dining package and never ate in the MDR. We found their restaurants to be similar in quality to Royal. For a small ship there were 4 choices for specialty dining. The buffet was the same as Royal. Poor choices and food was mediocre. I CALL THIS A TIE.

Onboard activities: We only did trivia once but the onboard offerings were pretty much the same. TIE.

Stateroom attendant: NCL WINS HANDS DOWN. Royal's attendants have been appalling on our recent cruises. Not showing up until after 11 AM. On one cruise they didn't even show up one day! The cutbacks on Royal were definitely felt. And yes, I am comparing to suite service. Our attendant on NCL was great. Towel animals every night (not a big deal, but a nice touch). Cleaned the room right after we left every morning. It was great!

Embarkation and disembarkation were pretty much the same.

Overall: Tie. Honestly, the similarities outweighed any differences. If you have kids, maybe not. But for an old married couple, NCL was just fine.

We will now choose our cruises based on itinerary and price. NCL was much cheaper and we got so much freebies ($800 OBC, ultimate beverage package, and dining package). We've never come close to that on Royal.

Do you have to purchase the package for the entire cruise? Or can you just pick and choose days?

We ended up with a full suite for the original price of our balcony. Price dropped a Lot on our balcony, but we were happy to upgrade.

We board her on Sunday! I hope there are no delays getting onboard. We plan to arrive around 12:30 And hubby won't want to return to Venice (disabled).

Can't wait!

I have read conflicting reports on being able to use the dining package to order room service from speciality restaurants. I'll be trying it on my cruise departing Sunday.

Just landed at FCO. We were shifted over to terminal 1 due to the fire in T3. There is one atm machine. It would not accept my Bank of America card; however, that same card worked in another atm in the city.

I keep getting the 50% off ones for August. Keep hoping they'll switch it to free. The Caribbean in August....I just can't pay for that!

Thank you jjj!

Thank you. I guess we'll just need to ask about the UDP delivery once we arrive, since there appears to be discrepant information.

Good to know re bottled water. I know it is not expensive, I was just trying to learn what is included and what is not.

Just upgraded to a penthouse for our Med cruise next week. Been searching the boards and just have a couple questions:

If we have the UDP package can we have our specialty restaurant meals delivered and use the UDP?

I know there is an "all you can stuff" bag of laundry deal. Do suites get any discounts on that bag? Or any kind of free laundry?

Bottled water: we have the UBP and I don't think water is Included in that. Will the butler bring bottled water free of charge?