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Princess compared to NCL


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We’re taking our first NCL cruise on the Sky to Cuba over New Years. It’s a 4 day cruise round trip Miami. How does NCL compare to Princess? Please share any tips you think will make our experience more pleasurable. Thank you :)

 

 

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I think going to Cuba would be wonderful, if you are normally a Princess cruiser, and unless you are in the Haven on NCL, just think of it as transportation ans should be fine.

 

 

 

That’s what I figured. We just took a regular balcony cabin. There aren’t any sea days. We have one night of specialty dining. Any suggestions as to which restaurant?

 

 

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Not for nothing does NCL refer to their product as "Freestyle Cruising"

 

Open seating dinner only.

No dress code at all to speak of. Even when they requested no shorts at dinner in just one dining room (plus their French/Continental specialty restaurant) it was never enforced.

Even their smallest ships have a plethora of upcharge dining. But if you want service the level of Princess' MDR you should spring for it most nights.

All room service carries a charge except continental breakfast.

All wine brought on is assessed a corkage fee, no "one fee-free bottle" per person.

 

Can I say anything helpful? Well, on Norwegian Sky the cabin bathrooms are much nicer than Princess, with glass enclosed showers.

The crew (other than officers) are almost entirely from the Philippines or other South Asian nations, thus very respectful and deferential to the passengers. [i didn't mean that to sound so much like a stereotype. But its true.]

 

The entertainment will be geared more to adults rather than safe for all ages. Kids and retirees may want to avoid the game shows or production shows geared to 60s/70s nostalgia--replete with language and (simulated) imbibing of natural products.

Oh, and some of those game shows have a fee to participate.

 

All that said (and I do tend to prattle on) a Cuba cruise is a completely unique experience. You should rely a lot more on reviews of the specific itinerary rather than generalizations and comparisons of the cruise line.

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The food on the NCL star was much weaker than any of the other cruise lines we'd sailed (Princess, HAL, Cunard and surprisingly even Carnival). We really liked most of the specialty restaurants, especially Moderno which is Brazilian table side slow roasted meat. Aside from the food (we're picky and knew about this ahead of time and planned on specialty dining) everything else on NCL was very nice, and we'd sail again if we found the right itinerary (we'd get a dining plan and eat at all specialty restaurants, but other people are happy with their food so you might be fine)

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My relatives just returned from the Sky. They loved going to Cuba as it was a bucket list item for them, but they didn’t have much to say about the Sky besides saying that it was “plain and a bit run down”, their exact words.

 

Normally when they enjoy something, they will not shut up about it. With their sailing about the Sky they have been very quiet about the ship although they will not shut up about Cuba.

 

 

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My DH and I were on the NCL Breakaway twice- NYC to Bermuda.

Why twice ?

NYC to Bermuda-a place we love,so the Breakaway was transportation for us.

However, with the great number of passengers , Free Style concept,smoking in the casino escaping onto the atrium decks (. 6,7,8) and the use of the drink package, we were not impressed by the onboard experience.

Shortly after the last NCL cruise, we took a repo cruise on the Regal Princess , NYC to Fort Lauderdale.

We were so glad to be on a Princess ship !

I agree with all that has been posted here.

Cuba should be quite interesting,enjoy the experience !

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I went on the Sky 2 years ago with my daughter. I thought the food in the main dining room was very subpar. I did think the buffet food was quite good but it was laid out as one very long buffet line and at times took a long time to get food. You have to get your own beverages and seating was often difficult to find.

 

The stateroom was fine. The service was very good.

The entertainment was pretty good actually too.

 

Overall Princess is a more elegant experience.

 

 

 

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Your trip will be one day down and one day back. Miami is close to Cuba; I would choose the steak house or le bistro. Both were excellent. Le Bistro was had more choices for dinner than the steak house. We sailed NCL in 2015 for 14 nights. We had a good time; the staff was excellent; everyone we met were friendly and helpful. Food was ok; specialty venues were very good. Don't worry about the ship; have fun in Cuba. Oh sailed Princess for first time last year. Had such a good time that booked another cruise for Feb 2019.

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Your trip will be one day down and one day back. Miami is close to Cuba; I would choose the steak house or le bistro. Both were excellent. Le Bistro was had more choices for dinner than the steak house. We sailed NCL in 2015 for 14 nights. We had a good time; the staff was excellent; everyone we met were friendly and helpful. Food was ok; specialty venues were very good. Don't worry about the ship; have fun in Cuba. Oh sailed Princess for first time last year. Had such a good time that booked another cruise for Feb 2019.

 

 

 

Thank you so much. This was very helpful. Did you try the Italian restaurant?

 

 

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I have been on NCL twice. The first time was in 1996 and I was not impressed with any of the cruise. The second and last time was in 2008 on the NCL Sun. The price was right and I thought I’d give them another try. The food in the dining room was so bad that we tried to find food elsewhere. One time we went to their steak house and the food was very good. This was the only good meal we found in the entire week. One night, in a bar, we had Chicken Fingers for dinner. That was the entire meal. I hope the food has improved.

 

Entertainment: Most of the nights the entertainment was very mediocre, two nights the entertainment was First Class. That did surprise me.

 

I hope you have a good time on the cruise and can come back on here and inform us of the good time.

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I’ve been on the Sky twice (last minute cheap getaways minutes from my home) and the Getaway twice. Sky, it’s an old ship but I still enjoyed my sailing and had some negatives but I went back on it. I’ve had numerous friends take your sailing, one just a couple of week ago and they regularly cruise high end cruise lines like their very long Crystal cruise in Africa in December and they still enjoyed themselves. They ate in the Steakhouse every night and said it was good. And they eat out every single night in Miami so do know great food. One last week. Another in December.

 

I was just on the Crown in February and my cabin had a cracked chair, torn sheets, lots of dirt and rust and a flooring that needed to be replaced. Not much different than my cabin on the Sky!

 

Unlike others, I enjoyed my sailing cruise on the Getaway. Loved the nightlife. Actually thought their entertainment was better than Princess. In all fairness, I was in the Haven so my food was exceptional in the private dining room and blew away the food on Princess but I have lots of good things to say about my sailing. I did feel like I was nickel and dimed so that bothered me over Princess but, now Princess is doing the same thing so can’t guess that’s the same now.

 

Hope you really enjoy your sailing and your time in Cuba!!

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I have been thinking of trying NCL again as it has been 11 years. But seeing these comments maybe not.

 

We did have a good time as it was my parents 50th anniversary and there were 15 of us.

 

Somehow my only real memory was a night in the MDR ordering spaghetti carbonara (my favorite ). I stuck a fork in it and lifted the entire mess up in one clump.

 

Worst ship food I have ever experienced.

 

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I have been thinking of trying NCL again as it has been 11 years. But seeing these comments maybe not.

 

We did have a good time as it was my parents 50th anniversary and there were 15 of us.

 

Somehow my only real memory was a night in the MDR ordering spaghetti carbonara (my favorite ). I stuck a fork in it and lifted the entire mess up in one clump.

 

Worst ship food I have ever experienced.

 

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Lol- Thanks to all the comments, we’re going to eat in specialty restaurants all 4 nights. We’ll consider this ship transportation as many have suggested. My husband is now worried about lunch. Is there a grill by the pool? How are the Pina Coladas?

 

 

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We’re taking our first NCL cruise on the Sky to Cuba over New Years. It’s a 4 day cruise round trip Miami. How does NCL compare to Princess? Please share any tips you think will make our experience more pleasurable. Thank you :)

 

 

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😂😂😂

 

My family are en route to a Princess cruise - I am on CC passing the time because waiting at airport hotels is boring. Last night we had a conversation about whether or not coral Princess would be as good as NCL (our experience is on the Epic) and RCL. We have repeated a very similar itinerary several times and I really don’t see a difference between the two lines. I think N C L works out marginally better value for us but what we prefer is the anytime dining concept. We like to eat when we are hungry and not when the cruise line determines. In RCL and NCL I have never had a bad meal.

 

I think it is very much what you are familiar with.

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Thanks everyone. I think we’ll do at least 2 nights of specialty dining. We’ll think of it as a way to spend New Years and see Cuba. Maybe we’ll be pleasantly surprised, but I doubt it.

 

 

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I did the NCL Sky to Cuba May 2017. The food in the dining room was HORRIBLE. Not only what was written on the menu NOT what was delivered (dolmas ... just leaves with ground meat inside, nothing else ... no seasoning, rice). Cheesecake ... they served a graham cracker crust with custard. That's NOT cheesecake. A steak dinner that could NOT be cut through with the steak knife.

YES ... drinks were free.

It's a fast sail from Miami to Cuba and 1 1/2 days in Cuba was the best.

It really is just transport to Cuba. I LOVED the entertainment. But since it's a very short & quick cruise, you aren't going to get big broadway productions.

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I took my first NCL cruise on the NCL Pearl and six more NCL cruises followed that one which followed 6 Princess cruises. Although I can't speak for the NCL Sky as I never sailed on that ship I can tell you I was very pleased with my NCL cruise experiences which I found overall more similar to Princess than different.

 

My next cruise is this coming October on the Caribbean Princess which I am looking forward to after not sailing Princess for a few years, but I would most definitely sail NCL again especially their bigger ships like the NCL Breakaway which is my favorite ship of either line.

 

Enjoy your cruise :)

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Both are mass market cruise lines and would be similar. Either one would probably meet your expectations. I found the food choices and quality on NCL better then Princess in the MDR. The specialty restaurants on NCL are far superior to Princess but the Buffet on NCL I didn't like, Princess wins on that.

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Thank you so much. This was very helpful. Did you try the Italian restaurant?

 

 

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Yes we did eat at the Italian restaurant. It was our least favorite. Service was slow and food was same as main dining room. Again, LeBistro and Cagneys were excellent

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That’s what I figured. We just took a regular balcony cabin. There aren’t any sea days. We have one night of specialty dining. Any suggestions as to which restaurant?

 

 

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Does Sky have Moderno? If so, my choice. Otherwise, steak house.

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We just got off two weeks on the Getaway. We are Princess fans, but we’re going with family groups and felt we wanted more for the kids. We were not impressed with the dining room food or service at all. First, the breakfast and lunch menus are the same every day. We are used to menus changing in the dining room. Service was extremely slow every time we ate in there. We ate in La Cucina - would go again; Tepanakki - fun would go again if I had a package wouldn’t pay outright; Moderno -wouldn’t go back. Food was ok but took too long between gauchos coming out, then you’d only get a slice of meat and if you asked for more they cut the next one smaller; and Cagney’s. This was the best. In two weeks I only ordered dessert twice and I love dessert. If you are used to Norman Love’s creations you’ll be disappointed. We really disliked that room service was a charge. The drink waiters were all nice but because pretty much everybody had drink packages, the waiters were slow or not around.

 

In the end the kids didn’t do enough of the ropes course, climbing walls, etc that our next family cruise will be back in Princess.....where we belong!!

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