Musings and comparisons - I tried NCL

My DH and I loved the two Celebrity cruises we've been on (plus one more for me). I know that is quite a pitiful and paltry amount of X cruises compared to many of you on here, but we're newer to cruising and I still thought it might be helpful to share some comparisons for those who are thinking about doing NCL. Even if you're not, maybe some of NCL's policies will make you more grateful for what you get on X! Since it's been a while, I know some of my info could be outdated, despite me being on these boards a lot. So, please feel free to correct me. :)

I did this for a Carnival sailing back in February and it was well received, so here goes.

DH and I are both 30. We love Bermuda and wanted to try the Breakaway since we had already sailed Summit. To be honest, both of us remembered looking over with longing at the Breakaway one evening while sitting in Revelations Lounge. It was about 1am and we were the only ones in there, save the bartender and DJ :eek: We were docked in Bermuda and looked out to see the top deck of the Breakaway, lights flashing and music pumping. I think that's the moment that made us consider cheating on Celebrity.

Fast forward two years and we're off the Breakaway a month now. Here is why I'll probably be choosing Celebrity over NCL for the next cruise.

Beverage Package Comparisons:

Celebrity wins because. . .

1. There is no service charge on the "free" package. NCL charges about $100 per person per week for the "free" perk. Plus, they charge taxes when in port in the US on the beverages. Very lame compared to Celebrity, we were definitely spoiled!

2. The classic package allows you both bottled water and specialty coffee. NCL's Ultimate Beverage Package does not (despite the name, ha!).

3. Now, if you ever go over to the NCL board you'll probably know this, but the major news is that NCL no longer allows you to carry on bottles of water or cans. People are freaking out. Some of it is unwarranted in my opinion, however I think if NCL is going to implement this policy, they should not charge $30 something dollars for a case of water, include water with their beverage package, or both.

4. In another stupid policy, on NCL you cannot order a can of soda with the UBP without being charged, however, you can order a soda in a cup. That just doesn't make sense and is a lot more work for the bartender.

I did like the fruity drinks menu better on NCL. Look up a Mango Meltdown and you'll see what I mean. Also, it seemed you didn't have to worry as much about what you ordered price-wise, where on X you have to be careful not to go over a certain $ amount. I think this is partly due to the premium package existing. NCL does not have an equivalent of that.

The Freestyle Concept:

We were looking forward to this after the sometimes-too-structured feel of Celebrity. I actually enjoy dressing up, but DH does not! Turns out, even I love to be able to go to a MDR dinner in shorts every once in awhile! Thumbs up to NCL for a nice balance with the freestyle wardrobe requirements - you’re required to be more dressed up for Ocean Blue (specialty), but other places it’s relaxed.

Freestyle entertainment is another story. Right after booking and researching, I was dismayed at the hype around reservations. . . .to everything! That, to me, kind of defeated the whole purpose of freestyle. I booked a lot of things that I ended up cancelling. I would always cancel within an acceptable window, but I hate feeling like I need to book stuff. DH will not even touch this process, it’s all up to me, which makes it more of an agitating task. I know you don’t “have” to reserve, but the HUGE line outside the comedy we went to drove the need for reservations home. I don’t want to spend my vacay time standing in a line because I didn’t plan in advance.

Freestyle dining was OK because we only did specialty dining one night - our best meal by far - at Ocean Blue. We reserved it 90 days ahead of time and still couldn’t get anything other than 8:30. If we had wanted more specialty dining, we would have been SOL. We heard the maitre d’ turning people away in front of us at Ocean Blue because of it just being too booked. Again, makes it not really “freestyle”, or it’s at a high cost of a long wait.

Food:

NCL Wins. . .

JUST KIDDING! HAHAHAHA. Couldn't keep a straight face with that one. Not even close.

It’s hard going on Celebrity first if you’re a foodie, because you have the expectation there for the fine dining. I liked the relaxed feel of the Breakaway, but I wanted the food to be something less like a chore and more like they enjoyed the art of cooking. Case and point, at Ocean Blue (nicest specialty restaurant), they took pride in telling you all about what you ordered and how it was prepared. Everywhere else it was just like at McDonald's, here’s what you ordered, plop it down and leave.

The food is not even in the same ballpark as X. However, we loved the live jazz trio that performed in one of the main dining rooms as well as the live dance show in the same dining room the last night. That's something X could add to up the entertainment ratings.

The buffet was not as good as Celebrity and there was no sense of direction as far as where you needed to walk. It was very crowded with people cutting in and out and bumping into people. Yes it’s freestyle, but there needs to be some order with how you’re getting the food. Otherwise there is no structure. Celebrity has them beat on the buffet food big time. The buffet was essentially the same every day, at least for breakfast and the one time we went for dinner, it was essentially the same as lunch. This was disappointing. The food that was there wasn’t bad, but it lacked variety and there wasn’t anything too exotic. There was usually a curry dish of some kind and also an asian dish, but not much to choose from. I missed Celebrity’s excellent indian food and also the sushi available at the buffet itself.

With desserts specifically, Carnival wins by a good amount, followed by Celebrity, then NCL.

I will say that NCL’s specialty dining prices are much better than Celebrity’s. We ate for half the price at Ocean Blue than we would have eaten at any of X’s major specialties, even with a discount they often offer. That being said, the quality of the “free” stuff on X is miles better, so you don’t really need to go as often.

Spa and Room:

I can't declare a winner. Too little to go on. Somebody sponsor me to investigate though, and I'll come back and let you know who gets gold :p

We had a spa mini-suite. This is I suppose, comparable to Aqua Class. I have never sailed Aqua Class, so I can't compare room-wise. I will say that our balcony was teeny tiny. We had a sweet-sixteen on Summit so we were really disappointed with how small Breakaway's balconies were. Our room came with access to the Thermal Suite. It's really nice. It has a thalassotherapy pool, heated loungers, saunas, a salt room, and hot tubs. There was no special restaurant we were entitled to like Aqua on Celebrity with Blu. Our bathroom was bigger than other rooms though with a double sink and special shower jets.

While I haven't done the spa on X, I LOVE the solarium pool. Breakaway didn't have anything like this for free. You had to purchase a spa pass for $179 ($199 if purchased on the ship). Like I mentioned, our room came with access. The other thing you could purchase to sort of mimic the X solarium is the Vibe pass. This is a special adult only outdoor area with a hot tub, bar, and cabanas. We rented a cabana. It was really nice having these two adult only spaces because there are LOTS of kiddos. There is a free adult only area called Spice H20. I can't say much about it because we were always in Vibe. Vibe amazing, but, it was not free. The Cabana was $329 for the week and included a $100 OBC. We will be happy sailing an X ship with a solarium and will save our money.

Service:

NCL wins. . .

It wasn't a landslide, but service was was excellent, better than Celebrity, especially the bartenders. The dining room drinks were the exception (see below), but NCL is the best so far for bartenders. We loved the towel animals!

They really took care of us, especially sending us chocolate covered strawberries and champagne for no reason that we could figure out. We didn't complain about anything but they were from the customer service desk. Awesome!

Drinks:

Celebrity wins. . . but it's close.

We REALLY missed the champagne welcome.

There were several dinners where we had to specifically ask for a wine menu, where nobody took our drink order, and where we didn't ever even get served drink-wise. We shouldn’t have to go hunting for wine; again, we're spoiled with this from Celebrity where there was a sommelier at every meal pairing your food with a wine from the beverage package. When we did get wine on NCL, it was not drinkable, at least not the merlot.

I missed Cafe al Bacio on the Summit. The Atrium cafe (coffee) on NCL is not a relaxing space at all.

As mentioned though, the fruity pool drinks were the bomb on NCL. Have you looked up that mango meltdown yet? :D

Entertainment:

NCL wins this one. . .

hands down. I really enjoyed “Burn the Floor” and the improv comedy troupe was something different than other lines offer.

To sum it up:

We tried NCL mainly because of the entertainment/nightlife. We've discovered that entertainment is not everything, at least to us. We're young(ish) but that does not mean we're not also sophisticated! Those two words are not mutually exclusive, and unfortunately some cruise lines think they are. I think X is REALLY TRYING to make the two words fit together. They haven't gotten it quite yet, not two years ago at least, but it seems they're trying. NCL, well, it maybe wasn't sophisticated enough for our tastes. I'm not trying to be a snob. We're well educated but we are just middle class folks, I'm a choral and theatre director at a public high school and DH is a freelance classical musician. We like the trendy art museum jazz night kind of vibe, and I think Celebrity comes closer to that kind of an atmosphere. NCL is more like nightclub. We like that too, sometimes, but the former is our choice most often. I do love the broadway shows on NCL.

All and all, we spent a lot more money on our vacation this year on NCL vs our vacation two years ago on the Summit, and from looking at both this year and following the prices, it would have been cheaper this year as well to go on Summit (AND I WOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO MEET CAPTAIN KATE, AHHH! LOVE HER!!!)

We loved NCL and will certainly go back when we have kids, but Celebrity was less expensive and offered more value. The things that made our NCL voyage so awesome were Vibe and the spa, both added cost and at least for Vibe, not at all a guarantee until you walk on the boat and have the passes in hand. I have no regrets at all and would absolutely purchase spa and Vibe again, but maybe not on the same sailing unless the spa was included like it was for us this time. We did feel nickel and dimed a bit more on NCL. For example, no sodas, water, or coffees with the beverage package and having to pay the service fees on the beverage package and the taxes while in NYC. It adds up and when other lines offer the packages without these extra fees, it helps. That all said, we'll go wherever the best value is. A cruise will be enjoyable to us no matter what line it's on, so we'll be strategic with our hard-earned money.

It’s a bit tough to compare the two cruises since they were so different, but DH and I both agree that for Bermuda next time, we’d choose Breakaway ONLY if it was the same price or less than Celebrity. Our reasoning is that the “extras” we paid for (vibe, spa) are basically included in your fare for X. There is no Vibe area, but there is a whole free adult only solarium thalassotherapy pool that was never crowded.

When we have kiddos that are old enough to want to do children’s activities, I’m sure we’d want to pay more for NCL, but until then, we’ll shop around and look at X before anything else.

I'll be glad to answer any questions about this mini-novel ;) Happy sailing, everyone!

Side note: I'm trying Disney in a couple of months. This one is a voyage I'm tagging along on with my cousin and her kids. I'll try and come back to do a comparison if anyone is interested. :)

Thank you for this thoughtful and entertaining comparative review. This was really useful for me. We periodically think about booking with NCL but never have been able to pull the trigger (DH cannot stomach what we have seen of NCL's shall we say lively color scheme). We were intrigued with the Freestyle concept in the past but this has become irrelevant on most of our recent cruises, whether because we go Select or have a suite. Your review confirms our instinct to stay away.

Thanks for the comparisms.. It will be my first celeb in Oct after having been mainly NCL so I found it quite interesting.

Hadnt heard about the new water policy and it is making me wonder if I should jump cruise lines for my next NCL - what a daft policy - I cant think of a single port in Europe thats not trying to sell you pallets of water before you get on :rolleyes:

Thanks so much for your comparisons.

Thanks for the review! I've only done celebrity and Royal and have wondered about ncl too!

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Thank you for your comparisons. You've confirmed a lot of what I've suspected - for good and for bad!

Very nice comparison.

The thermal suite on the Breakaway is wonderful! :)

Thanks so much for your thoughts.

It confirmed we made the right choice in canceling our NCL Escape rez a few months ago.

I would not cruise NCL for just the difference in the "free" beverage pkg. You cannot classify a free incentive as one unless it is really free. That would've gotten my panties in a wad right there.:mad:

After sailing the Escape last winter, I think you're spot on.

We're also in our early/mid (eek!) 30's. We also had Vibe access on Escape which saved the trip. I felt the overall 'feel' of the Escape was more like a college bar. It was fun for a few nights, then I got bored with it. I've only been on Celebrity once with another upcoming cruise this winter, but you've cemented my feeling that we made the right choice. X was several hundred more than a comparable NCL cruise for next winter, but when you account for the NCL's fees and the value for dollar on X, I think X is still the better deal for us. I cannot wait to board Celebrity without the need for a 3 hour anxiety ridden tension filled wait so you can trample people to get on board for a Vibe pass either :eek::eek: Worth it? Yes. Do I want to start a vacation like that again? No way!

I still can't wrap my head around the people that cruise only because of NCL's "Freestyle". If I have to plan my meals and entertainment 90 days in advance, that is not Freestyle. We missed out on several things on Escape just because we failed to make reservations. Every mass market line has some sort of 'eat when you want' option available so I'm a bit baffled by the Freestyle reservations required concept.

Viva la Vida,

Your comparison was a very interesting read. I have also read your great BA review.

We have cruised NCL, Royal, Celebrity, Princess and will be cruising Carnival. From my point of view, I cruise for the ports, the ships and just to vacation. So unlike many complainers here, these drink packages and "perks" really do not matter to me at all. Yes I do like to get an OBC or a dinner or free laundry, but it would not make or break my cruise or my decision to choose a particular cruise line. Everybody has a different view and I wonder if anyone shares mine.

I cruise for cruising and I enjoy it! Its all win win for me!

Thanks for the review. I think I was most surprised to hear that NCL was more expensive than X.

What sold us on some NCL cruises was that they left from NYC. For the price of one plane ticket we could drive and park for a family of four. Hard to ignore those savings. I liked the food more on X, but I did like the entertainment better on NCL. Unfortunately Free-style is pretty much a joke.

We will probably still cruise with NCL for the cost savings. Next year though we will try Anthem out of NYC. I'm very excited to see that ship.

We have cruised both NCL and Celebrity and we pretty much agree with you on all points.

But we've never had Vibe passes so can't comment on that.

We have basically decided we will only cruise NCL if we can be in the Haven, that is a TOTALLY different experience than being in a regular cabin.

Our last NCL cruise was in a Haven spa suite on Breakaway and it was the best of both worlds. Haven AND Spa access. The weather leaving from NYC was terrible so the spa was a savior.

Our balcony was really tiny but the weather was bad for most of the cruise I don't think we even used it at all. But everytime we left the Haven, the ship was so crowded and overwhelming we really didn't enjoy it. Again, I think that was because the weather was so bad, no one could be outside so there were lines for everything inside.

We did really enjoy the entertainment on NCL, and we didn't go to the main theater even once, we loved Howl at the Moon dueling pianos and the comedy. That is one area we feel Celebrity is lacking but the drinks package, food and non-suite cabins make up for it.

Now our plan (since we live in NYC) is to basically only book NCL last minute when we can get a deal on the Haven. Though we do want to try the beer bar on the Escape out of Miami (I think it's similar to what Michael's clube USED to be) since we are big beer snobs. We will still probably book that as last minute as airfare allows and only go in the Haven.

I also, agree that NCL isn't really freestyle at all with all the reservations you need, though if you are in the Haven, that is somewhat easier to navigate because the concierge will try really hard to get you what you want. And the beverage package not including coffee or water is ridiculous to me, Celebrity wins on that, hands down.

If anyone has any questions about the Haven experience I can try to answer but it's been a few years and there are some much more recent, very good reviews on NCL. I think they changed the menu in the Haven restaurant since we've been on and it looks quite good.

We have cruised both NCL and Celebrity and we pretty much agree with you on all points.

 

But we've never had Vibe passes so can't comment on that.

 

We have basically decided we will only cruise NCL if we can be in the Haven, that is a TOTALLY different experience than being in a regular cabin.

Our last NCL cruise was in a Haven spa suite on Breakaway and it was the best of both worlds. Haven AND Spa access. The weather leaving from NYC was terrible so the spa was a savior.

Our balcony was really tiny but the weather was bad for most of the cruise I don't think we even used it at all. But everytime we left the Haven, the ship was so crowded and overwhelming we really didn't enjoy it. Again, I think that was because the weather was so bad, no one could be outside so there were lines for everything inside.

 

We did really enjoy the entertainment on NCL, and we didn't go to the main theater even once, we loved Howl at the Moon dueling pianos and the comedy. That is one area we feel Celebrity is lacking but the drinks package, food and non-suite cabins make up for it.

 

Now our plan (since we live in NYC) is to basically only book NCL last minute when we can get a deal on the Haven. Though we do want to try the beer bar on the Escape out of Miami (I think it's similar to what Michael's clube USED to be) since we are big beer snobs. We will still probably book that as last minute as airfare allows and only go in the Haven.

 

I also, agree that NCL isn't really freestyle at all with all the reservations you need, though if you are in the Haven, that is somewhat easier to navigate because the concierge will try really hard to get you what you want. And the beverage package not including coffee or water is ridiculous to me, Celebrity wins on that, hands down.

 

If anyone has any questions about the Haven experience I can try to answer but it's been a few years and there are some much more recent, very good reviews on NCL. I think they changed the menu in the Haven restaurant since we've been on and it looks quite good.

We would book NCL again if we could do the Haven. But I think they are also digging themselves into a hole. It was going to cost us a little over $8,000 for the lowest level Haven cabin. We could stay at a really nice resort or do a long Europe trip for that kind of money. With so many people on these boards reporting they take advantage of the 'upsell' with ~$1000 upgrades from standard balcony to Haven, I'm hard pressed to commit $8,000 when the person in the next room may have paid $3,000 for the exact same cabin. I didn't love NCL enough to risk not getting an upsell offer myself, so for me, Celebrity makes even more sense.

We would book NCL again if we could do the Haven. But I think they are also digging themselves into a hole. It was going to cost us a little over $8,000 for the lowest level Haven cabin. We could stay at a really nice resort or do a long Europe trip for that kind of money. With so many people on these boards reporting they take advantage of the 'upsell' with ~$1000 upgrades from standard balcony to Haven, I'm hard pressed to commit $8,000 when the person in the next room may have paid $3,000 for the exact same cabin. I didn't love NCL enough to risk not getting an upsell offer myself, so for me, Celebrity makes even more sense.

I agree, I have thought about booking a spa balcony cabin so we'd get the spa access and then hoping for an upsell to the Haven but the uncertainty isn't worth it. What if we didn't get it and then we didn't enjoy our cruise because all the public areas are so crowded?

So for us, we'll do last minute bookings on NCL and get better deals on the Haven or stick with Celebrity where we know that we'll be happy in a standard balcony cabin at a price we can afford.

Thank you for your great review. I doubt we will ever sail NCL because we like Celebrity too much!

Thanks for the comprehensive comparisons....makes us feel better about sticking with X...love AQ class and BLU

While we can still get water at bars, dining venues with Classic bev package and can bring onboard our own Fiji water, we miss the daily delivered bottled water we used to get in AQ on X

The Canyon Ranch Spa is a big upgrade from prior vendor....love the spa..wish it had a better T pool

Thanks for the comparison. We have also thought about booking NCL but have never gone through with it. The inside of their ships look cheap (from what I have seen on youtube) and now with your review and considering we are the same age, I don't think we will ever.

I have to admit while the entertainment side does have a drawl... we are always asleep way earlier than we think we will be. we usually have pretty exhausting days.

Thanks again.

Thanks so much for your thoughts.

 

It confirmed we made the right choice in canceling our NCL Escape rez a few months ago.

 

I would not cruise NCL for just the difference in the "free" beverage pkg. You cannot classify a free incentive as one unless it is really free. That would've gotten my panties in a wad right there.:mad:

Lol, indeed! I was so mad that when I originally tried to book that I cancelled the reservation when the final price came up and the TA explained why the cost went up $200! The dining package comes with a service charge as well so had we gotten that additional perk in stead of internet, it would have been almost $400 extra.

Thanks for the comprehensive comparisons....makes us feel better about sticking with X...love AQ class and BLU

 

While we can still get water at bars, dining venues with Classic bev package and can bring onboard our own Fiji water, we miss the daily delivered bottled water we used to get in AQ on X

 

The Canyon Ranch Spa is a big upgrade from prior vendor....love the spa..wish it had a better T pool

I'm glad to know water is still available with classic. Those big bottles are so nice for long excursions of the ship!

I can't wait to try Canyon Ranch some day!

What sold us on some NCL cruises was that they left from NYC. For the price of one plane ticket we could drive and park for a family of four. Hard to ignore those savings. I liked the food more on X, but I did like the entertainment better on NCL. Unfortunately Free-style is pretty much a joke.

We will probably still cruise with NCL for the cost savings. Next year though we will try Anthem out of NYC. I'm very excited to see that ship.

Everyone says we should try RC. We've not done it yet because it's pricey, especially when you factor in lack of a beverage package perk. Anthem looks awesome!

Our summit invoice for our deluxe veranda room was $2700 and our Breakaway was $3200. Factoring in the almost $1000 we spent on board Breakaway (Vibe, gratuities, dining, photos), Summit was a WAY better deal. Summit is older but still. . . that's a HUGE difference!

Thanks for the review. I think I was most surprised to hear that NCL was more expensive than X.

I was shocked too. I replied to another poster with this info, but in case you didn't' see it. . . Our summit invoice for our deluxe veranda room was $2700 and our Breakaway was $3200. Factoring in the almost $1000 we spent on board Breakaway (Vibe, gratuities, dining, photos), Summit was a WAY better deal. Summit is older but still. . . that's a HUGE difference!

Now if an S-Class ship were to go to Bermuda, I bet the price would be more similar to NCL. I love Summit but I would prefer an S-class experience to Bermuda, even if it cost a bit more. :)

After sailing the Escape last winter, I think you're spot on.

 

We're also in our early/mid (eek!) 30's. We also had Vibe access on Escape which saved the trip. I felt the overall 'feel' of the Escape was more like a college bar. It was fun for a few nights, then I got bored with it. I've only been on Celebrity once with another upcoming cruise this winter, but you've cemented my feeling that we made the right choice. X was several hundred more than a comparable NCL cruise for next winter, but when you account for the NCL's fees and the value for dollar on X, I think X is still the better deal for us. I cannot wait to board Celebrity without the need for a 3 hour anxiety ridden tension filled wait so you can trample people to get on board for a Vibe pass either :eek::eek: Worth it? Yes. Do I want to start a vacation like that again? No way!

 

I still can't wrap my head around the people that cruise only because of NCL's "Freestyle". If I have to plan my meals and entertainment 90 days in advance, that is not Freestyle. We missed out on several things on Escape just because we failed to make reservations. Every mass market line has some sort of 'eat when you want' option available so I'm a bit baffled by the Freestyle reservations required concept.

I just turned 30 on the 4th and it was a rough one! Eek is right! You just can't drink like you could in your 20s. It literally HURTS, lol! The hangovers are so rough, and after such a small amount.

That is so funny how you describe the wait in the terminal leading up to embarkation. That's exactly the feeling! The rush is so good when you actually get the passes. . .I can only imagine how disappointed I would be to not get them. That's a reality I don't want to face.

To be fair about the freestyle, I've been told that the smaller NCL ships don't have the reservations issues like the Away class ships so I bet they are more truly freestyle.

I agree that you can absolutely make your own freestyle on other lines. We loved select on Celebrity. The only thing is the dress code, but it seems like Celebrity has relaxed a bit with it. To me, having to dress up in exchange for a more fine dining experience is well worth it. I think DH would grudgingly agree as well.

Many, many thanks for the comparison.

I looked last year to book some Haven suites for the family and was pondering again this year. But an ultimate beverage package that isn't, plus the outright gouging of not allowing water and soft drinks to be brought aboard means that I won't even bother with a cursory enquiry. There's nothing positive in the rest of your review that would attract me to NCL so I'm immensly grateful for you taking the time to report.

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NCL flunks. We tried it too....