Deciding between NCL or Celebrity for Spring Break - Suggestions Please

Hi - My wife and I both are 50 and our daughter will be 15 when we'd cruise March 2018. We live in Chicago.

For the past 4 years, we've been on NCL, a different boat each year. To date, we've been on Epic, Jade, Escape.

Looking at what NCL has available for spring break next year, I'm really disappointed how much the cruise fares have gone up. If this is what they're charging I may as well look into other options. I don't really feel NCL excelled by way of service or food or really in any category. I'd even say this past cruise on the Escape was a real disappointment. I realize this is the busiest time of the year, and they're always oversold, but still. Don't want to rehash a review I already gave.

Anyway, I wanted to ask the group about your thoughts how we'd like Celebrity for spring break and how a 15yo girl may like the differences from the teen club on NCL. I have to say when I started talking about going on a different cruise line, my 15yo was very upset. She likes NCL, but I'm trying to convince her to try something different.

One of the main reasons I was thinking about Celebrity is the itinerary they're offering that week. It seems just about all NCLs boats are going to the same places. Celebrity is going to San Juan, St Maarten & St Thomas. Places we haven't been. The cost is also a close comparison. Even though I bought the deposit this past year, so I'd be losing 250.00 to go on a different line, I'm willing to do that if the experience is worth it.

We're looking at the Silhouette, departing last week of March in 2018

So here are my specific questions if you don't mind giving your thoughts:

• Overall quality difference from NCL Pros and cons
  
• Teen club (15YO) - better than NCL?
  
• Quality of the included food - better or worse than NCL?
  

I also have a question regarding the ports - with the damage the Eastern Carib had from the last hurricane, is it even worth going? San Juan is struggling to get power, and basic services restored. I realize this is a few months away, but everything I've read is saying it will take years for them to recover.

Also - would anyone have a daily schedule you brought back from a recent Celebrity cruise (Silhouette ideally) you could share?

Appreciate any help you can give. Thanks!

I have no experience with NCL except for parking next to the Epic in St. Maarten and deciding that was the ugliest ship I ever saw.

All the ports which the Silhouette will visit (if they don't change the itinerary) were heavily damaged by Hurricane Irma and/or Maria. So if you're going for the ports, I'd skip the spring break cruise or try the western Caribbean.

I have no experience with NCL except for parking next to the Epic in St. Maarten and deciding that was the ugliest ship I ever saw.

LOL!

I also don't have any experience with NCL. I can tell you that the silhouette is a beautiful ship and the service is wonderful. There have been many teens on the celebrity ships I have been on at various times of the year, including holidays.

I don't have any specific experience for your teen, but at least on the Infinity (similar in size to NCL's Jewel class ships) the on-board experience was much more sedate. As in nothing happening after about 10 PM. As in a bunch of old people like us (early 60's). We didn't see many couples in the 25 to 40 range. We didn't see a lot of teens, but then that could be a function of the time of year (early September). It could be a lot different during Spring.

We're veterans with NCL, and will consider X for future cruises. But then, we're in our 60's now and a more sedate environment doesn't annoy us. It could be that a Caribbean cruise during Spring is a lot, lot different, but if it is anything like the cruse we had I think your teen will hate it.

We missed the sail away party NCL has. We also hated that the buffet was the only place open for lunch on embarkation day. We experienced more up-selling attempts on X because we didn't have the drink plan and took the dining plan upsell tour of the galley. We definitely felt "herded" that first couple of days. And while X has their version of freestyle dining, we always had to wait about 20 minutes for a table.

I'm not really dissing X; but they are a "modern luxury" brand and I don't think they are really after your demographic.

Ports you listed may not be ones visited on that itin...all 3 are among the ones that were heavily damaged and not restored at this time.

Itin changes are listed in Celeb website

Royal C may be a better cruise line for a young teen( more to do)...and still be a new experience for the parents. Livelier than X in the evenings..Many choices of ships and itins

We brought our kids, 7 and 10, on the last two cruise. They loved the kids zone. P.S. I felt we were treated better because we had (well behaved) little ones.

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Have you considered Royal Caribbean?

You will probably find the food better, The S-class ships are very nice and classy compared to NCL. Overall they feel much less crowded too. There isn't as much entertainment in the evenings. One or two choices for music plus the main show, and after midnight the ships are usually ghost towns. The challenge will be for your teen, there are typically not a lot of kids on Celebrity and there are no rock walls, fancy water parks or any other gimmicks designed to lure kids to this line. There could be more kids during Spring Break, but we were on the Equinox in early June and there were not that many kids. There were more very young kids than teens. my daughter never went into the teen programs so I can't compare those.

The added cost this year on NCL could be because of the promotions they are running. The last one I saw included booze, specialty restaurants, tips and one or two other perks.

This advice is more as a mom who parented two kids through THOSE years, not as a recently experienced Celebrity cruiser - I did Celebrity long ago and RCL and Princess more recently.

If she is unhappy now, she will be unhappy on the cruise. RCL has more activities and amenities that will appeal to teens, and likely more teens onboard. If RCL has any itineraries and prices that might work, I would get her involved in the decision, let her look at what all they have to offer, and she might buy in wholeheartedly.

The teen club is good but not as good as ncl and you will find the entertainment very different. There are no slides, rock climbing walls etc. We love both products.

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I took my granddaughters aged 22, 15 and 13 on the Oasis in 2013. They loved it. It was their first cruise. The things they did all day were smashing,as they said.

They would go back in a minute. I didn't see to much of them, so thank goodness d's was along also.

I will never cruise RCL again. Ship is to huge and some of the staff were very rude when we first got on board.

Our cabin staff were wonderful as was the waiter we had in the dining room.

We had a cabin overlooking the pool were they had the pool shows. Very cool to see this from our balconies.

The entertainment was first class also.

IM HO you daughter would love the Oasis.

Oh yes the zip line was a huge hit.

I hope this helps. My husband and I are very loyal cruisers with Celebrity and the demographics of Celebrity would probably not suit.

I would suggest NCL because it will have more for your 15 yr old versus Celebrity. RCL has great teen programs as well , my nephews really like RCL and if they must Carnival the teen programs and plenty of young people to hang out with.. I just got off a Celebrity cruise that had less than 10 kids under the age of 11, it was awesome. We actually had to ask how many were on board cause you never saw them.. We are empty nesters now and prefer Celebrity because it is more of our type of crowd, pre retirement - retirement crowd. I am personally am over large groups of young people running a muck (not all ) but some people just set their kids free

Just spent a week agonizing over this decision and booked the Celebrity Equinox a few hours ago. A little nervous because we have done NCL, Disney, Carnival and RCCL--enjoyed them all, but Celebrity might be a little too low key for us-- I guess we will find out. OP is correct that the prices seem high this year---I thought the same. I ended up choosing the Equinox over the Epic because I WANT to go to the affected islands----they are depending on us (tourists) to spend our money there, and they are working like crazy to secure the port areas so that they can receive guests at a level that will be respectable. Just another way to look at it I guess! Good luck with your decision!

We've been on both lines and X will have better food and service and NCL will have better entertainment. The demographics about children on the cruise as well as activities for them is more dependent on the time of the year, i.e. children on vacation or in school.

I have no experience with NCL except for parking next to the Epic in St. Maarten and deciding that was the ugliest ship I ever saw.

All the ports which the Silhouette will visit (if they don't change the itinerary) were heavily damaged by Hurricane Irma and/or Maria. So if you're going for the ports, I'd skip the spring break cruise or try the western Caribbean.

LOL my thoughts exactly!! Not a fan of NCL except for the old Norway, which was a beautiful ship.

We love Celebrity and NCL. That being said DH and I would not sail with teenagers on a Celebrity ship. There is just not that much to do in the evenings. Our children, now out of the house would have been bored on Celebrity. I have a Friend with two teens who does sail Celebrity but her teens are quite content to sit by the pool and read books and not as in to action.

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