Musings and comparisons - I tried NCL

Thanks for the informative and entertaining review.
We just reached platinum on NCL after our recent cruise, but sadly will not book with them for our next cruise because of their new marketing strategy. I just booked the Eclipse (British isles/French open) for next summer and I am very excited!
It used to be I booked NCL because you could not beat their price. Now, NCL thinks their product is comparable to Celebrity/Rcl, etc. and have raised their prices accordingly. Sorry NCL but your "vibe" you have created by charging gratuities on "free" packages, room service charges, not including water/coffees with bev package and limiting your wine by the glass to a pitiful selection, have cheapened your product to such a degree that I am looking forward to the more sophisticated atmosphere of my next Celebrity cruise.
Don't get me wrong, we had a fabulous time on our last NCL cruise, and would consider traveling with them again if the price is right, but in my opinion they can't compare to Celebrity.

We have sailed with NCL 2 times, Celebrity 2 times, and Princess 9 times. We live on the west coast, Princess offers more sailings.
To us NCL is the KMart experience and Celebrity/Princess, Sears. We have sailed on NCL for half the price of a comparable Celebrity/Princess cruise.

Passengers are nicer on NCL. Chair hogs the same.

Speciality restaurants equal for us, with NCL and Princess lower price. Celebrity buffet is the best, main dining comparable. Blu was our overall favorite.

I don't see the big deal on NCL drink package not including water or coffee.

Had balcony cabins on NCL that included a 4 cup coffee maker. We brought our own coffee, powdered drink mixers and empty water bottles. Ship water is fine, your food is made with it. I guess it looks more sophisticated to have that bottle of sparkling water on your table at dinner. Edited July 14, 2016 by hosscow

To the OP, that was a very insightful, informative and enjoyable review, thanks. We signed off on NCL a few years ago.
Will be in AQ for our first time on the Summit, 1st week in a regular AQ cabin, 2nd week in aft[emoji3]. But can I ask you a question?
What is a "sweet sixteen "?


Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Thanks for a rational comparisons of the 2 lines Viva la Vida! We are just off the Breakaway (a 9 night one of a kind itinerary), our 2nd Breakaway sailing. I have to agree with most of your observations, with the exception giving the nod to NCL regarding service. I found the service in all areas lackluster at best, with one or two exceptions. From our stateroom attendant, who was friendly but not very thorough, to the amateurish service in the MDRs, to the bar "service" (there were no bar servers roaming the pool area), we found the service to be much less attentive than Celebrity, even with Celebrity slippage of late. we did find the service a bit better on our first Breakaway cruise, however we got the feeling that this crew was not very happy, & it showed.

Bottom line for us is that we will return to NCL, but only for family sailings, as they offer much, much more for children, & if Charlie Love & the Silky Smooth Band are aboard preforming at Fat Cats, count me in! Best blues/rb band I've heard on a ship!

[quote name='webecruzin2']What is a "sweet sixteen"?[/QUOTE]

Here's an article on Cruise Critic about special cabins. The Sweet Sixteens are the second item:
[url]http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=1426[/url]

[quote name='hcat']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[/QUOTE]

No more bottled water in Aqua class on X? Do you know when this stopped?

[quote name='knot knormal']No more bottled water in Aqua class on X? Do you know when this stopped?[/QUOTE]


It was in the process of stopping when I sailed on the Eclipse last December.

Shoot, we are on the Connie in August and I looked forward to taking a bottle or two each day for our 9 port days. Thanks for your reply.

[quote name='knot knormal']Shoot, we are on the Connie in August and I looked forward to taking a bottle or two each day for our 9 port days. Thanks for your reply.[/QUOTE]

If you have a beverage package, you can grab them on your way out the door.

[quote name='hosscow']We have sailed with NCL 2 times, Celebrity 2 times, and Princess 9 times. We live on the west coast, Princess offers more sailings.
To us NCL is the KMart experience and Celebrity/Princess, Sears. We have sailed on NCL for half the price of a comparable Celebrity/Princess cruise.

Passengers are nicer on NCL. Chair hogs the same.

Speciality restaurants equal for us, with NCL and Princess lower price. Celebrity buffet is the best, main dining comparable. Blu was our overall favorite.

I don't see the big deal on NCL drink package not including water or coffee.

Had balcony cabins on NCL that included a 4 cup coffee maker. We brought our own coffee, powdered drink mixers and empty water bottles. Ship water is fine, your food is made with it. I guess it looks more sophisticated to have that bottle of sparkling water on your table at dinner.[/QUOTE]


I could care less about looking sophisticated. I am a super healthy 30 year old and have always had bottled water on cruises, however after drinking tons of regular ship water on our last NCL, I spent a miserable 3 days with swollen ankles and fingers/hands to the point my wedding rings wouldn't fit. It was crazy. I've been on other ships and ate just as much salty food, the only other factor was drinking the ship water this time. I'm convinced that was what caused it.

I also don't appreciate how NCL imposed this policy on people who had already made final payment and made no exceptions for them. This includes people who had medical issues. I think it's awful and it's just one of many factors that will have us look at X first. I'm not saying we'll never sail NCL again, it's just an additional cost I have to consider now.

[quote name='webecruzin2']To the OP, that was a very insightful, informative and enjoyable review, thanks. We signed off on NCL a few years ago.
Will be in AQ for our first time on the Summit, 1st week in a regular AQ cabin, 2nd week in aft[emoji3]. But can I ask you a question?
What is a "sweet sixteen "?


Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app[/QUOTE]

Here's a pic of our balcony on summit - 6028. Huge compared to our spa mini on NCL.


[img]https://c2.staticflickr.com/3/2897/14403535641_307ec72a32_c.jpg[/img]

HUGE!

[quote name='njaloha']AWESoME comp! Thanks for posting.

One of the main reasons we sail Celebrity is AQ class and the balcony furniture. Yes, that's how we pick a cruise - balcony furniture.

We haven't been back to NCL since 2005 - been X ever since. We're tempted by Gem and Breakaway, which are two completely different ships, but they both sail out of NYC. I looked at the balconies on Breakaway and read the reviews and decided, nope, balconies are too small, as you said, teeny tiny.

Cafe Al BAcio can't sail without the starbucks of the sea for my DH. Another reason we can't sail any other cruise line! :eek:

You got me with the food thing...:D

Enjoy your Disney Cruise - Disney knows how to treat children of ALL ages. DH and I were seriously considering one just for the disney experience but it's twice the price. :cool:[/QUOTE]

DCL is our usual line of choice, no kids just two adults travelling, we are not Disney fanatics but they really know how to treat you, but its ports are so repetitive in the Caribbean so we are considering doing our first X cruise to the Southern Caribbean (ABC ETC.) and have been avidly reading up on everything for months. Looking at Aqua class this time but can't make up my mind if I will like Blu or will the cabins be large enough as we love the size on DCL and the split bath.

You do become an expert on one line and know all the perks and pros and cons so it's almost daunting starting with "someone else".:confused:

[quote name='CELTICGIRLCRUISER']DCL is our usual line of choice, no kids just two adults travelling, we are not Disney fanatics but they really know how to treat you, but its ports are so repetitive in the Caribbean so we are considering doing our first X cruise to the Southern Caribbean (ABC ETC.) and have been avidly reading up on everything for months. Looking at Aqua class this time but can't make up my mind if I will like Blu or will the cabins be large enough as we love the size on DCL and the split bath.

You do become an expert on one line and know all the perks and pros and cons so it's almost daunting starting with "someone else".:confused:[/quote]

As former loyal DCL cruisers, we are now loyal X cruisers. The price of DCL caused us to start looking into other cruise lines. We have done 5 DCL cruises (Wonder, Magic, Magic, Fantasy, 15 night Panama Canal on Wonder) and in between the Magic and PC cruise on Wonder in 2014, we have done several X cruises.

We were surprised when we returned to the Wonder for the PC cruise how small those split baths were! Seriously, we would take 1 bathroom on an S class over the split baths on DCL in a heartbeat!

And talk about perks. We are Gold on DCL and Elite on X. Check out the difference in perks. DCL is so lame and we are (or should I say were, we are not fans of the Mouse any more :mad:) Disney fans! The Magic Bands did us in!

Bottom line, I am so glad we branched out to another cruise line.:)

Thanks for your comparison - I know that "empty nightclub feeling" lol!

Over the past two years I have done 2 x Celebrity,2 x NCL.
My thoughts:
Celebrity cabins V NCL Epic Cabins - NCL wins - hands down! I loathe the overbed storage on Celebrity, on Epic - love the storage and bathroom set up which most hate -winner for me. Celebrity looks nicer - but I threw all those frilly cushions on the floor - needed the back of the sofa to store stuff as there is so little practical storage on Celebrity :(

SPA Class - this is evens - Celebrity gets points purely because of BLU restaurant - the SPA on S class was a MAJOR let down! Dreadful bright lighting, no pool not even a Jacuzzi - (and yes I know X has the solarium I am talking about the actual SPA) - EPIC's spa - OMG I love love love it. I was disappointed too in the small things in the spa on Celebrity- NCL's water and herbal tea station was so much better. Celebrity's was a measly effort of a water urn with a few dodgy lemons - not Modern Luxury X. Spa Staff were by far, nicer on NCL.

Food - I cannot compare nightime MDR as we do neither at night. BLU is wonderful .
NCL specialty has more options. I do love Murano, wasn't impressed with Tuscan Grille. NCL has Le Bistro, Cagneys, Asian (free) and I LOVE Moderno! On NCL the cruise is so cheap we can well afford to dine speciality (aside from our free nights) every night.

NCL wins at lunch - NCL opens their MDR on ALL days, not just sea days. We don't like buffet - in fact caught a horrid virus on Equinox and we are sure it was from dining in the buffet as there were SO many very elderly sick people on board (Transatlantic) and no "wishy-washy" people insisting on hand cleaning! On our recent Celebrity Solstice cruise we dined in Bistro on 5 every day - we hear BO5 is being replaced with a sushi bistro - ugh - not for us. I like that NCL as do many lines, opens at least one MDR for lunch. Oh and I forgot - O'Sheehans!!!!!!!!!!! Love this fab 24 hour dining bar!

Love H20 on NCL - love all the choices. We have pretty much decided we will stay with both lines for different cruises. For special port intensive cruises we would go with Celebrity, for transatlantic where the SPA and nightlife are paramount - we go with NCL (in fact have our next three booked with NCL). Transatlantic on Celebrity is just too old for us as yet. There is no vibe - no buzz - just zzzzzzz...

Alaska cruise on Celebrity was perfect as it was all about ports, romance and early nights - and for sure, any of our other bucket list trips - we would take Celebrity. Celebrity absolutely have the edge on service and finesse - no question!

Price - NCL for us was just so cheap! Cannot believe the prices we have paid for fly cruises - including drinks (UK cruisers are not charged the +18% its all in our price) and for our transatlantic we also have the perk of 6 x nights of speciality dining! BARGAINS!

I couldn't care less about fizzy drinks we don't touch them . Water sure, we will pay extra for on NCL. I forget if we were charged for daily water on Aquaclass - I think we were.

Seems many of us cruise both lines - good to hear I am not alone :D

[quote name='Viva_la_Vida']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. :)[/QUOTE]

We have cruised 9 times on Celebrity and 5 on NCL. NCL is generally cheaper.

Celebrity wins hands down for food quality, consistent service, atmosphere and elite benefits and cost of excursions.

NCL generally has better entertainment.

For service, on Celebrity our waiters always serve the women at the table first, then the men, that includes taking orders. On NCL it is inconsistent, with order taking generally going clockwise on a round table.

[quote name='Viva_la_Vida']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. :)[/QUOTE]

WOW, outstanding and accurate comparison. We prefer X, but often cruise NCL for convenience reasons when sailing out of the northeast, with no flight needed from NY and NJ.

With everything that I love about X, as you have clearly covered, I have to admit that we love the friendly and amazing service on NCL. Last cruise on NCL we had our personal meal concierge who met us every night at dinner, to plan our meals for the next day. I am gluten free, and she suggested all kinds of wonderful additions to the menus, and ordered them for me. The restaurant was well aware of her orders and always had these specialty items waiting for us. People were looking at us like we were VIP's or something!

Your review and comparison is so accurate and comprehensive that I do not need to add much. I will say that we have a NCL cruise booked and am disappointed in the new water policy, since you don't get bottled water included in their "ultimate" beverage package.
Also, no fancy coffees and teas, like we enjoy so much on X.

Comparing apples to apples, in doing the math, we get more bang for our buck on Celebrity. I can't believe what I'm paying for our next NCL cruise out of NY for a mini-suite. Exceeds X by a long shot, and does not include all the perks. However, we pay for convenience as I said, and not spending two days coming and going on flights has alot to be desired.

Again, GREAT post, thank you. Edited July 16, 2016 by Cruisen'Susan