Mostly NCL Cruiser recently completed first RCI cruise

[Homecruiser]

My daughter and I just returned from a 9 day cruise on Explorer of the Seas. While we enjoyed ourselves it was just missing something. I am not complaining we did enjoy ourselves. The best way to describe it is this cruise was missing the easy rhythm of an NCL Cruise. Good thing I brought my books with me because we often found ourselves with nothing of interest to do.

Pros on EOS: nice cabins, beautiful large pool areas, funky soda machines Cons| limited choices for dinning, buffet had no variety, shopping was rediculous with overkill tactics in the promenade nightly, debarkation and embarkation madness at Port Liberty.

 

We missed: Freestyle Dinning, Specialty Dining and O'Sheehans, quality of musicians, friendliness of staff, nightly parties and overall quality of Cruise Director and Staff.

 

For the right deal I would not exclude RCI from possibilities. However, I will look first to NCL.

[SissasMomE]

I agree - just wish NCL would add some nice southern caribbean ports. Would make it so much easier to stick with them.

[david_sobe]

Welcome home and thanks for the comparison!

[rednose83]

My daughter and I just returned from a 9 day cruise on Explorer of the Seas. While we enjoyed ourselves it was just missing something. I am not complaining we did enjoy ourselves. The best way to describe it is this cruise was missing the easy rhythm of an NCL Cruise. Good thing I brought my books with me because we often found ourselves with nothing of interest to do.

Pros on EOS: nice cabins, beautiful large pool areas, funky soda machines Cons| limited choices for dinning, buffet had no variety, shopping was rediculous with overkill tactics in the promenade nightly, debarkation and embarkation madness at Port Liberty.

 

We missed: Freestyle Dinning, Specialty Dining and O'Sheehans, quality of musicians, friendliness of staff, nightly parties and overall quality of Cruise Director and Staff.

 

For the right deal I would not exclude RCI from possibilities. However, I will look first to NCL.

 

 

I felt pretty much the same way when we tried RCI.

 

I think Cape Liberty is just a mess though and not RCI's fault

[hpecorari]

I agree - just wish NCL would add some nice southern caribbean ports. Would make it so much easier to stick with them.

 

Agree!

 

Harriet

[SissasMomE]

Agree!

 

Harriet

 

Maybe they will Harriet - just for us :D

[kjquilts]

I agree - just wish NCL would add some nice southern caribbean ports. Would make it so much easier to stick with them.

 

 

I don't know if they are southern ports but there are some different to us ports on the Dawn 14-Day Caribbean Adventure from Boston to New Orleans Oct 30, 2015. Prices seem very reasonable for 14 day cruise. Here is the itinerary

Day Land Tours and Cruise Ports Arrive Depart Fri Boston (EMBARK) --- 5:00 pm Sat At Sea --- --- Sun At Sea --- --- Mon At Sea --- --- Tue San Juan 8:00 am 5:00 pm Wed At Sea --- --- Thu Kralendijk, Bonaire 8:00 am 10:00 pm Fri Willemstad, Curacao 8:00 am 10:00 pm Sat Oranjestad, Aruba 8:00 am 6:00 pm Sun At Sea --- --- Mon Ocho Rios, Jamaica 8:00 am 5:00 pm Tue George Town, Grand Cayman 8:00 am 4:00 pm Wed Cozumel, Mexico 10:00 am 6:00 pm Thu At Sea --- --- Fri New Orleans (DISEMBARK) 8:00 am ---

 

This will be our longest ever cruise ... were lucky to be able to do a Double-Cross Meta Upgrade using NCL MC points where we paid for an inside but booked a deck 10 aft facing balcony.

Finally being able to look at longer than 7 or 8 day cruises gives us more options. We're grateful that NCL has them and for now we don't have to stray to other lines. There was nothing wrong with either our Princess or Costa cruise but NCL is just a great fit for us. We'd miss the same things original poster missed.

[barnacle_boy]

We missed: Freestyle Dinning, Specialty Dining and O'Sheehans, quality of musicians, friendliness of staff, nightly parties and overall quality of Cruise Director and Staff.

 

Could you explain why you missed specialty dining on RCI? Their ships still offer a number of different specialty restaurants. I personally prefer Giovanni's Table over La Cucina for Italian.

 

I agree - just wish NCL would add some nice southern caribbean ports. Would make it so much easier to stick with them.

 

NCL offers various longer itineraries to the Southern Caribbean. If you have the time and are flexible with dates, NCL will take you. However, 7-day Southern Caribbean cruises out of Miami are just not an option. While home porting in San Juan would work, and several lines do send some of their smaller ships there, I don't think it makes much sense for NCL to do so. It requires passengers to spend extra time and money to get to and from the port, which makes it less appealing for first time cruisers and a tougher sell overall. Since first timers are very much the backbone of this industry, it doesn't make sense for NCL to deploy their small fleet to "tough sell" ports when they know they can fill their ships in Florida.

[Homecruiser]

On EOS there were 2 dining options. Portofinos and Johnny Rockets. I believe she will get a few more specialty restaurants when she is refurbished. We went to Johnny Rockets and passes on Portofinos.The burger was good but not great and because we were the only people in the place for all but the first 5 minutes of our meal the fun aspects were just not as fun as they should have been. The only other food choices were the MDR, Buffet and a small cafe in the promenade that served small sandwiches, limited pizza slice choices and some sweets. Pizza was never visible ..to minimize people choosing it. We pretty much stuck to the main dining room. food was good not great and after a few days meals were pretty much repetitive. This did not turn me off the cruise. It simply was not what I was used to and not preferred over NCL. I think it is good to check out other offerings. It certainly made me appreciate what NCL offers. On the other hand I certainly understand that there are others who Prefer the RCI offering. To each his own.

[Barb Nahoumi]

My daughter and I just returned from a 9 day cruise on Explorer of the Seas. While we enjoyed ourselves it was just missing something. I am not complaining we did enjoy ourselves. The best way to describe it is this cruise was missing the easy rhythm of an NCL Cruise. Good thing I brought my books with me because we often found ourselves with nothing of interest to do.

Pros on EOS: nice cabins, beautiful large pool areas, funky soda machines Cons| limited choices for dinning, buffet had no variety, shopping was rediculous with overkill tactics in the promenade nightly, debarkation and embarkation madness at Port Liberty.

 

We missed: Freestyle Dinning, Specialty Dining and O'Sheehans, quality of musicians, friendliness of staff, nightly parties and overall quality of Cruise Director and Staff.

 

For the right deal I would not exclude RCI from possibilities. However, I will look first to NCL.

 

Us as well. Last March, six of us who are staunch NCL cruisers, tried the Explorer out of Bayonne for a 10 day Eastern Caribbean cruise.

 

I must say that we all had a great time aboard the ship, but there were things missing that NCL always did for their passengers.

 

First of all, there was no MDR lunch service on embarkation day. Having to drag carryon bags to the buffet was lousy. Secondly, Royal Caribbean no longer greets passengers returning from port excursions with cool drinks and cold face clothes. That service was so welcome in hot climates. Someone said that Royal used to do it, but it was eliminated as a cut back. The ship docked next to us served small cups of cold water to their passengers, but they were from another line.

 

As the OP stated, Bayonne was a nightmare on disembarkation day. Very disorganized.

 

We will always check what NCL has to offer first, before we wander.

[Homecruiser]

True we were not greeted upon return to the ship on Port days either.. Again does not ruin a vacation but sure is nice!

[newmexicoNita]

I agree - just wish NCL would add some nice southern caribbean ports. Would make it so much easier to stick with them.

 

yep, this is an issue many of us are facing. At least we picked out an April cruise for next year with ports we hadn't cruised to or only once or twice. The problem is: there are only 3 sailings with the itinerary and one is Dec. After sailing in Dec last year and tackling Christmas a few days later, we are staying away from Dec. The other choice would be spring break, no thanks, so all we have is April 6 of next year.

[pex]

Backbone of the industry? Boatloads of first time cruisers disembarking and vowing "NEVER again"?

 

Since first timers are very much the backbone of this industry, it doesn't make sense for NCL to deploy their small fleet to "tough sell" ports when they know they can fill their ships in Florida.

[SissasMomE]

yep, this is an issue many of us are facing. At least we picked out an April cruise for next year with ports we hadn't cruised to or only once or twice. The problem is: there are only 3 sailings with the itinerary and one is Dec. After sailing in Dec last year and tackling Christmas a few days later, we are staying away from Dec. The other choice would be spring break, no thanks, so all we have is April 6 of next year.

 

Yeah, I know. We found a really great one, but it sails over Christmas. I can't convince the family to do that ... so ... that's that. :(

[barnacle_boy]

Backbone of the industry? Boatloads of first time cruisers disembarking and vowing "NEVER again"?

 

Read this:

 

http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/03/09/3981896/cruise-lines-trying-to-get-newcomers.html

[pex]

Okay, that makes sense. I thought that your "backbone of the industry" comment implied that first time cruisers were providing a high percentage of the industry's revenue (which didn't make much sense to me). I can certainly see why the lines would want to lure first-timers.

 

Read this:

 

http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/03/09/3981896/cruise-lines-trying-to-get-newcomers.html

[barnacle_boy]

Okay, that makes sense. I thought that your "backbone of the industry" comment implied that first time cruisers were providing a high percentage of the industry's revenue (which didn't make much sense to me). I can certainly see why the lines would want to lure first-timers.

 

Next time you're onboard a new mass-market ship, you should ask a senior officer what percentage of the cruisers onboard are repeat passengers. Usually it's less than 30%. Industrywide, only 60% of passengers have cruised before, and that number is heavily skewed by smaller, upscale lines that typically have considerably more repeat passengers. So while they don't make the majority of the industry's revenue (yet, just wait until the inevitable shift to Asia in 2020 onwards), first timers are critical. Their whole business model is based upon the assumption that exponential growth can be sustained by attracting new cruisers. Considering only 25% of Americans have ever been on a cruise, and that percentage is considerably lower for affluent Americans, they have good reason to believe that this is the case.

[LrgPizza]

On EOS there were 2 dining options. Portofinos and Johnny Rockets. I believe she will get a few more specialty restaurants when she is refurbished. We went to Johnny Rockets and passes on Portofinos.The burger was good but not great and because we were the only people in the place for all but the first 5 minutes of our meal the fun aspects were just not as fun as they should have been. The only other food choices were the MDR, Buffet and a small cafe in the promenade that served small sandwiches, limited pizza slice choices and some sweets. Pizza was never visible ..to minimize people choosing it. We pretty much stuck to the main dining room. food was good not great and after a few days meals were pretty much repetitive. This did not turn me off the cruise. It simply was not what I was used to and not preferred over NCL. I think it is good to check out other offerings. It certainly made me appreciate what NCL offers. On the other hand I certainly understand that there are others who Prefer the RCI offering. To each his own.

Isn't there also an Asian/sushi place that is included? Still though - very few options.

[Homecruiser]

I do not remember seeing an Asian option on EOS.

[cat-n-snork]

WoW! I've only cruised twice--both on Norwegian. This is an interesting post.

[DrNora]

Maybe they will Harriet - just for us :D

 

Us, too!, we switched to Royal back in 2010. This summer will be our first NCL in six cruises. Kids and hub are very excited to return to the courtyard/ Haven- but would LOVE to have some better options for port days

 

Happy mother,s day, Sissasmommy and Harriet

[SissasMomE]

Us, too!, we switched to Royal back in 2010. This summer will be our first NCL in six cruises. Kids and hub are very excited to return to the courtyard/ Haven- but would LOVE to have some better options for port days

 

Happy mother,s day, Sissasmommy and Harriet

 

Happy mother's day Nora and Harriett!!

[hpecorari]

Happy mother's day Nora and Harriett!!

 

Happy Mother's day Dr.Nora and SissasMome. Hope it was joyous!

 

Harriet

[JimAOk1945]

We have been cruising in either the GS or OS categories on RCI so look forward to sailing in a suite when we try NCL.

 

We enjoy the perks on RCI although we don't use all of them. The location of the CL is not always desirable. On the Mariner of the Seas and Adventure of the Seas, they are located in the interior of deck nine. The space is small and dim. However, on the Radiance of the Seas, the lounge is located on deck thirteen with floor to ceiling windows. It was wonderful for our Alaska cruise.

 

A few of the perks we enjoyed were:

 

• Fee soft drinks and specialty coffee available in the Concierge Lounge.
  
• Sitting down in Chops for lunch sea days and ordering delicious meals
  
• A cooked full breakfast on disembarkation morning
  
• The Concierge escorting us down to the gangway.
  
• Reserved seating for the shows, especially the ice skating shows.
  

We look forward to trying the "suite" life on NCL!

 

Happy cruising. It's a great way to see the world!

[pex]

Interesting, and sort of counter-intuitive to me. I've never really given the business model much thought, but my guess would have been that 30% were first time cruisers, and 70% repeat cruisers. Certainly most of the people I meet on a cruise have cruised before. Maybe I am self-selecting somehow? Dunno.

 

So next time I jump aboard NCL I will gaze about, knowing that 70% of the people on board have never been on a cruise ship before, and after this cruise, will never again set foot on a cruise ship!

 

(Maybe when you say <30% repeat passengers, you mean repeat with NCL? That makes more sense to my brain.)

 

Next time you're onboard a new mass-market ship, you should ask a senior officer what percentage of the cruisers onboard are repeat passengers. Usually it's less than 30%.