Considering first NCL cruise

[workingtocruise-59]

We are thinking about booking our first cruise on NCL. We have mostly cruised with Azamara, Silversea, Oceania & Celebrity but for the vacation time I have available only NCL fits with my dates.

Would be very grateful for any hints & tips and any comparisons ... The cruise we are considering is on the Spirit.

 

Many thanks in advance.

[4774Papa]

We are thinking about booking our first cruise on NCL. We have mostly cruised with Azamara, Silversea, Oceania & Celebrity but for the vacation time I have available only NCL fits with my dates.

Would be very grateful for any hints & tips and any comparisons ... The cruise we are considering is on the Spirit.

 

Many thanks in advance.

We have done 10 Celebrity cruises and 6 on NCL. We have two booked on Royal Caribbean out of Sydney because they don't bundle prices with promos that we don't want. NCL bundles, but their prices haven't skyrocketed like many of Celebrity's (only the repos and transatlantic are not).

 

NCL has slightly better entertainment than Celebrity, but the food and service are not as good. Still, we still like NCL if the itinerary and price are right. We don't like that NCL adds gratuities to its drinks packages (that is why we don't choose drinks packages, since they are way overvalued) Also, the wine choices on the drinks packages are poor.

 

NCL has many more specialty restaurants that have better food and their prices are lower than Celebrity's specialty prices.

 

There will be more night life on NCL ships if that is what you like.

 

We have a New England and Canada cruise out of Boston booked for September. I would rather go out of Boston than NYC.

[workingtocruise-59]

We have done 10 Celebrity cruises and 6 on NCL. We have two booked on Royal Caribbean out of Sydney because they don't bundle prices with promos that we don't want. NCL bundles, but their prices haven't skyrocketed like many of Celebrity's (only the repos and transatlantic are not).

 

NCL has slightly better entertainment than Celebrity, but the food and service are not as good. Still, we still like NCL if the itinerary and price are right. We don't like that NCL adds gratuities to its drinks packages (that is why we don't choose drinks packages, since they are way overvalued) Also, the wine choices on the drinks packages are poor.

 

NCL has many more specialty restaurants that have better food and their prices are lower than Celebrity's specialty prices.

 

There will be more night life on NCL ships if that is what you like.

 

We have a New England and Canada cruise out of Boston booked for September. I would rather go out of Boston than NYC.

 

Thank you for your very helpful reply.

We didn't really enjoy the food in the MDR on Celebrity but we had OBC so spent some on the speciality restaurants - which were very good. So, do you think the specialities are better on NCL? We could always get some kind of promo rate on X ...is that likely on NCL?

We liked the variety of entertainment on Celebrity (we were on Silhouette) and the cocktails in the bars.

We are in the UK so a drinks package is "included" in our pricing.

[Brklynguy]

My wife and I have cruised most of the mid tier lines and Azamara, (really excellent). For many trips our favorite line was Holland America, and usually end up in a neptune suite - real suite level services. However, our last three cruises have been on Norwegian and we book Haven cabins, which are fabulous. We are now big fans. We have been in their smaller Haven rooms - these were bigger but similar to the Azamara suites, but have booked the two bedroom suites for not much more money and these rooms are the unbelievable. What is different in the Haven is the service and amenities - If you are used to more luxurious cabins, the Haven offers you that, great packages, and you are on larger ships with many diverse restaurants and activities, and you can escape from the crowds in the Haven areas.

[bluesea777]

Haven is available only on larger NCL ships. The Spirit doesn't have Haven but she does have suites, and has allocated a restaurant for the Suite guests for breakfast and lunch.

 

Spirit is the smallest (and oldest) ship in NCL fleet, but I hear the service is very good. We'll be going on her in April - we booked her because of the itinerary.

[NUPDCOP]

We have only cruised NCL and go back because we haven't had a bad experience yet. Any issues that did come up were small and no big deal and were handled accordingly. We only eat in the free places buffet MDR etc. We don't do the drink package because of the costs - even if its free the gratuities still outweigh if I just want to have a beer once or twice.

 

We enjoy going to supper when we want, and change it up on different days. Our kids loved their first cruise which was the last one we took. We made the room work and it proved to me that we could totally live in a "tiny house".

[newmexicoNita]

As much as I am a lover of NCL to be honest, make sure you understand the NCL brand isn't Silver Seas, Azamara or Oceana, but the prices are not the same either. Our daughter has done most lines, she likes the casual feeling of NCL, but also loved Oceana which she just did a few weeks ago. We are not fans of Celebrity because of the higher prices for what we don't think is that much different any mass marketed line.

 

My advise; for a new experience and a fun one give NCL a try but know what you are getting. It is like comparing the Waldorf with say, a basic Marriot. Both are great and have their place but they are different, as reflected in the price.

[coffeebean]

I will reiterate what what said in a post above.....NCL Spirit is the oldest and smallest ship in the NCL Fleet. There are no bells and whistles to speak of. I've sailed on Spirit a couple of times several years ago when hubby and I fist started cruising. To be honest, I won't sail on her again. I much prefer the newer larger ships in NCL's fleet.

 

If you do decide to sail on Spirit, please don't compare NCL to other cruise lines you have been on using Spirit as your comparison. It will be an extremely unfair comparison.

[4774Papa]

Thank you for your very helpful reply.

We didn't really enjoy the food in the MDR on Celebrity but we had OBC so spent some on the speciality restaurants - which were very good. So, do you think the specialities are better on NCL? We could always get some kind of promo rate on X ...is that likely on NCL?

We liked the variety of entertainment on Celebrity (we were on Silhouette) and the cocktails in the bars.

We are in the UK so a drinks package is "included" in our pricing.

We have done 10 Celebrity and 6 NCL cruises and found the MDR food consistently better on Celebrity. Still, on our last NCL cruise (Sun in 2016), the MDR food quality had gone up.

 

Not sure why you didn't care for the Celebrity MDR, we skip the expensive specialty restaurants there, since the MDR is so good.

 

However, NCL's specialty restaurants are cheaper and we go more to those restaurants, especially Le Bistro and Cagney's.

[workingtocruise-59]

My wife and I have cruised most of the mid tier lines and Azamara, (really excellent). For many trips our favorite line was Holland America, and usually end up in a neptune suite - real suite level services. However, our last three cruises have been on Norwegian and we book Haven cabins, which are fabulous. We are now big fans. We have been in their smaller Haven rooms - these were bigger but similar to the Azamara suites, but have booked the two bedroom suites for not much more money and these rooms are the unbelievable. What is different in the Haven is the service and amenities - If you are used to more luxurious cabins, the Haven offers you that, great packages, and you are on larger ships with many diverse restaurants and activities, and you can escape from the crowds in the Haven areas.

 

Many thanks for the reply.

On Azamara we normally book OV or balcony.. either way the rooms are not very large (especially the bathrooms!) but are very comfortable and well maintained. I read another post which stated the Spirit doesn't have Haven ... but we were very unlikely to have booked one of the Haven rooms anyway.

We have booked this cruise with NCL for the itinerary and because it coincides with my vacation time.

I am always anxious to try something new .. in fact, when we booked our first Azamara cruise, I was convinced we had made a mistake and wouldn't live up to our previous Silversea cruises ... but it did!!

[workingtocruise-59]

We have only cruised NCL and go back because we haven't had a bad experience yet. Any issues that did come up were small and no big deal and were handled accordingly. We only eat in the free places buffet MDR etc. We don't do the drink package because of the costs - even if its free the gratuities still outweigh if I just want to have a beer once or twice.

 

We enjoy going to supper when we want, and change it up on different days. Our kids loved their first cruise which was the last one we took. We made the room work and it proved to me that we could totally live in a "tiny house".

 

Thank you for the reply.

We enjoy eating when and where we want without deciding in advance.

It seems that NCL have more choices for included dining venues though, generally, we are not fans of buffets.

[workingtocruise-59]

As much as I am a lover of NCL to be honest, make sure you understand the NCL brand isn't Silver Seas, Azamara or Oceana, but the prices are not the same either. Our daughter has done most lines, she likes the casual feeling of NCL, but also loved Oceana which she just did a few weeks ago. We are not fans of Celebrity because of the higher prices for what we don't think is that much different any mass marketed line.

 

My advise; for a new experience and a fun one give NCL a try but know what you are getting. It is like comparing the Waldorf with say, a basic Marriot. Both are great and have their place but they are different, as reflected in the price.

 

Thank you for the reply.

We are not expecting Silversea, Oceania or Azamara but something close to Celebrity with regards to dining, entertainment etc.. Though on our, one and only, Celebrity cruise in 2016 we paid less per person per night with an included drinks package, lots of OBC and a veranda than we are paying for an inside on NCL ( incl. gratuities and drinks package).

We are looking forward to the experience!

[workingtocruise-59]

We have done 10 Celebrity and 6 NCL cruises and found the MDR food consistently better on Celebrity. Still, on our last NCL cruise (Sun in 2016), the MDR food quality had gone up.

 

Not sure why you didn't care for the Celebrity MDR, we skip the expensive specialty restaurants there, since the MDR is so good.

 

However, NCL's specialty restaurants are cheaper and we go more to those restaurants, especially Le Bistro and Cagney's.

 

We have only taken one Celebrity cruise ( with over 20 on other lines - mostly Azamara) so don't know if our dining experience on Silhouette was a "one-off". The menu descriptions always sounded wonderful but the actual food less so.

We really enjoyed Murano on the first time we went but when we went again there was some sort of Chef's Table so we felt that all the other tables were ignored.

We loved Tuscan Grill but didn't go to Qsine or the sushi restaurant.

On Celebrity the specialities are a "fixed" (but open to negotiation?) price each night but looking at NCL they seem to be " a la carte" pricing unless you book a package .. is that correct?

 

 

Many thanks in advance.