NCL vs. Princess

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

Agree with many observations, and what OXO said.  Were in same catergory of perks as OXO,

and perks seem to matter more on Princess.

Big difference for us, like others have mentioned is Entertainment.

I've yet to experience Showroom ent. thats better than NCL. 

We saw SAME shows on NCL ships that we saw in Vegas, like Legends in Concert,

Blue Man Group, Million Dollar Quartet.....Terrific! 

You won't see those on Princess.

I DO miss O'Sheehans on NCL.  But Alfredos for pizza on Princ. is pretty darn good.

 

Princess doesn't go to Monte Carlo, like we experienced on NCL.  That was a fantastic cruise.

I would like to do that again in a heartbeat.

 

But I have to give the edge to Princess for service, Int'l cafe, better cabins IMO.

I DO like the current Medallion service on Princ.with Room service & Bevarage delivery.

Cost wise,  my Princ. casino comps are soooo much better than NCL.

For that big reason,.  I won't go back to NCL anytime soon.

 

Plus NCL, with their Add on admin. fees?  Pet peeve of mine, its just added unnecessary expense.

So we haven't steered away from Princ the past 5 -6 years.

And in covid times, I know what I'm getting with Princ.

Which right now, isn't great with either of them.

So were sitting our next Princ cruise OUT.  And will see how it goes in the next few months.

 

 

 

[ontheweb]

4 hours ago, nocl said:

Sail most lines.  One that I would probably not sail again is NCL.

I kind of felt that way too despite I have to say that the best entertainment we ever had was on the 2 NCL cruises we sailed. But everything else was not so great.

 

But we also sail for itinerary, and we saw a cruise (not until the summer of 2023 so hopefully we are no longer in any kind of health crisis) that was too good to pass up. It starts in London (Southampton actually) and ends up in Reykjavik including an overnight there. There are also port stops in Amsterdam, Bruges for Brussels, 3 stops in Norway (where we missed a fjords cruise in 2020), and finally 3 stops in Iceland.

 

 

[Buckeye10640]

That sounds like a great cruise, I may need to take a look at it. 

[Oxo]

1 hour ago, CalLuvsCrusingToo said:

 Plus NCL, with their Add on admin. fees?  Pet peeve of mine, its just added unnecessary expense.

I'm not sure what you mean by NCL Add on admin fees?

Please explaine.

TIA

[Oxo]

26 minutes ago, Oxo said:

I'm not sure what you mean by NCL Add on admin fees?

Please explaine.

TIA

I was on NCL JOY 11/20 in a Balcony and 11/27 Club Suite. I still have invoices and would be willing to post my invoices for your info.

I did have to pay gratuities/person/day that is not on the invoices. 

 

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

6 hours ago, Oxo said:

I'm not sure what you mean by NCL Add on admin fees?

Please explaine.

TIA

On our past casino comp cruises from NCL, they would charge an Admin fee of about $250 ea.

on comp bookings.

Princess didn't do that. 

Theres a lot more that I get on Princ  casino comps than NCL.

Plus I don't have to renew Level every year on Princ. like they do on NCL.

 

FYI-  Theres a Cruise Casino category on the CC Home page, scroll towards bottom,

if you have further Casino questions.😉

 

[ontheweb]

13 hours ago, Buckeye10640 said:

That sounds like a great cruise, I may need to take a look at it. 

It's is on the Prima, which is now being built. The first cruise scheduled is in mid-August 2022; the cruise we have booked is in early August 2023. (Our TA is correct that that is getting closer as it is now next year. LOL.)

Edited January 2, 2022 by ontheweb

[Buckeye10640]

1 minute ago, ontheweb said:

It's is on the Prima, which is now being built. The first cruise scheduled is in mid-August 2022; the cruise we have booked is in early August 2023. (Our TA is correct that that is getting closer as it is now next year. LOL.

Found it last night and took look!  Its an interesting ship design from what  I could find and I like the fact its not a mega-ship. The itinerary is definitely different than Princess. Have been looking at the Land of the Midnight Sun or Norweigian Fjords cruises on Princess, so will continue to give this some thought. We can generally get reduced casino rates (not fully comped) on Princess but have done a few fully comped inside cabins on  NCL pre-covid from land-based offers. 

[ontheweb]

4 minutes ago, Buckeye10640 said:

Found it last night and took look!  Its an interesting ship design from what  I could find and I like the fact its not a mega-ship. The itinerary is definitely different than Princess. Have been looking at the Land of the Midnight Sun or Norweigian Fjords cruises on Princess, so will continue to give this some thought. We can generally get reduced casino rates (not fully comped) on Princess but have done a few fully comped inside cabins on  NCL pre-covid from land-based offers. 

Yes, very interesting ports. We were supposed to be on a Princess Norwegian fjords cruise in 2020 that did not happen, so looking forward to those ports. We have been to both Amsterdam and Reykjavik on land trips, but not as cruise ports. Actually both Amsterdam and Bruge were ports on a river cruise we had booked a long time ago that was chartered out from under us after we made final payment.

 

And the one sea day is on our wedding anniversary.

 

And it is counter to the trend in cruise ship building at the moment that NCL is building a ship smaller than their most recent builds. I would not call it a small ship, but at least it is not a mega ship!

[Oxo]

7 hours ago, CalLuvsCrusingToo said:

On our past casino comp cruises from NCL, they would charge an Admin fee of about $250 ea.

on comp bookings.

Princess didn't do that. 

Theres a lot more that I get on Princ  casino comps than NCL.

Plus I don't have to renew Level every year on Princ. like they do on NCL.

 

FYI-  Theres a Cruise Casino category on the CC Home page, scroll towards bottom,

if you have further Casino questions.😉

 

Now I know why I didn't know about NCL Admin fee.

I don't gamble.

Never did

Thanks for the info.  I learn something. 

Stay Safe! 

[RNRcruisers]

On 1/1/2022 at 3:08 PM, nocl said:

 

NCL more than the other lines, convert more of the inside spaces of their ships into their various specialty dining venues, leaving less space for places to just sit, relax and read.  Public spaces were limited inside, tending to push everyone up to the upper outside spaces, compared to other lines. Then they cut off some of that space in designs when they added Haven.

 

Totally agree with this - it is probably my biggest complaint with NCL ships. Just not enough space for all the people they cram on the ship. Our last NCL was on Encore and it was the worst. We will absolutely avoid going on it ever again. We don't use the specialty dining so it is wasted space for us.

 

[Daniel A]

On 1/1/2022 at 3:08 PM, nocl said:

NCL more than the other lines, convert more of the inside spaces of their ships into their various specialty dining venues, leaving less space for places to just sit, relax and read.  Public spaces were limited inside, tending to push everyone up to the upper outside spaces, compared to other lines. Then they cut off some of that space in designs when they added Haven.

We took Pearl to Alaska one year and due to the cold temperatures, nothing on the outside areas was open and all the deck chairs were stacked and lashed down.  This moved the chair hogs indoors taking up most of the seating in all the public spaces including the buffet.  We had to get many of our meals and take them to our cabin.  I'd never take an NCL to a cold climate again unless it was to stay in the Haven.  We will sail on NCL again, but with our conditions about cold climates.

[Oceansaway17]

On 1/1/2022 at 7:10 AM, ontheweb said:

NCL is far from my favorite cruise line, but I will say that the best entertainment we have ever had on any cruise ship was on NCL.

 

 

agreed as in 2011 on the Epic we had Blue Man Group.

[Oceansaway17]

On 1/2/2022 at 8:40 AM, Oxo said:

Now I know why I didn't know about NCL Admin fee.

I don't gamble.

Never did

Thanks for the info.  I learn something. 

Stay Safe! 

 

 

I never knew this either but I do not gamble.

[ontheweb]

17 hours ago, Oceansaway17 said:

 

 

agreed as in 2011 on the Epic we had Blue Man Group.

Our Epic cruise was in 2012 (for 35th anniversary). We also had Blue Man Group plus Cirq d' Soleil (probably spelled wrong). However, we were disappointed that Slam Allen who was then performing on the Epic was on his 6 months off. (He is from my home town, and the next time I saw him in a small venue, I told him.

 

NCL sent some officers to our Meet and Greet including the one in charge of entertainment. And I told him we were disappointed so far as we were expecting Slam Allen.

[Drews_Cruise]

Its nice to see the comparative views of these two lines.  I know way more about Princess (11 cruises) than NCL  (0) cruises but our kids love the NCL and have done many of them.  We will do our first NCL in August on the new Prima and it looks like a game changer as far as layout and open spaces on deck 8 go.  Obviously if you are willing to spend for the Haven, its an experience like no other. 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 1/1/2022 at 3:24 PM, Oxo said:

You have the Local/Osheehans open 24/7 for food.

alas, we couldn't eat there or at any other free venues because the whole deck stunk of smoke. Very unappealing. The buffet ran out of some food items within the first hour and didn't restock. MDR and buffer food was inedible, and I am saying it as a glutton who will shovel pretty much any food in my mouth and be happy. Jade's saving (food) grace was the most tender and delicious crepes. Getaway's crepes were edible, but overdone to a crisp. Jade's other saving grace was its Southern Caribbean itinerary, which we sadly didn't get to enjoy because Jade broke down on day 3.

 

Getaway's saving grace was the entertainment and free activities available to kids. We sailed on it at the right time a couple of years ago. Had we sailed now, some of those kid activities would no longer be available to my 10 yo because he exceeds the max limits (and, no, he is not off the charts by any means).

 

I have to say that the NCL entertainment was superb.

[HBCcruiser]

5 hours ago, Drews_Cruise said:

Its nice to see the comparative views of these two lines.  I know way more about Princess (11 cruises) than NCL  (0) cruises but our kids love the NCL and have done many of them.  We will do our first NCL in August on the new Prima and it looks like a game changer as far as layout and open spaces on deck 8 go.  Obviously if you are willing to spend for the Haven, its an experience like no other. 

I agree about the Prima and Haven. We booked an Aft Owners Suite on the Prima months ago when the prices were more reasonable. I can't wait to sail her! 

[moodyb1]

Two years we took our family on the NCL Norwegian Joy out of LA for a Mexican Riviera cruise. It was great for the young adults and kids. They really enjoyed the laser tag, the pool slides and the bumper cars. It really kept them entertained. The specialty food restaurants were delicious and the shows were superb! If it was just my husband and myself, I would prefer Princess. 

 

Arlene