NCL Guy Sailing Celebrity in December

[Jim The Lizard]

On 4/18/2022 at 8:09 AM, terrydtx said:

OP, you didn't say what category of cabin you booked, but if you have booked the Haven on NCL you will be blown away by the entry level Sky Suite on any Celebrity ship. We did the Haven one and done with NCL in 2018 and now almost exclusively sail with Celebrity in the Retreat Suites. We also have done several HAL cruises and their suite product doesn't come close to Celebrity either. The only thing NCL may have over Celebrity is number and variety of specialty restaurants but the food and service quality is not close to Celebrity.

 

Enjoy your first Celebrity cruise and do all of us a favor come back here after the cruise and let us know what you think of the product VS NCL.

I will!  Great feedback and response to my question!  Thx!

[George C]

If possible I would definitely book a suite on celebrity, there suite restaurant and lounge are great along with other perks. I prefer edge class , but all classes are great . Haven’t sailed ncl in a long time but in general I believe entertainment is better on ncl except possibly for edge class. 

[Married90]

In a similar situation.   We are in our mid 50's and Sapphire level on NCL.  Had a 10 night Alaska balcony booked on the Spirit for  September including air. Need to make final payment next month.  Found a balcony deal on Celebrity Eclipse doing 2,  7 day back to backs with slightly different itinerates for about $1400 less over the same time period by the time you factor in discounted air, on board credit, etc.  For that much difference in price and 4 extra nights I couldn't pass up the offer .   Have wanted to try Celebrity .   We are going to miss the specialty meal package and Latitudes dinners but for  the price...    Looking forward to see what celebrity is like.    I have noticed on Celebrity you can't get upper deck balconies without paying into their "class" system.  

[hoklun]

Just came back from the NCL Bliss on a Mexican Riviera in a Club Spa. Did the X Edge in a Sunset Veranda (SV) early January. No status on either, being a couple aged mid 35-45s. (Been on Princess and Royal pre-pandemic).

 

Not sure if it was different ports, or capacity levels, however NCL was so disorganized. Online check in didn't seem to matter (they retook photos even after uploading). Embarkation took 3+ hours at noon. Self disembarkation letter on last night didn't make sense and also took 3+ hours after being cleared with minimal direction (Compared to Royal/Celebrity which force you into disembarkation times/colors, and venues to wait at). On the flip side, entertainment was great compared to Celebrity.

 

MDR staff at Celebrity were pretty well trained, push in your seat fully for you, compared to NCL's light push (where you have to pull in your seat again). Wine somoliers came over every night at any venue, and gave wine and cocktail options based on beverage package - we encountered 1 at Cagneys our whole trip who didn't know the wine list (just seemed like NCL knew everyone has a Bev package so makes you work for it).

 

Ship layout wise, felt like RCL/X's were more for customer satisfaction. E.g. you can get free tea, specialty coffes/teas mid ship ( included in classic package) at Al Bacio on X, compared to being forced to go to Starbucks on NCL mid ship, or go up to the buffet for drip, then back down (felt like nickel and diming).

 

There are more things (actual fabric hand towels, and not slow annoying sometimes empty paper towel dispensers)... Sorry for the lack of brevity. 

Edited April 21, 2022 by hoklun

[capecodmercury]

10 hours ago, Married90 said:

 I have noticed on Celebrity you can't get upper deck balconies without paying into their "class" system.  

Not sure what you mean by this.  How are you defining upper decks? 

 

Will you pay more for a higher deck? Possibly as those decks are typically deemed more desirable by passengers, but you can get a higher deck cabin on most classes without going the suite route.  

[Married90]

2 hours ago, capecodmercury said:

Not sure what you mean by this.  How are you defining upper decks? 

 

Will you pay more for a higher deck? Possibly as those decks are typically deemed more desirable by passengers, but you can get a higher deck cabin on most classes without going the suite route.  

Maybe I am mistaken but it looked like decks 10, 11, and 12 were completely concierge, aqua, or suites.    Deck 9 was limited/split between Concierge and normal balconies.  below that were all normal balconies.  

[Jim The Lizard]

15 hours ago, Married90 said:

In a similar situation.   We are in our mid 50's and Sapphire level on NCL.  Had a 10 night Alaska balcony booked on the Spirit for  September including air. Need to make final payment next month.  Found a balcony deal on Celebrity Eclipse doing 2,  7 day back to backs with slightly different itinerates for about $1400 less over the same time period by the time you factor in discounted air, on board credit, etc.  For that much difference in price and 4 extra nights I couldn't pass up the offer .   Have wanted to try Celebrity .   We are going to miss the specialty meal package and Latitudes dinners but for  the price...    Looking forward to see what celebrity is like.    I have noticed on Celebrity you can't get upper deck balconies without paying into their "class" system.  

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts after you sail.   Thx for your response!  

[Jim The Lizard]

14 hours ago, hoklun said:

Just came back from the NCL Bliss on a Mexican Riviera in a Club Spa. Did the X Edge in a Sunset Veranda (SV) early January. No status on either, being a couple aged mid 35-45s. (Been on Princess and Royal pre-pandemic).

 

Not sure if it was different ports, or capacity levels, however NCL was so disorganized. Online check in didn't seem to matter (they retook photos even after uploading). Embarkation took 3+ hours at noon. Self disembarkation letter on last night didn't make sense and also took 3+ hours after being cleared with minimal direction (Compared to Royal/Celebrity which force you into disembarkation times/colors, and venues to wait at). On the flip side, entertainment was great compared to Celebrity.

 

MDR staff at Celebrity were pretty well trained, push in your seat fully for you, compared to NCL's light push (where you have to pull in your seat again). Wine somoliers came over every night at any venue, and gave wine and cocktail options based on beverage package - we encountered 1 at Cagneys our whole trip who didn't know the wine list (just seemed like NCL knew everyone has a Bev package so makes you work for it).

 

Ship layout wise, felt like RCL/X's were more for customer satisfaction. E.g. you can get free tea, specialty coffes/teas mid ship ( included in classic package) at Al Bacio on X, compared to being forced to go to Starbucks on NCL mid ship, or go up to the buffet for drip, then back down (felt like nickel and diming).

 

There are more things (actual fabric hand towels, and not slow annoying sometimes empty paper towel dispensers)... Sorry for the lack of brevity. 

Wow, I appreciate your response.  I love NCL and fortunately have always received a great level of service for whatever reason.  I’m seeing a common thread here indicating service level and food quality is noticeably higher than NCL; I look forward to experiencing this.   Again, NCL has been a great line for us, and we’re sailing Celebrity for exactly the reasons you listed “pro Celebrity”; I think we’ve achieved a high level of appreciation for NCL and are satisfied with our cruises.  Looking forward to Celebrity’s reputation and stellar comments from many of you! 

[Jim The Lizard]

On 4/5/2022 at 1:43 PM, jenlock21 said:

I am also 40 and my husband is in his 50s. We were loyal Disney cruisers, then when it was just me and my husband we only cruised in a NCL haven spa suite because we loved the spa on NCL (something I think celebrity could do better on) and on a whim tried our first celebrity cruise pre Covid. We booked three more with celebrity since. I think the biggest difference is the passengers. We met so many great people and there weren’t a lot of kids. We don’t mind children but we tend to do adult only resorts and that is what celebrity felt like. As far as food, service, drinks, etc, we did not notice a big difference between any of the three because they were all excellent. We don’t attend the shows so I can’t speak on that but we loved the live musicians, murano dinner, and the solarium pool. 

We have a daughter who is a freshman in college.  She has only cruised with us once;   We use these cruises as our time away from everything and reconnect from our busy weeks!