Report From Behind Competitive Lines

[Broons77]

This is a long one, but if you've ever been curious about what goes on next door, then read on!

 

Back in the before times, when the sound of a stranger coughing didn't send you to the hand sanitizer shower, we booked a cruise to celebrate our daughter's high school graduation.  We decided that RCI just didn't have the options we wanted for this trip, so we decided to temporarily jump ship to NCL for a Boston to Bermuda cruise.  We're very new, having only sailed a handful of times but all were with Royal and a couple of trips were in suites so we've started climbing the C&A ladder pretty quickly.  We have an October cruise on Voyager that was booked under the double points promotion which will put us at Emerald level after this has completed.  As such, we're unlikely to switch brands at this point.

 

So, we booked the trip for August 2020 on the NCL Gem and then came Covid.  2 years, and 2 cancelled cruises later, we were finally able to embark on this long awaited celebration and I'd like to give props to the competition for a fantastic time with a few caveats.

 

Couple of things to mention right off the top.  First, we wound up on the Pearl which is a sister to the Gem and holds a touch under 2,500 pax at double occupancy and is comparable to a Radiance Class ship.  There are no slides, go karts or escape rooms, and our group of three 20 year old ladies found themselves a bit bored at times as a result.  But they managed to make the best of it, and 3 days in port in Bermuda allowed them to be entertained by beaches and excursions so everyone came home happy.  Second is that wife is disabled and we don't really get off the ship a lot except maybe to wander around at port if it's not a tender and there are shops or attractions in easy walking distance of the pier.  So for both DW and I, food and drink are of primary concern.

 

As most know, NCL advertises 'Free at Sea' fares which include drinks, wifi and some dining with most of their fares.  However I found this fare structure to be on the verge of misleading.  These fares usually applies only to pax 1 & 2 in a cabin and if there are 3 or 4 in your room, you will need to pay for additional drink packages, dining, wifi etc.  In addition, it doesn't include gratuities for the dining and drink packages which costs about $150 pp.  Also, if you need wifi for anything but the most basic searching or text functions, the included package is essentially useless and needs to be upgraded which is not cheap - $180, and still doesn't give the second pax full streaming so they will need to be upgraded as well for another $100+.  For the included drink package, like RCI there is a cap on drink prices ($13) and you will pay the difference.  I keep my drinks simple cocktails for the most part so no issue there.  But NCL will charge taxes on your drinks according to the local laws, and you could find a bunch of small dollar charges on your account if you're drinking on the ship while in port.  Also, unless you get the upgraded drink package, bottled water is NOT included.  I found this to be truly annoying, however I was aware of this and ordered a case of water pre-cruise for our stateroom.  Finally, if you like to bring wine on board, NCL wants to know about it.  I regularly do this and with RCI they've never said a word and have never even charged me a corkage fee.  NCL makes you pay corkage fees before you get on board at $15 per bottle.  Security will direct you to a table if you have wine in your carry on, and a staffer will examine the bottles and put a sticker on each one to let the servers know you've paid.

 

So my points here are that if you do take advantage of the 'Free at Sea' stuff, it's not so cut and dried.  Plan on paying more.  Not all too shocked at this, but was unhappy as to how much more it was to get what I felt was an equivalent to what I get on RCI with their packages.  I found that it's easier to figure out my actual costs ahead of time and most trips I've been able to come home having only spend an extra hundred bucks or so on Royal.  Not the case here.

 

Once on board, the wifi performed ok, and I was able to VPN into work and hold a call on Teams.  While there was some freezing, etc. it was useable.  In addition, NCL also recently changed the included specialty dining package cutting it from 2 to 1 included meal.  We originally had the 2 night package but lost that as we had to move cabins.  Like RCI, if you make a change like that to your booking, you will get whatever promotions are currently offered and lose whatever you booked under.

 

Pre-cruise experience was similar to RCI.  You're not able to do check in until 21 days prior to sailing which was not a big deal.  While a different experience, the on line check in was pretty easy to navigate.  There's no uploads of docs, you just provide your ID info and payment methods, take a picture and watch a safety video.  Fairly painless, but I'm pretty savvy at these things so the differences didn't throw me.  The one thing I'd say about the site is that pre-cruise purchases were a bit of a PITA.  We booked this trip with a TA (whom I'm currently in the process of cutting ties with), and while you can book things like shore excursions, internet and drink upgrades, dining, etc. just as you can on the Royal Cruise planner, if you find that you need to change or cancel anything, you can't do it on line and must call NCL.  And if you're booked with a TA, they need to call to make the change, you cannot do it directly.  Not a fan.

 

So all in all, my hot take is that pre-cruise, I much prefer RCI and find it easer to deal with.  But let's get on board and see if all this nonsense was worth it.  Spoiler - it was certainly easily forgotten!  I think some of what I found below to be related to the low pax count, but I think there's also something to be said for a smaller player to be trying harder.

 

Main reason we booked with NCL was leaving from Boston going to Bermuda.  It's the only warm weather itinerary served by a mid market brand out of my home port.  This was my first time leaving from here and I found the check in experience to be pretty similar to RCI.  We were through in about 30 mins, nothing really to sway me one way or another.

 

So now we're on board. Staff stated that the boat was sailing at a bit under 2/3rds capacity which I am pretty sure played positively into our experience, but it's also apparent that NCL works very hard in the mass market cruise space.  My pre-conceived notion was that they excel at their service, but the food can be hit or miss.  I found the former to be true, the latter to be not.  Service was wonderful and lived up to the hype.  EVERYONE said hello, smiled, made eye contact, regularly asked if you were OK or needed anything.  It was great and I truly have nothing negative to say about anyone.  Tried to think of something more descriptive than this, but simply can't.  Everyone was great.

 

As for the food, I did not have a bad meal once.  We ate at the MDR a couple of times for dinner as well as breakfast and lunch a time or two.  We had 3 dinners meals in the specialty restaurants and a couple of times in the buffet.  All were wonderful.  The Pearl also has an Asian themed restaurant as a complimentary venue and they also had a late night buffet every night in the outdoor portion of the buffet.  They also had a mid afternoon burgers and dogs buffet next to the pool deck bar.  Finally, they have O'Sheehan's which is a pub type venue that is open 24 hours with wait service.  You are never without options no matter what the time.  With the RCI cruises I've taken, late afternoons and late night, you're kind of limited in your options outside of room service.  And the quality was consistent in every venue - from breakfast to the late night buffet to the specialty restaurants, it didn't matter,  Everything was good and by the time we disembarked, all I wanted was a salad after indulging in meal after meal.  I'm trying to come up with specific favorites, but just can't do it, it was all great.

 

We're not much for entertainment, which worked out as there weren't really any big production shows going on.  I know this is important to some, but we don't really care.  We may wander in for something, but it's never a priority.  They did have a regular rotation of singers and duos at most of the bars and by the pool every day and all were great, with the exception of the off key guy playing at the martini bar on the last night.  The casino was small, but we did well and I actually came home up about $100!

 

I did get a pass to the thermal spa and glad I did.  Despite it being a ship half the size, the thermal spa has it all over the spas on the RCI ships I've been on.  Went every day, came out like a prune each time.

 

The ship's layout I found to be a bit awkward.  One main dining room was only accessible to wheelchair pax via a single elevator one deck below the main entrance and as a result we only went there once as DW is in a wheelchair.  There's also no main 'Royal Promenade' type area, but the atrium area was always hopping although atrium bar closes kind of early at night.  Not a big deal as you can walk up the steps to O'Sheehan's, which overlooks the atrium and get your drink there and still keep up with whatever was going on there.

 

For those that need them, I'm pleased to report that there were family/accessible bathrooms on every deck with a public space, which is a huge improvement over any RCI ship I've been on.  I hope this is the norm, as it's really something very important to those that need these types of facilities.  RCI needs to take note of this.  Anthem is the newest RCI boat I've been on and finding one of these bathrooms can be a challenge.  If you have mobility challenges, I highly recommend this ship.  Our accessible OV cabin was kind of tight, but served us well.  All the usual needs can be found there.

 

To sum it up, despite the first couple of paragraphs in this post, I'd do this trip again in a heartbeat and may very well do so if we can find some friends to go with us next year.  I'd be curious to see what my experience would be with a higher pax count, but I had a good enough time to want to try it again.  The convenience to cruising close to home can't be beat and now that I know what to watch for financially, I can stick to my budget a little better.  Makes me wonder if I'd be an NCL loyalist had I taken my first cruise with them rather than with RCL  But if you've ever been curious about another line and never been, I'd say go for it.  At the end of the day, it's much the same experience and you may be surprised by what you find.  I'm glad we did!

 

Any questions, please ask!

[Crazy planning mom]

Thanks for your review.  I like sailing both lines.  My last cruise was on Royal.  Sailing on Jade, a sister to the Pearl, this Fall out of Athens.  I know the ship doesn't have bells and whistles but this is a bucket list itinerary.  One thing I like about NCL is that they have renovated their cabins on their older ships whereas Royal often just updates the public spaces ala amplification.

 

[Broons77]

Thanks @Crazy planning mom!  I've been called Crazy Planning Dad more than once lol...

 

I don't have enough experience with either line to comment on their upgrades, but the Pearl certainly was in fine shape.  I did find that storage in the cabin ran out quickly but that could have been due to it being an accessible cabin.  Regardless, I found no noticeable wear and tear and there was constant (albeit unobtrusive) maintenance going on during the trip.  Older ship or not, we loved it!!!

[Broons77]

And I forgot to mention, there are no winner between NCL and Royal in the category of coffee, and this includes you the passenger.  Awful.  I don't get why the cruise companies can't come up with something a little less toxic.

[RosieRoo]

Thanks for the review. I’ll be sailing on the Pearl in June, but have sailed the Dawn from Boston to Bermuda before. I’m glad you enjoyed the ship. I’ve sailed both NCL and Royal and I think NCL has a perfectly good product and it’s great to sail from your home port. Not many choices out of Boston. It’s true, you have to realize what you’re getting with their “free at sea”. It’s a bit more restrictive than they let on. We tend to lean more towards Royal these days because we are D+ and it’s hard to sail on the other lines and not get the same perks, but there are other good choices out there. 

[smokeybandit]

This post is longer than even a CVS receipt 

[PokrChick]

@Broons77  just had to say that I love your avatar!  My comparable, which is currently my laptop background,  is

 

[billslowsky]

3 minutes ago, PokrChick said:

@Broons77  just had to say that I love your avatar!  My comparable, which is currently my laptop background,  is

 

The players don't have that many teeth.

[Broons77]

31 minutes ago, RosieRoo said:

Thanks for the review. I’ll be sailing on the Pearl in June, but have sailed the Dawn from Boston to Bermuda before. I’m glad you enjoyed the ship. I’ve sailed both NCL and Royal and I think NCL has a perfectly good product and it’s great to sail from your home port. Not many choices out of Boston. It’s true, you have to realize what you’re getting with their “free at sea”. It’s a bit more restrictive than they let on. We tend to lean more towards Royal these days because we are D+ and it’s hard to sail on the other lines and not get the same perks, but there are other good choices out there. 

 

I have friends that swear by NCL which also entered into our decision making. I'd like to get them to try RCI so I can get an opposite viewpoint.  We'll probably stick more with Royal, but we're also more likely to give NCL more business if it makes $ sense to do so.

[Broons77]

@PokrChick

 

JRAD or DSO need to do a cruise!!!!

[PokrChick]

8 hours ago, Broons77 said:

JRAD or DSO need to do a cruise!!!!

I'm seeing DSO at a small venue 20 minutes from my house next month.  Outdoors at a brewery.  Can't wait!!

[sandy toes]

1 hour ago, PokrChick said:

I'm seeing DSO at a small venue 20 minutes from my house next month.  Outdoors at a brewery.  Can't wait!!

Where? Would love to take some friends. Not RFK or TMI but since Gerry isn't around, DSO at a brewery sounds really good. 

[PokrChick]

6 hours ago, sandy toes said:

Where? Would love to take some friends. Not RFK or TMI but since Gerry isn't around, DSO at a brewery sounds really good. 

They're playing at Union Craft Brewing on June 26th.  Tickets are $35+ service charge.  Should be a fun night!

[Broons77]

9 hours ago, PokrChick said:

I'm seeing DSO at a small venue 20 minutes from my house next month.  Outdoors at a brewery.  Can't wait!!

 

If it's small, then you've probably got a good chance to get up close and tell them to charter a cruise!!!!

 

Have a blast!!!