Should you try NCL? (A Princess Perspective)

[Steelers0854]

DW and I really started our cruise journey with Princess and while we have tried most of the other cruise lines we have consistently found that Princess is our favorite line.  We had the opportunity to book an NCL cruise out of NY at a fantastic price and we have wanted to sail from Manhattan and go to Canada for a while so we went for it.  It’s on the newer NCL Escape (2015).  We had cruised NCL once before back in 2010 and remember it being fine.  Other than Disney, Celebrity has been our second favorite thus far to Princess.  I have to say NCL was a disappointment for the things that we like most about cursing.

 

TL;DR: They don’t cook a lot of their buffet food onboard, and their ship has so many paid restaurants there is no place to sit and relax or enjoy any of the entertainment.  It’s a hard pass for us.

 

1) Food (Free): The food was inconsistent at best.  The buffet didnt have really any variety between each day, it was a lot of the same food with a slightly different version.  The buffet layout was not great which meant a lot of crowding and it wasnt easy to get around and seating was difficult.  I did like that much like Princess the buffet was open all the time, most other lines close their buffets often, which is very frustrating especially when trying to time meals with excursions etc.  The MDR would have some really good dishes and some really not good ones.  I find both the Princess Buffet and MDR to be much much better overall.  Also, the vast majority of their food is NOT made on board in the buffet.  I’ll get into this a little more below in point 3, but this was disappointing as it definitely looked and tasted premade, where Princess makes almost everything onboard.    

 

2) Food (Paid): this has to be a separate category given the sheer number of paid restaurants on board.  We had several specialty dinings included in our cruise fare so we went to 3 of the specialty restaurants.  The best of the bunch was the Brazilian Steakhouse Moderno.  Fantastic food, unlimited, solid price.  The steakhouse was an utter disappointment and the Food Republic was not only the most overly priced dining at seas but the food wasnt good either.  Moderno may give Crown Grill a run for their money, but when you consider to cost Crown Grill wins hands down.

 

3) Food Allergies: DW cant eat gluten, dairy or egg.  Cruising has been the best way for us to travel as she generally is well taken care of and she can relax a little.  That said, NCL ended up being as bad as Carnival at handling her allergies.  Anything that wasnt made on board they wouldn’t serve her, even if it had a label that they or we could read, they refused to let us see the label and refused to serve her anything.  With the vast majority of the buffet being stuff that is premade this meant she could only eat a handful of things each day and they were the exact same day to day.  Also, on night she got sick from food served to her in the MDR and there must have been something in the sauce that was served to her with dinner.  Also NCL lacks complete creativity on dishes and desserts.  We have had such wonderful meals on Princess and Celebrity where the chefs were amazing and created dishes that were absolutely delicious.  On NCL she got a bowl of blueberry pie filling for like 3 nights in a row.  I know they cant make everyone a unique dish, but you know a day in advance, I cant imagine its that difficult since we have had it on other cruises.

 

4) Entertainment: Well the entertainment looked great, but for the majority of it (Live bands, comedian, etc) the venues are so small and uncomfortable if you didn’t get there an hour early you were never going to see anything.  We did see the main production show the Choir of Man and it was one of the best shows we have ever seen, on land or sea.  But for the other shows it was so disappointing to not be able to get in to see any of them.

 

5) The ship: this plays into point 4 above, but because they have a casino that takes up almost an entire deck, and more paid restaurants than cabins on board there are no places to sit, no lounges, no comfortable chairs, nothing.  I have never been in a position on Princess where I couldn’t find a comfortable chair somewhere to sit and read a book, play a card game or enjoy some live music.  It’s impossible to find on NCL.  The one area they have for this, the atrium, is so small that no matter what time of day you went there no seats were available and they had to bring in folding chairs, yup folding chairs, to help add additional seating for some of the planned activities there.  

 

All in all NCL was a disappointment.  In almost every way Princess is superior.  The ONLY thing that was great about NCL was the MDR process.  You could literally walk up at any time you want and wait 5 minutes or less for a table as long as you weren’t a large party.  But, that being said, we much prefer to have the same waitstaff each night, especially with DW’s allergies, and we did try and do this but they wouldn’t honor it and it was basically impossible to do.  Suffice to say NCL wont be on our list to do again, it’s just not for these Princess cruisers.  YMMV.

[Paula_MacFan]

We did NCL's Pride of America to Hawaii in January and added their 4 day land package for a total 11 days. We had a fabulous time, trip of a lifetime. We love Princess but I would never sail them to Hawaii  -- way too many sea days. We enjoyed our 11 port intensive days instead. 

 

That was our first NCL cruise. We have another booked out of Galveston in January, as well as the Regal. We're trying to decide which one to stick with. Been on Regal several times and the NCL ship is brand new.

 

In our opinion both lines have strengths and weaknesses.

[karatemom2]

We are primarily Princess cruisers - it’s definitely our favorite. But, that being said we have cruised a number of times on NCL and really enjoy many aspects. 
 

The amount of onboard activity like the Go Karts, Laser Tag, Escape Room, Bowling, Pool Table and Water Slides is great fun and a hit with our young adult family members. We also love the entertainment - their production shows are outstanding, definitely a level above Princess in professionalism. 
 

I would agree that the standard dining room food is subpar compared to Princess, but I tend to prefer some of their specialty restaurants over Princess. A few of the best meals we have ever had on a cruise were at Le Bistro and Ocean Blue. I do like Crown Grill better than Cagney’s though. 
 

Despite all this, we still give an overall edge to Princess for the cabin size, beauty of ships, elegant feeling, onboard CD level activities, regular dining meals/buffet and overall experience. Plus we get better perks with our Elite status and casino benefits. 
 

But we will still continue to cruise NCL as well and enjoy it too!

Edited October 8, 2023 by karatemom2

[Ken the cruiser]

We have found that we don't mind cruising with NCL IF the itinerary is awesome, like our 38-day Middle East/Africa cruise on the Jade, or hopefully our upcoming 30-day B3B on the Getaway starting in Oct 2024 that takes us to the Egyptian Pyramids, ancient Greek ruins, Venice, and finally winding up in Rome. Then there is the 22-day B2B on the Star we booked in June 2025 that takes us to Longyearbyen twice RT out of Reykjavik. None of the other lines we currently cruise with to include PCL offered any combination of itineraries even close to those combined itineraries, let alone at the price NCL was offering them at.

 

But I will also say thanks to that 38-day Africa cruise on the Jade where we got double Latitudes points, we are now Platinum after only cruising with NCL for 45 days total. Combining that loyalty status with purchasing the optional FAS Plus package, we now get 6 free specialty dinners on each leg, plus a bunch of other perks that come with the FAS Plus package.

 

But, again, we would never book an NCL cruise unless the itinerary was awesome!

[Knickearth]

I have to agree with Steelers in general.  I went on one NCL cruise years ago and can’t think of anything positive.  Funnily enough, the girlfriend I was with made a photo album for me.  Each page listed an item, I.e. buffet on a cruise with a beautiful looking layout of a variety of food.  Then a picture of what we actually got.  If it wasn’t so funny we would have cried.  I will never go on NCL again

[Oxo]

The responses above were to be expected since this is the Princess CC.

Post the same question on NCL and you will get a complete reverse.

No 2 people have the same opinion!

Food is subjective.

We are Elite on Princess 55 cruises on Princess 

We are Saphire on NCL 19 cruises 

We have over 150 cruises total 

Try any cruise line and then determine if it is for you. It is your money, your likes and dislikes.

We cruise 9 to 10 times per year and each year go on Celebrity, MSC, NCL, Princess & RCI.

EACH ONE has pluses & minuses.

Only you can decide 

Happy Cruising! 

[Steelers0854]

54 minutes ago, Oxo said:

Try any cruise line and then determine if it is for you.

 

Completely agree, but you should do so making an informed decision which is what this board is all about.  The point of posting it here is that if you are someone who likes the Princess brand and what it delivers you should know how it may compare when looking to do another cruise line.  As I said in my post your mileage may vary, and this is just my perspective.  But with so many lines out there it’s nice to know what to expect from someone’s perspective before going.  Not all of us are lucky enough to be able to go on 150 cruises, for some it may be a trip of a lifetime, and I for one would want as much info as I can beforehand to make an informed decision.  

 

[Oxo]

1 minute ago, Steelers0854 said:

 

Completely agree, but you should do so making an informed decision which is what this board is all about.  The point of posting it here is that if you are someone who likes the Princess brand and what it delivers you should know how it may compare when looking to do another cruise line.  As I said in my post your mileage may vary, and this is just my perspective.  But with so many lines out there it’s nice to know what to expect from someone’s perspective before going.  Not all of us are lucky enough to be able to go on 150 cruises, for some it may be a trip of a lifetime, and I for one would want as much info as I can beforehand to make an informed decision.  

 

I am not disagreeing with your post.

 

I only post my history to allow others to have credence in my opinion . I try to be objective and non-bias.

 

We were on the NCL PARIMA last year 2 times, 19 days. We would not go back on it again. Others said it was their best cruise & ship. 

 

Opinions are opinions. Everyone has one. However, who is too say yours or mine is more valid? 

 

We both normally agree on the subjects we respond to.

Happy Cruising! 

 

[hawk/hornfan]

Our cruise before the lockdowns was on the NCL Escape for a friends 70th b-day party. Was not impressed. I would rather cruise CCL (have done 4) than NCL again.

[tootsiescurly]

3 hours ago, Paula_MacFan said:

We did NCL's Pride of America to Hawaii in January and added their 4 day land package for a total 11 days. We had a fabulous time, trip of a lifetime. We love Princess but I would never sail them to Hawaii  -- way too many sea days. We enjoyed our 11 port intensive days instead. 

 

That was our first NCL cruise. We have another booked out of Galveston in January, as well as the Regal. We're trying to decide which one to stick with. Been on Regal several times and the NCL ship is brand new.

 

In our opinion both lines have strengths and weaknesses.

We had a 2 bedroom suite in the Haven on the NCL Epic. The Haven was great but anytime we left the Haven the ship was way too crowded. Agree about the casino area. It was very smokey. Common areas were difficult to navigate and we found the specialty restaurants average at best. Not worth the extra money. The food in the restaurant in the Haven was good The butler was outstanding.

 

The concierge did a horrible job. We requested a reservation for the Chef's Table when we booked the cruise. We also reaffirmed our desire to attend prior to boarding and when we boarded the ship. The second night of the cruise we were sitting at the bar in the Haven having a drink. A couple who had an inside cabin was sitting there. They told us they had been invited to the Chef's Table because someone cancelled. They requested a reservation for the Chef's Table when they embarked. They said they didn't even know there was such a dinner.  Fast forward a couple of days to the second Chef's Table. 7 people cancelled because they got too drunk in St. Thomas. We find out right before dinner they cancelled the Chef's Table. I suspect they knew this earlier in the day. They did not handle this well. This was not a cheap cruise. This and the issue with the common areas turned us off to NCL.

 

We have found Princess to be more our style. We have enjoyed all of our cruises on Princess. They are a better value.

 

[MacMadame]

5 hours ago, karatemom2 said:

The amount of onboard activity like the Go Karts, Laser Tag, Escape Room, Bowling, Pool Table and Water Slides is great fun and a hit with our young adult family members.

I thought that was something all the bigger, newer ships were doing? That was my impression anyway.

[seeyouinthesun]

7 hours ago, Steelers0854 said:

DW and I really started our cruise journey with Princess and while we have tried most of the other cruise lines we have consistently found that Princess is our favorite line.  We had the opportunity to book an NCL cruise out of NY at a fantastic price and we have wanted to sail from Manhattan and go to Canada for a while so we went for it.  It’s on the newer NCL Escape (2015).  We had cruised NCL once before back in 2010 and remember it being fine.  Other than Disney, Celebrity has been our second favorite thus far to Princess.  I have to say NCL was a disappointment for the things that we like most about cursing.

 

TL;DR: They don’t cook a lot of their buffet food onboard, and their ship has so many paid restaurants there is no place to sit and relax or enjoy any of the entertainment.  It’s a hard pass for us.

 

1) Food (Free): The food was inconsistent at best.  The buffet didnt have really any variety between each day, it was a lot of the same food with a slightly different version.  The buffet layout was not great which meant a lot of crowding and it wasnt easy to get around and seating was difficult.  I did like that much like Princess the buffet was open all the time, most other lines close their buffets often, which is very frustrating especially when trying to time meals with excursions etc.  The MDR would have some really good dishes and some really not good ones.  I find both the Princess Buffet and MDR to be much much better overall.  Also, the vast majority of their food is NOT made on board in the buffet.  I’ll get into this a little more below in point 3, but this was disappointing as it definitely looked and tasted premade, where Princess makes almost everything onboard.    

 

2) Food (Paid): this has to be a separate category given the sheer number of paid restaurants on board.  We had several specialty dinings included in our cruise fare so we went to 3 of the specialty restaurants.  The best of the bunch was the Brazilian Steakhouse Moderno.  Fantastic food, unlimited, solid price.  The steakhouse was an utter disappointment and the Food Republic was not only the most overly priced dining at seas but the food wasnt good either.  Moderno may give Crown Grill a run for their money, but when you consider to cost Crown Grill wins hands down.

 

3) Food Allergies: DW cant eat gluten, dairy or egg.  Cruising has been the best way for us to travel as she generally is well taken care of and she can relax a little.  That said, NCL ended up being as bad as Carnival at handling her allergies.  Anything that wasnt made on board they wouldn’t serve her, even if it had a label that they or we could read, they refused to let us see the label and refused to serve her anything.  With the vast majority of the buffet being stuff that is premade this meant she could only eat a handful of things each day and they were the exact same day to day.  Also, on night she got sick from food served to her in the MDR and there must have been something in the sauce that was served to her with dinner.  Also NCL lacks complete creativity on dishes and desserts.  We have had such wonderful meals on Princess and Celebrity where the chefs were amazing and created dishes that were absolutely delicious.  On NCL she got a bowl of blueberry pie filling for like 3 nights in a row.  I know they cant make everyone a unique dish, but you know a day in advance, I cant imagine its that difficult since we have had it on other cruises.

 

4) Entertainment: Well the entertainment looked great, but for the majority of it (Live bands, comedian, etc) the venues are so small and uncomfortable if you didn’t get there an hour early you were never going to see anything.  We did see the main production show the Choir of Man and it was one of the best shows we have ever seen, on land or sea.  But for the other shows it was so disappointing to not be able to get in to see any of them.

 

5) The ship: this plays into point 4 above, but because they have a casino that takes up almost an entire deck, and more paid restaurants than cabins on board there are no places to sit, no lounges, no comfortable chairs, nothing.  I have never been in a position on Princess where I couldn’t find a comfortable chair somewhere to sit and read a book, play a card game or enjoy some live music.  It’s impossible to find on NCL.  The one area they have for this, the atrium, is so small that no matter what time of day you went there no seats were available and they had to bring in folding chairs, yup folding chairs, to help add additional seating for some of the planned activities there.  

 

All in all NCL was a disappointment.  In almost every way Princess is superior.  The ONLY thing that was great about NCL was the MDR process.  You could literally walk up at any time you want and wait 5 minutes or less for a table as long as you weren’t a large party.  But, that being said, we much prefer to have the same waitstaff each night, especially with DW’s allergies, and we did try and do this but they wouldn’t honor it and it was basically impossible to do.  Suffice to say NCL wont be on our list to do again, it’s just not for these Princess cruisers.  YMMV.

Consistent with what I have heard from others. Definitely not on my list for now. As with most lines they struggle to maintain pre-shutdown standards. 

[Mike45LC]

Steelers, thanks for the review.  One of my local land-based casinos offered me a voucher for a free NCL cruise, Seven day interior cabin.  After checking the cost to upgrade, we decided to pass on a free cruise.  Your review confirms the wisdom of our choice!

[dockman]

NCL seems to be leading the race to have more and more and more pay extra options for food.

 

Some don't care and like all the extra restaurants.  I sorta like the way ships operated for decades that almost all food in all restaurants was included in your cruise fare.  

 

It is my understanding that the extra cost restaurants were originally put in place with the idea that a lot of passengers were celebrating anniversaries, birthdays, retirement etc and would maybe want to go to a more private and higher quality paid restaurant once as a special night. 

 

Guess they found out that many people were willing and wanting to go more than once and thus it has expanded ever since to the point that on some ships there are more extra fee restaurants than include in your cruise fare restaurants.

 

For me I prefer to go with included restaurants rather than extra fee and that overall allows me to go on more cruises with the savings.  And far as i can tell i have never felt deprived in any way.

 

Up to you.

[Anastas617]

I booked a cruise on NCL for Feb 2025 mostly because I wanted to check out another line, and price was fair (imo) for the studio room with Free at Sea.

 

That being said, I definitely am wary of some aspects I've seen in vlogs and on CC; the tiny venues top the list for me.

 

I chose NCL because I really have no interest in Carnival or RC. RC seems to have to worst pricing for a solo traveler and the fluctuating pricing on drink packages is annoying (and they seem overpriced comparatively).

 

I'm glad to get a review like this from somebody that appears rational and not agenda-driven. The info about the buffet having mostly pre-made items is perplexing and disappointing, though.

[Ken the cruiser]

4 minutes ago, Anastas617 said:

I booked a cruise on NCL for Feb 2025 mostly because I wanted to check out another line, and price was fair (imo) for the studio room with Free at Sea.

 

That being said, I definitely am wary of some aspects I've seen in vlogs and on CC; the tiny venues top the list for me.

 

I chose NCL because I really have no interest in Carnival or RC. RC seems to have to worst pricing for a solo traveler and the fluctuating pricing on drink packages is annoying (and they seem overpriced comparatively).

 

I'm glad to get a review like this from somebody that appears rational and not agenda-driven. The info about the buffet having mostly pre-made items is perplexing and disappointing, though.

If I might suggest for those interested in trying NCL (again), check out the new FAS Plus package they just started to offer a few months ago for an additional $49 pp/day, which for us was a very good deal, considering all the extras you get. 

  

[memoak]

7 hours ago, Paula_MacFan said:

We did NCL's Pride of America to Hawaii in January and added their 4 day land package for a total 11 days. We had a fabulous time, trip of a lifetime. We love Princess but I would never sail them to Hawaii  -- way too many sea days. We enjoyed our 11 port intensive days instead. 

 

That was our first NCL cruise. We have another booked out of Galveston in January, as well as the Regal. We're trying to decide which one to stick with. Been on Regal several times and the NCL ship is brand new.

 

In our opinion both lines have strengths and weaknesses.

We had looked at Pride of America and the cost is shocking. Way more than I would ever pay

[Steelers36]

This is another Steelers fan who has no interest in booking a NCL cruise.

 

One heck of a second half performamce this afternoon.  You just never want to miss a game versus Ravens. 

[Anastas617]

23 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

If I might suggest for those interested in trying NCL (again), check out the new FAS Plus package they just started to offer a few months ago for an additional $49 pp/day, which for us was a very good deal, considering all the extras you get. 

  

I only have 1 free specialty restaurant meal on a 7-day cruise, so not sure if they lessened or bettered the offer at some point (for the basic Free at Sea).

 

It's definitely something to look at, but not for me. Everything I drink is already covered, but if I could stack the $50 excursion credit it would make sense as that would pay for half the upgrade. If I decide to upgrade to unlimited WiFi it's only $109 vs $294 for the Plus package. The specialty dining doesn't matter to me either and even if I wanted to grab Starbucks it wouldn't come close to the upgrade price.

 

It's why I always chuckle at the Princess Plus posts/discussions/arguments. Just do the math based on how you want to cruise.

 

Worth noting that the gratuity charges for the drink package and specialty dining are not included in the package pricing.

[PandaBear62]

I am not a super experienced Princess cruiser...I've done three (a 7 day Alaskan cruise with tour add on, a 16 day Panama Canal cruise and a 10 day Alaskan cruise out of SF). Two of these post Covid.  I have two more Princess cruises planned, one in two weeks and one in February. So, needless to say, dh and I enjoy Princess.

Since Covid, I've also sailed DIsney twice, Celebrity, NCL & Carnival once.  I enjoyed them all. However, after our NCL cruise in July (I sailed with my mom and sister), I came home and told my dh we absolutely had to sail NCL again. I loved the specialty restaurant choices and the bars were great. There was one venue that had a fun band that did different types of shows every night.  One night they did the entire "Rumours" album.  I also loved their brew pub...they had an amazing draft beer selection (I think there were 20). Choir of Man has to be the best show on the seas. They also had two comedians (which dh and I both like). But what I really liked was 3 or 4 nights, there were three comedy shows each evening. The 6:30 show was the "family" show, the 8ish show PG13 and the 10 or 11 pm show (sorry, don't remember the exact times) was the adult show. I'm not into the really crass comedians (I like people like Kathleen Madigan, Jeff Foxworthy, etc) so I appreciated the tiered comedy shows.

We played  cards in empty bars and never had an issue finding a place. 

Food wise, I didn't see much difference between NCL and Princess. They both have similar food in the dining room and buffet, in my opinion. And truthfully, I'd say the same for DIsney. Carnival's dining room and buffet slightly lower, but with great food around the pool and Celebrity's buffet is the best I've ever eaten. 

NCL is a different kind of cruising experience. It is different than Princess. That doesn't make it bad or good for me....it's different. 

I plan to continue to sail Princess, as well as NCL. I will also "fill in" with other lines if they work for my schedule as well as the itinerary. 

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

22 minutes ago, Anastas617 said:

I only have 1 free specialty restaurant meal on a 7-day cruise, so not sure if they lessened or bettered the offer at some point (for the basic Free at Sea).

 

It's definitely something to look at, but not for me. Everything I drink is already covered, but if I could stack the $50 excursion credit it would make sense as that would pay for half the upgrade. If I decide to upgrade to unlimited WiFi it's only $109 vs $294 for the Plus package. The specialty dining doesn't matter to me either and even if I wanted to grab Starbucks it wouldn't come close to the upgrade price.

 

It's why I always chuckle at the Princess Plus posts/discussions/arguments. Just do the math based on how you want to cruise.

 

Worth noting that the gratuity charges for the drink package and specialty dining are not included in the package pricing.

That’s fine if it doesn’t work for you. But I’m confused a little bit. We get 2 free specialty dinners each with FAS and an additional two free specialty dinners each with FAS Plus, for a total of 4. Yes, the second guest gets an additional $50 off per NCL excursion along with the $50 the first guest gets with FAS. As far as the internet goes, having unlimited service versus the limited version you get with FAS is another big plus for both my DW and I. Then there’s the unlimited bottled water with the FAS Plus package and all the various Starbucks beverages they offer to include their very tasty hot chocolate, neither of which you get with just FAS.

[BlerkOne]

36 minutes ago, Anastas617 said:

Worth noting that the gratuity charges for the drink package and specialty dining are not included in the package pricing.

or any other gratuity. Free at Sea is anything but. and NCL Air has earned its bad reputation.

[memoak]

15 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

or any other gratuity. Free at Sea is anything but. and NCL Air has earned its bad reputation.

Whereas the Princess Plus package includes grats

[Anastas617]

38 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

That’s fine if it doesn’t work for you. But I’m confused a little bit. We get 2 free specialty dinners each with FAS and an additional two free specialty dinners each with FAS Plus, for a total of 4. Yes, the second guest gets an additional $50 off per NCL excursion along with the $50 the first guest gets with FAS. As far as the internet goes, having unlimited service versus the limited version you get with FAS is another big plus for both my DW and I. Then there’s the unlimited bottled water with the FAS Plus package and all the various Starbucks beverages they offer to include their very tasty hot chocolate, neither of which you get with just FAS.

Yeah, I don't know. This is what I have on my reservation, so maybe they improved it to 2 or reduced it to 1 at some point. I booked a few months ago. Either way, the Plus is definitely a benefit if you will take advantage of the perks.

[Ken the cruiser]

31 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

or any other gratuity. Free at Sea is anything but. and NCL Air has earned its bad reputation.

 

15 minutes ago, memoak said:

Whereas the Princess Plus package includes grats

True. The additional FAS cost is around $24 pp/day (FAS beverage and dining gratuities) + $20 pp/day (daily service charge) = $44 pp/day. If you add in the $49 pp/day for the FAS Plus, to total works out to $93 pp/day. Princess Plus is $60 pp/day, but with a lot less perks with a tangible monetary value.
 

BTW you also get 10% off the NCL cruise fare if you’re a military veteran.

 

All I’m saying is PCL is still our favorite cruise line right now. But just that NCL offers some pretty fair deals on some pretty cool itineraries, if you have the time to do the research and the math.