Norwegian or Princess

[newmexicoNita]

I have to chime in here. We have sailed on the Crown Princess and the Norwegian Gem, both sister ships to the ones you are considering. We had a lovely cruise on the Gem and would definitely sail NCL again, but overall, we prefer Princess. The decor on the Gem was a little too loud for my taste, and the food in the regular DRs wasn't as good. We have never found Princess dull, but admittedly this can vary from sailing to sailing. Crown Princess has themed dinner buffets at Cafe Caribe, 24 hr food available at the International Cafe in the atrium, Skywalkers nightclub which opens at 11:00 pm, and Movies under the Stars which is real pleasure. Again, we enjoyed our Gem cruise, but please don't rule on Princess -- you'll get very different responses over on the Princess boards.

MUS is a plus, one of the few, but yes, fun.

[newmexicoNita]

I tryed both and they both have good and bad. It depends on what you like. I find the age groups are mixed more on Princess and there are alot more things to do on Princess ,but the service isnt as good as it is on NCL. The food is about equal."Princess is every man for themselves"...... I took my kids on Princess and they loved it but its not for me. My daughter met alot of people her age on Princess, shes 28. If your an active person you will love Princess, but if you like peace and quiet then NCL is better.I will try princess again only for the movies under the stars....thats a thing i really loved about princess and another good thing about Princess is the security was great. Other than that NCL is better for me.Because the security is so good.....its a good line to travel with kids.

 

wow, it depends on the ship I guess; we found the demographics on Princess to be more subdued with a much older crowd, we have found NCL offers a much better age mixture..I do think it depends on the ship, the itinerary and the season.

 

Nita

[HokiePoq]

I would add HAL to the list of lines with loyal followers. On our last HAL cruise, the captain told the Mariner's Club that he once had a cruise where all but six people were repeat customers!

Looking forward to trying NCL...their Med itinerary can't be topped and we,too, wanted the overnight in Alexandria along with Athens and Rome. I appreciate the objective opinions here very much. My expectations for our first Celebrity cruise were way too high. Having a realistic picture and strategies for dining, etc. will be a big help for us on our upcoming Jade cruise.

[newmexicoNita]

I would add HAL to the list of lines with loyal followers. On our last HAL cruise, the captain told the Mariner's Club that he once had a cruise where all but six people were repeat customers!

Looking forward to trying NCL...their Med itinerary can't be topped and we,too, wanted the overnight in Alexandria along with Athens and Rome. I appreciate the objective opinions here very much. My expectations for our first Celebrity cruise were way too high. Having a realistic picture and strategies for dining, etc. will be a big help for us on our upcoming Jade cruise.

I agree about HAL, but still think Princess and Celebrity are the ones that are over the top. I don't see too many on HAL that spend time blasting other lines to build their favorite line up. Yes, we too had unrealistic expectations for Celebrity. I don't know what we expected, but we certainly didn't get it. We cruised NCL Sun and X Connie a few months apart, balcony cabins in both cases and the ships are about the same age. We found them to be very similar though I did think the food on Celebrity was a tab better. Of course we didn't have the dining choices we love on NCL, so it probably was a wash. Even with a great wait staff, we just couldn't see why everyone carried on about the ship and the cruise line. Actually the activities committee would have rather been anywhere but leading trivia and the guys doing the game shows didn't seem to care if they were working or not..All in all we still had a great time, we just were a little disappointed because of the build up...

 

Nita

[tonkadq]

but lots on NCL.

Liked Princess big closet (had a balcony room), potatoes were yummy, options for dining, fluffy robe, pizza

Like NCL entertainment, dance lessons, cappacino/latte machine, soft serve ice cream & cookies

Like RCCL ship layout with indoor pool

 

pretty comparable, think its about personal preference

[newmexicoNita]

but lots on NCL.

Liked Princess big closet (had a balcony room), potatoes were yummy, options for dining, fluffy robe, pizza

Like NCL entertainment, dance lessons, cappacino/latte machine, soft serve ice cream & cookies

Like RCCL ship layout with indoor pool

 

pretty comparable, think its about personal preference

 

I would agree but you know, the closet thing, we thought it was a waste of space and took away from space that could have been used in the main cabin..Just our opinion..

 

Nita

[tigerlilycruiser12]

I have to chime in here. We have sailed on the Crown Princess and the Norwegian Gem, both sister ships to the ones you are considering. We had a lovely cruise on the Gem and would definitely sail NCL again, but overall, we prefer Princess. The decor on the Gem was a little too loud for my taste, and the food in the regular DRs wasn't as good. We have never found Princess dull, but admittedly this can vary from sailing to sailing. Crown Princess has themed dinner buffets at Cafe Caribe, 24 hr food available at the International Cafe in the atrium, Skywalkers nightclub which opens at 11:00 pm, and Movies under the Stars which is real pleasure. Again, we enjoyed our Gem cruise, but please don't rule on Princess -- you'll get very different responses over on the Princess boards.

I sailed both and I agree. If you like seafood princess is tops. I would go on both these ships again. The deck party was the best I have been to. It was a quite a party.

[BarbCT605]

Princess:

I agree about Princess' pizza -- it's the best!

Very pleasant cruise, overall.

(Even though the slots in casino were tightttttt. Shessh - the casino emptied out toward the end of the cruise.)

 

NCL:

I like the fun, party atmosphere (and DH & I are "old"!)

If you plan on booking a suite, NCL is the only way to go. Suite perks are the best.

 

HAL:

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[ken85121]

We have cruised Carnival multiple times but are wanting to try something new. I was hoping for some opinions on Norwegian Pearl vs. Emerald Princess from anyone who has tried these ships or lines. We will be cruising in Oct. or Nov. of 09 celebrating our 15th anniversary. any advice?

 

We are going on our first cruise ever 12/5/09 on the Norwegian Pearl. I did a ton of research before booking and it seems there are pros and cons of both. The deciding factor for me, believe it or not, was that the balcony rooms on the Princess ships that we were considering were exposed to the elements (not all of them, but the category I wanted). So, we booked NCL. The other factor was all the good things I have heard about Le Bistro and the whole freestyle concept. Time will tell.

 

PS. It is our 15th anniversary too. :)