Celebrity vs Norwegian cruise

Have done both lines a few times and we cruised on the NCL Epicback in Feb of this year and just got off the Celebrity Silhouette and agreewith most of the previous comments. Demographics are different and generallyfood is better on Celebrity in the MDR and the Entertainment better onNorwegian but that said you have to make reservations for almost all of thebetter entertainment on NCL (at least the Epic) or wait in lines to see ifthere will be room.

The biggest difference I noticed was in the included drinkpackages which Celebrity wins hands down. NCL offers an all inclusive drink package that is supposed to cover premiumdrinks but the quality of even premium beverages is subpar (many mixed drinksare pre mixed to include all frozen drinks and martinis…nasty). Also the price of higher end alcohol onNCL has been raised outside of the range of drink package. So if you comparedthe price without a package of a high end NCL drink or a high end Celebritydrink the NCL drink price is much higher and many higher end drinks included inthe Premium package on Celebrity were not even available on NCL. We upgradedto the premium package on Celebrity and to us it was well worth the extra cost (or if youprefer just pay the difference between the classic limit and the cost of thedrink that exceeds the limit. In addition to including better quality drinks inthe package, the Celebrity Premium package includes almost everything liquid toinclude specialty coffees and large bottles of water. Although some woulddisagree we found the selection of wine to be much better throughout theSilhouette especially in the dining room. The quality of the wine on NCL waspoor and the wine stewards were virtually non-existent on the Epic while notonly did we always see a wine steward in the MDR on the Silhouette they usuallyleft the red wines on the table (even though we were using our package to orderby the glass). Also they had a much better selection of beers on the Silhouettethroughout the ship but most notably in the Cellar Masters (extensiveselection), most of which were included in the Premium package (they also hadsome of the bigger bottles but they did exceed the package cost).

Under the right circumstances we may sail NCL again but for now we definitely prefer Celebrity

Hi cruisers!

 

I'm considering taking a Celebrity cruise. I have taken a number of Norwegian cruises, but I see a good deal on Celebrity. I'm interested in the Aqua level or a suite because it's our 20th anniversary and we want to do something special.

 

 

So I have 2 questions:

Firstly, What are differences between a Celebrity cruise and a NCL cruise? From those who have cruised on both lines.

 

 

Secondly, from those who have cruised on the Aqua level, how is that?

Thank you

We are elite on Celebrity and soon to be Platinum Plus on NCL...have cruises booked on both in the coming year. There are definite differences but both are to be enjoyed. I have found food to be better on Celebrity and entertainment to be better on NCL. Other than the piano bar on Celebrity (unless it's gone now as we are afraid it will be).there is little lounge entertainment we like. The stage shows are much better (in my opinion) on NCL and we love the lounge entertainers. Both lines have great service in our experience. Celebrity has the edge on itineraries. We moved over to Celebrity when we'd done almost all the ones that NCL had at the time. Have a great cruise!

We have done 9 Celebrity and 6 NCL cruises.

We prefer Celebrity, but sometimes NCL has the itinerary and/or prices that we like.

Celebrity has the overall advantage with its more sedate, comfortable atmosphere, better food, better service in general, cheaper excursions and better Elite (over Platinum) benefits.

NCL has slightly better entertainment, more specialty restaurants with lower prices, and frequently lower prices for the cruise.

Celebrity's prices have seriously gone up since they started bundling drink packages (that we don't want), so we have picked Royal and NCL over Celebrity for our three booked cruises coming up next year as well as our Alaska cruise we did last year on NCL.

You can actually eat the food on X and enjoy it.

NCL food is the worst.

I would compare free food on NCL to a school cafeteria. Will never forget heated frozen bread on NCL Dawn few years ago - yakk. Bread on X is to die for..

Paid restaurants are good on NCL, so is on X. . Love S class solarium.

We've only done the NCL Escape so the experience may differ a little on the smaller NCL ships...

Celebrity

• more refined service
  
• more relaxed
  
• far less activities
  
• much fewer bars/venues
  
• overall a much more quiet experience
  
• better food
  
• much older crowd
  
• not kid friendly
  

NCL

• very family oriented
  
• tons of bars/nightlife venues
  
• better and more diverse entertainment
  
• reservations required for almost all dining/entertainment
  
• much younger crowd
  
• mega ships are very crowded
  
• extremely casual dress
  
• more flexibility in choosing 'perks' that work for you
  

We're in our 30's with no kids and don't particularly enjoy production shows or have interest in the more kid friendly stuff (rock wall, slides, etc.) so we would favor Celebrity. However, if on our next cruise we don't meet fun people like we did last time, I could see us getting fairly bored.

I've been on both over the years. Advantages of one sometimes surpasses one for the other, but 6 months later, changes are made and its dead even again. So when you compare, make sure BOTH have been experienced in the last year.

Overall, I think food is slightly better on NCL in the buffet, maybe Celebrity is slightly better in the MDR, but not a whole lot. Celebrity has lots of free non-alcoholic drink choices in the buffet, and that is nice, I think Norweigian just iced tea and lemonade if I remember correctly. ALSO, Celebrity lets you bring soda, and any non-alcoholic drinks aboard, Norwegian does not. That alone is why we will not be sailing with Norwegian again. Yes that is important to us.

On entertainment, Norwegian has lot more variety and better shows, but Celebrity has glass blowing shows on some ships. Overall I'd say Norwegian is still better.

I don't think Norwegian or Celebrity push drinks or photos, and really nickle-and-dime you excessively. Celebrity almost lost me with their Kobe burger fiasco, but luckily they reversed coarse.

Overall not a whole lot different between the two. Probably more kids on Norwegian, if that matters.

I've been on both over the years. Advantages of one sometimes surpasses one for the other, but 6 months later, changes are made and its dead even again. So when you compare, make sure BOTH have been experienced in the last year.

 

Overall, I think food is slightly better on NCL in the buffet, maybe Celebrity is slightly better in the MDR, but not a whole lot. Celebrity has lots of free non-alcoholic drink choices in the buffet, and that is nice, I think Norweigian just iced tea and lemonade if I remember correctly. ALSO, Celebrity lets you bring soda, and any non-alcoholic drinks aboard, Norwegian does not. That alone is why we will not be sailing with Norwegian again. Yes that is important to us.

 

On entertainment, Norwegian has lot more variety and better shows, but Celebrity has glass blowing shows on some ships. Overall I'd say Norwegian is still better.

 

I don't think Norwegian or Celebrity push drinks or photos, and really nickle-and-dime you excessively. Celebrity almost lost me with their Kobe burger fiasco, but luckily they reversed coarse.

 

Overall not a whole lot different between the two. Probably more kids on Norwegian, if that matters.

Never thought of NCL as a classy and elegant experience:confused: please tell me on what ship you consider buffet is better on NCL.. just wonder..

Never thought of NCL as a classy and elegant experience:confused: please tell me on what ship you consider buffet is better on NCL.. just wonder..

Yes, I wonder as well.

However, I will say that our last NCL cruise on the Sun, we found the Buffet and MDR to be improved over our previous NCL cruises. The Chief Chef of the Sun was from India. The Buffet on the Sun had incorporated some of the features that we had always found on Celebrity, that being a station for Eggs Benedict and more foreign choices (Indian, Mexican, etc). Also service was better on the Sun in 2016 than on Star in 2014.

Still, Celebrity has consistently been excellent on service, food quality and choices.

Haven't cruised Celebrity yet so can't compare the lines side by side. I do though feel compelled to offer a different perspective regarding the negative NCL MDR comments. Took our first NCL cruise this year on the Getaway. Prior, worried that with all the specialty restaurants the MDR food would be subpar. I was wrong. I'm not a food snob, but do enjoy tasty dishes and boy did we have some nice meals on NCL. We were with our young adult daughters and each night there were comments around the table praising this dish or that. We found the MDRs and specialty restaurants to be surprisingly close in quality.

Some examples were chunky fresh made garlic croutons versus prepackaged ones on the Caesar salads and the use of herbs and spices to create lovely depths of flavors.

My opinion of NCL's food was cemented when I cruised on Disney the following month. There was nothing overtly wrong with Disney's food, but the dishes were mediocre and lacked complexity of flavor. I expected more given how crazily expensive their cruises are priced.

NCL's food was so good that we're taking a 14-day TA next year on the Breakaway and plan on eating in the MDRs most nights.

My husband fell in love with the salmon tartar appetizer while I indulged in a different variety of creme brûlée every night. Will have to practice self control for that length of cruise lol.

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We have only taken one Norwegian cruise and we hated it. The buffet felt like a high school cafeteria.

We have only taken one Celebrity Cruise and we loved it so much we have booked another. Celebrity is a much classier line.

I'd love to hear why people think Celebrity is "classy?" You can consider it what you wish. In terms of "classy" not much difference between Princess, NCL, and Celebrity. None of those lines have belly-flop competitions, and ALL of those lines have "special" jewelry, and clothing sales and art auctions. On Princess you have educational lectures, which raises the "classy" up a notch.

I'm not really seeing how food relates to "classy" but on a recent Equinox sailing, at breakfast in the buffet they had this Jamaican lady singing, and others sang as well, and I will tell you, that is about the most UNCLASSY I have ever witnessed on a cruise. And it occured EVERY DAY.

On food, its really hard to compare as I have had good and bad experiences on all of them across different ships. On a recent NCL, the food was quite good.

RCL and Carnival lean a bit toward no being "classy" but there are also classy parts about each. When Celebrity was charging $10 for burgers, that certainly wasn't classy either.

I'd love to hear why people think Celebrity is "classy?" You can consider it what you wish. In terms of "classy" not much difference between Princess, NCL, and Celebrity. None of those lines have belly-flop competitions, and ALL of those lines have "special" jewelry, and clothing sales and art auctions. On Princess you have educational lectures, which raises the "classy" up a notch.

 

I'm not really seeing how food relates to "classy" but on a recent Equinox sailing, at breakfast in the buffet they had this Jamaican lady singing, and others sang as well, and I will tell you, that is about the most UNCLASSY I have ever witnessed on a cruise. And it occured EVERY DAY.

 

On food, its really hard to compare as I have had good and bad experiences on all of them across different ships. On a recent NCL, the food was quite good.

 

RCL and Carnival lean a bit toward no being "classy" but there are also classy parts about each. When Celebrity was charging $10 for burgers, that certainly wasn't classy either.

The atmosphere on Celebrity cruises is more subdued than on NCL. NCL is more pushy with announcements and sales. Also, when we cruised on the NCL Epic in 2012, we found the main pool area unusable due to the loudspeaker alternating between playing very loud music and someone yelling into the speaker for whatever reason. Never seen this on Celebrity. We did have a fun ceremony crossing the equator on a Celebrity cruise around the pool area, but it was nothing like what we have seen on some NCL ships.

On our NCL Star cruise we had someone ask me a dozen times on the first day only if I wanted to buy a drinks package. Later, there was more pushy sales. It wasn't as bad on the Sun, which was our Alaska cruise, which we found to be our best NCL so far.

Celebrity had formal nights, which definitely was classy. That has changed, but there is still more dressing up than on NCL.

The design of the S class ships is elegant compared to the ships we have been on for NCL (Epic, Gem, Jade, Star and Sun). The M class are still pretty nice, but more comparable to the Gem and Jade. The design on the Star was not my favorite, since it didn't have a sunset bar behind the buffet.

We like the Elite benefits, especially the free happy hour, that NCL does not offer.

Still, in many ways, NCL and Celebrity have similarities. We still go with both, when itinerary is price are best.

25 Celebrity, 14 NCL. So much depends on itinerary. If you think a 7 day Caribbean cruise on Celebrity is going to be "classier" than a 14 day on NCL in Asia or South America you are deluding yourself.

Would and will sail either interchangably.

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No comparison. Celebrity wins hands down

25 Celebrity, 14 NCL. So much depends on itinerary. If you think a 7 day Caribbean cruise on Celebrity is going to be "classier" than a 14 day on NCL in Asia or South America you are deluding yourself.

Would and will sail either interchangably.

 

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As I have posted many time, we book largely on itinerary and price. One reason that we left NCL after two cruises in 2010 and 11 was NCL didn't do Asia, South America or Australia/NZ. Since we did those on Celebrity, NCL has added those itineraries. Celebrity still has a larger variety of itineraries. One exception, we want to do a Norway North Cape cruise and Celebrity doesn't have one, but NCL and RCI do have one.

We have done one Caribbean cruise and don't plan on doing more until we pretty are too old to fly long distances. We still would prefer Celebrity, however if NCL has the best deal and the cruise is not on the Epic or a mega chip, we will go with them.

Done 3 NCL cruises and 2 X cruises. Agree with everything said about the food.

Maybe we’ve been lucky, but we’ve had great entertainment on our X cruises and we like that that bring some of the dance company to the parties to get things moving. Also experienced very good lounge entertainment on our X cruises and don’t remember anything like that on NCL (not to say it wasn’t there - just wasn’t memorable).

We’re fixed time dining people, we like that we don’t have to worry about getting to shows and fighting for reservations with the freestyle concept. With your background, You may find fixed time restrictive and there is an any time option.

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Don't you just love threads where the OP never comes back to thank people for their answers....

I think you will really enjoy celebrity. Having sailed on both, IMO Celebrity much better in a variety of areas. First, the cabins are bigger. If you aren't in the Haven on NCL- much too crowded- Celebrity doesn't have announcements all day. Typically, unless holiday time- less little children on board. Food far superior. If you book a sky suite an above, you will enjoy the perks. You might also enjoy Aqua Class, which has a private dining room, as do the suites. The service on Celebrity wonderful- on NCL, the staff is much too overworked and the service suffers. The only thing that NCL does better is the entertainment. The pool area at NCL reminds me of a beach crowded with people that you cannot even walk through-horrible and noisy. Give Celebrity a chance- you will not be disappointed!

Four NCL cruises one in suite and 5 X cruises. Much is subjective of course (food quality, entertainment, etc,).

What caused us to cancel our last cruise (Getaway) was the 'nickel and dime' policy(s). We only book Carib cruises with drink packages. NCL touts theirs but I was dismayed to find an 18% grat added to the inflated 'free' drink package. Then I learned no water included but I figured I could bring a case or so on with us. Finally, NCL stopped allowance for bringing any water on board as a 'security' measure. No thanks, We would conservatively spend 140 a week on water plus the grat. They do leyt you buy a case of water for your room at an exorbitant price plus grat (I am sure this water is very closely screened by security). Also grat added to 'free' dining offers and no coffees included. We decided to express our displeasure by voting with our feet and won't miss this line.

We found NCL in general to be more crowded and noisier. The vibe to 'party hard' is definitely pushed non stop by the staff.

We like X,HAL, and Princess which in my minds are similar in ammenities