Firstin87

After ~25 NCL cruises, DH and I took our first Royal Caribbean cruise earlier this month. We chose it because the itinerary included St. Croix, which is not offered on many other lines. Our attempt to visit St. Croix on NCL last Feb. was unsuccessful as they cancelled the port soon after final payment (that’s another hot topic, though). I thought I would post a review of the differences between the two lines for anyone who is curious. On NCL, we cruise in suites/Haven on small ships, are Diamond, and book through a travel agent. Our Royal cruise was for 7 days round-trip San Juan, Puerto Rico, in a suite on Rhapsody of the Seas (small ship) booked through the same travel agent, so I’m comparing like for like. This review is just some of the small differences we found – not necessarily better or worse than NCL in some cases, just different. This is not intended to start a debate about which cruise line is better or to trash one line over the other in a particular area, it’s just for those who are curious about the different experiences. Pre-cruise Non-refundable OBC – On Royal, you can book using non-refundable OBC as soon as it is in your account. We booked our shorex using these funds. (You can also use non-refundable OBC for gratuities/daily service charge.) Add on pricing – On Royal, when you can buy add-ons (shorex, beverage packages, etc.) online, you can cancel and rebook them online when the prices changes, which seems to be often. We kept an eye on shorex prices and when Royal had a sale, we cancelled, money was back in our online account in seconds, and we rebooked using those funds. Quick and easy! App – Royal strongly encourages people to use their app, which is more user-friendly and feature rich than NCL’s app. Through it, you can access the MDR menus and daily activities (which can change once onboard) days before the cruise. They are very reliant on their app once onboard, as well, which is a bit of a pain for those who aren’t techy, have vision issues (the writing can be small), or want a more personal experience. Safety videos – You know how we all complain about NCL constantly sending us the links to watch the safety videos? Well, Royal does not have you watch the video in advance. Upon embarkation, you watch the very short video that only tells you how to put on your life jacket – it doesn’t talk about any other safety issues, such as fire danger and unplugging things when you’re not in your room. Not getting nagged to watch the video is good, but once you see how little it covers, you don’t get the sense that Royal is as concerned about safety as NCL. Embarkation We embarked at 11:30 am and from the moment we entered the port, we did not stop walking until we were onboard the ship. Just show your boarding pass on the app to a couple people and – whoosh- you’re on the ship. You never go to a counter, fill out a health questionnaire, get your card, nothing. We missed not being able to talk to an actual employee. Also, with respect to the health questionnaire – apparently, you are supposed to complete it online pre-boarding, but we did not do so (unintentionally) and were never asked to complete it. It’s a flaw in their system that passengers can board without answering those health questions, regardless of whether they answer truthfully. Because boarding is so impersonal, you are not given introductory information. We got on the ship and had to ask a lot of questions from crew members, who are friendly and helpful, but not pro-active in assisting passengers. There was no organized welcoming area, no one place to go to get all your questions answered. Is the MDR open for lunch? Yes. How do we get our ship card (Seapass)? It’s outside your stateroom door for you to take when your room is ready, which was just after 1:00. That seemed rather insecure to us. We have the soda package, how do we get the refillable cup? You find the table where they are selling beverage packages and they’ll set up your cup’s chip. FYI – we did not learn about the refillable cups from Royal ever, we learned about it by watching a video from Danny, the tall travel agent who makes such wonderful videos whose name I can’t give here. Overall, embarking went quickly, but was not smooth and was very impersonal. NCL’s check in process is longer, but well worth it. Food/Dining Food is subjective, so this will only cover factual information about our dining experience. We ate most of our breakfasts and lunch at the buffet, only had dinner in the MDR, which was a lovely room. The timing of breakfast service was poor. We were in port from 8:00-5:00 every day and breakfast service started at 7:00 in the buffet, 7:30 at Chop’s Grill (benefit for suite guests) and the MDR, so if you had an 8:00 excursion, your only option was the buffet. Food service ended at 9:00 pm at the buffet. There is a small café that had pre-made sandwiches and salads, some desserts, that was open until 11:00 pm. Room service was 24 hrs., free for suite guests so not sure of the charge for others, and we did not use it. Buffet was laid our very well for flow and plenty of seating. Only struggled a couple times to find seats. Wide variety of options. MDR was subpar. Beef was not cooked to order (always one temperature above what you ordered), calamari one night was so overcooked it was beyond tough and chewy (couple next to us who ordered it returned it, but the second serving was just as bad as the first). A nice variety of menu items and the service was excellent. We felt the food in the buffet was better than in the MDR. We had fixed dining, first seating at 5:30. Upon entering the MDR, we just walked to our table, so quick to get started. Earliest theater show is at 7:15 and we never had a problem finishing dinner in time. Royal does have cookies aplenty and serves hash browns, so we enjoyed those two items that we miss on NCL. Suite Benefits Concierge – there was a concierge, but we weren’t escorted onto the ship and given the ‘introductory’ meeting you get on NCL. There is a lounge for suite guests that has cocktails and snacks from 5:00-8:00 and the concierge is there during that time (and for some time every morning), and that is where we met him the first day. As with the rest of the crew, he would do what guests asked, but was detached. He never explained any of the suite benefits, never checked in on us, bland personality, seemed uncomfortable interacting with guests. Very different experience than on NCL, where they are very caring and spoil you. For example, if the soda package was the same, our cups would have been ready in our room. Suite breakfast was at Chops Grill, but it opened at 7:30. Most of our excursions were early, so we were only able to eat there once. It was fine, similar menu to NCL. Miscellaneous Royal’s “Cruise Compass” (their “Freestyle Daily”) is laid out very well. It is broken out by category (entertainment; wellness and retail therapy; live music), so it’s easy to find what you’re interested in doing each day. The Compass does not include flyers for Park West or the spa, nor do you get phone messages from either of those vendors or their Next Cruise team. None of those are promoted as vigorously on Royal as they are on NCL. Royal does continually promote specialty dining throughout the cruise, though, which can get annoying. Entertainment onboard was very similar – an acrobatic duo, production cast was good, and they had a group from Argentina that did drumming, dancing, and singing that was outstanding. No comedian, though – not sure if that’s their norm or just this sailing. Theater is very nice with comfortable seats in various configurations – some loveseats, some longer couches, many individual seats – with cup holders and it didn’t look like there were any ‘bad’ seats for views of the stage. Laundry services – there is no self-service laundry, nor can you get an iron in your cabin. You can send out 10 items for ironing for $17.49 on embarkation day and get them back in 48 hours. Royal does have a laundry bag you can fill and I believe the price was $35, but we did not use it as the trip was so short. Being Diamond on NCL, I really enjoy the free laundry benefit as it helps with packing. Disembarkation Same process to NCL, but their groups go by number instead of color. Had a good time. We’d do Royal again in certain circumstances, but NCL is in no danger of losing us to them.

that would be a good idea. We were on the Prima's TA last April-May (15 days) and could not get in to see Rumors any of the nights it played. Venue was jammed an hour before showtime, which caused problems with eating dinner.

Should you choose to cancel an excursion, you can easily do so online, which is quick and convenient. However much SM $'s you have will be used first, then you pay. We've changed excursions online before and had no problems, even got the refund of what we paid promptly. While a year is a long way out, if there is something special you want to do in a port, it's a good idea to book those early, just in case.

No, I think since we're both paying the same amount for the cruise, thereby both getting the FAS benefits, we should both get $50 off. Why am I paying for a 'free shorex' benefit I'm not getting?

@PATRLR - I understand your example and had never looked at it that way before. My interpretation of what NCL's FAS $50 discount means (and not saying I agree with it or like it) is that the passenger who gets that discount is saving $50 plus any Latitudes percentage discount off the published price of the excursion for themselves only. In your example, Passenger A saved $55 off the original price of $100. When you compare their savings to that of Passenger B, you obviously get a different amount of savings between those two passengers. What I think if unfair about the $50 discount is that it is only given to the first named passenger in the cabin. In our case, that's my DH. However, our Latitudes points/ are exactly the same as we have never cruised separately. So, why should he get the discount and not me, as well? I'm just as loyal to NCL as he is, have spent just as much money with them as he has, etc.

Since I'm the one who wrote "covered up", I'll give my definition of it, FWIW. To me, 'covered up' means no private parts on display or on potential display if a 'wardrobe malfunction'; your clothing should be larger than a 1" square; don't dress like a Kardashian - lol. Seems that this is hard for some people. And yes - definitely follow the dress code for sites you are going to visit, especially churches.

When it comes to jeans, I think the distinction between 'good for dining room' and 'not good for dining room' is the condition of the jeans. That $500 pair of jeans being faded and ripped (as is the style for 'the kids' these days) is 'not good', whereas if the $50 jeans from Walmart are brand new, they are 'good'. Also, colored jeans can look dressier than blue jeans. DH brings black jeans that look new, had worn them on Oceania to MDR, and never had a problem and looked fine. I've taken dress codes to generally mean look neat, no holes, and covered up.

In cast this helps - the math for the excursion discount is: Person 1 (who has the $50 discount): Shorex Cost - $50 - Less x% Person 2: Shorex Cost - Less x%

In our case, NCL knew well in advance that Nicaragua was closed to cruise ships. They had not (still haven't, I think) reopened since the pandemic and they will not do so with just a few days notice. NCL was advertising and selling shorex for that port until the they announced the cancellation. They sell the shorex so they can hold your money for awhile and make some money off it. Oceania is showing Nicaragua as a port on upcoming itineraries; not sure if NCL is. The odds of cruises returning to Nicaragua seem to be slim to none at this point, in my opinion.

NCL sold shorex for Nicaragua until the last minute, too. We were on the Prima's TA from NY to Southampton last April-May. Lovely ship, but I don't recommend it for cold weather itineraries. Losing the ability for passengers to enjoy all that outdoor space caused a lot of issues inside - dinner wait could be up to :30 min., even if you arrived when the MDR opened, small venues were packed up to :45 before an activity, just not designed for everyone to be inside all the time.

There is a "Guide to the Haven Experience" by SthrnGary that will tell you everything you could ever want to know about the Haven's benefits, amenities, etc. I tried to link it, but couldn't get it to work, so search for "sthrngary" and you'll find it. You'll have a great time and be spoiled rotten! You'll hear from NCL about calling their pre-concierge to have your rooms set up with certain amenities in advance of your arrival. You can ask for: specific snacks/treats in the room (candy, nuts, etc.), types of pillows for the bed, pitcher of juice or iced tea in the fridge. They'll go over all of it with you on the phone. Definitely find a video review of the Haven on the Encore so you can see what it looks like and learn about the amenities. You'll have your own restaurant, open for all three meals of the day. One thing to know is that the dinner menu does not change. I've heard you can also order items on the MDR's menu to be served in the Haven restaurant, but have never done so. Hopefully, someone who has done so can expand on that.

I think we can all agree that not having shore excursions posted for booking four months before a cruise is not the norm. Perfectly logical to wonder if something was off about their Oct. sailing and that is what caused @DorothyB and others on her sailing to look into what might be going on. Personally, I thought maybe their sailing would be cancelled and the ship had been booked by a private group. I'm glad that was not the case for those passengers. I have no experience with NCL's travel insurance, but if it does allow cancellations for any reason, that is a nice feature. For those who are getting frustrated with NCL's changing of ports post-final payment, they should not have to incur the added expense of buying NCL's travel insurance policies so they can cancel if NCL does make a port change that causes them to want to cancel the trip entirely. NCL wins financially either way, don't they? On a Panama Canal cruise we took in Feb. of 2023, Nicaragua was listed as a port of call and was not cancelled by NCL until the cruise was embarking or just after departure (I don't remember which). Nicaragua had not (and I believe has still not) opened their port to cruise ships since the pandemic and NCL and those of us who looked into the port knew it well in advance of departure. We asked an officer (don't remember which one) onboard and were told that they kept it on the itinerary in case Nicaragua opened up before our listed arrival date. That makes absolutely no sense. If and when that country does return to hosting cruise ships, they will no do so on a few days notice, but will announce it weeks, of not months, in advance so cruise lines can prepare their itineraries, etc. While Nicaragua was not a 'key' port on that trip for us or anyone we spoke to onboard, their continuing to leave a known skipped port on the itinerary aligns with their more-often-than-makes-sense times of changing ports post-final payment. It's a planning problem. It's a communication problem.

@DorothyB, I've seen your posts (and that of a couple other of your fellow passengers) on the Roll Call for the Getaway's Oct. 20, which we are on. No excursions have been listed for your sialing for some time and that is very odd and I've wondered if there is something strange going on with your sailing. Getting such a variety of answers when you've called NCL's Customer Service line is a definite problem - either that staff is not told the truth, or they are making up an excuse when on the phone with you, or something else - lack of consistency is a problem. We have cruised NCL ~20 times, most of them in the last 2.5 yrs. (DH retired 2.5 yrs. ago), mostly in suites, and are Diamond. We, too, have been unhappy with NCL changing the itinerary just after final payment is made. We can certainly understand when changes are made for weather, maintenance, or local issues (i.e., French port being skipped due to strikes), but when we have received these notices the reason is the phony "for environmental reasons". Those environmental reasons are known well before passengers are notified. NCL knows it and we know they know it. The only reason to delay notifying passengers is to eliminate passengers having the opportunity to cancel their cruise with no penalty. It's one of our biggest gripes with NCL and has also caused us to begin cruising other lines, despite being Diamond on NCL and loving their suites. You are not alone with this complaint and their have been a number of threads and posts about this here on CC for some time. As we are learning about other cruise lines, here is some info about little differences that you might find helpful. Royal - no ability to do laundry on your own; irons not available to use in your room (they claim 'safety issue", but other cruise lines at least have the ability to have an iron brought to your room for you to us and return); no free internet minutes. Princess - they sell a Princess Plus and Princess Permiere add on packages that cover gratuities, casual dining, specialty dining, etc. that you can compare and see if either one is an addition that you'd like; they have self-serve laundry rooms onboard for a 'minimal charge' (their words, don't know the price). I agree with you that it is time consuming and can be frustrating to research and compare different cruise lines. It's so easy to just keep booking NCL when you know what you're getting, how to navigate their website, etc. We are trying Royal for the first time in a couple weeks for a 7 day cruise and are looking forward to it. We've got some other NCL trips booked since we have some CruiseNext certs to use, and have also got some Princess cruises booked, so expanding our horizons.

thank you, @fruitmachine. That will be a nice time saver in Rome. I don't know what the Schengen Area is or what it means in relation to the EU, so off I go to read and learn something new today (thanks!).

Thank you both very much! That's exactly what I wanted to know. If, and it's a big if, we decide to fly to Lisbon the day we arrive in London, we'd leave at least 4 hours after our scheduled arrival time just in case. Luckily, our flight to London is direct, so that minimizes the chances of a delay at a stop along the way. I'm rather nervous about doing both flights the same day for all the reasons you both mentioned, but want to get an idea of hat it would entail. Our cruise will be from Lisbon to Rome, then we are flying back to Lisbon and taking another cruise that is round-trip Lisbon. It's my understanding that since Lisbon and Rome are both in the EU, we won't have to go through Customs or Immigration at the Rome airport because we'll have been cleared in Lisbon. Is that correct or should I post this question to the Rome board? No experienced going into or around Europe, so am probably overly worried, but better to be too worried than not worried enough and end up unprepared.

Hi All, In March, DH and I are flying from the US to Heathrow two days before taking a cruise that departs from Lisbon. We've been to London once before via a TA cruise, so went through UK Customs onboard the ship. Not sure if we'll be spending those two days in London or Lisbon. If we decide to fly from Heathrow to Lisbon the day we arrive in London, how long a gap would we need before departing? Our flights will not be connected, will be two completely separate reservations on two different airlines that are not affiliated with each other (Virgin Atlantic and TAP Air Portugal). The plan is to land at Heathrow at 10:00 a.m. I expect we will go through Customs, collect our luggage, turn around and re-enter the airport, check in at the airline's counter, drop off luggage, go through Security, and wait to board our plane. Am I missing any steps? I assume we'll need to clear Customs in Lisbon since London is not part of the EU. Is that correct? Anything else I should know? Thank you!

Thank you for this outstanding review, @PATRLR!! We will be taking this cruise in the summer of 2025 and all this information is very helpful. Really appreciate the time and effort you put into this review!

Thank you @DorothyB. I didn't know this and will make a note of it in case we ever need to buy a wifi package.

We received the sale email Friday and I, too, spent a lot of time last night reviewing shorex for our June 2025 cruise. I'm not ready to decide on them yet, so spent time narrowing it down and trying to choose, then got frustrated with feeling rushed and struggling with their technical difficulties on my computer (probably due to the CrowdStrike issue). We haven't been on Princess in 6 years, so I've got a couple questions for those of you with experience: 1. Is it unusual for shorex's to go on sale? Should I feel the need to jump on this by the 23rd or can I feel confidant there will be another sale by the time we're ready to book shorex? 2. What is the process for cancelling a Princess shorex? On NCL, who we're most experienced with, you have to call to cancel a shorex, then you rebook. On Royal, which we're sailing for the first time next month, you can cancel online and rebook immediately. Any tips on the 'sweet spot' time for booking shorex? Thank you all!

I believe that NCL charges for the wifi as a full package, not by the day or pro-rated. We've often had 'only' 300 min. of wifi and found it to be plenty for checking email/texts when not in port. If you've got 300 min. (per person, by the way, in case you are travelling with someone and they are also concerned about the amount of wifi time) for 1.5 days, you should be OK. We had 300 min. for our 15 day Transatlantic last spring (which had 7 sea days) and found it to be enough for checking emails 1-2x a day when not in part and even had some time left at the end. If you've got T-Mobile as your cell carrier, Bermuda is part of your plan and you get free texts there.

You probably don't have to know the answers, like AP did. It might be easier on you to have more generic 'find someone who...' that will exist in any large group (say 40+) of cruisers.

@DebbieCruises Hi, I'm the one whose post you copied referencing the excellent M&G hosted by @Anoynmous Phoenix with the 'get to know each other' game. While he explained the details of how he put the game together, I'll add some question ideas for you (listed below) as I think that's also what you wanted. Be aware - I have never hosted an M&G and do not know if any of these would be a problem for NCL ; I trust AP will be able to respond if that is the case. I don't recall it being a Bingo card layout, but a list that you filled out. We had an extra bottle of champagne in our room, so gave it to AP to use as a prize. Question Ideas: Who drives a (insert husband's favorite car maker here)? Who has cruised on Oceania or Regent (NCLH's other brands)? If you know where people are from, who lives in the city/state that a pro sports team just won the championship (i.e., New York if the Yankees won the World Series)? Who has more than 3 grandchildren? Who has worked in x industry (healthcare, tech, etc.)? Just thoughts to start the brainstorming. Generally, questions that will get people to find they have something in common and get people chatting not just at the M&G, but later in the cruise. As I noted in my original post, because AP had attendees roving around, we were able to recognize each other around the ship and led to further conversations.

@DorothyB I don't recall if we got our list the day before (i think it was in 2018), but I do recall there being copies at the M&G so if you didn't have one beforehand, you picked it up there. Very well organized, good variety of questions that covered quite a few areas of interest so you were bound to find something you had in common with someone.

@DorothyB I've never hosted an M&G, but DH and I have done ~20 NCL cruises and have attended the M&Gs on most of them (missed on some of our early cruises). Just from the point of view of a frequent attendee, I have found that the shorter cruises have fewer turnout. I'd guess because there is less opportunity for people to participate in other activities together. Something that has not been mentioned here that we have found to make an M&G more enjoyable for us is when the host has 'get acquainted' activities planned for the M&G. Not just 'sign up for...', but during the M&G something to get people up and moving and talking to each other. One of the best ones we attended was hosted by @Anoynmous Phoenix when he was known as "caso fil i a" (didn't know until this thread that you'd changed your CC name). Attendees had a list of 'find someone who...' that we tilled out, so people were up and asking each other questions - 'are you from outside the US', 'do you have more than 4 kids', 'do you drive a Ford', etc. - which led to people recognizing each other around the ship and chatting throughout the cruise. If an M&G has 50 people, but they all sit at tables and only talk to their tablemates or those they arrived with, people really aren't 'meeting' or 'greeting' each other. On the other hand, one of the worst we attended was this past spring when the host was anonymous. They were not at the table greeting passengers as we entered the venue, not helping with the name tags (all done by NCL staff), never got on the mic and welcomed the attendees. Left the event with no idea who the host was, although we did learn later from others that they were there. Once the officers spoke, everyone left. M&G lasted 20 minutes max. I don't recommend following that example - lol.

That is correct that it does not need to be booked through AmEx Travel, but it does need to be booked through an AmEx travel agent partner. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to name travel agents on CC, but there are many franchises and national agents who are affiliated with AmEx that will apply the benefits. We've used an AmEx partnered TA for several years, about 10 cruises, and have never had a problem with getting AmEx benefits applied or using them. The OBC will appear on your NCL account at boarding, so don't worry if you don't see it right away.