Recent NCL Cruise vs RCCL

[wdw_dave]

I have been on these boards for years but to not post much. But I do find these types of post usefull in my reasearch so I wanted to contribute to help others in choosing a line or ship. This is my first NCL cruise with my DW and 2 DS (9 and 7). We are Diamond on RCCL and have cruised Disney, X, and Carnival. RCCL is our preferred line. I am posting this comparisons on the RCCL board as this has helped me in other posts when I was making a cruise line choice. Here we go ....

 

EMBARKATION: NCL A- / RCCL A- Both lines do a great job. It was very easy getting on the Pearl with virtually no wait. Liked that they had staff lined up to welcome you. Although they had advertised when I booked welcome cocktail. Not a big deal it was not there. But they market freestyle and try to be different so this was a minus (more on freestyle later)

 

CABIN: NCL A- / RCCL B+ We had a mini-suite and really likes the layout of the cabin. The bathroom was great and the balcony was a great size. Cabin was very well maintained.

 

SHIP UPKEEP: NCL B+ / RCCL B- Given I have been on ships on both likes that had similar inyears of service it appeared NCL did a bit better job on the upkeep. Seemed to be less 'rust' around the Pearl.

 

BUFFET: NCL A- / RCCL B The Pearl buffet was great. Food was very good and seemed to be fresh and hot at all times. They had a good variety. Not sure what they do differently than RCCL but the food did not seem to sit as long and become 'stale'.

 

MAIN DINING ROOM: NCL D / RCCL B- We ate in the Main DR 2X. The food was not very good at all. Not well prepared and very tasteless. This was one of my worries when booking NCL based on what I read on the boards and reviews. And most of the reviews are correct in my opinion on the Main DRs not being very good. But I knew this based on research so planned to eat in specialty restaurants most of the cruise.

 

SPECIALTY RESTERAUNTS: NCL B+ / RCCL A-: We ate in 4 different restaurants. Cagneys was good but I felt not worth the $25. The Italian restaurant I thought was good and we ate there twice. Le Bistro was by far the best meal we had on the ship. Wish we had eaten there 2X instead of Cagneys. RCCL Chops in terms of food and service still in my opinion beats any of NCLs specialty restaurants.

 

PRODUCTION SHOWS: NCL D / RCCL B+ My family typically likes these types of shows but they were dull and boring on the Pearl. Maybe they were to 'artsy' for us but we actually walked out of the first one. We never do that.

 

NON-PRODUCTION SHOWS: NCL A / RCCL B- These were great on the Pearl. Sharkbait and Second City are great addtions to the expereince. I really liked how they did smaller shows and seminars. They were really part of the crew and not just the entertainers. This really differentiates NCL from the pack.

 

SERVICE: NCL C / RCCL A- This is really something NCL need to work on. All during the cruise I was thinking of a word to describe the service. It was not bad ... but not great. I think the right term is that it was INDIFFERENT. For the majority the staff did not go out of their way to be friendly or helpful. I think the auto-service charge greatly effects this. Little things like not filling your drinks right away, waiters not introducing themselves or asking how your day was, guy in bowling alley not wanting to keep a waiting list, bartenders look annoyed when getting soda you payed $50 for. All those little things make average service great service.

 

KIDS CLUB: NCL F / RCCL B+ NCL really fails in this. There was really no structure to the program at all and for the first time in a half dozen cruises the boys did not beg to go to the club. When looking at the schedule it boiled down to ... watch a movie or 'free play' which meant kids just did what they wanted with no structure - like play tag. There were very very few organized activities. Plus any time you were in port there was a charge for the club. The Kids Crew was the most disappointing aspect of the cruise.

 

MUSIC: NCL B+ / RCCL D I like live music and RCCL has basically done away with it. NCL had lots of live music and most of it was pretty good.

 

SUMMARY: I give NCL lots of credit on marketing the Freestyle concept. In my opinion it is really all marketing. You still need to plan out your days if you want to see some of the shows. You still need to disembark at certain times (you get to pick your tags but they tell you which category you have to fall into). The dining is the big change - I did like the different dining venues but really missed the personalized service you get at a traditional DR. I would go on another NCL cruise based on itinerary and price. I would have to include the cost of eating in all the specialty restaurants into my cost comparison as I would not eat in main DR room again. Overall a great cruise and good itineray - Overall score NCL B / RCCL A-

 

Dave

[constable145]

I have been on these boards for years but to not post much. But I do find these types of post usefull in my reasearch so I wanted to contribute to help others in choosing a line or ship. This is my first NCL cruise with my DW and 2 DS (9 and 7). We are Diamond on RCCL and have cruised Disney, X, and Carnival. RCCL is our preferred line. I am posting this comparisons on the RCCL board as this has helped me in other posts when I was making a cruise line choice. Here we go ....

 

EMBARKATION: NCL A- / RCCL A- Both lines do a great job. It was very easy getting on the Pearl with virtually no wait. Liked that they had staff lined up to welcome you. Although they had advertised when I booked welcome cocktail. Not a big deal it was not there. But they market freestyle and try to be different so this was a minus (more on freestyle later)

 

CABIN: NCL A- / RCCL B+ We had a mini-suite and really likes the layout of the cabin. The bathroom was great and the balcony was a great size. Cabin was very well maintained.

 

SHIP UPKEEP: NCL B+ / RCCL B- Given I have been on ships on both likes that had similar inyears of service it appeared NCL did a bit better job on the upkeep. Seemed to be less 'rust' around the Pearl.

 

BUFFET: NCL A- / RCCL B The Pearl buffet was great. Food was very good and seemed to be fresh and hot at all times. They had a good variety. Not sure what they do differently than RCCL but the food did not seem to sit as long and become 'stale'.

 

MAIN DINING ROOM: NCL D / RCCL B- We ate in the Main DR 2X. The food was not very good at all. Not well prepared and very tasteless. This was one of my worries when booking NCL based on what I read on the boards and reviews. And most of the reviews are correct in my opinion on the Main DRs not being very good. But I knew this based on research so planned to eat in specialty restaurants most of the cruise.

 

SPECIALTY RESTERAUNTS: NCL B+ / RCCL A-: We ate in 4 different restaurants. Cagneys was good but I felt not worth the $25. The Italian restaurant I thought was good and we ate there twice. Le Bistro was by far the best meal we had on the ship. Wish we had eaten there 2X instead of Cagneys. RCCL Chops in terms of food and service still in my opinion beats any of NCLs specialty restaurants.

 

PRODUCTION SHOWS: NCL D / RCCL B+ My family typically likes these types of shows but they were dull and boring on the Pearl. Maybe they were to 'artsy' for us but we actually walked out of the first one. We never do that.

 

NON-PRODUCTION SHOWS: NCL A / RCCL B- These were great on the Pearl. Sharkbait and Second City are great addtions to the expereince. I really liked how they did smaller shows and seminars. They were really part of the crew and not just the entertainers. This really differentiates NCL from the pack.

 

SERVICE: NCL C / RCCL A- This is really something NCL need to work on. All during the cruise I was thinking of a word to describe the service. It was not bad ... but not great. I think the right term is that it was INDIFFERENT. For the majority the staff did not go out of their way to be friendly or helpful. I think the auto-service charge greatly effects this. Little things like not filling your drinks right away, waiters not introducing themselves or asking how your day was, guy in bowling alley not wanting to keep a waiting list, bartenders look annoyed when getting soda you payed $50 for. All those little things make average service great service.

 

KIDS CLUB: NCL F / RCCL B+ NCL really fails in this. There was really no structure to the program at all and for the first time in a half dozen cruises the boys did not beg to go to the club. When looking at the schedule it boiled down to ... watch a movie or 'free play' which meant kids just did what they wanted with no structure - like play tag. There were very very few organized activities. Plus any time you were in port there was a charge for the club. The Kids Crew was the most disappointing aspect of the cruise.

 

MUSIC: NCL B+ / RCCL D I like live music and RCCL has basically done away with it. NCL had lots of live music and most of it was pretty good.

 

SUMMARY: I give NCL lots of credit on marketing the Freestyle concept. In my opinion it is really all marketing. You still need to plan out your days if you want to see some of the shows. You still need to disembark at certain times (you get to pick your tags but they tell you which category you have to fall into). The dining is the big change - I did like the different dining venues but really missed the personalized service you get at a traditional DR. I would go on another NCL cruise based on itinerary and price. I would have to include the cost of eating in all the specialty restaurants into my cost comparison as I would not eat in main DR room again. Overall a great cruise and good itineray - Overall score NCL B / RCCL A-

 

Dave

 

Which ships with RCI have you been on?

[wdw_dave]

I have been on:

 

Enchantment (3X)

Majesty (2X)

Sovereign

Adventure

Freedom

[Bothofus]

Thanks for posting this, Dave. DH and I are relatively new to cruising and have only done RCI so far. I've been thinking about trying another cruise line and find your review very helpful.

 

Glad you had a great time overall.

 

Rachel

[debshomespun]

Our cruiseline of choice is Royal Caribbean. Although we have tried several other cruiselines, and have enjoyed them all, we like the decor and ambiance of the RC ships. We have enjoyed the differences on the other cruise lines for a change of pace.