Goldness Princess vs. NCL Star Alaska

[northwestbear]

First, is it fair that you only post this question on the Princess board? You will obviously get mostly responses that tell you NCL is horrible. Try posting the same question over on the NCL board and see what happens. Bet they say not so nice things about Princess.

 

That being said we have cruised extensively on both lines. We pick our cruises based on timing, itinerary and price. In most cases we would actually prefer NCL, but they don't always fit into to when we can travel, so we cruise Princess.

 

We have always found that both cruise line offer very good food, wonderful service and a wide varieties of activities. DH will tell you the best meal he ever had was in the MDR on an NCL ship. The only thing that Princess does better than NCL is their loyalty program...their perks are better than NCL.

 

Remember, everything about cruising is very subjective. There is will always be people who are having the best time of their lives right next to those who are having the worst.

 

I agree completely, cruising is very subjective. We have been on both lines and have had wonderful cruises on both lines. We have not been on the Golden, but have sailed on the NCL Star twice - It is a beautiful ship, and we had great service while on-board. Our favorite ship so far has been the Sapphire Princess, our least favorite the Dawn Princess (though it was before it was refurbished). I am not a fan of the buffet on either line, but I think the MDR meals are pretty comparable. We also really enjoy the alternate dining options on NCL, even though they cost extra.Our absolute favorite cruise so far was a Canada/New England cruise on NCL and the worst an Alaska cruise on Princess. I think the individual ship and itinerary are a bigger concern for us than the line, but just my opinion.

[CrusinAgain]

That's too bad that you didn't have the fun games at night on your cruise. We've been on a few NCL cruises and we've had games every night.

 

I guess I'm not sure what activites you are referring to...those are the types of activities along with crafts on the Princess. Both ships had cullinary activities, although nothing like HAL does them. Princess had a ship tour, but it was way out of my price range. They both had an olympic type activity, where you participated in exercising each day. NCL gave us a sweatshirt at the end, Princess gave out a medal and I think a pack of cards. We didn't have a lack of free things to do on either ship, although they both had things you could pay for (bowling on one, golf on the other). When we were on the Pearl, they did have the games, so I can only go by my experience. Plenty of people had no idea what the Quest game was (including myself at that time), and everyone had a good time.

 

I think the suggestions by another person, that talks about the observation area on the Star, is much more important on an Alaskan trip, than which ship plays the best games, IMO.

 

I was bringing up the game shows due to their passenger group of 4 teens that is going on the cruise. Adults like the scenery while the younger age isn't as much into that.

 

Okay, so for the gameshows I am referring to that you will find on princess but was not offered on NCL nor anything of its type were: Majority Rules; Princess Feud; Name that Movie; Name that Tune; Have you Seen It Movie Challenge; Jeopardy; Princess Pyramids; Princess Millionaire; Make a Deal or Not; different trivias including musical, broadway, classic movies, classic songs, 50-60's music and Where on the "whichever ship you are on" Princess (so our latest was "Where on the Crown Princess?").

 

If you are saying these types of games are now offered on NCL then I am glad because all that was offered was fee based material other than your early morning stretch and things along that line. We did take the ship tour on NCL and Simon said there was no piano bar for entertainment and he was right.

[CrusinAgain]

Only the Princess goes to Glacier bay but there is an excursion off of NCL Star (pretty expensive) that gets right up to Sawyer glacier and Tracey Arm and I'm told that that is even better than Glacier Bay as you get very close to the Calving Glacier. In Glacier Bay it's a National Park and are very protected so you can only watch from the ship at a distance. Obviously seeing both would be ideal but considering I have young teens with us, I think the experience of taking the catamaran close to the glacier would be very exciting.

 

Glacier Bay is small so it isn't a big distance and you are close enough to see wildlife on the land and hear the calving. Sorry, but I would never pay for a spendy excursion to get close to Sawyer Glacier. It is one glacier. Have you looked at the pictures between Glacier Bay and Tracey Arm and Sawyer Glacier? Sounds to me like someone from the NCL board has told you this excursion is so much better than Glacier Bay since I have never seen anyone say Tracy Arm is much better than Glacier Bay, catamaran or not. Do your research. Some folks sit in the hot tubs while in Glacier Bay viewing the calving. Sounds like you have made up your mind to take the NCL ship with the spendy excursion. Good luck and my experience with teens have been no interest in sight seeing but like adventure activities like the ziplining in Alaska.

[DMRick]

Yes, a version of just about all of those were on NCL (as well as treasure hunts on both brands of ship), just like some of them were on Princess (not all on either). They had different names for them, obviously, since Princess put their own names on them. I'm not saying they are NOW offered...I'm saying they have been offered ever since our first NCL cruise. NCL has some Princess doesn't have and vice versa.

 

I've been on several NCL cruises, as well as others, and they have all had variations at no cost of these games. In fact I've never paid a fee for any of these games on any ship. We have also done crafts, had cooking demo's, talks from people, done memory pages, etc, at no cost. Just like Princess. Both ships also had acitivities where they charged. I have the activiy sheets from both ships and they are very similar. We have been in our fair share of piano bars on each brand of ship, including NCL also. Sometimes they have had mini trivia's there. NCL charged for bowling, Princess charged for golf.

 

Teens seldom take part in these activities on any of the ships...they are usually with the teens playing their own games and doing their own activities/sports.

 

Games are not a reason I would pick a cruise to Alaska, in any case.

 

 

I was bringing up the game shows due to their passenger group of 4 teens that is going on the cruise. Adults like the scenery while the younger age isn't as much into that.

 

Okay, so for the gameshows I am referring to that you will find on princess but was not offered on NCL nor anything of its type were: Majority Rules; Princess Feud; Name that Movie; Name that Tune; Have you Seen It Movie Challenge; Jeopardy; Princess Pyramids; Princess Millionaire; Make a Deal or Not; different trivias including musical, broadway, classic movies, classic songs, 50-60's music and Where on the "whichever ship you are on" Princess (so our latest was "Where on the Crown Princess?").

 

If you are saying these types of games are now offered on NCL then I am glad because all that was offered was fee based material other than your early morning stretch and things along that line. We did take the ship tour on NCL and Simon said there was no piano bar for entertainment and he was right.

[ddljcruisers]

I think you're very right that the teens (certainly mine) are going to be more interested in zip-lining than any sort of sight seeing! It's really hard to make decision as there are advantages either way. If it were just my husband and I then for sure it would be Glacier Bay. Maybe we'll come back ourselves when they're off in college...

[RichNY]

Having sailed on both lines, in suites , I would suggest NCL...The suite perks are better and the family suite is larger than the mini suite...Another thing to consider, many of the mini suites not covered..We had one of these uncovered mini suites had on the Golden hated it..no privacy, no protection from the elements and trash dropping on your balcony from above. We usually sail in mini suites on Princess and they don't not come close to any suite NCL offers..

 

The only covered mini suites are the Cat AD on the Emerald deck. There are very few of then and the sell fast..Hope this helps

[CaribQween]

I would post your question on the Alaska board. Alaska is probably the one place where picking the cruiseline that does Alaska best is the most important thing to consider. As others have said, Princess and HAL are known for doing up Alaska right. It also depends on whether you might want to do land tours through a cruiseline or would you possibly use the Princess railway or Princess lodges? Of course, we would also really make the decision on itinerary.

 

We've sailed both NCL and Princess. When we sailed NCL we were in a suite and all of the perks were absolutely fabulous. We especially loved being able to have a hot breakfast out on our balcony every morning. However, we've realized they really weren't worth the extra money to us. But, we do miss them :). We also loved the large number of Specialty Restaurants on NCL. The thermal suite in the spa was great too. However, I don't know how much of these things we would use on an Alaska cruise because we would be out on our balcony most of the time we were on the ship. Good Luck with whatever you choose.