RCL vs NCL, comparisons please.

[cjp454]

I've only sailed on the NCL Pearl so I understand that my ability to compare the two lines is somewhat limited, however, I have a few things to add that might be helpful:

 

Freestyle dining - My husband and I only ate in the dining rooms that did not upcharge (two main dining rooms - Summer Palace and Indigo, Garden Cafe (buffet), and the Blue Lagoon (24 hour comfort food).

 

We made a reservation only once or twice throughout the week and instead relied upon the digital boards outside of each restaurant that indicated how busy each restaurant was and what the approximate wait time would be. The boards rank every restaurant with a color: green (immediately available), yellow (light to moderate wait) or red (extremely busy). We were consistently seated immediately or within 5-10 minutes after approaching the host/hostesses; there was only one evening that we had to wait longer. This wait was actually our choice because we came to like the Indigo room so much that we elected to wait instead of finding an alternative restaurant with a quicker wait time.

 

While I don't have other cruises to compare the food quality to, I can tell you that we are a couple who enjoys going out to eat pretty frequently, prefer to patronize restaurants that are not chains, watch the Food Network, etc. We found the food on the Pearl to be more than satisfactory. We chose to eat in Summer Palace for breakfast and lunch most days and in Indigo for dinner each evening. We only ate in the buffet once or twice; there were plenty of options but they were not as tasty as the offerings in the more formal dining areas. Each evening we were able to find dishes in each course that we really enjoyed. Many times there were a few different things that we had a hard time choosing between and so we ordered two choices to be able to taste both and satisfy our curiosity. To be honest, one of our favorite parts of the cruise was the food!

 

Service - Despite making reservations we often had the same server/supervisor at dinner (without asking!) which made for a really personal experience. I have a severe food allergy and was nervous about having to ask every server we had about what was really in each dish before placing my order. The first night at dinner I went through my usual routine with the server and not only did he and his supervisor come over to ensure me that my orders were safe, they both remembered my name and my condition the next night without any prompting! They took really good care of me all week and put my anxieties to rest.

 

Attire - As far as attire goes you will see everything. I like to get dressed up and wore a dress every evening for dinner/cocktail dresses on formal nights. My husband likes to be a little more casual and mostly wore dressy jeans or khaki's with at least a button-up shirt and sometimes with a sport coat. They did a good job of enforcing attire guidelines in the main dining room and we never felt too casual or too dressy.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed our week on the Pearl and could not have asked for a better experience. Being able to show up for meals whenever it suited us was really amenable with our personalities and schedule. Came back from port early and were hungry? Quick shower and off to dinner. Came back late/needed a nap/wanted to relax a bit? Do what you wanted to and then head out later. I enjoyed not having to stress about getting back on ship, getting showered, redoing my hair and makeup all within a certain time just to meet an assigned dining time or reservation.

 

I'm looking forward to our RCI sailing in just a few months and the experience of trying something new.

 

I hope that, whatever you decide, you have a wonderful, memorable, safe trip. Best wishes!

[Debde]

NCL has better suite perks but unless you're in the Garden Villa, the rest of their suites pale in comparison to what we have experienced on RCI..

 

I have never sailed NCL but after reading the suite amenities-seems they far out-do Royal and are thinking of booking with them to try these out.

 

http://www.nclsuitesandvillas.com/pages/suitesvillasmore.php

 

thanks for this thread!! keep the good info coming guys!!