Baltic Cruise: NCL Star or Royal Princess?

[NYCcruiser65]

Hi - I'm a pretty loyal Norwegian customer… I've sailed with Norwegian 3 times in the past 3 years (2x on Epic, 1x on Breakaway). I really love NCL, their freestyle dining concept, and their prices are decent.

 

However, I'm looking into a Baltic cruise for Aug. or September of 2014 and wondering if the NCL Star is going to be the right ship for me, or whether I should try Princess. I've never sailed on Princess.

 

However, I'm now looking at the Royal Princess and I'm impressed, but I don't know anything about Princess Cruise Line. The NCL ship that does the Baltic route is the Star, and it's an older ship that I've read mixed reviews on. Also, the previous NCL ships I was on had impressive thermal spas, which the Star doesn't have, but the Royal Princess does have.

 

But the Royal Princess prices are more expensive than the NCL Star. (Part of the cost may be the number of days… the Royal Princess is an 11 day cruise, whereas the NCL Star is a 9-day cruise).

 

Can anyone tell me about their experience either with the Star or with Princess cruises and why I might pay the extra to cruise on it? Also, does Princess have "freestyle" dining like NCL?

 

Any other information or experience is helpful!!! Thanks!

[dexddd]

NCL used to have a 12 day Baltic when we took it and it was very port intensive but it was nice to have a couple sea days mixed in (more sea days than now). They changed it to a 9 day so it is now even more port intensive. You may want to consider that into the equation.

 

That being said, we've been on the Star twice and always enjoyed it overall.

[jdvmd]

While Princess is very nice, I would go with the cheaper NCL cruise for this one provided the itinerary is what I wanted.

 

Shore excursions are very expensive on this route. We did the NCL Sun two years ago to the Baltic and had a great experience.

 

Since the itinerary is so port intensive with very early days and late nights as well as numerous time changes, you won't be on the ship that much and for that reason I would not pay more.

 

Princess has Anytime Dining.

[Bocadude85]

I love the NCL Star, she is one of my favorite ships. The staff were pleasant and very helpful and I thought the ship was laid out well. The Star may be a older ship but she is very well maintained.

[Sauer-kraut]

This cruise is so port intensive that the amenities aren't all that necessary. If you plan on seeing Berlin from Warnemunde its a 3 hour journey there and 3 hours back!! You'll be running from the moment you wake up until the time you get back on the bus/train. It is an exhausting cruise, so take into consideration if you will actually feel like doing the rock climbing/shows/thermal spas after a long day in port.

[SoCA6ft5]

We thoroughly enjoyed the Star through the Baltic. It's a pretty ship, and the ports were quite enjoyable. Make sure you read the port section of CC for suggestions of what to do (we got great recommendations there). As others have alluded to, sometimes cruises are all about the ship, and other times it's about the itinerary. To us, the Baltic was all about the itinerary. The Star was just the icing on the cake. You'll find you don't need all the diversions of a mega-ship, but you'll appreciate everything the Star has to offer (I'm starting to sound like an ad copy writer).

[NYCcruiser65]

Thanks for all of the input!

 

I'm particularly glad to hear that people like the Star and that she is well maintained.

 

I realize this is a port intensive cruise, but I did a port intensive cruise in southern Europe and sometimes think that my nightly visits to the spa saved me!

 

I heard that Princess doesn't allow smoking on balconies now… that's another point in it's favor.

 

Also, and please excuse my ignorance, but the Princess cruise doesn't sail through the Stockholm archipelago like the Star does. What makes that such an impressive thing to see?

 

Thanks again! This is a tough decision!

[KeithJenner]

Also, and please excuse my ignorance, but the Princess cruise doesn't sail through the Stockholm archipelago like the Star does. What makes that such an impressive thing to see?

 

 

If the Princess cruise goes to Stockholm then it sails the Stockholm Archipelago. It is the best approach and departure from a port that I have done. Have a look at the map to get an idea what you are sailing through.

 

I haven't done this particular itinerary (I went to the Baltics over 10 years ago), but I suspect that the reference to the archipelago on the NCL literature is a bit misleading. You leave Stockholm at 4pm and it takes a few hours to reach open sea. I'm really not sure exactly what they do the next day, but there is around 500 miles to travel.

 

Perhaps someone who has done this exact itinerary can provide more info, but I'd be surprised if the highlight wasn't the bit which everyone does if they go to Stockholm.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited February 7, 2014 by KeithJenner

[dexddd]

Just make sure if you want to go into Stockholm that Princess does that and not what NCL did for a couple years (when we went in 2010). What they did was anchor a fair distance away so you had to tender into port and then it was a roughly one hour drive into Stockholm. NCL has switched going directly back into Stockholm but not sure about Princess sailing in question.