General Info on NCL?

[mrsavoigt]

We had originally been planning a cruise on Celebrity, but just found NCL and some great deals.

 

We are foodies in our late 20s, but not party-people. I'm a little worried that Celebrity is "too old" for our taste, but NCL might be too family for us as well (just 2 adults). I was however looking forward to formal nights, does NCL have those?

 

Thoughts on this?

[bangzoom6877]

We had originally been planning a cruise on Celebrity, but just found NCL and some great deals.

 

We are foodies in our late 20s, but not party-people. I'm a little worried that Celebrity is "too old" for our taste, but NCL might be too family for us as well (just 2 adults). I was however looking forward to formal nights, does NCL have those?

 

Thoughts on this?

 

NCL has a Norwegian Night Out. It is optional to dress up, and you will find a mix of people dressed up and people dressed casually. Personally, our family dresses up and we like taking a nice portrait.

 

How much of a foodie are you? I consider myself a foodie as well, but it doesn't have to be gourmet quality for me to like it. I just love food that tastes good. That could be anything from a simple well prepared burger and crispy fries, to really good Brooklyn pizza from a tiny hole in the wall pizzeria, to a steak from Peter Luger or a lobster in Maine right off the dock. And I enjoy the food on NCL. Now granted, I was last on NCL in 2011 but the current menus look even better to me than the ones back then, and I enjoyed the variety then.

 

The specialty restaurants are a good choice for someone who considers themselves a foodie. DH and I really love the food at Le Bistro, and we are also going to Cagney's on this upcoming cruise. We love steak and it is DS10's favorite food. This will be the first specialty restaurant with our kids, except for a couple of special food events they had on the Jewel in 2011 which we brought them to. Right now if you book oceanview or a higher category, you could choose which promo you want. The ultimate dining package is one of the choices and that means you could eat in a different specialty restaurant every night for dinner. If you are in the Haven, you get every promo they are currently offering.

 

Yes there are lots of families on NCL, but it also depends on when you sail. If it's over the summer there will be more kids onboard than there would be say in October or November or January. Same during the week of a school break like Christmas week for example. But there are areas for adults only. DH and I love getting the spa pass and going to the thermal suite every day while the kids are at the kids club enjoying their activities.

 

The entertainment is also very good on NCL. You don't have to be a party person to enjoy this cruise line.

 

Hope this all helps!

[NLH Arizona]

We had originally been planning a cruise on Celebrity, but just found NCL and some great deals.

 

We are foodies in our late 20s, but not party-people. I'm a little worried that Celebrity is "too old" for our taste, but NCL might be too family for us as well (just 2 adults). I was however looking forward to formal nights, does NCL have those?

 

Thoughts on this?

I cruise on both lines. Yes, Celebrity's passengers are, for the most part, on average older than those on NCL. NCL has more younger couples and families, but does have its share of us senior citizens.

 

It seems as though those younger folks that cruise on Celebrity have a great time. I did, however, hear some younger folks (probably in late 20's or early 30"s) complaining on my January Celebrity cruise that the streets roll up early on the ship.

 

With regard to food. I think the food in Celebrity's MDR is much better than NCL's. I don't do the MDR on NCL, I only go to the specialty restaurants and have had some very excellent meals. On Celebrity I pretty much stick to the MDR, sans a dinner in one of their specialty restaurants, and I have never sent anything back LOL! Some Celebrity passengers feel that the food quality has gone down over the years, but if it has, it is not something I've personally noticed, but then I'm pretty easy to please.

 

Formal nights are fun, but it is also nice not to have to worry about bringing formal attire and just be casual for an entire cruise. BTW, some on NCL really dress up (some more than those on Celebrity on formal night) as well.

[mrsavoigt]

Bangzoom, you sound exactly like us. We want good food, regardless of if its "fancy" or from a hole-in-a-wall. I think both cruises sound great and am having a hard time deciding!!!

[Georgie562]

We had originally been planning a cruise on Celebrity, but just found NCL and some great deals.

 

We are foodies in our late 20s, but not party-people. I'm a little worried that Celebrity is "too old" for our taste, but NCL might be too family for us as well (just 2 adults). I was however looking forward to formal nights, does NCL have those?

 

Thoughts on this?

 

No official formal nights on NCL.

 

I went on Celebrity last Fall and I can truly say it was one of my most enjoyable and memorable vacations. Im in my late 20's and Celebrity was not "too old". If your a foodie like you say you are NCL food is not all there at least from what I experienced last month on the Star

Edited April 21, 2015 by Georgie562

[Sand and Seas]

We had originally been planning a cruise on Celebrity, but just found NCL and some great deals.

 

We are foodies in our late 20s, but not party-people. I'm a little worried that Celebrity is "too old" for our taste, but NCL might be too family for us as well (just 2 adults). I was however looking forward to formal nights, does NCL have those?

 

Thoughts on this?

 

We are Platinum with NCL....which means we have been on alot of cruises with them. We have never felt it was too 'family oriented'. If you go on one of the larger ships like Getaway or the new Escape, it reminds us alot of visiting Las Vegas with lots of evening entertainment and food choices. We like the smaller ships too. All can be very laid back or you can dress up more if you wish-- just like Vegas.

[bangzoom6877]

Bangzoom, you sound exactly like us. We want good food, regardless of if its "fancy" or from a hole-in-a-wall. I think both cruises sound great and am having a hard time deciding!!!

 

Where are you from? We are from Brooklyn, NY. We have lots of tiny mom & pop places that we love...walking into them you would never know how high the quality of the food is. Very fresh and delicious, with good quality meats. Two things we are very picky with are Italian food and Asian food. So we tend to stay away from those on vacation and go for other food instead. We love the delicious Italian food from our local pizzeria (the owner is from Italy and has owned this place for more than 35 years...I'm 37 and so I've been eating there all my life). But we never go to Olive Garden even though we have one close to home in Brooklyn! ;)

[mrsavoigt]

We are from North Dakota, but we've really seen a huge surge in local restaurants that are unique. And we use vacation as a chance to expanded our palate. I will not eat seafood unless we are actually near the sea, ha! It's good to hear that you like the food.

[mrsavoigt]

Sand and Seas, that's great to hear. We are looking at the Getaway. And in October hopefully we won't be overwhelmed with kids.

[bangzoom6877]

We are from North Dakota, but we've really seen a huge surge in local restaurants that are unique. And we use vacation as a chance to expanded our palate. I will not eat seafood unless we are actually near the sea, ha! It's good to hear that you like the food.

 

I'm the same with seafood! We also like to use vacation to try new things. And to have foods we don't usually eat at home. And then of course, to treat ourselves to a good steak lol. ;)

 

Sand and Seas, that's great to hear. We are looking at the Getaway. And in October hopefully we won't be overwhelmed with kids.

 

We are going on the a Breakaway, sister ship to the Getaway, in July. There is an area called Vibe where you buy a pass and there are no kids there, it's a separate pool area. There's also Spice H2O which is adults only. There's a thread on here about it as a matter of fact. And as I said, I highly recommend the thermal suite. Very relaxing!

 

There are also tons of restaurants on the Getaway. Plenty to choose from. Sounds like you may benefit from the Ultimate Dining Package (UDP).

[mlrandpkm]

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Edited April 21, 2015 by mlrandpkm
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[mlrandpkm]

DH and I are 51 and 44 respectively. We cruised on the Celebrity Silhouette in Feb of this year for the first time, and are boarding the EPIC for our first NCL cruise in 3 weeks.

We thoroughly enjoyed the Silhouette!! It was only our 4th cruise, however, we travel extensively to land based resorts and I can tell you that the Silhouette did not disappoint. While we are a little older than you, I can tell you that we were also a little concerned that this may be a little too old of a cruise, and although there were probably less than 2 dozen children on board, we certainly didn't feel like it was a completely older crowd. Now, one thing I did notice, and probably because it's the first cruise that we've taken without our teenage (or more like adult) children, we certainly did connect more with other couples in the afternoon/evening at the bars, and truly enjoyed it. Our dinners in the MDR were wonderful (we were in the 'private dining room', you can probably ask for it). We didn't eat at any of the specialty restaurants, but I can tell you, we're not buffet people, but the Silhouette's buffet was wonderful/clean/efficient at breakfast and lunch. Our walk away from the Silhouette was it was a very classy, elegant cruise...and one that we would not hesitate to ever go on again!! (am looking forward to NCL Epic on the 6th!!) Enjoy whichever you decide!

[youngestof9]

Sand and Seas, that's great to hear. We are looking at the Getaway. And in October hopefully we won't be overwhelmed with kids.

 

We've sailed twice in October and it was a great time - barely any kids at all. Both times we sailed in October, we didn't take our kids with us. Great crowds.

[Demonyte]

We had originally been planning a cruise on Celebrity, but just found NCL and some great deals.

 

 

 

We are foodies in our late 20s, but not party-people. I'm a little worried that Celebrity is "too old" for our taste, but NCL might be too family for us as well (just 2 adults).

 

 

We started cruising 6 years ago in our late 20s and were drawn to NCL by freestyle as at that time I wasn't interested about the all dressing up thing with most other cruise lines.

 

After all these years exclusively cruising with NCL we tried Celebrity this January because our friends (two couples) asked us to join them and we absolutely loved it.

 

As others have said, food is better, the ship and crowd really is less "family" than NCL etc. Yes, there were less families with children which was nice, but OTOH we usually do longer cruises so we have used to seeing more elderly passengers also on NCL.

 

Parties on Celebrity Reflection were comparable or better than ones on NCL - we aren't too much of party people either but really liked to at least pop in to most of the parties (most of them were visually and conseptually lightyears ahead of what NCL does). Even outside parties, I didn't think that Celebrity would be too old for people close to their 30s, we didn't have any problems fitting in - but then again, we had company so we didn't need/try to meet new people.

 

After the communications fiasco last month about all the changes and price hikes (our additionals onboard now cost about 20% more than before March) with NCL, we decided that we have seen what NCL currently has to offer and are ready to move on - with Celebrity we get better product (f.ex. NCL discontinued most B2B itineraries around 2012 and as said, since we usually do longer cruises, those were perfect for us as they are not that "old" because they are in reality two shorter cruises together) for pretty much the same price (Celebrity has been doing their 123Go! offer pretty regularly for a long time and you can get free drink package with them just like nowadays with NCL, and just like with the food, the quality and varierty of drinks is a lot better).

 

Just my handful of $0.02s. ;)

[gtaylor]

I cruise on both lines. Yes, Celebrity's passengers are, for the most part, on average older than those on NCL. NCL has more younger couples and families, but does have its share of us senior citizens.

 

It seems as though those younger folks that cruise on Celebrity have a great time. I did, however, hear some younger folks (probably in late 20's or early 30"s) complaining on my January Celebrity cruise that the streets roll up early on the ship.

 

With regard to food. I think the food in Celebrity's MDR is much better than NCL's. I don't do the MDR on NCL, I only go to the specialty restaurants and have had some very excellent meals. On Celebrity I pretty much stick to the MDR, sans a dinner in one of their specialty restaurants, and I have never sent anything back LOL! Some Celebrity passengers feel that the food quality has gone down over the years, but if it has, it is not something I've personally noticed, but then I'm pretty easy to please.

 

Formal nights are fun, but it is also nice not to have to worry about bringing formal attire and just be casual for an entire cruise. BTW, some on NCL really dress up (some more than those on Celebrity on formal night) as well.

 

Hello.

 

Could you address the 'dress up' requirements on Celebrity?

 

I've seen some great offers, but I'm concerned about the dress code.

 

From much of what I have read I have inferred that at least a dress shirt and jacket are required in the MDR every evening. On 'special' evenings a full suit and tie are required.

 

I'm at the point that I really don't want to do suit and tie anymore. We dress very nicely for dinner each evening but wouldn't want to be locked into even the jacket required mode.

 

Thanks,

 

gary

[newmexicoNita]

We had originally been planning a cruise on Celebrity, but just found NCL and some great deals.

 

We are foodies in our late 20s, but not party-people. I'm a little worried that Celebrity is "too old" for our taste, but NCL might be too family for us as well (just 2 adults). I was however looking forward to formal nights, does NCL have those?

 

Thoughts on this?

 

The demographics, when it comes to age depends more on when you are cruising and the itinerary. NCL is very much a family line, but the kids are well behaved as a rule. You will see lots of kids on Celebrity as well if you cruise during school breaks. I wouldn't let that influence you that much. If you are cruising during off season the kids will be few and far between on both lines. NCL does not have formal nights, they do have a few nights that are dress up if you want. Not many "want" As for your being foodies, Celebrity is noted for having better food, but we just got off NCL and were very satisfied with the food. We do not find Celebrity food much,if at all better. Most lines, now days have similar quality meals. Overall the food on Celelbrity is probably a little better in the MDRs but the selection of specialty restaurants on NCL is the best at sea and some are outstanding. The overall entertainment is better on NCL in our opinion and that is all you are going to see here is "opinions" but they do count. Good luck with whatever line you choose.

Edited April 22, 2015 by newmexicoNita

[NLH Arizona]

Hello.

 

Could you address the 'dress up' requirements on Celebrity?

 

I've seen some great offers, but I'm concerned about the dress code.

 

From much of what I have read I have inferred that at least a dress shirt and jacket are required in the MDR every evening. On 'special' evenings a full suit and tie are required.

 

I'm at the point that I really don't want to do suit and tie anymore. We dress very nicely for dinner each evening but wouldn't want to be locked into even the jacket required mode.

 

Thanks,

 

gary

On the formal night, there is a lot of chatter on the Celebrity site. I've seen everything from a formal dress to everyday dresses on women and from tuxes to regular pants and dress shirt with no tie or jacket on men.

 

A nice black dress for a woman would be acceptable, if they didn't want to wear a formal or cocktail dress and for men nice slacks, dress shirt, tie (which some don't wear) and sports coat (on some ships they have turned men away without wearing a jacket and some ships they don't).

 

The specialty restaurants and buffet are all smart casual on formal night, so if you didn't want to dress formally there is always some where else to dine.

 

On non-formal nights, it is smart casual. You could wear dockers and a shirt (with collar) and you would be fine.

 

Hope this helps.

Edited April 22, 2015 by NLH Arizona

[jjikids]

We sailed in a suite on Celebrity in October. The choice of dinner was 6:00 PM or 8:30 PM. Neither worked well with us but our friends wanted the later time. DH and I ended up at the buffet at 5 PM each evening for an appetizer. We like the choices with NCL. We did get escargot each evening on Celebrity but we had to really dress up on the formal nights. At the Captains Club party on Celebrity, we were barred from leaving the room with our drinks. We felt that was tacky. The staff literally took the glasses from our hands. People say Celebrity is so classier. Our answer is we booked another suite on The Gem. Norwegian knows how to do the suite life. Even when we sailed in a balcony room on the Epic, we were still happier.

Edited April 22, 2015 by jjikids

[newcastlemam]

We are sailing getaway on the 31st October and leaving the children at home we usually sail RCL and with the children so will be two firsts for us :)

I am 26 and my better half is 31 ncl had some great deals and looked fun I was apprehensive at first but now I'm excited