Your thoughts on NCL vs. Royal

[Lannybird12587]

Hello! My husband and I have been a few Royal Caribbean cruises and just got off another one this morning and had been talking about trying something new and seeing what the other lines have to offer. We thought that Royal was lacking in some areas this time around. NCL looks like a sleeker, more up to date line with more food options and bars/lounges to choose from. Any thoughts on NCL vs. Royal??? Is it worth trying something new next time around??

[swilliams1660]

Normally all the NCL cheerleaders would jump in and say how great it is. With all the changes, we'll see.

[fshagan]

There are a couple of RCI / NCL comparison threads here with some RCI regulars saying they really liked NCL and others saying they didn't really like it as much. But give NCL a try and see if you like it.

 

Entertainment:

From what I can glean from the conversations: If you are on one of the newer ships like the Epic, the Getaway or the Breakaway you'll find the entertainment really much better than on RCI. Even the Gem class ships seem to have better entertainment according to most of the threads.

 

Dining:

If you don't like two formal nights or eating in the buffet that particular night because you don't want to dress up, you'll love the fact that NCL doesn't have a formal night at all. You can eat anywhere on any night in your normal clothing. Except for the specialty restaurants, we have never made reservations, and often not even then. Often we'll look at one of the numerous "wait time" boards and head off to the specialty that has openings.

 

If you like meeting new people at dinner, then NCL will disappoint, as dining is like on land, with you seated only with your party and with (possibly) different servers each night. You can ask to be seated with others, but it is likely to be different faces each night.

 

Drinks:

Most people have said that NCL was less expensive with drinks than RCI.

 

Some people have noted a "dramatic increase" on their free drink plans in what the bartender puts on the receipt and then backs out ... I think this is a method for the bartender to earn more on the gratuity for that particular drink rather than that $5 drink now magically being just under the $11 limit. There has been a slight increase in the gratuity for drinks (now at 18%, which is where RCI is I think) and a slight increase of .30 to $1 for most drinks on NCL, but it still puts NCL below RCI according to most threads.

 

Cost:

NCL is cheaper when I've compared prices. NCL suites generally have better benefits from everything I've heard, but then NCL also has much smaller inside cabins if you are on the other end of the cost scale.

 

You'll see a lot of negative comments with the new changes (at least one was matched by RCI recently):

 

1. There is now a $7.95 fee for room service except for continental breakfast between 6 and 10 AM, and NCL is asking people not to take meals back to their cabins. Suites avoid the room service fee.

 

2. The daily service charge, which covers all your gratuities to MDR staff and cabin stewards, unless you are in a suite, is now $12.95 (suites pay $14.95). It was previously $12 a day per passenger for any class of cabin. I think RCI just changed to meet these prices.

 

3. The specialty restaurants now incur a 18% gratuity on the cover charge (up to $30 per person, so the 18% adds up to $5.4 per person for the specialty restaurants). I've heard the specialties on RCI are more expensive. (This change made me smile, because I always tipped more than 18% of the cover charge, tipping instead based on what I think the meal would cost on land, but the cheap people squealed like a stuck pig on this one. I'll bet they were stiffing the specialty restaurants).

[cruisencrazy]

We sailed Oasis of the Seas in December and Epic in March (and will again next week). Our Royal Caribbean cruise was not nearly as good. Employees were rude. For example, I had to get out of their way in the hall. I had to retrieve my own suitcase when it was delivered to the wrong room. NCL employees seem sooooo much happier. It created a great atmosphere. The shows were good on both. Everything else depends on the ship's amenities and the ports. We were traveling with our kids in their early/mid 20's and they didn't like the Royal Caribbean cruise. They were not with us on the Epic. We choose the cruises by the dates we want to cruise and then the ports. Then we choose by the kind of experience we want; formal, small boat/large boat, length of cruise..... If all things were equal and we were to choose between NCL and RCCL, I would choose NCL. I have high loyalty points on both, but I don't think we will cruise on Royal Caribbean again. It was lacking a personal touch and also no enforcement of their dress codes, which was awkward for those of us following them.

Just my opinion

[Granny DI]

We've sailed RCL many times. We really enjoyed the Oasis but like the Breakaway more. We've sailed the Crown(1998), POA, Epic and Breakaway so can't make a comparison so the Explorer class which we love on RCL.

[alohadan]

I like both NCL and RCCL. I believe the service and the specialty restaurant food we received last year on the Breakaway and the Allure were comparable. We loved both ships and would go on either in the future. Total price might be the determining factor for us.

[Cruise4Real]

3. The specialty restaurants now incur a 18% gratuity on the cover charge (up to $30 per person, so the 18% adds up to $5.4 per person for the specialty restaurants). I've heard the specialties on RCI are more expensive. (This change made me smile, because I always tipped more than 18% of the cover charge, tipping instead based on what I think the meal would cost on land, but the cheap people squealed like a stuck pig on this one. I'll bet they were stiffing the specialty restaurants).

 

Up to a month or two ago, wait staff in specialty restaurants were covered by the DSC -- indeed DSC was "invented" precisely to take care of the fact that with Freestyle dining, pax would not always be served by the same waiter and so tipping out on the last night of the cruise would leave a lot of wait staff out in the cold.

 

So those who left no tip at specialty restaurants were only doing what NCL suggested -- because of DSC there was no requirement or expectation of any tip. Pax were free to leave tips for service above and beyond, but those who didn't, for any reason whatsoever, were certainly not "stiffing" wait staff in the specialties, just letting DSC take care of the service that was received.

[Cruzaholic41]

Hello! My husband and I have been a few Royal Caribbean cruises and just got off another one this morning and had been talking about trying something new and seeing what the other lines have to offer. We thought that Royal was lacking in some areas this time around. NCL looks like a sleeker, more up to date line with more food options and bars/lounges to choose from. Any thoughts on NCL vs. Royal??? Is it worth trying something new next time around??

 

I guess it depends on what you liked about RCI and what ships you liked. Up until very recently, I was a partner in a large travel firm in Miami. My experience has been that by and large, cruisers who were somewhat loyal to RCI (and a couple other lines) who booked NCL came away disappointed. However, these cruises were on NCL ships that pre-dated the Epic and Breakaway Class. The 2 ships I always heard the worst feedback from were the Pride of America, Dawn and Star.

 

However, there was a bit of a shift with Breakaway. People who enjoy RCI's larger, more active ships seem to enjoy Breakaway and Getaway. Epic is mixed, but still better feedback than older ships.

 

That was my professional experience. As for my personal experience, I think NCL as a whole is a notch lower than RCI. This pertains to service, meals and ship maintenance. I put NCL on an even playing field with Carnival.

 

I hope this helps. Of course, it's just general. I don't know what ship you're considering and what it was about RCI that kept you going back.

[yj_eugene]

There are a couple of RCI / NCL comparison threads here with some RCI regulars saying they really liked NCL and others saying they didn't really like it as much. But give NCL a try and see if you like it.

 

We're RCI regulars who were on the NCL Sun last month, and fishagan's comments are spot on. A few things I'll add:

 

1) The cast shows in the Sun's theater are a bit more "grown-up" (for lack of a better term) than Royal's. One even had a notice in the daily about it might not being for young children. Personally we liked that the shows weren't stripped of all their adultness.

 

2) There were a lot more activities, and a wider variety of them, each day on the Sun than we've almost ever seen on a Royal ship. There were always what seemed to be several things going on to choose from at any given time, even on port days.

 

3) The crew on the Sun were smiling and laughing often, something I haven't seen on Royal in a long time. We noticed that there seemed to always be more crew around than we're used to seeing on Royal now, so our perception is that the Sun's crew hasn't been reduced to the point where they were overworked and unhappy like they are now on Royal.

 

While for various reasons Royal will be still be our primary line, and we find distasteful that NCL has recently made changes and increases that guests past final payment have no choice in avoiding, we probably would still book another trip on NCL if it was the best choice going where we want to go.

[Lannybird12587]

Thank you so much for all that feedback. It really helps us as we know nothing about NCL but we are looking to book a cruise for next May aboard the new ship the Escape. I think we are going to give it a try!