Subjective: best line for us for a Panama Canal transit?

[Airportlimbo]

We've been on a princess cruise, and know what we liked and didn't like.

 

We are going to try an Alaskan cruise on celebrity and get a feel of what we like and don't with them.

 

And most likely, unless Celebrity blows us away, we will try a short Ncl cruise to test them.

 

With that in mind, I don't suppose there are any NCL people who have tried the other two lines and can give opinions on where Ncl may shine here?

 

We didn't care for the entertainment on princess save for one more modern cover band. We did like the food, especially the steak house and the 24 coffee shop. We didn't care for the rest of the entertainment or the pastels on the boat.

 

Thanks for feed back, I did try some Google fu but didn't see anything recent comparing the lines on a Panama full transit.

 

We are in our mid 30's and like outdoor activities and alternative rock. We've been to Costa Rica and Curaçao by air/land before.

 

Thanks!

[Kamloops50]

We find HAL , Princess and Celebrity pretty much the same in Alaska.

There aren't many ships that do the Panama Canal on a regular basis from Sept to April.

Princess has a partial transit from Fort Lauderdale every 10 to 11 days . They also do a number of full transits during the same time period.

Some cruise lines do full transits at the start and end of the Alaska season.

With the new larger Panama Canal i June 2016(?) , more companies might start doing the full or partial transit.

[Airportlimbo]

We are looking at either the jewel or pearl or the millennium/infinity.

[Pitzel]

We did the West Bound Panama Canal crossing on Disney Cruise Line and enjoyed ourselves a ton. We did travel with our son, but there were many people who we met who were traveling without children. If you have ever considered DCL, this is actually a pretty economical way to do it (costs far less for a 2 week cruise than a typical one week in the Caribbean.).

[Airportlimbo]

We haven't looked at DCL because we are DINKs and disney amusement parks aren't normally the type of vacation we like. But if you think it might be a fit, I'm certainly open to checking them out and their offering online.

 

The Alaska cruise is set, and will give us more information on if it's the right kind of cruise for us. Things we like so far is the all inclusive perks (premium drink package, unlimited high speed internet, gratuities included, and OBC), and the non smoking ship. How these actually pan out remains to be seen in a few weeks.

 

Came to the NCL board to find out what people like about them that sets them apart from the others. For example the idea of the ultra lounge sounds like a good concept, but every youtube video I've seen of the place is dead and awful music.

[FreestyleNovice]

Cagney's on NCL is one of the best steakhouses at sea. Also more nightlife on NCL. On X not that much, besides a busy martini bar. Also X has an older demographic.

 

We really enjoyed the Summit on a southern Caribbean cruise (after being solsticed or however X calls it, updating the M class ships to S class standards), did a lot of excursions so missing out on the nightlife was not a deal breaker.

X definitely has better drink packages, including bottled water and soda in cans.

 

But we haven't cruised any of the older NCL ships (besides the Sky).. ;) but we would prefer X over NCL on the older ships, maybe also because a Panama canal or Alaska cruise is more of a "cultural" event. Not really sure how to formulate it.

 

And especially if you can land a Sweet Sixteen balcony on a M class!

[polySeraph]

While I've never tried Princess, I have cruised with Celebrity, Holland America, and NCL. I've been to the Panama Canal twice; one cruise was a partial transit aboard Holland America's Zuiderdam and the other was a full transit aboard the Celebrity Infinity which started in Valparaiso, Chile. I did a photo review of my cruise aboard the Infinity. Click here and navigate to Post #39 to read the parts about the Canal transit. In Post #13 of that thread I have posted some photos and commentary about our cabin which overlooked the bow - and came in handy during the transit. I've also posted a few photos from our 2011 trip in Post #54 of that thread.

 

For us, the itinerary was more important than the differences among the cruise lines. For example, not all of the ships transiting the Canal stop in Panama. Both of our itineraries included port calls in Colon. During our partial transit in 2011, we took a shore excursion that completed the transit on a small ferry and in 2015 we saw an historic fort and visited both the old and new Canal Visitor's Centers.

 

Wrt the different lines themselves, Celebrity was by far the most formal - and the passengers, for the most part, really seemed to enjoy dressing up. The entertainment was best on NCL, although we really did enjoy the Celebrity's lecture series on science and history of the region. Our Holland America experience was satisfactory enough for us to take 2 more cruises with them. We've enjoyed the specialty restaurants on all 3 cruise lines; NCL's are more affordable. The passengers were older on the HAL Panama Canal cruise (the CD told us that the average age was 72), but HAL seems to be taking steps to make their product more appealing to a younger market; their BB King bands are the best music we've ever heard at sea - and I grew up in Memphis so I know good blues.

Edited April 17, 2016 by polySeraph

[Rosethorn40]

The ships that Princess uses for the Panama Canal; Island & Coral are not like the usual Princess' ships. They are smaller in width (To fit through the existing canal), and don't feel crowded at all. We did the Panama Canal on the Coral, and it was surprising that at 10 AM on a sea day you could still get two lounge chairs together by the main pool. They also have a covered pool, and an adult only pool. The Coral is one of my three all time favorite ships.

 

Where NCL does exceed Princess is in entertainment. We have only sailed once on NCL (The Star back in 2011) and thought they had the best entertainment we had experienced at sea. The tradeoffs were there was only one pool for the masses. The only indoor pool was in the spa, and you had to get a weekly spa pass to use it. Food is subjective, but we thought the breakfast/lunch buffets on NCL were good, but poor at dinner (I think they were trying to push people to use the specialty dining options. NCL also has very small cabins (Unless in a suite), and I found their beds to be the most uncomfortable ever. NCL also had never-ending announcements that I personally found annoying.

 

Celebrity I currently know very little about, but are sailing on the Summit in two weeks.

 

I think whichever of the main cruise lines you sail with you will find things you like and things that you wished were more like another line. Good luck in finding the right cruise for you.

[Kamloops50]

Some Princess Full Transits stop at Panama City for two nights. You can then take tours to see Panama in greater detail.

[travelhound]

We've been on every mass market line except Costa and MSC. As a pp mentioned there are things you will like and dislike about all of the ships and lines. Even within a line the ships are very different. I would caution a short NCL or any short cruise. Those are usually the oldest ships and more of a booze cruise rather than a good representation of the line.

 

We did the Panama Canal on NCL Star. We like the dining flexibility and choices with NCL and no formal night. We did many tuxedo cruises in the past and are over that. If you want a more formal cruise I think Celebrity or Holland America fits that bill.

 

Since you mentioned the Pearl and Jewel specifically I'll address those. They are sister ships and except for the Pearl taking out their slides for concert charters, they are the same ship. They are mid sized and don't have all of the bells and whistles as far as ship features as NCLs newest ships. However they are nice and comfortable. Entertainment is good, staff is good, food is good, although I'm not that picky and food is very subjective.

 

They both have one of my favorite places of all ships, the Great Outdoors. It a covered dining area on the back of the ship which is great for breakfast and lunch and awesome for sailaways. It would be a great place to hang out on a canal cruise.

 

We did the canal in the last two weeks of October and it was blazing hot. I wouldn't worry about an indoor pool. There are two pools on both ships, but they are in same area. My SIL thinks the Pearl has the best spa at sea but we don't do the spa so I can't vouch for that.

 

I looked at the cruises they have listed. The ones that are 10 or 11 days are not full transit cruises. Only ones listed as 14 days and going from one coast to another will do all three locks. Otherwise they are more like an extended Caribbean Cruise with a taste of the canal. You go through the first lock answer turn around in Gatun Lake. So, it depends on your goal with the canal.

 

Know that you'll likely be some of the youngest people on the ship, especially if you do the full two weeks. Still, I wouldn't let that stop you. We brought our 3.5 year old and it was a fun and memorable trip.

 

Personally, we have alway chosen the itinerary first and the ship and price second. Make sure you want to go to the ports the ship is going to.

 

I could do lots of comparisons but if you have specific questions let me know. I'm typing this on my phone without proofing it so ignore any obvious auto correct issues.[emoji6]

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

Edited April 17, 2016 by travelhound

[Airportlimbo]

We aren't big pool people, we may hop in to cool off but that's about the extent of it. More often to hang out in the hot tub, though maybe not in Panama when it's smoking hot.

 

We are big into craft beer, that was one of the attractions to X. Does anyone know how the craft beer selection is on the Pearl/Jewl? Looks like the $ is 15 per drink.

 

We also drink a lot of sparkling water (Perrier, San Pelegrino) but it doesn't look like those are included in the NCL drink package?

 

Another big draw for us is internet, are there any rumours of NCL improving their internet speeds? Like RCL or X.

 

We understand the short ones are a perfect representation but give us a good idea. But we live close to the Vancouver port so it's a cheap option for us to test the waters.

[rsato]

I sailed on the Island Princess for their partial Panama Canal transit. While I'm a NCL fan (about to take my 7th voyage on the Pearl), I would specifically recommend Princess for the Panama canal based on my past experience. Princess had a narrator during the cruise who was amazing - I think he was an history educator at some level and gave lectures about the canal and the port on sea days as well as the most detailed explanation of what was going on as we traversed the canal. Assuming this is a standard experience, and you are interested in the canal I would recommend it.

 

On my NCL, RCL, DCL, and Holland cruises the background information was variable (as was my interest in learning about the ports). The Princess sailing really stood out as the most educational.

[djmess]

Well, since you asked about NCL, here is my opinion.

 

We did the East to West Transit on the NCL Pearl in April 2015. I think it was the 16 day.

 

We stayed in an obstructed ocean view cabin.

 

What is fantastic about the NCL Jewel Class ship is that they have the Forward Lounge (Spinnaker Lounge). Since we did not have a balcony, this was important to me.

 

We got up very early and Watched us go through the first locks while sitting at the forward windows in the Spinnaker.

 

We had met some new friends that had a Forward facing Penthouse. They invited us to enjoy the 2nd set of Locks from their balcony.

 

Finally for the 3rd set of locks we watched from the most forward part of the deck on Deck 5 I think. It was opened just for the transit. And we ran Aft a bit to view that way also.

 

NCL is great for night time activity. They have quite a few themed parties. Now you also have to keep in mind that the longer, full transit cruises all have an older demographic. I am 50 and traveled with my 12 y/o son. I say this because even with the few young kids on the sailing, I had chatted at length with the Hotel director and he told us the average age for the sailing was in the mid 60's and it was really more like 70's as the few kids brought down the average age. Also while talking to the cruise director, he had told us that they shifted all the start times of shows and activities to start about 30 minutes earlier than "regular" schedule.

 

NCL has wonderful entertainment, but as in everything, shows can be subjective.

 

We had an amazing time. Great weather, did wonderful things in all the ports and really enjoyed the transit of the Canal.

[Blondie008]

We've been on a princess cruise, and know what we liked and didn't like.

 

We are going to try an Alaskan cruise on celebrity and get a feel of what we like and don't with them.

 

And most likely, unless Celebrity blows us away, we will try a short Ncl cruise to test them.

 

With that in mind, I don't suppose there are any NCL people who have tried the other two lines and can give opinions on where Ncl may shine here?

 

We didn't care for the entertainment on princess save for one more modern cover band. We did like the food, especially the steak house and the 24 coffee shop. We didn't care for the rest of the entertainment or the pastels on the boat.

 

Thanks for feed back, I did try some Google fu but didn't see anything recent comparing the lines on a Panama full transit.

 

We are in our mid 30's and like outdoor activities and alternative rock. We've been to Costa Rica and Curaçao by air/land before.

 

Thanks!

 

I have cruised both lines (including last year a Back2back same day - Celebrity Equinox to NCL Sky). Please do NOT assess NCL on a short cruise. Had I only ever cruised the SKY I would never return to NCL again.

We are cruising Celebrity again in a matter of weeks - for Alaska - that's a port intensive cruise - and its our anniversary - we know it will be more sedate and we want the Martini Bar + Muranos and Blu - and Celebrity's Nice style -

Celebrity Spa V NCL Spa - NCL wins hands down!

For our transatlantic this year we are returning to NCL - could not endure another two week TA trip on Celebrity - its just too old - just not ready for that demographic yet. Celebrity are marketing this new young vibe - Its just not happening yet -

We envisaged Miami DJ, Calvin Harris style - nope - still hitting us up with FabbaAbba and 70s 80s nghts ....

Dress code on Celebrity now - there is no more formal night - its smart casual and their new "Evening Chic" which I feel is identical to Norwegians "Norwegian Night out" .

I love both lines for entirely different reasons -

Depends on what you want - Style and elegance - or Fun younger vibe with more entertainment - Your call :)