Royal vs. NCL: Head to Head

[er345]

1 minute ago, Host Clarea said:

 

I'm pretty sure that Quantum class ships have a similar Solarium food venue in the evening, but not 100% sure.

I do have a dinner reservation for the Solarium on our upcoming Ovation cruise.  There was no charge.  Hopefully the food will be as good as it is in the other Solarium restaurants.

[The Fun Researcher]

4 minutes ago, poncho1973 said:

From someone who has done both lines, there is no way I'd compare Majesty to any other ship in the Royal fleet other than Empress.

 

I can't say that Majesty would represent much of anything in the Royal fleet of 2019.  She's a lone wolf ship with nearly 30 year old bones.  The best possible news is that you sailed her just out of dry dock!  That's the best news.

 

Everything else considered?  She doesn't have much of anything compared to the other ships in the fleet.  Like I said, excluding Empress of the Seas, which is a tiny micro-beast all of her own.

 

Majesty in Norwegian terms is the Norwegian Spirit of the fleet.

 

I'm actually impressed that the Majesty stacked up as well as it did all things considered.  That says something for Royals care for their entire fleet IMO.

Dan

[sparks1093]

38 minutes ago, The Fun Researcher said:

 

I'm actually impressed that the Majesty stacked up as well as it did all things considered.  That says something for Royals care for their entire fleet IMO.

Dan

There is this. What people also over look is those things that should be consistent across the line, such as the quality of the food, the friendliness of the staff, the comfort of the accommodations (other than cabin size perhaps), the general "feel" of the cruise. If a cruise line can't get those things right on one of their older, smaller ships (and it sounds like they do with Majesty) then how can they get it right on their newer, bigger ships? So while it may be true that comparing an older ship to a newer one isn't a direct apples to apples comparison it should still be possible to pick out those things that should be the same.

[A2Mich]

5 hours ago, framboesa said:

I keep reading bad reviews from people who sailed with carnival 10 years ago, with the old ships...We gave it a try to carnival sailing aboard C. Breeze and is my favorite cruise ship since then (and I have been in really nice cruise ships 😄 ). Today, if we compare the newest ships there are more similar than different things. 😄

 

 

And I fully realize that, which is why I don’t put a lot of weight on my earlier Carnival experiences.  Lots of things change, even in a short period of time, and can change even more in a longer time frame.  As far as the actual cruise experience, we had a great time on all of the Carnival cruises, only issue really was with the decor of the ships, which even then, can be overlooked.  We thoroughly enjoyed everything, other than high drink and excursion prices (which we didn’t book any shore exc. through RCI) on Freedom, and have booked Harmony for May 2020.  We have a family of 5, and as long as all 3 kids are cruising with us, we really appreciate the family size cabins that the Freedom and Oasis class ships offer.  With 5 of us, cruising isn’t exactly an inexpensive getaway, once you add in airfare, rental cars, meals, etc. Booking a suite would just be too expensive, and most standard sized cabins cannot accommodate 5.  Their family size cabins are a decent compromise of size and affordability.  Unfortunately, I’m not at the point where I have enough trust in 2 of my 3 kids to put them in their own cabin yet.  It doesn’t appear that Carnival or NCL have anything comparable, outside of a suite.

[Debitoo]

Thank you for your review and comparison. One thing to note though, in all of my Royal cruises the beds have never been separated upon entering the cabin for the first time; even though I request it when I first book. I'm not sure if this is just the default set up or what. They are always separated at turn-down though....

 

Edited April 4, 2019 by debitoo

[kag19]

36 minutes ago, debitoo said:

Thank you for your review and comparison. One thing to note though, in all of my Royal cruises the beds have never been separated upon entering the cabin for the first time; even though I request it when I first book. I'm not sure if this is just the default set up or what. They are always separated at turn-down though....

 

 

I have asked about this recently and the answer I received was that it is now standard to leave the beds together and then request any changes needed to your Steward once you are on board. 

[2Long2NxtCrz]

Thanks for the detailed comparison!  I've only cruised Royal and now Celebrity, but I have thought about NCL because they do seem to have a lot of activities that my kids would enjoy.  I have a friend who takes a music cruise on NCL every February and she doesn't think the food's that good, and that could be a drawback, or just a function of the music being the draw for that cruise and not the food.

 

As others have said, it's very hard to compare cabins between such an old ship and a newer one.  I mean, our cabin on Harmony of the Seas was the largest, nicest cabin I've ever been in!  And it was just a Central Park View balcony, not Ocean View.

 

But service should be consistent, I totally agree with that.  And imho on all of the Royal cruises we've been on, the Radiance class ships have had the absolute best service.  I've never had bad service, never even had the kind of experience you had to deal with, but the Radiance class was just a notch better.  I think because it's a smaller ship and the bartenders and other staff have fewer people to get to know.  But I wouldn't take my kids on the Radiance class because they don't have water slides or the Promenade or a zillion activities for them.

 

All in all, I think I agree that most of the mainstream cruise lines are fairly equal experiences.  After all, how bad can any day at sea be?

[brillohead]

I'm surprised that the MDR only had six entrees every night.  I've not been on the smaller ships, but I've been on Explorer class, Freedom class, and Oasis class multiple times each class, and I've never experienced such a short menu.  There are typically 4-6 "classics" options (going off memory, so not positive of number, and I never ordered any of them myself, so that doesn't help my memory any) that are available every night -- a fish (salmon?), a grilled chicken breast, a steak, and a pasta (Bolognese?) come to mind, and then another 4-6 options that changed every night.  

Such a short menu is definitely NOT the norm for Royal's MDR offerings.

[sparks1093]

34 minutes ago, brillohead said:

I'm surprised that the MDR only had six entrees every night.  I've not been on the smaller ships, but I've been on Explorer class, Freedom class, and Oasis class multiple times each class, and I've never experienced such a short menu.  There are typically 4-6 "classics" options (going off memory, so not positive of number, and I never ordered any of them myself, so that doesn't help my memory any) that are available every night -- a fish (salmon?), a grilled chicken breast, a steak, and a pasta (Bolognese?) come to mind, and then another 4-6 options that changed every night.  

Such a short menu is definitely NOT the norm for Royal's MDR offerings.

I recently looked at Royal's menu selections and as I recall there are about 8 or so entrees each night but I'll find out for sure tomorrow.

[Clarea]

46 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

I recently looked at Royal's menu selections and as I recall there are about 8 or so entrees each night but I'll find out for sure tomorrow.

 

Some MDR menus in this thread:  https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2624728-mariner-of-the-seas/

 

[sparks1093]

16 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Some MDR menus in this thread:  https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2624728-mariner-of-the-seas/

 

Thanks Bob!

[The Fun Researcher]

There are typically 8-9 entrees every night (including the ~4 "classics" that are offered very night)  No way there were only 4 options.   The menus are fairly common across the fleet.

 

Dan

[bostonfred]

Been on both lines and it’s a coin flip.....pick itinerary and ship, you will be treated well on both, it will come down to your personal preferences and your experience on that particular cruise. There is always some variation even on the same line. Go for it, new experiences are stimulating....non voyage..

[KRAZYKRITTER2000]

We have sailed with both companies.  We enjoy each one for different reasons.  The only cruise line that we don't particularly enjoy is Carnival but if the price is right, we will make the best of our cruise and go with them. 

 

[brillohead]

8 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

I recently looked at Royal's menu selections and as I recall there are about 8 or so entrees each night but I'll find out for sure tomorrow.

 

5 hours ago, The Fun Researcher said:

There are typically 8-9 entrees every night (including the ~4 "classics" that are offered very night)  No way there were only 4 options.   The menus are fairly common across the fleet.

 

Dan

That was my thinking.... the classics plus the nightly offerings always seemed to be in the 8+ range.  Glad I'm not the only one remembering that way!