Princess East Med-Greek Isles or NCL West Med

[LoveThatCorgi]

Hi all,

 

I am trying to decide between the Princess 7 Day Eastern Med - Greek Isles and NCL 7 Day Western Med cruises for Summer 2020.  The Princess cruise would be onboard Enchanted, and NCL would be Epic.  The new ship would be great, and if it was only DH and me, no question - Princess.  However, our son will be 16 at the time.  Will Epic be a better choice for him?  Although, he never cared for kids clubs and preferred to hang with us and do what we were doing - even on Disney Cruise Lines.

 

I like both itineraries, and both mark multiple things off the "bucket" list - different things, but multiples.  However, NCL only gives us one day in Rome for excursions.  With Princess, we would embark in Rome, so a couple of days if we flew in early.  Son's only requests were to visit the Colosseum and Pompeii - both do that.  NCL starts and ends in Barcelona, so as a teen-aged soccer player, FC Barcelona's stadium and fan shop is a plus.  Princess gives us Athens instead - no soccer, but a few beautiful Greek Isles with a lot of cool history.

 

One big thing - we booked the NCL months ago with 3rd person free and free drinks package as part of the "perks", so there is something of a price difference.  The current Princess promo with free gratuities and OBC reduces the differential some, but it's still a difference. 

 

We've never sailed NCL.  We have sailed Princess, but not since the early 2000's (before son), so it's probably totally different now.  And the MedallionClass experience reminds me of Disney's MagicBands - which are very cool!

 

Any thoughts that might sway the decision one way or the other?

 

Thanks!!!

  

[vantec]

We have done a Med cruise on both Princess and NCL.  My main concern about sailing on the Epic is the bathroom set up, especially with a 16 year old boy sharing your cabin - you should YouTube Epic bathrooms so you know what to expect if you pick that cruise.  We knew what to expect, and did fine with it, but we did not like it and probably would not sail on the Epic again. That's my main comment for you. We love Med cruises, and are leaving on one a week from Monday (Emerald Princess), we'll spend four nights in Rome before the cruise, it sounds very similar to the one you are considering.

[paul929207]

We will be on the Enchanted July 1 to August 1, 2020. So you can guess which I prefer. I much prefer Greece to Spain, but that is just my preference.

[cruisequeen4ever]

I’d go with the tried and true, Princess. Since your son isn’t into all the teen activities anyway, it won’t matter. Plus, there will still be some teens on Princess. Though I haven’t been on the Epic, like someone else said, it’s been noted that Epic’s stateroom layouts can be awkward for anyone other than a couple. You’re doing an excellent cruise and will have fun whatever you choose! 

[LoveThatCorgi]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts!!!

 

[KSH120]

I'd also say Princess Eastern. We've done both eastern and western (western on NCL Spirit and eastern on RCI and Celebrity), and the Greek Islands are great - we think better than the western med ports. The itinerary for the Enchanted looks great, and the Epic has several ports where the sights are not close to the port, which makes a difference for us. Also, the time in Rome beforehand would be a factor, although Barcelona is also nice.

 

Regarding cruise lines, we did the western med on NCL last summer, and we've been on Princess caribbean cruises the past 2 Aprils, and we definitely like Princess better and were not impressed with NCL - we did that trip for the itinerary (10 night cruise with a port every day!). We have school aged kids who do like the clubs, but they otherwise are happy with a pool and the shows, and they are happy with Princess. For differences in lines, we felt service was better on Princess, more relaxing environment, felt less crowded even on a full ship, and less of a constant sales pitch. Drinks were also better and cheaper, so that might help you give up the drink package.

 

[sunsetbeachgal]

What are the itineraries of each?  To me, for the expense and travel involved with a cruise in Europe, the ports and embarkation/disembarkation cities (for pre or post add ons) are more important considerations than the ship.  

Edited May 12, 2019 by sunsetbeachgal