Celebrity vs NCL differences

[pugrads]

Hi all,

We just booked our first NCL cruise on the Jade to the Greek Isles!!  We've sailed Celebrity Summit (aquaclass level) 3 times & have always had amazing experiences.  We have a Club Suite balcony & know that NCL doesn't have the private dining room like Celebrity (Blue) with our level of room, nor does is have the Thalassotherapy pool (both of which we loved).  The ships look very similar in size, but hoping those who have sailed on both can highlight some of the differences - both good and bad.

 

Thanks in advance!  

[Psychobueller]

You sure about the Thalassotherapy pool? I was pretty sure all the Jewel class ships have that feature.

[jsn55]

12 hours ago, pugrads said:

Hi all,

We just booked our first NCL cruise on the Jade to the Greek Isles!!  We've sailed Celebrity Summit (aquaclass level) 3 times & have always had amazing experiences.  We have a Club Suite balcony & know that NCL doesn't have the private dining room like Celebrity (Blue) with our level of room, nor does is have the Thalassotherapy pool (both of which we loved).  The ships look very similar in size, but hoping those who have sailed on both can highlight some of the differences - both good and bad.

 

Thanks in advance!  

I always just read the CC reviews of a specific ship ... then you can come back with any specific questions. 

[capriccio]

You will get more responses if you ask for comparisons on both the Celebrity and NCL boards:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/16-celebrity-cruises/

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/64-norwegian-cruise-line/

[fshepinc]

I've sailed both lines, and have a strong preference for Celebrity. The food is orders of magnitude better than NCL's offerings. The only area where I would rate NCL higher than Celebrity is onboard entertainment, and that will vary with personal taste and from ship to ship. My last NCL cruise was aboard the Bliss, and they offered the full production of the musical SIX, which just picked up a couple of Tony Awards on Broadway. 

 

After aqua on Celebrity you may find NCL a bit of a letdown, but the destination should more than make up for it. Have a wonderful time!

[broadwaybaby123]

I've cruised both lines, Celebrity is leaos and bounds better than NCL in my opinion.

[pris993]

On 7/5/2022 at 8:49 PM, fshepinc said:

I've sailed both lines, and have a strong preference for Celebrity. The food is orders of magnitude better than NCL's offerings. The only area where I would rate NCL higher than Celebrity is onboard entertainment, and that will vary with personal taste and from ship to ship. My last NCL cruise was aboard the Bliss, and they offered the full production of the musical SIX, which just picked up a couple of Tony Awards on Broadway. 

 

After aqua on Celebrity you may find NCL a bit of a letdown, but the destination should more than make up for it. Have a wonderful time!

Would agree.  

 

It has been a few years since we have been on Celebrity (we are elite but prefer Princess) and we have only done 3 NCL cruises over the years.  We did do both Celebrity and NCL in the Mediterranean.  We booked a NCL cruise a few years back because we wanted to go to Israel, given unrest in area the cruise fare was a bargain.  We knew when we booked NCL does not have any set dinner times in MDR.  We have also enjoyed BLU on Celebrity.  We decided to go and make the best of a good cruise fare. 

 

First day on board we went to the MDR for lunch and dinner.  That was the last time we did so on an 11-day cruise.  Food and service left a lot to be desired.  For the remainder of the cruise, we enjoyed the buffet late afternoon, specifically the "salad bar" area where we could make a good salad and sandwich.   The hot food items on buffet were what I might call comfort food items, not that inviting to us.  Given the quality of food we saw, we were not interested in pay extra for special dining and many special dining was ethnic food that we don't eat.   We were more than satisfied with the offerings from the salad bar.   We felt we knew in advance NCL and Celebrity are different, for the fare we paid we felt we got what we paid for and if we had the same deal again might go again.  

 

The other thing about NCL is they prohibit folks bring foods back from ports.  I came prepared with plastic bags, so that I could easily bring back nuts and other street foods we like when we are in Israel and the Greek Islands.  Never had any other cruise line prohibit passengers from bring foods back from port, we done the same on Princess, Celebrity, HAL, Cunard, so did not care to respect NCL rule on this issue.  

 

Our cabin on board was similar to cabins we booked on Celebrity.  

 

Dress code on NCL was very relaxed, anything goes.  We dressed like we do on any cruise line.  

 

I think we were on the NCL Jewel, might have been the Jade?  It was the one NCL used in Hawaii, so still had Hawaiian themed decor in many areas of the ship.  

 

As I say, if we got a good cruise fare we might do it again, so not a bad cruise but not the same as Celebrity.  Hope this helps you decided. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[pugrads]

On 7/5/2022 at 11:49 PM, fshepinc said:

I've sailed both lines, and have a strong preference for Celebrity. The food is orders of magnitude better than NCL's offerings. The only area where I would rate NCL higher than Celebrity is onboard entertainment, and that will vary with personal taste and from ship to ship. My last NCL cruise was aboard the Bliss, and they offered the full production of the musical SIX, which just picked up a couple of Tony Awards on Broadway. 

 

After aqua on Celebrity you may find NCL a bit of a letdown, but the destination should more than make up for it. Have a wonderful time!

Thank you!  I had a feeling NCL would not be the same, but as you said, the destination & fare/deals we got really were the deciding factor for us.  We likely won't spend a lot of time on the ship given we've never been to Greece & since there are no full sea days, I'm less concerned.  And it's still not like a Carnival atmosphere - at least not with that itinerary (hopefully!)