Princess loyalist tries NCL

[Captain k]

Having only cruised Princess for the last 15+ years, we found a last minute cruise with NCL out of Tampa in January.  Yes, I am finally getting around to posting about our experience lol.  Tampa turned out to be a great port for us as we had recently moved to Florida and could finally drive to the port.  Easy parking, walk across the street, and had a reasonable onboarding experience.  The NCL Jade is a medium sized older ship and attracted a mixed crowd of cruisers.  Rooms were not readily available until after 4:00, which I understand is pretty normal for them.  Seemed that most folks had the drink package, and bars were very busy.  There were a ton of smokers onboard, and the large bar area above the pools was a smoking area.  It was packed pretty much the whole cruise.  Unfortunately, smoke filtered down over the pool area at times.  Lines to get drinks on embarkation day were probably 15 people long, but folks were pleasant and having a good time.  The Jade is in very good shape, and the staff were also very good for the most part.  NCL treats veterans with a very good discounted price, recognition events, and keepsake items.  Main dining rooms were nicely done, and the food was pretty good (with a lot of shrimp dishes).  Not on Princess level, however.  Curiously, staff commented a number of times that the food was not quite as good as it had been in the past. The buffet was large and had numerous stations of the same food.  It was decent.  Not as good as any of our previous Princess cruises. Best area was the outdoor aft area that had a small buffet and tables outside.  There was a great little bar there also.  This was the best breakfast area.  Also had an Asian restaurant included, which was very popular.  Specialty dining is pushed on NCL as most packages include at least two dinners per sailing.  There is a Teppanyaki, French, Italian, Brazilian, and Steak restaurant available.  Quite impressive for a smaller ship.  Chops, the steakhouse, was very very good.  Thought it was comparable to the Crown Grill, and possibly better.  French was definitely better than on Princess.  Teppanyaki was quite fun and decent (looking forward to trying this on an upcoming Sun Princess cruise).  
Drinks were for the most part well made (other than pool bars) with decent alcohol selections.  They have unlimited alcoholic drinks.  
The ship had two large pools, and the decks were very busy, but we did find loungers every day.
Entertainment was better than our recent Royal Princess cruise, with production shows, comedians, illusionists, etc.  Bands were top quality, with the  only negative a guitar crooner who played mostly before and during dinner hours.  He was pretty bad, unfortunately.  After the last production show, various crew members including the Captain and staff, came on stage to thank us for sailing NCL.  As we left the theater, they lined the hallways and clapped and shouted for us passengers.  Very cool.  
This was a 10 day Carribean cruise stopping at Key West, Amber Cove, San Juan, St Maarten, Tortola, and St Kitts/ Nevis.  Only did one NCL tour, a pretty good sailboat trip to Nevis.  We docked at each port so can’t compare tender operations.

As we booked last minute, the only room available was an interior cabin.  Haven’t had one of those for 25 years or so.  Was very quiet, had a large bathroom, and limited tv channels.  Room steward was just as good as our Princess cruises.  Found out that nothing will dry in an interior cabin!  There were also no self serve laundromats. 
All in all, we were reluctant to try another cruise line, but we’re pleasantly surprised.  We definitely enjoyed the size of the ship, the itinerary, and the entertainment.  Nice to try something different.  
 

[YVRteacher]

hi! I just did the opposite as I’m a seasoned NCL cruiser who just tried Princess for the first time. Like you, I was so glad I did branch out and try something new. Princess’ food is incredible compared to NCL (in my opinion.)
 

The steakhouse on NCL is Cagney’s, not Chops.

 

Glad you enjoyed the entertainment as it has truly declined on NCL, as has the food.

Edited August 10 by YVRteacher

[Itchy&Scratchy]

Glad you enjoyed it. Also glad Jade didn't break down during your cruise as it did during ours in 2018. We had a 3 day cruise to San Juan instead of a 10 day South Caribbean cruise. It was unpleasant, but at least we didn't travel from Australia or Europe to be on that cruise, like many other passengers.

 

Oh, and the MDR food was bad even then, so if it's worse now, it must be really bad. 

That and smoke smell everywhere is the main reason we haven't gone back to NCL after the make up cruise.

[akaCruiser]

Just a quick footnote. NCL Jade was formally the Pride of Hawaii when NCL had three ships doing weekly sailing only around the the Hawaii Islands. Presently, do to too much capacity, they downsized the total number of ships to one -- Pride of America.

 

As for NCL, I generally like the freestyle format, but these days I find that their cruise fare is a lot more than Princess and they do a lot nickel and diming which turns me off. 

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for sharing your comments.

[luckybecky]

Thanks so much for sharing  your observations! We just booked our first Princess cruise. Have done a couple of long cruises on NCL including a nearly month long back to back. So we feel like we have a pretty good taste of what NCL is like, and enjoyed them. Interested to see how Princess will compare. 

[Ellipooh]

You had a better experience than I did on my first foray to NCL. For the most part, I found NCL to be a disorganized mess, particularly in regard to dining and tendering. Those daily disasters put me off to the point that I very much doubt I’ll try NCL again. 
 

The only categories that NCL won over Princess were Entertainment shows and providing for Solo cruisers. In both of those instances, NCL blew Princess out of the water (so to speak).

[IndyKid]

The cigarette smoke in itself would be the dagger for me as far as booking with NCL.

[BDevilCruiser]

Went on the NCL Joy a couple of weeks ago after finding a great solo price.  IT was NYC to Bermuda. Previous cruise was on the Sapphire Princess in Alaska in May (the one with propulsion issues.)

Frankly, worst cruise ever for me.  Way too crowded (many kids, so three/four to a cabin - I'll add that the kids were for the most part very well behaved.)  The last day it was raining, so everybody was inside, making it more crowded.  First time I've gotten COVID since testing began back in 2021.

The beds were rock hard, and the seam between the two twins (becoming a queen) was too obvious, making it difficult to sleep.  Food was eh, a more limited selection in the MDR, and it seemed mostly overcooked and dry (likewise in the buffet - I'll add that I'm very picky, so YMMV.)  They did have more specialty dining choices, which was good (one was included in the "free at sea" promotion for a solo inside.)

The crew seemed stressed, and not as friendly as what I've found on Princess.  Didn't mean service was lacking, though.

The smoking section on the pool deck was in an odd place, enclosed but "on display".  The smoke smell was at least limited to very close to the enclosure.  It was a bit worse on the casino deck (7) when walking by the enclosed gaming room, but I thought that was better than the Sapphire's side-by-side open sections.

One nice thing was the observation lounge at the front above the bridge, and Spice2O adult space at the back.  Princess doesn't really give you a "free" view from the front.

It was a cruise, to beautiful Bermuda, so things weren't THAT bad (I certainly emphasized the negative here), but I'm not sure I'd pick NCL again, especially not out of NYC in the summer.  Then again, Princess has become very solo-unfriendly in booking (no longer able to search for single rates; have to go in cruise by cruise) so that's not helping.  I have future cruise credit given due to the issues on the Sapphire, so I know I'll make at least one more reservation.

[Astro Flyer]

On 8/10/2024 at 11:36 AM, Captain k said:

All in all, we were reluctant to try another cruise line, but we’re pleasantly surprised.  We definitely enjoyed the size of the ship, the itinerary, and the entertainment.  Nice to try something different.

Thanks for sharing your experiences…our first cruise in 1986 was on NCL’s Starward but haven’t sailed with them since & primarily on Princess. For multi generational family cruises it’s been on RCI however in September 2025 it’ll be on NCL’s Gem Boston to Quebec. Like you, we are expanding our cruise lines to include Celebrity (more alike than different) and Oceania (food & experience like in the olden days).
 

I appreciate all of the opinions comparing Princess to NCL.

 

[Teechur]

I haven't been on the Jade (or NCL) since 2011 for a Mediterranean cruise. We were supposed to go to Egypt, but the Arab Spring put an end to that. We went to Istanbul for 3 days instead. 

 

The thing I remember most about the Jade was mediocre food everywhere. There was an extra-cost Mexican Restaurant that served some of the worst food I've had on land or sea. Taco Bell would have been a big upgrade!

 

Many years later when Covid arrived, a large group from Hawaii was booked on an NCL ship. The group cancelled and NCL refused to refund any of the $35,000 they had spent. Ultimately, NCL cancelled the cruise and refunded money to everyone except the people who cancelled early. As far as I know, they never got anything. Sayonara NCL!

[Panhandle Couple]

On 8/11/2024 at 2:09 PM, Teechur said:

I haven't been on the Jade (or NCL) since 2011 for a Mediterranean cruise. We were supposed to go to Egypt, but the Arab Spring put an end to that. We went to Istanbul for 3 days instead. 

 

The thing I remember most about the Jade was mediocre food everywhere. There was an extra-cost Mexican Restaurant that served some of the worst food I've had on land or sea. Taco Bell would have been a big upgrade!

 

Many years later when Covid arrived, a large group from Hawaii was booked on an NCL ship. The group cancelled and NCL refused to refund any of the $35,000 they had spent. Ultimately, NCL cancelled the cruise and refunded money to everyone except the people who cancelled early. As far as I know, they never got anything. Sayonara NCL!

Where you in that group?  Or have a direct connection to someone in that group? Or is this just internet rumor?

 

We cancelled 2 NCL cruises during the shutdown, and received the FCC with additional 25% bonus.  We also received $$ back from airlines (a rarity) with no questions asked.  

[Teechur]

4 hours ago, Panhandle Couple said:

Where you in that group?  Or have a direct connection to someone in that group? Or is this just internet rumor?

 

We cancelled 2 NCL cruises during the shutdown, and received the FCC with additional 25% bonus.  We also received $$ back from airlines (a rarity) with no questions asked.  

The story was carried in the Maui Newspaper in several installments. Once again, the group cancelled due to Covid fears BEFORE NCL officially cancelled. After NCL cancelled the cruise, they refunded to the people who had not already cancelled.

 

At the same time, I had a trip to the British Isles scheduled on Virgin Atlantic, with tickets purchased from Orbitz. Two of us were never reimbursed and the third person received a refund. I wrangled with Orbitz for years. They claimed Virgin had our money, yet Virgin sent me a document proving that Orbitz had our money. I finally gave up and quit using Orbitz because of this. 

 

Edit; I found the story on Newsweek:

 

Coronavirus Fears Cost Family $32,000 As Cruise Ship Company Won't Give Refund, Says Insurance Doesn't Cover Epidemics - Newsweek

Edited August 13 by Teechur

[Yehootu]

NCL was a one and done for us. I got a censor warning for the way I described the ship we were on and a NCL cheerleader took offense.

[Panhandle Couple]

2 hours ago, Teechur said:

The story was carried in the Maui Newspaper in several installments. Once again, the group cancelled due to Covid fears BEFORE NCL officially cancelled. After NCL cancelled the cruise, they refunded to the people who had not already cancelled.

 

At the same time, I had a trip to the British Isles scheduled on Virgin Atlantic, with tickets purchased from Orbitz. Two of us were never reimbursed and the third person received a refund. I wrangled with Orbitz for years. They claimed Virgin had our money, yet Virgin sent me a document proving that Orbitz had our money. I finally gave up and quit using Orbitz because of this. 

 

Edit; I found the story on Newsweek:

 

Coronavirus Fears Cost Family $32,000 As Cruise Ship Company Won't Give Refund, Says Insurance Doesn't Cover Epidemics - Newsweek

Thanks.

The story is dated 2 Feb 2020.

Of note, many things were still not canceled at that date nationwide.  The NYC Chinese New Years parade was held on 9 Feb 2020.

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/lunar-new-year-parade-chinatown-coronavirus/

 

Of note from the article: 

Amid the coronavirus chaos, Chinatown has seen fewer visitors.

But city officials say there's no reason to be concerned.

 

City officials are urging people to continue visiting Chinatown. On Saturday, the commissioner of Small Business Services dined at a restaurant on Mott Street.

 

It is easy to criticize in retrospect, but at the time, the people saying to lock down things and worry about disease spreading were in the minority.

 

 

[Teechur]

2 minutes ago, Panhandle Couple said:

Thanks.

The story is dated 2 Feb 2020.

Of note, many things were still not canceled at that date nationwide.  The NYC Chinese New Years parade was held on 9 Feb 2020.

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/lunar-new-year-parade-chinatown-coronavirus/

 

Of note from the article: 

Amid the coronavirus chaos, Chinatown has seen fewer visitors.

But city officials say there's no reason to be concerned.

 

City officials are urging people to continue visiting Chinatown. On Saturday, the commissioner of Small Business Services dined at a restaurant on Mott Street.

 

It is easy to criticize in retrospect, but at the time, the people saying to lock down things and worry about disease spreading were in the minority.

 

 

The thing I considered most unfair in this story was that after NCL finally cancelled the cruise, they still refused to reimburse the people who had proactively cancelled.

 

A video version of the story:  

 

[Panhandle Couple]

5 minutes ago, Teechur said:

The thing I considered most unfair in this story was that after NCL finally cancelled the cruise, they still refused to reimburse the people who had proactively cancelled.

 

A video version of the story:  

 

The video is dated as 31 Jan 2020.

 

1,375 views Jan 31, 2020

A Maui family said Norwegian Cruise Lines is refusing to give them a refund on their cruise, which stops in Hong Kong. The family wants to cancel due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.

 

Both the print and video version stated that the cruise would happen "in a few days".

There is no mention of NCL actually canceling that cruise or refunding those that didn't cancel before hand.

 

The first Newsweek article has a still active link that claims RCL, Carnival and Crystal lines were canceling cruises.  Looking at that article, only RCL had canceled 1 ship that was doing 4 day cruises from Shanghai.   Everyone one else was monitoring the situation.

[TRLD]

28 minutes ago, Teechur said:

The thing I considered most unfair in this story was that after NCL finally cancelled the cruise, they still refused to reimburse the people who had proactively cancelled.

 

A video version of the story:  

 

The other cruise lines basically did the same thing. Cancel before a specific date (in the case of Princess) and normal cancellation term applied even though the cruise was later cancelled. 

[Teechur]

According to follow-up stories in the news I recall at that time, NCL DID eventually cancel the cruise and refunded monies to everyone who was still scheduled to go.

They did NOT refund to people who cancelled before NCL did.

 

No doubt the follow-up story is available. Try Google.

[Teechur]

10 minutes ago, TRLD said:

The other cruise lines basically did the same thing. Cancel before a specific date (in the case of Princess) and normal cancellation term applied even though the cruise was later cancelled. 

NCL is the only one I heard about refusing to give Covid refunds.

Do you have links to articles about the other lines cheating their guests?

Pretty short-sighted if they ever hoped for repeat business.

[TRLD]

6 minutes ago, Teechur said:

NCL is the only one I heard about refusing to give Covid refunds.

Do you have links to articles about the other lines cheating their guests?

Pretty short-sighted if they ever hoped for repeat business.

Princess and others did the same. When cruising stopped they initially set the policy that refunds were onky made to those that had an active booking at the time of the cancellation. For any that had already cancelled normal.terms applied. Then a week later they changed it to anyone that cancelled after a specific date.

 

We had cruises booked on Princess and Celebrity. We cancelled both to avoid getting any deeper into the penalty period. Celebrity enforced their normal cancellation terms and would not budge even after they cancelled everything a couple of weeks later. Princess did refund everything, but only because we cancelled after the date they backdated to.

[Teechur]

1 minute ago, TRLD said:

Princess and others did the same. When cruising stopped they initially set the policy that refunds were onky made to those that had an active booking at the time of the cancellation. For any that had already cancelled normal.terms applied. Then a week later they changed it to anyone that cancelled after a specific date.

 

We had cruises booked on Princess and Celebrity. We cancelled both to avoid getting any deeper into the penalty period. Celebrity enforced their normal cancellation terms and would not budge even after they cancelled everything a couple of weeks later. Princess did refund everything, but only because we cancelled after the date they backdated to.

Do you still cruise with Celebrity? I would avoid them if they kept my money for a cancelled cruise.

This kind of thing makes me think of the old adage that begins: "Fool me once..."

[TRLD]

11 minutes ago, Teechur said:

Do you still cruise with Celebrity? I would avoid them if they kept my money for a cancelled cruise.

This kind of thing makes me think of the old adage that begins: "Fool me once..."

Keep in mind that if we had cancelled 2 days earlier we would have been outside the the Princess policy as well and normal cancellation terms would apply. So no real difference.

 

We knew what the cancellation terms when we cancelled. That was our decision. We inside the 90 day penalty period, but outside of next increase in penalty percentage. At that time we decided that even if the cruises went we would not  The data was pretty clear that they would not be able to contain the spread and these cruises were out of Sydney. 

 

We made the decision to cancel, we knew what the rules were. 

 

Yes we still do cruise with Princess and Celebrity.

 

 

Edited August 13 by TRLD

[Globaler]

On 8/10/2024 at 1:36 PM, Captain k said:

Having only cruised Princess for the last 15+ years, we found a last minute cruise with NCL out of Tampa in January.  Yes, I am finally getting around to posting about our experience lol.  Tampa turned out to be a great port for us as we had recently moved to Florida and could finally drive to the port.  Easy parking, walk across the street, and had a reasonable onboarding experience.  The NCL Jade is a medium sized older ship and attracted a mixed crowd of cruisers.  Rooms were not readily available until after 4:00, which I understand is pretty normal for them.  Seemed that most folks had the drink package, and bars were very busy.  There were a ton of smokers onboard, and the large bar area above the pools was a smoking area.  It was packed pretty much the whole cruise.  Unfortunately, smoke filtered down over the pool area at times.  Lines to get drinks on embarkation day were probably 15 people long, but folks were pleasant and having a good time.  The Jade is in very good shape, and the staff were also very good for the most part.  NCL treats veterans with a very good discounted price, recognition events, and keepsake items.  Main dining rooms were nicely done, and the food was pretty good (with a lot of shrimp dishes).  Not on Princess level, however.  Curiously, staff commented a number of times that the food was not quite as good as it had been in the past. The buffet was large and had numerous stations of the same food.  It was decent.  Not as good as any of our previous Princess cruises. Best area was the outdoor aft area that had a small buffet and tables outside.  There was a great little bar there also.  This was the best breakfast area.  Also had an Asian restaurant included, which was very popular.  Specialty dining is pushed on NCL as most packages include at least two dinners per sailing.  There is a Teppanyaki, French, Italian, Brazilian, and Steak restaurant available.  Quite impressive for a smaller ship.  Chops, the steakhouse, was very very good.  Thought it was comparable to the Crown Grill, and possibly better.  French was definitely better than on Princess.  Teppanyaki was quite fun and decent (looking forward to trying this on an upcoming Sun Princess cruise).  
Drinks were for the most part well made (other than pool bars) with decent alcohol selections.  They have unlimited alcoholic drinks.  
The ship had two large pools, and the decks were very busy, but we did find loungers every day.
Entertainment was better than our recent Royal Princess cruise, with production shows, comedians, illusionists, etc.  Bands were top quality, with the  only negative a guitar crooner who played mostly before and during dinner hours.  He was pretty bad, unfortunately.  After the last production show, various crew members including the Captain and staff, came on stage to thank us for sailing NCL.  As we left the theater, they lined the hallways and clapped and shouted for us passengers.  Very cool.  
This was a 10 day Carribean cruise stopping at Key West, Amber Cove, San Juan, St Maarten, Tortola, and St Kitts/ Nevis.  Only did one NCL tour, a pretty good sailboat trip to Nevis.  We docked at each port so can’t compare tender operations.

As we booked last minute, the only room available was an interior cabin.  Haven’t had one of those for 25 years or so.  Was very quiet, had a large bathroom, and limited tv channels.  Room steward was just as good as our Princess cruises.  Found out that nothing will dry in an interior cabin!  There were also no self serve laundromats. 
All in all, we were reluctant to try another cruise line, but we’re pleasantly surprised.  We definitely enjoyed the size of the ship, the itinerary, and the entertainment.  Nice to try something different.  
 

Teppanyaki on the Sun was very good. However; I’ll say that the chef at your table makes a big deference. During our meal our table was not very lively. The table behind us was loud and having a lot of fun. Very disappointing.

[cruisequeen4ever]

Good to know!