Princess vs Norwegian

[Retired-N-Happy]

7 hours ago, moviegal said:

the horrible changes that NCL announced this morning. 

Could you please elaborate as to what were the horrible changes in your opinion?  I saw that some liquors that were only in the upgraded level were now in the basic, all of the specialty venues are now flat priced instead of some being a la carte and the included specialty venues were being increased for one week cruises.  These all sound like positive changes to me.

[Retired-N-Happy]

2 hours ago, Mississippian said:

The so-called "Atrium" on the two NCL ships I've been on has consisted of a giant-screen TV with trivia questions, a bunch of chairs pointing to the TV, and guest services. The barstools at the bar were frequently removed to keep anyone from sitting there. It seems to be a terribly thought out design.

Cruise on one of the Prima Class ships, the Prima or Viva or the new Prima Plus Class ship, the Aqua.  Totally different than the rest of their fleet.  The Indulge Food Hall is great.

[Retired-N-Happy]

2 hours ago, justjan2 said:

Just returned from a 16 day Hawaiian cruise on Ruby Princess. NCL food is so much better. Show, so much better. Drinks included with the drink package or "Princess Plus" much better on NCL. The only reason we chose the Princess cruise was the itinerary from Vancouver. Will Never cruise with Princess again.

LOL.  If you think that the drink package on NCL is better than Princess Plus, please explain.  NCL's doesn't include bottled water, or espresso based coffee drinks, or fresh squeezed juices for starters and has substantially inferior choices of alcohol that you need to upgrade to their higher level package to get compared to the Plus choices 

 

[Mississippian]

2 hours ago, Retired-N-Happy said:

Could you please elaborate as to what were the horrible changes in your opinion?  I saw that some liquors that were only in the upgraded level were now in the basic, all of the specialty venues are now flat priced instead of some being a la carte and the included specialty venues were being increased for one week cruises.  These all sound like positive changes to me.

The "More At Sea" comes at a substantially higher price, and people who have priced out cruises since it has been introduced say it has increased fares by several hundred dollars. Many of us purchased the FAS+ so we could get the unlimited Internet, two additional specialty dinners, and pretty much any wine or spirit we wanted. I really liked being able to have a nice glass of decent champagne at dinner, and most of the wines are pretty bad, so it was nice to have an "upscale" wine. Now we are being told that More At Sea is going to include a lot of fancy wines, but notice that we aren't being given their names. I just think for me, and the way I have cruised, it is a substantial downgrade.

[justjan2]

11 hours ago, Retired-N-Happy said:

LOL.  If you think that the drink package on NCL is better than Princess Plus, please explain.  NCL's doesn't include bottled water, or espresso based coffee drinks, or fresh squeezed juices for starters and has substantially inferior choices of alcohol that you need to upgrade to their higher level package to get compared to the Plus choices 

 

LOL yourself. My husband and I are wine drinkers. The $12 Cabernet, Chardonnay, and Rose on Princess were not good, or even passable. We chose to pay extra to "upgrade" to the drinkable wines. On NCL, we never had to upgrade to get drinkable wine. I don't order bottled water or espresso coffee drinks. If you do, good for you.

Edited October 2 by justjan2
changes

[ldubs]

21 hours ago, Mississippian said:

It's a matter of time. It adds several needless minutes to the ordering process for no reason.

 

OK, so you had to wait longer than you would have liked.  I understand that.

[Retired-N-Happy]

2 hours ago, justjan2 said:

LOL yourself. My husband and I are wine drinkers. The $12 Cabernet, Chardonnay, and Rose on Princess were not good, or even passable. We chose to pay extra to "upgrade" to the drinkable wines. On NCL, we never had to upgrade to get drinkable wine. I don't order bottled water or espresso coffee drinks. If you do, good for you.

We're just the opposite, we drink liquor and Bailey's, Grey Goose and Woodford Reserve amongst other brands are all included in the Plus package while none of them are included in the inferior basic package on NCL.   

Gratuities are also included in the Plus package while they are not on NCL, so that costs an extra 20 pppd on top of an extra 280 over the course of the week. And wifi is unlimited with the Princess Plus and substantially extra on NCL.  

[justjan2]

30 minutes ago, Retired-N-Happy said:

We're just the opposite, we drink liquor and Bailey's, Grey Goose and Woodford Reserve amongst other brands are all included in the Plus package while none of them are included in the inferior basic package on NCL.   

Gratuities are also included in the Plus package while they are not on NCL, so that costs an extra 20 pppd on top of an extra 280 over the course of the week. And wifi is unlimited with the Princess Plus and substantially extra on NCL.  

To be clear, I think the Plus Package is definitely worth the cost. The tips and gratuity make it so. Just not the drinks. 

[Retired-N-Happy]

53 minutes ago, justjan2 said:

To be clear, I think the Plus Package is definitely worth the cost. The tips and gratuity make it so. Just not the drinks. 

The major difference is that the Plus package includes many liquors that we enjoy that are only included in the upgraded package on NCL that we would not pay extra for.  Obviously the inferior wines that we couldn't care less about as part of Plus are what is important to you.  

The thing that doesn't make much sense though is the basic package on NCL has drinkable wines for you, but less desirable liquors for us.  You would think that there wouldn't be better wines included with less desirable liquors in the same package, but then again, we are talking about NCL who do things against the grain at times.

[justjan2]

1 minute ago, Retired-N-Happy said:

The major difference is that the Plus package includes many liquors that we enjoy that are only included in the upgraded package on NCL that we would not pay extra for.  Obviously the inferior wines that we couldn't care less about as part of Plus are what is important to you.  

The thing that doesn't make much sense though is the basic package on NCL has drinkable wines for you, but less desirable liquors for us.  You would think that there wouldn't be better wines included with less desirable liquors in the same package, but then again, we are talking about NCL who do things against the grain at times.

"Obviously the inferior wines that we couldn't care less about as part of Plus are what is important to you."  Wow. Insulting nonsense.

[JGmf]

29 minutes ago, justjan2 said:

"Obviously the inferior wines that we couldn't care less about as part of Plus are what is important to you."  Wow. Insulting nonsense.

 

Have to disagree.  What @Retired-N-Happy said was factual.

 

I, too, don't drink wine and don't pay attention to wine selections, only to what kind of booze they have. Hence, Princess has a far better package for my priorities as well.

 

Regardless, that's why we have choices.  NCL or Princess or some other cruise line.  We're just lucky to be splitting hairs over drink packages.  That's a real privilege.

[Retired-N-Happy]

2 hours ago, justjan2 said:

"Obviously the inferior wines that we couldn't care less about as part of Plus are what is important to you."  Wow. Insulting nonsense.

We're not wines drinkers so we don't care about what is or isn't offered.  You said that the wines included with plus were undrinkable to you, so obviously it's important to you. 

Nothing insulting about my statement at all.  You're just inferring something that wasn't implied.

[OttawaJohn]

My wife and I prefer NCL but Princess is a close second.  For us, a key point is the loyalty program.  NCL's just seems to give more then Princess, and we're at a level there where we benefit.

 

If we were looking to book and both had itineraries that were comparable, the program would put us to NCL.  But if Princess's itinerary was better, we'd book without hesitation.

[moviegal]

On 10/1/2024 at 9:25 PM, Retired-N-Happy said:

Could you please elaborate as to what were the horrible changes in your opinion?  I saw that some liquors that were only in the upgraded level were now in the basic, all of the specialty venues are now flat priced instead of some being a la carte and the included specialty venues were being increased for one week cruises.  These all sound like positive changes to me.

Sure! I'm talking about the changes being absolutely horrible for those of us who always sailed with the Premium beverage package and opted to purchase more specialty dining meals. Those are both completely gone now. I loved having access to the fanciest spirits (Monkey 47 gin, Hennessy XO, Whistle Pig Rye, high end Scotches and champagne), unlimited Starbucks, freshly squeezed juices, bottles of quite nice wine at dinner, large bottles of Italian water, and energy drinks. I loved the unlimited wifi, since I often have to work on cruises (I'm a writer, and it's always so relaxing to get some pages done while I'm at sea). I never use shore excursion credit, so that isn't a big loss to me, but everything else that was included under the Premium package certainly is. The new changes may be nice for those who never upgraded but for those of us who did, it's a massively "horrible" change.

[moviegal]

On 10/1/2024 at 3:55 PM, Itchy&Scratchy said:

imho, they did in 2018. Not anymore.

 

I wish.

Took 5 Princess cruises in the last 12 months (and going on Discovery again in a few weeks) and every single cruise had ballroom dancing in the Vista Lounge at least one night of the cruise, sometimes more. They used prerecorded music, but they absolutely 100% offered that on every single one of the five cruises I took.

 

I also did NCL three times over the same timespan and the entertainment was fantastic: Syd Norman's and the incredible Fleetwood Mac show / 80s prom, The Cavern Club with a Beatles tribute band, Jersey Boys / Choir of Man / Beetlejuice / Band on the Run, Howl at the Moon singalong piano bar, great comedy and/or improv, high energy themed deck parties with a large participation including cruisers in their own costumes, silent discos...just tons of fun.

 

The same old tired shows on Princess are dated and boring to me (Magic to Do, Spotlight Bar), and the themed parties are laughably poorly attended on almost every sailing. Not to mention they've just taken out the Take Five jazz lounge, which was by far the best entertainment offered in a sea of bingo and lame trivia. On our last Discovery Princess sailing to Alaska, one of the highly billed entertainment activities was learning to play spoons, LOL!

 

We completely disagree on the entertainment for sure. 🙂 

Edited October 3 by moviegal

[Itchy&Scratchy]

13 hours ago, moviegal said:

Took 5 Princess cruises in the last 12 months (and going on Discovery again in a few weeks) and every single cruise had ballroom dancing in the Vista Lounge at least one night of the cruise, sometimes more.

so, one night during the cruise equals: A LOT of ballroom dancing.

 

13 hours ago, moviegal said:

Princess has a lot of ballroom dancing

ok.

[macandlucy]

We used to sail on NCl and have changed to Princess in the last couple of years. There are pros and cons to both lines. We liked the things that you like on NCL, and agree that they do Free Style the best. But, the difference these days is pretty minimal. We find it easy to make dinner reservations on the app, and even without reservations, the waits haven't ever been very long. Sometimes we had to wait on NCL too, so not a huge difference.

 

Things I miss about NCL:

O'Sheehans -- loved a late night, sit down, waiter service restaurant.

Ship layouts -- seemed like there were more different sized and different designed ships

Little hipper, more modern with the specialty options

 

Things I love on Princess:

Ocean Now delivery. That's order a drink or food off the app and have it delivered to where ever you are

Specialty coffee and bottled water included in the package (plus tips , like that too)

I get up early and love that I can get an extra hot latte at 4:30 am or whenever I am up. (I can also get it delivered to my stateroom)

Muster drill is a video on your phone and a quick check in at your station. No more standing there waiting for the stragglers to show up.

Enrichment lectures. I never saw one offered on NCL

 

Things that are about the same:

Food in the MDR -- it's all banquet food.  But for people who care about those cruise ship, lukewarm lobster tails -- Princess still serves them in the MDR on formal nights, and you can get one without an extra charge.

Housekeeping on Princess is twice a day, but they don't really do the evening turndown anyway, which i used to like, so I don't care.

I don't like production shows, so I can't judge (because they all suck ;), but people who like them said the NCL "Broadway" style shows were the best.

 

Things I don't like about NCL

Somehow on NCL there are some great ports that are magically removed from your sailing, but only after final payment. This has happened to us so often that I kind of have them on permanent side eye now. 

No Ocean Now delivery, no opportunity to get a decent coffee early in the morning, tips aren't included in the package

 

Things I don't like about Princess:

Unpopular opinion, but I hate the atrium -- the heart of the ship, where the shops are and most of the specialty restaurants and there's always some games happening with much amplification and loud cheering, or live music. I find it noisy and crowded. But most people like it.

 

The wines included in the plus (lowest) package are listed as varietals. It's basically you get what you get. This has changed from what it was and it's a serious downgrade in my view.

 

When we used to mostly sail NCL, I used to often hear from people about how much better Princess was. When we finally sailed Princess, I did not find it to be so much better than NCL at all. I think they are more the same than different, but only Princess has Ocean Now delivery. Imagine you're sitting at the perfect spot, on deck, or inside and you really want a drink or some french fries or a coffee, but you know if you get up, you'll lose your perfect spot. On Princess, you can use your phone to order that drink so you don't have to move, I really like this feature. I should caveat it by saying that occasionally your drink never shows up, but it's awesome when it works. 

 

Ultimately, imo, they're two types of candy bar: different flavor maybe, but both sweet. 

 

Edited October 3 by macandlucy

[golden6911]

Hi all, as someone who is a fan of NCL, but has just booked a Princess cruise for next year, I am curious about the difference in thermal spas.  Its one of my favorite features of NCL, and I love spending an hour or two a day just rotating through hot tubs, saunas and chilling on a heated chair.  Are there major differences in quality between the two lines?

[JGmf]

@golden6911 to answer that question, we'd need to know what ship?

 

Generally, the newer/bigger ships on NCL have better spas than Princess' newer ships.  The big difference in the size of the facilities.  NCL has far more heated loungers.  However, if you don't actually need them, then the saunas, special showers, and large therapy pool is about the same.

[moviegal]

On 10/3/2024 at 10:09 AM, Itchy&Scratchy said:

so, one night during the cruise equals: A LOT of ballroom dancing.

 

ok.

I said they have AT LEAST one night with ballroom dancing; on most cruises it's every single night except the first and last evenings. I do consider that a lot. Most of the activities are definitely geared towards older travelers, and that's cool! The themed parties they had (like 80s night, 70s night, etc.) were sparsely attended and quite sad, especially when compared to some of the other cruise lines with similar events (NCL, Carnival, etc.). I still like cruising Princess, but it's the best for a low-key type of cruiser. It's a great line for Alaska, for example. 🙂