Grand princess or Ncl Jewel ????

[kataiga]

We have the option of Ncl Jewel or Grand Princess transatlantic this autumn. Has anyone sailed both cruise lines? What is better on Princess ships ?? We know Ncl, but wold like to try Princess, is the price difference worth it?

[GoodAsGold]

I have sailed Princess twice, with a third cruise recently booked with them. We sailed on the NCL Star last year to Alaska. From that experience, I am thoroughly convinced that I prefer Princess a lot more. For one thing, the buffet food in NCL's Market Cafe was close to inedible for me. It has to be pretty bad for me to skip a buffet! And, the theater seats were sooooo uncomfortable. Felt like they were tilting forward and no leg room. Literally seemed like I was being "poured out" of my seat. Also, because of a faulty Azipod, we had to skip Glacier Bay, the primary reason most of us chose this Inside Passage. She ship worked, but there was a fear that there would be an oil leak in Glacier Bay Park. Understandable. But, come to find out, this had happened more than once in the past year or two with their Azipod needing repairs and ports being missed (in other itineraries). We had fellow passengers tell us that who had experienced it in the past with this ship. But, they continued to keep sailing her instead of taking her into drydock and fixing it once and for all. Oh, well. Such is life. All the cruiselines have their little quirks and can't be the picture of perfection. But, overall, comparing my Princess sailings and my one NCL cruise, I would definitely go with Princess. Also, the Grand has the pool with a retractable ceiling. Nice for blustery days out on the sea. Not sure about the Jewel.

 

 

 

 

We have the option of Ncl Jewel or Grand Princess transatlantic this autumn. Has anyone sailed both cruise lines? What is better on Princess ships ?? We know Ncl, but wold like to try Princess, is the price difference worth it?

[kataiga]

Thank you, for your input. Have done a lot of research but didn't know about the roof over the pool,,, souns cool, the temperatures wont be so high in november here in the Mediteranian

I would love to sail with the Grand ,we did the Jewel last year and it was super but a brand new ship of course.

Anyone else out there that can tell me more about Princess???

[DrivesLikeMario]

My DH's boss just returned from the Jewel's 7 night Med. cruise and couldn't say enough positive things about it. He's a seasoned cruiser with over 22 cruises, has discriminating tastes and is a President of a large successful business in the service industry, so good customer service is very important to him. He said it was by far the best cruise he's ever done.

 

On the other hand, the Grand is also a nice ship with a good crew, although it's much older than the Jewel.

 

We were just on NCLA's new Pride of Hawaii and the only way I'd cruise with NCL again would be if we had access to the Courtyard Villa private pool area like we did this time. It made the cruise for us. The perks that the suites have with NCL are ten times better than Princess' suite perks too, but we found the level of service to be inferior to Princess. It could've just been the fact that the crew were all American and it was a new ship.

[sjbdtz]

Haven't sailed Princess yet...but the Jewel is beautiful. I spent 12 days on her last year, and am boarding her again next week for another 12 days.

 

The food in the buffet was buffet food. An innovation the Jewel has, is the idea of serving stations...that is.... Sandwichs; Eggs; Pasta; etc. all at different stations, which smooths the flow of people and helps you get directly to what you want.

 

No, the pool roof isn't retractable (well...the roof in the Courtyard Villa's courtyard is)....but it's been a pretty warm summer.

 

My vote is for the Jewel.

[T&J]

the Grand anyday before anotehr NCL ship...we did the Norwegian Dream and I rechristened it the Norwegian Nightmare...worse cruise line out there IMHO!

 

Tony

:cool: :eek: :cool:

[kataiga]

Thank you all. We know the Jewel, it is beautyful. This year we are thinking of a minisuit, on either ship.

Hmmmmmmmmm... This is a hard desicion.

Yes we have had a hot summer here in the Med. We live in Mallorca. But end october is the same as winter for us.The weather can change fast

[DrivesLikeMario]

If you can, try to get a Category AC or AD Penthouse Suite at the least. If you have more money to spend, go for the Cat. AA Owners' Suite. I was worried about being in the very, very front of the ship, but I have never been on a more steady ship in my life. This class of ship rides through rough weather like a ....well...Jewel! lol ;)

[MauiLvrs]

This is the Princess board though..:D

[ce2000]

I was on the NCL Jewel last December, and just got off the Caribbean Princess on Aug. 12. I much prefer Princess over NCL. If you don't like the traditional dinning room seating, Princess offers Personal Choice Dinning, very similar to NCL Freestyle Dinning.

[kendon]

Did NCL once (Sun). Enough for me. Agree about the buffet...inedible.

[jennew]

We have done both NCL and Princess. I don't really understand that bad reviews here, I had no problem with NCL. We do like Princess a little better, however I would not hesitate to take a NCL cruise if the price and itinerary were right.

[alonzo14]

I have sailed with NCL three times. We have a cruise on the Carribean Princess booked for 2007. We sailed in minisuite on the Jewel and have one booked on the Carribean Princess. The mini are nice on the Jewel, but I think a bit bigger on the Carribean Princess. We also booked one with a larger wrap around balcony on Emerald deck and it is cheaper than the mini we had on the Jewel. I agree with the buffet on the Norewign Star and I do not like their setup. The one on the Norweignm Jewel is better and they also have serving stations. You really can't compare the Norewign Dream with the Jewel as it is a much smaller older ship. We liked the Jewel. I do agree about the seats in the theater on the Star too, but they have improved the sloping seats on the Jewel. I haven't sailed Princess yet so have nothing to compare to there. I think price and itinerary should be the deciding factor. However Princess does have the fresh water pools and Movies Under the Stars if that is important to you.

[kataiga]

Princess just dropped their prices today, so we'll see what we do..

The Grand is also going iin for refurbishing just before the transatlantic..

Thank you everyone, I will let you know what we decided

[kataiga]

The Jewel it is!!! Princess had special offers on, but only for american and canadian residents :mad: ....... so the offer Ncl gives is much better than Princess in this case.

I still hope to sail Princess some other time......

[DrivesLikeMario]

Make sure your TA watches the prices on the NCL Jewel. NCL tends to lower their prices the closer you get to sailing, and you might be able to get a shipboard credit or an upgrade. I don't think you'll be sorry with your decision. :)

[alonzo14]

I'm glad you were able to decide. I think you will have a nice cruise on the Jewel. She offers a lot of dining options and has some very good entertaiment. Then you can also sail Princess later on.

[jad7984]

We have the option of Ncl Jewel or Grand Princess transatlantic this autumn. Has anyone sailed both cruise lines? What is better on Princess ships ?? We know Ncl, but wold like to try Princess, is the price difference worth it?

 

I've sailed NCL twice and Princess once. I was on the "listing" Crown cruise, and I would prefer Princess over NCL anyday.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[mortysmama]

I've sailed NCL 3 times and Princess 3 times. I much prefer Princess. On both cruise lines we had mini-suites. The Princess mini-suite is much larger and better laid out...also it has 2 tv's which I love. I find the food on Princess to be much better. There were several nites on NCL that we couldn't find ANYTHING we liked on the menu even with the everyday selection of "always available". I had that once and it was tasteless and dry chicken. Princess give much better choices all around. As for the lunch buffet...the cook is in love with tai and mexican food. It seemed to be on the menu everyday....and got quite boring. Usually a nice alternative is pizza...but not on NCL. Their pizza was terrible.

 

All that being said...would I sail on NCL again? Maybe...would I sail Princess again? In a heartbeat...and I will this coming March on the Caribbean Princess. We are so looking forward to it.