Honeymoon: Liberty OTS vs NCL Pearl

[Sacramento Cruiser]

Getting married next October, thinking about taking a 7nt on Liberty or a 9 nt on the Pearl for a honeymoon. We are in our late 20's. Have sailed on the NCL Star and thought it was great but never sailed on a Voyager/Freedom class ship or done a Carribean cruise. Worried about kids running crazy everywhere and waiting in line all of the time on the Liberty. How does RCCL food compare to NCL, we ate in the specialty restaurants most nights on the Star and thought they were great. How do RCCL specialty restaurants compare. Any comments would be appreciated.

[aqhacruiser]

Getting married next October, thinking about taking a 7nt on Liberty or a 9 nt on the Pearl for a honeymoon. We are in our late 20's. Have sailed on the NCL Star and thought it was great but never sailed on a Voyager/Freedom class ship or done a Carribean cruise. Worried about kids running crazy everywhere and waiting in line all of the time on the Liberty. How does RCCL food compare to NCL, we ate in the specialty restaurants most nights on the Star and thought they were great. How do RCCL specialty restaurants compare. Any comments would be appreciated.

 

I have never sailed on NCL but I have friends were on both the Dawn and the Spirit this past year. They are seasoned cruises. They had sailed NCL previously and had good experiences but on the last two cruises this year they said the food was terrible in both the ship's areas and in the specialty restaurants except the Asian one. They complained the wait to get into the specialty restaurants was very long despite having reservations. They decided to book their next two cruises on Celebrity as they've always had good experiences on that line. I have been on the RCCL Explorer and found the food and the ship and service to be excellent. The Explorer is a beautiful ship with so many things to do. As far as kids are concerned it really depends alot on the time of year you are going to take your cruise. If you are planning on a summer month, holiday, or a school break for conferences you will have alot of kids onboard on most of the major cruiselines. You should be fine in Oct. to sail without alot of kids. We did a 10/29/06 and there were kids on board but not many and the ones we did see were very well behaved. I suggest you read the NCL board and see what is said about the food on the ships. Congrats and have a wonderful honeymoon cruise on whatever ship you choose! :)

[Luv4dacruise]

My cruising carrer is pretty much split up 50/50 between the ships of NCL and RCI/Celebrity. If you enjoyed your cruise on NCL previously, RCI will blow you away. NCL was a good line a number of years ago, but now they have really dropped the ball on food and charging extra for EVERYTHING. While both are categorized as mainstream cruise lines, RCI definitely delivers a far superior product to NCL. One vote for the Liberty here :p

[Russ_MT]

Congrats on your wedding.

 

I've only done Celebrity and RCCL. We've never done NCL. My brother is a big fan of NCL because of the free style dining. I don't think I'd like it. We enjoy having an open table waiting and a waiter who learns what we like and has it waiting when we get there. It's a personal preference I suppose. We don't like crowds or waiting.

 

After sailing on Freedom a couple of weeks ago, we are now avid fans of the Freedom class ships and booked Liberty next November. Never sailing RCCL or a "mega ship" we were concerned about crowds. They handle it very nicely. We never felt crowded on the ship at all.

 

They separate the ship's top deck into logical sections based on type of cruiser. The solarium and its adults only pool is very quiet and has those cool hot tubs hanging over the side of the ship. Then there are the 2 main pools in the center of the ship. One is a sports pool for water polo etc. and the other is not. This is where the "fun" activities are held and the band plays for those looking for more action.

Then they have the H20 Zone with its 2 pools and water park separated from the rest which is more family oriented and kids hang out there because it's so much fun. Kids have no desire to wander into the other pool zones. Lastly, the Flowrider is in the aft sports deck for those people looking for some physical challenges, basketball, rock climbing or golf.

 

We found people kept to the section of the ship that suited them and it worked very well. You are now held accountable for your towels, so that cuts down on chair hogging.

 

We only ate at the Windjammer once for a lunch/snack. The dining room was much nicer and we enjoyed being served rather than buffet style or we had room service. Other times we ate at Johnny Rockets which was both fun and tasty or the promenade restaurants which were not crowded at all.

 

As mentioned above, as long as you aren't booking during a school break period, there won't be a zillion kids on board.

 

We ate at Chops (for an extra $20) and it was fantastic. Best steak I've ever had.

[bellaluv]

You should do Liberty! What better way to start off your life together than to be on the biggest ship in the world with so much to do. I have never cruised RCI before but have no doubts when it comes to planning my honeymoon Dec. 07 which will be on the Liberty!:p

[BillOh]

October should be a less kids month.