NCL vs RCI

[Boxer_Mom]

We have sailed with RCI 3 times now and love it. We'd like to try something new and have heard good things about NCL.

I'd appreciate any opinions from people who have cruised with both lines and if they have any pros and cons to share.

Thanks!

:)

[dateacher]

We just got back from the NCL Pearl. Loved freestyle dining. Liked the customer service on the ship and generally preferred it to RCL. The cabins were nicer on NCL too. The food was better too.

[Tressacruise845]

Imho the 2 lines are quite comparable in several areas, the notable exception is the dining. As you know RCCL has 2 set dinner hours, which we do not always find convenient. However, however, would never hesitate to use them again, depending on itinerary and price. The food about the same on each, same for service, except you may get 1 clinker on NCL if you eat with enough different servers. However, you will not be stuck with a "clinker" for the entire voyage as happened to us once on RCCL. And even that was not too bad.

We found the entertainment to be very good to excellent on both ships, better over all, than on any other ship we've tried. We did not go to every show on every ship because some days we planned to do more and if you read the dailies you will see that some entertainment is really just a "filler" for the evening. We did not miss the production shows on either ship and found both to be superior to other lines, and again comparable; with NCLs productions being about the best we have ever seen. Crystal was the worst by the way, very high school level.

We prefer to eat alone and NCL accomodated us, as did all the lines we have sailed on since our 1st cruise--we got smarter on how to handle things!

The cabins may vary in size but I did not notice much difference. Everything always fit well with room to spare.

As with everything in life--if you take a good attitude with you all will be great!-----------Enjoy!

[kkollwitz]

We just got back from a Christmas cruise on NCL's Majesty, we've done 3 RCI cruises. Majesty's a smaller ship, that aside, I thought the NCL was completely comparable to, and competitive with, RCI.

[sisabell]

I just returned from my first NCLA cruise, on the Pride of America. Chose it because of the itinerary. It was okay, but the food was definitely not as good as RCI, and the entertainment was way worse than RCI (some equivalent to the elementary school talent show). I found the rooms to be nicer on NCLA, but they were nice enough on RCI.... so for me the next one will be back with RCI.

[samtig]

Went on first RCI cruise last month and definitely prefer NCL and then Carnival. Will cruise on RCI again if the price is right.

[electricron]

NCL all the way! Nothing beats Freestyle Cruissing.

[bubiesmom]

NCL all the way! Nothing beats Freestyle Cruissing.

 

Sorry IMHO, I found the Freestyle thing to be a pain in the butt. It was just " hurry up and wait". You didn't have the ability to dine where you want, when you want unless you knew on Monday what you wanted to do for the whole week. We were able to get into Papa's 2x and Paniolo's, but Cagney's was full. If it is Freestyle, NCL should get their act together and light a fire under some butts to get the tables turned over quicker. I was at Papa's one night and there were at least 5 empty tables at one point when we finished and the host told people that there was an hour wait. What's up with that??????? :mad: :confused:

[pmh901]

We returned Sunday from the Jewel New Year's Eve cruise. We have been on 3 RCCL cruises. The Jewel is a beautiful ship...very easy to navigate the ship. We have an active 11 year old son. We knew that the Jewel did not have as much space as RCCL devotes to activities (mini golf, ice rink, rock climbing wall, roller blading course). We were concerned that he might be bored, but luckily that was not the case. We had a group of 13 people on this cruise & I think the others helped him keep busy. We boarded the ship at 1pm on New Year's Day & immediately went to make dinner reservations. The only specialty restaurant we could get into was Cagney's & that was at 9pm on the final night. They would not give us any reservation before 8:30pm. Even with reservations, we waited once for 25 minutes to be seated & once for 30 minutes. We were at 2 tables. We repeatedly had to ask for menus...usually about 1/2 of our group was given menus. Often there were no salt & pepper shakers at our tables and we also had to repeatedly ask for them. Dinner rolls were on the tables but we had to ask for butter. Dining just seemed to be difficult on this cruise. Please don't misunderstand...we enjoyed our cruise, but I think in the future I will book with RCCL.

[Browezilla]

I prefer RCI over NCL. I think RCI ship design is better, they maintain their older ships better, I too am not a big fan of freestyle (but can work with it), and I find the activities and entertainment better on RCI. However, I must note that most of this is anecdotal as there is a lot of variation from ship to ship in most lines, and particularly across lines.

[Retired not Expired]

My experiences with the two lines is, other than a two hour dining period in the evening, there is very little difference in the two. Both can give a wonderful cruising experience and both can have some problems that you can either roll with or make yourself miserable by dwelling on them.

 

My cruises on both have been very good.

[TC Cruiser]

This thread has me thinking about my upcoming cruise on the Norwegian Jewel. I’ve been on the much older Norwegian Majesty and it’s obviously not fair to compare it to the two Voyager class ships that I’ve been on with RCCI. I’ll see how it goes with a modern NCL ship with their multiple dining venues. In my cruise planning so far for the Jewel, NCL seems to have fewer excursions available for each port than RCCI and their wine list is a bit pricier. My wife and I through that the five bottle wine package on EOS was a great option.

[guinnessirish]

I like NCL better at this point. They're a better value. I think it depends on your lifestyle. I feel that RCI is completely for familys now. Allot of stuff geared toward kids. I like the shows better on NCL. I think the food is the same. The last RCI cruise I went on I felt the food quality had gone down completely. My thought is the bigger the ship the worse the food.

 

Sure the ships are better if you like ice skating rinks that are only open 5 hours during the whole cruise or surfing stations or rock climbing walls that only one person at a time can use. I was so disappointed with the service, food and shows on the last RCI cruise that I will most likely not go back until I have children.

 

Book your restaurants as soon as you get onboard and you will not have a problem. If you don't book and show up and they turn you away but have 5 empty tables chances are there are no servers for those table because the resturant was not booked those servers are being utilized elsewhere. Why be full staffed if noone booked for that night?!?!?!?!?

[Don Haynes]

The only way you are going to see a full speciality surcharge restaurant the entire night, they would have to have two set dining times, one early and one late. NCL books its speciality restaurants at our convenience, a bit at a time, over a period of time, so early its logical its nearly empty, later on almost full, than emptying again late. Either way NCL gets two parties for each table during the night. Think about this a little.

 

Many people have complained that the speciality restaurants aren't full when they attempt to sit in without reservations and are denied. While that table isn't full now, it is very possible that table is booked 30 minutes from now. There is no way you will be able to dine in that speciality surcharged restaurant in 30 minutes.... No way.....

[guinnessirish]

While that table isn't full now, it is very possible that table is booked 30 minutes from now. There is no way you will be able to dine in that speciality surcharged restaurant in 30 minutes.... No way.....

 

Good point Don!

[cbcloud]

This is a good thread. The honest evaluations have been very helpful. I can't contribute a comparison...yet, but have scheduled my first NCL cruise on POA in Feb, after 6 RCL cruises. Was totally satisfied with RCL, but have been about everywhere in Caribbean in winter, and wanted to do Hawaii. So if NCL and RCL are fairly comparable, I think we'll be happy. Am looking forward to the freestyle dining. Sounds like most complaints are with the specialty resturants, and we never did them on RCL, and don't expect to do them on NCL either, so that shouldn't be a problem.

 

I'll add my 2-cents worth to this thread when we get back in Late Feb.

[Don Haynes]

Its my opinion all of the major cruise lines offer the same things: a voyage to exotic ports, provide room and board, sell shore excursions, boost their casinos and spas, sell drinks, and provide entertainment.

 

They just do these things in their own ways.

[dateacher]

In my opinion, the main dinining rooms were so good on the NCL Pearl that if we hadn't eaten at the specialty restaurants we would have been fine. One speciality meal was for a birthday celebration and the other two were because we were able to get reservations. Now that we have done them, it wouldn't matter too much if we just ate in the main dining rooms every night.

[dateacher]

One more thought. The two main dining rooms on the Pearl were better than the dining rooms on RCL. The most we ever had to wait was 10 minutes.

[Gypsea]

Cruise food on both lines are equal in my opinion. I do not base that on one or two cruises on each. No cruise line has ever wowwed me but Celebrity has been enjoyable. I am not complaining nor have I ever been hungry or extremely unhappy. I do not consider myself a whiner. Freedoms buffet is huge and Dawn (for example)has ten dining venues to choose from. Both lines have their strengths.

 

As a frequent cruiser I think both lines have much to offer. I like the variety and quality of NCL activities and don't care much if I have a rock climbing wall or ice rink.

The Flowrider on RC is a very cool feature since everyone can enjoy this whether you watch or participate. Let's face it it isn't much fun to watch someone play mini golf, ice skate or climb a rock wall but the Flowrider is a big asset. That said, you are paying dearly for the privilege and people need to consider that in the process of comparing. RC costs more, ESPECIALLY these massive new ships.

 

I love NCL for pioneering many new ideas like ship wide WIFI, Freestyle and Homeland Cruising. Sailing all year from NYC was a big risk but I appreciate it as do millions of travelers who prefer not to fly to FL to cruise.

RC is going to start that soon (from NJ)but has done so for YEARS from NYC

 

Both lines sell a great product but comparing NCL to RCCL, good luck with that!

[TitanFan]

We are looking to book a cruise on NCL for the first time. We have sailed RCCL twice and Carnival once. I have a couple questions about setting up dinner reservations. We are usually content with the regular dining option and the casual option (something like the Windjammer). Do these dinners have to be booked also? Or, just the specialty restaurants?

 

Thanks for your help.