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Royal Caribbean vs Norwegian


kenf333

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I didn't realize you cruise was coming up so fast, have a great time and report back. If it is bad news please go gentle on us...LOL

 

NIta

 

Nita, I don't blast unless it is to a cruise line loyalist who tells me that I have basially lied. I am not one to forget the good things because of one or two bad things. I am yet to find the "perfect" cruiseline and honestly I do not think I would want to cruise just one line LOL!

 

I embrace the differances. I am looking forward to trying out the differant restaurants and using that therapy pool!

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As previously stated "My Time Dining" is completely different from "Freestyle Dining."

 

I don't see how they are "completely" different. To me they are far more similar than different. Granted NCL has more choices, however, ot eat anywhere that RCI does not have a comparable dining venue requires a reservation, which to me totally defeats the Freestyle concept.

 

The comparable venues that both lines have operate the same way if you would like them too, simply walk up, and get a table, no reservation required.

 

Im no advocate for either line, i just think we should be giving correct information on the boards and telling someone they are "completely" different is incorrect.

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I don't see how they are "completely" different. To me they are far more similar than different. Granted NCL has more choices, however, ot eat anywhere that RCI does not have a comparable dining venue requires a reservation, which to me totally defeats the Freestyle concept.

 

The comparable venues that both lines have operate the same way if you would like them too, simply walk up, and get a table, no reservation required.

 

Im no advocate for either line, i just think we should be giving correct information on the boards and telling someone they are "completely" different is incorrect.

 

 

Correct info on the boards....ok to help you out with this "difference"

RCCL offers reservation seating in the main dining area for there version

of flex dining.....NCL offers many different restaurants anytime in any of them....I have said this before..."Someone tell me the way they are alike"???????????????????????????????????/

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I don't see how they are "completely" different. To me they are far more similar than different. Granted NCL has more choices, however, ot eat anywhere that RCI does not have a comparable dining venue requires a reservation, which to me totally defeats the Freestyle concept.

 

The comparable venues that both lines have operate the same way if you would like them too, simply walk up, and get a table, no reservation required.

 

Im no advocate for either line, i just think we should be giving correct information on the boards and telling someone they are "completely" different is incorrect.

 

Since I've cruised multiple times on both cruise lines I think I have the authority to say whether they are more similar than different. Being able to walk in to one dining room at any time of the evening is "completely different" than having the choice to eat in numerous different dining rooms such as the steakhouse, French, Italian, Japanese or Tex-Mex restaurant any time of their choosing. Please explain to me how this is similar? NCL's ships were specifically designed for "Freestyle Cruising." That's certainly NOT the case with the other cruise lines whose ships were designed for traditional dining but who are now trying to imitate the Freestyle concept. And a poor imitation I may add.

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Correct info on the boards....ok to help you out with this "difference"

RCCL offers reservation seating in the main dining area for there version

of flex dining.....NCL offers many different restaurants anytime in any of them....I have said this before..."Someone tell me the way they are alike"???????????????????????????????????/

 

Ok, you can get the same thing on NCL, if you would like the same table, same restaurant every night, just see the Maitre D', they will arrange that for you.

 

As far as the many different restaurants anytime, thats not quite accurate. While yes, you can dine anytime in any of them, the specialty ones require a RESERVATION, while the main ones do not. No difference there as far as i can see. The only difference is NCL offeres a couple extra ethnicities of food choices. The experience when you break it down is the same, same type of options, different flavors.

 

Again, i am not saying they are EXACTLY alike, but are in fact more alike than different. Saying that the are COMPLETELY different (which warrants them being 100% different) is COMPLETELY incorrect.

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Ok, you can get the same thing on NCL, if you would like the same table, same restaurant every night, just see the Maitre D', they will arrange that for you.

 

As far as the many different restaurants anytime, thats not quite accurate. While yes, you can dine anytime in any of them, the specialty ones require a RESERVATION, while the main ones do not. No difference there as far as i can see. The only difference is NCL offeres a couple extra ethnicities of food choices. The experience when you break it down is the same, same type of options, different flavors.

 

Again, i am not saying they are EXACTLY alike, but are in fact more alike than different. Saying that the are COMPLETELY different (which warrants them being 100% different) is COMPLETELY incorrect.

 

That is absolutely incorrect. On my recent cruise on the NCL Dawn we ate in specialty restaurants five out of seven nights and not once did we need a reservation in any of these restaurants. You are just dead wrong.

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Since I've cruised multiple times on both cruise lines I think I have the authority to say whether they are more similar than different. Being able to walk in to one dining room at any time of the evening is "completely different" than having the choice to eat in numerous different dining rooms such as the steakhouse, French, Italian, Japanese or Tex-Mex restaurant any time of their choosing. Please explain to me how this is similar? NCL's ships were specifically designed for "Freestyle Cruising." That's certainly NOT the case with the other cruise lines whose ships were designed for traditional dining but who are now trying to imitate the Freestyle concept. And a poor imitation I may add.

 

I as well have cruises multiple times on both lines, and my argument is not they are exactly alike, cause there are subtle differences. I was simply stating that they are not "completely different", that false statement could lead someone who has no cruising experience to choose one over the other for the wrong reasons. That was all i was getting at. They are different, IMHO, more alike than different though....

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You might not get around to reading this, as you've already gotten quite a number of responses, but here is one more.

 

My kids and I (3 kids in their 20's, 1 "tween")sailed on The Noweigen Pearl for 5 days last year, and Royal Carribean's Sovereign of the Seas for 4 days the year before that, as our first cruise. We had a great time on both, but after the Pearl's cruise was over, we started to reevaluate and inevitably make comparisons. While the Pearl was newer and larger, there was a certain "wow" factor that we felt entering the SOS that was missing on the Pearl, a certain elegance maybe. During the entire cruise on the Pearl, we felt that they were trying to sell us stuff...raffle tickets before every show, bingo cards, etc. Every where we went, it felt like we were being solicited to buy something. While that might very well be the goal of all cruise lines, it wasn't so apparent on RC. We felt that service in general was better on SOS Everyone from the room steward to the busboy was personable and attentive, and made you feel special. Staff on NCL was pleasant enough, but there was something missing. We felt that this was likely because of the prepaid gratuities. Perhaps there was no incentive to go the extra mile. Though freestyle dining is a great benefit, you don't get the same opportunity to "bond" with the dining staff, thus less personalized service.

 

If you are traveling with kids, My youngest daughter who is now 12 had been extremely happy with the RC kids program, but was dissatisfied with NCL. The NCL program was much less organized, shorter hours, and nothing on Shore days. This left her very bored at times especially when the rest of the family wanted to gamble, and she had nothing to do.

 

Don't get me wrong, we stll had a great time and are actually likely to cruise Noweigen this year again, as there is a Seven day cruise out of New Orleans that interests us. I am by no means trying to discourage you from NCL, I think if you know what to expect, you won't find it disappointing. Whichever you choose, have a wonderful time.

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I don't see how they are "completely" different. To me they are far more similar than different. Granted NCL has more choices, however, ot eat anywhere that RCI does not have a comparable dining venue requires a reservation, which to me totally defeats the Freestyle concept.

 

The comparable venues that both lines have operate the same way if you would like them too, simply walk up, and get a table, no reservation required.

 

Im no advocate for either line, i just think we should be giving correct information on the boards and telling someone they are "completely" different is incorrect.

 

He meant the dinning-not eveything else on ship.

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That is absolutely incorrect. On my recent cruise on the NCL Dawn we ate in specialty restaurants five out of seven nights and not once did we need a reservation in any of these restaurants. You are just dead wrong.

In 6 NCL cruises (the last in Dec 07) we were always required to make reservations for the specialty restaurants or we were not seated (no matter how empty-we were told that they staffed based on the number of reservations). If that policy has changed, then I'm glad to hear it since we're leaving next month on the Jade.

 

2 of those cruises were on the Dream - not built for Freestyle. 2 free/no reservation restaurants and two specialty with reservations required.

This is definitely similar enough to RCCL's My Time Dining for me to consider them (if their prices weren't so outrageous).

 

I want to eat when convenient for ME and sit with whoever I want - My Time seems to do that.

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You can't just "walk in" to most of NCL's restaurants. The ONLY one's on NCL you can walk in to are the main dining room or the buffet. That's it.

 

You can't "walk in" to Cagney's - You need a specific reservation 24 hours ahead. Same with Le Bistro, Chin Chin, Mama's, etc.

 

It's not that different than RCCL's new deal.

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You can't just "walk in" to most of NCL's restaurants. The ONLY one's on NCL you can walk in to are the main dining room or the buffet. That's it.

 

You can't "walk in" to Cagney's - You need a specific reservation 24 hours ahead. Same with Le Bistro, Chin Chin, Mama's, etc.

 

It's not that different than RCCL's new deal.

 

My guess is it varies from cruise-to-cruise. Our recent Mexican Riviera on the Star, you could walk into any. We were turned away only one night because they were booked at Le Bistro. Everywhere else we just walked up to specialty and were seated.

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My guess is it varies from cruise-to-cruise. Our recent Mexican Riviera on the Star, you could walk into any. We were turned away only one night because they were booked at Le Bistro. Everywhere else we just walked up to specialty and were seated.

 

you are right, yes, you can walk up to any of them. This is not saying you will always be served or seated, but you can give it a try. We have, from time to time..

 

I still suggest reservations, but there is no policy that says you can not try, this is the same as most land restaurants, if they are not full they will seat you. They aren't going to turn down the money.

 

Nita

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I have to laugh at those that are so determined to prove their point, that they contradict those who have indeed walked up to a speciality restaurant and been seated without a reservation. How can they continue to say this when there are those who have experienced the opposite?

 

It's really not a big deal guys. You have to make reservations on RC and you should make reservations on NCL or you might not get in...or you might. RC is still a nice criuse line and it's great that you love them.

 

Too funny.

 

CG

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I have to laugh at those that are so determined to prove their point, that they contradict those who have indeed walked up to a speciality restaurant and been seated without a reservation. How can they continue to say this when there are those who have experienced the opposite?

 

 

Too funny.

 

 

CG

 

We continue to say this because those 'walk up' experiences directly contradict our 'turned away without a reservation' experiences.

 

I'm not sure why that's so funny. People need to be aware that specialty restaurants *may* require reservations on NCL.

 

It would be a mistake to assume you could always walk up to a specialty restaurant and be seated since not everyone has had that experience.

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You can't just "walk in" to most of NCL's restaurants. The ONLY one's on NCL you can walk in to are the main dining room or the buffet. That's it.

 

You can't "walk in" to Cagney's - You need a specific reservation 24 hours ahead. Same with Le Bistro, Chin Chin, Mama's, etc.

 

It's not that different than RCCL's new deal.

 

 

Would you please explain to me how I was able to walk right in to Cagney's and get a table?? Please dont give false info....They werent

that busy and were very pleased to seat us right away. Same thing happened 2 days later at the Italian restaurant so your info is incorrect:rolleyes:

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Would you please explain to me how I was able to walk right in to Cagney's and get a table?? Please dont give false info....They werent

that busy and were very pleased to seat us right away. Same thing happened 2 days later at the Italian restaurant so your info is incorrect:rolleyes:

 

I have heard that recently, because of the bad economy-that the speacility restaurants are staying almost empty and NCL has been offering some nights 2 for 1 meals. A year ago things were very differant, people had more money and so you needed a reservation for Cagneys and le Bsitro almost always. Now because people's disposable income has shrunk, many are not doing the specailty restaurants.

 

so you know-all of you are right-it really depended on how well your ship were selling out those restaurants as to whether you would need a reservation.

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I've cruised 6 times with RCCL and 8 times with NCL (don't hold me to those numbers but I think they right)

 

I've enjoyed them both and think that they're alike in many ways...I just happen to prefer Freestyle dining.

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I have to laugh at those that are so determined to prove their point, that they contradict those who have indeed walked up to a speciality restaurant and been seated without a reservation. How can they continue to say this when there are those who have experienced the opposite?

 

It's really not a big deal guys. You have to make reservations on RC and you should make reservations on NCL or you might not get in...or you might. RC is still a nice criuse line and it's great that you love them.

 

Too funny.

 

CG

 

The whole determination factor is based upon someone stating that RCI and NCL are "completely different".

 

Which myself and other posters since have proved to be completely untrue.

 

You say "You have to make reservations on RC and you should make reservations on NCL or you might not get in", which again, is untrue, you can utilize it just like NCL and walk up and get a table, or you can make a standing reservation. As far as specialty restaurants go, same deal, reservation only (in the rare moments people have been able to walk up and get seated, again, same deal on RCI)

 

Is it that hard to comprehend that they may not be near as different as you thought?......

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We, too, have cruised with RCI, but only twice, and for two 4-day cruises. I liked the cruises, except for the traditional dining, and that's what keeps us coming back again and again to NCL. It's all about the many choices, and we take advantage of the alternative restaurants a lot.

 

To me there truly are only a couple of real distinguising features between the lines, and those are Freestyle dining and waiting for disembarcation in your cabin rather than in a public area.

 

Well, we did see a little wilder crowd out of LA on the 4-day cruises, LOL. :D It was quite fun to sit back and watch.

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We've cruised 4 times with RCCL and we just got off our first NCL crusie...the NCL Star. While we're glad that we did and we had a good time, we probably won't try NCL again. Like a previous poster said, we were missing that "WOW!" factor. We've cruised the Voyager Class, Radiance Class and Freedom Class and in our opinion the Star doesn't even come close to any of those. I like getting in the elevator in the Centrum or looking over a railing on RCCL and being able to see 9 decks up or down. The Royal Promenade is one of my favorite places and the Star didn't have anything like that. The dining rooms on the RCCL ships are multi level with pillars and grand chandeliers. They felt more elegant. Two of the days the waiters on the Star wore t-shirts for dinner service, which we thought was really tacky.

 

Our sea days on NCL were a little more relaxing than our other cruises because there seemed to be less activities that we were trying to fit into the day. We did do the martini tasting that was pretty fun, but when we tried to do the sangria tasting there wasn't enough people and it was cancelled even though everything was set up and the fruit was already cut up. The four of us joked that we would pay double and they still wouldn't do it. :D

 

The night life on RCCL was a little more "happening". We always had a hard time finding a table in the pub, whereas that was never a problem on the Star. The ship was nowhere near sold out so that could have been the reason. The pub entertainment was great though. It was just that the crowd was a lot quieter. The shows on RCCL had more of that "WOW!" factor as well...especially the ice show. We enjoy Karaoke...watching, not singing...and on the Star they had a hard time finding performers.

 

We were really impressed with the organization of the tours on NCL and the embarkation and disembarkation. The tendering was way more organized as well, but that probably had a lot to do with the fact that the ship wasn't sold out.

 

I'm not going to say much about the food beacuse everyone has different tastes, but for breakfast the buffet on NCL was terrible...rubbery, premade omeletes, congealed oatmeal, cold waffels, mushy centered sausages, empty coffee dispensers, hard to find juice.... We tried it a few times and decided that we had to make sure we were up early enough to eat breakfast in the dining room....which was quite good.

 

For Freestyle vs. not....I'm a big fan of getting dressed up to eat in the grandeur of the dining room. I like specialty restaurants as well, but RCCL has those too. We have always cruised with family and friends so we haven't ever been placed at a table with strangers on RCCL. I do undserstand that sometimes this can be a problem and if it ever happens and we can't "make the best of it" then I'm sure it will leave a negative impression on our minds.

 

I hope this helps. I hope it didn't sound like I'm trashing NCL. We wanted to try something new and are glad we did, but we were just more impressed with RCCL.

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We've cruised 4 times with RCCL and we just got off our first NCL crusie...the NCL Star. While we're glad that we did and we had a good time, we probably won't try NCL again. Like a previous poster said, we were missing that "WOW!" factor. We've cruised the Voyager Class, Radiance Class and Freedom Class and in our opinion the Star doesn't even come close to any of those. I like getting in the elevator in the Centrum or looking over a railing on RCCL and being able to see 9 decks up or down. The Royal Promenade is one of my favorite places and the Star didn't have anything like that. The dining rooms on the RCCL ships are multi level with pillars and grand chandeliers. They felt more elegant. Two of the days the waiters on the Star wore t-shirts for dinner service, which we thought was really tacky.

 

Our sea days on NCL were a little more relaxing than our other cruises because there seemed to be less activities that we were trying to fit into the day. We did do the martini tasting that was pretty fun, but when we tried to do the sangria tasting there wasn't enough people and it was cancelled even though everything was set up and the fruit was already cut up. The four of us joked that we would pay double and they still wouldn't do it. :D

 

The night life on RCCL was a little more "happening". We always had a hard time finding a table in the pub, whereas that was never a problem on the Star. The ship was nowhere near sold out so that could have been the reason. The pub entertainment was great though. It was just that the crowd was a lot quieter. The shows on RCCL had more of that "WOW!" factor as well...especially the ice show. We enjoy Karaoke...watching, not singing...and on the Star they had a hard time finding performers.

 

We were really impressed with the organization of the tours on NCL and the embarkation and disembarkation. The tendering was way more organized as well, but that probably had a lot to do with the fact that the ship wasn't sold out.

 

I'm not going to say much about the food beacuse everyone has different tastes, but for breakfast the buffet on NCL was terrible...rubbery, premade omeletes, congealed oatmeal, cold waffels, mushy centered sausages, empty coffee dispensers, hard to find juice.... We tried it a few times and decided that we had to make sure we were up early enough to eat breakfast in the dining room....which was quite good.

 

For Freestyle vs. not....I'm a big fan of getting dressed up to eat in the grandeur of the dining room. I like specialty restaurants as well, but RCCL has those too. We have always cruised with family and friends so we haven't ever been placed at a table with strangers on RCCL. I do undserstand that sometimes this can be a problem and if it ever happens and we can't "make the best of it" then I'm sure it will leave a negative impression on our minds.

 

I hope this helps. I hope it didn't sound like I'm trashing NCL. We wanted to try something new and are glad we did, but we were just more impressed with RCCL.

Yeah, I took the Star also and wasn't impressed at all. We had many things we didn't like about it. I do prefer RCCL much more. I feel their ships are cleaner also. Personally, I don't think RCCL has the best dining room food either, but in general, they are a much better and funner line!

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