Anyone cruised NCL and X??

[mkad1109]

I completely agree; our experience with NCL in Hawaii was poor enough that I would likely never use them again for any itenerary. However, they ARE often the cheapest thing going, especially in Europe, and their iteneraries are pretty decent so maybe in another 3-5 years when I forget how bad Pride of America was I'll get suckered by one of those low fares or interesting iteneraries. I hope not.

Again, NCLA which runs the ships in Hawaii is a separate company. See my post above. Even the NCL loyalists agree that it is not typically a pleasant experience. Comparing NCLA to NCL is like comparing Celebrity to Princess. TOTALLY different management and policies.

[Shep_Proudfoot]

Just for fun - I decided to look up the ratings for Celebrity and NCL ships on Expedia.com.

 

Celebrity Millennium - four and a half stars

Celebrity Summit, Infinity and Constellation - four stars

Celebrity Mercury - four stars

Celebrity Century and Galaxy- three and a half stars

 

NCL Dawn, Pearl, and Jewel - four and a half stars

NCL Sky, Star, Spirit, and Sun - four stars

NCL Majesty - three stars

 

Yahoo travel appears to have the exact same ratings.

 

The newer ships for both cruise lines were "not yet rated"

 

I would say those ratings are as charitable to NCL as it generally gets out there, many other sites put Celebrity ahead of NCL, a few samples:

 

Conde Nast Traveler (see current thread on these boards), Berlitz (which has Celebrity M well ahead of NCL generally), Cruise Critic http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberpoll_all.cfm?rating=Overall where the lowest Celebrity ship is rated as high as the highest rated NCL ship, *****.com which has all M-class ships rated a half star higher than any NCL ship, etc.

 

My own personal experience has supported this but for others I recognize this may not be true.

[johnritt]

Please indulge me as to your experiences onboard Celebrity ships that forms your judgment of those who prefer to sail on the line. Rather than saying my cruise line is better than yours, how about saying they are different products catering to different demographics with different tastes!

 

Different demographics and tastes, maybe. Different priorities and desires, maybe.

 

As for my experiences on Celebrity that formed my judgement that is found in the "under glass" and "rented or old, ill fitted suit or gown" post, I have none.

 

I made it up and don't even believe it myself. Celebrity is most likely a fine line. However, The pro celebrity poster I was replying to was so pompous, arrogant, and rude that I fired a shot across her bow to wake her up. I did get a chuckle when rereading my reply though. It was over the top.

 

Opinions are fine but I do not consider myself a lower class of person or one who has lower or less refined tastes because I happen to like my vacation experience on NCL. That was the jist of her post and thus my reply.

 

I am surprised that more didn't notice the tone of her post.

[Eeyoregon]

I completely agree; our experience with NCL in Hawaii was poor enough that I would likely never use them again for any itenerary. However, they ARE often the cheapest thing going, especially in Europe, and their iteneraries are pretty decent so maybe in another 3-5 years when I forget how bad Pride of America was I'll get suckered by one of those low fares or interesting iteneraries. I hope not.

 

:confused: NCLA doesn't sail Europe or anywhere else for that mattter. Only Hawaii. I would be changing travel agents if they are telling you otherwise!

 

NCL sails itineraries around the world and is an excellent choice.

[rolfecms]

NCLA doesn't sail Europe or anywhere else for that mattter. Only Hawaii. I would be changing travel agents if they are telling you otherwise! NCL sails itineraries around the world and is an excellent choice.

 

Why in heaven's name does NCL keep the names so similar when the Hawaiian portion is so bad, because they are doing themselves no favors by remaining associated with them. Is it because they want people to think they are indeed the same? If so, IMHO they deserve all the criticism they get, regardless of where certain portions of the parent company's ships sail.

[Shep_Proudfoot]

:confused: NCLA doesn't sail Europe or anywhere else for that mattter. Only Hawaii. I would be changing travel agents if they are telling you otherwise!

 

NCL sails itineraries around the world and is an excellent choice.

 

I fully realize the (minor) difference, but frankly don't care-to consider them two different lines is a big stretch in my opinion. NCLA does not purport to present a different user experience than NCL such as Azamara vs. Celebrity, for example. The ships are pretty much the same in my understanding. I realize that NCLA has mostly American staff and NCL international and I think that is likely a huge reason for the bad rap NCLA sailings get-I've never seen as disgruntled a crew as on Pride of America. This is not to say everyone was that way, but I've never seen such obviously miserable crew elsewhere. The main reason NCLA exists is to circumvent Hawaiian island cruise laws so that they can sail from Honolulu when others must leave from the West Coast. NCLA only exists as a legal entity in order to take advantage of special privileges granted to them by Hawaii's state government. Part of being granted this advantage required that they use mainly American staff-at least that is my understanding.

 

My experience with NCLA has likely put me off from NCL and certainly from future sailings on NCLA.

[Eeyoregon]

I fully realize the (minor) difference, but frankly don't care-to consider them two different lines is a stretch in my opinion. My experience with NCLA has likely put me off from NCL and certainly from future sailings on NCLA.

 

Acutally it's a major difference but hey, it's your loss...more room for me by the pool. :D

[Shep_Proudfoot]

Acutally it's a major difference but hey, it's your loss...more room for me by the pool. :D

 

Actually it is NCL's loss...of my money. But I highly doubt it's a major difference-the ship architecture is the same, the freestyle dining is the same, same website and FAQs for both. It's mainly the service that differs. While that is likely a significant plus for NCL (haven't sailed it but it would be tough to be beat out by NCLA), it's not enough for me to consider it different from NCLA or move NCL/NCLA out from near the bottom of my preference list. If I want no frills cruising at reasonable rates I will choose Carnival.

[mcmarya]

Sailed NCL Pearl in November 2007 (pre-2.0 upgrade) and just got back from the Summit. The only thing we liked better about the Pearl cruise was the wrap around Promenade deck for walking and the fresh-water heated pools. Everything else was better on the Summit. We loved our cruise on the Pearl because any cruise is a lot of fun, but the Summit was a few notches above in quality. There seems to be a trend toward separating cruisers into "classes" again and NCL is at the forefront with their super deluxe cabins on new ships with lots of perks and the large number of specialty, extra cost restaurants. We sometimes wondered if they were serving lousy food in the main dining room to get people to pay extra to go to the specialty restaurants. I would said NCL again given the right price and itinerary but was not excited about freestyle dining.

[Toothfairy754]

First off let me say I am going on my first X cruise in April. Last Jan my family an I sailed the NCL Star.It would be my first and last trip with them. My grown children thought it would be fun to *freestyle*dine.

Here are the negatives I found

1. Food was awful, at breakfast the only thing they seemed to have a run on was the prunes. (no pun intended)

2. Entertertainment: one show was so bad we walked out, and we missed what was supposed to be their best show as it was the only time we could book the *high End pay restaurant.

3. We did 3 pay restaurants as we felt the food in the MDR was so poor.

(Food in the Pay R was better)

4. And last but certainly not least.... we were on the SOD (Ship of Disease)

We had a horrible outbreak of Noro. Now I understand that this can happen on any ship... but the way it was handled was POOR!!!!!

They were taking the ill people in the public elevators with us.(One would think they could have kept the ill away from the healthy passengers.)

This led to so many cases of Noro that we were a few people shy of being quarantined. The Captain would make overhead pages about the nasty little bugger onboard. We also found out that the people being quarantined (Supposedly) actually were let off the ship in some of the ports of call. ISn't there supposed to be a list of ill passengers who are quarantined??

And yes we did have a hairy mens leg contest.

As for being a snob, the people from these forums who have met me know I am not. I do not think that because I want to sail on a little more upscale cruise line makes me one... I think it makes me smart... both healthwise and not being nickel and dimed to death.

[Pebeccer]

Hi Everyone -

 

Can anyone provide any info on ballroom dancing on NCL and Celebrity ships? My boyfriend and I started cruising this past fall and now we're hooked. We want to do another cruise! Friends of ours has suggested that we try Celebrity next.

 

Last year we were on the Jade and there was a small dance floor, smaller than we're used to but we were still happy there was something. :) The band was really good and they were quite happy to play a variety of music. We're not professional dancers or anything, just a young couple who enjoys a bit of social ballroom.

 

We'd like to know if anyone can share any of their experiences or thoughts.

 

Thanks!

[Solstice23]

Hey,

 

Cruised over 16 times,

 

NCL was the worst! we will never do them again

 

Celebrity like all lines can vary cruise to cruise ...but overall one of the best

 

Cheers!

[fuzzyfl]

sailed on ncl many times. like that we never have to be "dressed formally". shorts in the dining room is fine. food is ok, not great. no drunken throngs of people, nice size cabins and good entertainment.

really have to say the same about carnival. it's not the teenage, young drunken ship that it has had the reputation for in the past. sailed on 2 carib and 1 europe an my husband and i loved it. we're in our early sixties.

[bobnjeff]

Century in May and Jewel in Sept. Most likely last time on NCL. Food was awful even in the pay extra restaurants. Service is also awful on NCL. It seems when cruise lines make the tips mandatory the service goes down hill. I hope Celebrity will rethink that!!! We have been twice on the Century with great food and service. Shows were OK. We leave in 4 weeks to go on the Galaxy. Hope it is just as good.