NCL Made Me Love Princess Even More!

[DrivesLikeMario]

...the activities are really disguised sales pitches. I've never been on a line where it seemed they were working so diligently to part you from your money!

 

That is exactly my point in the Ruby review that was posted recently. The OP of that thread thought Princess was bad about nickel & diming. They aren't anywhere as bad as the majority of other cruise lines, NCL included.

 

Although you didn't enjoy the cruise as much as you probably would have on the Sapphire, I think it's beneficial to try other lines every once in awhile. Makes you appreciate the good ones! ;) Welcome back to Princess, Mary. :)

[Tobintemp]

I like both NCL and Princess but they are different experiences, NCL is definitly more laid back and casual. We are doing the Sapphire immediatley followed by the Pearl so I hope to get the best of both worlds!

[Cruisin' Chick]

Well that's probably true, but regardless I can't excuse poor service or rudeness. That is something we have not experienced on any line before. In fact when we cruised to Alaska on the NCL Star a couple of years ago, I was really impressed with the service. It was dramatically different this time. And while the initial investment might be lower, I do think the onboard expenses are higher. The soda card is one example. In order to get a truly outstanding meal you really need to go to the specialty restaurants which cost between $10 to $25 per person and daily gratuity rates are higher. So while it still was less expensive overall, it was still a sizable vacation investment and for that I do have some basic expectations as far as the quality of the cruise. It wasn't horrible, but there was certainly room for improvement.

 

With me, the reluctance to try this cruiseline would be about the food. Not that I'm a foodie, but that I don't want to be scouting about for a restaurant when I'm ready for dinner. I don't want to have to get up early in the morning to make a reservation for a decent place to eat (and I've heard that those with the villa suites get first priority over everyone else). I just rather know when and where I'm going to eat and not have to plan (which seems to be what you have to do with NCL, which seems the opposite of a true freestyle experience, imo).

 

A friend of mine took her two kids on the Pride of Hawaii, and her 9-yr-old was injured in the kids' club. She didn't think the ship's crew was too helpful in how they handled the situation. I think she thought about joining CC (I told her about the various cruise forums), but I warned her about posting a negative review if she did.

[karatemom2]

With me' date=' the reluctance to try this cruiseline would be about the food. Not that I'm a foodie, but that I don't want to be scouting about for a restaurant when I'm ready for dinner. I don't want to have to get up early in the morning to make a reservation for a decent place to eat (and I've heard that those with the villa suites get first priority over everyone else). I just rather know when and where I'm going to eat and not have to plan (which seems to be what you have to do with NCL, which seems the opposite of a true freestyle experience, imo).

 

A friend of mine took her two kids on the Pride of Hawaii, and her 9-yr-old was injured in the kids' club. She didn't think the ship's crew was too helpful in how they handled the situation. I think she thought about joining CC (I told her about the various cruise forums), but I warned her about posting a negative review if she did.[/quote']

 

We found that by and large the food was good to very good in the dining rooms. And at least on our cruise the specialty restaurants always looked like they had openings. I have heard that getting reservations can be a problem, but we didn't have any difficulty booking a reservation at Ginza, the Asian Fusion restaurant. It was truly spectacular and well worth the extra fee. We never waited for a table in the dining rooms, but we tend to eat early. Later on the lines did get very long and I heard people complaining about the waits.

 

That's too bad about your friend's daughter. I only allowed my daughter to go to the club a couple of times after witnessing the chaos because I was honestly concerned about her safety. It was really a mob scene and I talked to other parents who had the same concern. You could actually hear the shouting and screaming from the club all the way down to deck 10, 3 floors below the club. It would just get louder and louder as you climbed up the stairs. Those poor counselors must have been nearly deaf by the end of the cruise.

[blindrid]

Well if you read my post I never said it was a bad cruise or that we didn't have fun. In fact I was complimentary in several areas. And I don't think I was expecting a 5 star cruise for a 3 star price. Just because the price was lower does not mean that I shouldn't have some basic expectations in the way of services and amenities....... So I believe my comments via comparing the two were fair and accurate.

 

Karatemon: I did read your post. My comments were not intended to get you all fired up as I was just talking in generalities, not to suggest you were expecting a luxury experience from a mainstream line.