Princess, Norwegian or RC

[shayausten]

I need help with Thanksgiving cruise booking. There are 2 adults and 3 kids ages 17,13,7. I have the Crown Princess on hold for the Western but am doubting myself.We are on the Caribe deck. We have not been in over 10 years and never for 7 nts. Will we be happy with Princess? These message boards have so much mixed information that once I think I know I read something bad and want to change. Norwegian is about the same price but have heard negatives about dining.I do like their port stops. If we did go I would not be paying extra to eat so would we be just as happy with the free restaurants. I have heard RC is the best but the rates are the highest. I keep waiting for them to come down as I have until Sept.2 to change my mind. Another question.. I have two inside rooms booked. To change one to a balcony it is 750 dollars more. I keep reading mixed reviews about how we might go nuts with inside cabins. Is is really worth that much extra money? Will I regret it if I don't do it? I need someone to make all my decisions for me. There are to many choices. Should I stay with Western or go to the Eastern?:confused:

[MnAsMom]

what are the ships on Norwegian or RC that you are considering? Some ships just don't compare to others!

[onthelake]

I need help with Thanksgiving cruise booking. There are 2 adults and 3 kids ages 17,13,7. I have the Crown Princess on hold for the Western but am doubting myself.We are on the Caribe deck. We have not been in over 10 years and never for 7 nts. Will we be happy with Princess? These message boards have so much mixed information that once I think I know I read something bad and want to change. Norwegian is about the same price but have heard negatives about dining.I do like their port stops. If we did go I would not be paying extra to eat so would we be just as happy with the free restaurants. I have heard RC is the best but the rates are the highest. I keep waiting for them to come down as I have until Sept.2 to change my mind. Another question.. I have two inside rooms booked. To change one to a balcony it is 750 dollars more. I keep reading mixed reviews about how we might go nuts with inside cabins. Is is really worth that much extra money? Will I regret it if I don't do it? I need someone to make all my decisions for me. There are to many choices. Should I stay with Western or go to the Eastern?:confused:

 

We prefer Princess. Both my husband and son got food poisoning from different venues last time on NCL. If you think you will spend a lot of time in the cabin, you may want to pay extra for the balcony but with the kids the ages of yours, no one will be in the cabin except to shower and sleep so save the extra $$ for having fun. Either Western or Eastern will be great - save the other one for another time. It is sun and sand whichever one you choose. As for the kids programs, what will make the cruise is who they meet, especially the older two. There will be lots of young people over Thanksgiving so no worries about having someone to hang with. You really can't make a wrong choice and I am just sharing that we prefer Princess. Don't stress.

[shayausten]

The Norwegian Jewel or Pearl are the two going that week. Royal Caribbean Liberty is the one I have heard was great but the prices are a good bit higher.

[CanadianTwosome]

We were on the Norwegian Pearl this past January and loved it. I've never been on a cruise I didn't love. I've never been on Princess or RCI, but I've been on Carnival, Costa, Star, and NCL. Currently we're favouring NCL because we really love Freestyle. Food is subjective, but I'm a fairly picky eater and I love the included food on NCL - not to mention the freedom to eat it when I want, rather than having to schedule my day around my set dining times. I also had a rather annoying tablemate on one cruise that really affected my ability to enjoy my meals to the fullest, so not having to sit with total strangers is also something I love about NCL. Instead, we've been able to meet people with common interests at activities we enjoy and dine with them.

 

Honestly, my recommendation is to choose the one with the most appealing itinerary and price. They're all going to be wonderful. :)

 

As for inside cabins, it's pretty much all we book. I don't go on vacation to sit in my room, no matter how big it is. I much prefer standing on a wide open deck to being enclosed on a tiny balcony, and otherwise my cabin is pretty much just a bed, a closet and a bathroom.

[rolloman]

The NCL Pearl is awesome and the kids would love it, especially the bowling alley. If you can afford Liberty that would be my first choice though. Princess is a little more designed for the older crowd and their ships as far as kids go can not compete with your other two options.

[Dawn24]

We are taking our 4 year old on the Crown for Thanksgiving. I found some of the Kids Patters on the Princess board and it looks like there will be plenty of fun things for him to do.

 

For traveling, we have always preferred Princess, but now with our little one the things we like about Princess are the 24 hour Buffet, Anytime Dining and the Freshwater Pools (in addition to the kids club). The dining options especially will help us to be flexible and go with the flow, which is really all you can ask when traveling with a child.

 

We did the NCL Sun when my son was 11 months old and it worked out well too, but we had a full suite and baby food with us. Comparing the Princess Buffet to the NCL Buffet, the Princess is more kid friendly, based on what we eat in our family. We also prefer the dining room food on Princess. NCL's pay restaurants were great, but I don't pay $15 to feed my kid on land, so I am not about to start doing so on a cruise :D and there were nights that the dining room menu made me feel like I had no option but to pay.