Norwegian Cruise Line vs. Celebrity Cruise Line?

Question

Last year I was on a cruise with Celebrity Cruise Lines and absolutely loved it. I would like to go on another next year and initially thought of Celebrity first, but I am thinking of thinking of possibly going with Norwegian. Has anyone been on both Norwegian and Celebrity? If so, how do they rate compared to each other?

Answer 1

I have been on about 8 NCL cruises and actually my first 5 cruises were NCL and it WAS my favorite cruise line. But about the time they started that "freestyle" cruising is when I put them way down on my list of lines I would go on again.

Some people love NCL because of its freestyle. I hate it because of the freestyle because we had bad experiences with that. Things like going to dinner and having to stand in a line to wait for a table. Then after we asked for a table for two they want to put you at a table with a bunch of strangers. Would you go into a restaurant at home and asked to be seated at a table with people you don't know every time you go. Its different from having an assigned table where you meet the people and then the rest of the cruise they are not strangers.

On the last NCL cruise we were on the line at the door of the main dining room was so long on some days that they were handing out buzzers to notify you when a table was ready. Then on NCL you get a different table and waiter each day. So you never really get to know your wait staff, and they don't know you by name as they do on other cruise lines. And then when you pay gratuities they don't go to the people who waited on you, they go into a pot of money that is divided by the wait staff after the cruise. So the wait staff has little incentive to provide good service. I think that is the major concern of people who complain about NCL.

I also think that NCL is milking its passengers with those specialty restaurants that have a fee of up to $25 a person to eat.

On our last NCL cruise we had some other service issues that were inexcusable. So I will never go on another NCL cruise.

I think that if you have been on a celebrity cruise and loved it, you WILL NOT like a NCL cruise.

Answer 2

Well... NCL has a bad reputation.  But they're investing $1 Billion this year to improve things.  I recently visited Norwegian Pearl and was very pleasantly surprised.

Pictures of Norwegian Pearl (with menus, price lists, etc.), here:

http://www.cruisesavvy.com/journals/savv...

Personally I'd wait 6 months to a year to see how widespread their improvements are, and at a minimum I'd stick to their newest ships (esp. Pearl), but they *are* trying.

BTW, wait times at restaurants are now a lot better because they have reservation screens all around the ship that tell you how full each restaurant is for different reservation times.  The new technology makes it all work much better.

Answer 3

If you loved Celebrity, you won't like NCL.  You could go to CruiseCritic.com, click on "Reviews" ["Member Reviews"] and/or "Boards" to see what past cruisers think.

I know someone who has been on many Carnival cruises and decided to try NCL for something different.  Carnival is often maligned as being "the WalMart of cruises".  This person said that if Carnival is = WalMart, then NCL is = the Dollar Store.

I've never been on NCL and never will, but have been on Celebrity and other lines.  I loved Celebrity.

Answer 4

CELEBRITY CRUISE LINE THE BEST!!!!!

NCL THE WORST!!!!!

I went on Celebrity Cruise Line just this past March and it was my first cruise.  Was on it for 2 weeks and LOVED it!  Food is excelent and they were wicked clean.  Hand wipes at EVERY station.  only $1100 for 2 weeks and I would go on Celebrity again.

The staff were wicked friendly and they cleaned the room 2 times a day.  When I go on another cruise I will DEFINATLY go Celebrity.

I looked up NCL and found nothing but horrid reviews such as one ship being infested with BED BUGS!!!!!  

Then someone said when they finally were able to check into their room on their NCL cruise their room was STILL DIRTY from the last people that were in it, and there were stains everywhere some of which were blood stains.

My bestfriend from college told me someone she knew took NCL and could not stand it at all.  They said their so called freestyle cruising was no where near free at all.  They have 5 resteraunts on the ship, and what they don't tell you is you have to pick a time to go to dinner ahead of time because the resteraunts only hold 70 people in each of the 5.  If you don't book dinner ahead of time then you are stuck eating at 11pm at night.

Trust me once you go Celebrity you will never go on any other cruise line.

Bottom line NCL can invest however much money it wants it still won't make it any better, they will always suck.

Celebrity is the best.

Answer 5

NCL is the worst i have ever been on,the food the service , is just so nothing more, I call it the big X for Celebrity, the best all around ,sorry NCL you suck in all categories .