jeppler
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2006
Well, after 4 DCL cruises on both the Magic and the Wonder the DW and I just returned from a 7 day Bahamas cruise on the 4 month old, brand new NCL Gem. I’m a big DCL fan so the chance to make a comparison was appealing. Plus, we sailed out of New York and saved airfare to MCO.
Overall, we had a great time on NCL, but here are some observations:
-Terminal building- Disney by a mile, the NCL building at the pier in New York was little more than a warehouse. And, do I need to compare the porters at DCL to the longshoremen handling luggage at the NY piers ?
-Embarkation- Disney again, knows how to move and handle huge numbers of people, We would have been in a line of 500 or more people, had we not had express embarkation because of our suite upgrade.
-Sail Away Party – NCL tried hard, champagne for all passengers upon boarding, and a live band in the big nightclub, along with barbeque stations on deck. Nobody lingered long up there, after all, it was February in New York. But, you don’t get the all-encompassing party atmosphere of DCL.
-Lobby- The NCL Gem was pretty, colorful, with a huge 2 story high Wii screen for the kids to play on. Much more cozy furniture and a bar right in the lobby, and a huge guest services desk, 3 times as large as the Magic.
-Lunch on boarding- buffet embarkation was a zoo. We should have gone to the main dining room for a sit down lunch. Nowhere left to sit when we got there, and we boarded pretty early due to our upgrade. No trays on NCL, they believe it’s too much trouble to sanitize them and also believe it prevents people from taking way too much food the first time through the line. But, try carrying your plate, drink, napkins, forks, desserts, etc without one.
-Cabins- our “mini-suite” was nice, about 290 sq ft. Right at the back of the ship, deck 10, looking at the wake of the ship as we sailed. Big balcony, 2 chairs, a lounger and a table. Huge closet, plenty of storage, coffee maker, DVD player, 36 inch flat screen TV and the usual lack of AC outlets.
-Private Island – Do I even have to say it? There is no place like Castaway Cay. All the rest of the cruise lines are just pretending. On NCL we tendered into the “private” island. The beach was about half the area of the family beach on CC and we were packed in like sardines. Mad rush for lounge chairs, no umbrellas and very little shade. Lunch was not up to par either. Buffet lines laid out badly, no trays, soda was extra $$ and a separate line and wait at another hut. Bathroom facilities were adequate, but not DCL-level clean. Tenders coming and going all day, so the whole deserted island “experience” just wasn’t there. Parasailing was ok, the crew was a laugh riot and one of the guys sailed after we all had done it and he hung himself upside down in the harness, about 100 ft in the air while we took pictures.
-the Shows- good live band, great comedian, pretty good magician and thr late night adult lounge acts and parties were on par with DCL.
-the Crew- we were really impressed, every person on the crew was friendly, helpful and tried hard to make sure we had a great time.
- Food- Entrees were possibly better on NCL and the specialty restaurants were fun and nicely decorated. The main ding room was beautiful. NCL messed up one of our reservations one night and we waited 30 minutes to be seated. They said someone had come in and claimed to have a reservation they didn't find, and after seating them, they got backed somehow. "Hey, not my problem, get me my reserved table". They did offer us a free glass of wine to shut us up. One minor problem, NCL has absolutely no “adults only” restaurants, you could end up sitting next to a noisy family with kids in any restaurant, anytime. Disney killed NCL with desserts, though. Nothing even came close to what we were used to.
Would we do NCL again ? Yes, it’s different than “coming home” to the Magic, but still worth the time and money. And hey, even a bad cruise day is better than a good day at work…
Overall, we had a great time on NCL, but here are some observations:
-Terminal building- Disney by a mile, the NCL building at the pier in New York was little more than a warehouse. And, do I need to compare the porters at DCL to the longshoremen handling luggage at the NY piers ?
-Embarkation- Disney again, knows how to move and handle huge numbers of people, We would have been in a line of 500 or more people, had we not had express embarkation because of our suite upgrade.
-Sail Away Party – NCL tried hard, champagne for all passengers upon boarding, and a live band in the big nightclub, along with barbeque stations on deck. Nobody lingered long up there, after all, it was February in New York. But, you don’t get the all-encompassing party atmosphere of DCL.
-Lobby- The NCL Gem was pretty, colorful, with a huge 2 story high Wii screen for the kids to play on. Much more cozy furniture and a bar right in the lobby, and a huge guest services desk, 3 times as large as the Magic.
-Lunch on boarding- buffet embarkation was a zoo. We should have gone to the main dining room for a sit down lunch. Nowhere left to sit when we got there, and we boarded pretty early due to our upgrade. No trays on NCL, they believe it’s too much trouble to sanitize them and also believe it prevents people from taking way too much food the first time through the line. But, try carrying your plate, drink, napkins, forks, desserts, etc without one.
-Cabins- our “mini-suite” was nice, about 290 sq ft. Right at the back of the ship, deck 10, looking at the wake of the ship as we sailed. Big balcony, 2 chairs, a lounger and a table. Huge closet, plenty of storage, coffee maker, DVD player, 36 inch flat screen TV and the usual lack of AC outlets.
-Private Island – Do I even have to say it? There is no place like Castaway Cay. All the rest of the cruise lines are just pretending. On NCL we tendered into the “private” island. The beach was about half the area of the family beach on CC and we were packed in like sardines. Mad rush for lounge chairs, no umbrellas and very little shade. Lunch was not up to par either. Buffet lines laid out badly, no trays, soda was extra $$ and a separate line and wait at another hut. Bathroom facilities were adequate, but not DCL-level clean. Tenders coming and going all day, so the whole deserted island “experience” just wasn’t there. Parasailing was ok, the crew was a laugh riot and one of the guys sailed after we all had done it and he hung himself upside down in the harness, about 100 ft in the air while we took pictures.
-the Shows- good live band, great comedian, pretty good magician and thr late night adult lounge acts and parties were on par with DCL.
-the Crew- we were really impressed, every person on the crew was friendly, helpful and tried hard to make sure we had a great time.
- Food- Entrees were possibly better on NCL and the specialty restaurants were fun and nicely decorated. The main ding room was beautiful. NCL messed up one of our reservations one night and we waited 30 minutes to be seated. They said someone had come in and claimed to have a reservation they didn't find, and after seating them, they got backed somehow. "Hey, not my problem, get me my reserved table". They did offer us a free glass of wine to shut us up. One minor problem, NCL has absolutely no “adults only” restaurants, you could end up sitting next to a noisy family with kids in any restaurant, anytime. Disney killed NCL with desserts, though. Nothing even came close to what we were used to.
Would we do NCL again ? Yes, it’s different than “coming home” to the Magic, but still worth the time and money. And hey, even a bad cruise day is better than a good day at work…
