NCL (newer ships) vs. DCL with older teens/YA?

[DCLDVC1]

Sometimes, I feel like some DCL cruisers are trying to scare people off of trying other cruise lines.

I think a few are also trying to justify their decision to spend more on a DCL cruise and some are scared to try something different.

 

[starvenger]

I think yes, to a certain extent. Shorter cruises are generally cheaper so guests may decide they can afford a beverage package...and use it DH & I buy a beverage package every time we sail (granted 7 nights or longer) and honestly, we have never encountered behavior that would turn us off of any cruise line entirely. It's not a cheap option and for the majority of people, it's not a deal - I consider it more like the Disney Dining Plan. You're paying mostly for convenience. We just like the feeling of having everything paid for before we step onboard.

This has been my observation but I haven't done anything shorter than a 5 day for any cruise line or AI resort, and of course it's a miniscule sample size. Regardless, my anecdotal report is that I have seen people go "all in" with the drinking on Day 1, and it tapers off after that - I presume that a Day 2 hangover helps people understand their limitations.

 

[mevelandry]

This has been my observation but I haven't done anything shorter than a 5 day for any cruise line or AI resort, and of course it's a miniscule sample size. Regardless, my anecdotal report is that I have seen people go "all in" with the drinking on Day 1, and it tapers off after that - I presume that a Day 2 hangover helps people understand their limitations.

That makes sense. I have also noticed that the ambiance on my short cruises tend to go from energetic to quiet after 2 nights.

 

[Pens Fan]

The most obnoxious drunken behavior I've ever witnessed on a cruise was on the DCL Fantasy. Two obviously intoxicated men were right by the elevators off of the atrium screaming at each, dropping F bombs, etc. They started shoving each other and finally security intervened. This was right as dinner was letting out and the area was full of families.

On our three NCL cruises, we've never seen anything like that - not even close. Could it happen? Yes. Could it happen on any cruise - no matter what company? Yes.

We've enjoyed our NCL cruises (we think the food is much better than DCL, though I prefer DCL entertainment) and look forward to future cruises on them.

 

[Ol Goof]

I’m so excited to try the different restaurants and food on NCL! Let’s face it after 18 cruises on DCL, I’m ready to try new menus. Lol.

 

[DCLCruiseFan09]

Hi. debating NCL Escape with young adult college "kids" for a family winter 2022 cruise. We love the family atmosphere, characters, movies, fun times on DCL. But, with kids 20-24, thinking maybe they'd like the entertainment venues (we've seen the (great) DCL shows a few times now) and other activities of a NCL big ship? I'm somewhat concerned about the "Free" drink packages offered and saw a couple of not great reviews re. a lot of drinking cause it's free (as well as lots of overall positive reviews). Looking for others' experience on Escape, Encore, Breakaway, etc. We've been on the Epic 8 years ago and (except for weird room layout, crowded breakfast buffet, and poor layout/overcrowding of pools area), liked it.

I went on the Epic as my first cruise ever back in 2018. Lets just say... I would never go on that ship again but I am very willing to try another Norwegian ship to see if its a better fit.

 

[Marthasor]

A T-shirt made you decide never to cruise on NCL again??? If I boycotted every business where people wore clothing I didn't like I'd never leave the house.

Their t-shirts indicated what type of atmosphere we would experience on a 7-night cruise. My "hunch" regarding their behavior was correct. It was party-central all week long on that NCL cruise, so, no, I'm not sailing on NCL again. Why would I? That is not the type of environment my family wants to be in the midst of after shelling out thousands of dollars for a vacation. I have never, thank goodness, seen "Drunk 1" and "Drunk 2" shirts worn on DCL or Celebrity - why? - because that is not the type of experience they are marketing or encouraging. Not a lot of unlimited drink packages being sold on DCL. NCL and Carnival are a different story - lots of booze and partying - no, thank you. I wouldn't give a rat's behind if I saw someone wear that shirt in a grocery store, restaurant, bank or other retail establishment as I don't have to sit on pool deck all week long with "Drunk 1" when I'm simply looking for carrots in a produce aisle. I'm sure you understand the difference. No, I don't want to go on nor do I want to bring my children on a multi-night cruise with "Drunk 1" and "Drunk 2". If that floats your boat, go for it.

 

[Marthasor]

I am curious as whether the cruise length plays a factor in the amount of drunkenness on a ship. Would a package on a 3-5 night cruise cause more people to go on a drinking binge? Do people treat the package on a longer cruise like a marathon instead of a sprint?

I think it's length of cruise and destination. We've cruised the Caribbean, Bahamas, Alaska, South America, Europe and the South Pacific and saw far, far more drunk people on the Caribbean and Bahamas cruises. I guess it makes sense - I suppose most people are more interested in chilling on a beach in the Caribbean and the Bahamas, whereas the other destinations were more about exploring the ports for most people.

 

[DCLMP]

Their t-shirts indicated what type of atmosphere we would experience on a 7-night cruise. My "hunch" regarding their behavior was correct. It was party-central all week long on that NCL cruise, so, no, I'm not sailing on NCL again. Why would I? That is not the type of environment my family wants to be in the midst of after shelling out thousands of dollars for a vacation. I have never, thank goodness, seen "Drunk 1" and "Drunk 2" shirts worn on DCL or Celebrity - why? - because that is not the type of experience they are marketing or encouraging. Not a lot of unlimited drink packages being sold on DCL. NCL and Carnival are a different story - lots of booze and partying - no, thank you. I wouldn't give a rat's behind if I saw someone wear that shirt in a grocery store, restaurant, bank or other retail establishment as I don't have to sit on pool deck all week long with "Drunk 1" when I'm simply looking for carrots in a produce aisle. I'm sure you understand the difference. No, I don't want to go on nor do I want to bring my children on a multi-night cruise with "Drunk 1" and "Drunk 2". If that floats your boat, go for it.

I'm not trying to defend NCL I've never sailed on them, but I don't think two people's shirts represent the thousands of passengers on a cruise ship. I've seen some very inappropriate attire and plenty of drunk people at WDW and on DCL Disney is certainly not immune to strange customers. If you go on enough Disney cruises you will see just about everything.

 

[DCLMP]

The most obnoxious drunken behavior I've ever witnessed on a cruise was on the DCL Fantasy. Two obviously intoxicated men were right by the elevators off of the atrium screaming at each, dropping F bombs, etc. They started shoving each other and finally security intervened. This was right as dinner was letting out and the area was full of families.

On our three NCL cruises, we've never seen anything like that - not even close. Could it happen? Yes. Could it happen on any cruise - no matter what company? Yes.

We've enjoyed our NCL cruises (we think the food is much better than DCL, though I prefer DCL entertainment) and look forward to future cruises on them.

I saw two families go to blows in Iceland waiting in line to get back on the Magic. Security had to come out and they were still screaming at each other on the ship. Stuff happens on every cruise line. Disney might be a little better because people tend to behave better when they are around kids, but I've cruised other cruise lines in the Caribbean and haven't noticed a difference in people's alcohol consumption.

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

Their t-shirts indicated what type of atmosphere we would experience on a 7-night cruise. My "hunch" regarding their behavior was correct. It was party-central all week long on that NCL cruise, so, no, I'm not sailing on NCL again. Why would I? That is not the type of environment my family wants to be in the midst of after shelling out thousands of dollars for a vacation. I have never, thank goodness, seen "Drunk 1" and "Drunk 2" shirts worn on DCL or Celebrity - why? - because that is not the type of experience they are marketing or encouraging. Not a lot of unlimited drink packages being sold on DCL. NCL and Carnival are a different story - lots of booze and partying - no, thank you. I wouldn't give a rat's behind if I saw someone wear that shirt in a grocery store, restaurant, bank or other retail establishment as I don't have to sit on pool deck all week long with "Drunk 1" when I'm simply looking for carrots in a produce aisle. I'm sure you understand the difference. No, I don't want to go on nor do I want to bring my children on a multi-night cruise with "Drunk 1" and "Drunk 2". If that floats your boat, go for it.

I recommend you avoid Epcot at all costs.

 

[TanaL]

We have sailed DCL, NCL, and RCCL with our kids. RCCL is our teens' top choice hands down. Primarily due to Coco Cay (which was absolutely amazing), but also the Flow Riders, climbing wall, zip line, etc. DCL has basically nothing for active teens. NCL we were on a ship with a go kart but not much else and the pool decks were so crowded you could barely walk around, much less find chairs together. I am not bothered by drinking in general, love a good pina colada in the sun, but there was noticeably more drinking-as-a-primary-activity compared to other lines. NCL is also where my 18 year old son enjoyed sitting in the hot tub and met some some generous folks who shared their unlimited drink package and bought him several drinks. Not my favorite vacation memory and could have turned out much worse than it did.

Dining - On DCL we love the main restaurants and Palo (haven't tried Remy), except when we're stuck at a table crowded close to other tables which has only happened a few times. NCL we enjoyed the upcharge specialty restaurants but the main dining option was meh and truly dangerous with their cavalier approach to my son's food allergy. On RCCL we had the concierge dining and that was a blessing as it saved us from the main dining room which was horrible in atmosphere, food, and service (though to be fair we only gave it one chance). Breakfast and lunch buffets/quick dining were about the same on all 3 lines.

Service - NCL (not concierge) was a huge disappointment after sailing DCL (both concierge and non) so many times. For RCCL we booked concierge which was comparable to DCL concierge.

For future cruises with our late teens/young adults, we will absolutely choose RCCL and an itinerary that includes Coco Cay. No matter what line we're on, we typically plan for watersports at Caribbean ports and have several great memories of that, like hydroboarding (Grand Cayman), cliff jumping (Jamaica), river tubing (Jamaica), snorkeling with aqua scooters (St Kitts), waterslides (Nasssau - Atlantis), etc.

 

[jujubiee4]

We have sailed DCL, NCL, and RCCL with our kids. RCCL is our teens' top choice hands down. Primarily due to Coco Cay (which was absolutely amazing), but also the Flow Riders, climbing wall, zip line, etc. DCL has basically nothing for active teens. NCL we were on a ship with a go kart but not much else and the pool decks were so crowded you could barely walk around, much less find chairs together. I am not bothered by drinking in general, love a good pina colada in the sun, but there was noticeably more drinking-as-a-primary-activity compared to other lines. NCL is also where my 18 year old son enjoyed sitting in the hot tub and met some some generous folks who shared their unlimited drink package and bought him several drinks. Not my favorite vacation memory and could have turned out much worse than it did.

Dining - On DCL we love the main restaurants and Palo (haven't tried Remy), except when we're stuck at a table crowded close to other tables which has only happened a few times. NCL we enjoyed the upcharge specialty restaurants but the main dining option was meh and truly dangerous with their cavalier approach to my son's food allergy. On RCCL we had the concierge dining and that was a blessing as it saved us from the main dining room which was horrible in atmosphere, food, and service (though to be fair we only gave it one chance). Breakfast and lunch buffets/quick dining were about the same on all 3 lines.

Service - NCL (not concierge) was a huge disappointment after sailing DCL (both concierge and non) so many times. For RCCL we booked concierge which was comparable to DCL concierge.

For future cruises with our late teens/young adults, we will absolutely choose RCCL and an itinerary that includes Coco Cay. No matter what line we're on, we typically plan for watersports at Caribbean ports and have several great memories of that, like hydroboarding (Grand Cayman), cliff jumping (Jamaica), river tubing (Jamaica), snorkeling with aqua scooters (St Kitts), waterslides (Nasssau - Atlantis), etc.

Which Royal ship do you recommend?

 

[mevelandry]

Their t-shirts indicated what type of atmosphere we would experience on a 7-night cruise. My "hunch" regarding their behavior was correct. It was party-central all week long on that NCL cruise, so, no, I'm not sailing on NCL again. Why would I? That is not the type of environment my family wants to be in the midst of after shelling out thousands of dollars for a vacation. I have never, thank goodness, seen "Drunk 1" and "Drunk 2" shirts worn on DCL or Celebrity - why? - because that is not the type of experience they are marketing or encouraging. Not a lot of unlimited drink packages being sold on DCL. NCL and Carnival are a different story - lots of booze and partying - no, thank you. I wouldn't give a rat's behind if I saw someone wear that shirt in a grocery store, restaurant, bank or other retail establishment as I don't have to sit on pool deck all week long with "Drunk 1" when I'm simply looking for carrots in a produce aisle. I'm sure you understand the difference. No, I don't want to go on nor do I want to bring my children on a multi-night cruise with "Drunk 1" and "Drunk 2". If that floats your boat, go for it.

Have you ever set a foot on a Carnival ship? If you didn’t, please don’t spread that kind of false belief. You may not know that but unlike other cruise lines that offer drink packages, Carnival cap their drink package at 15 drinks.

I have sailed with Carnival 5 times now (2 Royal, 3 DCL) and I have only experienced one encounter with drunks on Carnival vs plenty on DCL. If Carnival was only booze/party cruises, I wouldn’t have sailed with them more than twice.

Just because DCL doesn’t sell drink packages —they do sell wine packages though!— doesn‘t mean adults don’t drink. Just because they do not advertize it by wearing a shirt doesn’t mean they are on their best behavior.

Don’t judge a book by its cover.

 

[Marthasor]

I'm not trying to defend NCL I've never sailed on them, but I don't think two people's shirts represent the thousands of passengers on a cruise ship. I've seen some very inappropriate attire and plenty of drunk people at WDW and on DCL Disney is certainly not immune to strange customers. If you go on enough Disney cruises you will see just about everything.

I'm Platinum on DCL. I have not seen on DCL what I've seen on NCL and Carnival. Could it happen? Of course. It's the very reason I don't go to EP F&W on weekends. Been there, done that, not our scene.

I recommend you avoid Epcot at all costs.

See above. We don't go to EP on F&W weekends.

Have you ever set a foot on a Carnival ship? If you didn’t, please don’t spread that kind of false belief. You may not know that but unlike other cruise lines that offer drink packages, Carnival cap their drink package at 15 drinks.

I have sailed with Carnival 5 times now (2 Royal, 3 DCL) and I have only experienced one encounter with drunks on Carnival vs plenty on DCL. If Carnival was only booze/party cruises, I wouldn’t have sailed with them more than twice.

Just because DCL doesn’t sell drink packages —they do sell wine packages though!— doesn‘t mean adults don’t drink. Just because they do not advertize it by wearing a shirt doesn’t mean they are on their best behavior.

Don’t judge a book by its cover.

I'm glad you had a good experience on Carnival. We did not like Carnival when we sailed. I've sailed on 8 cruise lines, both big and small. Some of our NCL cruises were fine, but the drinking on top of the fairly poor service on our last cruise with them made us stop going on that line. Carnival wasn't our thing. Obviously many people like NCL and Carnival or they wouldn't remain in business. I also don't like Six Flags or Ft. Lauderdale during spring break. Some people do, some people don't. I will avoid those places and others who enjoy those experiences can continue going. Why does my preference regarding cruise line atmosphere matter to anyone on this thread? Every cruise line is selling a different type of product. After many cruises, we found we, generally, do not like large ships or bigger cruise lines. I also prefer the Magic and Wonder to the Dream and Fantasy. I certainly believe the stories I've read about drunk people on DCL on this thread, it's just nothing we've encountered, personally. I think everyone should do their research to see if the cruise line and ship they are thinking of booking is a good match for the type of vacation they are looking for. Someone asked for our opinions on NCL and I gave mine after having sailed with them four times. I'll give my opinion and you can give yours. I believe that's how it works on these boards.

 

[mevelandry]

I'm Platinum on DCL. I have not seen on DCL what I've seen on NCL and Carnival. Could it happen? Of course. It's the very reason I don't go to EP F&W on weekends. Been there, done that, not our scene.



See above. We don't go to EP on F&W weekends.



I'm glad you had a good experience on Carnival. We did not like Carnival when we sailed. I've sailed on 8 cruise lines, both big and small. Some of our NCL cruises were fine, but the drinking on top of the fairly poor service on our last cruise with them made us stop going on that line. Carnival wasn't our thing. Obviously many people like NCL and Carnival or they wouldn't remain in business. I also don't like Six Flags or Ft. Lauderdale during spring break. Some people do, some people don't. I will avoid those places and others who enjoy those experiences can continue going. Why does my preference regarding cruise line atmosphere matter to anyone on this thread? Every cruise line is selling a different type of product. After many cruises, we found we, generally, do not like large ships or bigger cruise lines. I also prefer the Magic and Wonder to the Dream and Fantasy. I certainly believe the stories I've read about drunk people on DCL on this thread, it's just nothing we've encountered, personally. I think everyone should do their research to see if the cruise line and ship they are thinking of booking is a good match for the type of vacation they are looking for. Someone asked for our opinions on NCL and I gave mine after having sailed with them four times. I'll give my opinion and you can give yours. I believe that's how it works on these boards.

Ok so you had a bad experience. Sounds fair. You had not mentioned that in your previous post.

My bug with it is mostly because it was a blanket statement. ("Lots of booze and partying").

Unfortunately, we encounter a lot of people who say bad things about other cruise lines without ever having set a foot on their ship ... or at best they have tried them once 20 years ago (when a lot of changes have been made in the most recent years, especially in Carnival's) to make them more and more family friendly...

 

[starvenger]

Which Royal ship do you recommend?

I think if you like the size of DCL Dream/Fantasy then I'd say Voyager class will work for you. Navigator and Adventure were recently refreshed so maybe look at those specifically. Adventure has also just started sailing again and a lot of the cruise YouTubers (plus a crew member named Jordan) have videos up.

If you want to go "all in" with the Royal experience then I'd go with an Oasis or Quantum class ship. I've heard from former colleagues that Quantum class was good for Alaska because of the observation pod. Oasis class you get ice shows, water shows, a carousel, and even a small park.

And then there's Freedom class, which is still pretty huge relative to DCL, but feels a bit more like a "traditional" cruise ship compared to Oasis and Quantum.

 

[ldo]

OP here. Yes, I did ask about excessive drinking on NCL, after I read a few negative review and NCL offering "free" unlimited drink packages. I appreciate everyone's responses.

 

[TanaL]

Which Royal ship do you recommend?

We were on the Oasis with our teens. The Flow Rider was the biggest hit. Actually Coco Cay was the biggest hit but Flow Rider was a favorite on board. I was surprised because we like the smaller ships on DCL but the size of the Oasis was fine. It seemed better laid out than the DCL Fantasy.

 

[jujubiee4]

We were on the Oasis with our teens. The Flow Rider was the biggest hit. Actually Coco Cay was the biggest hit but Flow Rider was a favorite on board. I was surprised because we like the smaller ships on DCL but the size of the Oasis was fine. It seemed better laid out than the DCL Fantasy.

Thank you for this. The size of the ship makes me nervous. Funny I never mind them wandering DCL
ships but looking at the Oasis size...yikes. Im glad you said it is well laid out. I'm not going to lie we
are Platinum and I sometimes still get lost on the fantasy lol.

I just took a look at Coco Cay video on youtube. That will be a huge hit! Just curious how you found
the price comparisons? I remember someone posting here that went on both and said when all was
said and done Royal was cheaper but not by much. Maybe I should look on Costco.