NCL Vs DCL

[irwins0001]

Has anyone cruised NCL before? Is it good for children ages 6 and 2? Is the adult activities and food better than DCL?
Thanks.....I will be cruising over New Year's.

 

[NCRedding]

On NCL, it makes a big difference what ship you are on. The newer ships have much better amenities including the kid's areas. The older ships are more likely to use lounges and public areas for their kid's stuff.

I've sailed NCL twice on the older ships; I enjoyed my cruises, but they are not really comparable to DCL. I thought the food on DCL was better. DD was lumped in with kids 6-12 (when she was almost 13), so she felt the kid's club activities were too young for her.

I enjoyed the trivia contests on NCL--they had about 2 per day, and we enjoy those. We also did a Hawaiian cruise, so we had hula lessons, and lessons about Hawaii. They also had a good number of craft classes. Some of the ships have casinos (the Hawaiian one didn't)

I thought we got a good value for the money we paid, but try not to compare it to DCL, since they are very different cruise lines.

 

[Weegl]

I thought we got a good value for the money we paid, but try not to compare it to DCL, since they are very different cruise lines.

I agree. We did NCL once, got pretty good value for the money, but it didn't match the experiences we've had on RCI,DCL and Celebrity.

I've never been on a "bad" cruise, so I can only tell whaty experiences rank better than others...NCL, unfortunately, did not measure up to the others.

 

[irwins0001]

Thanks for the replies. The NCL ship is the Jewel, leaving out of Miami on Dec 30th. I think it is one of their newer ships.

 

[Ham Ham]

Cyptmwnclsf

 

[M4travels]

Cyptmwnclsf

Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL)

 

[MissMet]

The only thing I LOVE more about NCL than any other line is the Freestyle Dinning. I love to pick what time I want to eat that day & only eat with my family. I went on the NCL Dawn out of NY & I loved it! I wish DCL's new ships would do the freestyle dinning, don't know about you guys but I don't like to be told when to eat, where to eat or who to eat with. The Dawn had 10 restaurants to choose from & you made your reservations day of- I love that.

But in the end how could you not still love DCL? If DCL ever changed to Freestyle Dinning, I don't think I'd ever consider any other type of vacations.

 

[Ham Ham]

Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL)

Thanks

 

[justmestace]

Thanks for the replies. The NCL ship is the Jewel, leaving out of Miami on Dec 30th. I think it is one of their newer ships.

We'll be stepping off the Jewel as you're getting on!

We've done Disney 6 times, and this will be our 3rd NCL cruise. I'm really looking forward to having more dining choices on the Jewel. We were more limited in that area on the Dream, but had a few more on the Sun.
The kids programs are pretty good, even compared to DCL. Seems like the kids were always having a blast, and I've met some of the counselors and they seem to really enjoy working with the kids.

We love the added trivia games, too....and games like Family Feud. Seems there are more of these on NCL than Disney.
Of course, I happen to enjoy sneaking in to the casino for a little fun when the kids are busy elsewhere.......

All in all, we've enjoyed NCL...particularly the fact that we can cruise different itineraries with them, and the fact that it's less expensive....but we still love Disney. I don't think anything really honestly does compare.

 

[M4travels]

We've cruised NCL twice, once back in the 80s and then over Thanksgiving 2005. We've no children so I can't comment on that but we were very pleased with the Freestyle Cruising. There will be those who don't like it, and that's fine, but we were quite happy to decide what we wanted to eat that evening, make our reservation in the morning, and enjoy the rest of the day. Some of those restaurants require an upcharge, but with the deal we got on the suite we had extra money in our account to pay for them.

I really did enjoy the entertainment and having a casino onboard was great. I don't spend a lot of time gambling, but I enjoy it. I can't do that on Disney, but it also doesn't make it a deal breaker for Disney either (4th and 5th on DCL already booked).

The thing I really disliked about NCL was their bingo. Dislike is actually too nice. I hated it. I felt it was poorly run, the use of their bingo machines wasn't explained well, and it just seemed to be chaos. That said, I only played one session and it didn't ruin my cruise!

I would sail on them again in a heartbeat. Actually, I'd sail on most lines in a heartbeat (well, except easycruise; they're just scary!!!).

Michael

 

[Heather98012]

I've only cruised NCL once, & really didn't enjoy it that much. The ship was older & run down. I HATED the food; honestly, it was really sub par. However, I did love the Freestyle dining choices....I just wanted the food to be better!

I would have to have a really compelling reason to cruise NCL again. If I heard the newer ships were nicer with more ammenities & the food was better, I'd likely try it again.

Now Celebrity...mmmm...that's my idea of yummy food! I can't wait to try DCL's, though!

 

[yndygo]

Cyptmwnclsf

NCL was easier to figure out than that! lol...

Do you know how long it took me to figure out that stood for "can you please tell me what ncl stands for"???

 

[tvguy]

The only thing I LOVE more about NCL than any other line is the Freestyle Dinning. I love to pick what time I want to eat that day & only eat with my family.:

Different strokes for different folks. We cruised NCL in the 1980's and LOVED IT. NCL got my wife and I hooked on cruising.
We cruised them this past June....oh my gosh, what a DISASTER Freestyle was. Now, if you make a point of booking your dining time 24 hours in advance, you can get the time you want. It took 2 days (and two waits of over 90 minutes) for me to figure that out.
And on NCL to Hawaii, the ship is really not much more than a floating hotel, it isn't a destination like the Disney ships (or on NCL ships of the past).

My point is, we had a great time on our latest NCL cruise, but in a far different way way than on Disney. The ports were the saving grace on NCL Hawaii.

 

[Ham Ham]

oops

 

[Ham Ham]

NCL was easier to figure out than that! lol...

Do you know how long it took me to figure out that stood for "can you please tell me what ncl stands for"???

Wow..... you are so smart.

Sorry for not knowing every acronym.

 

[speakupjc]

They are 2 very different ships but both are beautiful. The Jewel is new and very lovely. We enjoyed the option of freestyle dining. If you dine before 5:30 PM the up charge is (1 person free) not as much which really helps. We did feel that they were nickle and diming us to death but besdies that we loved the cruise.

 

[yndygo]

Wow..... you are so smart.

Sorry for not knowing every acronym.

Um, that sounds like you thought I was attacking or denigrating you - that was certainly not my intent.
I'm sorry if it came across that way!!

I thought the smiley indicated that, but I'm sorry if I upset you!

 

[outahere]

We just cruised on the Norwegian Pearl (the newest sister ship to the Jewel - not counting the Gem - she has not yet gone into service) a couple of weeks ago. If you want to eat in any of the specialty restaurants, make sure you try to get reservations early the morning before - they fill up quickly. The Japanese steakhouse only seats 96 people in one night - 3 seatings of 32 each - and is really tough to get. Our DS13 didn't go to any of the kid's activities, so I can't comment on those.

We were very UNPLEASANTLY surprised at a couple of the nightly shows - they were totally inappropriate for children, even though there were many in the audience. We did talk to the Cruise Director about it, so maybe they will calm it down a little.

All in all, it was a great cruise (Alaska is beautiful!) and we would probably do it again. It was much more casual than DCL (if that's possible). Jeans were allowed in all but one dining room each night, so we completely overpacked.

 

[tadsdaddy]

Having just finished an NCLA cruise on Pride of Aloha around Hawaii, it is worth mentioning that NCLA (Norwegian Cruise Line of America) and NCL should probably be considered two different cruise lines for the purpose of comparison.

We had a great cruise being in port everyday on 4 different islands, but the ship service was sub-par. Our stateroom was so dirty I took pictures, and it was poorly serviced throughout the week.

The freestyle dining is not for us. It was bearable since we had a group of 11 and therefore could make reservations on the first day for the whole week, but we prefer the same wait staff each night and quicker service than what we experienced.

Our one NCL service experience was much better than this one NCLA service experience, and DCL still tops our list. Hawaii was great though (in case DCL is reading this).

 

[TexasGirl]

One of the best things about NCL is that they allow 2 year olds in their Kid's Clubs. Only 2 lines do..Carnival & NCL. I wish DCL did. It is so much better than Flounders for that age. Oh well. I mention it as I saw you had a 2 year old. I'm sure you knew that tidbit but if not... Big Advantage to NCL.