There are a lot of posts comparing DCL to other lines. But in all my research, I didnt really find one that covered my specific thoughts or concerns, other than piecemeal. On the theory that maybe there are others out there like us, I thought Id post our experience on NCL and give some comparison.
Who we are a family of 4, with a younger child and a pre-teen. We were interested in a Mediterranean cruise. We could theoretically have done June, but July is the best time for us to travel, given competing schedules. We desperately wanted to do Disney. We are Disney fans. We have been to the parks many times, and have done three Disney cruises. We had never cruised with any other line. We also wanted to do the major Mediterranean cities, not Greece yet. Maybe another cruise.
In the end, we could not justify the cost difference. Though extremely concerned about trying a non-Disney cruise, we ultimately settled on NCL Epic for a 7-day cruise. For this cruise, we wanted a balcony, and that turned out to be a sound decision. We booked two cabins and got a one balcony with an online cruise company it came in less than $5,000 for the two cabins, plus nearly $600 in OBC, which covered all the tips plus an excursion. While weve never done a Disney Med cruise, obviously, we have some basis for comparison having cruised thrice with Disney. Here are some thoughts in no particular order.
Cost. Speaks for itself. NCL is thousands cheaper, and for us was the difference between a balcony and two cabins or jamming 4 in an inside or an ocean view and then some. Obviously, the only reason to read this post is if youre interested in doing a Europe cruise for less money than Disney charges. When comparing, dont just look at the overall booking price of the cruise. There are some little differences. NCL charges for soda, so add that as a cost if its important to you. NCL excursions were a bit cheaper, like many $10 here or there, comparing on the web site. An adult on NCL is 13, so you get the child price for excursions for 12 year olds obviously this only applies to a small group, but if youre in that group, its a difference of hundreds of dollars.
Itinerary. I loved the NCL itinerary out of BCN. Basically, instead of going north and then around Italy in a clockwise direction, it head straight across the Mediterranean for a sea day, navigates the straits between Corsica and Sardinia, stops at Naples, and then goes back to BCN in a counterclockwise direction. I thought this was perfect. Epic is a large ship, and having the first day as a sea day to get to know it was nice. Plus, navigating the strait in the day was a highlight you are very close to Sardinia and we got some great pictures. If you are arriving in Europe well before the cruise, its not as important to have that first sea day be early, but if youre still working off jet lag, its really nice.
There are some other major itinerary differences obviously if youre looking at a 9- or 12- day, or a Venice start, its a completely different cruise. But with respect to the Western cities, the major differences are: (1) Epic goes to Marseilles not Villefranche and the Nice/Monaco area. (2) Epic goes to Palma not Valetta. (3) Epic docks in La Spezia instead of Livorno for the Pisa/Florence/Cinque Terre stop. Number 1 is significant. In my pre-cruise research, there was a lot of dumping on NCL for going to Marseilles and not the traditional southern France area. I think this is potentially significant, though would add that Marseilles was one of my very favorite stops. I thought it was fantastic. Cab rides into and out of the main part of town were 30 euro round trip, and the petite train ride up the hill to the top of the city was awesome. Its a beautiful city and though I imagine Villefranche is awesome, this drop off may not be as significant as one might think. Number 2 seems a wash. Both interesting places, and Id been to neither. Would have been happy with either. Number 3 is virtually irrelevant if youre going inland. We did a Pisa/Florence on your own excursion, and I cant imagine it would have mattered too much if our stop had been in La Spezia as opposed to Livorno. For Cinque Terre on your own, its a shorter trip from La Spezia. All ports for Epic are docked, no tender.
Stateroom. No comparison. Disneys are bigger. Epics also are poorly laid out. Though, I did notice that Epics cabins were a bit more intuitive and had some really neat features, like more power outlets and better lighting. Also, the on board television selection was better, as were the view from the bridge and cruise information channels which I really geek out on. One other thing, though, is that Epic has lots of parts that jut out and the cabins are not all uniform. We ended up with a huge balcony, which you can do with Epic if you plan and pay attention to stateroom maps. Epics interactive television is also much better you can do a lot from your room, from researching excursions to booking entertainment or dinner. Its really slick. No communication telephones on Epic, which is a downer. The bottom line, though, is that Disney state rooms set the standard for families travelling together, and Epic is not as good. This is a very port intensive cruise, though, so stateroom was not the be all and end all. In any event, solid check mark in Disneys camp.
Dining. No comparison here either. Epic wins hands down. Not close. Tons to choose from, and no rules in terms of when you have to show up. The regular (not fancy) dining room was better food than anything in any of the dining rooms on Disney. The specialty restaurants all had upcharges, but they werent that expensive and there were way more choices. I would rank Palo slightly ahead of anything on Epic, but for the sheer variety of choices, from brazillian steakhouses to Noodle bars, this is not a fair fight. Even the buffet food was far better than Disney and the buffet had much longer hours for example, if you wanted a freshmade strawberry crepe at 10:00 p.m. to bring back to your room, just head straight to the buffet.
Public areas. Disney is a bit more glamorous and the attention to detail in polishing every bit of brass the moment its smudged is where Disney excels. If this is important to you, you will miss this. But Epic is a pretty ship too, and its hardly dirty anywhere. You notice it in the little things department. Epic has a casino, which personally for me is a waste of space, but this one is like water slides. Either you want it or you dont. Epic had a few other things that were neat -- like the "wii wall" in the main area and bowling alleys. Definitely a bit more to do, although, again, this was a port intensive cruise.
Ship size. Epic is bigger than Magic, by a decent amount. It felt crowded once everyone got back from port. The smaller cabins also increase the feeling of crowdedness (since there are more people in a smaller area). Elevators got crowded at peak times. If you want the smaller ship experience, Epic can't compare, I don't think. It's more like a slightly more crowded Dream or Fantasy.
Pools and sun deck. Not a huge issue on a Mediterranean cruise, but a dip after a hot day of touring is nice. Epic wins. Bigger pools. More hot tubs. More deck chairs. More fun features like sprayers and water jets. If you have a family that cares about water slides, the ones on the Epic are water-park quality. None of the three are as good as the aquaduck, but combined they are better. The childrens water areas are comparable. Two downsides for Epic no funnel vision (except in the adults only pool where its awesome) and no unlimited pool towels. You get them on the first day and need to trade them in for new ones.
Kids clubs. Disney wins fairly easily. We used the NCL club, and our eldest was fine with it and enjoyed some of the activities, but it seems like DCL is better.
Entertainment. Not close. Epic has Blue Man group and Cirque Dinner, which were huge hits with the family and broadway good. It is hard to imagine much competition here on pretty much any ship. Obviously, there is no Disney theming and no pirate night. We missed this. But weve done it all a few times with Disney, and the Epic entertainment more than made up for it.
Logistics. Getting on and off the ship was a breeze. Luggage retrieval was a breeze. Disney seems so much harder by comparison. The NCL system is more efficient. There were no lines. Baggage delivery is at your choice in 15 minutes increments and is a snap to find. Choices of what to do on the ship on the last morning are more broad for Epic you have more choices.
Staff. Basically service was the same. The one thing I noticed was that in positions of importance Disneys more senior staff is more competent and able to deal with issues faster. That said, our luggage was lost by our airline, and NCL guest services worked tirelessly dealing with the airline to get our bags to us during our cruise, including handling some very touchy customs people in Rome. They gave us free laundry while our bags were lost, and toiletry packs with nice stuff and free t-shirts. Maybe DCL does the same. Not sure hope to never find out! Slight edge to Disney.
Anyway, this is a long post, and I hope its taken in the spirit intended. This is not meant to be critical of Disney or anything like that. We are Disney people who were really fearful about trying a non-Disney cruise. Vacation is important to us, and we save for it and really want things to go right. There were things about Disney we missed. But, the bottom line is that going on NCL was more than just making due. It actually had a few advantages and was a great vacation.
Edit: Just was looking at this post from a few months ago and noticed that all of the apostrophes are gone. How weird!
Who we are a family of 4, with a younger child and a pre-teen. We were interested in a Mediterranean cruise. We could theoretically have done June, but July is the best time for us to travel, given competing schedules. We desperately wanted to do Disney. We are Disney fans. We have been to the parks many times, and have done three Disney cruises. We had never cruised with any other line. We also wanted to do the major Mediterranean cities, not Greece yet. Maybe another cruise.
In the end, we could not justify the cost difference. Though extremely concerned about trying a non-Disney cruise, we ultimately settled on NCL Epic for a 7-day cruise. For this cruise, we wanted a balcony, and that turned out to be a sound decision. We booked two cabins and got a one balcony with an online cruise company it came in less than $5,000 for the two cabins, plus nearly $600 in OBC, which covered all the tips plus an excursion. While weve never done a Disney Med cruise, obviously, we have some basis for comparison having cruised thrice with Disney. Here are some thoughts in no particular order.
Cost. Speaks for itself. NCL is thousands cheaper, and for us was the difference between a balcony and two cabins or jamming 4 in an inside or an ocean view and then some. Obviously, the only reason to read this post is if youre interested in doing a Europe cruise for less money than Disney charges. When comparing, dont just look at the overall booking price of the cruise. There are some little differences. NCL charges for soda, so add that as a cost if its important to you. NCL excursions were a bit cheaper, like many $10 here or there, comparing on the web site. An adult on NCL is 13, so you get the child price for excursions for 12 year olds obviously this only applies to a small group, but if youre in that group, its a difference of hundreds of dollars.
Itinerary. I loved the NCL itinerary out of BCN. Basically, instead of going north and then around Italy in a clockwise direction, it head straight across the Mediterranean for a sea day, navigates the straits between Corsica and Sardinia, stops at Naples, and then goes back to BCN in a counterclockwise direction. I thought this was perfect. Epic is a large ship, and having the first day as a sea day to get to know it was nice. Plus, navigating the strait in the day was a highlight you are very close to Sardinia and we got some great pictures. If you are arriving in Europe well before the cruise, its not as important to have that first sea day be early, but if youre still working off jet lag, its really nice.
There are some other major itinerary differences obviously if youre looking at a 9- or 12- day, or a Venice start, its a completely different cruise. But with respect to the Western cities, the major differences are: (1) Epic goes to Marseilles not Villefranche and the Nice/Monaco area. (2) Epic goes to Palma not Valetta. (3) Epic docks in La Spezia instead of Livorno for the Pisa/Florence/Cinque Terre stop. Number 1 is significant. In my pre-cruise research, there was a lot of dumping on NCL for going to Marseilles and not the traditional southern France area. I think this is potentially significant, though would add that Marseilles was one of my very favorite stops. I thought it was fantastic. Cab rides into and out of the main part of town were 30 euro round trip, and the petite train ride up the hill to the top of the city was awesome. Its a beautiful city and though I imagine Villefranche is awesome, this drop off may not be as significant as one might think. Number 2 seems a wash. Both interesting places, and Id been to neither. Would have been happy with either. Number 3 is virtually irrelevant if youre going inland. We did a Pisa/Florence on your own excursion, and I cant imagine it would have mattered too much if our stop had been in La Spezia as opposed to Livorno. For Cinque Terre on your own, its a shorter trip from La Spezia. All ports for Epic are docked, no tender.
Stateroom. No comparison. Disneys are bigger. Epics also are poorly laid out. Though, I did notice that Epics cabins were a bit more intuitive and had some really neat features, like more power outlets and better lighting. Also, the on board television selection was better, as were the view from the bridge and cruise information channels which I really geek out on. One other thing, though, is that Epic has lots of parts that jut out and the cabins are not all uniform. We ended up with a huge balcony, which you can do with Epic if you plan and pay attention to stateroom maps. Epics interactive television is also much better you can do a lot from your room, from researching excursions to booking entertainment or dinner. Its really slick. No communication telephones on Epic, which is a downer. The bottom line, though, is that Disney state rooms set the standard for families travelling together, and Epic is not as good. This is a very port intensive cruise, though, so stateroom was not the be all and end all. In any event, solid check mark in Disneys camp.
Dining. No comparison here either. Epic wins hands down. Not close. Tons to choose from, and no rules in terms of when you have to show up. The regular (not fancy) dining room was better food than anything in any of the dining rooms on Disney. The specialty restaurants all had upcharges, but they werent that expensive and there were way more choices. I would rank Palo slightly ahead of anything on Epic, but for the sheer variety of choices, from brazillian steakhouses to Noodle bars, this is not a fair fight. Even the buffet food was far better than Disney and the buffet had much longer hours for example, if you wanted a freshmade strawberry crepe at 10:00 p.m. to bring back to your room, just head straight to the buffet.
Public areas. Disney is a bit more glamorous and the attention to detail in polishing every bit of brass the moment its smudged is where Disney excels. If this is important to you, you will miss this. But Epic is a pretty ship too, and its hardly dirty anywhere. You notice it in the little things department. Epic has a casino, which personally for me is a waste of space, but this one is like water slides. Either you want it or you dont. Epic had a few other things that were neat -- like the "wii wall" in the main area and bowling alleys. Definitely a bit more to do, although, again, this was a port intensive cruise.
Ship size. Epic is bigger than Magic, by a decent amount. It felt crowded once everyone got back from port. The smaller cabins also increase the feeling of crowdedness (since there are more people in a smaller area). Elevators got crowded at peak times. If you want the smaller ship experience, Epic can't compare, I don't think. It's more like a slightly more crowded Dream or Fantasy.
Pools and sun deck. Not a huge issue on a Mediterranean cruise, but a dip after a hot day of touring is nice. Epic wins. Bigger pools. More hot tubs. More deck chairs. More fun features like sprayers and water jets. If you have a family that cares about water slides, the ones on the Epic are water-park quality. None of the three are as good as the aquaduck, but combined they are better. The childrens water areas are comparable. Two downsides for Epic no funnel vision (except in the adults only pool where its awesome) and no unlimited pool towels. You get them on the first day and need to trade them in for new ones.
Kids clubs. Disney wins fairly easily. We used the NCL club, and our eldest was fine with it and enjoyed some of the activities, but it seems like DCL is better.
Entertainment. Not close. Epic has Blue Man group and Cirque Dinner, which were huge hits with the family and broadway good. It is hard to imagine much competition here on pretty much any ship. Obviously, there is no Disney theming and no pirate night. We missed this. But weve done it all a few times with Disney, and the Epic entertainment more than made up for it.
Logistics. Getting on and off the ship was a breeze. Luggage retrieval was a breeze. Disney seems so much harder by comparison. The NCL system is more efficient. There were no lines. Baggage delivery is at your choice in 15 minutes increments and is a snap to find. Choices of what to do on the ship on the last morning are more broad for Epic you have more choices.
Staff. Basically service was the same. The one thing I noticed was that in positions of importance Disneys more senior staff is more competent and able to deal with issues faster. That said, our luggage was lost by our airline, and NCL guest services worked tirelessly dealing with the airline to get our bags to us during our cruise, including handling some very touchy customs people in Rome. They gave us free laundry while our bags were lost, and toiletry packs with nice stuff and free t-shirts. Maybe DCL does the same. Not sure hope to never find out! Slight edge to Disney.
Anyway, this is a long post, and I hope its taken in the spirit intended. This is not meant to be critical of Disney or anything like that. We are Disney people who were really fearful about trying a non-Disney cruise. Vacation is important to us, and we save for it and really want things to go right. There were things about Disney we missed. But, the bottom line is that going on NCL was more than just making due. It actually had a few advantages and was a great vacation.
Edit: Just was looking at this post from a few months ago and noticed that all of the apostrophes are gone. How weird!
) so the only difference I saw (other than size ) was the Aqua Duck and the Midship Detective Agency and the Bibbidy Bobbidy Boo boutique (no loss!). While the kids will miss them they're looking forward to the character breakfasts and Friendship Rocks show back on the Magic.
