Royal Caribbean or Norwegian Cruise Line?

[The Pink Cupcake]

For those of you that have cruised both, which do you prefer? Why?

Will do an eastern or western Caribbean.

We want a mid priced cruise and these seem to fit the bill. Did Disney Cruise and loved it Just wanting to knock the price back a bit for our next one, as we have other family members going.

Any other suggestions (or cruise lines) are gladly welcomed

 

[JessicaR]

My answer is both depending on the ship.

We did Epic on NCL last year and it was excellent. I think that you may be able to do better on price with RCCL. Either option is great!

 

[maslex]

We've done both. Norwegian twice and Royal Caribbean once. Even though the RC one was okay, I didn't care for the ship (Monarch of the Seas, an older one)

We've also done Disney once and LOVED it!!!! Booked another one for the new ship next year (Fantasy). We're doing Carnival this year, it'll be new to us so we'll see.

Norwegian and Disney has been our faves so far out of the ones we've done. We like the freestyle of Norwegian and Disney is just.....well Disney!!!

I say either one would be a great cruise (just pick a newer ship lol)

Have a great time!!!

 

[TaraPA]

We've done both, and we prefer RCCL. The staff was exceptional, as was the entertainment, excursions & shows. No complaints about NCL, just not up to par with what we experienced on 2 RCCL cruises. Would I cruise NCL again? Absolutely. Honestly I'd go with whicever one has the price & itinerary you're looking for. We did Eastern Caribbean, Western Carribean, Southern Carribean & Bermuda between the 2. Loved them all!

 

[The Pink Cupcake]

I didn't put Carnival, b/c most people snub their noses when you mention it I have no idea if it is good or bad. Their prices look great.

I would LOVE to do DCL again. Just not in the cards for the next vacation.

 

[TaraPA]

Carnival snooty? Not our impression at all! We cruised them once & it was anything but snooty - and it was awful. Just our experience but it was a party ship, not even close to NCL or RCCL in terms of good service, food & entertainment. It was a whole different crowd than the others. Carnival was more a spring break crowd when we went!

 

[The Pink Cupcake]

Carnival snooty? Not our impression at all! We cruised them once & it was anything but snooty - and it was awful. Just our experience but it was a party ship, not even close to NCL or RCCL in terms of good service, food & entertainment. It was a whole different crowd than the others. Carnival was more a spring break crowd when we went!

No. No. I mean people get snooty and turn their nose up AT Carnival. Like "Yuck! How could you ever cruise Carnival!?!"

 

[TaraPA]

Oh duh! Sorry, I misunderstood!

 

[marybet]

I've been on 9 Carnival cruises and highly recommend them. We have never found them to be a "party ship" but then we don't cruise during Spring Break either! We did one NCL cruise and didn't like it, the food wasn't as good and we really didn't like Freestyly dining. We like having the same wait staff at dinner. Carnival's cabins are larger too.

I really don't care what other people think about Carnival. The prices are great, we can drive to different ports, the food is good and so is the entertainment.

The thing to remember is that most cruise lines are more alike than different. Disney doesn't fall into that category but Carnival, RCCL, NCL, Holland and Princess are very similar.

You can find a lot of info on CruiseCritic.com. Make a list of what you want to do on your cruise, where you want to go, what size ship you like and then do a little research to see which cruise line meets your needs. Good luck!

 

[marybet]

Carnival snooty? Not our impression at all! We cruised them once & it was anything but snooty - and it was awful. Just our experience but it was a party ship, not even close to NCL or RCCL in terms of good service, food & entertainment. It was a whole different crowd than the others. Carnival was more a spring break crowd when we went!

Just curious but was your Carnival cruise a shorter cruise, 3 or 4 days? Shorter cruises usually have more of a party crowd.

I have not sailed on RCCL but I did sail on NCL. I really didn't notice a different crowd from Carnival, seemed to be about the same mix of people. My experience was different then yours, we thought the food on Carnival was way better then NCL. NCL has a lot of restaurants with an extra charge, we did not eat in any of them but the food was supposed to be better. Since the fare on NCL was higher, we saw no reason to have to spend even more money on food.

 

[Saphire]

I have sailed both. They are comparable lines and pricing should be around the same. I would choose by ship and itinerary. Some ships are huge, some more intimate. Some go to places you woud love to visit, others not so much. Each line will give you a great cruise. Go to cruisecritic.com and compare ships and itineraries.
Have fun deciding!

 

[bellebud]

we went on RCCL out of NJ, and Norwegian Gem out of NY.

We liked Royal a whole lot better for the kids. Mini golf, rollerblading, ice skating. I also loved the layout of the ship, with the promenade (mall type space). I really missed that feature when we went on Norwegian the next year. Also, Norwegian was WAY too adult for the kids. They had too many 'sexy abs' type contests at the pool, sexy dancing, etc. They had x-rated music (I'm not kidding) blasting at the rock climbing wall in the middle of the afternoon when kids are climbing. I actually googled the song when we got home because I just couldn't believe what I was hearing.

It was funny, Norwegian called my house yesterday, asking if we'd like to take advantage of any new promotions they had, and I very nicely explained 'not while we still have the kids with us', and explained the things we found 'too adult' and wished we had known about beforehand. The agent said "oh, when you booked, it's too bad they didn't steer you to the Jewel instead of the Gem", but I don't know if it would have been any different (I tend to think not).

I'd cruise Royal again in a heartbeat. My brother and sil LOVE Norwegian though (they don't have kids), so it depends. They always get a conceirge type suite and feel like royalty and are always very pleased.

 

[CPT Tripss]

I'm surprised that I'm the first to recommend you pop over to CruiseCritic.com - take a look around thier NCL and RCCL boards.

If the price were the same, I'd go with RCCL.

ETA: I have cruised many times on each line, I like them both, but RCCL has always provided a slightly better experience to me.

 

[DISFANSTHREE]

Rci eastern for us next year. Have been on carinval, disney. All have been great.

 

[bellebud]

and oh yeah, the food as someone else mentioned. We loved, loved, loved the food on Royal! Even the buffet (actually that's where we ate mostly). We did formal night at the diningroom and maybe one more time, but it's just not our thing. We did it for the kids to dress up - if it were hubby and I, we wouldn't have done the main diningroom at all.

We were not impressed w/ the food on Norwegian. It was fine - the buffet was just ok, the diningroom was just ok. We did, however, LOVE the wings and tomato soup in that lounge area (it's a casual eating place). The kids and I would go have wings/soup for dinner a few times there because it was that good (and the other food wasn't).

Another thing - Royal has a very separate, adult solarium pool area, and from what I would see, Norwegian did not. There was a pool right next to the main pool, w/ a tiny sign that said "adults only", but you'd have to actually look for it to see it. So you'd have older folks doing laps in the 'family' pool, looking annoyed at the kids jumping in/out, swimming around. I actually mentioned to some of these people they'd probably be happier in the pool right over there - since it's adults only. I really don't think they even realized. Even if I were going adults-only, I'd still go Royal for their adults only solarium/pool area. It was amazing (we just walked through).

And I want to second Cruise Critic... reading the trip reports was most helpful!

 

[mickeysgal]

We've done Disney, Carnival, Royal, and NCL.

Love Disney...hate the cost. Although I have my eye on the Disney Dream.

Carnival...loved the food, hated the party atmosphere (4 day cruise) and the neon design. Too Vegas-y in my opinion.

Have my eye on Celebrity's newest ships.

Generally speaking you'll get better rates on NCL. If cost is your main driver, NCL may be what you're looking for. We loved Any Time Dining on NCL (Gem) however, to us, the ship was underwhelming. Not much for kids to do and the public spaces were cramped and limited. In my opinion, it was due to so much space taken up for the various restaurants. Not a grand looking ship. Design-wise, we prefer Royal - with either it's atrium-type designs or the promenade-type designs (depends on the ship). We did a very, very port intensive cruise on the Gem, so we had very little ship time which was fine and the Gem fit the bill for that type of cruise. If I had picked an itinerary that had little ports/lots of sea days, then I'd prefer Royal. Food-wise, I thought they were about equal in quality. I will say we loved the outdoor buffet area on the Gem. This summer we're cruising on Oasis and I fear that it will spoil me rotten and ruin other ships for me. The variety that it seems to have will be hard to duplicate elsewhere.

 

[bellebud]

We've done Disney, Carnival, Royal, and NCL.

Love Disney...hate the cost. Although I have my eye on the Disney Dream.

Carnival...loved the food, hated the party atmosphere (4 day cruise) and the neon design. Too Vegas-y in my opinion.

Have my eye on Celebrity's newest ships.

Generally speaking you'll get better rates on NCL. If cost is your main driver, NCL may be what you're looking for. We loved Any Time Dining on NCL (Gem) however, to us, the ship was underwhelming. Not much for kids to do and the public spaces were cramped and limited. In my opinion, it was due to so much space taken up for the various restaurants. Not a grand looking ship. Design-wise, we prefer Royal - with either it's atrium-type designs or the promenade-type designs (depends on the ship). We did a very, very port intensive cruise on the Gem, so we had very little ship time which was fine and the Gem fit the bill for that type of cruise. If I had picked an itinerary that had little ports/lots of sea days, then I'd prefer Royal. Food-wise, I thought they were about equal in quality. I will say we loved the outdoor buffet area on the Gem. This summer we're cruising on Oasis and I fear that it will spoil me rotten and ruin other ships for me. The variety that it seems to have will be hard to duplicate elsewhere.

yes! The Oasis or Allure will be our next cruise (when we decide to book it).

 

[wdwmom2]

This summer we're cruising on Oasis and I fear that it will spoil me rotten and ruin other ships for me. The variety that it seems to have will be hard to duplicate elsewhere.

yes! The Oasis or Allure will be our next cruise (when we decide to book it).

Just got off the Allure 2 months ago, did the Eastern itinerary. It was freakin' AWESOME!!!!!

Oasis class, even though the two are mega ships, are VERY well laid out and easy to navigate!!!!

I would sail this same class in a heartbeat!!!!

 

[NEVERENOUGHWDW]

All depends on the ship.

 

[marybet]

I'm surprised that I'm the first to recommend you pop over to CruiseCritic.com - take a look around thier NCL and RCCL boards.

If the price were the same, I'd go with RCCL.

ETA: I have cruised many times on each line, I like them both, but RCCL has always provided a slightly better experience to me.

Did you even read the thread before you posted?? I and another poster recommended cruise critic before you posted.