RCL or norwegian

[ksucats]

we just got off the dream yesterday. Although we booked a dummy cruise and would like to cruise next year, I think Disney has priced us out. I am doing some research and have found a couple cruises in March that I am looking at out of Galveston. They are each 7 day. One is RCL and one is Norwegian. My kids are 12 and 14. Not sure where to begin to decide which would be better for us. My kids love the edge and vibe, so whichever one has a better teen program is probably the better way to go. We don't really care about itinerary much. My wife and I like to drink, so the all inclusive liquor packages intrigue me. Anything else I should look into?

 

[LemonNeko]

I would compare the individual ships that you are looking at and see which one has more activities or is the newer ship. I would imagine in March there would be a lot of kids in that age group sailing on both lines.

 

[Frozen2014]

What ships are you looking at with each line? That might help with responses since ships vary quite a bit.

 

[ksucats]

What ships are you looking at with each line? That might help with responses since ships vary quite a bit.

Norwegian jade or liberty of the seas. I noticed that ncl has a surcharge on their drink package in March. Is that because a lot of college spring breakers turn these into a party cruise. I am not sure I would be comfortable with my teenage kids wondering around at night if that is the case.

 

[karmacats]

i've been on both liberty of the seas and norwegian gem (sister ship to jade, so very similar). liberty was far and away the better cruise and ship. for perspective, i've been on liberty 3 times and am going on her again this summer; i went on gem once and have not been back to norwegian.

i find royal fairly similar to disney, but for me the gem felt like a definite step down - horrible MDR food (ok in the specialty restaurants, which we went to after the third night of inedible MDR food, but i didnt appreciate having to pay for dinner to get an edible meal for the rest of the week), horrible entertainment and not a lot of activities for adults unless you drink a lot (which you mentioned you like to do, so maybe that wouldn't be an issue for you ), cheap furnishings (instead of a couch in the room there was a futon-like thing in our balcony cabin), and the worst service we've ever had on a cruise.

i'm sure there are norwegian fans on here who will disagree. but, if you're used to disney, i can't imagine going on norwegian and not being kind of bummed, unless you really adjust your expectations downward.

i don't have kids so can't speak to that directly, but my friends with kids/teens have been really pleased with royal's programs. liberty also has a rock-climbing wall, mini-golf, and flowrider (surfing simulator) which are good for the teen/tween age group. i don't recall the gem having anything like that. i'd check out the norwegian board on cruise critic, as people have been complaining about cuts to the kids' programs there, but i don't know if that covers the teen programs, too. keep in mind that unlike disney, royal charges for the kids' programs at night - again, i'm not sure that that covers the teen ones, but i believe so. i don't know if norwegian does.

 

[ronandannette]

The Freedom-class on RCCL is actually a pretty great "step-down" from DCL. Liberty is a mega-ship with tons of activities - flow-rider surf park, climbing wall, sports courts, ice skating, boxing ring, 3D movies, along with the usual teen lounge w/organized activities. The dining is good (IMO, the speciality restaurants are not really worth it for the price though), the entertainment on our last cruise was VERY impressive and there's the Dreamworks Experience to get your character fix if necessary. All in all, I really recommend you try it or either of it's sister ships (Freedom and Independence).

 

[ldo]

I agree, Liberty is a decent alternative to DCL. Your ages could do putt-putt, the rock wall and flow rider (even boogie boarding if they couldn't do the stand up surfing--it's hard). There will be a Dreamworks parade, and at least 1-2 3D movies in the big show theater. There is a fun (free) pizza parlor. One key difference is that 12+ teens clubs are not staffed during the day--so no hand out spot--only after 7pm. However, there are a number of "around the ship" events for teens during the day--dodgeball, putt-putt tourny, basketball, scavenger hunts, etc. It think you will like Liberty just fine. Elaine

 

[ksucats]

Thanks everybody. I have ruled out Norwegian and will strongly consider the liberty of the seas based upon feedback here. I think we will either end up on it or at spring training next March.

 

[ldo]

we opted for a similar ship, RCI Navigator, next spring. We still have a DCL reservation, but a week-long on Nav is $1500 less than 5 days on the Wonder, so we will likely opt for the Nav.

 

[Scoobypop]

One thing to consider, NCL basically has been including the Ultimate Beverage Package with their bookings for several months now as one of the options you can pick, whereas Royal you would pay for the beverage package. As people who enjoy cocktails on cruises, you may want to consider that. I've done 13 DCL, 2 Royal and 1 NCL, and between Royal and NCL, I personally preferred NCL, and have booked my next one for next Spring. I thought the entertainment was phenomenal (the ship was the Star, a smaller, older ship, but took the 2nd sailing out of dry dock this year), and food was great everywhere, I thought. I loved the nightclub, and one thing that made NCL stand out for me over Royal Caribbean was the bars and bar menus. It doesn't sound like a big deal to some, but if you were on the Dream, then you saw how at each bar there was it's own menu. Like Pink had its own with it's own specialty cocktails, Skyline, 687, Evolution, etc. For all of the bars on Royal (I was on the Allure last year), they had ONE main menu that was the same base menu at every bar, like when you go to WDW and you see the same menu at all the pools and bars across WDW property. I'm not a guy who goes to bars and knows what he wants as a regular drink. I like to look at the specialty menus and say, "Oh, that looks and sounds good". On NCL, each bar had it's own menu, like DCL, and the included Beverage Package was fantastic. I do have a DCL cruise coming up in October, but I can't wait to get back to NCL. Just another perspective for you. I did very much enjoy Royal, but wow, there were TONS of unruly kids on the Allure, way more than I ever even see on DCL.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

NCL puts a $136 "service charge" on their free drink package, so it's not really free. As for bar menus, on RCL you can pretty much get the bartenders to make you anything you can dream up, whether it's on a menu or not.

 

[TifffanyD]

NCL puts a $136 "service charge" on their free drink package, so it's not really free. As for bar menus, on RCL you can pretty much get the bartenders to make you anything you can dream up, whether it's on a menu or not.

That's with the current promotion. The past (and maybe future - who knows) promotion it was actually free - no surcharge.

Any bartender on any ship can make you what you dream up - but it's nice to have options to pick from.

We did one Royal and I didn't love it. Might have been the clientele (very old) and lack of entertainment. Everything was dead by 1130 or 12 which is similar to Disney. NCL keeps the party going much later... so that's something to consider.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

That's with the current promotion. The past (and maybe future - who knows) promotion it was actually free - no surcharge.

Any bartender on any ship can make you what you dream up - but it's nice to have options to pick from.

We did one Royal and I didn't love it. Might have been the clientele (very old) and lack of entertainment. Everything was dead by 1130 or 12 which is similar to Disney. NCL keeps the party going much later... so that's something to consider.

If only Disney was still awake at 11:30. Nightlife (or lack thereof) really depends on the ship and itinerary. As a former bartender, I never worked in a bar that had a menu that covered anything but the basics. I'm not at all sure why that's a deal breaker.

 

[TifffanyD]

Some people like craft cocktails or special martinis... others just want to pound beer and shots. I personally would look for other options if all a cruiseline had was the latter. People just like what they like

 

[karmacats]

We did one Royal and I didn't love it. Might have been the clientele (very old) and lack of entertainment. Everything was dead by 1130 or 12 which is similar to Disney. NCL keeps the party going much later... so that's something to consider.

Honestly, i'm surprised to hear that. we've been on 6 royal cruises on 4 different ships and there's always something going until at least 2 a.m. - that's actually the main reason i prefer royal to disney. it really does depend on ship and itinerary, though - we tend to do newer ships and the caribbean route. something like alaska or a panama canal, or a smaller ship, tends to die down a little earlier. royal also always has a pool and hot tub open (norwegian may, too - i'm not sure) - something that drives me bonkers about disney is that there's no all-night swimming option.

 

[TifffanyD]

Guess I was just unlucky then. This was on the Freedom of the Seas and we heard people talking about how they were marketing it hard at the various retirement communities (The Villages, for example).

The music finished up by 1130 which made me sad. The only thing still going was the casino. The club was DEAD the whole cruise

 

[karmacats]

Guess I was just unlucky then. This was on the Freedom of the Seas and we heard people talking about how they were marketing it hard at the various retirement communities (The Villages, for example).

The music finished up by 1130 which made me sad. The only thing still going was the casino. The club was DEAD the whole cruise

Oh, stinks. I'm sorry to hear it. I've never been on Freedom, but on Liberty (her sister ship) there's usually stuff going late into the night, including the clubs.

It's funny, we had almost the exact opposite experiences as each other. My one cruise on NCL was a snore at night - they had the same martini tasting literally every night, and very few other activities. One night we were so bored we sucked it up and paid the $10 to rent a movie in the room - I've never ever done that on a cruise or in a hotel before or since. (Now we just bring our laptop and tablet with movies on them, but the NCL cruise was in 2010 and i don't think we had a tablet yet. usually on our royal cruises they sit in the safe, though - we're usually way too busy to watch anything.) I guess it's partly who the cruise director happens to be, partly who's on the ship, and just general luck of the draw. I'd be pretty bummed too if my ship was dead by 11:30.

 

[TifffanyD]

Haha our ncl cruises we are up til 2am then hit the pub for some late night food before crashing. Or we could go up to the club where this are still hopping. Just depends on the ship or specific week I guess!

 

[CPT Tripss]

Norwegian jade or liberty of the seas. I noticed that ncl has a surcharge on their drink package in March. Is that because a lot of college spring breakers turn these into a party cruise. I am not sure I would be comfortable with my teenage kids wondering around at night if that is the case.

In March, from a port that is within easy driving distance of tons of schools with major Greek systems. Yep, it'll be party city. And not just at night.

 

[rndmr2]

but for me the gem felt like a definite step down - horrible MDR food (ok in the specialty restaurants, which we went to after the third night of inedible MDR food, but i didnt appreciate having to pay for dinner to get an edible meal for the rest of the week), horrible entertainment and not a lot of activities for adults unless you drink a lot (which you mentioned you like to do, so maybe that wouldn't be an issue for you ), cheap furnishings (instead of a couch in the room there was a futon-like thing in our balcony cabin), and the worst service we've ever had on a cruise.

When were you on the Gem? We were on her in November 2013 the week before Thanksgiving and I agree it was the worst service we ever had on a cruise, too. We had decent entertainment and fairly good food in the MDR for the most part but everything took so long and they would forget things, some were not real friendly, we didn't get that feeling we were used to on cruises where you feel like they really want to help you and like their jobs. We were very disappointed as all I had read in reviews and on Cruise Critic was how great the crew on the Gem was. I heard later that NCL gutted the staff of the Gem and sent the good ones over to the Breakaway for it's debut. The Gem then got mostly all NEW crew (about 75%), and when I say new I mean NEW. Some of them first time working on a ship.