We've done 7 DCL cruises. On our first NCL cruise now and it's beyond horrible!

[tidefan]

Deck food: 1) Disney, 2) Royal, 3) MSC(burger, fries, pizza slices.

Which RCCL ship were you on? We were on Independence of the Seas and there wasn’t any included deck food. They had a Johnny Rockets and a Fish and Chips Place, but you had to pay extra for both of them.

 

[Lesverts]

my #1 preference was celebrity too - but haven't cruised since 2017, so can imagine there's many post covid changes.

The nice atmosphere of live music around the ships, a more relaxed feel and overall value for money spent is very high.
Thank you for mentioning live music. This is really important to me and even back in 2017, noticed there was less and less of it at celebrity. And many of the other mass lines have cut back on it as well. I really don't like djs and no offense to anyone else's taste, but despise hip hop/rap, trance/electronic and the tired "wedding" cliched party tunes (i.e kool and the gang, village people, etc).

LOVE violins, acoustic, jazz, old school blues, rock, country and pretty much every other genre of music.

I was on Celebrity in February. Despite being told they are having trouble booking entertainment, there was a string duo, 2 house bands and multiple 'lounge singer' types. Oh and a guitarist.

 

[auntlynne]

Thanks for your report of a current NCL cruise. I sailed them once, in September 2021, in Alaska. I had a great time. But I always remind myself that it was only about 1/3 full! Even then, I would wonder what a full Encore would feel like. And didn’t think it would be as nice.

The good was a welcome change, since I mainly cruise with Disney and know what I will order at the MDRs before I get in the ship. The specialty restaurants I tried were very good.

Activities in the atrium - was that a big mess? Since nearly everything was done there - how did it handle the crowd? Our small number of guests could fill that space (and they weren’t prepared by putting out extra chairs).

I met people on board and had a great time (was traveling solo, thanks to Covid precautions). And I was there for Alaska (not my first time) and had excursions in all ports, utilizing the ship‘s discount (the $50/cabin on each excursion all went towards each of my activities - for multiple people, it wouldn’t help as much).

We had nearly non-exist entertainment; we were supposed to get Choir of Men. They boarded with us, but then had “technical issues” - which many of us interpreted as Covid. What they did offer was more “adult” than I prefer. (Give me G- to PG, not PG-13 or worse entertainment, any day.)

If I had been looking to the cruiseline for fun, I would have considered it limited. (Realistically, Disney wins mostly for BVT movies and Funnelvision at night.) The 3 production shows on DCL give us ?60 minute shows. These and adult trivia - not Disney-themed - are about all I need in a cruise. I have gotten into a cruise groove that satisfies me.

After Disney, my next most-cruised company is Princess, mainly to Alaska. My sister sailed them in the British Isles as was happy (she is a harder sell, away from Disney). I am satisfied with them, and would go with them to Alaska or Europe.

I hope you were able to enjoy the Observation Lounge and Deck 8 outside for viewing - and had great shore experiences. Again, how was the crowding in these areas? They were so nice with few guests. (We also had no children and very few teens on our cruise. Again, Covid.)

We have two Disney cruises this year, looking to book this week for next fall, and are plotting cruises for 2025 and beyond! Looks like my cruise days aren’t over. Other than Disney, we might cruise on HAL (Alaska - my favorite cruise) and Fred Olsen for the Hebrides, Orkneys, and Shetland islands of UK, or possibly P&O. Norwegian Fjords and Iceland interest me, so long as it’s not a party ship or heavy smoking (casinos and smoking are a big thing to avoid for me; I don’t enjoy the lingering smell).

It IS okay to prefer Disney. Or Royal or anyone or no cruise at all! Hope you have more fun adventures in your life and keep the good memories (with the precaution not to repeat less enjoyable aspects - like cruising the wrong type of shop for you.)

 

[tvguy]

This is one of those your mileage may vary cases. We did Princess and most things were fine. It surprised us that there were so few activities before 8 pm. Not sure if that was a ship specific problem or not lol. We would try Princess again but would bring more to do as the expectation seemed to be you would spend your days drinking and in the casino, neither of which we participate in.

I agree completely, but for opposite reasons. We always have late seating and on Disney there was nothing going on after 10 pm we got out of dinner. We had taken our kids on a HAL cruise the year before and they had some sort of show every night at 11:30 pm. One night it was something as simple as an Indonesian Crew Talent show, but they had musical instruments I had never seen before. They explained them and a lot about their culture, and our kids really enjoyed. At at least on this ship, they did a nightly midnight buffet every night that was open until 1:30 am and my son in particular loved hitting the carving station at 1 am.

 

[lklgoodman]

Thanks for your report of a current NCL cruise. I sailed them once, in September 2021, in Alaska. I had a great time. But I always remind myself that it was only about 1/3 full! Even then, I would wonder what a full Encore would feel like. And didn’t think it would be as nice.

The good was a welcome change, since I mainly cruise with Disney and know what I will order at the MDRs before I get in the ship. The specialty restaurants I tried were very good.

Activities in the atrium - was that a big mess? Since nearly everything was done there - how did it handle the crowd? Our small number of guests could fill that space (and they weren’t prepared by putting out extra chairs).

I met people on board and had a great time (was traveling solo, thanks to Covid precautions). And I was there for Alaska (not my first time) and had excursions in all ports, utilizing the ship‘s discount (the $50/cabin on each excursion all went towards each of my activities - for multiple people, it wouldn’t help as much).

We had nearly non-exist entertainment; we were supposed to get Choir of Men. They boarded with us, but then had “technical issues” - which many of us interpreted as Covid. What they did offer was more “adult” than I prefer. (Give me G- to PG, not PG-13 or worse entertainment, any day.)

If I had been looking to the cruiseline for fun, I would have considered it limited. (Realistically, Disney wins mostly for BVT movies and Funnelvision at night.) The 3 production shows on DCL give us ?60 minute shows. These and adult trivia - not Disney-themed - are about all I need in a cruise. I have gotten into a cruise groove that satisfies me.

After Disney, my next most-cruised company is Princess, mainly to Alaska. My sister sailed them in the British Isles as was happy (she is a harder sell, away from Disney). I am satisfied with them, and would go with them to Alaska or Europe.

I hope you were able to enjoy the Observation Lounge and Deck 8 outside for viewing - and had great shore experiences. Again, how was the crowding in these areas? They were so nice with few guests. (We also had no children and very few teens on our cruise. Again, Covid.)

We have two Disney cruises this year, looking to book this week for next fall, and are plotting cruises for 2025 and beyond! Looks like my cruise days aren’t over. Other than Disney, we might cruise on HAL (Alaska - my favorite cruise) and Fred Olsen for the Hebrides, Orkneys, and Shetland islands of UK, or possibly P&O. Norwegian Fjords and Iceland interest me, so long as it’s not a party ship or heavy smoking (casinos and smoking are a big thing to avoid for me; I don’t enjoy the lingering smell).

It IS okay to prefer Disney. Or Royal or anyone or no cruise at all! Hope you have more fun adventures in your life and keep the good memories (with the precaution not to repeat less enjoyable aspects - like cruising the wrong type of shop for you.)

We were on a full ship. The crowds were horrible in the atrium for everything. They would put out some folding chairs, but not enough. They had a game yesterday in which they were having kids run from that stage area out to wherever their families were sitting and then back to the stage. I was shocked they would do something like that. Kids were running into people walking by and running into the furniture. I was afraid a kid was going to hit their head on something. The cruise director showed no concern about passenger safety. We've done games in the D Lounge and the CMs running it make sure they are safely done. It was complete chaos. We went to the Observation lounge a few times and could find places to sit. We had a balcony so didn't spend much time on deck 8, also it was too cold. I really wanted to love NCL because they have some iteneries that I really want to try. But the lack of family activities and evenings shows is a deal breaker. Those are a huge reason we like DCL. I would have been fine with different types of activities had they been offered but they had nearly none. First sea day they had pictionary and that was it. And then yesterday they had the kids running around game. That was all for families. Only things they had listed to do was drink in the bars or go to the Casino. They had Deal or No Deal in the atrium several times, again completely crowded. I talked to lots of nice passengers. Once I saw how packed the bars were all day and night, I was afraid it was going to be a booze cruise, but only saw 2 fall down drunk people. Met some families who were also doing their first NCL cruise after doing DCL cruises. They had the same issues with lack of family activities/shows.

 

[DCLMP]

Sorry, you're having a bad time. I loved our Royal cruise last month, looking forward to trying Princess in the future. We cruised NCL once pre-covid it was great and so was our one Carnival cruise in Europe.

Saying DCL is worth the extra cost based on one bad cruise is a pretty bold statement. If your primary concern is family entertainment then that would make sense.


It's really hard to read your wall of text review.

 

[DCLMP]

Which RCCL ship were you on? We were on Independence of the Seas and there wasn’t any included deck food. They had a Johnny Rockets and a Fish and Chips Place, but you had to pay extra for both of them.

Independence is one of their older ships. I would suggest a newer one.

 

[DCLMP]

DH and I sailed with RCCL several years ago and hadn’t cruised for many years so didn’t do well choosing our cabin. What we disliked most was that to get to the dining room we had a choice of making our way through the smoky casino or walking the length of the shopping mall. We’re looking forward to not having a casino in our way on the Magic!

I think you should try a newer ship I just spent 12 days on Odyssey. The casino was tucked away on deck 3 and never saw it. Cruise ships have evolved a lot since "several years ago" Some for the better and some for the worse like the Wish.

 

[auntlynne]

…It's really hard to read your wall of text review.

Are you meaning paragraph breaks would help?

 

[Carohs]

Sorry you didn't like your NCL cruise despite researching ahead of time. We went in with an open mind knowing we were paying 1/3 the cost sailing DCL over Spring Break. We too did not meet the stateroom host, and did not run into him, until the 3rd day of the cruise by chance. Although he didn't take the time to introduce himself, when I asked for a favor he knew exactly who I was and which room we were in. They are very overworked with the new room servicing structure. We still got our room cleaned every day with fresh towels so we had zero complaints. The one day we didn't get service was because we left for port and forgot to turn the dial from "do not disturb" to "service please."
As for activities, it sounds to me like you had plenty just not continuous like Disney has. Of course, they are family oriented so that's to be expected. For Easter, NCL organized a scavenger hunt which ended with the Easter Bunny. They also had origami, towel folding, a PG comedy show, and live music. They had a kids glow party and the Splash staff was wonderful. Was the cruise less well organized than DCL? I mean yeah. But it was far from horrible.
We had a great time and would do it again, to experience an itenerary different than DCL, not to mention the thousands of $$ saved. NCL isn't our first choice, but despite not having pool side food, we found overall the food and entertainment much more family friendly than CCL.

 

[Snowwhyt]

Which RCCL ship were you on? We were on Independence of the Seas and there wasn’t any included deck food. They had a Johnny Rockets and a Fish and Chips Place, but you had to pay extra for both of them.

It’s been almost 4 years. We were on Adventure of the Seas. Maybe I’m remembering taking food from lower decks up. Had a pizza and sandwich thing that I thought was amazing. Tea and coffee, something else to drink too. They definitely had a place that was included that you could pick up just a few things. If I’m not mistaken, I had like an olive snack that I absolutely loved. If Disney ships didn’t have the Shawarma’s, I probably would give snack food to Royal Caribbean.

 

[holula]

I’ve sailed on NCL 3 times but all pre pandemic and I’ve seen many reviews like this since COVID. I actually really enjoyed NCL and they would have been my line of choice other than Disney to do port intensive itineraries, as I felt they had a decent amount of activities, food on the same level of Disney, and good evening entertainment.

The atrium activities were always a hot mess though, there is just not enough space for the amount of people who want to attend. They need to run those events more or not do them in the atrium.

 

[pinkxray]

I’m sorry to hear you aren’t having a good cruise OP. We are booked on NCL Encore next June to Alaska. I get a bit nervous when I read bad reviews of NCL but DCL was $13,000+ on opening day(16+ now) for a balcony and NCL is $6200 with the military discount for a balcony so we are sticking with NCL. Using that extra $6000+ to do a cruise on DCL fantasy 5 months later.

I also looked into Princess and Hal but nothing matched all of my criteria like NCL. I really prefer to leave on a Sat/Sun and want to hit the same ports as the Wonder would.

As far as the ports and Alaska is concerned how was your cruise?

 

[poohj80]

Sorry for your experience but thank you for sharing! My DD is older now and had also been thinking of NCL due to the race track and other options for older kids but didn't consider the fact that they may not be available often. Glad we decided to stick with DCL!

 

[loislane]

We are sailing the NCL Escape in February for our first non-Disney cruise - BUT, we are doing it as part of a cruise group put together by a radio station. So, first off, we will know other people on the cruise, and second, the cruise group kind of does it's own activities during the cruise. Hopefully those two things will help ensure we still have an enjoyable cruise. Sorry yours has not been.

 

[ldo]

I also appreciate your reviews. At 15 yr age, we also found DCL superior. But DCL every cruise is just not in the budget. We made compromises also: RCCL spring break cruise for 1/3 the price of DCL on a RCCL Freedom class. Kids weren't into sports, so didn't use the flow rider, sports court, etc., but they liked the ice show and the promenade with pizza parlor. We knew the family activities would be lacking during the day, and our kids were not going to go to the teen club (unlike older DD who loved it), so we actually took board games with us. We had a good time.
For port-intensive like Europe (off the ship most days), we do not see the benefit in the extra $$ for DCL. Our 12-16 yr olds liked NCL Epic with decent pm entertainment. But, crazy crowded breakfast buffet and pool deck. Princess was also fine, with less "fun" entertainment than Epic, but Princess offered 2 nightly pool movie showings as either alternative or additional entertainment. It's outdoors, so Alaska might be out. They provide blankets and the acoustics/viewing is very good.

 

[anricat]

We had similar frustrations on our RCCL cruise vs. Disney. Our main issues were that there were no food options outside dining hours unless you want to pay extra for Johnny Rockets or Starbucks. Beds were hard as rocks. Stateroom service was limited/lacking. Dining room menus were boring and blah. The desserts were better though. Disney is terrible at desserts, both in the parks and the ship. Everything is much too sweet for my taste. No evening entertainment for families. And like you, we found that there were no daytime family activities whatsoever! It was baffling to me. What did people do all day. We were BORED silly. My daughter, who was younger at the time did prefer their kids' club, I think because the ages were more broken down. The 3-12 age range is insanity in the main clubs. Once she moved to Edge (and now Vibe) she's much happier with the smaller age range. She just didn't like all the noise and chaos in the younger clubs and when she was little, didn't like being with the much older kids and when she was older, didn't like being with the much younger ones. (Which is funny because now she's working as a summer camp counselor and loves the younger kids, but I guess that's a different scenario.)

 

[ArtemisPhoenix]

Sorry you didn’t have a great time. We do a lot of cruises on Princess, and although they’re not the most family oriented cruise line, there’s never been a shortage of things to do, or yummy things to eat. And we’ve always had our cabin stewards introduce themselves and do things proactively, providing great service. Several people on the cruise forums have had some similar feedback to yours on some Princess cruises also, so there’s always the possibility that you just had some bad luck onboard.

On our last cruise (to Mexico) our DD(6) loved the kids club as usual, but then had so much fun seeing the magician that we ended up at the other two magic shows on the cruise. We ran out of time to do other things we wanted to do onboard.

We’ve been wanting to try DCL in the next couple of years, before our daughter ages out of Disney, but it’s hard to swallow the prices compared to Princess for us (cruises are free as long as we frequent the casino while we sail). Definitely will have to bite the bullet next year sometime.

Cruises are free as long as you go to the casino? Do you mean you win enough to pay for the cruise or that they literally give out free cruises to gamblers?

 

[auntlynne]

Cruises are free as long as you go to the casino? Do you mean you win enough to pay for the cruise or that they literally give out free cruises to gamblers?

Several cruise lines have Casinos at Sea (or other name) programs that extend discounted cruises to those who use the casino. Some report it is better for slots than table games. Apparently, some very good promotions (and maybe free cruise!?) if you play enough.

And there are probably some who actually win enough to pay for a cruise.

Some of the YouTube Vloggers I watch mention these programs.

 

[WAstateDVCDaddy]

Cruises are free as long as you go to the casino? Do you mean you win enough to pay for the cruise or that they literally give out free cruises to gamblers?

As auntlynn said, most cruise lines have some form of casino players club available. They track your play (amount bet and duration of play), and then may extend offers - from discounted cruises or some casino credits for a future sailing, on up to free cruises. BTW - “free” is not truly free - Princess has guests pay the port taxes and such - so a 7 night cruise in a balcony cabin is usually about $300 per person.

After my daughter’s in bed, or sometimes when she’s in the kids club, my wife or I will head over to the casino to play a while. The casino group always sends me offers for free cruises after each sailing. I never win in the cruise ship casinos - but it’s a fun way to spend a couple of hours each night.

Since DCL doesn’t have casino’s onboard, there’s no promos of this type. It’s kind of offset by the fact that I can’t lose any money playing when I should be sleeping!