Norwegian vs. Princess for New England/Canada cruise
We are trying to decide between the Norwegian Gem and the Caribbean Princess for a New England/Canada cruise in September 2013. Although we have been on many cruises, we've never been on a Norwegian or Princess cruise. The advantage to the Norwegian Gem is that we can get a suite and double United miles for nearly the same price as a balcony room on the Caribbean Princess if we book through the United cruise site. I've never had a suite on a cruise, so that makes it very tempting. On the other hand, I have heard mixed reviews about Norwegian, so any thoughts would be appreciated.
If the price is truly the same and you can get double United miles for the Norwegian suite, by all means take it. Having done an Alaskan cruise in a suite, it makes a world of difference when you just want to unwind.
I am not sure the differences in service would warrant giving up the suite for a balcony.
I cruise NCL at the moment for free (from Casino comps), so they are my cruiseline of choice. I find them decent and likely in a similar bracket to Princess, but these things come down to your own needs, expectations etc from a cruise.
Note that suites on NCL start at Penthouse and above, rather than the Mini suite, which is more of a big balcony cabin.
I cruised the Gem in a mini suite and was very happy with it, but it is a cut of point in terms of what you get as a suite pax, go up from there and you get Butler, breakfast/lunch in Cagneys (their IMO top paid restaurant, a Steakhouse). Go up again to Haven level and you get access to an exclusive ship within a ship area.
Also, I have never found the best prices on United Cruises - make sure you cross check with some other discounters - my favorite being vacationstogo.com - I use that as a benchmark then cross check with smartcruiser, cruises.com etc etc.
Also compare OBC - how much you get per person as a credit on your bill. You have to look at price and credit and miles earned to get a full picture.
I don't know much about the NCL ship, but I've definitely seem people complain about some of the colder weather cruises on the larger grand class ships (Caribbean, Crown, Emerald and Ruby) because they find that people spend more time inside on these cruises, and as a result, it tends to feel more crowded. The New England cruises tend to fall such that they are more likely to be cooler. Since the Caribbean is currently Princess' largest ship (at least by passenger count), that could be a factor.
I don't know much about the NCL ship, but I've definitely seem people complain about some of the colder weather cruises on the larger grand class ships (Caribbean, Crown, Emerald and Ruby) because they find that people spend more time inside on these cruises, and as a result, it tends to feel more crowded. The New England cruises tend to fall such that they are more likely to be cooler. Since the Caribbean is currently Princess' largest ship (at least by passenger count), that could be a factor.
One of the problems with those 4 ships is lack of a retractable roof over the mid ship pool area, which drives more people inside. They really should use a Grand class ship with a roof on these routes, but they get such a pretty penny in fares for them that they want the higher passenger capacity of the Caribbean class ships.
I like the Princess product, and am not too anxious to try NCL based solely on reputation, but for equal money, I could be convinced to go NCL in a suite. As mentioned though, I would make sure it's a proper comparison.
We called United cruises to ask about the incentives, and it's just a come on. We were interested in one of the Penthouse suites, and the agent couldn't even find that type of cabin on the ship when we could see the available suites on the United website. We normally would have used our travel agent, but the incentives (such as they are) were set to expire on July 13, but our agent is on vacation. We'll wait until she comes back to get her thoughts which have been spot-on to date. Although Penthouse suites are more than we would usually want to pay, we're saving money by leaving from NYC which means no airfares since we're in Philly. Plus, we've never had a suite on a cruise.
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold, Hyatt Platinum,Marriott Silver,Hilton Honors Gold
Posts: 202
My bottom line is this: Norwegian is garbage. Yes, buying a suite on Norwegian has many perks but I would compare it to reserving the best table for two in your local Denny's restaurant.
Go to CruiseCritic.com and search for the thread "most disliked or hated cruise line" and you will see the one most overwhelmingly mentioned is Norwegian.
Princess is not a luxury line surely but in the realm of for e.g. GM cars, like a Buick might be. Not a Cadillac surely but better than a Chevy.
Thanks you, worldspan. I'll pass this info on to my husband who was excited after hearing a commercial that Norwegian is offering free upgrades for a limited time. We're only considering Princess and Norwegian because they are the only ones offering a round-trip from New York. The other lines are offering NY to Montreal or vice versa. We'd prefer to use Celebrity or Royal Caribbean since we have cruised with both to them several times, but their Canada/New England options just don't work for us.
