I am ALSO back from my Pearl cruise

[Cruise Fanatic]

quote:

For grins I quickly went on the websites for Princess and NCL. A 7 night eastern caribbean cruise on Princess goes for $679 for an inside cabin and the 7 night NCL itinerary goes for $479. In addition to price each cruise line has developed its own personality and each tries to attract certain demographics

Your right, different cruise lines go after different demographics, and offer different cruising experiences. Which is why someone shouldn't just look at price alone. NCL is in the Mass Market segment of the cruise industry and Princess is in the Premium segment.

[LisaP]

quote:

The thing I've noticed is that a lot of NCL's negative reviews seem to be written by those with a lot of experience on another line. While this is a natural thing to do it can maybe a little misleading to someone that's never cruised (that line) before.

I agree. NCL is not my favorite line (now that I've discovered HAL and Celebrity), yet I do find their cruises enjoyable. I adjust my expectations for any cruise line, and I hope that comes across in my reviews. You're right that it's hard to do.

The hotel analogy is a good one. And taking it further, there are also differences between hotels of the same ownership. For instance, Springhill Suites and Renaissance are both part of the Marriott brand, but have different feels to them. (And I like them both, again adjusting expectations.) The same can be said about ships within a line.

Many thanks for your great and informative review!