RCCL vs Norwegian or?

[toddspokane]

We cruised with Royal five times from 1995 to 2010.  We loved the food, service, entertainment, etc.  We sailed with Norwegian in 2017.  We we're not as impressed with service, food and entertainment.

Is the current RCCL the same as the old one or are they more similar to current Norwegian?  

 

Your advice is welcome!!

[twangster]

Welcome to the message boards!

Entertainment varies by ship.  Freedom class and newer have better entertainment featuring Broadway style main theater shows.  Voyager, Freedom and Oasis class have an ice skating rink with ice skating shows that are quite enjoyable.  Oasis class have an Aqua Theater with swimming and diving shows.  On the older and smaller ships the entertainment varies from pretty good to not in wheel house.  

The best entertainment in my opinion is on Oasis class ships.

Have things changed since 2010 on Royal?  Yes.  Like all cruise lines they have optimized many things to maintain pricing close to what it was in the past and eliminated waste.  Room services features a better menu with some great choices but that comes with a $9 fee per order (not per item).

[karl_nj]

For main dining room dinners, Royal still offers traditional early/late seating assignments, where you keep the same wait staff.  NCL moved over to "freestyle dining" in 2001.  Some people prefer the flexibility that NCL offers, others like the traditional cruise ship dining.  Royal also offers My Time Dining, which is their version of NCL's "freestyle".

When I'm traveling with my kids, I prefer to stick with the traditional dining, so I tend to avoid NCL for those trips.