Hi all. We have just returned from a delightful Norwegian Fjords cruise aboard the NCL Jade. I will post a detailed review of this cruise soon. We did a similar cruise on the Eclipse two years ago. Until this cruise all of our cruises have been with Celebrity (the Eclipse) and I was quite nervous as to what the differences might be between the two lines. I found that it was not easy to find a comparison – and so here is mine. I stress that these are our experiences only, and of course your experiences might well be different. I have grouped this review into a variety of categories. Apologies for a long post!

Embarkation, muster and debarkation

Leaving from Southampton we found no real differences between the embarkation processes for Celebrity or NCL. We are Select with Celebrity and newbies on NCL, but didn't miss priority boarding. We were checked in quickly. With Celebrity it is then straight on to the ship where you get a welcome drink. For NCL we then had to wait about 20 mins in the terminal before boarding, and no welcome drink. We didn’t miss the welcome drink (we had a drinks package). Muster was similar on both lines – no videos to watch on NCL, so muster seemed quicker. Debarkation was smooth on both lines. Read more