I have been fortunate enough to sail with both MSC Cruises and the Norwegian Cruise Line and in the main, I enjoyed both lines.

As with everything, there were somethings that I enjoyed about both lines, there were somethings that I didn’t like and there were plenty of things that were in the middle.

On the face of it, I would say that the experience is relatively similar as both have a base fare that gets you so much but there are lots of things on their ships that cost more money to be able to enjoy.

For the transparency of this post, I have sailed onboard the Norwegian Bliss, the Norwegian Spirit and the Norwegian Prima for NCL and only on the Virtuosa for the MSC cruise line, so all my thoughts are based on the experiences of the lines and those ships.

So, based mostly on my experience of cruising with the lines, as well as my interactions with the lines in terms of researching them both before cruising with them and continually since, just which is the best line and why?

That is just what I look at in this post, where I break down both lines to the most important aspects of cruising including the pre-cruise experience, the check-in process, the entertainment offered, the onboard experience, their food and drink offerings, their itineraries, the value of the line and of course we will finish with my overall thoughts and rating for the line.

So now to answer the question, MSC vs NCL: which is best?

MSC Cruises vs Norwegian Cruise Line

This is a tricky one to judge on as I have had a variety of experiences with Norwegian although I have to say that my overall pre-cruise experience with them has been poor.

For one booking, I injured myself just before cruising and asked to move my cabin to be nearer to the lifts (but staying in the same price category) and was told that I would have to pay a huge fee to do so- although once onboard, they did offer to do it for free but having already unpacked, it just wasn’t worth the effort.

For another cruise, we had issues booking online as the NCL website wasn’t working so had to phone to book then the same gremlins cropped up when trying to book excursions.

When ringing for this, it was a struggle to book what we wanted as the agent was only interested in trying to get us to upgrade things.

I should also say that our first booking with them went smoothly but that was also my first cruise, so maybe it was just because we didn’t quite know how things should have worked?

For MSC, our biggest issue with them in the pre-cruise period is down the lack of what you can do before you board as for our cruse with them, you had to do lots of things once onboard, such as booking into shows, and that just leads to lots of queues and confusion when onboard.

Winner: That is the really is a minor things and just the way the line works, so everyone is in the same boat, so to speak, and for this one we can only give the point to MSC as you at least know where you stand with them whilst with NCL you just don’t know what you are going to get.

For this both lines are quite similar as you now do it all on the app and to be honest it has always been just straightforward with NCL as it was with MSC.

The only differences have come at the terminals itself where the final bits have to be completed but that is often down to the port you sail from instead of the line.

Thankfully, I have sailed with both lines, out of the same terminal at the same port- horizon terminal at Southampton.

Whilst my Norwegian cruises have run smoothly, with people arriving at their scheduled times and having hardly any queuing, things were much more chaotic with MSC, and it seemed to be because many people didn’t know when they were supposed to be checking in.

Winner:That of course could have just been specific to that one sailing but in my research for the cruise, lots of people were saying it was an ongoing issue for MSC, so for this one, I can only give the win to NCL, although it is so close to be something you should worry about for either line.

For this one, I am taking into regard all aspects of the entertainment onboard from the production shows to the guest performers and from the performers around the bars and lounges to pay extra shows and anything else on offer.

When it comes to NCL we have enjoyed some great shows but also some poor shows and we have enjoyed some great nights watching guest entertainers in the theatre but have also had some of the worst ‘performers’.

The singers and musicians performing around the ships have always been strong with NCL and were on the Virtuoso whilst the paid options onboard MSC was also good, so this one too is incredibly close.

Winner: With our experiences onboard MSC been good, although limited, we can only give this one to them as whilst we have enjoyed lots of NCL have had to offer, we have endured some poor shows and it should also be said that only our last sailing with them, the main entertainment in the theatre was poor and incredibly repetitive.

Norwegian has two distinct onboard experiences, with their larger and newer ships needing plenty to be pre-booked, fewer places to sit and relax and more and more activities coming at an extra cost.

There older, smaller ships have a simpler way of cruising where you are much freer to do what you want, when you want, including just turning up to shows in the theatre.