A Carnie on Norwegian Dawn

I am cross posting this to both the Carnival and Norwegian boards, as I think this is relevant to both.

First off, I know that I can’t really judge how Norwegian as a cruise line is after just one cruise…there are many things that may influence a particular sailing, such as weather, passenger demographics, and itinerary, to name a couple of things. Each ship can be different as well. However, as someone who has taken 9 Carnival cruises in the past and just having taken a cruise on the Norwegian Dawn, I thought I would provide my insights and comparisons on the two lines for those who may be thinking of trying another line. Bear in mind, these are my opinions only, and everything can be subjective to what a person may want from a cruise.

I think my cruise may not have been typical. It was a one-way New England/Canadian cruise from Boston to Quebec City. I have heard that the Dawn did not sail full, and even though I am 42 and my wife 38, we were among the youngest on the ship, with probably 85-90% of the passengers being older than us.

Because it was a Canadian cruise, we did not need to worry about chair hogs by the pool, as it was too chilly to really be out for long periods of time anyway. It was also a port-intensive cruise, with only one sea day.

CABIN

We have stayed in a variety of cabins with CCL, though typically we stay in interior rooms. Likewise, we booked an interior room with NCL. I have heard quite a bit that Carnival’s interior cabins are larger than that of other lines, but I thought any change in the amount of space would be minor. I was wrong. Norwegian’s inside rooms are definitely noticeably smaller. We had enough room in our cabin for the bed, and that was essentially it. On Carnival’s interior rooms, we usually do have at least a chair or small couch. There was no room for that in NCL’s cabins. I might also have been imaging this, but I thought the corridors on the Dawn were a little bit narrower as well. The one thing that NCL might have a slight advantage in is the steward seemed to be much friendlier on the Dawn than I have experienced with Carnival in quite a while. It’s been rare for a steward on CCL to introduce himself to us and for us to really have a good idea of who our steward on CCL really is. Our steward on NCL, Chris, was around quite a bit and made sure to address us by name each time he saw us. This has only happened on CCL two or three cruises. I also liked the time change reminders put on the bed when there was going to be a time change, or the little post-it note on the bathroom mirror about “Norwegian’s Night Out.”

Advantage: Carnival.

ENTERTAINMENT

Again, remembering that everything is subjective, and some will like CCL’s entertainment better and some will like NCL’s entertainment better. And when I talk about entertainment, I’m talking about the main entertainment, that in the main theatre as well as the primary lounge (such as where CCL’s Punchliners would be, or the Spinnaker Lounge for Norwegian Dawn). The fact that NCL still has a live house band and had live music on the open deck for sail away—things that Carnival seems to be getting away from—is not going to come into play (bu, I thought NCL does this much better than Carnival).

Carnival has their new production shows as part of the 2.0 upgrades, Punchliners comedy every night, usually 2 different comedians a night, with a switch half way through the cruise. Carnival also has the Hasbro game show, passenger talent show, and the passenger singing show at the end of the cruise. Occasionally Carnival will have a comedic show, whether a hypnotist or a comedic juggler, or occasionally a magician doing okay magic.

Norwegian did not have nightly comedians, which is something that I do wish they had. However, the stage production shows I thought were done much better on Norwegian. Other entertainment included David DiVinci whose show was, IMHO worthy of a TV show. There was the comedic and musical mussings of Harry O’Donoghue, Second City, and the acrobatic skills of—well, I forget their names, but they were from France. Other than the acrobats, I thought this was all superior to anything on Carnival. And actually, the acrobats would have been more interesting if they didn’t have them two nights in a row—once as part of the Elements show and then just them the next night, doing stunts that no longer seemed as impressive as they did the night before. For the most part, though, I liked how you could see Harry O’Donoghue in the main theatre one night, and then see him again in a different show in the Spinnaker another time. The same goes for David DiVinci and Second City as well. I like how the different entertainments were used in “cross production” as well, such as the assistant cruise director having a significant role in one of the production shows, or Mr. DiVinci and the acrobats being a part of the Elements show. To me, the shows were better planned and executed on Norwegian than they are on Carnival.

Advantage: Norwegian.

STAFF

On Carnival, if you participate in activities you see your entertainment staff quite a bit. If you don’t participate in activities, you don’t see them all that often. Of course, Carnival does seem to have activities spread throughout the ship, including on Lido, so chances of seeing them is pretty good. However, on Norwegian, you can see the entertainment staff mingling with passengers in the main theatre before the shows in the evening. On Norwegian, department heads are introduced on the first night, and then you also see department heads quite often on Norwegian. While Carnival’s department heads may or may not be mingling with passengers or out on the ship on a regular basis, you generally wouldn’t know who they are. The singers and dancers on Norwegian also seem to be out and about more on Norwegian, helping with activities, etc., and just seem more like an integral part of the entertainment staff rather than just helping to sell bingo tickets.

Advantage: Norwegian.

FOOD

Breakfast: I think Norwegian’s breakfast was much better than Carnival’s. Part of this is due to a wider variety, such as waffles with toppings and bangers, or being able to do up your own bagel with things such as smoked salmon and capers. Granted, some things on the breakfast buffet weren’t as good as that as Carnival’s, overall I think Norwegian wins breakfast.

We never ate breakfast or lunch in the MDR or in the Blue Lagoon restaurant, so I cannot comment on those two venues on the Dawn. Blue Lagoon being open 24 hours is a big plus for late night munchies, though—but considering they had a popular music duo in the grand atrium where the Blue Lagoon had good seating for this would have been hard to find during this time period.

Beverages: This is another area that Norwegian does better. Juices were available most if not all of the time, as well as milk in dispensers. There was honey for the tea. There were the flavored waters as well. Lemonade wasn’t as sweet on NCL as it is on Carnival.

Lunch buffet: Norwegian has much more variety on its lunch buffets than Carnival does. However, Carnival’s buffets look and taste much better than Norwegian’s lunch buffet does. If variety was the name of the game, Norwegian would definitely win. However, variety doesn’t mean as much when the quality isn’t there. Plus, if the buffet doesn’t appeal to you on Carnival, you have many alternatives—Guy’s burgers (or even regular burgers on Carnival are better than those on NCL), Blue Iguana, Indian Tandoor, the Wok, Rotisserie, fish and chips, the pizza place, or the deli on Carnival. Again, you can find some of these items on Norwegian’s buffet, but the quality isn’t the same.

Ice Cream: This is a tough one. I liked that Norwegian had hard ice cream with a couple of different flavors. However, there was no self-serve soft serve ice cream. There was soft serve ice cream, just not self serve. This means no using ice cream with soda, coffee, lemonade, milk, etc. to make your own concoctions. Norwegian also had toppings for the ice cream which I don’t remember on Carnival. So for me, this is a toss up.

Specialty restaurants: I have never tried a specialty restaurant on Carnival—and I haven’t felt the need to. We did try one on Dawn—Bamboo for some Asian food. It was good food, but the quality of it was no different than what is normally available on Carnival and not worth the extra $15. Dining on NCL seemed to revolve around the specialty dining. I wasn’t too impressed by the fact that some of the specialty dining was out in the open, so ambience was severely lacking in some of the specialty restaurants.

Main Dining Room: There was never one night in the MDR where I looked at the menu and had a menu item jump off the menu at me as something that I really wanted to try, whereas on Carnival, I usually have at least one item (and sometimes two or three) that sound appealing to me. The menu on Norwegian just seemed boring. The food quality was good once it came, but I think the boring aspect was hard to overcome. It seemed like we did get better service in the Venetian than the Aqua dining room.

Advantage: Carnival. And it’s a big one.

MISCELLANEOUS

Bingo doesn’t seem like it’s as big of a deal on Norwegian. Yes, there was bingo, and they would announce it over the speakers at times, but it was usually held in the Spinnaker versus the main theatre. (Advantage: Norwegian).

I like the option of having photographs taken when you’re on the ship. Sometimes it could be fun to have pictures taken to pass the time if you want to, even if you don’t want to buy them. On Carnival, they seem to harass you to have your picture taken, and at times it seems like you can’t get away from this. It’s much more tuned back on Norwegian. Yes, they’re there, and yes, they do pictures as you disembark in each port as well as in the MDR, but they’re not in your face about it. (Advantage: Norwegian).

FINAL SUMMARY

Now that we have sailed with Norwegian, and it was fairly similar to Carnival, I would definitely sail with Norwegian again, especially if there was a good price and/or a good itinerary that we would like to do. Both lines have things that they do well and things that they need to improve on, and while there are other difference as well, most of them are relatively minor and simply different ways of doing things. Having said that, I think Carnival would likely still be our cruise line of choice.

Great comparative review! Just a bingo comment - the games are much more expensive on NCL. (3 levels of packages - starting at $39) We are going on our 3rd NCL cruise at Christmas, and love the different entertainment on the NCL ships - rather than the same old same old after so many CCL cruises.

Great comparative review! Just a bingo comment - the games are much more expensive on NCL. (3 levels of packages - starting at $39) We are going on our 3rd NCL cruise at Christmas, and love the different entertainment on the NCL ships - rather than the same old same old after so many CCL cruises.

I agree that the entertainment was getting old on CCL after 8 cruises.

kingoftheicedragons your comparisons were pretty close to my thoughts after taking the POA in April, first time on NCL. Although most people who are regulars on NCL say that POA is a little different than the rest of NCL cruises. Just want to add that I liked the way NCL had a seperate room for photos. CCL seems to have their photo displays in the middle of the promenade, making it extremely hard to walk through if you weren't there for pictures.

I really liked the "freestyle" cruising. Definitely prefer not having to dress up and being able to go to dinner when you wanted. I realize you could have gone when you wanted on CCL (in more recent years). Always went when we wanted on NCL and never had to wait.

We originally chose CCL out of convenience since they are in Galveston, but now we have more choice in Galveston and Houston. Booked NCL out of Houston for April 2015. Booked Panama Canal with NCL out of Miami for April 2016, about 4 or 5 months ago. At the time, there was nothing on CCL's site that far out.

One more thing I prefer about NCL. My PCC got us a $350 obc after final payment and works hard to find all the discounts and promotions available to get us the best price. He also keeps in touch with us regularly through email, snail mail and phone calls. Always liked the person I dealt with at CCL, she was very friendly and nice, but never seemed to make the effort like the NCL guy does. No contact after I made the reservation.

All in all we now prefer NCL.

My DH and I are frequent cruisers on Carnival (first cruise together) and are now becoming frequent cruisers on NCL.

I really like them both and for similar reasons. Carnival's production shows are awesome now. I like that there is a variety of music on Carnival, even though they have scaled back their live music. Not that I am a huge late night party girl, but Carnival still has places to go dancing. NCL is all about the restaurants with little public space.

NCL did Alaska well with one-way sailings that allow for easy land tours at the beginning or end of your trip. Carnival only does round-trip.

Thanks for sharing.

We've taken 1 CCL cruise, and 4 NCL. I agree with most of your comparisons. I found that CCL may be prefered by people in their 20's-30's because of the variety of bars & nightclubs, though half of them were closed during our April 2014 cruise on "Glory" (cost cutting ?). Music on CCL was mostly canned music (more cost cutting ?). The only live band, which was very good, played only in a corner of the casino, with little or no seating. I couldn't understand why they have empty nightclubs with big stages, but the only live band was placed in an area where nobody could relax and listen. They sell fewer drinks that way !

The buffet on CCL was maybe 30 feet long. NCL buffet is hundreds of feet long. Much more variety on NCL, but quality varies. The deli, Guy's Burgers, pizza, etc. stations on CCL are decent quality, but I don't go on a cruise to eat the same fast-food I can get at home.

We sailed on NCL Dawn a month ago. There was always self-serve soft ice cream in the very back of the buffet, starboard side. They may eliminate the "self-serve" during norovirus scares.

Thank you for the comparison! I'm platinum on Carnival and will be sailing on NCL for the first time in just over two weeks. It was good to hear your thoughts on it since you've sailed on CCL a number of times. Personally, I don't care at all about the entertainment, but am looking forward to trying out the specialty restaurants on the NCL Jade--that's one of the main reasons I chose NCL for my upcoming cruise. We always eat in Carnival's steakhouse a time or two on each cruise, so I'm looking forward to having more variety.

As far as staff, I was surprised to hear your experiences with Carnival room stewards. With only one exception, I've always had great service from them, seen them everyday, and felt very-well cared for. I don't care about meeting the officers, but I've read other comments from people here on the NCL board about seeing more of the officers than on other lines. Not sure why that's important to people, but maybe once I experience it on NCL I'll understand why. :o

I'm really looking forward to trying NCL for the first time!

Thanks!

I wish that the NCL Canadian cruises out of Boston were round trip.

RCI is running some round trip Canadian Cruises from Boston, on the Brilliance of the Seas.

I would not want to seek out return transportation.

I don't care about meeting the officers, but I've read other comments from people here on the NCL board about seeing more of the officers than on other lines. Not sure why that's important to people, but maybe once I experience it on NCL I'll understand why

I don't care so much about eating with or meeting the officers either, but I do think it's true that on NCL they are much more visible in the public areas than other lines I've tried. Almost all employees smile and say hello as you pass, but so do the officers, which is nice - it's definitely a top to bottom management directive.

They're not lurking in executive quarters - they're out and about and interacting with the staff who work under them. They're very approachable, and though I haven't bothered them, I've seen them talking to and laughing with guests in a genuine manner.

Thanks for the review. Many of your observations match my own, though I'd give the edge to NCL because entertainment and service are the most important cruise aspects to me. YMMV, and does (!) and that's okay. I've always thought if a Carnival cabin could be put on an NCL ship, you'd have the perfect cruise line.

The reason you were some of the youngest people on board

is because you did a September voyage along the east coast/Canada.

Which appeals to older people.

Most people under 60 think of Sun/Islands/Caribbean as cruises.

Not Halifax, RI, Boston, etc..

Excellent comparison. Thank you for posting.

I agree with you 110% on the MDR food. For years, I have

rated CCL's MDR food far superior to NCL's. I cruise both lines,

and love them both.

Thanks for the review. I like both lines and future sailings will be based mostly on price (although after our cruise on the Gem I am more inclined to pay a little more for NCL, although how much more remains to be seen).

The typical demographic for the autumn cruises would be an older crowd in my opinion. We found CCL to be very comparable to both NCL and RCI and have another CCL booked for 2016 after another NCL next year.

NCL doesn't have anything like CCL's aft wrap cabins for a similar price. The balcony on that aft wrap was enormous and held 4 loungers and 4 upright chairs with 2 small tables easily. My DH and I also thought CCL's steakhouse was better than any cruise ship meal we'd ever had even beating out RCI's this year. As for MDR we considered the food pretty close. I do agree about NCL's breakfast's being better in selection but didn't think the food tasted much different. All in all we've decided we'll keep cruising all 3 lines and will probably add Princess in at some time in the future.

Thanks for posting your thoughts. I agree with much of what you said. We are Platinum on Carnival and actually prefer NCL now. As somebody else mentioned, you'll find a younger crowd on NCL Caribbean cruises. A nice touch on the warm weather cruises is when you return to the ship after a hot sunny day in port, the NCL staff is waiting for you with ice cold face cloths, ice water, and a shaded seating area if you need it. Oh, and a few ship's officers are often there to welcome you back as well. It's really nice touch.

~Denise

Thanks for taking the time to write out your thoughts in comparing the 2 lines. Interesting to read.

I am also a Carnie, 22 to date but I too just recently took a cruise on NCL Dawn. I think I have been converted, we had a suite and you cannot beat the perks. Carnival has nothing like it. Not only did we have a Butler and Consigier we had access to a private restaurant for lunch and dinner. We received a bottle of champagne and flowers upon arrive and little treats daily. We had a two bedroom suite and I was very surprised and delighted by the size. My most pleasant surprise was debarktation, OMG we were off the boat and at our luggage within ten minutes. My next Cruise is on Carnival Magic and after that I am looking at NCL. I already purchased a FCC which was a great bargain as well. For $250.00 you received $100.00 back.

I don't care so much about eating with or meeting the officers either, but I do think it's true that on NCL they are much more visible in the public areas than other lines I've tried. Almost all employees smile and say hello as you pass, but so do the officers, which is nice - it's definitely a top to bottom management directive.

 

They're not lurking in executive quarters - they're out and about and interacting with the staff who work under them. They're very approachable, and though I haven't bothered them, I've seen them talking to and laughing with guests in a genuine manner.

Thanks for elaborating on it. I guess I'll find out in a couple weeks if it makes any difference to me. :o:D

I have sailed NCL 3 times and CCL 1. HAL 1, Princess 3, Celebrity 1 and RCCL 5 times. Best MDR food was CCL imo. With that said, I perfer NCLs specialty resturants over anyother lines MDR. I can pay for the UDP and still sail pretty cheaply on NCL.

NCL has become my cruiseline of choice. Especially the suite life.