Compare these ships

[thegreens]

My husband and I are planning our second cruise. Last time, we sailed Royal Carribean Freedom of the Seas (7 day western caribbean) and we really enjoyed the ship. This time around we're doing a 4 day Bahamas cruise.

 

A little about our cruising style:

We're excursion heavy people. We spend every moment we can off the ship when we're in port. We like privacy when we want it, but we also like the opportunity to meet new people. We aren't "lay out by the pool" type of people.. we're more "do stuff" type of people.

 

Knowing our background.. which ship would you recommend for us? Do you have any pros/cons about these ships?

 

RC Monarch of the Seas?

Norwegian Sky

Carnival Sensation

Carnival Fascination

 

Are there any ships we aren't thinking about that you think would be best?

 

TIA

[flashdog_1]

Please give us a little more idea of your preferences. For instance, do you like a port intensive cruise, say leave from San Juan and stop at a different island every single day, with no sea days? Same for Hawaii cruise on NCL America's Pride of America. Or do you prefer a couple of sea days?

[thegreens]

Yes. We are port-intensive people. We enjoy the ship, but if we're stopped somewhere.. we're exploring.

 

We'll be leaving from Port Canaveral, Miami, or Jacksonville since they're all driving distance, and like I said, 3-4 day cruise.

[nlt46]

I love Carnival. But the two ships that you write about are both older Carnival ships. I also love NCL. The Sky is newer than the Carnival Sensation and Carnival Fascination. Price would probably be the determination for me. I've never had a bad cruise out of the many I've been on. (I've never cruised RCL, sorry.)

 

Nancy

[thegreens]

Nancy,

 

What do you think is the downfall of the older ships?

[cruiseapril]

We've sailed out of Port Canaveral several times and out of Jacksonville once (on the Fascination.) Prefer sailing from Port C.

[jbanana1]

We did the 4 day Nassau/Freeport on the Fascination this summer and loved it. Had cruised only once prior in 08 on the Fantasy - Fascination's sister ship. I love this size of ship. Easy to get around and run into other members of your group.

 

We aren't lay out by the pool people either. I do love the waterslides on the Fascination though and enjoy all the onboard activities.

 

Do a search on the Carnival board of the Fascination and you can read my review. We also had a great experience with the hotel and cruiseport in Jacksonville.

 

As far as excusions go, do a search on these boards for your ports and read about what others have done and like. We did the Atlanis waterpark in Nassau and loved it.

[lmf24]

We sailed the NCL Sky in 2010 and had a great time! The food was great, free style dining was very easy, and we loved being in a different port every morning. We are sailing on the Carnival Sensation this spring. We would have gladly enjoyed the Sky again, but we are cruising out of Port Canaveral this time so we can spend a couple days in Disney.

[thegreens]

I guess we've narrowed it down to the Norwegian Sky and Monarch of the Seas. Monarch is at the port closer to my house and we enjoyed our last RC cruise. Plus, wouldn't we pick up some kind of points for booking another cruise with them? That said, the Sky really does look like the better ship.