Different from Carnival?

[lrowe70]

We just returned from our first cruise on the Carnival Splendor(3000+ people).

 

Previously we'd been on Star Clippers(120 people) and Windstar(300 people). We loved both these cruises, but now have a young child. Neither of the small ships are welcoming to children which is why we went on Carnival.

 

Our Carnival cruise was good, but not exactly "our thing". We're not partiers, drinkers, or into dancing or clubbing. While we did find things we liked(comedy, trivia...) we are probably looking for something else for our next cruise.

 

Has anyone here been on both NCL and Carnival? What is the difference between the lines?

 

Thanks :)

[limeyalchemist]

I have been on two CCL cruises out of NYC, on the Miracle, and we are going on our second NCL cruise out of NYC in a few weeks (Gem and Jewel).

 

Overall, the cruise experience on both are very similar at first glance. All of the major cruise lines have developed similar features, as they have become expected on all cruises. Shows, food, cabins, casinos, excursions, etc. There are more similarities than differences.

 

However, what struck me about NCL that was positive was Freestyle cruising. Been able to eat at any time, in any restaurant, with whoever you wish is one difference that most NCL fans favor, and is unique to NCL. The dress code is also very relaxed, unlike more traditional cruise lines.

 

NCL cruises tend to be slightly more competitive on price, if booked at the right time. Specials on OBC also tend to be better than CCL.

 

The food was better on the CCL ship in the MDR than on the Gem. More speciality restaurants on NCL ships, which is designed to steer cruisers to pay a little more to eat. But if the cruise is cheaper, its a wash. The food in the NCL MDR was good, but not at the same standard as the specialty restaurants.

 

We like NCL itineraries because they have a year-round commitment to sailing from NYC, and are bringing in their new ships, the Breakaway, starting in April 2014 to sail to Bermuda from NYC...our next destination.

 

Hope that helps.

[debnjoe1438]

I found entertainment and food to be much better on NCL than the Carnival Paradise. (More entertainment on NCL>)

[Family Travel Story]

Outside of the Freestyle dining, I find the biggest draw for my family to NCL is the Suites that are offered and the benefits that come with these. Particularly if you stay in the Haven/Courtyard area. You get a private pool and sundeck, a butler, concierge, much larger rooms, (we recently have been booking the 2 bedroom penthouse) and breakfast and lunch at the steakhouse. The price is obviously a bit more in the suites then a standard room, and certainly more then CCL, but it gives the feel of a big ship with all the amenities, and the luxury of a smaller high-end cruise.

[Guest LoveMyBoxer]

The only difference between CCL and NCL is the suite life. NCL does suites very well and this is the only way we sail on them. Other than that, basically the same. NCL has freestyle dining, CCL has AYW dining which is basically the same. Food is a little better on CCL since they have fewer pay restaurants.

[NJ04SS]

In my opinion, cruising both lines, Carnival is much more of a "fun" ship. There CD is always pumped, all over the ship, the comedy shows are much better - they also have "late night" comedy shows for 18+, and they monitor it as well. However, NCL has better food, nicer ships IMO. I like both cruise lines to be honest, but NCL's freestyle dining, tops the charts for me:D

[crusinmama22]

Carnival was our first cruise back in 1979. Since then we have sailed on Carnival (we love the spirit class ships), Royal, Celebrity, and NCL.

 

Royal is our favorite overall.

 

Celebrity, ship was beautiful, we were on the Constellation out of PR, ports were amazing which is why we chose that cruise, but we did not like the passangers and the ship closed up at midnight -- not much to do at all!

 

NCL fit everyones needs. Eat when you want, did not have to dress up if you did not want, great entertainment and overall very good.

 

Carnival is great if you like loud, be prepared for a young crowd that can't hold their liquor. It still is fun.

 

We are booked on the Star out of New Orleans for Presidents week 2013 and can't wait. Wish the ports better but it was one of the cruises that fit our week as my husband and daughter are teachers.

 

Another thing we don't like the very large ships we prefer the 2000-2500 guests plus crew size.

 

We sailed on Carnival Destiny back in Feb 2000 and there were 3600 guests I everyone was pushing at the buffet, I finally had enough and turned around and said " DO YOU REALLY THINK THEY WILL RUN OUT OF FOOD" The pushing stopped !

 

Hope this helps.

 

I am sure what ever you choose you will have a great time. Remember to make the best of what it is. I found the best way to enjoy is not to keep compare everything -- I know that is hard -- but I had to make myself -- I did have a good time even though there were things we did not like.

 

Royal never made up the bed for our daughter, NCL we almost missed the ship they booked the air, my son never made the cruise due to plane problems, Carnival one time when we got back ready to fly home, the ticket Carnival sent us for our return flight had been cancelled 2 months before, had to stay over night and fly the next day. So things happen on all lines, BE SURE TO HAVE TRAVEL INSURANCE! VERY IMPORTANT. We also use a travel agent, the same one for years and she does not want to loose our business or have me bad mouth all over town!

 

HAVE FUN CRUSING

[Sauer-kraut]

I think if you found Carnival satisfactory, you'll find NCL to be that way too. I will state that the crew on NCL is great, and you find lots more senior staff/management around on the NCL ships. If you are inclined, join the roll call for your sailing and if it is active enough a Meet & Greet can be scheduled, the Senior staff will attend sometimes even the Captain. NCL does treat Cruise Critic members well.

 

Since you'll be travelling with a child, nothing can beat the Freestyle dining times. If your child is having a fussy time it is so easy to leave the dining room and then return later when things have 'settled down'. Another advantage is the multiple dining options on the NCL ships. Some with a cover charge but many free venues as well.

 

I am not a cheerleader, I just happen to like NCL's product over Carnival's, but will sail with just about any line. ;)

[mpk218]

NCL is very family friendly . ;)

[elaine5]

I suggest you try Celebrity. They have good kids clubs and have a more upscale environment, IMHO--plus the food is great. You might also consider RCCL, which has great kids clubs and lots to do, esp. on the bigger ships. Our favorite cruise with kids is Disney. We find the shows excellent, and there is lots to do on board. We are going on NCL next summer with tweens/teens. I expect it to be similar to the larger CCL ships. If your child is under 3, or not potty-trained, check the different cruiselines, as they have different policies about swimming pools, kids clubs, etc.

[sdmike]

We've done NCL, RCI and CCL. There are more similarities than differences, but I do find that RCI and NCL are more family friendly. On my recent CCL cruise I saw more public drunkenness in 4 days than I saw on 5 previous cruises combined. Part of it was the fact that it was only a short trip and people were there to party, but I think overall CCL is a bit more like a frat party than NCL and RCI. I give the nod (and my money) to NCL now because of the freestyle approach. I refuse to dress up on a ship after having had to do it for work for 30 years, plus I like to do what I want, when I want. It fits our style very well

[dagtoking1]

We just returned from our first cruise on the Carnival Splendor(3000+ people).

 

Previously we'd been on Star Clippers(120 people) and Windstar(300 people). We loved both these cruises, but now have a young child. Neither of the small ships are welcoming to children which is why we went on Carnival.

 

Our Carnival cruise was good, but not exactly "our thing". We're not partiers, drinkers, or into dancing or clubbing. While we did find things we liked(comedy, trivia...) we are probably looking for something else for our next cruise.

 

Has anyone here been on both NCL and Carnival? What is the difference between the lines?

 

Thanks :)

 

I have cruised both lines numerous times and it so depends on the ship. The Freestyle Dining on NCL is great but I believe some of Carnival's ships are now offering that as well; not the older ships. Also, some of Carnival's ships have been outfitted with the poolside giant movie screen which was started on their sister line (Princess-Movies Under the Stars) which is nice. Both cruise lines have things that they do very well so I am sure you will enjoy yourself.

[DMH15]

I found entertainment and food to be much better on NCL than the Carnival Paradise. (More entertainment on NCL>)

But I went to the Chef's dinner on the Paradise and LOVED it.

 

Found the eating limited on Carnival. For instance on one or two of the days my only choice fro lunch was the buffet. I don't do buffets. So, I went to the little station where they did sandwiches. It was fine, but not as good as NCL, since I get to go to Cagney's for breakfast and lunch, or to sushi, or - other options. CCL is too limited.

 

But we did have a nice cruise.

[sdmike]

But I went to the Chef's dinner on the Paradise and LOVED it.

 

Found the eating limited on Carnival. For instance on one or two of the days my only choice fro lunch was the buffet. I don't do buffets. So, I went to the little station where they did sandwiches. It was fine, but not as good as NCL, since I get to go to Cagney's for breakfast and lunch, or to sushi, or - other options. CCL is too limited.

 

But we did have a nice cruise.

 

My only experience with CCL was the Paradise, and I thought the food selections were woeful. Our table mates at the MDR were not very friendly so we avoided that for the most part, and the selection at the buffet was just miserable. We too usually ended up at the sandwich station. The grilled sandwiches were decent, but not really what I had in mind for my cruise experience. One thing I did like was the mongolian grill the two times I ate there. The rest of the time the lines were so long and slow that I would have starved to death. :)

[spacepotatoes]

We recently tried Carnival for the first time after 2 NCL cruises. For the most part, they were pretty similar. The Imagination review in my signature is full of comparisons, and the last page of that thread in particular has a summary of them. In a nutshell, this is what we noted:

 

 

• Crew much warmer and friendlier on NCL
  
• Freestyle Dining is not anything like Your Time Dining on Carnival. NCL does it so much better! More privacy (your table for two is not within inches of the next table) and better service.
  
• Food in the MDR was better on Carnival, buffet was better on NCL.
  
• Entertainment was similar between the two lines but Carnival seemed to have more and was a bit cheesier.
  
• Staterooms are bigger on Carnival, unless you're in suite. Then, you can't beat NCL.
  

[jaja]

As others have said..CCL cruises seem to be more party oriented, and noisy....We have switched to NCL and like the atmosphere a lot more :D

(plus the staff on NCL ships are the best!)

[Mr. Tricky]

As you can see from the comments here many think that CCL is a floating frat party with a bunch of drunk kids. I always laugh when I read these comments. It has been my experience (only 4 cruises so far) and much reading here on cruise critic that most of the mass market lines are very similar. The floating frat party can be found on most of the mass market lines if it is a short inexpensive cruise. On my last cruise, Carnival Liberty, we had a very wide variety of age groups, toddlers to seniors. The age group that was the least represented was the 18-24 year old's. This was on a 7 night cruise.

One of the things that I wish I could change about Carnival is the lack of quality live music. I am amazed at how bad it is. I found it to be a little better on Royal. I have said it many times before that I can go to any bar in Western NY and find better live music than anything I have seen on a ship. I hope to have different opinion after my upcoming cruise on NCL Epic. Sorry, that wasn't part of your question, I just can't help but to bitch about that obvious shortcoming.

[lrowe70]

Thanks for the replies, I'll keep doing research but it sounds like NCL may be better than Carnival for us. I'll look into a few other lines as well.

 

I appreciate your honest opinions.

[NW Pacific]

We recently sailed on both NCL and Carnival (Jan 2012) we have been on NCL many times.

we choose Carnival valor since we could get off NCL and walk over to Carnival for 6 more days of cruising, since we are from OR, and had to fly to FL, thought we would extend our vacation.

We never saw a show in the main theatre because they did not start until 8:30pm, unlike our NCL cruise at 7:00pm, did not find any bar venues to have a drink before dinner that offered music, only in the casino.

I know these factors may not be important to you, but we found most of the entertainment was for late night people only (not us).

We had anytime dining, available in one Main Dining room, which was good, I would say a litte better than NCL, BUT the buffet areas were a total zoo in my opinion, have to keep track of which selection areas are opened and close. Huge area and if you want an omlette or eggs to order by the time you get them and then try to get in line for meats, fruit, potatos, etc. that is another 10 minutes. Just too big for us..

The Valor was much larger than the NCL Ships we have sailed on, NCL is more to our liking.

 

Just my two cents worth , I am sure is not everyones experience, obviously since Carnival is a BIG cruise line and sails full.

 

p.s. the entertainment on NCL Dawn Jan 2012 was terrific! (IMO)

[Diamond60]

We just returned from our first cruise on the Carnival Splendor(3000+ people).

 

Previously we'd been on Star Clippers(120 people) and Windstar(300 people). We loved both these cruises, but now have a young child. Neither of the small ships are welcoming to children which is why we went on Carnival.

 

Our Carnival cruise was good, but not exactly "our thing". We're not partiers, drinkers, or into dancing or clubbing. While we did find things we liked(comedy, trivia...) we are probably looking for something else for our next cruise.

 

Has anyone here been on both NCL and Carnival? What is the difference between the lines?

 

Thanks :)

 

My husband and I cruised w/ Carnival on a B2B 7 day (14 day) on the Carnival Dream back in May. We had a great time.

 

The food was decent. The shows were not great, but decent. The staff was awsome. We found the Steak House to be AWESOME. They went out of their way to accommodate us in every way. They also had 'Anytime Dining' available which we did.

 

We also sailed the NCL Dawn. Great ship! We also enjoyed this cruise which was our first 7 Day cruise. The shows were more upscale compared to Carnival. But, as far as food and activities, it was very similar.

 

I found that NCL and Carnival both have partiers and drinkers; especially NCL's White Hot Party!!!! Enjoy! Hope this helps. Maybe you're looking for a more quiet cruise like HAL. I heard HAL is a more quieter cruiseline.

 

Good luck and happy cruising!