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Carnival cruiser does NCL

S.S.Oceanlover

By S.S.Oceanlover,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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S.S.Oceanlover

S.S.Oceanlover

Posted
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After 12 cruises on CCL and 19 years since our first and only NCL cruise we decided to give NCL another try after all the cutbacks on CCL recently.

 

We had an oceanview on deck 4 which was a little smaller than CCL's cabin but the layout and storage space made the space very efficient.

 

Loved the way the bathroom is laid out with sliding glass doors for the shower and toilet area.

 

Ship was very clean and the crew much more pleasant than CCL's crew although I can't blame the crew for that on CCL since they must be stressed since they are stretched so thin, especially in the dining room.

 

Our cabin steward was very pleasant , was always around, and kept our room in great shape and made my wife happy with many towel animals.

 

Loved all the eating venues especially the Blue Lagoon which rocks.

 

They have 2 free dining rooms, Aqua and Versailles with the later requiring pax to wear long pants. You also needed to wear long pants in their French restaurant.

 

Other than that you could wear shorts in the rest of the restaurants. We ate in Aqua 3 nights with quick service and the menus were a little limited but we always found something we liked. Carnivals food may be a smidge better but not by much.

 

we ate at Cagneys steakhouse one night $25pp plus $8 if you wanted lobster tail. The food was very good and we ate at Modernos the Brazilian restaurant which also was excellent at $20pp.

 

At both restaurants if you booked between 5:30 and 6pm you got a free bottle of wine.

 

They also had the Grill to eat at outside like Carnivals with burgers, dogs etc and on deck at the pool they had a BBQ with chicken, sausage and yesterday we had a n ice paella which was delicious.

 

On NCL they have a deal where if you buy a FCC that you can use for up to 4 years, you pay $250 and get a $100 OBC added to the cruise you are on.

 

Also when you book with the FCC you need no further deposit.

 

Needless to say we bought one and will be sailing on NCL again.:)

 

Bill

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davids68girl

davids68girl

Posted
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After 12 cruises on CCL and 19 years since our first and only NCL cruise we decided to give NCL another try after all the cutbacks on CCL recently.

 

We had an oceanview on deck 4 which was a little smaller than CCL's cabin but the layout and storage space made the space very efficient.

 

Loved the way the bathroom is laid out with sliding glass doors for the shower and toilet area.

 

Ship was very clean and the crew much more pleasant than CCL's crew although I can't blame the crew for that on CCL since they must be stressed since they are stretched so thin, especially in the dining room.

 

Our cabin steward was very pleasant , was always around, and kept our room in great shape and made my wife happy with many towel animals.

 

Loved all the eating venues especially the Blue Lagoon which rocks.

 

They have 2 free dining rooms, Aqua and Versailles with the later requiring pax to wear long pants. You also needed to wear long pants in their French restaurant.

 

Other than that you could wear shorts in the rest of the restaurants. We ate in Aqua 3 nights with quick service and the menus were a little limited but we always found something we liked. Carnivals food may be a smidge better but not by much.

 

we ate at Cagneys steakhouse one night $25pp plus $8 if you wanted lobster tail. The food was very good and we ate at Modernos the Brazilian restaurant which also was excellent at $20pp.

 

At both restaurants if you booked between 5:30 and 6pm you got a free bottle of wine.

 

They also had the Grill to eat at outside like Carnivals with burgers, dogs etc and on deck at the pool they had a BBQ with chicken, sausage and yesterday we had a n ice paella which was delicious.

 

On NCL they have a deal where if you buy a FCC that you can use for up to 4 years, you pay $250 and get a $100 OBC added to the cruise you are on.

 

Also when you book with the FCC you need no further deposit.

 

Needless to say we bought one and will be sailing on NCL again.:)

 

Bill

 

Were you on the Star? I looked at the Star and the Magic but decided with two boys along for the ride the Magic would better suit us. Would love to try either the Star or the Jewel some day though. :)

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DGP1111

DGP1111

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After 12 cruises on CCL and 19 years since our first and only NCL cruise we decided to give NCL another try . . .

 

Bill, so glad to read that you had an enjoyable time on the recent NCL vacation voyage after such a long break since your last. :)

 

It's definitely my line of choice these days (with three more before end of year). :D

 

.

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glorialagos

glorialagos

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I love NCL. I think they do buffets much better and LOVE Blue Lagoon. My favorite ship is the Gem and the spa there is wonderful!!

 

Someone asked about nightlife/shows - I preferred NCL's over Carnival's and even attended the White Hot Party - fun for all.

 

I agree that the crew is friendlier and it just seems that NCL tries harder to make sure their passengers return. They make you feel important, starting with the Meet and Greet which is attended by the captain and all the important people - they remember you throughout the week and make a point to stop and talk.

 

They encourage you to fill out cards, help yourself at the customer service desk, and turn them in to compliment or complain about anything and they will reply to you and thank you for your comments. They just seem to care much more. I think Carnival could learn a lot from NCL. (Don't get me wrong - I like Carnival too, just think NCL does everything just a tiny bit better)

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S.S.Oceanlover

S.S.Oceanlover

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Were you on the Star? I looked at the Star and the Magic but decided with two boys along for the ride the Magic would better suit us. Would love to try either the Star or the Jewel some day though. :)

 

I'm asking that because what type of nite life do they have?

 

Well for starters they have a new show every night unlike CCL which now has about 3/4 shows per week.

 

Also lots of live music everywhere at night. We hung out in Red Lion Pub with Kenny the human jukebox. BeverLisa took very good care of us.:)

 

Something else I just thought of. They have plenty of live entertainment at the pool featuring XCite which was very good.

 

Bill

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mavis2222

mavis2222

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Wonder if i could get away with wearing Kilts in the dining room instead of long pants? Were women allowed to wear skirts or dresses?

 

I may try NCL in the near future for the single studio cabins. Last time I was on NCL was 2001 while on the Wind.. It was allot differant back then as compared to today.

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vols_159

vols_159

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dear op,

 

if you are gonna sail ncl again ill suggest applying for the ncl mastercard after your 1st purchase you receive bonus points mine was 20k good for 200 off your next cruise.. im not sure what there current point system is

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tiggerman101

tiggerman101

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I have done 15 CCL cruises and just got off my second NCL cruise (I have also done 5 RCCL cruises). There were definitely things that I liked about it. I do like the bathroom setup as there is more room in the shower. I LOVED that we had a coffee maker in our balcony cabin. The service was great and we really enjoy the various restaurants. Yes, most of them cost, but they were fun to try out. We had good dinners at all and really enjoyed the Brazilian Steakhouse and the French restaurant. The Japanese Steakhouse is always fun. There was nothing at all that would dissuade us from booking NCL again. They offer more varied itineraries (we choose this cruise for the Greek Isles). I am sure we will book them again in the future. I will say our first cruise on them was in a suite and the perks made that experience SO much better then the carnival suites we have had.

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jonbgd

jonbgd

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Glad to hear you enjoyed it

After 30+ cruises we tried NCL POA last year with our freinds.

We enjoyed it so much that we are doing the Epic.

While we will do CCL again NCL is now in the rotation of cruises

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golfadj

golfadj

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Glad to hear you enjoyed it

After 30+ cruises we tried NCL POA last year with our freinds.

We enjoyed it so much that we are doing the Epic.

While we will do CCL again NCL is now in the rotation of cruises

 

If we like the pearl can see doing the same thing and if you book 9 months out get double loyalty points so can get to Platinum fairly quickly.

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CapeCodCruiser

CapeCodCruiser

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Thanks! We are returning to NCL in April for a TA and are very excited. I am glad to hear things haven't changed much since our last NCL cruise in '06. I am really looking forward to 10 sea days to explore everything on the Epic.

 

 

Sounds good OP. I may be trying NCL Epic for a trans-Atlantic cruise (mainly because the number of days is a better fit for my schedule). Interesting to hear your comparison.

 

Are you looking at the west to east or east to west? We are Miami to Barcelona in April 2013 - have a good RC going - come along!:)

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Cruisegirl6 Great Review Rare

Cruisegirl6

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Glad the OP wrote this post, we have family that lives up in NY and they want us to join them on the brand new NCL Breakaway...I have sailed NCL in the past not recently and from what I remember I did prefer NCL over Carnival only that my kids had school and took summer cruises and NCL hasen't had any ships leaving out of Florida that time of year, now kids are grown up and out of house we can go anywhere anytime lol

 

I think this OP is making me think seriously of going with our family on the Breakaway in June. :p

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HarpHarp

HarpHarp

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Well for starters they have a new show every night unlike CCL which now has about 3/4 shows per week.

 

Also lots of live music everywhere at night. We hung out in Red Lion Pub with Kenny the human jukebox. BeverLisa took very good care of us.:)

 

Something else I just thought of. They have plenty of live entertainment at the pool featuring XCite which was very good.

 

Bill

 

 

Kenny is marvelous. I think we spent most of the post show evenings listening to him on our last cruise.

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jonbgd

jonbgd

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If we like the pearl can see doing the same thing and if you book 9 months out get double loyalty points so can get to Platinum fairly quickly.

We are looking forward to the double points. We booked 11 months out @ prices cheaper than CCL. Their loyalty program looks pretty good.

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EmmasNana

EmmasNana

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Explain the double points for booking 9 months out? Is that for any room or just suites?

 

 

It is for any room. You just have to book 9 months out. You get one point a day on the cruise plus the additional 1 per day for the early booking.

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