Ship comparison

[workin4theweekend]

Hi all,

 

Not sure if this is the right place to ask this question or if I should be in a different forum, sorry if I am wrong. Not new to cruising, but generally cruise with Carnival with the exception of one Celebrity cruise. My family and I are very happy overall with Carnival but I am considering a Norwegian cruise to Alaska in August. Can anyone give me thoughts / comments comparing Norwegian to Carnival? We are not drinkers so drink pricing does not come in to play, we will go into the bars sometimes for the entertainment and we do generally attend shows and events. Don't really care about waterslides either. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.:D

[smeyer418]

Just off a Carnival ship which we enjoyed. NCL has better entertainment(IMO)...The major difference is if you really have to have traditional dining, NCL is probably not for you. Carnival anytime dining works very much like NCL's freestyle. You also have more choices of different dining venues. You will have more choices of free dining venues and large numbers of slight charge pay venues for dinner and one brunch.

each NCL ship has two main dining venues one of which will be open for sitdown breakfast and dinner as well, a a large buffet and a 24 hour snark bar as well as room service(they charge for pizza to be delivered) all free...

and then 5-6 or more pay venues from $10-30 pp..

 

also the cabins tend to be smaller on NCL but if you go for a suite the benefits are much better on NCL...with a special area for sit down breakfast far from the maddening crowd.

[workin4theweekend]

I appreciate the information. We typically do the regular timed dining on CCL so we can plan around shows and such. I'm not sure how important dining time really is for me. I'm not crazy about a smaller cabin as most of them are pretty small anyway. NCL has an upgrade special going on but I have no clue how their cabin classes work in order to get into the mini suite. I'm obviously going to have to some research! Thanks so much for your reply.

[smeyer418]

I appreciate the information. We typically do the regular timed dining on CCL so we can plan around shows and such. I'm not sure how important dining time really is for me. I'm not crazy about a smaller cabin as most of them are pretty small anyway. NCL has an upgrade special going on but I have no clue how their cabin classes work in order to get into the mini suite. I'm obviously going to have to some research! Thanks so much for your reply.

the cabins are pretty much all the same size within classes(insides are about 160 sq feet or so outsides are about the same balcony are 220 with balcony) until you get to a true suite. these are about 20 sq feet smaller than Carnival I think

A mini suite on most ships does not get you full suite benefits only a slightly larger cabin with a tub(I think) I never did have a mini although I have had suites.

[workin4theweekend]

Aah. That's great to know. I don't really care about a tub either so I will have to look at regular suites. Thanks so much.