Norwegian or Carnival?

[Cruisegirl6]

Freedom extra day nice!

 

Hate Ocho Rios (very unsafe also be careful) and hate Nassau

 

 

Its reall neck to neck as far as ports but my choice is Freedom extra day!

[Warm Breezes]

Freedom is 8 day - St. Thomas, Antigua, Tortola, Nassau

Pearl is 7 days - Great Stirrup Cay, Ochos Rios, Grand Cayman, Cozumel.

We have taken many cruises but never on Carnival. We like to get off the ship and go to a beach for the day. We've been to all these ports at least once.

 

I have to say that I loved having that extra day when we did that Freedom 8 day....

[sail2sea]

Any ship in particular? That would make a difference.

 

One word of caution, stay away from Carnival's Sunshine, at least for now.

[Cruisegirl6]

Good advice Sunshine having problems after problems.

[Ilovesailing]

The Freedom ship is absolutely hideous. The lobby with all the bubble moon lights all over the walls reminds me of a kid in grade school with pimples at all stages. The steakhouse reminds me Liberace's bathroom. On top of all that you have different wall paper patterns on every wall from zebra to snake to cat prints.

[BaseballMomof4]

My family and I have sailed Carnival 4 times and are just off of the Epic. Myself 51, DH 51, DS 22, DS 18, DS 15.

 

In our opinion, CCL does the food better, the entertainment better and the cabins on CCL are bigger.

 

We were not able to use the pool deck on the Epic due to poor weather, but it really did not have anything that we haven't had on a CCL ship.

 

In our opinion CCL just does it better all the way around. My kids have never spent as much time in the cabin on a cruise watching TV as they did on this Epic cruise.

[jam&tea mom]

We've had 3 NCL cruises we really enjoyed (Pearl, Dawn & Gem- which was just last month) but find that we are looking elsewhere for next March, our school break. Dates are fixed we need a departure March 7-10 and unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a lot of choice at a price we are looking for out of Florida. Is the Pearl in dry dock then? We also don't really want to sail out of NYC in the winter. Both Carnival and RCI offer some great ships with interesting ports and better prices. We're looking at the CCL Breeze, Dream maybe the Glory and the RCI Liberty of the Seas. Thoughts?

[barante]

I would consider cabin sizes as well. Carnival has some of the biggest standard cabins in the business, in all categories; NCL has some quite tiny cabins in lower inside categories.

 

We have 4Ks booked for three forthcoming Carnival cruises later this year. 4K is an obstructed outside cabin with openable french doors that is sold as an inside.

 

In 2014 we plan to take two long NCL cruises. We chose balcony cabins because we thought the basic cabins were too small.

[Cruisegirl6]

Jam&TeaMom done all I take out the Glory for sure. The Dream we found to be our favorite Carnival ship (have not done the Breeze yet but she is sister ship has to be just as good as the Dream), we probably would not sail any other Carnival ship in the future but the Dream or Breeze. We love RC its on top of our list and we just got off the NCL Breakaway which we never will go back to. Too many tiny negatives and poor layout never again, RC our favorite. Liberty of the Seas last dry dock was in 2011 where the Dream was in dry dock in 2012 and the Breeze came out in 2012 more newer. Even though RC is my favorite I would personally have reservations as the ships dry dock was a year sooner its coming up to three years so I personally would choose the Dream or the Breeze.

[Umbarger]

I would choose NCL. After 6 Carnival cruises I am done with them. They have so many cutbacks anymore that any cruise line is better than Carnival. Yes, Carnival has larger cabins but if the cruise isn't as good what good is a larger cabin? The only way to tell Carnival that I am against all their cutbacks is to take my business elsewhere.

[BaseballMomof4]

It's all subjective, I feel that way about our NCL cruise. Thankfully it was port intensive because we were bored out of our minds and frankly, unless we paid extra the food was bad and it was repetitive.

 

To be honest, part of the reason I enjoy cruising is not having to worry about paying extra for every little thing so I am somewhat offended by all the pay extra restaurants on NCL. They don't even rotate desserts! I can get apple pie in my grocery store, I don't want it on my cruise! I want creme brulee or something I can't do at home!

 

So many things that are included on CCL are pay extra on NCL (i.e. sushi), and I don't want to have to make reservations for my entertainment like I do on NCL - on CCL we just know there will be comedy and stage shows at 8 and 10 pm EVERY NIGHT.

 

And rooms do make a difference - particularly if you are traveling as more than 2. On NCL we could not even open the closet door when the upper bunk was pulled down and if you wanted to go out on the balcony you had to turn sideways and shuffle the length of that upper bunk just to get to the door or crawl on the floor. Even the toilet and shower room are smaller. I have no idea how a large person could even shower in that shower room.

 

To each their own, we tried it and didn't like it. Not one out of 5 would cruise NCL over CCL again. But that is just our opinion. Other feel the direct opposite.

[jdvmd]

That's what makes the world go round. If we all liked the same thing, imagine how dull things would be. For me, I find CCL to be a pitiful line. Would take NCL in a heartbeat over Carnival. Our last experience on Carnival, I thought I would starve to death. Food was atrocious, service, what service. Yes, the rooms are bigger but how much time are you going to spend in your room? After our week on the Epic, we felt like we needed another vacation because we did so much on the ship. Could have easily stayed another week to take in the things we didn't get to do.

[ja_martin]

We usually sail Princess but the Emerald is very expensive for New Years. Sailed Norwegian several times but have never sailed Carnival. For those of you who have sailed both, which would you choose for New Years?

Norwegian Pearl or Carnival Freedom?

Thanks.

 

I've been on both. While Carnival was once my favorite line, Norwegian has taken over that top spot. The Pearl is now my new favorite ship. It beats Carnival hands down right across the board. Beware - The Pearl is the ship that gets chartered most, so there is always a chance that your cruise gets cancelled.

[BaseballMomof4]

And we felt the exact opposite. On Carnival there are so many INCLUDED choices - Buffet, 24 hour Pizza, Guys Burgers, Burrito Bar, Mongolian Wok, Chinese, New York Deli, Fish and Chips Station. On NCL it was MDR, Taste, Buffet, O'Sheehans or show me the money honey.

 

And on CCL the majority of the menu items are not served every single night. They only repeat one or two. We found it to be the exact opposite on NCL - almost EVERYTHING was a repeat and only 1 or 2 different entrees each night.

 

As far as entertainment went, maybe because we were in the Med, but there was no Comedy show (which is the thing we enjoy the most) and they used the same venue for several different things each night so we felt like sheep being herded in and out. From 8-9:30 we will do this in Bliss, 9:30 - 10:00 something else, 10:00 - 12 something else. Did not like that.

[molole]

I have done New Year Eve cruises on both lines and without a doubt Norwegian is better. Carnival ships generally feel more crowded and the NYE crowd really pushed it over the edge.