Comparing RCL vs NCL vs Carnival, room/staff/wifi/entertainment/food etc

[will88]

Been to 2 RCL ships, 1 NCL and 1 Carnival in the last couple of years, just want to add a simple summary to my personal experience of the lines:

 

Entertainment and activities:

This one RCL wins hands down. It has way more activities (more than the newest NCL/Carnival ships), has the best shows out of the 3. Carnival Glory barely had any show worth watching. Its comedians were either completely unfunny and unprepared (one Eddie guy didn't have more than 5 mins of material prepared, kept asking each kid in the room what they got for X'mas, and then making up some unfunny comments; the famous one who went to Letterman show and many TV shows got a full packed house, yet he clearly didn't bring his best material. Kept going on and on using dysfunctional/unrehearsed sound source to talk about misunderstandings of lyrics. Had really only one very funny one, other ones were not funny). NCL had some good headliners, good comedians. RCL has very good shows and consistently good comedians.

 

Room:

Carnival wins. Its balcony room is the biggest. NCL's is tiny - a 28" suitcase would be hard to fit anywhere. RCL is manageable but Carnival is spacious. Other amenities I do not feel there's enough difference to change this order. Size really matters.

 

Staff:

I like Carnival and RCL more than NCL. But they are all generally nice. Carnival is quite friendly and its guest services is less crowded (granted the 3 RCL/NCL ships I went on were much bigger). I do feel Carnival has a organization problem that led to unnecessary lines at buffet and elsewhere (like (dis-)embarkation)

 

Wifi (we always bought the top package):

RCL no contest. NCL is the most expensive but quite slow. RCL you could even stream Youtube reasonably. Carnival is UNUSABLE - the connection drops every other second, and 50-90% of the time you get "cannot access the IP" or sth. I was told that this was unusually bad even for Glory, and newer Carnival ships are said to be better. But I'll believe it when I actually see it.

 

App:

Carnival is the best. Its app is very functional, very informative, and has $5/cruise chat that's really useful. NCL has a $10/cruise chat and call feature that's even better ($5 diff. is not that big), but its content is less informative and app occasionally does not work. RCL's app was very bad since it has nothing that other lines didn't have, and it didn't have a chat plan (at least as of 2018).

 

Food:

Carnival and RCL better than NCL. RCL and Carnival both have very good MDR, but RCL's buffet suffers congestion problem and food is not very good. Carnival has almost abandoned buffet at night but its MDR is very good and consistent. NCL has the best buffet but its MDR is so slow and food quality so so, really not worth the wait. Carnival closes buffet/MDR earlier though.

 

Fitness:

Not much different, except that Carnival closes fitness 1 hour earlier than the others.

 

Overall Value:

I like RCL and Carnival more than NCL. RCL is more expensive but does offer more. Carnival offers little entertainment, but does cost less and take you to where you want to go, and feed you well. NCL is as expensive as RCL yet offers less, and doesn't have anything stand out. So it's my least favorite.

 

Caveat: The Carnival ship I've been on were all older, smaller than the RCL/NCL ships I've been on, but the points I pointed out are generally consistent. So I don't think this is a big caveat.

[sparks1093]

To sum it up- overall they are more alike then they are different.

[jimbo5544]

1 hour ago, sparks1093 said:

To sum it up- overall they are more alike then they are different.

Bingo, we have a winner.

[Saint Greg]

20 minutes ago, ronbe65 said:

Good

You have picked the best or nearly best ships for comparison from each cruise line.

Bad

The overview is incomplete. 

NCL spa is head and shoulders above RCI and Carnival.

The "proper" way of dining on NCL is specialty restaurants. This is how this product is designed. Don't you know this? If not, the mission is not accomplished.

RCI largest ships are unique for fitness. Surprise?

 

Happy cruising!

 

I don’t know know if I’d say the best ships were picked. Glory is a 16 year old ship. I would put it 6th of the 8 carnival ships I’ve been on. My live review from the Gory disagrees that the internet is unusable. The rest of it is all subjective.

[PhillyFan33579]

I can’t disagree with any of your comments because most of them are subjective and my last 30 plus cruises have all been on Carnival. However, I think your review would be more relevant if you based it on a Carnival Dream or Vista class ship. 

[M2LR]

I've done Princess, Royal Caribbean, NCL and Carnival and enjoyed them all. I did a ton of research and picked them based on my needs at the time. I think it is hard to compare since it totally depends where you are going and who you are which one is going to be "best". Princess was Alaska. We did their cruise land package. The hotel locations were amazing. I probably wouldn't sail them other locations since I like more of an adventurous vibe with more fun things to do onboard but they do a great job at Alaska. NCL we did for Hawaii which they do Hawaii so well. So much port time we really got to explore all 4 islands plus when you are limited on time off skipping all those sea days is huge. Royal Caribbean was our honeymoon in the Caribbean which I really loved that experience. I think they have the most amount of onboard activities if you lead an adventurous active lifestyle (I am the type to get bored sitting by the pool so I like all the ice rinks, huge slides, rock walls, etc). Carnival is what we've used most recently when we have kids. It was much more affordable when you are looking at the family of 4 so we can vacation more often. Also we are looking for shorter cruises since our kids still want time to visit Disney or go to the local zoo and Royal tends to use their older ships with small rooms for those cruises whereas Carnival uses ships that are more spacious and have been upgraded more to include the fun amenities. Will I stay with Carnival exclusively probably not but I try to treat each trip separately and figure out which cruise line makes sense.  Sorry for the ramble but I think things like room size and wifi vary so much ship to ship you can't always fairly compare so you have to look at the big picture.

[havanadaydreaming]

ROOMS - pretty much identical.  the Epic had, by far, the most storage in a room we've ever seen.  like 2x as many cabinets, including ones on the wall over the bed.  fantastic!  Carnival showers tend to have better water pressure than others.

 

FOOD - NCL clear cut winner.   Specialty restaurants and buffet far better than Carnival.   MDR pretty comparable, not a measurable difference in my opinion. 

 

ENTERTAINMENT - another decisive victory by NCL. 

 

STAFF - no difference, we've had fantastic interractions with every staff member on each cruise line.  I guess one difference is if people decide to have the once daily room service as opposed to 2x on other lines.   I just got off Paradise and asked for 2x service, but with an extra $20 tip.  boom, solution. 

 

FUN - i'll say that Carnival has more daily activities and more of a "fun" vibe. 

 

WIFI - don't care.  I like the $6/day social media option on Carnival (I love me some twitter updates to keep up with sports teams, news back home, etc) but it's not a necessity. 

 

VALUE - Carnival has lower rack rates but if you're a drinker and go with the beverage package suddenly you're at or above NCL price range.   I think the 5 free at sea is a fantastic promo, but it's not for everyone. 

 

 

[sparks1093]

26 minutes ago, havanadaydreaming said:

ROOMS - pretty much identical.  the Epic had, by far, the most storage in a room we've ever seen.  like 2x as many cabinets, including ones on the wall over the bed.  fantastic!  Carnival showers tend to have better water pressure than others.

 

FOOD - NCL clear cut winner.   Specialty restaurants and buffet far better than Carnival.   MDR pretty comparable, not a measurable difference in my opinion. 

 

ENTERTAINMENT - another decisive victory by NCL. 

 

STAFF - no difference, we've had fantastic interractions with every staff member on each cruise line.  I guess one difference is if people decide to have the once daily room service as opposed to 2x on other lines.   I just got off Paradise and asked for 2x service, but with an extra $20 tip.  boom, solution. 

 

FUN - i'll say that Carnival has more daily activities and more of a "fun" vibe. 

 

WIFI - don't care.  I like the $6/day social media option on Carnival (I love me some twitter updates to keep up with sports teams, news back home, etc) but it's not a necessity. 

 

VALUE - Carnival has lower rack rates but if you're a drinker and go with the beverage package suddenly you're at or above NCL price range.   I think the 5 free at sea is a fantastic promo, but it's not for everyone. 

 

 

The last statement may be true in some cases but I've personally never seen it for any cruise that I've priced out. Even if I were to buy the drink package, which is an iffy proposition at best, both Carnival and Royal have come out hundreds less than NCL. I've only eaten in one specialty restaurant on NCL, Il Adagio on Gem. The chicken parm was quite tasty as was the tiramisu but the spaghetti side was seriously overcooked and drenched in tomato soup. The chicken parm on Carnival in the MDR on the following cruise was just as nicely done but was included on the menu at no extra charge. There are slight differences between the lines but as stated at the beginning, they are much more alike then they are different and personally I will let the price decide which one I sail with.

[Honolulu Blue]

Thanks, everyone, for sharing your observations and opinions.

[Aquahound]

10 minutes ago, ronbe65 said:

 

Two best RCI ships were built in 2008 (Independence) and 2010 (Allure).

Best ship ever built for NCL was the Getaway of 2014.

 

 

What are you basing this on?  

[lenquixote66]

13 hours ago, will88 said:

Been to 2 RCL ships, 1 NCL and 1 Carnival in the last couple of years, just want to add a simple summary to my personal experience of the lines:

 

Entertainment and activities:

This one RCL wins hands down. It has way more activities (more than the newest NCL/Carnival ships), has the best shows out of the 3. Carnival Glory barely had any show worth watching. Its comedians were either completely unfunny and unprepared (one Eddie guy didn't have more than 5 mins of material prepared, kept asking each kid in the room what they got for X'mas, and then making up some unfunny comments; the famous one who went to Letterman show and many TV shows got a full packed house, yet he clearly didn't bring his best material. Kept going on and on using dysfunctional/unrehearsed sound source to talk about misunderstandings of lyrics. Had really only one very funny one, other ones were not funny). NCL had some good headliners, good comedians. RCL has very good shows and consistently good comedians.

 

Room:

Carnival wins. Its balcony room is the biggest. NCL's is tiny - a 28" suitcase would be hard to fit anywhere. RCL is manageable but Carnival is spacious. Other amenities I do not feel there's enough difference to change this order. Size really matters.

 

Staff:

I like Carnival and RCL more than NCL. But they are all generally nice. Carnival is quite friendly and its guest services is less crowded (granted the 3 RCL/NCL ships I went on were much bigger). I do feel Carnival has a organization problem that led to unnecessary lines at buffet and elsewhere (like (dis-)embarkation)

 

Wifi (we always bought the top package):

RCL no contest. NCL is the most expensive but quite slow. RCL you could even stream Youtube reasonably. Carnival is UNUSABLE - the connection drops every other second, and 50-90% of the time you get "cannot access the IP" or sth. I was told that this was unusually bad even for Glory, and newer Carnival ships are said to be better. But I'll believe it when I actually see it.

 

App:

Carnival is the best. Its app is very functional, very informative, and has $5/cruise chat that's really useful. NCL has a $10/cruise chat and call feature that's even better ($5 diff. is not that big), but its content is less informative and app occasionally does not work. RCL's app was very bad since it has nothing that other lines didn't have, and it didn't have a chat plan (at least as of 2018).

 

Food:

Carnival and RCL better than NCL. RCL and Carnival both have very good MDR, but RCL's buffet suffers congestion problem and food is not very good. Carnival has almost abandoned buffet at night but its MDR is very good and consistent. NCL has the best buffet but its MDR is so slow and food quality so so, really not worth the wait. Carnival closes buffet/MDR earlier though.

 

Fitness:

Not much different, except that Carnival closes fitness 1 hour earlier than the others.

 

Overall Value:

I like RCL and Carnival more than NCL. RCL is more expensive but does offer more. Carnival offers little entertainment, but does cost less and take you to where you want to go, and feed you well. NCL is as expensive as RCL yet offers less, and doesn't have anything stand out. So it's my least favorite.

 

Caveat: The Carnival ship I've been on were all older, smaller than the RCL/NCL ships I've been on, but the points I pointed out are generally consistent. So I don't think this is a big caveat.

IMHO RCI has better cabins,better food, better entertainment and friendlier crew members.

[havanadaydreaming]

2 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

The last statement may be true in some cases but I've personally never seen it for any cruise that I've priced out. Even if I were to buy the drink package, which is an iffy proposition at best, both Carnival and Royal have come out hundreds less than NCL. I've only eaten in one specialty restaurant on NCL, Il Adagio on Gem. The chicken parm was quite tasty as was the tiramisu but the spaghetti side was seriously overcooked and drenched in tomato soup. The chicken parm on Carnival in the MDR on the following cruise was just as nicely done but was included on the menu at no extra charge. There are slight differences between the lines but as stated at the beginning, they are much more alike then they are different and personally I will let the price decide which one I sail with.

was on NCL Sky earlier this month for 4 nt oceanview/$139pp - 2 free at sea (selected unlimited beverages and steakhouse)

 

just debarked Carnival Paradise - 4 nt oceanview/$589pp.  Plus 4 nights at $51.99 beverage package pp.  no specialty dining.

 

 

 

 

[sparks1093]

23 minutes ago, havanadaydreaming said:

was on NCL Sky earlier this month for 4 nt oceanview/$139pp - 2 free at sea (selected unlimited beverages and steakhouse)

 

just debarked Carnival Paradise - 4 nt oceanview/$589pp.  Plus 4 nights at $51.99 beverage package pp.  no specialty dining.

 

 

 

 

Yes, deals are to be had but as I said, I've never seen them when it was time for us to book a cruise (which typically happens a year and a half prior to sailing). They had the Sky as all beverages included at one point, did they have to stop that?

[will88]

7 hours ago, ronbe65 said:

Good

You have picked the best or nearly best ships for comparison from each cruise line.

Bad

The overview is incomplete. 

NCL spa is head and shoulders above RCI and Carnival.

The "proper" way of dining on NCL is specialty restaurants. This is how this product is designed. Don't you know this? If not, the mission is not accomplished.

RCI largest ships are unique for fitness. Surprise?

 

Happy cruising!

 

 

Indeed the review is incomplete, as I marked it's just from my personal experience. There're a lot more things to compare, like different cabins (I only lived in Balcony), excursions, drink package, pools, spas, adult-only areas, specialty restaurants, many more. I didn't have time nor intend to putting in a lot of details too, particularly since I know a lot of personal experiences are YMMV anyhow.

 

I do want to note that the only specialty restaurant that really impressed me is Wonderland on some RCL ships. No specialty restaurant on NCL Escape is beyond the usual fare, so I stand by my review of food comparison of the 3. But if I really say which one's the best out of the 4 lines I've been on, Celebrity is better than all other 3.

[Aquahound]

30 minutes ago, ronbe65 said:

Product quality this ships deliver (design, public space inside/outside, accommodation, spa & fitness,  food & service, entertainment).

Happy cruising!

 

I agree they're great ships, but I wouldn't say each is any better than their twin sisters of the same class.  

[Robinsoncruiseso]

Should we throw the 4th up and coming contemporary line in for comparison...MSC?

 

Entertainment AND Entertainment staff are some of the best in the industry. Deck space good. Specialty restaurants up there with the Premium lines. 

[hawk/hornfan]

Ok I have been cruising since 1983. However not a lot of cruises compared to some. My 1st 2 cruises were with 2 different wives. Like the wives the ships are long separated, ( both ships are sunken somewhere, like the marriages, lol). The last 8 and 1 coming up is with wife#3. We have sailed CCL, NCL, RCCL, HAL, Princess and Celebrity. I will have to say except for Celebrity, which is our next cruise in November, we have had the most fun on CCL. We love their cabins, staff, food & dining experience, and entertainment. Least fav was NCL Escape. That being said our best cruise was on the Celebrity Solstice in Sept 2015 from Van to HI for 10 days. We still have friends from that cruise we are still in contact with. So looking forward to the Reflection in Nov. 

 

[evandbob]

I think the Op's experience of being on just 4 cruises is insufficient to jump to conclusions about cruise line comparisions.