So Far Carnival is Winning vs NCL

[CruizinSusan70]

2 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

 And not everyone has your discount or cruise certificate just like not everyone has a casino rate from Carnival. Nor has to have a drink packages.

Anybody can buy a cruise first certificate for NCL they run 150 for 300 and sometimes 250 for 500.  So you automatically save 150 or 250 per cabin. 

[carohs]

2 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

Fine let’s do two. The cheapest I can get for two on Carnival is $1,763 with no extras. The cheapest I can get on NCL for two is 906 that includes drinks and two specialty dinners for two.

 

 

Hmm I find this comparison interesting. Not exactly the same since one is a closed loop. Although the NCL one may arguably have a better itenarary for visiting Alaska. I'm willing to bet the NCL one doesn't include air, too. Not that the CCL one does. But NCL cruise fares have been known to drop as they get closer to sail date, and maybe it's a coincidence but they also drop the FAS BOGO air closer to sail date too.

 

Don't get me wrong I do think NCL can be a great value and continue to keep an eye on their offers. But although they can be a great value it's not always going to be the case. 

[CruizinSusan70]

1 hour ago, BlerkOne said:

Enjoy NCL! Even if every NCL cruise was cheaper (not the case), price isn't everything. 

That's certainly true.  You need to know what ships you're comparing.  If you pick a Breakaway Plus Class ship or a Prima Class ship on NCL they have much more to offer than the Fantasy or Spirit Class ships of Carnival. 

[CruizinSusan70]

24 minutes ago, carohs said:

This pretty much sums up the point I was trying to make. Add in the taxes and fees and subtract the FAS gratuities, and NCL is more than the cost of the CCL cruise. I don't need to or want to add any extras or drink package. Just comparing the two fares above, CCL would come out ahead for me. 

In general, if you compare all of the mass market cruise lines, Carnival and MSC usually come out ahead as being the cheapest if you're looking for a bare bones, no frills choice.  Of course there are some exceptions to this rule and if you're a gambler, that's a whole other can of worms.

[BlerkOne]

24 minutes ago, carohs said:

Hmm I find this comparison interesting. Not exactly the same since one is a closed loop. Although the NCL one may arguably have a better itenarary for visiting Alaska. I'm willing to bet the NCL one doesn't include air, too. Not that the CCL one does. But NCL cruise fares have been known to drop as they get closer to sail date, and maybe it's a coincidence but they also drop the FAS BOGO air closer to sail date too.

 

NCL is known for sometimes sticking customers with crappy air and they don't have a choice about it. With Carnival you can pick airlines and flights from their list.

 

In my experience, NCL tends to drop fares just after final payment and tell people who booked at higher fares too bad. One time we had two adjoining balconies booked and just after final payment the fare dropped. NCL wouldn't budge on our price. We could have canceled, paid the penalty, rebooked and still saved money, but there was no guarantee we would be able to get two adjoining balconies again.

[BlerkOne]

39 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Anybody can buy a cruise first certificate for NCL they run 150 for 300 and sometimes 250 for 500.  So you automatically save 150 or 250 per cabin. 

And many can buy Carnival gift cards at 10% off. Don't think they offer discounted NCL gift cards. Not even sure you can get NCL gift cards these days.

[CruizinSusan70]

54 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

And many can buy Carnival gift cards at 10% off. Don't think they offer discounted NCL gift cards. Not even sure you can get NCL gift cards these days.

Not aware of any NCL cards at all.  We buy the Carnival cards at 10% off, the Princess cards at 8% off and the Cruise First certificates at 250/500.  Every little bit helps. Currently saving money on 14 future cruises between those three cruise lines over the next 2 years.

[Saint Greg]

6 hours ago, carohs said:

This pretty much sums up the point I was trying to make. Add in the taxes and fees and subtract the FAS gratuities, and NCL is more than the cost of the CCL cruise. I don't need to or want to add any extras or drink package. Just comparing the two fares above, CCL would come out ahead for me. 

I’m not going to say someone can’t cherry pick a cruise that’s cheaper than NCL. Like I said it’s not apples to apples either. We’re comparing the largest ship in the NCL fleet with a Sat-Sat itinerary to a spirit class ship with a Thur-Thur itinerary. It’s also about a $30 Uber ride out to the Carnvial port where NCL is right downtown. Cheap train ride from the airport to westlake center and you can walk to the port. But I think leaving on a weekend and on the better ship makes a big difference in this case.

 

I just got off of spirit a couple weeks ago. You aren’t going to find an observation lounge like this there. The buffet is the closest you’ll get.

Edited March 11 by Saint Greg

[LatinaInTexas]

11 hours ago, TN Roz said:

This has been a very interesting and informative topic. I have been on several Carnival cruises (over 20) and have been on 3 or 4 with Royal. We are not loyal to any one line and choose the cruise that we feel fits our needs the most. That being said, I have an Alaskan cruise booked on NCL for April 2025. We made the decision based on several things, most importantly the ship (Encore) and the value of the drink package and specialty dining. On CCL, we pay around $1,000 for the drink package for the 2 off us for 7 days. We usually eat at a specialty dining venue at least twice at $40 or $45 per person. NCL also had more excursions on the Alaska itinerary that appealed to us so the $50 off per cabin is a plus for us. Also, I learned on this tread that you can order 2 drinks at time. This has always been a pet peeve of mine on Carnival as I like a beer chaser with my spicy Bloody Mary and my tequila shots. Waiting 5 minutes (usually longer by the time the bartender gets back to you to order that chaser) is really inconvenient in my opinion. As others have said, do your research and choose the line that is best for you and your budget. This forum is a good source, but we all have different experiences and opinions. @Saint Greg I have read your reviews for years and I know that you do your research and provide accurate and up to date information. I have taken your recommendations for everything from hotels in NOLA to parking, restaurants and drinks!

I did a lot of research and comparing for my upcoming Alaska cruise, and for all the points you mentioned and then some I also picked NCL on the Encore.

I will say until I saw some posters on here point out NCL "free" "free" "free" way of advertising I didn't even notice that. Even if I had I would never think I would get something for free lol.

 

 

[LatinaInTexas]

37 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

I’m not going to say someone can’t cherry pick a cruise that’s cheaper than NCL. Like I said it’s not apples to apples either. We’re comparing the largest ship in the NCL fleet with a Sat-Sat itinerary to a spirit class ship with a Thur-Thur itinerary. It’s also about a $30 Uber ride out to the Carnvial port where NCL is right downtown. Cheap train ride from the airport to westlake center and you can walk to the port. But I think leaving on a weekend and on the better ship makes a big difference in this case.

 

I just got off of spirit a couple weeks ago. You aren’t going to find an observation lounge like this there. The buffet is the closest you’ll get.

If I hadn't already been booked on NCL this post would definitely have had me checking them out for myself. You covered all points in a factual non personal way, very helpful and interesting.

The odd Tuesday-Tuesday or Thursday-Thursday sailing dates on Carnival were the number one reason among a few that I didn't even consider them for Alaska.

[vswan]

As a long time reader (lurker) and a relatively new poster, I have learned a lot about all the different cruise lines and ports on this website. Take what you want and leave the rest behind.

 

Comparing cruise lines is part of the dialogue. We each need to figure out for ourselves what is important to us and make choices. Whether that is price, itinerary, embarkation port, drink package, ship, food, private island, solo rate, etc. I don't always go for the cheapest option, but value is important to me. We all love cruising or we wouldn't be on this website.

[BlerkOne]

Just one discussion of Free At Sea. On the NCL boards where one might expect to find such things. Looks like the price is baked in.

 

[Illbcruzn4life]

18 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Ummm

 

Get More with Free At Sea

Enrich your cruise vacation with up to 6 Free Offers with Norwegian's Free At Sea promotion. Choose from Free Unlimited Open Bar, Free Specialty Dining, Free Airfare for 2nd Guest, Free Shore Excursions, Free WiFi and Free 3rd & 4th Guests.

 

https://www.ncl.com/

 

 

 

they do the same thing on MSC and think their drinks are free.

[Illbcruzn4life]

18 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

The discount can be real, true. And, as you know, NCL does mark up some excursions.

 

The bar is not truly unlimited - you are limited in what alcohol is included.

 

None of it is really free. If you push NCL, especially closer to a cruise, you can get a lower price if you refuse all of their marketing gimmicks. You don't really have to push if you book a sailaway cabin which includes none of it,but you can do better.

NCL highest port fees/taxes at sea, also

[Saint Greg]

.

Edited March 11 by Saint Greg

[Saint Greg]

49 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Just one discussion of Free At Sea. On the NCL boards where one might expect to find such things. Looks like the price is baked in.

 

You should post on it. See if they agree Carnival is the better deal.

 

[BlerkOne]

21 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

You should post on it. See if they agree Carnival is the better deal.

 

I'm not naive enough to make blanket statements like that. Or that NCL is a better deal. It depends and varies.

[mjkacmom]

8 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

NCL is known for sometimes sticking customers with crappy air and they don't have a choice about it. With Carnival you can pick airlines and flights from their list.

 

In my experience, NCL tends to drop fares just after final payment and tell people who booked at higher fares too bad. One time we had two adjoining balconies booked and just after final payment the fare dropped. NCL wouldn't budge on our price. We could have canceled, paid the penalty, rebooked and still saved money, but there was no guarantee we would be able to get two adjoining balconies again.

If you mean connecting you are probably correct. I’ve always watched fares on NCL, I book early, not once have I seen a price drop, even after final payment. We usually booked weeks when the kids were off from school at least one day.

[BlerkOne]

4 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

If you mean connecting you are probably correct. I’ve always watched fares on NCL, I book early, not once have I seen a price drop, even after final payment. We usually booked weeks when the kids were off from school at least one day.

Probably. Anyway - next to each other. This was a Christmas cruise.

[Linsuesue]

On 3/7/2024 at 4:30 PM, Daruma said:

 

Thank you... we'll finally be able to afford to eat meat again, lol. 

 

As I mentioned in my OP here... NCL proved to be way more expensive for a solo balcony cabin... so I cancelled it, and am now taking 2x Carnival cruises; 7 day with the exact same itinerary and in a balcony cabin and a 4 day, albeit interior cabin, excursions and desired add ons included and it's still several hundred dollars cheaper. 

 

I get and understand the differences... but decided that I'd rather ease my way into the cruise pool, and get TWO cruises... rather than jump in on just one more expensive cruise. 

I have sailed on  NCL and Carnival ships and prefer Carnival myself. If you really enjoy these cruises coming up and will be booking more, check out the 4K cabins on the Spirit class ships—Spirit, Miracle, Pride, and Legend. They are very cost effective spacious cabins and a very unique type of cabin. They are called an Inside Obstructed view, have floor to ceiling windows(that don’t open), and have the lifeboats directly outside of them. They are on deck 4 which we find a very convenient location. The price is just barely more than a typical inside cabin down on decks 1 and 2 yet is the size of a balcony cabin and has windows. There are a few of the 4K’s that have a bit of a better view than the side of a lifeboat. Check out 4K cabin 4122 on Youtube for an idea of the view. Happy sailing!

[LatinaInTexas]

Since I had the day off and am bored I decided to crunch some numbers to see if indeed booking NCL with the free at sea would have the price baked into the fare. Last time I did this comparison it did not add up to the price being baked into the fare but things might have changed since then. Will use Carnival for the comparison.

My cruise is on the NCL Jade in August. The most similar cruise I could find on Carnival for the same time frame was on the Legend. The one thing that I could not match on any Carnival ship was that the Jade had 4 port stops compared to the Legend only having 3. I won't even bother trying to estimate the cost savings of having an extra port. Both are 7 nights. Both are based on 2 people.

 

Legend base fare $689pp

Jade base fare $979pp

Right off the bat seeing this might stop someone from even considering booking NCL. But moving on...

 

All in fare for the Jade including the free at sea perks and gratuities, the port taxes and fees, and the regular daily gratuities comes to $3024. This includes a drink package, a specialty dining choice such as the steakhouse, $50 off one excursion per cabin not per person but not limited to just one excursion per port. Also 150 wifi minutes per person. 

 

All in for the Legend is $1863. This includes port taxes and fees and daily gratuities. Once again at this point someone might be turned off booking NCL. But if you look you will see there are some things missing from the Legend booking making it not comparable at all. Let's correct that.

 

To have a drink package on the Legend you will have to pay $993.

To eat at the steakhouse on the Legend you will have to pay $115.

If you take an excursion at each port on the Legend you will pay the 3x$50=$150 that is included on the Jade.

Also I didn't know how to value the free 150 minutes wifi pp on the Jade so I just went with a $50 pp value.

 

Once you add in the cost of perks of the free at sea to the Legend it is now comparable. So onto the grand totals.

Grand total on the Jade remains $3024.

Grand total on the Legend adding the value of the free at sea perks to make it comparable now totals $3221.

Yes arguments can be made that not everyone wants these perks so these numbers mean nothing to them. But this discussion for the last 2 days has been that the free at sea doesn't save you money, is not of value, is smoke and mirrors, is an advertising gimmick and is baked into NCL fares. Yes there were sub discussions but these were repeated and focused on the most.

 

Like Saint Greg posted early on it's no big deal if you aren't a fan of NCL or won't ever sail them but why try to deliberately paint them in a bad light and turn people off? I personally don't like RC but I never bash them. I just say I liked my RC cruises but I didn't love them. 

 

Oh one more point. For the pricing on the Jade I didn't add the $250 free money from using a cruise first certificate or the $195 off for using the veterans benefit bringing the total down to $2579.

Oh and best of all I used a My Vegas reward and also got another $1500 off taking my total way down to $1079😁🤑

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MisterOJ2]

I'm glad some people can get good deals on NCL. I've wanted to try NCL, but have never been able to. At the end of the day, I just want a basic fare (no internet/specialty dining/etc.) with *maybe* a drink package. Sometimes we buy it on Carnival, sometimes we don't.

 

But for the past few years, every time I have tried to book an NCL cruise (with the Free at Sea promotions) it has always been more expensive than a similar Carnival cruise with the price of Cheers! factored in. Since I like having the option to buy Cheers or not, it's always been a no-brainer for me to pick Carnival.

Edited March 11 by MisterOJ2

[BlerkOne]

12 minutes ago, LatinaInTexas said:

it's no big deal if you aren't a fan of NCL or won't ever sail them but why try to deliberately paint them in a bad light and turn people off? I personally don't like RC but I never bash them. I just say I liked my RC cruises but I didn't love them.

 

 

It's nice that NCL works for you. It is clear that it doesn't work for everyone, or they would be number 1 instead of number 4 (MSC, Carnival, Royal, NCL...)

 

Telling the truth is not bashing NCL, and Free At Sea is still a marketing gimmick and always has been.

[BlerkOne]

2 minutes ago, MisterOJ2 said:

I'm glad some people can get good deals on NCL. I've wanted to try, but have never been able to. At the end of the day, I just want a basic fare (no internet/specialty dining/etc.) with *maybe* a drink package. Sometimes we buy it on Carnival, sometimes we don't.

 

But for the past few years, every time I have tried to book an NCL cruise (with the Free at Sea promotions) it has always been more expensive than a similar Carnival cruise with the price of Cheers! factored in. Since I like having the option to buy Cheers or not, it's always been a no-brainer for me to pick Carnival.

This is my experience more often than not.

[Linsuesue]

12 minutes ago, LatinaInTexas said:

Since I had the day off and am bored I decided to crunch some numbers to see if indeed booking NCL with the free at sea would have the price baked into the fare. Last time I did this comparison it did not add up to the price being baked into the fare but things might have changed since then. Will use Carnival for the comparison.

My cruise is on the NCL Jade in August. The most similar cruise I could find on Carnival for the same time frame was on the Legend. The one thing that I could not match on any Carnival ship was that the Jade had 4 port stops compared to the Legend only having 3. I won't even bother trying to estimate the cost savings of having an extra port. Both are 7 nights. Both are based on 2 people.

 

Legend base fare $689pp

Jade base fare $979pp

Right off the bat seeing this might stop someone from even considering booking NCL. But moving on...

 

All in fare for the Jade including the free at sea perks and gratuities, the port taxes and fees, and the regular daily gratuities comes to $3024. This includes a drink package, a specialty dining choice such as the steakhouse, $50 off one excursion per cabin not per person but not limited to just one excursion per port. Also 150 wifi minutes per person. 

 

All in for the Legend is $1863. This includes port taxes and fees and daily gratuities. Once again at this point someone might be turned off booking NCL. But if you look you will see there are some things missing from the Legend booking making it not comparable at all. Let's correct that.

 

To have a drink package on the Legend you will have to pay $993.

To eat at the steakhouse on the Legend you will have to pay $115.

If you take an excursion at each port on the Legend you will pay the 3x$50=$150 that is included on the Jade.

Also I didn't know how to value the free 150 minutes wifi pp on the Jade so I just went with a $50 pp value.

 

Once you add in the cost of perks of the free at sea to the Legend it is now comparable. So onto the grand totals.

Grand total on the Jade remains $3024.

Grand total on the Legend adding the value of the free at sea perks to make it comparable now totals $3221.

Yes arguments can be made that not everyone wants these perks so these numbers mean nothing to them. But this discussion for the last 2 days has been that the free at sea doesn't save you money, is not of value, is smoke and mirrors, is an advertising gimmick and is baked into NCL fares. Yes there were sub discussions but these were repeated and focused on the most.

 

Like Saint Greg posted early on it's no big deal if you aren't a fan of NCL or won't ever sail them but why try to deliberately paint them in a bad light and turn people off? I personally don't like RC but I never bash them. I just say I liked my RC cruises but I didn't love them. 

 

Oh one more point. For the pricing on the Jade I didn't add the $250 free money from using a cruise first certificate or the $195 off for using the veterans benefit bringing the total down to $2579.

Oh and best of all I used a My Vegas reward and also got another $1500 off taking my total way down to $1079😁🤑

 

 

 

 

There are differences in the drink packages that some might want to consider for value. While Carnival has a limit of 15 alcoholic drinks per day, NCL does not. The Carnival drink package includes specialty coffee. The NCL drink package does not include that and you would need to consider the price of the Starbucks package on NCL.