Carnival vs. Norwegian cruises???

[browniegirl]

Hi all, we have been on Princess and Norwegian but have yet to go on Carnival. We have had several phone calls and emails from a cruise consultant with Carnival (I surfed their site and signed in....). Can anybody give me any advice on the comparisons of these two cruise lines? We are in our early 40's and are taking our 5 kids on our next Norwegian cruise, but winter 2007 will just be us and are considering Carnival, any advice?? They are called the "Fun Ships". Does that mean it is party party party.... or is it pretty classy as well?

 

Thanks!!!

 

Leah

[tarbashchaputi]

Hi all, we have been on Princess and Norwegian but have yet to go on Carnival. We have had several phone calls and emails from a cruise consultant with Carnival (I surfed their site and signed in....). Can anybody give me any advice on the comparisons of these two cruise lines? We are in our early 40's and are taking our 5 kids on our next Norwegian cruise, but winter 2007 will just be us and are considering Carnival, any advice?? They are called the "Fun Ships". Does that mean it is party party party.... or is it pretty classy as well?

 

 

Thanks!!!

 

Leah

 

Hi Leah,

 

My family and I have sailed boy lines and have enjoyed both very much, and in all honesty, I think they are both comparable. Differences being with Norwegian having the free style dining, versus Carnival and the assigned dining time. My first thought with a party of your size, is that Carnival would be better suited to you for dining alone. Having to potentially wait for a table at dinner would be a curse to me, but if you are comfortable with that, it is your call.

 

I have enjoyed cruising both lines very much, and would not hesitate to cruise either one of them. Our next cruise is this coming December on the Carnival line.

[lhall85917]

We have also done both lines and find them very similar. We thought the food was slightly better on Carnival, but enjoy Freestyle better (not enough to keep us away from Carnival). There really weren't any major differences in ships, service, etc. We had a great time, didin't find Carnival to be a "party" ship like some might think. Entertainment was good on both lines and passengers seemed to be from similar backgrounds.

If you liked NCL, I would guess that you will like Carnival.

[Cruzman]

I have sailed NCL once (that was enough) and Carnival 9 times with 3 more on the books. I guess that tells you where I'm coming from.

[MrPete]

Tried NCL once, never went back.

[browniegirl]

Tried NCL once, never went back.

 

Do you mind if I ask why? We really enjoyed our NCL cruise 2 years ago. However...we are currently in "talks" between our TA and NCL with regard to a situation where we found out, quite by accident, that a "large" group will be on board doing a "Rockin the caribbean oldies" cruise and that many of the main venues will be closed to the rest of the cruisers during their private functions, ie: the main theatre will be taken over from them 3 nigths of our 7 night cruise from 9 pm on, which means only one entertainment show per night, the pool is closed from 8 pm on on two nights due to a private function, etc. We are not pleased about this and want NCL to assist us in the situation, but to no avail yet.... hopefully we will come to a resolution soon!

 

Leah

[2Ports]

Sailed both Carnival & NCL. Once was MORE than enough of the "NCL Experience" for the 2Ports family! :eek: You'll notice that we are sailing Princess next, followed by a repeat on CCL. No comparison here! Just too many good products out there for us to spend our hard earned $$ on a very unsatisfactory product.

[duckman715]

Hi all, we have been on Princess and Norwegian but have yet to go on Carnival. We have had several phone calls and emails from a cruise consultant with Carnival (I surfed their site and signed in....). Can anybody give me any advice on the comparisons of these two cruise lines? We are in our early 40's and are taking our 5 kids on our next Norwegian cruise, but winter 2007 will just be us and are considering Carnival, any advice?? They are called the "Fun Ships". Does that mean it is party party party.... or is it pretty classy as well?

 

Thanks!!!

 

Leah

Sailed both. Enjoyed both. Also sailed RCI, Celebrity and HAL. Have to say that for pure value Carnival is our favorite. We are in our mid 50's and are definitely not in the "party hearty" crowd. Food and service on Carnival is best of all we have sailed. Wouldn't use the term "classy" for any of the 6 major mid market lines, but would certainly say "enjoyable" and "best value". Food and service on NCL is second in line. We have an NCL cruise planned for next year so you can see we find it at the top of the list. Probably won't sail Celebrity again and RCI would have to offer a very good deal before we would go there. Princess is next up so we can't compare them yet. Don't think you can go wrong with Carnival but depends on when you go & what you seek. Summer & spring break will be rowdier & more children. Same with shorter cruises.

[browniegirl]

Wow, this is fantastic! I really appreciate all of these replies, it makes me think that Carnival is in our future!!! Even our TA said Carnival is pretty much "party party"...not that we have anything against partying....tee hee....but our cruise next January is with our 5 kids, my parents and my 80+ yr old grandparents! Keep them coming....I really appreciate it!

 

Leah

[folashade]

I cruised NCL once to Alaska. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and say that since it was an Alaskan cruise it was very low key. I was ready to jump overboard and swim to shore I was so bored. There wasn't really anything to do on board. The shows were better than I expected but there wasn't much else to do. The food in the dining room was ok didn't care for the buffet.

[Ronath]

We've enjoyed cruising on both Carnival and NCL - in fact the Conquest is really a great ship.

[cruzeluver]

I have sailed both, and liked both. Not including the "freestyle" thing, the other differences kind of cancel each other out.

 

Food= I give NCL a slight edge, but Carnival was quite good.

 

Cabins= Carnival wins hands down. They are larger, and better laid out.

 

Service= Maybe a teensy bit better on NCL. Let me put it this way, NCL's was more efficient and professional, but Carnival's was friendlier.

 

If you liked NCL, I'm sure you'll like Carnival.

[nycglitter]

we too have cruised both. We loved our NCl cruise so much we booked the same ship 2 years in a row. We havn't been on CCL in quite a few years and I am sure things have changed since then. We found CCL to be Disney like in the decor, where as NCL seemed more "classier" for lack of a better term. But again, that was a long time ago on CCL.

 

As for the Freestyle dining. LOVE IT!!!! and I am sure it will be the biggest thing I miss from NCL on our CCL trip next July. Go when and where you want is a hard thing to pass up, mostly if traveling with children.

 

Happy cruising!

[asoutherngal]

I, too, have sailed both and must say that my cruise on Carnival Spirit was better than any of the NCL except, again, for the freestyle which I really like. My regular traveling partner is not a fan of Carnival (has never sailed Carnival but "knows" that she doesn't like it) and is the reason that I haven't done more Carnival cruises. The premium restaurant on the Spirit was just as good as the premium restaurants on NCL--both were truly excellent on all occasions. Really looking forward to my second Carnival cruise on 10/08!

[nealstuber]

Our two NCL cruises were our least favorite (4 Carnival, 4 RCCL, 1 X, 2NCL). Celebrity was our favorite. The NCL ships were nothing to write home about, the service was OK but we like getting to know our waitstaff and table mates. Found that even though you could dine anythime, if you were going to the shows - that pretty well set your schedule anyhow so why give up the intimacy that comes with getting to know your waitstaff? If I just want a nice 45 minute sit-down dinner, we can hit a Chain resturaunt on land - and the food will be better.

[lucy2222]

We've cruised Carnival once and NCL once. I too think they are comparable. Except for the dining options. That's it.

[qshari]

I have sailed NCL twice, Carnival once, and RCCL once and would give a slight edge to Carnival and RCCL. I am not a big fan of the freestyle dining experience, I like to get to know my waiter and sit in the same place each night. I have met some really nice people I may not have otherwise met by being seated with them for dinner. Otherwise they are all about the same as far as everything else goes.

[sunkey1]

I've been on many cruises on both lines and I really do think they are pretty comparable. I do prefer NCL with kids just because it relieves so much stress not worrying about getting to dinner exactly on time every evening. I also think NCL still has the edge on the production shows. Otherwise I think they are pretty close in everything else. Typically Carnival is the best value out there which is why we cruise with them so much anymore. As far as classy, I think our Celebrity cruise definitely had the edge in that area. I also think Celebrity definitely won in the area of food presentation and at least on the cruise we were on last with them, their production shows were excellent. My biggest problem with Carnival's shows is the big flashy numbers with the skimpy outfits. They just don't seem to be as picky about their dancers and tend to have at least a few girls who just shouldn't be wearing those costumes. Sorry, just my opinion. As far as the party, party atmosphere, I really think it depends on the crowd. We've been on some cruises that have been really quiet, and others where the people partied from the minute they got on board. I think it will be as much of a party as you want it to be! No matter which you choose - have a great time!!

[SueSea]

I've only been on one Princess cruise, but I've been on several Carnival & NCL. I'll compare those two since I have a better basis for comparison. In my opinion, the following held true over the course of my sailings on each line.

• Carnival - much better food in selection and quality. On Carnival it was often hard for me to pick a dinner entree--because there were often two or three dinner entrees that appealed to me. On NCL, there were a few nights on each of my cruises where it was hard to pick a dinner entree for the opposite reason--nothing appealed to me. And as my weight attests, I am not a picky eater.
  
• Carnival - more personable wait staff and stewards. That's why I give Carnival the edge on service.
  
• Carnival - better ships. I love the water slides, the piano bars, and even the sometimes cheesy decor. I've sailed both old and newer Carnival and NCL ships, so I'm comparing apples to apples.
  
• Carnival - stockholder perks. You gotta love that stock holder onboard credit!
  
• NCL - much better selection of shore tours, although based on my upcoming Carnival cruise, they are catching up.
  
• NCL - slight edge for entertainment. They seemed to have a bit more variety. But I do love Carnival's piano bars!
  
• NCL - slight edge for past passenger perks.
  
• NCL - their credit card gives the best cruise rewards of any line, hands down.

I can't give NCL an edge for Freestyle Dining. It's got its pros and cons. It's great to not have a set time to dine. However, in my experience the time spent at dinner ranged vastly. Sometimes you'd be out of the dining room in a hour, other times it would take two. There were occasionally waits to get into a dining room. We found it awfully hard to time dinner so we could make it to a show. And I did miss the lack of familiarity with the wait staff.

 

In short, I've never been disappointed on a Carnival cruise. On NCL, I always have the feeling that it could be a bit better.

[trvlqueen]

We've cruised RCCL and NCL (mostly NCL) and really enjoyed them ... taking our first Carnival cruise on Thursday (6 days and counting). I was worried, too, about the party atmosphere reputation Carnival has ... these boards are awesome and having the direct comparison between lines in this thread has been great.

 

A word about NCL's dining ... we never had a problem getting to a show on time ... never had an issue finding something we liked to eat, either. The great thing about it is that there are many different restaurants with many different menus. The second cruise we took, my 8yodd would only eat Calamari for dinner each night ... so we went to the Italian restaurant around 5, got her calamari, had a glass of wine, salad or appetizer, and then were off to drop the kids and have a quiet dinner for 2! It was awesome! We did get to know our wait staff because when we found someone we liked, we asked to be seated in their section again when we returned to that restaurant. They got to know the kids, too, and would have their beverage of choice (and calamari) ordered before we even got to the table. I think the assigned dining is fine, too ... it's just a different experience. But the whole key to enjoying a cruise, imo, is living on "island time" ... if you want to get to a show on time, assume you have to eat a little earlier to get there ... worst case scenerio you end up with time in the bar first!

 

Can't wait for the Sensation on 10/5! Thanks again for all your great input ... I'm cruising with my mom and 9yodd ... and Mom has never been on a ship before ... she was worried about Carnival's spring break party reputation, but being on these boards and reading all your input has given me the confidence to reassure her that we made a good choice!

[SueSea]

A word about NCL's dining ... we never had a problem getting to a show on time ... never had an issue finding something we liked to eat, either. The great thing about it is that there are many different restaurants with many different menus.

 

Several of the ships I sailed on were older (Sky & Wind) and didn't have the greater number of dining room choices. Sun was the first ship designed for Freestyle cruising, so it did have a greater number of dining rooms. However, about half of them had a cover charge. So if we didn't want to pay an additional fee, there were fewer choices for us during peak dining times. That was another knock I had against NCL. They promote Freestyle dining and tout how many dining options you have. But of the extra dining options they offer, many charge a fee. So the term 'freestyle' applies to dining times, not cost. NCL Freestyle ships have a higher percentage of dining venues that cost extra than does Carnival. So you may get fewer dining choices on Carnival, but almost all of them are free.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Several of the ships I sailed on were older (Sky & Wind) and didn't have the greater number of dining room choices. Sun was the first ship designed for Freestyle cruising, so it did have a greater number of dining rooms. However, about half of them had a cover charge. So if we didn't want to pay an additional fee, there were fewer choices for us during peak dining times. That was another knock I had against NCL. They promote Freestyle dining and tout how many dining options you have. But of the extra dining options they offer, many charge a fee. So the term 'freestyle' applies to dining times, not cost. NCL Freestyle ships have a higher percentage of dining venues that cost extra than does Carnival. So you may get fewer dining choices on Carnival, but almost all of them are free.

 

and on NCL if you want to eat in a restaurant that chrages extra you need to book as soon as possible as they fill up fast. So freestyle goes right out the window if you want a surcharge dining venue.

 

Bill