cantthinkofanythingfun

I had a suite on NCL for my son's 5th birthday. On the last night of the cruise we came back to the suite and they decorated it, had a personalized cake, and a card from the captain. NCL knows how to do the suite thing.

I have an ex-girlfriend that used to empty it for me, every night. I had no idea she was doing it until the statement came on the last night.

The birth certificate is easy. Many states have a division of vital records in every county. You can get a passport very quickly as well. There are numerous passport agencies that will do so for a fee, or if you live close to one, you can make an appointment with a state department office to get one quickly, in fact, if your passport was lost or stolen I don't even think you need the birth certificate to go to the state department office. You can also pay an extra 60 dollars through the regular renewal process to have a passport mailed to you within 3 weeks.

I'm going to be booking a cruise this week for July 5-12 for my son and I. My choices are down to the Carnival Pride leaving from Baltimore or the Norwegian Breakaway from NYC going to Bermuda. I'm strongly leaning towards the Pride because it's about a thousand dollars cheaper for a similar room (although NCL will give me the free beverage package and I have a $250 voucher with them). Baltimore is also only about a $15.00 cab ride from me. NYC is a three hour drive and $300 for parking. All things being equal, I would prefer to go to Bermuda for 3 days, but the Half Moon Cay stop brings the itineraries closer. My question is how often does Carnival miss this stop due to rough seas. I know NCL misses their private island quite a bit. I've been lucky and made it twice. This will be my first summer cruise. I don't know what kind of an impact that has on the seas.

The only time I was in the Haven was with kids, but I don't know if the butler would have brought all of those gummy bears, cookies, and M&M's if I wasn't with kids. He also brought by son a birthday cake on the last day and gave him a really nice card. He was tipped very well.

Thanks for all of the input. I am leaning towards going on the Pride. The prices are very reasonable, especially for a balcony room, and you can't beat the fact that it is 15 minutes from me. I'm actually thinking of going on that July 5 sailing. That's a good week for me to skip out on work and the itinerary is slightly different than the Port Canaveral/Nassau one. I think I would like Half Moon Cay. I really enjoyed NCL's private island. It makes for an easy beach day.

I feel ridiculous asking this question since I have been on the Pride twice, but both times were without my son and before the upgrades. I'm looking to take my son on an affordable vacation in the next 7 weeks. It would just be the 5 year old and myself, his 42 year old father. I honestly do prefer NCL and have a $250 voucher with them, but their fares are quite a bit more than the Pride, and I could take a cab to the Pride. I would have to fly to an NCL location, or drive to NYC and pay $300 for parking. I really am not crazy about the Port Canaveral/Nassau itinerary, I've done it 4 times before. I've been to Kennedy Space Center more times than Buzz Aldrin. The ship will be the destination, I suppose.

How is Carnival's kid's camp? How is the new water works? The old slides weren't the best. I will basically be a solo cruiser while the boy is in camp, so how is that with Carnival?

I'm considering taking my 5 year old son on another cruise in July. I was on the BA twice last year. Once in a Minisuite and once in the Haven. I really don't think I could afford the Haven this time, but I don't think I could do without a balcony. Prices seem a bit steep. I still have a $250.00 voucher. I want a "megaship" for the kid's activities. That basically leaves the BA and GA with NCL. The GA prices seem about the same, and I would have to fly to Miami. I can drive to NYC the morning of the cruise. Anyone know of any deals out there? I also don't want to do the Port Canaveral/Nassau itinerary. I've done that one 4 times. I know they have the Freestyle choice thing, and I would probably take the drink package for myself, but it doesn't do the 5 year old any good. I guess I'm looking to keep the whole thing under 3k, including the parking robbery at the port. Any deals out there?

I absolutely cannot believe they didn't run the cruise virgin ad. It's the Superbowl and you spend millions to run an ad that will be forgotten about? Everyone would have been talking about the cruise virgin ad today. It would have received millions of youtube hits. Yes, it may be somewhat controversial, but I think most people have a sense of humor. Those that don't would probably just complain about everything on a cruise anyway. Carnival just wasted millions in advertising money. They could have gotten far more bang for their buck running the ad they chose 200 times on the Lifetime Network. They developed and produced an amazing ad and someone got scared and didn't run it. I would fire whomever that is.

The ironic thing is their safe ad is still stirring up controversy. Huge fail on the part of Carnival Corp.

There have been times where I have taken a little too much advantage of the UBP. I can verify that the carpet, walls, and stairs are very hard.

It just had too many disappointments, too many issues and problems on the ship that were negative. I do mention I been on 53 cruises to show that I am experienced and able to compare ship to ship cruise line to cruise line and I not just speaking about a cruise line without trying it a number of times.

 

Pixielate since your asking what was wrong and why we won't sail NCL I shall let you know, we have cruised NCL in the past and after every cruise we say we not going back but 4-5 years pass and we just assume things have gotten better to only find they didn't. Our last cruise was the Breakaway to Bermuda.

 

Negatives/Dislikes:

 

Too crowded, traffic jams in many places

Crew/staff not friendly, would walk in hallways and pass cabin stewards never got a good morning, how are you, have a good day as we get on other cruise lines.

 

Some staff had difficulty understanding english, a few times my other half ordered a jack and soda water to get a different type of liquor in his soda water, wrong drink.

 

Hallways so narrow, if somebody with a scooter/wheelchair needs to pass by everybody needs to maneuver their bodies to a point where they can get by in the hallways

 

Buffet lunch not that good limited...there was only a meat carving on day one and never had another meat carving (carnival still has meat carvings!)

 

If you have to be gluten free or dairy and gluten free the buffet lunches are so limited....the soups had gluten...the vegetables all had sauces which are gluten on them, there were no gluten free desserts...past 10pm nothing to eat but at O'Sheehans...they have a limited menu past 10pm consisting of 8 items all gluten but the french fries that is all they had for me to eat past 10pm.

 

The ship was the rockiest we ever been on, omgosh especially coming back from Bermuda horrible and we had good weather too!

 

The outdoor deck space is very limited like consisting of "cubby holes" where you have difficulty finding a lounge chair and looking at the sea....the pools were tiny tiny for that amount of people...they were so packed looked like a bunch of sardines in a can.

 

They had another area to lie out in back of the ship no pool or jacuzzi here.

 

The casino is very warm probably due to all the people going through the casino as this was the only way to enter and exit the show/main lounge.

 

You can't use your own blowdryer they provide one to you near the desk, the socket is very low which means to blow dry your hair you have to sit on that stool and bend over you can't stand the cord is too low and if you use your own blowdryer the power goes out in the cabin

 

The pillows were the worst ever, lumpy and flat

 

Balconies were very small

 

The pools were way too small for the amount of people that are on the ship and use them it looked like people in a can of sardines.

 

We made reservations for specialty dining for 6 evenings every one of them we had a long wait, and at Cagneys Steakhouse we waited for 47 minutes for our table.

 

I won't go on....

I've commented on this list before and said that I had the exact opposite experience, but now you have added some extra complaints. The area in the back of the boat actually has two hot tubs and a water feature. I thought the pillows were fine. The ones in the Haven were amazing, but I thought the ones in the standard balcony room were great too. I haven't been on 53 cruises, but have probably stayed in over 1000 hotel rooms. You absolutely can use your own hairdryer. They provide one, but my girlfriend used her own.

Did NCL refuse to offer you some money and you swore you would trash them every chance you get on the internet.

As to the OP's concerns. My son was 4 on our last cruise, and he loved Splash Academy. I thought the counselors were great. They actually let the kids do a show one night in the main theater. They will march them through the ship singing pirate songs. It was really cute.

Is that really a rule that stewards can't touch glasses with anything in them? Every room steward I have ever had has cleaned up dirty glasses. Many times I have forgotten to put the room service tray in the hallway, and they clean that up too. I always give the steward something extra when I meet them on the first day. I don't know if that makes a difference, but I have never had any of the issues that the OP had. The bigger issue is him confronting her after she said something. That is inexcusable. I would definitely email Carnival about this. I rarely agree with many complaints I read on this forum. I think most people are just looking for something for nothing or just like to complain, but I think the OP has a very legitimate gripe and really does deserve some kind of compensation.

Carnival is getting ready to change their entire marketing strategy. They are going to be combining all of their brands, and running ads that promote all of them. I think it is going to be called World's Leading Cruise Lines or something like that. They are going to launch a big ad campaign during the Superbowl. If it is the ad that I think it is, then you can trust that it will be the most talked about ad during the game. This should be a very good thing for all of their brands.

I think the 15 drink cap is Carnival's way of saying, "Hey, we tried", in any potential lawsuit that could arise from having unlimited drinks. I have read that Carnival was sued by a woman who was admittedly drunk and fell overboard. She was suing Carnival for over serving her. I don't know the result of that lawsuit, and I don't know if that was the reason for the cap to be imposed, but regardless, welcome to a world devoid of personal responsibility.

Good for you! I'd like to try the Getaway since it is just like the Breakaway with fewer New Yorkers on board. That might be why it gets better reviews. I have sailed on Carnival and NCL both more than once, and I do prefer NCL quite a bit more, mainly for the entertainment.

My ex-girlfriend left the cabin for an hour that morning and came back drunk, so I am assuming they serve drinks that morning.

Thanksgiving week I priced the Grandeur and the Quantum for a balcony room for two. The Grandeur was $5000. The Quantum was $4800. Yes that ragged old ship was 200 more than a ship that was on it's maiden voyage that week. I went on the NCL Breakaway for $2500. I have never been been the Grandeur, but I have been on the Pride twice. I drive past those ships every week. Just looking at them from the outside the Pride appears much nicer. RCI is ridiculous with their pricing. I would pay a premium for the Oasis, Allure, or Quantum. There are a lot of extras on those ships, and they are destination ships. No way am I paying a premium to sail on a 20 year old boat that actually caught fire a couple years ago.

I meant if I was buying it I would wait...because I usually don't drink much day one

That makes sense. One thing with NCL is that they do discount the price by $5/day if you buy it online before boarding, so it almost pays for that first day.

The last time I was on the BA (week prior to Christmas) we stopped and dropped anchor about 2 hours after leaving NYC. Before we stopped, there were two helicopters circling the ship at a very low altitude with sirens. There was also a huge twin engine jet that buzzed our tower. I have yet to find out what happened or what was going on. I asked the concierge, and he didn't know it even happened, then I forgot to ask the captain the one time I saw him. Anyone here have a clue?

And I think beverage package is $49 pp per day there is two of us so $588 because wouldn't get it until 2nd night

Why wouldn't you get it until the second night? NCL is giving it away for the whole cruise. It also includes the 15% gratuity that you would have to pay. I always buy the drink package and for two people it is always over 800 bucks for a seven day cruise. That really is a great deal with NCL right now. I'm strongly considering booking something with them just to take advantage of it.

I shouldn't have a solution to the problem of the electric it shouldn't even be an issue.

 

Ocean Blu was the best but still I wouldn't go back if on the ship again...do you now I ordered the steak and they put the duck sweet sauce on it was discussing! It was the better of all the specialty restaurants but not one that we would go back to.

 

What time of year did you go?

 

You didn't find the ship to rock a lot on the way back to NY?

 

I am not saying Carnival is my favorite cruise line but we always come back to them.

 

I do know one thing, I was on this board prior to my making final payment, I wish I listened to those who also told me about the negatives that we actually experienced but we chose to experience it ourselves sorry NCL is not on the top of our list. I have heard if you have a suite they give a lot of perks so maybe there they rock!

I just saw a thread on this forum that says that Carnival has two ships with the electrical issue as well. It's just the way things are going in today's environmentally conscious society. I prefer to hang towels as opposed to throwing them on the floor, but if I hang them these days I won't get clean ones. On vacation I like clean towels.

I sailed the Breakaway twice this year. Once in November. Once in December. The first time in a mini-suite. The second time in the Haven. They do have nice suite perks (like putting a blank key card in the electric switch), but I actually had a better cruise when I wasn't in a suite. On the first cruise the ship did rock quite a bit on the first sea day. It was rough seas. The Captain even sealed the doors to the waterfront area. He wasn't up there turning the wheel back and forth to get people to complain on CC. The second cruise was smooth sailing the whole seven days. As far as the crew, on my second cruise (3 weeks later), no fewer than 5 crew members came up to me at random on the lido deck and the waterfront area and welcomed me back and called me by name. A couple of them I didn't recognize. That is pretty impressive given that over 12,000 people had churned through that ship between my cruises. I'm sorry someone put duck sauce on your steak. I don't know if that's just a quirky celebrity chef recipe or if it was a mistake. I had Thai baked chicken for lunch one day. I hated it. I avoided it on the second cruise. Food is subjective.

There is always something on every cruise, but you can't just focus on that. The last time I sailed on Carnival my then girlfriend fell on the last night and broke her wrist. I called guest services, but the medical center was closed. They had a nurse telephone my cabin and tell me to put ice on it and keep it elevated and there was nothing else they could do. The next morning it was incredibly swollen, so I asked if we could get a priority disembark. I was told no. I even emailed Carnival and told them at the very least they should fill out an incident report when someone falls on their ship and has an injury. They told me that if the medical center is closed they only respond to life threatening injuries. Despite that, I still enjoyed the cruise, and for the right price would sail with Carnival again.

About me, I am 51 and so far been on 53 cruises, I think I have enough under my belt to make judgements on ships.

 

We also used another card to keep the electric running, but why should we have to? Carnival ships do not have that system. We did eat at every specialty restaurant and not one of them wowed me but Jeffrey Zacharan's was the better one of them all.

 

The "freestyle" concept is on every ship just that each cruise lines call its something different I believe Carnival calls it anytime dining and RC calls it my time dining, so NCL isn't giving you anything different.

 

We made reservations at the specialty restaurants months in advance, and each time had a wait time for our table!

 

 

Im sorry but some people favor one cruise line over the other and will say anything positive because its their favorite cruise line, for me, I am so experienced cruising on different cruise lines and many ships...trust me the Breakaway/Getaway does in deed feel crowded and for five of us adults who say nomore NCL that has got to mean something...OP.

I was just stating my experiences. No need to get defensive. You mentioned the electric issue, but you didn't mention the simple solution to it, which you just admitted you used. Carnival doesn't have that, but that is because their ships are older. I guarantee you the Vista will have it. It's part of this whole "going green" initiative. Yes, Carnival does have anytime dining, but I always book last minute. I can't plan my time off very far in advance. Both times I booked with Carnival, anytime dining was completely booked. It's limited, and apparently popular. I never waited for a table on NCL, and I made all of my reservations on their iConcierge app the day of. I will point out that I tend to eat later. Food is so subjective. You felt Ocean Blue was the best. I really didn't care for it. I'm sorry, but the ship just didn't feel crowded to me. Maybe I'm weird.

I didn't trash Carnival. I felt my opinion was fairly unbiased. I do prefer NCL, but I would certainly sail with Carnival again. I recommended the OP give it a try. You think the OP should trust what five adults felt, but you made a complaint in your overview that had a very easy fix, that you used, and didn't mention that fix. To me that shows bias.

I just stayed in the two bedroom Haven suite on the BA a few weeks ago. That bed would be pretty tight for two adults to sleep in. I don't want to be too racy here, but there is room to do what you need to do and then have someone jump in that top bunk to go to sleep. That would actually be an ideal sleeping arrangement to me.

We went on the Breakaway two years ago, she is the sister ship of the Getaway, honestly all 5 of us adults HATED that ship!!

 

Comparing the Allure of the Seas which holds over 2k more passengers than the Getaway/Breakaway we found the Breakway felt so crowded!!

 

The Breakways/Getaway we found too many "traffic jams" in parts throughout the ship, for instance, the main lounge, you have to enter and exit in the casino, so when people are exiting the show lounge, you your creating lines of traffic inside the casino to get out of that lounge. The pool on the Breakaway is just as small as Carnival pools and I am unsure whether the water is salt or fresh water. The areas to sit out on deck on the Getaway are what I call tiny cubicles...its difficult to find an area to sit where your looking straight out at the water, there are glass walls everywhere dividing sections to sit in. We also found a high portion of the staff to be limited in their english, for instance, my other half would ask for a jack and coke and get scotch and coke....we found the staff not to be friendly, at first we thought perhaps NCL has a rule not to socialize/speak to the customers, but we round out later after our cruise there is no such rule, the staff just wasn't friendly. We would walk in the hallways and usually all the cabin stewards on other cruise lines and especially on Carnival would say good morning, have a nice day, good evening, etc. but nobody said such things to us, and the hallways on the Breakway/Getaway are horribly narrow, if somebody in a wheelchair had to pass you had to maneuver yourself and when the housekeeping carts were in the hallways you had to squeeze around them and no I am not heavy at all. The Breakaway/Getaway is green so when you leave your stateroom all electric is automatically turned off until you get back into your cabin and place your shipboard card in the slot, so if you want to charge something while your out of the room you can't and the ac gets set at a higher temperature. The balconies are narrow also and at least on the Breakway we were not allowed to open the patricians to the balconies.

If you like shows its a hit or miss depending on what they have. Buffet lunch....at least I find things to eat on Carnival as I need to be gluten free, this was not the case on NCL, I only had salad and cheeses for lunch and once in awhile there was a veggie without sauce on it that I could have. Breakfasts were similar as so were the dinners.

 

Im sorry but there were too many negatives on NCL so much that we never will sail them again.

I've been on the Breakaway twice and the Carnival Pride twice. I didn't experience anything that you mentioned. In some cases quite the opposite. I thought the staff was the friendliest I have ever seen. I didn't have one bad experience on either cruise. As far as the electricity in the room, you can stick any card in the slot to keep the power running while you are out of the room. I used a casino players club card, but you could use your grocery club card, whatever. All ships are going to that system. I think the entertainment on the Breakaway blows Carnival's away. I never really felt the ship felt crowded for the amount of people on board, and both of my cruises were sold out. I really can't comment on the gluten free selections, but I did find the food on NCL to be great, and if you spend the 120 on the dining package, you can eat in any of the specialty restaurants as often as you want. I also strongly prefer the freestyle aspect. I will not eat at set times with strangers, so if I don't book in time to get anytime dining with Carnival, I'm stuck at the buffet or the steakhouse.

Bottom line is that they are both decent lines. If price were equal I would certainly choose NCL. As to the OP, I don't think you have anything to lose by giving the Getaway a chance.

Darkest interior of any ship I've been on.

I have to agree with this. Many people find the art offensive. I wouldn't say that at all. It's classic Renaissance stuff. Of course it's a bunch of blown up imitations, and since the Pope isn't saying mass underneath of it, it is pretty tacky. Shouldn't really affect your enjoyment of the cruise though.