Tgrfan82

Has anyone done the Dolphin Swim at Ocean World? How deep is the water? Can you purchase other encounters while there?

Where is a good place to stay near Port Canaveral with transport from Orlando airport?

We are staying at Raddison at the Port. They have a shuttle from the airport for $35 pp I believe and $6 pp to the port.

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Why?

 

 

 

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I misread the question initially....but I say Belize City just because there was nothing to do at the port. We were not allowed to leave the gates without an excursion. There were armed guards at the gate. Felt very uneasy. Other passengers that we spoke with had excursions and had a great time.

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Nevermind.

We have cruised with NCL, several times. We recently had the opportunity to cruise with Carnival. Here are my comparisons. (I won't mention which ship we were on Carnival, but it was an older ship, so I will like compare an older NCL ship we have been on).

 

1.) websites....both fairly easy and equally informative

 

2.) embarkation.....most of the embarkations we have participated in have gone fairly rapidly and organized; no big difference in ships handling of this

 

3.) balcony cabin: size-wise, not much difference. Carnival's cabin did NOT have a refrigerator, not individual room temperature controls...all NCL ships we have been on have had these two things. Carnivals bathroom, while older decorated, had a slightly bigger shower and more storage room. Carnival has no messaging system for Do Not Disturb, Please make up room, etc. as NCL ships have

 

4.) Food...highly subjective. We have always found the food in main dining rooms to be relatively good, with enough selection to please everyone. Carnival & NCL compare well here. However Carnival seems to be a little less than NCL when it comes to portion size. Buffett is where Carnival & NCL are highly different. While Carnival incorporates their Guy Fierri Burger bar, Mexican, Deli, Pizza stations on outside of their buffett, which is OK, their actual buffett with an assortment of food, is lacking, compared to NCL. Breakfast buffett, except for omelet station, which NCL also has, is very lacking in good hot food or fruit, for that matter.

 

5.) Entertainment: Here is where we found the biggest difference to be. We heard most all singers on board Carnival and all lacked talent and professionalism. NCL's much better, over-all.

 

6.) Service....have seldom ever had a problem with service on any ship. Carnival was no exception.

 

7.) Ship board activities....all ships have pretty much the same type of sea day activities...no real difference in either.

 

8.) Disembarkation, have always found to be pretty smooth, Carnival, no exception.

 

 

 

So in closing, the two biggest differences we found, were in food & entertainment. Two big areas of interest to most people! While we didn't find Carnival bad, we would definitely choose NCL over Carnival, whenever possible.

 

Happy cruising!!!

I agree fully. NCL was our favorite of the two. I found the staff on Norwegian friendlier as well.

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I understand people wanting to drink a lot of water. But what is wrong with the free water on board? Why must it be bottled water?

 

 

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I tried drinking tap water on the Dream and could barely stand the smell let alone the taste. Yuck

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Seems so far away. Can't wait to check out the pearl