dolita22

Not sure if it's still the case, but if at the end of your sailing you find that you don't end up drinking a bottle or two of wine (gasp!) that you've paid the corkage for, you can take the full bottle to Guest Services and they will refund the corkage for that bottle. Again, not sure if still works that way, but it did in 2016 on the Escape.

ETA: Someone who has sailed more recently may have a more recent experience, obviously. :)

Sweet! Thanks for a great start to your review. We are sailing the Glory's Eastern itinerary in February after having sailed NCL for our last few cruises, so I'm soaking up as much as I can about Carnival.

If the NCL ship you dropped people off at was the Escape, yeah, the itinerary they were on was meh. It's a great ship, but the itinerary switch wasn't the greatest. Falmouth, Grand Cayman, Great Stirrup Cay, Nassau. We love NCL and considered switching our Glory cruise to the Escape after Hurricane Maria, but the Glory's itinerary and want to try Carnival, plus lower price, won out and kept us on Carnival. We're looking forward to it!

I may have missed it, or you may be getting to it, but what was your itinerary?

I sailed the 4-day Sky cruise in 2016 with 10 friends ranging in age from early 30s and early 70s. All had a great time, and agree with the previous poster who said it wasn't a drunken, crazy time like many purport it to be. The ship was in great ship, staff are friendly, and the open bar was nice to have. Love getting to GSC when it sails that itinerary. We'd sail the Sky again in a heartbeat!

Following! We aren't even planning to sail the Vista, but now I'll have to put it on my radar after seeing your pictures of the brewery! My DH would absolutely love that. The Vista reminds me a bit of the NCL Escape in terms of colors and activities. We're sailing the Glory in February after sailing with NCL for our last few cruises, and if we like Carnival, we may have to check out the Vista next.

Congrats to you and your new hubs! Cruises are the best ways to honeymoon! Looks like you two had a wonderful, memorable time.

What's the itinerary? If you go to Great Stirrup Cay, then I'd pick the Epic...though I have not sailed the Breeze and I am intrigued by her! Love GSC. It's beautiful and NCL has recently done some upgrading of the island.

We really enjoy the Epic and have sailed her twice. There's so much to do, the crew were great, and I believe she was recently dry docked. We'd sail the Epic again in a heartbeat.

As for the bathroom setup, it didn't bother us (a couple) at all, though I can see it feeling a little odd if you were cruising with someone you don't know well. I wouldn't be bothered by sharing a balcony cabin with a good friend with that bathroom setup. There's a curtain that separates the room from the toilet/shower area if someone would like more privacy. Some first-time cruiser friends sailed with us on the Epic for their first cruise, and the bathroom setup didn't bother them in the least. Funnily enough, when we sailed the Escape with them the following year, they were surprised to have an all-in-one bathroom. :-)

When I was in high school, my friend's parents took 4 (yes, FOUR) of us teenage girls + their 2 other daughters + grandma on a week-long cruise. I have so many memories from that cruise, and it got me hooked on cruising even back when ships were "tiny." They'll have memories to last a lifetime, and so will you. Wine never hurts either, though. Enjoy!!

I have sailed on both lines and can tell you emphatically that I greatly prefer NCL. I have liked Carnival better in a couple of categories, but overall NCL is my preference in most categories. I will go through some of them one by one for comparison's sake):

Thank you, thank you for this great comparison! We've sailed NCL for our last 6 cruises, but are sailing Carnival in February. I haven't sailed Carnival since 2011 and my hubs never has, so I appreciate the info and have a bit better of an idea of what to expect on the Glory. We're looking forward to trying Carnival and have never had a bad cruise, so I expect (hope) the same will be true for February.

OP, my parents have sailed most of the NCL ships and have really enjoyed the Sun (sailed on her at least twice). Smaller ship with fewer bells and whistles, but overall, it is one of their favorites for that very reason.

We always use our credit card for our onboard account. Those that have used debit cards have said there's a hold on the money in your account for a few weeks (not sure how much the hold is, but it seems significant enough that enough people are surprised by it), and it's on the bank as to when they release the hold, not NCL. So if you use a debit card, be aware of that.

We've never tried for Vibe passes, but like the previous poster said, with the high number of kids likely to be on your sailing, it would probably be worth it.

Have a great time on your first cruise! We love the Escape!

None for me either..too busy trying to get me to book a shore excursion in Nassau...lol..I am NOT sailing to Nassau...

While I did get an offer (upgrade to a different balcony on a deck higher for $24), I also go the Nassau email. Had to check my reservation to make sure the itinerary hadn't been updated / make sure I was still booked on the cruise I'd booked!

Glad you had such a great cruise! Thanks for taking the time to post your review. Sailing on the Glory in February after sailing NCL for our last handful of cruises, so I'm looking forward to something new.

All the best love stories start aboard the Epic! ❤️

 

 

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They do!! My now hubs and I got engaged on the Epic in 2013.

Loving your review! Have a blast!

My parents love to travel and had always been intrigued by cruising, but typically defaulted to their go-to destinations year after year - until I introduced them to cruising in 2011. Now they are hooked! They cruise 2-3 times each year and love the 10- and 11- day cruises. They recently did a Panama Canal cruise from Miami and are doing the reverse cruise from Seattle next year. They like that they can see parts of the world this way. They're still tied to the same cruise line (NCL), but I'm guessing will venture out eventually and try a new line. After all, they eventually gave cruising a try and loved it. I imagine they'd like other lines as well, since they're mostly more similar than different. :)

We're sailing the Glory in 90ish days - my first Carnival cruise since 2011 (we've sailed NCL and love them, but love the eastern Caribbean itinerary of the Glory in February). Excited to check out the ship and see what's changed on Carnival in recent years.

Also, if your planning "addiction" (I can relate!!), another poster, sparks, is cruising on the Glory this weekend. He's got a thread going on questions you have about it that he'll check out once on onboard, and I think he's going to do a review when he gets back. Yay!

Have fun researching and planning!

Both my husband and I play MyVegas and have used rewards on our last couple trips to Sin City. But we keep watching for Carnival to offer onboard credit through MeVegas. I have over a million points and would love to use some towards OBC for our upcoming Glory cruise. OBC is offered on MyVegas for Royal cruises. I am crossing my fingers they add it for Carnival, though not holding out too much hope since all I've seen is the "free" cruises.

OP, enjoy your first cruise! I've cruised in insides, oceanviews, and balconies, and my DH has done oceanviews and balconies. We spend a ton of time on our balcony, so to us it is worth the additional cost. And when you're out at sea, the balcony rooms can be just as dark as insides, IMO, since there's no light - well, except the moon and stars. We love balconies and won't sail in anything but. For your first cruise, I'd go with that if it's not too cost prohibitive. Enjoy!

Have a great cruise, sparks!! We're from Wisconsin originally, but moved to Florida last year so understand your excitement about leaving the cold. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the Glory when you return!

I don't have anything to add since we've never sailed in the Haven, but just wanted to say congrats and enjoy!! Sounds fantastic, and wow, for a 14-day cruise?! You really scored. Have so much fun!

We bring our Camelbak water bottles with filters and fill them with water from the bathroom sink in our cabin all the time. Water tastes fine and the filter seems to do its job well. My hubs brought his Camelbak with filter and I brought my regular Camelbak water on our first Escape cruise. I noticed a difference in water taste, mainly the chlorine taste. Took my filtered Camelbak on our second Escape cruise and noticed the water tasted much better.

These are the ones we take: https://www.amazon.com/Camelbak-Products-Groove-Bottle-0-6-Liter/dp/B00G46CK0M/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1510076125&sr=8-3&keywords=camelbak+filtered+water+bottle&dpID=41fwzf1kKbL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

We did a girls' getaway on the Sky last year with 10 of us all ranging in age from early 30s to early 70s. About half were first-time cruisers. All had mid-ship balconies on deck 9. We did the 4 day.

For the most part, everyone in our group had a good time. The ones that didn't had wanted to try cruising and found it just wasn't what they were expecting and won't cruise again. They were curious about it, wanted a getaway, and tried it, but simply didn't enjoy; they would never had known had they not tried it. Others loved it and have been itching it go again. I would encourage your friend to go with an open mind and not overload her with information before you leave. We gave the important information to our group before leaving (buy insurance, bring seasick meds, don't forget your passport, etc.), but left the day-to-day life of cruising up to them to experience for themselves. Sure, they had questions that we answered to give them an idea of what to do each day, but for the most part left it open and free for people to do what they like.

As far as the booze cruise, it may be more of one on the weekends, but I'm not sure. May depend on the time of year? The 4-day didn't feel like a booze cruise and everyone was well behaved and having a good time.

The Sky is an older ship, and after being on NCL's bigger ships (Escape and Epic), it did feel a bit dated, but that no way impacted many in our group's enjoyment of the cruise.

For the motion, I'd stick with your mid-ship balcony. In June of last year, while leaving Miami, it was really rocky, and we definitely noticed it at dinner in the aft dining room that night. One in our group had trouble making it through dinner and a few others left early. They felt less movement once back in their mid-ship balconies, but still took seasickness meds to help. On my other sailing of the Sky smack during the middle of hurricane season, the seas were like glass. You just never know how the seas will be. If your friend is concerned, I'd stick mid-ship.

Have fun!!

One more. Take the behind the scenes tour if you want to get a better feel of ship life. You'll get to visit areas of the ship that would be off limits to passengers. Sign up on day one as these are limited to a handful of people.

Does Carnival charge for the Behind-the-Scenes tour? With NCL (who we've sailed most recently for the past 6 cruises), you have to be Platinum - or maybe it's Platinum Plus - to take the tour, but I don't think there's a fee. But with Carnival, you can just sign up on the first day? Sailing the Glory in February and my husband would love to do one!

OP, have a fantastic first cruise! Mine was almost 20 years ago with friends and it got me hooked on cruising. I got my parents hooked on it in 2011 and they cruise 3-4 times per year now. Kind of an addiction - but a good one! :)

I've done a 4-day cruise twice (NCL Sky) and a 5-day cruise once (on the Inspiration). Had a fantastic time on all of them, and even with the all-inclusive package on the Sky, it was NOT a booze cruise. No stumbling drunks, nothing out of control, just cruisers having a great time with the time they have on the ship. :)

Have fun and enjoy your getaway!

Your review was great! Overall, it sounds like you had a great time on your first cruise. Yay!

Highly recommend checking out NCL! I got my DH hooked on cruising via the NCL Epic, and he loves NCL. My parents also got hooked on cruising via NCL. But I found a great itinerary on the Glory, so we're checking out Carnival for our next cruise. NCL's itineraries were getting a little stale (and have all mostly changed now with the hurricanes), so we were ready to try something slightly different.

Champagne is not included in the open bar, but sparkling wine is.

Check out the deck plans for the Escape on NCL's website to find out where your room location is:

https://www.ncl.com/cruise-ship/escape/deck-plans

Looks like you do have rooms above and below, so that's good news!

Sorry, I've only been on deck 12 and 14 on the Escape.

Have fun! Loved the Escape.

Book a cruise and the calls will stop [emoji38]

 

 

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Ha! That's why I did. No calls after booking (online with Carnival, not with a PVP who keeps calling).

Also tried to change my phone number in my profile, but whomever calls must still have it on file so they kept calling even after I fake numbered them. Gahhh!

I don't think you can go wrong with either one! We've sailed both twice and would sail either again in a heartbeat.

If I had to choose, I'd probably pick Escape just because it's a newer ship.

We (well, I) want to get on an Oasis class one of these days now that we live in FL!

Massage at the spa!