Differences between Carnival and NCL

Hi All. Long time lurker, second time poster.

Been on three cruises- Two Caribbean out of NOLA- Both Carnival and a Princess Baltic Cruise. I am easy going and would only get upset by a horrible problem that would upset any reasonable person.

I loved all three cruising experiences. Before cruising I was a backpack style traveler, and put up with some discomfort in the name of cheap travel.

My question to you: I am scheduled to sail on the Star on 3/10/12.

How would you compare the Carnival experience to NCL?

I found the food to be good on all of my cruises. If I didn't like something, I sent it back or went to the buffet. My room was fine. I really just enjoyed being on a ship in the open water smelling salt air and standing for hours on the deck.

The only way I won't have a good time is if something goes terribly wrong, but how would you classify the differences? Anything I should look for or look out for?

What entertainment will be on board? Carnival shows were a little cheesy, but not horrible, certainly considering one of my trips was so inexpensive.

Thanks for the feedback!

No singing waiters on NCL. No melting chocolate cake on NCL.

More dining choices on NCL. Some are fee. Some not.

NCL innovated freestyle. Carnival offers anytime dining.

Same ocean.

I have been on Carnival twice. First one not so good, second quite good.

Have been on NCL 4 times and booked for 5th in 2013. Love NCL suite perks.

No singing waiters on NCL. No melting chocolate cake on NCL.

 

More dining choices on NCL. Some are fee. Some not.

 

NCL innovated freestyle. Carnival offers anytime dining.

 

Same ocean.

 

I have been on Carnival twice. First one not so good, second quite good.

 

Have been on NCL 4 times and booked for 5th in 2013. Love NCL suite perks.

well,,,,,,,,,the last night....on Norwegian SUN......in the 4 seasons dining room........all the waiters did sing.......3 songs, it was very entertaining........

well,,,,,,,,,the last night....on Norwegian SUN......in the 4 seasons dining room........all the waiters did sing.......3 songs, it was very entertaining........

 

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Maybe I will see that for myself on the Sun in March. How bout that!

Maybe I will see that for myself on the Sun in March. How bout that!

if ya time it right...........we just happened to be in there when they did it.....one of the servers played guitar & sang in crew talent show so he gathers the rest up to sing...........I think pretty spontaneous.........but it was fun & unexpected...........I videotaped a few minutes of it..........but videos won't post on here. Trust me.......they were all out of tune cept the guitar playing server...HA HA..............sang ONLY YOU, LEAVING ON A JET PLANE & I can't remember the 3rd song...........:)

Given that you're so easy going, I really don't think there are significant differences between the two that would effect your vacation. I've been on two Carnival and two NCL and for the most part, they are very similar.

Food: I personally preferred Carnival but food is so subjective. Definitely Carnival has much better desserts. I'm a vegetarian by the way but my husband, who is not a vegetarian, also much prefers Carnival food.

Entertainment: NCL hands down has MUCH better entertainment. Their stuff is just so much more professional and well done. Much more like Broadway quality (Carnival, more like high school, in my opinion).

Service: every cruise is different. I remember having better service on Carnival but it just depends on the ship and the crew for that cruise. Service was pretty terrible on our NCL Pearl Alaskan cruise back in July.

Rooms: Carnival's are bigger and have more storage but NCL are "prettier" in my opinion...nicer and more up-to-date styling.

I think that overall, NCl has a lot more to offer, especially on their bigger ships. More entertainment, more bars, venues, food choices, etc. But I've loved my Carnival cruises too.

If you're as easy going as you say you are and things like entertainment aren't that big of a deal, I would personally go by price/itinerary. Of course since you've already done Carnival, it couldn't hurt to try NCL :)

Pros for Carnival - generally cheaper than NCL, larger cabin, more bang for the buck.

Pros for NCL - ship decor more stylish, more variety in terms of dining choices, more production shows, much better suite perks.

In my opinion, entertainement and food are better on NCL. NCL rooms are smaller, however they work.

3/10/12? I think you missed your ship!

Hi All. Long time lurker, second time poster.

 

 

My question to you: I am scheduled to sail on the Star on 3/10/12.

 

 

Thanks for the feedback!

Just came off the Carnival Liberty last month and it will be a long time before I set foot on a Carnival-branded ship again.

The food was not very good. Problems with finding something to eat when you came back from a port as the only thing open was the burger place or you had to wait for a pizza to be made. Ate burgers and pizza for most of the cruise. Never saw any staff smiling.

I think you would like the NCL product.

Lenaris, I think you will find them more similar than different. If you are a backpacker style traveler I think you will enjoy NCL with its freestyle cruising as it is pretty laid back. No set schedules to dine, you can do what you want when you want. Food is similar in quality in my opinion, neither one are 5 star quality but still you can find something you will like. I would give a nod to NCL on the entertainment side and to Carnival on the cabin side. As far as service I have found NCL to have the friendliest crew at sea, and I have sailed most of the mass market lines. I have been on the Star 3 times and have enjoyed all my trips, but I enjoyed my Carnival trips as well. I have found a good attitude goes a long way, no matter what line I am sailing with, and I have enjoyed all my trips, no matter what line it was one. After all, I am on vacation, so how bad can it be. NCL does have more dining options, but some of them are pay restaurants, but I have found them to be worth the extra money. Happy Sailing.

if you do a search for "NCL CCL" or similar you will get lots of threads on the exact same topic. There has been lots of discussion of the differences and similarities between various lines and NCL

As a CCL Diamond and a NCL Gold will be Platinum after my next cruise . I have 4 cruises booked 1 with CCL 3 with NCL the only reasons i booked the CCL cruises because of 2 1 time things a free Steakhouse dinner & a free upgrade .

the reasons i am switching

1 500 deposit VS 250 NCL

2 studios for single on NCL no break son CCL

The platinum perks are much better than the diamond perks

When it comes to standard inside cabins, I'd give a slight edge to Carnival. Cabins are larger, and bathrooms are better laid out. Not sure they're still doing this, but Carnival used to provide a basket of samples in addition to the usual offerings of soap and shampoo.

Both have great showers: Carnival's is pretty generously squared, while NCL's is a little narrower but quite deep. Carnival has a plastic shower curtain, which rarely clings, and NCL has a nice frosted sliding door. Edge to NCL.

Entertainment: NCL by a mile! Not that Carnival is bad, just that NCL is head and shoulders above everybody else.

Food: Subjective, I know. There was a time when I would have said that Carnival has by far the best food. It's been a couple of years since I've sailed Carnival, and too many people whose opinions I respect say that dining has gone downhill. I'd rather judge Carnival for myself, but can positively say that my recent experience with NCL was been good-to-downright excellent.

Service: NCL, for sure. Again, not that Carnival has bad service. Their service as I remember was very good. It's just that NCL is so much better than any cruiseline I've taken.

Both cruiselines offer what's important to me on a cruise. NCL does a better job at those important things.

I am Platinum on both, and if you asked me this question 6 months ago I would have said that they are pretty similar as far as overall value and experience. I know all the cruiselines have had to make cutbacks, but on Carnival it has had a really detrimental impact on entertainment and dining. IMO, NCL is offering a much better product these days.

Based on my own personal observations, Ccl has NCL beat "hands down" on trashy "tramp stamps". Ccl has NCL beat again on "barbed wire tats per inch", clearly in both Men's and Women's divisions. Again, ccl tromps NCL in the "inattentive baby-mama" division. You got to love those tykes running up and down the halls at 2 AM, jamming the elevators and leaving sticky finger smugs ever where. Obviously NCL is just getting to damn "snooty" to presume cleanliness and order are what passengers want.

Just came off the Carnival Liberty last month and it will be a long time before I set foot on a Carnival-branded ship again.

The food was not very good. Problems with finding something to eat when you came back from a port as the only thing open was the burger place or you had to wait for a pizza to be made. Ate burgers and pizza for most of the cruise. Never saw any staff smiling.

I think you would like the NCL product.

Interesting :) The deli is open early until 11:00 pm (I think), room service is 24 hours per day (free all the time) - the open face shrimp sandwich is amazing! Maybe you didn't know about these venues? Had the pizza been pre-made and sitting under heat-lamps - would you have said they were dry? I love that the pizzas are made to order - even with a little wait, so worth it (in my opinion).

As for not seeing any of the staff smiling - this hasn't been my experience at all. Maybe you hit an off week?

Sorry your cruise was not up to snuff.

I'm looking forward to trying the Epic next year. I fully intend on having a great time :)

Carnival used to be our line of choice...now, not so much. We find NCL to have far more to offer as far as music, entertainment and dining options. NCL food is also on par if not better now than CCL's (although CCL's steak house is better than Cagney's). While both lines have an extraordinary crew, we have found NCL's to be a little better.

We have 11 (I think) CCL cruises under our belts. It's ironic that once we made it to Platinum status, we stopped booking with them. There have been to many changes in the line that we don't particulalry like since the new guy took over. The cuts in live music being the thing that bothered us the most. NCL has a lot of live music...especially on deck. When I am cruising the Caribbean, I like island music. CCL provides little to none of that anymore, it's truly sad.

I have been on seven Carnival cruise and two on NCL. Our Last cruise was to Bermuda on the Star. On our Star cruise I was impressed on how friendly the Officers were. One day we were sitting at a bar and the bar manager came up and started talking to us. The officers really seemed to be out and about. The crew was super friendly too.

Another thing I like about NCL is when you come back from port they had cool towels and water available.

I also agree NCL has better entertainment. I really liked Second City Comedy.

I do like both lines but after our last NCL cruise I now like NCL over Carnival.

Can someone tell me if the NCL suite perks are relevant to just the penthouse and up categories? When I look at the internet sales sites they all list suites but I believe that is just for so-called mini-suites? We have only done 1 NCL so far and that was a regular balcony. Are there any perks with mini-suites?

After our last CCL cruise experience last month, the cuts were very evident. Won't try them again.

Thanks for any input!

Thank you everyone!

Looking forward to my first NCL cruise ... Have to say that I was less then impressed with CCL on my last Alaska cruise in September.

Can someone tell me if the NCL suite perks are relevant to just the penthouse and up categories? When I look at the internet sales sites they all list suites but I believe that is just for so-called mini-suites? We have only done 1 NCL so far and that was a regular balcony. Are there any perks with mini-suites?

After our last CCL cruise experience last month, the cuts were very evident. Won't try them again.

Thanks for any input!

Only full suites - everything ABOVE mini-suite get suite benefits. Only bennies for the mini is more room, a curtain separating the bed from the "living area", and a bathtub.

Thanks Peg! I guessed that was the case but wasn't positive. But still, they do appear to be a nicer size cabin for the price. Enjoy your B2B! It's coming soon!

Based on my own personal observations, Ccl has NCL beat "hands down" on trashy "tramp stamps". Ccl has NCL beat again on "barbed wire tats per inch", clearly in both Men's and Women's divisions. Again, ccl tromps NCL in the "inattentive baby-mama" division. You got to love those tykes running up and down the halls at 2 AM, jamming the elevators and leaving sticky finger smugs ever where. Obviously NCL is just getting to damn "snooty" to presume cleanliness and order are what passengers want.

LMAO! You made my morning!

NCL beats CCL hands down for suite ammenities !