What is the different between NCL and carnival?

What is the different between NCL and carnival?

NCL has the Freestyle part worked out better than Carnival. Carnival's cabins are a bit bigger, but their suites don't give you any perks other than priority embarkation. Carnival has robes even in inside cabins and mints at turn-down, whereas NCL only provides them in balcony or better cabins. NCL staff/crew usually seem to be genuinely happier than Carnival's crew.

There are more, but most of the differences are pretty minor things in my opinion.

Over at the Carnival board people gripe and argue a lot, here at the NCL you don't see it as much. The thing is, Carnival offers a good enough product that there shouldn't be such a big difference in happy vs. unhappy cruisers.

I think the biggest difference is the people. Carnival tends to be more of a partying/drinking group and NCL doesn't seem to be as much. Carnival is also seen kind of as the bottom of the barrel pricewise so you just get some interesting people.

I enjoyed the staff on NCl more also. They just seemed to go out of their way to be pleasant, try to remember your name, etc. I do have to say that Carnival's desserts in the dining rooms are just a step above NCL's, but then again I think NCL's food is a bit better and their buffet, at least on the Sun was much better.

I would say there are more things the same than different. I really like the Any time dining with NCL and Carnival just doesn't have that down yet. I also think NCL's ships are a bit nicer.

I also thought NCL had a better variety of entertainment than Carnival does.

Thanks everyone for your help

What is the different between NCL and carnival?

I hope you asked this question on the CCL board also.

My husband and I have been on 13 cruises over the last 13 years (Celebrity, RCCL, NCL and now Carnival) We are both in our 50's. We tend to cruise in the fall just because the prices are better and I like to extend the summer a little :)

Having taken our last 8 cruises with NCL (10 all total on NCL) and our 1st cruise on Carnival (Miracle..11/22/12) they seem to be pretty much on the same level.

I thought the food was better on Carnival....

The wait staff was more efficient, I was never pleased with the 2 hour dinner on NCL.

We did the any time dinning, never had a wait, always got a table for two...but then again we usually dined around 6 - 6:30pm. We had the same waitress 5 out of the 8 nights, which was very pleasant.

In all honesty, I thought the people on Carnival seemed to dress...nicer, for lack of a better word....for dinner (didn't notice any sweat pants, or shorts and flip flops in the dining room and formal night was more of a "formal" night) I am not complaining, cause I really don't care what anyone wears, but it was rather noticeable.

Our cabin steward was great..towel animals every night...and of course those chocolates on the pillow hehe

While I was not a big fan of Carnival's buffet selection (liked NCL much better) I will say there seemed to be plenty of seating in the buffet....never found that we were walking around searching for a place to sit. And of course the fact that they have TRAYS on Carnival made is so much easier to grab something to eat and drink and walk at the same time :)

We enjoyed the Serenity area (adults only) on Carnival

But missed the pool side BBQ's that NCL offers.

There was no live band poolside on Carnival...

I feel that the day time activities on NCL were far better then Carnival

and the nighttime shows on NCL far exceed Carnivals.

Did like the option to be able to check your on board account at various places around the ship...(little machines that when you swipe your card, will give you the exact breakdown of money spent, which you could print out if you were so inclined to do so)

Inside cabins on Carnival were bigger then NCL....but I perfer the design of the bathrooms on NCL.

Don't use the spa, the excersise room,or travel with children so can't compare

There are way more dining options on NCL then Carnival (at least the Miracle)

Love, Love, Love Le Bistro on NCL....(not a fan of Cagneys) only other resturant on the Miracle was the steak house...which is $35.00pp....but anything on the menu is included in that price, no add on's for additional $$ like on NCL.

The last time on NCL (last year) the "lobster" night was a tiny tail along with another type of fish...this time on Carnival the "lobster" night was exactly that...Lobster (ok, so we are from NY and I agree the lobster's on cruise ships are nothing like we can get here lol)

We have found that the staff on NCL and on Carnival were equally polite, friendly, and personable.

So while we are true NCL fans, we can honestly say that we also enjoyed our cruise on Carnival, and would choose Carnival again. That said we have already booked a cruise on the Breakaway for early Sept 2013 :)

I must add that obviously i am not a picky crusier and am of the mind set that as long as I am on vacation, I don't really care, what I eat, what other people are wearing, eating, or how much they are drinking (didn't notice any real partying people, but that could be the time of year) or even where I am going LOL

Whether you choose NCL or Carnival a cruise is what you make of it :)

Debbie

Ncl doesn't have fixed dining as an option. The ships are designed for Freestyle dining. CCL tries to do both options. Multi-purpose venues seldom do ANYTHING well. That is the biggest difference.

The crew is happy and compitant on NCL. The Carny ships do get some negative reviews on that subject.

NCL tends to have fewer drunks hollering for Ralph! York! Buick! in the hallways.

I answered more thoroughly on this question you posted in the Carnival Forum, but I did want to add (since my post was all pro-NCL:p) that dfg1027 is right that NCL lobster is NOT good...not in the main dining room anyway. If you pay extra for it at one of the specialty restaurants, it's far better.

I would hope lobster wouldn't be a deciding factor in your choice.

have you cruised either line yet?

This question has been asked, and answered dozens of times. One recent post with lots of responses, including a post with other links, can be found here:

boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1748572

Best to try both lines for yourself and form your own opinion.

This question has been asked, and answered dozens of times. One recent post with lots of responses, including a post with other links, can be found here:

 

boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1748572

This is exactly what I was going to say. Seems we get this one a couple of times a week at least, if not more.