Which ship to choose? 2/13/11: Carnival Glory v. NCL Spirit?

[StarboardIndigo]

Hello everyone,

This is my husband and I's first time cruising. We are young professionals I am 28 and he is 32, from MD/DC area (but not really into the heavy drinking scene). We're looking to travel on February 13th for a 7 day trip and trying to decide between 1) Carnival Glory leaving from Miami to eastern caribbean with stops in nassau, san juan, turks. (7 days)

 

and 2) the NCL Spirit leaving from NOLA to Costa Maya Mexico, belize, honduras, consumel. (7 days)

 

We are looking for a lively ship with lots of good shows, entertainment and ofcourse good, abundant food. I'm a little worried over the bad reviews re: Carnival's food. Although I like the Glory's itinerary and destinations slightly better, if the food on NCL Spirit is way better, I'd definitely do the Spirit.

 

Pros of Glory: adults only pool area, movies under the stars, bigger ship, slightly bigger state rooms, itinerary and the option of spending an extra night in Miami. Water slide :)

 

Cons of Glory: possible college aged drunk fest, possible poor food, possible poor service, etc.

 

Pros of NCL Spirit: possible better food! possibly fewer rowdy/drunkeness?

 

Cons of NCL Spirit: Smaller ship, fewer pools.

 

Again, the food factor is heavy for me...so please keep that in mind when helping me decide. In an ideal world I'd pick the Pearl or Jewel but alas no dates available. :(

 

Any advice, input is much appreciated. Thank you!!

[craftkook]

We did the Glory 3 years ago and are booked again for March 6th. We found the food to be very good, lots of choices. We did Liberty last year and there were lots of college kids on both cruises but honestly we really didn't see much in the way of overly drunk people. On our first cruise, the very first day there was one, but not the rest of the time. The service has been outstanding, never had an issue. The beauty of a large ship is you can easily escape areas if it seems bothersome!!

[arms4]

Believe it or not but I have been on both ships (I have only been on 5 cruises too). I would say go with Carnival Glory. I went NCL's with 3 other friends (girls cruise) and found it dead. We would try and go dancing and there was no one. Food was average, and personally I like the option of sitting down at the same table with the same wait staff everynight. I felt like just a customer, not a real person when dining. I too did not see a lot of drunk people. I have cruised Carnival 3 times and I would say on none of them are their a lot of drunks, of course there are always a few.

Shows were also average, although I must say some of Carnival's are not the spectactular either. But if I had to say it, Carnival wins my vote. I am doing the Glory's itinerary in 2 weeks only on the Liberty so I am looking forward to those stops. When I did Spirits on NCL, I really enjoyed the stops though.