How NCL compares to Carnival....need input

[newmexicoNita]

I would sugest that anyone over 35 try Celebrity. Great food and service without annoying pool games and constant ship announcements. I have sailed on both Carnival and N.C.L. more than once, but Celebrity is the one hands down.

 

the question was which of the two lines, not what line overall would you cruise? Our last 2 NCL cruises have had very few announcements and those they do have can barely be heard in the cabins. As for pool games, same thing: NCL is so heavy into port days they have totally done away with most pool activities: we had more on Celebrity than on NCL; Neither had many by the way. NMnita

 

ps are you saying everyone over 35 is old and doesn't like to have a good, active time? LOL

[Splatitudes]

you'll love the jewel... in 26 cruises on 8 lines, the NCL Star-class (Star, Dawn, Jewel, Hawai'i, unnamed #5) are the best designed, most attractive of the bunch. Tons of activities, food options, etc...

 

...for me, it's all about Freestyle... once we tried it, that was it-- i couldn't possibly go back to traditional... thinking about it now, i have no idea how i was ever able to allow people to tell me when to eat on vacation! :)

[mikeymars]

I think the "horror stories" about Carnival mostly pertain to the shorter cruises on the older ships.

 

BINGO - the two Carnival cruises we've been on were both on newer ships with 7 day sailings. The worst I saw on either were a handful of slightly loud late 30/early 40 somethings who had a little too much to drink on those silly "pub crawls."

[fin]

Yesterday I posted a comparison on their debarkations which seems to have gone missing.

 

Short version then. Carnival debarkation - 8AM scheduled, 11AM actual with loads of flights and excursions missed, including flight connections. Suitcases lined up without regard to color in a huge beastly hot shed in Miami with five thousand suitcases and barely room for people to pass between them, and NOT enough room if one of them had recovered one suitcase and was looking for another. Few if any porters to be found.

 

NCL debarkation - bus arrived at airport to find all luggage on carts and apparently sorted alphabetically. Time from stepping off bus until on way to airline checkin, about 150 seconds, with a porter pushing the cart.

 

You decide.

[kellfish]

my husband and I were just on the Norweigian Sun Mar 5-12 (and we're both 25), stopped at Roatan (the snorkeling at the private Tabayana beach was great!). We're both very active and did excursions on every island, and there seemed to be a fair amount of young people on the cruise between the ages of 25 and 35. We primarily hung out by ourselves, but there was a young adult get together on the first days and dancing every night. It was only my 2nd cruise, but there were a lot more young people than on the Celebrity cruise I had gone on before when I was 19.

[TamaLee]

We are just back from the Star. Freestyle was not for us. Came home and immediately booked a cruise with Carnival. I prefer being told when to eat! I like the event of it all. We will never cruise with Norwegian again.

 

I also found the passengers to not be a friendly. I think Freestyle is for people who just want to be left alone to do their own thing. Which works for a lot of people, but just not for us.

[intrepid_guy]

I too just "cheated" on NCL in February with a cruise on the Triumph. First of all, let me say that I did have fun, duh, I was on a cruise! But throughout the week there were little things that just seemed to be "not right" or "not the same". Here are a few of my observations...

 

For being "Fun Ships" CCL certainly did not have many activities (other than at the pool). The list of activities in the capers did not even fill one half of one page! On NCL often the activities filled 2 or 3 pages! I hate to say I was bored, but on the last night of the cruise we wandered from bar to bar because there was nothing we wanted to do!!! If I had the Capers with me I would tell you what was going on....

 

I found that the price was not all that good. As a matter of fact had I gone on the Sun the same week to the Western Caribbean, we would have saved over 300.00. (Category to category comparison 8A to BE)

 

Carnival seems to nickle and dime much more than NCL. It seemed that they charged for everything, and the prices were higher. I know that Bingo is never a bargain, but on NCL for example you can play 3-5 games with a bingo buddy machine for around 59 dollars. On Carnival they charged 20 to play 1 game with 3 cards!! Now that is HIGH! On NCL you can get chances to win a free cruise. You get them all week long at activities (especially bingo)... oh and they are free. On Carnival you could BUY 3 chances for $20! I found that unbelievable. I always found the drinks on NCL to be comparable to the city I live in, but I thought Carnivals were a bit higher, and the glasses seemed smaller. On NCL the soda card (in Nov 03) was 28.75, a bargain, on CCL (in Feb 05) it was 44.95!! Still a bargain ( I drink a lot of soda ) but not the bargain it would be on NCL.

 

Photographers!! OY! NCL would have portrait areas set up a couple of nights in a couple of places. On Triumph there were literally 15-20 stations set up EVERY SINGLE NIGHT!!! The comedian commented that there was over 1000 crewmembers on board and 900 of them were photographers!! Aint it the truth.

 

I found that the service was better on NCL. Now we had several excellent service experiences on the Triumph (Thanks Alena!!) but this is an overall feeling. Now this is just me and it is a little thing, but it bothered me a lot on the Triumph. For example, if I was walking through a hallway or staircase and I came upon a crewmember, on NCL it seemed they would always step out of my way and let me pass first, not so on Carnival. I was cut off so many times that it still sticks in my head. It happened everywhere, hallways with stewards, dining rooms with wait staff, pool areas, staircases. Honestly, it really did happen so often that I started to comment on it to my DH through the week. I just feel it is good customer service to be polite and let me pass first, and I dont just feel that way on a cruise, but anywhere I go.

 

I think NCL has the loosest slots at sea. I always did OK on NCL, and occassionally won a pretty good amount. On the Triumph, nada! I just kept giving my money away! Like feeding a hungry child!! ;)

 

Anyway, as I said I enjoyed my trip with Carnival, but I missed NCL. I probably will not cruise with CCL again, but I do have another NCL cruise booked that I am sure I will enjoy just that much more.

 

 

~Intrepid

[newmexicoNita]

We are just back from the Star. Freestyle was not for us. Came home and immediately booked a cruise with Carnival. I prefer being told when to eat! I like the event of it all. We will never cruise with Norwegian again.

 

I also found the passengers to not be a friendly. I think Freestyle is for people who just want to be left alone to do their own thing. Which works for a lot of people, but just not for us.

 

 

Your comments really surprise me: not liking freestyle I can understand, but people not being friendly is amazing. We usually eat with another couple or two and have made some great friends this way. I find assigned seating to be too regimented not to mention there is nothing worse than to spend a week at a table with people you have nothing in common with; beleive me, it has happened to us 2 or 3 times. We have always found the passengers on NCL friendly than any other line we have cruised. I guess it is just the luck of the draw. NMnita

[TamaLee]

Your comments really surprise me: not liking freestyle I can understand, but people not being friendly is amazing. We usually eat with another couple or two and have made some great friends this way. I find assigned seating to be too regimented not to mention there is nothing worse than to spend a week at a table with people you have nothing in common with; beleive me, it has happened to us 2 or 3 times. We have always found the passengers on NCL friendly than any other line we have cruised. I guess it is just the luck of the draw. NMnita

 

NMNita - As you can see from intrepid_guy's comments everyone has a different experiance. It's just a matter of what you expect and what you receive.

 

I found it odd as well that the passengers weren't very friendly. Our balcony mates didn't seem to want to talk, people in the elevators, at events. Our travel companions even had a man yell at them in the theater because they were saving an end seat for me for a show. They actually thought they would have to hit this man they way he was going on about not being able to sit on the end.

 

What really surprised me was that some of the crew we spoke to even said they thought other cruise lines were better.

 

So to each his own. That's what makes life fun. If everyone experianced the same thing what would we have to talk about!

[HLP]

Tamalee,

 

I agree in part with you. Freestyle is for people like us

who do not want to chat all night long with strangers.

We are reserved people who dont find it easy making

conversations with people we dont know. That does not

mean we are unfriendly just not talkative. This seems

to be of great importance to you and you equate this

to a persons friendliness. We always say hello to people

and are curteous when they speak to us. We just have

a hard time keeping a conversation going. This is why

we like freestyle and you perhaps do not. I did not in all

my cruises with NCL find any more rude people then any

other cruise line. I believe it was just the freestyle atmosphere

you disliked,as do many,that gave you this feeling not

rude people. That guy in the theatre could be found even

in the most expensive cruise lines. Maybe even more so.

 

HLP

[logcabin]

We have cruised on CCL (Triumph), RCCL (Nordic Empress) and NCL (Dawn once and going again 6/12). Of all the cruises NCL was our favorite, obviously. Next was RCCL (I'm dying to get on a Voyager ship). But, we will never cruise CCL again. Although the ship was beautiful and the cabin very nice, after experiencing other cruise lines it seems that CCL is more like the "K-Mart" of cruising. Oh, boy, can I hear it now....... Food just wasn't as good as RCCL or NCL. Neither was the service. Our room stewart on the Triumph looked like he was going to drop any time. He was very over worked, as with most of them. The staff didn't seem as friendly either. We felt rushed at dinner each night also. In fact, we booked the later seating just so we wouldn't be rushed. even on the RCCL cruise with traditional seating, we never felt rushed. We just LOVE Freestyle, though. We're the type that want to eat when we want. Not when we have to. We like the fact that every night we could have a nice romantic dinner for 2 without having to talk to strangers. Don't get me wrong, we had great table mates on both CCL and RCCL. But, we just like being by ourselves. Every night on the Dawn, they did ask us if we wanted to sit alone or with other people. So, if you like meeting and eating with other people, you can. I just think you get a lot more, better service, better food, etc for your money with NCL then CCL. Just my opinion.

[newmexicoNita]

NMNita - As you can see from intrepid_guy's comments everyone has a different experiance. It's just a matter of what you expect and what you receive.

 

I found it odd as well that the passengers weren't very friendly. Our balcony mates didn't seem to want to talk, people in the elevators, at events. Our travel companions even had a man yell at them in the theater because they were saving an end seat for me for a show. They actually thought they would have to hit this man they way he was going on about not being able to sit on the end.

 

What really surprised me was that some of the crew we spoke to even said they thought other cruise lines were better.

 

So to each his own. That's what makes life fun. If everyone experianced the same thing what would we have to talk about!

 

 

Tami, I hope you didn't take offense to my statement about people being friendly, I just find it surprising as I have cruised NCL so many times and never had this experience. As for your balcony mates, we have had balconies on 3 different cabins, 3 different lines and couldn't really even see the people in the next balcony over; I never thought about them being unfriendly particularly. Yes, everyone does have their own ideas and expectations. Now, for crew members to say other lines are better is totally unexceptable. I retired from Hilton hotels before going into the travel agency business: I would never have thought to tell someone making a reservation another hotel chain was better. If I heard one of my agents saying something like that I think their job would soon be history. Can you imagine going to say Ruth Chris' and having your wait person tell you the food at Morrison's is better?

What a shock it is for me to hear you say the crew members were saying this. We have always found the crew members on all lines believing their product was best and most of them had been employed with the line, regardless of which line for many years. NMNita

[Host Kewlguy]

I would NEVER sail with Carnival again.

[MichaelW1]

My wife and I are just back from our first NCL cruise. I would go Carnival before I would ever go NCL again. The beds are ther Spirit fell like rocks.

 

 

More to come later.:mad:

[ColoradoJuli]

Well...I am one of those that do not like NCL. Albiet, the freestyle stuff is not for us. I enjoy getting to know our wait staff. I felt very rushed on NCL and the wait staff was not at all friendly. They appeared to be waiting on too many tables and couldn't handle all the tables being on different courses.

 

I found the food on Carnival to be much better than NCL. NCL's food tasted very bland. Most dishes were layered in sauces and natural flavors were not allowed to come out. The salads were an absolute joke. An asparagas salad would be iceberg lettuce with 3 stalks of asparagas. A cucumber salad would be iceberg lettuce with 3 slices of cucumber on it. (I am not exagerating, it really was that bad.) It became a joke to order a salad and see what 3 things they put on top of iceberg lettuce. The coffee was really awful and tasted like it was several days old. The deserts were also pretty bland and not very exciting like on Carnival. I also missed the waiters putting on a show for me. Dinner was just not the grand experience on NCL like it is on Carnival. We were also surprised that there was not food available 24/7. On Carnival there is pizza (out of this world), ice cream, yogurt, and salads available 24/7. On NCL there was no where to eat after 10:00pm except for one hour between 11:00pm and Midnight when they had snacks in the casino. Yes, we could have ordered room service, but we were with a group of 12 people wanting to sit down and eat. It also surprised me that only water was available 24/7 on NCL. Carnival has tea, lemonade, coffee, hot cocoa available 24/7. (Can you tell the food portion was very important to me:D )

 

I found the passengers to be much older on NCL. We are late 30's and the ship was a bit too tame for us. At least two thirds of the ship had to be over 70. Not a lot going on at night. Everything was dead after 10:00pm.

 

The entertainment on NCL was a joke, at least the production shows. I haven't seen that bad a show since watching Jr. High kids perform. The comedian and juggler were both great and it is a draw between Carnival and NCL on that one.

 

I found the staff on NCL to be very rude. They always seemed to be in a rush and would not take the time to talk to you or even say 'hi'.

 

My experience on NCL was not good at all and consequently we will never sail on NCL again. Our experience was so bad that we are gun shy to try any other line because we know the Carnival product and really like it.

[jeannep]

Hi Colorado Juli,

 

I wish you had told us what NCL ship you were on. We have been on the Crown before freestyle and have been on the Dawn 2 times. We are really looking forward to our 3rd time on the Dawn in May. That said, I am sorry you did not like NCL.

 

Everybody has their own opinion but I personnally can't agree with anything you said about NCL.

 

On the Dawn, there is a 24/7 diner type of place with waiter service. They have terrific food. Wings, potato skins, fried rice, soup, sandwiches, coffee, tea, cookies, cake and many more things. We enjoyed everything we ever tried. I even loved the coffee served in all the restaurants.

 

The crew was truly the friendliest crew we have ever encountered. We never passed a crew member in the halls without getting a smile and a hello. The wait staff in the restaurants always went out of their way to serve us in a terrific manner.

 

We really enjoyed the entertainment and activities. We went from show to show and tried never to miss a thing.

 

We have been on Carnival and we liked it also. NCL still is tops with us. The Dawn is a beautiful ship.

 

Don't say you would never go NCL again. Try the Dawn! You will love it.

 

Jeanne

[logcabin]

I second the above post. Other then Disney World, my wife and I never do a vacation twice. Howver, our experience on the Dawn last June was so incredible, we have booked her again for this June. Not one thing the person above said about her bad experience with NCL made sence to us with the Dawn. That's why I agree and would love to know what NCL ship they were on. The food, staff, entertainment, etc. etc. etc. were all just wonderful. Not one complaint about anything. If you were not on the Dawn, I suggest giving her a try before giving up on NCL. Trust me, there is no comparison between NCL and CCL, if your on one of the newer ships.

[hutt1]

We were on the March 5 sailing of the Sun and had a wonderful experience. The bed was very comfortable, the staff friendly and accomodating, and the shows of very good quality. The staff did seem to be worn out the last day.

We enjoyed being able to get ready and go to supper whenever we wished, especially with daughters in their 20's. We never had a wait to be seated. There was a buffet set up between 10 pm and 4 am in the Garden Cafe and room service was available 24 hours a day. Everything was exceptionally clean.

We loved the itinerary, especially Belize and Roatan. We would go again in a heartbeat, probably with a ship's tour.

Embarkation and disembarkation were well organized and seemed to take a lot less time than Carnival.

[rman738]

We were on NCL Wind March of 04. "Freestyle Dining" might better be described as "Freefile Dining" as we had to wait in a line at just about every meal. We tried all of the restaurants on the "Wind" and with only one exception, the service was the worst we ever had on all of our cruises. Refills of water or beverages, getting butter, or any other request was like talking to yourself. The wait staff just could not be bothered. No relationships between staff and guests could develop as the staff probably would not see that same customer again. We have never had a poor Carnival Cruise. Last October, on the Carnival Glory, we experienced the best entertainmnet we've ever had on a cruise ship. Our 2 previous sailings on the Carnival Pride also had great entertainment. The Carnival Jubilee (Oct. 03) wasn't quite up to those other ships, but she was smaller and now is out of service for Carnival. As far as food goes, the food on Carnival was great. I don't remember much about food on NCL Wind, as the poor service far overshadowed anything else.

Rich M

[Remeljen]

I'm F 30yrs old

 

Carnival Elation and Triumph, Princess Star, RCL Navigators of the Seas and Norwegian Star.

 

#1 Best of all Princess Star :) due to much nicer, classic and chic also offers either reserved seating or free seating anytime you want really good buffet, good entertainment and excellent disco, excellent for all ages. Oh I almost forgot the indoor swimming pool is open 24/7 w/ warm filtered water (not salty like on Carnival) and we were swimming 3 - 4AM it formed waves which we had lots of fun, plus they have a swimming pool near the spa that has currents you can swim without moving place.

 

#2 Carnival Elation , had lots of fun, excellent food, dress the way you feel like (don't need to dress up if you don't want) a fun vacation, great entertainment.

 

#3 RCL Navigators , nice hudge ship, classic and modern chic has a mall 3 stories high in the middle of the ship goes from one atrium to the other, food not to good, several times waked up and went to buffet and it was closed, night time also they closed, pizza in the atrium not good, entertainment on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being best) I would give it a 5, although the ice skating show was a 10

 

#4 Carnival Triumph :eek: :( :mad: - Booouuuu Never again, a disapointment, old ship, did not like the entertainment, my daughter hated the kids program, worst cruise I ever had taken. Plus the carpet in the hall way to our cabins were stained and smelling like mold. Wouldn't go even if it was free.

 

#5 NCL Star - Excellent entertainment, excellent food, great ship, overall after the Star Princess (being the best) its NCL. Great for ages. Combines being classic, modern and comfort.

 

I would defenitely recommend NCL over Carnival anytime.

 

Hope I helped.

[Happy ks]

So, after reading all these posts, it seems to me that it should be a ship to ship comparison rather than compare the 2 cruiselines. We have sailed both Carnival and NCL, no comparison between the 2, but, we went on a rather old Carnival ship (Ecstacy in 2001) vs an brand new NCL ship (Star 2002).

 

Carnivals upside was the food, better than I expected and the photography. We actually purchased more photos than we have on any other cruise. The wait staff, well, let's just say we have better servce at our local Denny's restaurant. The downside was the ship itself, way too glitzy and neon, the "art" consisted of the the same pictures no mattter what floor you got off on the elevators. The entertainment was OK, I guess, I'm not really too enthused about musical shows with mediocre singers. The cabin, while larger, was ugly and the beds were very uncomfortable. Thank goodness it was only a 4 day cruise, I have never wanted off a ship so bad.

 

NCL upside was the staff and the ship was beautiful. The cabin, while small, was very well appointed and the beds and linens were awesome. The entertainment was top notch throughout the ship and we hardly bothered with the show room, we loved their Champagne Bar with the piano bar and spent several evenings there. The downside was the food at the main dining rooms, we just did not enjoy the Versaille and never had a good dinner there. While beautiful, we found it to be way too noisy and we prefer a more intimate dining room, the service was fine, though. However, we did find that the specialty restaurants were outstanding and the food on par with nice land based restaurants. We ate in 3 of the specialty restaurants during our week. The main dining room was fine for breakfast and lunch.

 

It's hard to return to a line where you have had a negative experience, even when you do read positive reviews for that line. For the $$ spent for a cruise, most of us want and expect what pleases us and that is different for each individual. After cruising 6 different lines, I would have to say even though I would probably cruise NCL again, but I have no desire to cruise Carnival in the future. With prices being so close on almost all mains stream lines, there is something for everyone.

 

I do have to add, though, Celebrity really blew all the other lines out of the water across the board, except maybe the entertainment. For a few more $, you can have a fabulous experience. The food was outstanding, the service was awesome, the ship was gorgeous.

[Kerusso Logos]

I appreciate the insight many of you have shared regarding the two. Though I do hate to see these threads often turn into a "bash the one and praise the other kind of thing." But to each their own.

 

My wife and I have sailed on Carnival four times in almost 10 years of marriage. We've always done 7 day cruises, though this May we'll be on a 4 day cruise for our 10 year anniversary (had to keep this one short...to bad). I also sailed Carnival twice and Holland American and Costa Riviera once before we were married. Anyway, we have always loved our Carnival cruises. We are both in our very early 30's and love the fun and atmosphere on the ships. I always hear the horror stories about rowdy passangers and stumbling drunks, but I have yet to see either. Maybe I've just been lucky...every time! We also appreciated the kids program on the Glory last year as it was the first time the kids cruised with us. They loved it!

 

Keep in mind, however, that I go on any cruise with the mind-set that I'm going to have a great time. I don't let the small things get to me. This is my vacation and I'm on a cruise. That I am fortunate enough to be one of the lucky persons able to experience this means you're going to have to work hard to try to mess it up!

 

Interesting, though, that I like Carnival and I don't even shop at K-mart! :)

 

With all that being said we just booked a cruise in Hawaii on the "Pride of America" this August. I'm looking forward to experiencing NCL, and from what many of you have shared I'm sure it too will be a great experience. Not to mention getting to see Hawaii! Who knows, maybe this will start a NCL trend. After all variety is the spice of life...or something like that!

 

Happy sailing.

[DJ Dale]

My biggest observation between the two cruise lines....

 

NCL smoke stacks or on the top.

 

Carnivals smoke stacks were everywhere inside.

 

I've never seen a smokier cruise line than Carnival. Even the halls stunk of cigarettes.

[MobileMystic]

I have sailed both....Oddly enough with the same itinerary and same class ships. I would say that the Carnival entertainment was a notch better and and perhaps the food was a little more upscale. I really liked freestyle concept, and my CCL oceanview was a tad smaller with less storage than my NCL interior cabin. Service that I received on both was quite good.

[cruisequeen10]

I know this doesn't have anything to do with Carnival, but I had salied my first 10 cruises with Princess Cruises. I was nervous about trying out a new cruise line, as I was used to the Princess way. I tried RCCL and loved it, I tried Holland America and hated it, I tried NCL and loved it. Now I am going again on NCL - Star - Pacific Coastal - LA to Vancouver. I had heard from many people that they would never go on Carnival or NCL. I think you have to pick your itinerary and take it from there. I always had gone Princess because of the itinerary and price. Regarding the ages, I found that everyone gets along well with each other. I am in my 40's and my mother is in her 80's and when we are on the cruise, we do our own thing. A lot of people would say, don't just old people cruise. Nowadays, there are younger people and families cruising. If you are worried about the kids, they have their own space and hardly ever see them.

 

 

Happy cruising to all