Comparison Carnival and NCL entertainment

[mrmet1986]

hey stu, check out the prices for the will be brand new breakaway in october 2013. very good rates for such a new ship. back to your op i sailed ncl and carnival each once. the shows at night were neck and neck. ther was a show man from mars on ncl gem that blew me away. that said the miracle had a silent film act that was soo funny. but like another post said carnival seemed to have a little more fun activities going on throughout the day. ill give ncl credit for how nice the crew treated you.

[katiepe]

Hope to get some more comments.

One word..Epic

[golfadj]

Feb 6 :)

 

We have never done anything more than 8 days and wonder if we could get away that long.

 

Tomorrow will check out your roll call and think about this. DW did look at me strangely when I said we should consider booking now for next Feb.

[golfadj]

stu stay away from ncl. You will not be happy. I just got off the sun and hatted it ...

 

 

why????

[halos]

We have never done anything more than 8 days and wonder if we could get away that long.

 

Tomorrow will check out your roll call and think about this. DW did look at me strangely when I said we should consider booking now for next Feb.

 

Check it out but don't book any NCL cruise until they have a sale. NCL sales are usually pretty decent and they have them pretty often.

[golfadj]

Check it out but don't book any NCL cruise until they have a sale. NCL sales are usually pretty decent and they have them pretty often.

 

OK. However we have never done more than an 8 day and we are both hesitant at doing a first cruise of 11 days.

 

Spoiled by being platinum and getting those benefits and free laundry.

 

BTW would you suggest TA or pvp type person at NCL?

[tntornadox]

Thanks for the info. Now to get

DW to agree on booking a cruise 11 months out.

 

It may help if you tell her that NCL rewards early bookers with double loyalty points (as long as you book at least 9 months prior to sailing).

[Nickymjw1]

Ncl cover bands and other talent is much better in my opinion. The pool deck singer/band was great on all our cruises. Definately the Sun last year. The production shows were really good when Jean Ann Ryan company was doing them for Ncl. Last year NCL took it back in house and it was more like a high school play woth minimum stage decor. I dont know if they outsourced the shows again or not.

 

I was not impressed at all with entertainment on the Carnival Dream 2 years ago. The only one that could sing well was the piano bar player who packed the house every night.

 

NCL also used to do dualing pianos show which was great. And of course "quest" game was tons of fun.

 

Overall we prefer NCL due to freestyle dinner options and entertainment,

[golfadj]

It may help if you tell her that NCL rewards early bookers with double loyalty points (as long as you book at least 9 months prior to sailing).

 

Since it would be just our first cruise on NCL not that important to us right now.

[golfadj]

hey stu, check out the prices for the will be brand new breakaway in october 2013. very good rates for such a new ship. back to your op i sailed ncl and carnival each once. the shows at night were neck and neck. ther was a show man from mars on ncl gem that blew me away. that said the miracle had a silent film act that was soo funny. but like another post said carnival seemed to have a little more fun activities going on throughout the day. ill give ncl credit for how nice the crew treated you.

 

thanks but way to early to consider oct 2013. Normally we book 4-6 monhs out so feb 2013 is way out there for us let alone oct 2013.

[tiff123]

We've been on two Carnival cruises and one Norwegian cruise - both on the average ships - not the big new fancy ones.

 

Shows: NCL wins because they depart from the standard song and dance shows and do different things.

 

Comedy: Carnival wins because they have different talent throughout the cruise. On the NCL cruise I was on there was one comedian the entire cruise which unfortunately we didn't care for (I'm easily amused so that is saying something). The improv group helped, they were funny, but Carnival seems to get better talent.

 

Live music: Carnival wins because of the variety and availability. However, NCL wins on Lido deck music.

 

Buffet: NCL wins hands down taste and quality.

 

Restaurants: NCL wins again - but only if you pay the small fee to go to all the specialty restaurants (well worth it). Otherwise, Carnival's main dining room dining wins.

 

Activities: NCL wins - activities were more entertaining.

 

Shopping: NCL's shop was actually interesting to go into.

 

Atmosphere: NCL wins - more casual and laid back. If you are a die-hard for those formal nights you won't like NCL's laid back approach to formal nights.

 

Kids club: NCL wins hands down in staffing, activities, facilities & availability.

 

Excursions: NCL wins slightly.

 

Pools: NCL's are bigger and cleaner smelling....I remember hearing there is a different method of filtration for the pools on Carnival than on RCCL and NCL, but I could be dreaming this up here.... :o

 

Deck chairs: NCL wins. There must be more chairs on deck??? Never had a problem getting one on the Dawn but on both Carnival cruises it was like pulling teeth. Also have noticed that the chair hog threads are far less numerous on the NCL forum, leading me to believe its less of a problem for NCL.

 

Rooms: Carnival wins. Cabins are bigger, more spacious, comfortable, sheets/mattresses are better too.

 

Staff: Tie - great on both lines.

 

Think I've covered everything. If I missed something it is because it generally was the same on both.

 

I guess I am an NCL fan... but you can't beat Carnival's ES rates! :D

[jonbgd]

[quote=golfadj;32781349

Spoiled by being platinum and getting those benefits and free laundry.

 

BTW would you suggest TA or pvp type person at NCL?

 

We have only done the POA but is was good enogh to make us look closer at NCL. The entertainment was Hawaii based but it was good.

 

We are doing the Epic B2B paid $709 and $694 with $75 OBC for a high midship Balcony.

 

The same Online TA has fares of $714 with $75obc for the first 2 weeks in feb.

So If you look close enough you can find some great deals

[DGP1111]

. . . For those who have been on NCL how would you compare the two entertainment wise?

 

Hope to get some more comments.

 

Stu:

I fully understanding that personal opinions can get people in some hot agua on this particular board . . . but I'd like to offer one tidbit that's more than just an opinion:

 

Those who've been doing the Carnival thing for quite some time probably recall that in much of the earlier CCL print media, the words Broadway and Broadway-style were used with some frequency. Two of the onboard shows with Broadway in their titles suddenly disappeared from the ships at the same time that the print media phrase quickly swapped to Vegas-style.

 

That decision was forced by the very wide ties of the Great White Way (well, their lawyers, actually), who strongly questioned some royalty revenue as well as performance quality.

 

That being said . . .

 

Have I thoroughly enjoyed some onboard CCL entertainment over the past years!! Oh, most definitely!!

 

.

[loxley]

I have only cruised NCL one time, but I thought their entertainment was great.

 

We had a comic duo that was sort of a mix between the harlem globtrotters and Gallager. People were laughing so hard I think the ship was rocking.

 

They had huge production shows that were so well done we went to see them twice every night.

 

They had a thank you for cruising with us show that included crew and staff. Best show I have ever seen anywhere. The captain and his midget assistant was so funny.

 

They had a cooking demostration with two chefs that cooked on stage then passed out samples. I still remember the beef and shrimp dish.

 

They had meet the preformers where the show cast gave a presentation of how they came to be working on a cruise ship and what went on to present a show and a Q & A afterwards.

 

They had an acrobatic team from Romania that were absolutely unbelievable.

 

I also liked how they had meat on a stick stations set up all around the ship at night. I have no idea what kind of meat it was, but they were all good.

 

There was a mime walking around on the decks one night. We laughed until we hurt. If you have ever been to sea world and watched that mine it was sort of the same type of thing.

 

They had a guitar player one night in the sports lounge that did the best of the Beatles. It was so nice sitting there eating tappas with a cold beer.

 

They did have a sexy legs contest one day out by the pool.

 

I loved the liars club show where the cruise director and a few others had to guess what an object was then the audience voted for who they thought was telling the truth.

 

I have been on 10 Carnival cruises and can not remember any show I have ever seen in comparison.

 

We all loved the family (group) scavenger hunt.

 

They also had a kids talent show one evening. Very well done. There were some talented kids.

 

They only thing I did not like was the Opera singer. I just don't care for huge fat women singing in Italian I guess.

[golfadj]

Thanks so much guys for giving your honest opinions.

 

Thinking it will come down to whether we want an 11 day cruise with better ports or a 7 day to get to know NCL

[halos]

[quote name='golfadj']OK. However we have never done more than an 8 day and we are both hesitant at doing a first cruise of 11 days.

Spoiled by being platinum and getting those benefits and free laundry.

BTW would you suggest TA or pvp type person at NCL?[/quote]

That's a personal preference thing. I have only booked through the cruise line one time. I have been booking with an on line cruise agency since 2004 that I love...
Prices on cruises are all pretty much regulated, so I book with the on line agency for extras. They give you 'points' per dollar spent and you trade in points for stuff...I always trade in for OBC.

I can totally understand not wanting to try a new line with an 11 day cruise...LOL, ironically, my first try on NCL was a 15 day cruise but I do understand your hesitancy on it. However, don't miss out trying [B]any[/B] new line just because of a few platinum perks....

[golfadj]

[quote name='halos']That's a personal preference thing. I have only booked through the cruise line one time. I have been booking with an on line cruise agency since 2004 that I love...
Prices on cruises are all pretty much regulated, so I book with the on line agency for extras. They give you 'points' per dollar spent and you trade in points for stuff...I always trade in for OBC.

I can totally understand not wanting to try a new line with an 11 day cruise...LOL, ironically, my first try on NCL was a 15 day cruise but I do understand your hesitancy on it. However, don't miss out trying [B]any[/B] new line just because of a few platinum perks....[/quote]

We have been wanting to do something different so pretty sure it will come down to either the Pearl, Dawn or Sun.

[halos]

[quote name='golfadj']We have been wanting to do something different so pretty sure it will come down to either the Pearl, Dawn or Sun.[/quote]

I hope you enjoy NCL as much as we do :)
Haven't been on the Pearl or The Sun (yet) but The Dawn is my favorite ship...I had the two best cruises I have ever had on that ship and I can not wait to sail her again in Sept. It will be our first time in a suite.

One thing that you should do...when you do book your cruise, please join your roll call. NCL Meet & Greets for CC members are pretty awesome. And hang out on the NCL boards to watch reviews and ask questions...they are really helpful over there.

[golfadj]

[quote name='halos']I hope you enjoy NCL as much as we do :)
Haven't been on the Pearl or The Sun (yet) but The Dawn is my favorite ship...I had the two best cruises I have ever had on that ship and I can not wait to sail her again in Sept. It will be our first time in a suite.

One thing that you should do...when you do book your cruise, please join your roll call. NCL Meet & Greets for CC members are pretty awesome. And hang out on the NCL boards to watch reviews and ask questions...they are really helpful over there.[/quote]

Have asked our TA for rates among the 3 ships and waiting on her and about your comment over frequent sales that are real sales.

We always join the roll call. Some of them are awesome
Will review Tom's comparison thread. And thanks so much.[IMG]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/images/icons/icon7.gif[/IMG]

[halos]

[quote name='golfadj']Have asked our TA for rates among the 3 ships and waiting on her and about your comment over frequent sales that are real sales.

We always join the roll call. Some of them are awesome
Will review Tom's comparison thread. And thanks so much.[IMG]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/images/icons/icon7.gif[/IMG][/quote]

You're welcome :)

[Westbank is bestbank]

Entertainment is about equal in my opinion. NCL loses when it comes to food. I never ate any thing the entire week on NCL that was good. Even the desserts are bad. It was the NCL Spirit with terrible food.

[Vt Rider]

We cruised on NCL Gem in September to Bermuda and loved the shows. The music on board was very good and they really work hard to make sure everyone is having fun. There were shows and dancing every night and the only problem we found was deciding what entertainment to go to with so many choices. The curise directors were much more entertaining and interactive. If people weren't dancing you were sure to see crew memebers out dancing. While we were docked in Bermuda the Carnival Pride was docked infront of us. I remember commenting on how quiet the Pride was compaired to the Gem.

Last week we cruised on the Carnival Pride to the Bahamas. We were very disapointed in the entertainment. The shows we saw really were not that good and there were not that many of them. I fell asleep during a Jazz show. The comedians were good on both ships but the level of entertainment at the shows did not compaire to the Gem which were just awesome.

While in Nassau the Gem was docked next to us. When we were getting back on the ship we noticed that the Gem had music playing the crew was dancing outside, greeting guest, handing out cool towels, drinks and I remember a frozen ice type thing to eat. It was a party for sure. Carnival had no one outside there was a gangway to the ship and that was it. We sat on our balcony on the Pride enjoying the entertainment on the Gem.

I've only been on the two ships but entertainment wise there was no comparison, NCL has it hands down, in my opnion.

[jonbgd]

[quote name='halos'], please join your roll call. NCL Meet & Greets for CC members are pretty awesome.[/quote]

NCL is the only cruiseline I know of that has senior officers to show up for a M&M. On RCCL you might get the CD or one of his staff if they have time.

[halos]

[quote name='golfadj']Have asked our TA for rates among the 3 ships and waiting on her and about your comment over frequent sales that are real sales.

We always join the roll call. Some of them are awesome
Will review Tom's comparison thread. And thanks so much.[IMG]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/images/icons/icon7.gif[/IMG][/quote]

NCL is starting their DASH sale...Good for OBC :)

[golfadj]

[quote name='halos']NCL is starting their DASH sale...Good for OBC :)[/quote]

I know. Last week visited their website and than a PCC called me. Very interesting conversation as she had been a pvp.

Funny thing in checking rates an online agency had much better rates than she could offer.