Differences between NCL cruise and, say, Carnival cruise?

[Bobug]

Comparing NCL and Carnival the biggest differences are constant noise everywhere, lack of quiet spots and being herded around like cattle. You won't have these problems with NCL. Being on NCL after Carnival is like a breath of fresh air!

 

I will give the nod to Carnival for desserts.

 

 

JMO

 

I have been on 8 Princess cruises, 2 RCCL & 5 Carnival cruises. I don't remember being *herded around like cattle on Carnival*...can you please clarify?

We will be going on our first NCL cruise in Feb. Looking forward to it.

[FF Woman]

Last year's cruise was on Carnival (for the first time) and the year before was on the Norwegian Pearl. We were in a large suite on the CCL Conquest and in a minisuite on the Pearl so can't really compare equally. I will say that on CCL there was rust on the balcony and it was very narrow and long. It seemed strangely small compared to the suite. The Pearl was beautifully maintained.

 

The biggest difference we noticed was that the crew on the Conquest seemed very unhappy and unfriendly except for in the MDR where they were wonderful. We even witnessed crew members being chewed out in the buffet area in front of guests. The Pearl crew always smiled and at least nodded if not speaking to us. That never happened on the Conquest. We talked about it a lot while we were on the ship wondering why they were so unhappy. We missed the cheery, welcoming faces we had on NCL.

 

We also loved the buffet food on the Pearl. We're not usually big buffet people but found the Pearl to have really good food on theirs. We were not so crazy about the buffet food on the Conquest. But one big plus on the Conquest was Guy Fieri's burger place. There is no extra charge and the burgers are really good. The pizza place on the pool deck had really good pizza too.

 

I guess the fact that we aren't interested in going on another Carnival cruise kind of sums up things for us. It just wasn't as fun overall as NCL has been for us.

[MsTabbyKats]

I really like NCL over Carnival but I totally agree that most of the desserts are this terrible gelatin-ish concoction that looks a lot more appetizing than it actually tastes. :rolleyes:

 

:rolleyes:

 

They've fooled my taste buds so many times, I've lost count.

 

I like most of their entrees though.

 

We got off the Gem this morning...and I'm happy to announce that the desserts in the buffet were "to die for". Each one was better than the last.

 

On prior NCL cruises they were tasteless. On our last CCL cruise they were tasteless.

 

But, I probably had at least 3 a day...PLUS ice cream in the buffet.

 

The one dessert I had in the MDR wasn't too good...and my husband said the same about his.

 

For the record...this amount of eating is way out of line with my normal habits...even my cruise eating habits.

[cruisecritiquer]

We got off the Gem this morning...and I'm happy to announce that the desserts in the buffet were "to die for". Each one was better than the last.

 

On prior NCL cruises they were tasteless. On our last CCL cruise they were tasteless.

 

But, I probably had at least 3 a day...PLUS ice cream in the buffet.

 

The one dessert I had in the MDR wasn't too good...and my husband said the same about his.

 

For the record...this amount of eating is way out of line with my normal habits...even my cruise eating habits.

 

I can't wait to try the new and improved desserts. For me, there is no sense in wasting perfectly good calories on foods that don't taste fabulous so I'm happy to hear there's been some vast improvement.

 

I usually ask for a cheese plate in the MDR since their desserts have been only so-so.

 

I can understand your zealous consumption of desserts after being deprived of something edible for so long. :D

[cruisecritiquer]

I've never tried these infamous breakfast crêpes. Are they sweet crêpes or savory crêpes?