Comparison CARNIVAL MAGIC and NCL JEWEL W. Caribbean

[DMH15]

Cruised both.

[DMH15]

Cruised both.

 

I sailed Carnival Magic with my sister in Nov 2014 from Galveston to Cozumel, Belize and Honduras in an aft balcony with "faster to the fun". Just sailed NCL Jewel with my niece in April 2015 from Houston to Cozumel, Belize and Honduras in an aft penthouse.

 

I will compare things that are apples to apples, since comparing a suite experience to a non-suite experience would be unfair.

 

Here we go...

 

Italian Specialty Restaurant - Carnival wins this one hands down. Better ambience. Better and more sophisticated food. But I enjoyed both. Both are reasonably priced. But Carnival's Ciao Chow was more amore.

 

Casino - NCL by a mile. Here is why... On Magic it was always crowded and very, very smoky. I saved a lot of cash. I only spent $40 and only stayed 20 minutes total all week. On the Jewel never crowded and only moderately smoky once. Cha-Ching. Was generous too. I won often. Not big, but enough to make me feel happy!

 

Pools - I loved that the aft pool on on Magic was pretty chill. Had fun and swam. On NCL it was loud and crowded. Not my scene. Did not swim. Or hang out. However, people seemed to be having a great time.

 

Line ups for going ashore or tendering: ok, not really fair because I had 3 NCL excursions and Hanno, our concierge took us down the hidden stairway... But I observed order on NCL and Carnival's line ups were terrible. Crew were not making much of an effort to keep people from cutting in line en masse, so NCL wins.

 

To be continued.

[kchiumento]

More more more more. I am curious about the differences in your suite experience. My husband tried to convince me that the suite experience would be similar. But I have read otherwise. Curious for your take between the 2.

[apmecruise]

Hey I was there with my daughter and we loved it totally! Tendering was good and food was good. My daughter loved the casino and won too!