Carnival Vs NCL Mexican Rivera Cruise

[carrie321]

Hello All!

 

My Husband and I are cruising the Mexico Rivera for 7 days over New Years but are having a difficult time between the cruise lines. We are both in our early 30's and like a fun atmosphere.

 

We have cruised Carnival before and have loved it. We are not sure if we will like the NCL Free-Style dining and have heard that NCL has a lot of restaurants that you have to pay for and overall the cruise is more expensive but what is making us consider NCL is that we were told that Carnival will have A LOT more kids that time of year and that NCL is over all a lot nicer.

 

Is that true? Does Carnival have a lot more kids on the ship? Is NCL overall much nicer, both ships we have looked at are the same size and about the same age. Thank you everyone!!!

[Lerin]

They are much more alike than different. Both will have a lot of kids at that time of year. NCL is most certainly not much nicer, or nicer at all really.

 

You will enjoy either of them, I personally would take CCL because of the food and dining situation on NCL.

[cadien]

We were on an NCL Mexican Riviera cruise last month. There were about 1,000 kids out of I think 2,400 passengers. The crew regularly commented on that number so it was higher than usual. But it is very popular with families. Fantastic kids club (we brought our son).

 

There were restaurants with an extra fee. But there were also at least five at no charge.

[Aquahound]

In this case, if you're happy with Carnival, I'd stick with them for this cruise. No, NCL is not nicer in any way, shape or form and with the way NCL is nickle and diming now, like charging $7.95 for room service, Carnival is probably your better option.

[ce2000]

I have cruised both lines and much prefer Carnival over NCL. The food is better on Carnival and Carnival has a very good kids program.

[SadieN]

Lots of kids on cruises when school is out.

[SuiteTraveler]

Hello All!

 

My Husband and I are cruising the Mexico Rivera for 7 days over New Years but are having a difficult time between the cruise lines. We are both in our early 30's and like a fun atmosphere.

 

We have cruised Carnival before and have loved it. We are not sure if we will like the NCL Free-Style dining and have heard that NCL has a lot of restaurants that you have to pay for and overall the cruise is more expensive but what is making us consider NCL is that we were told that Carnival will have A LOT more kids that time of year and that NCL is over all a lot nicer.

 

Is that true? Does Carnival have a lot more kids on the ship? Is NCL overall much nicer, both ships we have looked at are the same size and about the same age. Thank you everyone!!!

 

One NCL freestyle cruise and we were hooked. Carnival and NCL have the same amount of kids, IMO. NCL - more romantic - private table for 2. Carnival - traditional dining with random strangers you may or may not like. Take your pick!

 

NCL newest ships (Epic and newer) - far better than Carnival ships. Caribbean leaders: RCCL and NCL with Carnival in 3rd place with some very nice new ships. Yep, NCL has specialty restaurants - they were the first in the cruise industry to do this. They are fantastic and well worth the supplemental fee. Still, their MDR food is really good, too and you don't have to sit with strangers.

 

Other big plus of Freestyle: Never having to dress up (unless you want to.)

 

Overall more expensive: perhaps marginally so. It all depends on what YOU decide to do. If you eat every night in a specialty restaurant, then about 120 pp more expensive (for UDP). Other than that, can't think of anything that would really make NCL more expensive than Carnival.

Edited May 20, 2015 by SuiteTraveler

[SadieN]

Carnival has assigned dining with or without others and My Time dining where you can get a table for two.

[Aquahound]

NCL - more romantic - private table for 2. Carnival - traditional dining with random strangers you may or may not like. Take your pick!

 

It baffles me after all these years of every single mass market cruise line having an Anytime Dining option that people still say this.