Carnival victory vs Norwegian spirit

[snowwather]

Hello

About a month ago I started looking for spring break cruises for my wife, teenage kids and myself. We planned to depart out of port Canaveral because we were already in the area. The two cruises that looked the best were the carnival victory to the Bahamas or the Norwegian spirit to eastern Caribbean. I liked the itinerary for the spirit much more than the victory but ended up booking the victory because the spirit had only average rating both here and on other sites. Did I mess up by reading too many reviews and placing to much emphasis on the negative reviews for the spirit? Has anyone else noticed that there are a lot of negative reviews being written? Had I ready reviews before my first cruise I probably would have never booked it. Could it be that some people have had excellent cruise experiences so if they have only a good experience they rate it poorly? Please help.

[webzila]

I have been on NCL Spirit and many Carnival ships. I would choose NCL Spirit (or NCL in general) over Carnival. Just a personal preference. Regarding Spririt - we had no issues with the ship at all, it was very nice considering its one of the oldest in NCL fleet and that was before it went to dry dock.

[SMSACE6]

I have no recent experience with NCL, but I can say that I was on the Carnival Victory last October, and while, she does not have all the bells and whistles of newer ships, the experience for me was positive. Ship is clean. Service on my cruise was excellent at all levels. I would sail again on Victory in a heartbeat. I hope that she does not disappoint you and your family. I will admit however that NCL has some very appealing draws for booking. ie; free beverage package, among other things, and continues to have my attention, with regard to future cruises.

Edited March 20, 2016 by SMSACE6

[snowwather]

Thanks for the feedback and encouragement. I think if you go in with a positive attitude you are half the way to a great vacation. Next year I will book the Norwegian spirit if it has the same itinerary

[riclop]

Hello

About a month ago I started looking for spring break cruises for my wife, teenage kids and myself. We planned to depart out of port Canaveral because we were already in the area. The two cruises that looked the best were the carnival victory to the Bahamas or the Norwegian spirit to eastern Caribbean. I liked the itinerary for the spirit much more than the victory but ended up booking the victory because the spirit had only average rating both here and on other sites. Did I mess up by reading too many reviews and placing to much emphasis on the negative reviews for the spirit? Has anyone else noticed that there are a lot of negative reviews being written? Had I ready reviews before my first cruise I probably would have never booked it. Could it be that some people have had excellent cruise experiences so if they have only a good experience they rate it poorly? Please help.

 

Neither one !!!!!

[Taters]

I have not been on the Victory, but sailed on the NCL Spirit. This was my one and only NCL cruise. There were so many issues that it turned us off to NCL completely. Never again...

[jh2360]

Neither one !!!!!

 

Such a useful post. Where would OP be without your wisdom..

[snowwather]

Neither one !!!!!

 

Could you please expand upon your answer. Is there something that you dislike about these two boats or do you feel there are better options?

[RuthlessBoss]

Could you please expand upon your answer. Is there something that you dislike about these two boats or do you feel there are better options?

 

Go back and read some of his past posts. They are as useless as his reply here. :eek:

[klepton]

NCL Spirit was our first cruise, and Victory was our second. :) They are significantly different in size, Victory is somewhere in the neighborhood of 45% larger by passenger capacity. I don't have many complaints about either, but there are some differences that might sway you one way or the other, for example:

 

1) Casino is much bigger on the Victory

2) Spirit (NCL) will have more dining options, but is freestyle. Carnival will get you a set seating time, which we prefer. The longest dining room waits we've had in all our cruises were on the Spirit.

3) There are slight differences in the beverage packages

4) NCL charges for room service

5) If you like comedy, the Victory will have a dedicated comedy lounge.

 

There are many other differences between the lines, different people will like different things.

 

The most important part of a cruise to me is the itinerary. There isn't anything on either of these ships that would make me choose an inferior itinerary. If you like the Eastern itinerary on the spirit, I'd book that one.

[snowwather]

Thank you. That was a very helpful review

[momdaughterondestiny]

I have sailed both ships and had a good time on both. For me like

another poster said it's all about the itinerary and I'd pick the

eastern over Bahamas every time.

 

I have only sailed NCL once on the spirit and it was in the top 3 of my

 

14 cruises. With reviews I usually read say 10 reviews and take

them all with a grain of salt.

[snowwather]

Thanks for the input. I will focus more on the itinerary when searching out future cruise

[fair-winds39]

Hello

About a month ago I started looking for spring break cruises for my wife, teenage kids and myself. We planned to depart out of port Canaveral because we were already in the area. The two cruises that looked the best were the carnival victory to the Bahamas or the Norwegian spirit to eastern Caribbean. I liked the itinerary for the spirit much more than the victory but ended up booking the victory because the spirit had only average rating both here and on other sites. Did I mess up by reading too many reviews and placing to much emphasis on the negative reviews for the spirit? Has anyone else noticed that there are a lot of negative reviews being written? Had I ready reviews before my first cruise I probably would have never booked it. Could it be that some people have had excellent cruise experiences so if they have only a good experience they rate it poorly? Please help.

We've been on both within the last 10 years. We barely remember the Carnival Victory, I think because I wasn't a fan of the itinerary it was a NE, Canada Cruise. The ports were nice, but I like the warm island cruises. I hate to say it, but I don't remember much about the ship itself.

 

The Norwegian Spirit was a beautiful ship. I believe it had just come from doing Orient cruises, and they had just started what they called Free-Style cruising. We sailed to the Caribbean, and I think Miami. The cabin was a Junior Suite. It was very, very small. The crew members were very nice, but the service was terrible. That was our first and only NCL cruise. We booked the NCL Breakaway for a February 2016 cruise, but we canceled it, and cruised on the Carnival Pride instead. Never again on NCL. It's just not for us.

[arpie05]

NCL Spirit was our first cruise, and Victory was our second. :) They are significantly different in size, Victory is somewhere in the neighborhood of 45% larger by passenger capacity. I don't have many complaints about either, but there are some differences that might sway you one way or the other, for example:

 

1) Casino is much bigger on the Victory

2) Spirit (NCL) will have more dining options, but is freestyle. Carnival will get you a set seating time, which we prefer. The longest dining room waits we've had in all our cruises were on the Spirit.

3) There are slight differences in the beverage packages

4) NCL charges for room service

5) If you like comedy, the Victory will have a dedicated comedy lounge.

 

There are many other differences between the lines, different people will like different things.

 

The most important part of a cruise to me is the itinerary. There isn't anything on either of these ships that would make me choose an inferior itinerary. If you like the Eastern itinerary on the spirit, I'd book that one.

 

Very helpful! I have been struggling between Victory and Valor. Valor has food options we want and got used to on Sunshine. Don't know that we can take a step back.

 

Victory dates are working better but anyone sailed Victory and Valor?

 

 

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[Hog Rider]

Hello

About a month ago I started looking for spring break cruises for my wife, teenage kids and myself. We planned to depart out of port Canaveral because we were already in the area. The two cruises that looked the best were the carnival victory to the Bahamas or the Norwegian spirit to eastern Caribbean. I liked the itinerary for the spirit much more than the victory but ended up booking the victory because the spirit had only average rating both here and on other sites. Did I mess up by reading too many reviews and placing to much emphasis on the negative reviews for the spirit? Has anyone else noticed that there are a lot of negative reviews being written? Had I ready reviews before my first cruise I probably would have never booked it. Could it be that some people have had excellent cruise experiences so if they have only a good experience they rate it poorly? Please help.

 

Spirit has more to offer. Check their sales. Cruise like a Norwegian!

[klepton]

Very helpful! I have been struggling between Victory and Valor. Valor has food options we want and got used to on Sunshine. Don't know that we can take a step back.

 

Victory dates are working better but anyone sailed Victory and Valor?

 

I've actually sailed the Valor in addition to Victory and Norwegian Spirit. :)

 

The Valor is slightly bigger than the Victory, but if memory serves the layout is very similar. It's been a couple years since I sailed either, but I sailed the Glory last month, which is a Conquest class ship like the Valor, and it has the 2.0 upgrades. Personally, I wouldn't choose a cruise based on the dining options on the ship, I know different things are important to different people so I don't want to dissuade you, but more just letting you know I likely wouldn't be much help in that regard. :D That said, I do agree that the Valor has better dining options than the Victory.

 

Again, there isn't really anything about either ship that would make me choose an inferior itinerary. I would go with the best itin, price, and dates when comparing these two ships.

[Mr305]

Here's a detailed review of the ship.

 

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2247456&highlight=victory

[snowwather]

Thanks for all the input. We ended up selecting the Victory for the 4 day to the Bahamas out of Port Canaveral. We could not do the 7 day on Norwegian Spirit because we had time constraints. Overall the ship was fine and we had a good time. The itinerary was good but not the best available. I think we would have liked the Spirit itinerary more. I will post a full review on the main Carnival section.

[Clarea]

Appreciate the comparisons.:)

[RuthlessBoss]

Thanks for the feedback and encouragement. I think if you go in with a positive attitude you are half the way to a great vacation. Next year I will book the Norwegian spirit if it has the same itinerary

 

Spirit is not here permanently. If I was able to cruise at this time, I'd pick it. The ship décor is so different.