NCL Star or Carnival Triumph - help us decide

[lecach]

We have found very good pricing on both of these cruises. The NCL Star is out of Seattle and is an Alaskan cruise. The Triumph is out of Florida and is Eastern Caribean. Triumph is cheaper of course ($1600 total vs $3000 total on Star). And our flight to Seatle (we're in NC) would be more expensive too. We've been on 2 cruises before, both Western Caribean. The first was RCL Voyager of the Seas for our honeymoon and the last one was Carnival Pride (we got a free upgrade to a suite). I guess we're just concerned about whether we'd like Alaska like we do the Caribean - they are so different. And its a different cruiseline than we've been on before. And the freestyle dining seems a little different but would probably work well with our schedules. It seems like a good time to try something different. If we have another child we might not have the funds to do this later (for the record our 17 month old will be staying at Grandmas). Can anyone help us decide?

[DEL67]

It really depends on what you like.

 

First of all, Do you mind the cold. Yes there are good weeks in alaska and sometimes it is warm, but you also need to be prepared for cold, rainy weather. We went on the week that speanned June into July a few years ago and we did not see the sun from the time we left Vancouver until we returned. We still loved it though!

 

Do you prefer scenery or beaches and shopping? Yes, there are things to do in Alaska, seeing totem poles being made, fish hatcheries, etc, but the big draw is the scenery. Its magnificent, but will you enjoy that?

 

Also, there are many differences between Carnival and NCL. Of course, one difference is the freestyle dining. We hated it the first time we took NCL because of long lines, cold food and inattentive waiters, but had no problems on the NCL Spirit last year. Also, in terms of day time activities, NCL is more like RCCL than Carnival. They have lots of activities from trivia to ping pong tournaments to shuffleboard while Carnival has trivia too, but tends toward knobby knee and hairy chest contests.

 

As I said, you have to go with what you think you will enjoy.

[Las Vegas Non Rev]

our first cruise was on the star on one of its last Hawaiian sailings. The crew was outstanding, the food was great, cannot think of one thing that was not top notch.