Tips for a friend. Norwegian vs Carnival

[wenocancer2]

I have a friend who will be sailing on Norwegian Cruise Lines in June with her family.  6 people total.  She is looking for tips and advice for her upcoming trip from me because I've cruised.  However, I've only ever cruised with Carnival.  I will definitely be sharing Cruise Critic with her to encourage her to explore as I learned so much from these boards.  I am just hoping that maybe there is someone in this group who has cruised both cruise lines and might be able to identify things that maybe I should share with her.  I saw a post recently that had a great list of things to bring and many are things that would apply on Carnival as well (for instance clothes pins to hang your wet swimsuits on the clothes line in the shower). 

 

Specific questions I have are:

Are there night lights in the interior cabins on Norwegian?

Is there more than one outlet in each room on Norwegian?

Does Norwegian have an app similar to Carnival Hub where you can find daily activities, places to eat etc?

Is there something similar to the FunTimes supplied in each cabin each day?

Are beach towels supplied everyday in your cabin on Norwegian?

Does Norwegian have kids program?  Her youngest is 12 years old.

 

I'm happy with any suggestions anyone has for me.  Especially from people who have sailed both lines.  I will also post this in the Carnival Forum, so if you are part of both, you may see this again.

 

Thank you!

[PATRLR]

28 minutes ago, wenocancer2 said:

I have sailed both lines recently on various different ships in each line.  Despite what the NCL loyalists around here might tell you, I find the two lines to be  very comparable.  My answers below:

 

Specific questions I have are:

Are there night lights in the interior cabins on Norwegian?

This might be ship specific, but, I don't recall nightlights on any of the cabins I've been in, and that includes Carnival!  

Is there more than one outlet in each room on Norwegian?

Just a couple, across from the beds.  Bring a non-surge protected strip of some sort.  If you need an outlet near the beds, bring an extension cord.

Does Norwegian have an app similar to Carnival Hub where you can find daily activities, places to eat etc?

Yes.

Is there something similar to the FunTimes supplied in each cabin each day?

Yes

Are beach towels supplied everyday in your cabin on Norwegian?

You get some in your room at the start of your cruise and trade them in near the pool (Isn't that how it works on Carnival?).  I don't recall much difference with beach towels between NCL and CCL.

Does Norwegian have kids program?  Her youngest is 12 years old.

Yes.  No experience with either though.

 

I'm happy with any suggestions anyone has for me.  Especially from people who have sailed both lines.  I will also post this in the Carnival Forum, so if you are part of both, you may see this again.

 

 

Thank you!

 

[Perrydoc81]

I can answer a few. Our kids are still little and haven’t taken part in any of the kids programs, but I know they exist on NCL. I’ve been on 5 Carnival and 6 NCL cruises and once we started on Norwegian, we didn’t look back. Don’t get me wrong, Carnival definitely has advantages too, we just feel more “at home” on Norwegian. So I have a pretty even split on cruising. The interior rooms my family has stayed in did not have nightlights, so we’ve learned to pack them if staying in an interior. It’s so nice and quiet and dark that it feels like sleeping in a cave and is so restful, though. Haha. But for safety, best to have a light. 

There is an app and a daily paper compatible to Fun Times. It’s called Freestyle Daily. 

Outlets can be a problem, but they do allow power cords WITHOUT a surge protector. There are regular outlets in the main cabin (one by the bed last we checked, and one at the desk area, as well as one European, so for extra outlet space, we bring an adapter for that one. 

Beach towels, much like my last Carnival cruise, were in the room at the beginning and they were to be left at the end. If they get dirty, we have had luck asking for replacements as long as we had the original. Otherwise you’d be charged for a towel. Last NCL cruise that was warm enough to swim, they had bath towels available poolside.  Hope this helps some.