Newbie to Carnival

[cruisekitty22]

We usually cruise NCL how are differences from NCL to Carnival beside the millions of kids on the cruise?  We do NOT want alot of kids on a 7 day Southern cruise in Sept-Dec 2022 time frame.   Are the kids all, in school this time?  Would we hate Carnival for all, the kids on board ruining our cruise. Are they allowed in all  the bars under 21?  Carnival is so much cheaper than NCL. I am considering this for my bucket list cruise. Is this Walmart of the Seas cruise?  We have never sailed Carnival.  Opinions please.  Which one should we choose?  NCL or Carnival?

[Wanna_Cruize]

If you want lower number of kids, avoid cruises during Thanksgiving and Christmas time. You will have some kids (homeschool or virtual school) but much lower numbers. Kids are usually not in bars, but they are allowed in Karaoke (up until a 8pm I think) and they have adults-only comedy shows (but don't go if easily offended). There are lots of areas designed specifically for kids, so they tend to congregate there. 

[kristinp36]

I don't think there is a remarkable difference on the number of kids on Carnival vs NCL.

 

Longer cruises tend to have less kids. Also consider booking a ship with a Havana area and book a Havana cabin. The Havana area is for 12+ only.

[IntrepidFromDC]

53 minutes ago, kristinp36 said:

I don't think there is a remarkable difference on the number of kids on Carnival vs NCL.

 

Longer cruises tend to have less kids. Also consider booking a ship with a Havana area and book a Havana cabin. The Havana area is for 12+ only.

Consider the joy of kids.  If you don't feel full of joy witnessing one of Carnival's "Dr. Seuss is on the loose" parades, I would love to talk to you about it.

[40yearcruiser]

In a "normal" year all of the base cruise lines (Carnival, NCL, and RCL) have lots of kids in the summer and during school vacation times. We've cruised all of them and haven't seen any major difference in the number of kids onboard between those cruise lines. As suggested above, select an off-season time to cruise when most kids are in school. Another suggestion is choose a cruise line that doesn't market to kids: Cunard, Princess, Celebrity, Holland America, Azamara, or one of the "premium" lines. You probably will pay a little more but have fewer activities that appeal to kids. Also, if you book a cruise 14 days or longer you will be less likely to have a lot of kids onboard. By the way, if you want lots of kids onboard book Disney.

Edited July 1, 2021 by 40yearcruiser

[firefly333]

6 hours ago, kristinp36 said:

I don't think there is a remarkable difference on the number of kids on Carnival vs NCL.

 

Longer cruises tend to have less kids. Also consider booking a ship with a Havana area and book a Havana cabin. The Havana area is for 12+ only.

This .. I never noticed a big difference in ncl rcl and carnival. Imagine thinking ncl is special and posting is carnival the walmart of cruises and thinking it's not going to be offensive. These 3 all are family cruise lines .. hello. 

 

July and august unvaccinated are below 5% so there will be very few children early on, so you should have booked now if you really cared about kids onboard.

 

As someone said the ships have areas for adults, Havana area and the sky cabanas on mardi gras or whatever name they go by. 

[tallnthensome]

Google Carnival vs. NCL ......There's a ton of these comparisons to read. 

[mondello]

Book the first week of Dec. and you'll find rock bottom prices. Most kids are in school and most families are looking towards Christmas.

[Tapi]

7 hours ago, cruisekitty22 said:

We usually cruise NCL

 

 Would we hate Carnival for all, the kids on board ruining our cruise.

 

Is this Walmart of the Seas cruise? 

 

We have never sailed Carnival. Opinions please.  Which one should we choose?  NCL or Carnival?

Without knowing much about your personal preferences, or the itineraries and ships that you’re comparing, it will be hard to make a suggestion. I kindly recommend that you give us a bit more information so that we can give you a suggestion worth some value. 
 

From what I’ve experienced, and from all the comparisons I’ve read in the past, Carnival and NCL cater to a very similar demographic. Unless you’re a more discerning and frequent Haven guest on NCL, you will find that Carnival and NCL offer a fairly similar level of quality, service, etc. 

 

About the children, NCL and Carnival are both mass market, family oriented cruise lines, so if you’ve been able to tolerate the number of children on NCL during off season months, the same should apply to Carnival. 
 

I will finish be echoing what someone mentioned above. If large numbers of children will hinder your enjoyment, consider looking at cruise lines that don’t cater heavily to families. For example, we did Holland America (with kids) last year, and there were a total of 110 passengers under the age of 18 out of 2,600 passengers. In my children’s age group (8-11) there were only 20-30 kids total. The ship was most of the time kid free, and the children that you did see were well mannered, exhibiting proper etiquette, following protocols, and adjusting well to the more adult atmosphere.  
 

It may pay off for you in more ways than one to seek cruise lines that are more adult oriented and more sophisticated than NCL or Carnival. Not only will you guarantee that you’ll be sailing with less children, but you’ll also avoid a possible “Walmart of the seas” type of experience similar to what you may have already encountered on NCL or that you may potentially expect on Carnival. 

Edited July 1, 2021 by Tapi

[kleibo]

Royal has come nice offerings on the Voyager of the Seas out of PR.  Port Intensive and pretty cheap.

[asalligo]

Carnival and NCL are almost the same product to me and I rank NCL a little below Carnival along with MSC. My NCL cruises and my Carnival cruises have been the same number of kids and that really depends on when you cruise. I really think that the same type of people cruise both NCL and Carnival. Crowd seems about the same with a slightly better crowd on Carnival for me because NCL has the free drinks. I think the food is a little better on Carnival and the activities seem more plentiful to me on Carnival if that is your thing. I personally do not like Mega Ships and prefer a smaller class of ship than most NCL cruises, but many people prefer the larger ships. 

[asalligo]

For less kids, September to February on Royal, HAL or Celebrity and for no kids Viking. 

[Anyislandwilldo]

I have never sailed NCL.  But I do love sailing on Carnival.  I don't need to stay at the Carlton Ritz to have a good time.  Your vacation is what you make of it.  We stayed in a high priced dump one night near Cooperstown NY.  For the price we paid, we should have had a much better room.  I would worry more about obnoxious adults ruining your cruise over kids.

[groundloop]

11 hours ago, cruisekitty22 said:

....We do NOT want alot of kids on a 7 day Southern cruise in Sept-Dec 2022 time frame.   Are the kids all, in school this time?  Would we hate Carnival for all, the kids on board ruining our cruise. Are they allowed in all  the bars under 21?  ..... Is this Walmart of the Seas cruise?.....

 

If you cruise Carnival be sure to check out the nightly kids kickball tournament - they have it in the hallways every evening beginning at 10 PM.  Each age group is on a different deck so there's action throughout the ship every night.  Hopefully you don't need much sleep.  

 

Also, as for dining room attire, flip flops and blue jeans are recommended except on formal night when you'll need to upgrade to sneakers.  And no holes in your jeans over 3 inches in diameter.

 

Seriously, as everyone who has already chimed in has mentioned, there are generally more kids on the shorter cruises, and if you really don't want to see kids then chose a cruise when school is in session.  

[asalligo]

1 hour ago, groundloop said:

 

If you cruise Carnival be sure to check out the nightly kids kickball tournament - they have it in the hallways every evening beginning at 10 PM.  Each age group is on a different deck so there's action throughout the ship every night.  Hopefully you don't need much sleep.  

 

Also, as for dining room attire, flip flops and blue jeans are recommended except on formal night when you'll need to upgrade to sneakers.  And no holes in your jeans over 3 inches in diameter.

 

Seriously, as everyone who has already chimed in has mentioned, there are generally more kids on the shorter cruises, and if you really don't want to see kids then chose a cruise when school is in session.  

Nice! 

 

I have to admit, I am a fan of the 1am curfew for teens on RC ships. Would love to see Carnival do that. 

[scpirate]

13 hours ago, cruisekitty22 said:

We usually cruise NCL how are differences from NCL to Carnival beside the millions of kids on the cruise?  We do NOT want alot of kids on a 7 day Southern cruise in Sept-Dec 2022 time frame.   Are the kids all, in school this time?  Would we hate Carnival for all, the kids on board ruining our cruise. Are they allowed in all  the bars under 21?  Carnival is so much cheaper than NCL. I am considering this for my bucket list cruise. Is this Walmart of the Seas cruise?  We have never sailed Carnival.  Opinions please.  Which one should we choose?  NCL or Carnival?

The "slob" cruise or the Walmart cruise ,which would I choose? MSC for me.their Caribbean ports are limited though.Southern Caribbean from Puerto rico I would do Celebrity.

[cruisingguy007]

7 hours ago, mondello said:

Book the first week of Dec. and you'll find rock bottom prices. Most kids are in school and most families are looking towards Christmas.

Right after Thanksgiving is also very cheap year in and year out. 

[cruisingguy007]

I really don't understand these "kids will ruin my cruise" threads. Statistically speaking, you're odds are probably 95% (or more) that an adult will "ruin" your cruise or make it less enjoyable. People hyper-focus on kids but they are usually doing kids club activities for long stretches and not simply running all over the deck like hoards of locusts. Some of you must have been on some very unlucky cruises or are way over-exaggerating the issue. 99% of the poor behavior I see is by adults. Plus poor behavior by kids is also an adult/parent issue so maybe saying adults 100% is more accurate.  

Edited July 1, 2021 by cruisingguy007