CCL vs. Norwegian?

[jp2001]

My only cruise was on NCL Dawn and I LOVED IT. Only once did we have to wait over 5 minutes (about 15 minutes I think) for dinner. On this 7 nights, new york roundtrip, bahamas itinerary, there was people of all ages including many in their twenties (I was 24). There was some kids but we could hardly notice them (it was during school time). Somebody said there is nothing else than casino and sunbathing, that is not my experience with NCL. It was December so we could not enjoy the outdoor pool near New York but the first day at sea I did so much activities (gym, then breakfast in the dinning room, then CC meeting, then exploring the ship, then lunch, then ''become a wine expert in an hour'' lesson (the lesson made me miss the Chocolate buffet though :( ), then visit the shopping area, then taking a quick nap and preparing for formal night, formal dinner, went for a drink at Spinnaker lounge and finally it was time to go to bed because we had a full day at Kennedy Space Center planned for the following day). I don't understand how someone can get bored on NCL ships (NCL Dawn at least); there was A LOT of activity listed on the Freestyle Daily. I don't say that it is better or worse than any other lines because it is the only one I sailed, I just say that I really enjoy my trip. Next cruise planned is Carnival Valor for Western Carribean itinerary.

[fhowell2]

From what I have been reading...bits and pieces here and there, it seems that the longer cruises, which would obviously attract an older crowd (and not families/children) seem to be full of 'boring' people.

 

Is there a longer cruise out there that has little to no kids, but FUN passengers????

Would I be asking too much to have a 15 day Panama Canal cruise with fun, middle aged people??? Is it possible to get this????

We just got back from a 12 day cruise to Alaska and that passenger group covered all ages from infants to a guy I played bridge with who is 90 years old. Practically all were actively enjoying the cruise and all of the ports we visited.

[bigmike7]

Yo-

 

As you can tell by our past cruises below - we have been on many more NCL trips than Carnival trips-

 

We have noticed that the NCL product has gone down hill in the past four years-

 

The food is not as good - the service is spotty - the rooms tend to be small - the mechanical problems are increasing and the maintenance of the ships appears to be declining (gleened from our own experiences and the NCL threads on this board)-

 

On the other hand we were quite impressed with the Carnival product - to the point that we have booked our next cruise on Carnival for the Mexican Riviera (NCL by the way has a almost equal sailing/itinerary)-

 

We have pretty much decided that we are going to plan our future trips on Carnival - Celeberty or Holland America ships rather than NCL - mainly for the points covered above-

 

Happy Cruisin'

 

Mike