NCL Star or Carnival Pride with kids? Help us pick...

[dolphinwyo]

We have narrowed down our next cruise to the Mexican Riveria. Now we are just stuck at which ship....we travel with our 2 kids (4, 7)

With the Carnival sale this week we can get an extended balcony room for the same price as a mini suite on NCL - looks like they are basically the same rooms...Itinerary is the same, just backwards...

So, other factors we are considering:

NCL Star - pros - freestyle dining, sounds like good Kids Crew, movie theatre, mini suite perks, cons - no self serve laundry (2 kids = lots of laundry), pay for kids crew on port days, babysitting at night only until 1:30 (Carnival until 3 - not that we have ever stayed out that late anyway....)

Carnival Pride - pros - we have sailed Carnival 2x already, so on the way to building perks, kids love Camp Carnival and Funship Freddy, free babysitting on port days, self serve laundry, cons - assigned dining (last time our tablemates were annoying- put down Carnival the entire time we ate with them), thought entertainment on Imagination was kind of cheesy - so not sure if Star or Pride has better entertainment and nightlife than the Imagination?

 

Anyone have any thoughts on these choices? Thanks in advance!

[dolphinwyo]

I didn't get any thoughts on this before I talked to our PVP - so I decided to put a deposit down on the Carnival Pride. We have been happy with Carnival, and was told that if we liked the Imagination we will LOVE the Pride. We have never had a balcony before, so it should be fun!