NCL vs Carnival

[Babygirl5408]

Hello Everyone,

My boyfriend and I cruised NCL for the first time earlier this year and loved it. How does Carnival compare? Do they offer freestyle dining? On NCL, we never had time slots that we had to go to, we could go to the dining room whenever we wanted and even numerous times. Are there many free dining options? Is Carnival the same way? Are there a lot of kids that use Carnival? Anyone who has traveled on both, if you good tell me the main differences and similarities, it would be a HUGE help! We are tempted to just book on NCL because it's familiar, but I want to at least give Carnival a chance. Thank you and I really look forward to hearing back!

[bakechef]

The dining is very different on Carnival, and most other cruise lines, NCL is fairly unique with its dining options.

 

Carnival has the main dining room, a surcharge supper club (outstanding), buffet(often with asian stations, deli, grill, pizza (also really good) on certain ships also fish and chips), room service, sushi stations, coffee bars. There are 24hr. soft serve ice cream and frozen yogurt stations and beverage stations serving ice tea, fruit punch, lemonade, coffee, tea and hot chocolate. The only things you pay extra for are the supper club and coffee bars.

 

Carnival is testing a flexible dining option on the carnival legend this summer, not exactly freestyle, but more flexible for the dining room (you can show up for dinner during dining hours and be seated as opposed to assigned time).

 

Carnival food is very good, even the included stuff, voted the best by Porthole magazine readers 2 years in a row. On my 7 day cruise we had lobster tail, filet mignon, Chateaubriand, prime rib, and beef wellington, all included in the regular dining room, I was impressed.

 

If you are worried about being restricted by dining times, there is always the buffet, with a good selection. I have done freestyle and traditional and like them both, but Carnival really has the edge on food quality, especially in the food that is not charged extra for.

 

Carnival is a great value, and would have a similar number of kids as an NCL sailing (summer, holidays, spring break, all have more kids). The rooms are spacious, and the Carnival bedding is amazing, every stateroom also has complimentary use of plush robes, and a toiletry basket.

 

MAC

[yogimax]

If you are worried about being restricted by dining times, there is always the buffet,

 

Not a good choice!

[bakechef]

Not a good choice!

 

That is your opinion, but it is an option that many choose.

 

MAC

[sa_girl]

Hello Everyone,

My boyfriend and I cruised NCL for the first time earlier this year and loved it. How does Carnival compare? Do they offer freestyle dining? On NCL, we never had time slots that we had to go to, we could go to the dining room whenever we wanted and even numerous times. Are there many free dining options? Is Carnival the same way? Are there a lot of kids that use Carnival? Anyone who has traveled on both, if you good tell me the main differences and similarities, it would be a HUGE help! We are tempted to just book on NCL because it's familiar, but I want to at least give Carnival a chance. Thank you and I really look forward to hearing back!

 

Last December we sailed NCL Pearl and then a week later Carnival Victory. We loved the Pearl with the freestyle dining and all the different restaurants. The buffet stations on the Pearl were extremely better than the queues for the buffet on the Victory. Overall buffet and restaurants the food was much better on NCL.

 

We enjoyed our Carnival cruise but truthfully they were very different with NCL being much better on most points.

The Victory did not have an adults only pool and it was impossible to even try and get into the pools with all the children, getting a sunbed even on the higher decks was very difficult.

The Victory had bigger cabins but the Pearl is a new ship and much more modern even though the cabins were quite a bit smaller.

The demographics of the people were also different. Even the higher ranking crew members were much friendlier on the Pearl. An eg they organised a fantastic NCL Cruise Critic meet and greet and when the Purser heard that a South African (myself) was attending the CC meet he came along to meet myself and my husband and then invited us to dine with him.

 

These are my honest opinions and just that my opinions only. In hindsight we also made a few mistakes when choosing our Carnival cruise. We have no children but I work with children all year so infact we should have made sure that there was an adults only pool. Also the Carnival cruise was during the school holidays, we will not make this mistake again, some of the children just ran wild and were totally out of control again this might have been a once off as there were many posts about the behaviour of the children on this particular sailing.

 

We will try Carnival again and are thinking about the Legend in December (before school holidays) we like the ports of call and ofcourse the price is good.

[yogimax]

That is your opinion, but it is an option that many choose.

 

MAC

 

Yeah, I know, but seriously, the buffet cannot compare with the experiencew in the dining room.

 

I may be wrong, but my sense is that the buffet diners are simply looking for a way to avoid paying tips!:mad:

[sa_girl]

Yeah, I know, but seriously, the buffet cannot compare with the experiencew in the dining room.

 

I may be wrong, but my sense is that the buffet diners are simply looking for a way to avoid paying tips!:mad:

 

We found the food in the buffet on the Victory to be rather good although this was only at lunch time however we were really put off by the extremely rude and pushy people we had to encounter in the very long queues. If you ate early or late there were always queues.

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

I sailed on NCL my first cruise 07. I ate at the buffet almost every night. Chose to pay extra for the fee restaurants but never ate in the main dining rooms. Buffet food was wonderful. Loved it. Paid extra for the pay restaurants and had Chateaubriand, rack of lamb, prime rib etc. Since I ate at the buffet most of the time, I ate anytime I liked, where I liked, what I liked etc.

 

I sailed my first Carnival cruise last month. Main dining room food was fabulous. I got chateaubriand, rack of lamb, prime rib etc FREE. No extra cost. Downside is I had an assigned dining time so the times I couldn't get ready in time for my early seating, I ate at the buffet. Didn't even compare to NCL. Buffet was not really good in my opinion. Some days they had things that were okay but other days I had trouble finding anything that tasted okay. I will find a way to make it to the dining room whenever I can to get the good stuff. JMO - no slammers please, just my opinion. DH likes eating in his baseball cap and shorts so I wish Carnival buffet was better but I wasn't impressed.

 

Other than that, I didn't see a whole lot of differences. The bed was very comfortable on both ships, had the same exact bedding as far as I could tell. If anything, I would say NCL was a little softer but both were awesome. Carnival had a slightly larger room but the bathroom shower was smaller on Carnival. NCL shower was huge and I really liked that about it. Both DH & I could fit in it.;)

 

Give Carnival a chance especially if the price and itinerary is right.

[bakechef]

Yeah, I know, but seriously, the buffet cannot compare with the experiencew in the dining room.

 

I may be wrong, but my sense is that the buffet diners are simply looking for a way to avoid paying tips!:mad:

 

I don't know why you would think that. Carnival adds the tips to your on board account, yes you can remove them, and still eat in the dining room every night, they don't still use the envelope system on Carnival . Carnival usually closes the buffet on the last night.

 

No the buffet isn't supposed to mimic the dining room experience, most know that, but it does give a casual option if you are not in the mood for the more formal dining experience, or too tired after a tour.

 

MAC

[ManyMore]

I have cruised 14 Carnival, 2 RCCL and 1 NCL... you do the math lol

[yogimax]

I don't know why you would think that. Carnival adds the tips to your on board account, yes you can remove them, and still eat in the dining room every night, they don't still use the envelope system on Carnival . Carnival usually closes the buffet on the last night.

 

No the buffet isn't supposed to mimic the dining room experience, most know that, but it does give a casual option if you are not in the mood for the more formal dining experience, or too tired after a tour.

 

MAC

 

I would be curious to know what percentage of those who do not eat in the dining room actually pay tips

[MrPete]

I would be curious to know what percentage of those who do not eat in the dining room actually pay tips

 

Personally, I don't care what others tip, or why they tip, but I meet many on board that ONLY eat in the buffet, and they like it.

 

I guess it's nice to have options.

 

Now, as far as NCL is concerned, I'm approaching my 20th anniversary of swearing I'd never sail with them again. Once was enough. :eek:

 

I guess it's nice to have options there too.

[sinkers22]

As far as I can tell (2 NCL cruises and 3 CCL), the food on Carnival tops the food on NCL any day, any time. On NCL We always looked at the menus before we decided where to eat, because the food in the main dining rooms was iffy at best. Ended up at La Bistro more than once and had to pay to get a good meal. They actually served Eel in the dining room one night....eewwww. Now, I like to try different food and I have a taste for unusual foods, but Eel? No thanks.

[Carolyn1950]

I would be curious to know what percentage of those who do not eat in the dining room actually pay tips

 

It never occured to me that eating in the buffet had anything to do with tips.. People surely know that folks serving you at the buffet gets paid by the same tips as the servers in the dining room.

We eat at the buffet rarely. Only when the dining time interfers with something we are doing or we get an early dining time and get back from shore late.. We do usually eat lunch at the buffet because we don't want to leave the pool area to eat.. But we have never had our tips adjusted for any reason. To me the tips on Carnival are a bargain..

[Hebejeebe]

Hello Everyone,

My boyfriend and I cruised NCL for the first time earlier this year and loved it. How does Carnival compare? Do they offer freestyle dining? On NCL, we never had time slots that we had to go to, we could go to the dining room whenever we wanted and even numerous times. Are there many free dining options? Is Carnival the same way? Are there a lot of kids that use Carnival? Anyone who has traveled on both, if you good tell me the main differences and similarities, it would be a HUGE help! We are tempted to just book on NCL because it's familiar, but I want to at least give Carnival a chance. Thank you and I really look forward to hearing back!

 

I've been on the NCL Sun and Carnival Miracle, Valor, and Conquest. The Carnival Ships were quite different from the NCL Sun. The NCL ship has subdued decor (convention hotel style) while Carnival's are more what you might expect at an adult Disney resort. Food quality is very subjective and obviously differs based upon the patron (see previous postings). IMO, the Carnival main restaurants and buffet were vastly superior in taste, quality of ingredients, presentation and variety versus the NCL Sun.

 

Carnvial's Cabins are larger (sq footage basis) but I found the NCL cabin to make very effective use of the available space. Our NCL cabin felt as big as the Carnival cabins.

 

The NCL production shows were superior to Carnival on my NCL sailing but the other acts (comedians, singers etc) were below par. I preferred the lounge performers on Carnival over NCL.

 

Drink inflation is hitting all of the cruiselines. But somehow it feels like the NCL drinks are much more pricey than Carnival's.

 

Other ship entertainment (poolside, gambling, trivia, exercise room) about the same on both lines.

 

Personally I prefer Carnival over NCL. Of the three Carnival ships I've tried I would rate Valor the highest.

[quest2best]

We have had many wonderful cruises on Carnival and one on Norwegian's Star. While freestyle dining may work well with 2-4 people, we did have a problem being seated when our entire family of 12 wished to eat together. The first night, we waited an hour to be seated in one of the main dining rooms. Reservations for the specialty restaurants need to be made soon after boarding to insure a slot. We later discovered that we could make reservations in the main dining room as well -- however, with 12 people we were never seated at the same table as we are on Carnival. The lobster on our Norwegian cruise was excellent.

 

My teenager enjoyed the teen club on our Norwegian cruise just as she has on most of our Carnival cruises. The young adults had fun but were disappointed that everything shut down so early. They have enjoyed more of the activities on our Carnival cruises. They also were not impressed with the selection of music. I don't remember seeing many children on board the Star, but I know there were several there.

 

We plan to cruise with both lines again in the future.