Need some advice: Carnival vs Royal Caribbean or Norweigen for New Years

[kfirst]

My boyfriend and myself are thinking about going on another cruise this year. The last time we went ( which was our first time ) it was over New Years and we had a lot of fun on Carnival Cruise lines. I'm trying to find out if Royal Caribbean and Norweigan cruise lines have a New Years celebration like Carnival did two years ago when we went. As everyone knows and can understand, I am trying to find the cheapest cruise to go on but yet have a lot of fun as well. I just want to find out if other people had a good time on either Royal Caribbean or Norweigan cruise lines over the New Years or should I just book with Carnival.

[Lilmatcat]

I have sailed a couple lines other than Carnival, but Carnival is definitely my favorite. Besides having the best food and the most action-packed fun, they also (by far) have had the most comfortable bedding/mattresses/pillows.

[valancy1]

I think if you post in a Carnival board, most people will say Carnival. Same w/ RCI or Norwegian.

 

The only thing I can say is that if you cruise Carnival, you'll be working toward your Platinum status if that's important to you.

 

Hope you have fun!!!

[firefly333]

I just want to find out if other people had a good time on either Royal Caribbean or Norweigan cruise lines over the New Years or should I just book with Carnival.

 

You should post this on RCL or NCL threads to get a answer about those cruiselines?

[dclark]

CCL has great holiday cruises. Plus, they have much better food than RCL. However, the best reason to cruise CCL on the holidays is price. RCL will charge, for the same type of room, up to double what CCL charges. Every now and than, you'll find a comprable price on RCL, but it will be on an older, non Voyager+ class ship. For example, back in the 06, the two cheapest xmas cruises were the RCL Grandeur of the Seas and the Golden Princess. The Golden Princess, with two ocean view cabins,for my family of 4, cost a total of about $28 more than two inside rooms on the Grandeur. Obviously, we did the Golden.

We have done CCL and Princess on xmas and new years and recommend them both. My last RCL was last summer and I would never pay extra to sail with RCL instead of CCL- never!

[Casino Player]

My boyfriend and myself are thinking about going on another cruise this year. The last time we went ( which was our first time ) it was over New Years and we had a lot of fun on Carnival Cruise lines. I'm trying to find out if Royal Caribbean and Norweigan cruise lines have a New Years celebration like Carnival did two years ago when we went. As everyone knows and can understand, I am trying to find the cheapest cruise to go on but yet have a lot of fun as well. I just want to find out if other people had a good time on either Royal Caribbean or Norweigan cruise lines over the New Years or should I just book with Carnival.

 

I have sailed on Carnival, RCCL, and NCL. I have sailed once on NCL, and RCCL while next year will be my eighth on Carnival. That should say something. You get your best deals on Carnival. Carnival has new bedding, and larger staterooms.

Talk about food Carnival has 24 hour soft serve ice cream. No other cruise line has that. Carnival has cappiccino served in the dining room at no extra charge. Compare that to RCCL charging $14.95 for a steak on the regular menu.

Service- Try to get service on the three cruise lines. NCL doesn't have happy employees and it shows. RCCL goes at their own pace and on their own time. Carnival responds in a reasonable time frame.

Have fun.

[mariemorgan]

Compare that to RCCL charging $14.95 for a steak on the regular menu.

 

.

 

This is incorrect... You are only charged that if you want a cut of beef that is comparable to carnival's supper club cuts of beef..

 

If you just want a normal dining room steak that is still free on Royal Caribbean.

[LauraBCruizer]

Hey There! Ditto, Ditto, Ditto........We are avid cruisers (20+) and will be setting sail for our 5th Holiday Family Cruise (Christmas) on Carnival.

 

The past two years, we were able to go on 11 day cruises with our 3 pre-teen/teen children -- 2006 on Celebrity and 2007 on RCCL......Prior to that we were on Carnival for Christmas. This year we all agreed to go back to Carnival (we sacraficed another 11 day for an 8 day -- just so we could sail Carnival).

 

Overall -- Carnival by far has the best Food, Service, Cabin size and lots of little extras in your cabin that no other cruise line does. The free capuccino and espresso at dinner is a $4+ each savings alone! RCCL was an enormous disappointment and the food was (slightly better than we would typically eat at home), it was uneventful and mediocre at best. We even paid to go to the Supper Club for the first time ever 2 of the 11 nights because nothing on the menus interested us in the slightest (which alone is hard to believe). Celebrity was a little better than RCCl but not much!

 

The Entertainment Scheduling on RCCl was a dissaster for us late seating diners. All of our shows in the main lounge were at 5:30 or 6 pm then we went to dinner which was just weird (and distruptive of normally scheduled nap time). There were also only 2 production shows for the entire 11 days which again was disappointing.

 

Finally, we have not sailed NCL since the Norway caught fire! She was one of our favorite ships with excellent food and service. NCL has gone to the Freestyle Casual Cruising (which would not be our first choice) but I havent heard any negative things about them and our previous experience was good. Just nothing recent to report.

 

Princess would be our 2nd choice but tends to draw a slightly older crowd with less common gathering spaces (then again, they are owned by Carnival) so Food and Service as well as Cabin sizes were on par.

 

You can try posting on the other sites but unless an RCCL'er has ventured away and tried Carnival, they won't know what they are missing. I converted an RCCL "lifer" this past spring and they could not beleive how much more they got for their money and better overall quality than RCCL........They did a 10 day Med Cruise and will more than likely never go back to RCCL.

 

Oh well.........That is my testimony! Just want everyone to enjoy their experience as much as we have......and not have to go through a "less than" cruise experience if they don't have to..........I used to beleive that there was no such thing as a bad cruise but our RCCL last Christmas was basically "just ok" and not worth the extra money we paid.

 

GOOD LUCK -- (P.S. -- LOTS OF LOW FARES RIGHT NOW -- Carnival just gave me a $1070 OBC for 2 cabins on our Christmas Cruise since the fares came down $200 pp)

[big al]

It kinda depends what you want..we've done 5 CCL,8 RCI,3 NCL cruises-loved them all.BUT,the RCI ships BLOW away any as far as the SHIP goes....CCL ships are not pretty,waaaayyy too neonie,glitzy,gaudy IMO....good food & entertainment,service can be spotty,though...love the NCL freestyle dining-sitting with people I don't know,have NOTHING in common with for a whole week is NOT very appealing...I love options,which is where NCL has plenty of for dining-some people are lazy or cheap,don't want to splurge $10-20 pp for a great 4-5 course meal (all you can eat!)....fine-eat in the free dining rooms,but we prefer quiet,romantic dinners for 2 at the windows over-looking the sea without dining with 1000-1500 people...

 

Try the newest Freedom class ships and see what I mean-the Royal Promenade,Flowrider surf-simulator,canti-levered hot tubs,ice-skating shows,the H20 Fun Zone pools for kids-there is NOTHING like it anywhere else..Yes,CCL has better deals and is a bit cheaper,same as NCL also,but if you cruise on the Freedom class ships and are not impressed,definitely go have an MRI...we love CCL,and are booked on The Destiny next year,but the ships & ambiance in no way can compete with RCI's latest ships (Freedom/Voyager class) IMO.....

 

Big Al