Carnival VS NCL

[BBTT]

as others have said " a cruise is what you make it " and going into it with an OPEN Mind is sooo important. We have cruised 7 times so far and find the experience the best stress-buster of ANY vacations we have ever taken. Always take the kids with us-now 18 and 15 years old. NCL Dawn 3 times, NCL Spirit 1 time, CCL Miracle 1 time, RCCL Explorer OTS 2 times. NEVER had a "bad" cruise-just ones that were better than others. As for our favorite,we love the Dawn (isn't the FIRST time the most memorable :rolleyes::rolleyes: and usually where you might set your expectations) ?...Anyway as far as food quality I was very surprised to find that CCL (imho) had the best quality of the three. We do love freestyle dinning the best and NCL no doubt is set up differently here and seems to be the leader. Have had excellent service on all 3 lines and on a few occasions have had some sort of "snafu" of some sort or another on all 3.(nothing deal breaking) I have worked as a restaurant manager for the last 15 years and was a certified chef for the 15 years before that. Overall it is just nice to get away from that side of the business and be on the receiving end.:D nice to NOT being the one that has to "kiss your A**" and instead having someone show me the joy of being well taken care of.:cool:

 

P.S. The public is verrrry demanding and has definately gotten MORE demanding recently seemingly as a result of the economy and the perception of more and more people thinking it is O.K. to belittle someone for any minor inconvience or mistake. WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO THAT ONE LITTLE GOLDEN RULE-ALWAYS TREAT SOMEONE THE WAY THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE TREATED!-sorry for the "shout". It is true in my business that you WILL get more respect(a LOT more) if you are able to at least treat someone else with respect...off my soapbox now..:D

[GOLDENBONNY]

Just back off the Miracle and wanted to post an opinion. We had heard NCL called the Motel 6 of cruise lines and now don't agree with that. We went on 6 NCL cruises before this one and now say there is no step down in quality from Carnival to NCL Our next cruise will probably be with NCL. The first thing that really got us was the lack of attention to clean hands. On NCL there was always a crew member greeting you in the buffet line and almost forcing you to use the hand cleaner. On the Miracle the dispencers were there for you to use but not everybody used it. I also found 2 of them empty and not filled back up while I ate. With this flu going around I thought that would be very important. Each line and each ship has its own little quirks but if you go there determined to enjoy the cruise you will enjoy as we did. But there are enough little differences to send us back to NCL. The crew was not as close and friendly as we have found on NCL. The entertainment with the exception of Malcum the cruise director was not very good. Best night was when they featured passenger talent for the show. The food in the buffet seemed better and more available than on NCL as we always used the buffet. On 2 different nights we were awakened at 2 am with a coded call for crew to respond. One was a girl had fell off her room balcony...very hard to do. But there was another deck below that she fell on and was injured. They put her and her drunk husband off at the next port. I don't know what the other alarm was for but both were very annoying. Our room with balcony was nice and had lots of storage room. But the balcony door didn't seal good and made a howling noise as the ship moved. Hard to get to sleep. I know I don't sound like a happy camper but I want to say again we enjoyed the cruise. I just don't like the Motel 6 thing on NCL cruise lines. I think it's more like NCL is Holiday Inn and Carnival is the Super 8 of cruise lines.

 

 

i DONT KNOW WHAT IS Motel 6,but one thing I know for sure,we will never cruise on NCL even for free .

[GOLDENBONNY]

It's not quite the same as true "Freestyle". This is one thing that NCL does extremely well and I think the other lines are making a poor imitation with their versions of anytime dining.

 

 

Well,now I know what NCL dose well:D

[Kurbanfan]

The first thing that really got us was the lack of attention to clean hands. On NCL there was always a crew member greeting you in the buffet line and almost forcing you to use the hand cleaner. On the Miracle the dispencers were there for you to use but not everybody used it.

 

 

First of all, how do you know those people that didn't use the sanitizers didn't just wash their hands with soap and water:confused: Which is what I always do before eating and have never used sanitizers.....unless there is a epidemic they can't force you to use them:rolleyes:

[SKeighley]

I have been on RCL, NCL and Carnival. I do not believe that Carnival rates at the bottom. I did not like the food on NCL or RCL compared to Carnival. I thought the crew on Carnival very attentive. I had open dinning on NCL and did not like it since you had a different wait staff each night they did not give you the attention I received on Carnival.

But every one had their favorite cruise line. Mine is Carnival

[leadout_kv]

as others have said " a cruise is what you make it " and going into it with an OPEN Mind is sooo important. We have cruised 7 times so far and find the experience the best stress-buster of ANY vacations we have ever taken. Always take the kids with us-now 18 and 15 years old. NCL Dawn 3 times, NCL Spirit 1 time, CCL Miracle 1 time, RCCL Explorer OTS 2 times. NEVER had a "bad" cruise-just ones that were better than others. As for our favorite,we love the Dawn (isn't the FIRST time the most memorable :rolleyes::rolleyes: and usually where you might set your expectations) ?...Anyway as far as food quality I was very surprised to find that CCL (imho) had the best quality of the three. We do love freestyle dinning the best and NCL no doubt is set up differently here and seems to be the leader. Have had excellent service on all 3 lines and on a few occasions have had some sort of "snafu" of some sort or another on all 3.(nothing deal breaking) I have worked as a restaurant manager for the last 15 years and was a certified chef for the 15 years before that. Overall it is just nice to get away from that side of the business and be on the receiving end.:D nice to NOT being the one that has to "kiss your A**" and instead having someone show me the joy of being well taken care of.:cool:

 

P.S. The public is verrrry demanding and has definately gotten MORE demanding recently seemingly as a result of the economy and the perception of more and more people thinking it is O.K. to belittle someone for any minor inconvience or mistake. WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO THAT ONE LITTLE GOLDEN RULE-ALWAYS TREAT SOMEONE THE WAY THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE TREATED!-sorry for the "shout". It is true in my business that you WILL get more respect(a LOT more) if you are able to at least treat someone else with respect...off my soapbox now..:D

 

I wish everyone had an attitude like yours.

[dallas52]

Have cruised with carnival a few times and only once with NCL but have to admit that i didnt enjoy freestyle, had to chase the waiter down for soft drinks most nights and NCL has taken too much room away from buffet for their pay restaurants which that had plenty of. They also dont offer bathrobes in all cabins and not all cabins get to eat in dining rooms for lunch, only the buffets. Cabins were only 122 sq ft compared to 185, big difference. Didnt realize the differences in cabins till we boarded, so was disappointed when i found out. Doesnt mean i will not cruise NCL again but not unless we find a bargain.