NCL Vs Carnival

[bklsmom]

Never sailed NCL, but we are platinum Carnival Cruisers. We are considering sailing on the NCL Dawn in Nov for an 11 day Southern Caribbean, and want to hear some input from anyone who has sailed both Carnival and NCL??? Similar, or totally different???? Which do you prefer and why??? With Carnival, it's like been there done that, they really need to change up their itineraries, and do longer sailings like this one we found on the Dawn! Thanks for any info in advance.

[Sauer-kraut]

I've been on both and there isn't a whole ton of difference. NCL has no assigned seating for dinner so that is about it. There are a lot more restaurant choices if you choose to eat at a specialty restaurant for an upcharge. No "formal" nights if you choose not to dress up, of course you can if you would like.

 

NCL staff seems to be more friendly and laid back. If you join your roll call, NCL puts on a great meet & greet for FREE (juices and cookies) and the upper management staff will attend. Well worth joining i.m.o.

 

I haven't been on the PEARL, however, in my estimation the interior decoration is more subdued and elegant than on the Carnival ships I have been on.

 

$12 per day per passenger daily service charge will be added to your bill, and I can't remember if CCL was doing that in 2009 or not.

 

Other than that there isn't much difference at all. :) Have a wonderful trip!

[NYcruzzer]

I am Platinum on Carnival and 1 away from Platinum on NCL. These two lines have more similarities than differances. Both in demograghics and product. Even though Carnival offers

a version of my time dining, NCL has this perfected. You also will have more pay restaurant choices on NCL. I love both lines and base my decision on itinerary and price. You will find the entertainment better on NCL. There have been recent grumblings on the Carnival boards about the cutback in entertainment. Down to a two man combo band poolside.

I think if you give NCL a try you won't be dissapointed. Enjoy whatever cruise you choose.

[bklsmom]

Thanks for both replys!! My last 2 Carnival sailings last year, we did the anytime dining, and really loved the flexability of eating when we were hungry vs. eating when told. So that part of NCL is a huge plus for us. Also, the no dressing up for a formal night, is to our liking as well. When I'm on vacation, I don't want to have to worry about dressing up in a gown etc....Love just throwing on a sun dress or nice slacks for dinner and enjoying being comfortable. In the past 3 years Carnival has not changed their shows, and it's really become blah. So having new shows sounds nice too. What about room/balcony sizes based on Carnival vs NCL? Not that it matters to me, I'm only in there to sleep, but the DH loves his balcony morning, noon and night. Do they offer loungers or just upright chairs? I'm about ready to book, love the 11 night 7 ports of call itinerary. You've been most helpful.

[LMHC]

We have sailed and enjoy both lines. Regarding the size of the rooms, I would say both NCL ships way have been on have had smaller room sizes than Carnival and we have sailed both outside and balcony on each line. The balcony size was about the same on each line, but it may vary some depending on cabin category, but I would say a standard balcony was about the same size. Our NCL balcony had 2 chairs and a small table which was the same as Carnival. I did like the NCL bathrooms we had better as they had a sliding door for the shower and toilet and not just the clinging curtain of Carnival. Enjoy your trip.

[saskcan]

We were just on NCL Sun for a week, then Carnival Dream for a week - lst time on NCL, 2nd time on Carnival. We preferred NCL. The Dream was so huge & noisy everywhere, but then we are not really the party-hardy type & the FUNFUNFUN was starting to wear us down. Our room was much larger on Carnival - the shower was wonderful. & we thought the food was marginally better on Carnival. Thought the entertainment was similar - didn't care for a couple of the comediens on Carnival. As far as activities they were much the same - no interesting speakers or anything like that.

These are just our opinions, but hope it helps some.

[ce2000]

I think that you should give the NCL Dawn a try, just to experience something different than Carnival, and I like Carnival. I have been on many cruises and I am not Platinum with any of the cruise lines. I just do not like to get bogged down with one cruise line even though I know there are some benefits to becoming Platinum Members. Try some of the other cruise lines also, just to experience the differences. An 11 day Southern Caribbean cruise sounds very good to me.

Enjoy.

[cruisinmeme]

Never sailed NCL, but we are platinum Carnival Cruisers. We are considering sailing on the NCL Dawn in Nov for an 11 day Southern Caribbean, and want to hear some input from anyone who has sailed both Carnival and NCL??? Similar, or totally different???? Which do you prefer and why??? With Carnival, it's like been there done that, they really need to change up their itineraries, and do longer sailings like this one we found on the Dawn! Thanks for any info in advance.

 

we will be platinum with carnival on our jan. 29th cruise. then we have another carnival booked, then i have two ncl cruise's booked. hated to give up the vip,etc...........but for jan. 2012 we have a mid ship balcony for 549.00 pp (new orleans) let me see carnival beat that.also this will go to 4 ports. the cheapest we have gotten mid ship balcony with carnival is 689.00, our upcomining carnival cruise (april 2011) it is 784.00 and no sign of going down.

we took 3 grandkids on a 5 day (galveston) and it was unreal what we paid. we have a 7 day with ncl booked for thanksgiving 2012 and the price is 1060.00 total less and we get two more days. the perks of a suite with ncl is fabulous.

my whole thing is no matter what my status is with carnival, these prices outways it all. we have talked to other cruiser's that like ncl best.

good luck in your choice, but i say go for it.

[uppitycats]

We've been on both lines. I'd choose NCL over Carnival in large part because of the incessant "party hearty" atmosphere of Carnival (announcements seemingly every 10 minutes urging us to participate in some on-board activity), and what we consider the garish decor of Carnival ships (although I understand they've changed interior designers, so there's some hope there!)

 

We like the flexible dining and would always choose it over traditional. Both crews were very attentive and courteous, food choices seemed the same (we liked and disliked food on each line about equally!), the NCL does give you more choices in specialty restaurants.

 

Bottom line: we go for itinerary and price first, then the ship, so would go back to either, but all other things being generally equal, NCL would be at the top of our list.

[spacewoman]

Standard balcony cabins have 2 chairs and a table. We had a mini suite way back in 2005 on Dawn and same thing. This past September on Jewel we did see next door neighbor get their cabin steward to bring them a lounger. I would imagine that made the balcony very tight, but for the person wishing to lay down and relax on their balcony it had to be wonderful.

 

We're also the been there done that with formal nights, etc. You'll find (as others have said) NCL is more like their commercial says "where you're free to do whatever." We were allowed shorts in the dining room no issue. Of course we were wearing appropriate shorts (golf shorts and shirts). In the specialty restaurants I saw anything from shorts to dress up. The freestyle dining is great- as you said you want to eat when you're hungry not at 5:30 or 8:30.

 

Cabin size - Carnival's cabins are larger (comparing Spirit class Carnival to NCL Jewel) but our NCL cabin was fine. I figured out after a day that I could shove our luggage under the bed which gave us more closet room (although closet was fine, pants were getting wrinkled because of luggage). I felt the shower stall was bigger than Carnival's but it's more oblong than curved like Carnival's. The shower door keeps you from slopping water all over as well. I thought it was tight trying to dry off after getting out of the shower but I'm nearsighted and maybe can't see that well in a tight spot with no eyeglasses on :D We had adjoining cabins and with the partition opened the two balconies felt huge. We got 5 of us out there with no problem.

 

An apples to apples comparison -- staff: great on both lines; food: always subjective I didn't starve and neither did my oh so fussy husband; specialty restaurants: more choices Dawn, CCL's $25 or $30, some choices on Dawn will be cheaper; Pizza: hands down to Carnival; love the Blue Lagoon on Dawn - open 24 hours; Meet and Greet: did my first one on NCL - boy do they go out of their way for Cruise critic members!!! We also got a bridge tour and a galley tour. Everyone with us loved both. Embarkation and Debarkation: Luck of the draw - sometimes good sometimes horrible (this is out of NYC ports). Princess out of Brooklyn has them all beat in that department. Entertainment: NCL by far, not that Carnival's aren't very good, it's just they never change the shows.

 

For us our cruise decisions are based on the fact we don't want to fly. So that leaves us Bayonne, Brooklyn and Manhattan. We like to head south for our cruises and to us no cruise is a bad one. If the ship didn't sink then I had a fantastic time. We swayed away from Carnival after two Eastern Caribbeans because they hadn't changed up the itinerary. This year they're offering 3 different ones. We decided where we'd like to go, when, and price it out. Both lines are more similar than different so a lot of the time price is our main factor. Our last cruise, the prices worked out exactly the same per day but we had done the Miracle twice and the Jewel was calling my name to come and try her. We were not disappointed.

 

The Dawn has an adults only pool and hot tubs deck 11 Forward. When we did our Dawn cruise it was no additional charge. I think they do charge now but I'm not sure. I enjoyed hitting that pool early in the morning and then finishing it off with the hot tub jets on my sore back. It was a nice treat.

 

If you've enjoyed your CCL cruises, then the NCL you should find to your liking. Have a wonderful cruise!

 

Kathy

[zqvol]

Never sailed NCL, but we are platinum Carnival Cruisers. We are considering sailing on the NCL Dawn in Nov for an 11 day Southern Caribbean, and want to hear some input from anyone who has sailed both Carnival and NCL??? Similar, or totally different???? Which do you prefer and why??? With Carnival, it's like been there done that, they really need to change up their itineraries, and do longer sailings like this one we found on the Dawn! Thanks for any info in advance.

 

I sail both and have been on both within the past year. Very disappointed in Carnival right now. The Dawn is a wonderful ship similar to a carnival Spirit class ship. Very easy to get around.

 

IMO Carnival has a little bit better food in the MDR, but Carnivals food quality is going downhill and is not a lot better than NCL right now (at least it was that way the week before Christmas). NCL has all of the specialty restaurants, and while they are an upcharge, most of the them are only $5 or $10 and well worth it. The use of those makes NCLs food choices better than Carnival.

 

As I am sure you know Carnival has done away with a lot of the production shows and is using comedians. NCL has what I think are the best production shows afloat.

 

NCL cabins are a bit smaller, but do not seem smaller. In fact three of us traveled this year and the smaller NCL cabin did not seem as crowded as the Carnival cabin, and I am not sure why.

 

The rest of the things, such as service, crowd, atmosphere, etc, are pretty much the same.

 

Give NCL a try.

[ddloml]

IMO Carnival has a little bit better food in the MDR, but Carnivals food quality is going downhill and is not a lot better than NCL right now (at least it was that way the week before Christmas). NCL has all of the specialty restaurants, and while they are an upcharge, most of the them are only $5 or $10 and well worth it. The use of those makes NCLs food choices better than Carnival.

 

 

Give NCL a try.

 

The upcharges in the NCL restaurants on the Dawn are more than "$5 or $10". They were more in the $15-$25 range. That being said, they are still "well worth it". IMHO, the MDR food quality on NCL was a bit below that of Carnival. So we ended up going to 4 specialty restaurants for dinner during our 7 day cruise.

 

I also agree with the others that the stateroom on the NCL Dawn was slightly smaller than the one on Carnival Spirit. However, the bathroom on the Dawn was nicer.

 

Otherwise, the two lines are more alike than different, and I wouldn't hesitate to cruise on either one again!:D

[Warm Breezes]

We have sailed CCL, NCL, and Disney. We currently have a cruise booked on Carnival Glory and NCL Epic for 2011. IMHO they are more alike than different but I do give NCL the edge on some things and CCL the edge on others. Here is my take:

 

MDR food: Edge CCL

Buffet food: Edge NCL

Room Size (inside quad): Edge CCL

Production Shows: Edge NCL

Bingo: Edge CCL

Comedy Shows: Edge NCL

 

Ties in:

Friendliness

Cleanliness (Although NCL has hand sanitizers Everywhere)

Excursions

Itineraries

Demographics

Drinks

 

Not Used enough to rate:

Specialty Restaurants

Kids Clubs

Spa Services

Gyms

Room Service

[RetiredRich]

After 6 NCL cruises we went Carnival 2 times and are coming back to NCL. Like others say not a whole lot of difference but we like NCL better. NCL has lots of better shows than Carnival and are much more organized with the daily activities. It is easy to look at NCL's daily papers and plan your day. The absence of structured dining is a big plus with us. Also we like to play in the casino slots and NCL slots let you play some before taking your money. We actually both have hit good jackpots on NCL ships. Carnival slots just suck your money up in no time and our daily limit gets reached too soon. So we will go on NCL Dawn in November 2011...can't wait !!!!

[guyver]

After 6 NCL cruises we went Carnival 2 times and are coming back to NCL. Like others say not a whole lot of difference but we like NCL better. NCL has lots of better shows than Carnival and are much more organized with the daily activities. It is easy to look at NCL's daily papers and plan your day. The absence of structured dining is a big plus with us. Also we like to play in the casino slots and NCL slots let you play some before taking your money. We actually both have hit good jackpots on NCL ships. Carnival slots just suck your money up in no time and our daily limit gets reached too soon. So we will go on NCL Dawn in November 2011...can't wait !!!!

 

 

I think you should count yourself lucky with your slot play. They have always been extremely tight with us. In fact, I have never witnessed anybody jackpot a slot while I was in there.

[ddloml]

I think you should count yourself lucky with your slot play. They have always been extremely tight with us. In fact, I have never witnessed anybody jackpot a slot while I was in there.

 

DW closed the casino on the Dawn down one night playing the stupid 'quarter drop' game! She must have primed it well, because the next day I was playing it along side her and I won the 'Free T-Shirt' chip!:o:):D I started with about $5 in quarters and kept cycling through them until I won. It was announced in the showroom one night that a passenger won about $12K on a slot machine during our cruise; so I guess miracles do happen!

 

I won't tell how the Craps table ($10 min:mad:) treated me, though!