Sky or Carinval Imagination

[Lambface]

We will be celebrating 60th wedding anniversary ... along with 50 year olds and a 10 year old. Which would be the better ship .... NCL's Sky or Carnival's Imagination? We care most about the cabins and formal dining? Thanks for any input!

[RBKL]

I haven't been on the Imagination however, we just got off the Sky on Monday on the 3 night cruise.

 

Between the short duration and NCL's Freestyle cruising I didn't see any formal dining. All venues (MDRs and pay for dining) allowed shorts every night we were there. Some people were dressed in slacks or dresses but most people were relatively informal.

 

According to the daily newsletter shorts were allowed every night in all venues. I know a lot of people don't agree with that but that was NCL's stated policy not an opinion.

 

We had a balcony midship cabin. It was nice. Decent enough for my daughter and I. I'm sure the Penthouse staterooms were nicer.

[shelly11]

I've never been on Carnival but love the Sky. Review in my signature.

[Sauer-kraut]

The Imagination will have set dining times (early or late) as well as an "Elegant Night" there is also a my time dining set up on Carnival. I have been on Imagination and the cabin was fairly large. We had an ocean view that held 3, the third bed was a pull down from the wall.

 

Norwegian has Freestyle dining and is a lot easier to navigate when you decide you want to eat. Travelling with a youngster this might be more advisable rather than waiting to make an assigned seating or hurrying back from a port visit.

 

I can't speak about the Sky, I've never sailed her. I would go with what the itinerary is and price.

 

Have fun :)

[spacepotatoes]

I have reviews of both in my signature (Sky photos aren't currently accessible, but will be in a few more days). The Imagination review contains comparisons between the two.

 

If cabins (do you mean size? decor? storage?) and formal dining are your priorities, I'd recommend the Imagination. Cabins are larger and Carnival offers fixed dining assignments. On NCL, Freestyle dining is basically Carnival's Your Time Dining, all the time. In my opinion, Freestyle is handled much better than YTD but your mileage may vary on that. Imagination also has a more interesting itinerary for the 4 days.

 

On the other hand, from our experience, the Sky had a friendlier crew and we experienced a higher level of service on NCL. The ship was also nicer as far as decor.

 

Edited to add: You may find a more formal dining atmosphere in some of the specialty restaurants on the Sky, like Le Bistro.

[Zeta3]

If cabins and formal dining are a priority then Carnival would be the better choice. Having been on both multiple times I prefer the Sky.

[jbscoggins]

We will be celebrating 60th wedding anniversary ... along with 50 year olds and a 10 year old. Which would be the better ship .... NCL's Sky or Carnival's Imagination? We care most about the cabins and formal dining? Thanks for any input!

 

Just to clarify: are you interested in formal dining just for the anniversary dinner celebration? If that's the reason, I'd go with NCL and a dinner at Le Bistro or Cagney's and let the Maître d’ know about the celebration. Carnival has its elegant night thing, but it might not be the night you want to celebrate?

 

And cabins: are you concerned about accessibility or size or price?

 

Edited because I snooped a bit in your other posts Lambface. If cost isn't a factor and you want a nice celebration with elderly relatives, I would far and away go with NCL Sky. Book a suite level room and let the butler and concierge lavish their attention on you. The anniversary will be special, and you'll be able to eat breakfast and lunch with just the other suite guests in a more private, subdued setting than you would find anywhere on Carnival.

[kicia]

We've sailed on the Imagination and just got off the Sky on Friday. The cabins on Carnival are larger and especially the bathroom. The shower on the Sky was like a stand up MRI tube. It was the worst aspect about our trip. There were only three very small drawers on the Sky but plenty of space for hanging clothes. The beds on both were very good. We had less interaction with the room steward on the Sky than on any Carnival ship but the service was just as good. We also like the liquid soap by the bathroom sink on the Sky. We usually bring our own but on this cruise we didn't need to use it. Both ships have shower gel and shampoo in the shower. I don't use the shampoo on either line. I usually use the shower gel on Carnival but didn't care for the one on the Sky. Again, not a big deal since I brought my own anyway.

 

We enjoyed that we could eat lunch on embarkation day in the main dining room on the Sky. That was a much more civilized way to start the cruise. We found the buffet line to be more crowded on the Sky and it was very congested because the drink station is basically in the line. A big difference for me was that the Sky did not have hot chocolate and I don't drink coffee. Carnival has great hot chocolate. I was able to order it in the MDR on the Sky for breakfast and a nice pot was brought out but it was very watered down so I didn't order it again. I did see packets in the buffet but didn't have breakfast there.

 

The crew on both ships are very friendly. If you talk with them they are very happy to talk with you. We got hugs on both ships.

 

We found good food options on both ships. We usually do late dining on Carnival but have tried Anytime dining also. On Carnival even when we did anytime we always seemed to eat between 8 and 8:15 every night anyway. We usually ate between 7:15 and 7:30 on the Sky. We didn't have a wait on either ship. We enjoy the waiter shows on Carnival and the Sky does not have them. On the last night however we did have a person playing the guitar and two people sang songs. I was surprised when the second song was Leaving On A Jet Plane since that is Carnival's song for the last night but Carnival changes the words a little bit. We almost missed this little show because we were just leaving the MDR and the hostess told us about it so we stayed.

 

Carnival normally has two shows in the main show lounge except for the welcome aboard show and the passenger talent show. The Sky only had one show at 9:30. That was one reason we were eating earlier so we could make the show. Carnival has a couple large production shows and the Punchliner Comedy Club and the Sky had a comedian and a comedian/juggler that were very good. We didn't care for the singing show but that was strictly personal since we didn't know the songs at all.

 

We were a little surprised by the dining attire on the Sky since it was so much more casual than on Carnival. When we sail Carnival, even for the short cruises, my husband wears his tux and I wear a long gown on the formal/elegant nights. We've never felt out of place and there are others that dress that formally. There are lots of guys in suits and a lot of women wear cocktail dress or dressy dresses, even on non-elegant nights. We didn't bring the formal wear for the Sky cruise because of what we read but my husband wore a sport coat, tie, dress shirt and dress pants for two of the four nights and dress pants and a nice shirt for the other two. I wore nice dresses all four nights. We saw only one other couple dressed up the whole cruise. Everyone else was very casual.

 

The first night on the Sky it seemed like we were being rushed through dinner in the MDR. We asked the waitstaff about that and were told that their clientele wanted to be served quickly and get out of the dining room. We asked them to slow it down for the other nights and it was a much nicer experience. We've never felt rushed on Carnival. Another thing on the Sky I thought was a little odd was if I ordered a soup and salad or other appetizer, both items were brought at the same time instead of bringing one at a time. It just cluttered up the table a little but was not that big of a deal. In looking around the dining room it didn't seem that the waiters had the little serving areas for each waiter to put the food on when it is brought out from the dining room and that's why I thought both starters were brought out at the same time.

 

Debarkation on both ships is very easy and we put the luggage out the night before. On Carnival numbered luggage tags are put in your room and if you want an earlier or later time you can get those tags from Guest Services. On the Sky you got your luggage tags from Guest Services and you pick which time you want. Again, no big deal.

 

We've sailed a lot of Carnival cruises and this was our first on NCL. I'm glad we tried it and we will probably sail NCL again and will keep sailing on Carnival. I think the most important thing is to have a good attitude and have fun.

[davesarn]

I would say the Sky, hands down. The imagination is well-maintained, but its simply older looking and not as nice as the Sky. IMO.

[clean1owner]

We will be celebrating 60th wedding anniversary ... along with 50 year olds and a 10 year old. Which would be the better ship .... NCL's Sky or Carnival's Imagination? We care most about the cabins and formal dining? Thanks for any input!

 

I would say Majesty Of The Seas. Virtually the same itinerary, with an extra stop in Key West on the four night version. Their dining is the closest to formal of all 3 lines.

 

The ships are very close in size and capacity, the food is comparable, but service on NCL and RCCL is a couple steps ahead of Carnival.

 

All in all, I think the Majesty will give you more bang for the buck.

 

Here is a link to my review http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1446337

[cruiseaholic76]

We will be celebrating 60th wedding anniversary ... along with 50 year olds and a 10 year old. Which would be the better ship .... NCL's Sky or Carnival's Imagination? We care most about the cabins and formal dining? Thanks for any input!

 

We went on the Imagination last month. We had a great time and I must say the ship was very well kept for it's age. Everything was very clean. Carnival has a great kids program not sure about ncl's. We will be on the Sky in 2 weeks for a girls only getaway so I'm hoping I won't be disappointed. One thing to consider is the rooms on the Sky are very small. Carnivals cabins are a lot bigger. We are barely in the cabin so it doesn't matter much to me. Good luck I'm sure you'll have a great time with whichever one you choose.:D

[yoyocruiser]

I absolutely love the SKY and the staff and crew provide great service, as many have mentioned. As someone above mentioned, if the main concern is to have a special anniversary dinner, then definitely go on SKY and as they suggested, book La Bistrr for the special night--you can certainly dress up and it will be an elegant and delicious dining experience. However--as many noted above--dining in general on the SKY is not a dress up affair. The short cruises seem to have an even more relaxed dress code. This does not in any way interfere with the level of service or the quality of the food--my SKY cruise I felt had better food than any other cruise I had been on. But the OP could be VERY disappointed if true formal dining is what they are expecting. Indeed if you are in a suite the access to cagney's puts you in a smaller venue--but even there the dress is not formal for breakfast and lunch. You can eat at a specialty restaurant each night to ensure a more elegant dining experience however. I am not complaining about the relaxed dress on the SKY--it actually suits us perfectly--I am jsut relating it as a fact for the OP to consider. Some people are truly offended and cannot enjoy their food if someone is wearing flip flops. Again--that's not me. But people have a right to their preference, and should therefore get a realistic picture of what they will see onboard. SKY had a nobably more relaxed dress code in general.

[spacepotatoes]

Juding from recent posts on the Carnival boards, I think the OP ended up choosing Imagination.

[Cruisin 4 Ever]

I'm thinking of sailing on the Sky in November and have sailed on the Imagination twice. The Imagination has a great waterpark for the 10 year olds they will love that. The Sky doesn't have anything like that. Friends who have been on the Sky say dining is VERY casual. The food on the IMagaination was very good as was the service. However, I have found I really prefer choosing my own time to eat and to be with those I've travelled with as opposed to sittings with others. Both ships have that anytime/freestyle dining.