Questions from a Royal/Carnival cruiser

[joeyancho]

I have taken 28 cruises on RCCL and Carnival. I am looking to try NCCL for a Panama Canal cruise in November of 2013. The price is very attractive. Could some one please describe the NCCL onboard experience, especially how it compairs to the above lines. Thanks in advance.

[tx121]

A lot of the mainstream cruise lines (NCL, Carnival, Royal) are more similar then different in my opinion as far as entertainment /activities. Each line has their form of a similar type of game show or activity like the love and marriage game show, quest, white party, beer/wine tastings etc.

As far as food, I think Royal and Carnival are the same.....but I have not yet tasted RCL's new menu. I think NCL the food is good, could be better (thats just my opinion)... but sometimes you feel as if they push the specialty restaurants more then the other 2. I love Le Bistro...definitely a must if you are going to do one specialty.

Biggest difference of NCL and RCL/CCL is the freestyle concept where there is no dining times. It is like if you went to a restaurant and waited for a table. Now if you like the same waiter and table every night, this will be an issue. If you enjoy traditional dining, you may not like freestyle. What is good though is if you meet some fellow cruisers and you want to dine with them, there is no problem and you can eat with them at any time. Another big plus for me is that there is no formal nights!! I mean I think there are but it's not really enforced---people do get dressed up for pictures and all, but it's what they want to do.

As far as service, I think NCL falls a little behind because you dont have the same waiters every night. So I guess you can have an awesome waiter one night and then another waiter who just does his job because all tips are already paid daily.

As far as decor...the older NCL fleet is very colorful and gives a nice relaxing vibe...the newer ships like Epic and Breakaway have a more "sophisticated" look. I think RCL has the best ship designs and decor (again just my opinion), but Carnival's decor is stuck in the 80s with all the neon and is just very unappealing. I think they are renovating all their ships now to look more modern.

Panama Canal is a longer cruise and it does go slower. A lot of older folks do this cruise, so don't expect it to be very lively like in the Caribbean. It is more relaxing and experiencing the ship going through the locks of the canal.

Anyways hope you have a great time!

[emcelh]

I think NCL's entertainment is better than Carnival, although it might have just been the Carnival ships I was on. Can't speak to RCL. We also enjoy having so many choices for dining and plan for the surcharges.

 

I agree about the service in the MDR, sometimes it's excellent, sometimes just OK. I don't know if it has anything to do with the fact that the tips are added automatically. Actually, Carnival and now, RCL are doing the same thing. I think it has more to do with the fact that you're not seeing the same people every night. Service everywhere else on the ship has been great in our experience.

 

I agree with the previous poster who stated that you're likely to have an older group on a cruise of this length. Many people don't or can't take that much time off from their jobs all at once and parents usually don't take kids out of school for that long. We've been on a couple of Fall 10-daycruises to Canada and I could have counted the kids onboard on two hands.

[halos]

I have taken 28 cruises on RCCL and Carnival. I am looking to try NCCL for a Panama Canal cruise in November of 2013. The price is very attractive. Could some one please describe the NCCL onboard experience, especially how it compairs to the above lines. Thanks in advance.

 

I have sailed all three lines and NCL is my favorite (right now anyway) of the 3.

While I do think that Royal Caribbean has th emost magnificent ships, for us, the whole Freestyle concept just works. At first, to be honest, I wasn't sure I liked it. I was so used to traditional dining and having the same wait staff every night, that I didn't quite like Freestyle at first. Now, I can't even imagine why I felt that way.

 

I find NCL crew to be a notch above the very awesome crew on CCL/RCI. They just seem to 'like' their jobs better for some reason. The atmosphere on the ship reflects their attitudes (at least, that has been our experience thus far)

 

CCL used to have better main dining room food...now they are on par with NCL's. I found RCI mdr food to be a bit less appealing. The thing that is nice about NCL is the variety. On a long cruise such as a Canal crossing, this is a good thing.

 

CCL's entertainment is crap these days. I am thinking that the new guy in charge may hopefully make some changes to get this line back up to where it once was, but for now, NCL beats them hands down in entertainment and activities.

 

Each line has something 'special' to offer'. For us, what NCL offers is a good fit. I firmly believe in trying as many cruise lines as possible. I have never had a bad cruise. All were good, some were fabulous. For us, the fabulous ones were on NCL.

[Meriflower]

Each line has something 'special' to offer'. For us, what NCL offers is a good fit. I firmly believe in trying as many cruise lines as possible. I have never had a bad cruise. All were good, some were fabulous. For us, the fabulous ones were on NCL.

 

Couldn't agree more with this statement. I have only sailed on RCCL and Celebrity and had a great time on each cruise. I'm trying NCL for the first time. Freestyle, the number of dining venues plus not having to dress formally (if I don't want to) appeals to me.