NCL from a Carnival Cruiser's Standpoint

[Andoria]

Yes the "Welcome Back" is a nice touch *unless you have a balcony room right above. After the 100th time of hearing the same song, I had to go inside.

[Betsybill]

A little background on us. We are platinum on Carnival, and 6 sailing nights from platinum on NCL. We are recently back from a 12 night NCL TA cruise, and a 14 night back to back to back on Carnival.

Cabins: On these trips NCL cabin was larger than our Carnival cabin..we had OV on both. But there was plenty of storage in both cabins.

Shows: NCL wins. They had 45 minute shows and Carnival had 30 minute. NCL had a show band, and Carnival used canned music. NCL had better costumes, more changes and sets.

Wine on board. CCL wins, allowing 1 bottle of wine per person over 21, and NCL has a $15 corkage fee per bottle.

NCL cruisers were older, experienced cruisers (maybe because of the TA)

CCL were young, young families, and a lot of first time cruisers.

A lifeboat drill: NCL takes very seriously. NCL takes your names and cabin numbers during the drill to see if everyone is present. They even had a remedial class for those that missed the drill on the first day. CCL was controlled chaos.

Food: Starting with breakfast. Both dining rooms were pretty equal, although NCL croissants were smaller than CCL and you had to order them with your breakfast in the dining room. CCL brought baskets of pastries around.

The Lido breakfast buffet NCL wins hands down.

In what universe is cut up hotdogs, onions, and peas breakfast food? Also with CCL cut up breakfast sausage in tomato sauce. They also had the bacon police.

Overall the lunch buffets were pretty similar, but CCL had grilled deli sandwiches all day, and their pizza was MUCH better than NCL.

Note: NCL does open their dining room on embarkation day.

Food overall Carnival wins. NCL seems to serve their best meals in their pay restaurants. Carnival MDR served escargot vs Shrimp on NCL. Also CCL soups were much better. Carnival desserts were much better. NCL serves crepes on the LIDO every evening which DH liked very much.

For outside seating Carnival has much more. NCL uses most of their outside for balconies and suites. Carnival's serenity deck, and outside eating venues were very good.

These are just a few of the differences that we noticed on these 2 cruises.

[Warm Breezes]

A little background on us. We are platinum on Carnival, and 6 sailing nights from platinum on NCL. We are recently back from a 12 night NCL TA cruise, and a 14 night back to back to back on Carnival.

Cabins: On these trips NCL cabin was larger than our Carnival cabin..we had OV on both. But there was plenty of storage in both cabins. Shows: NCL wins. They had 45 minute shows and Carnival had 30 minute. NCL had a show band, and Carnival used canned music. NCL had better costumes, more changes and sets.

Wine on board. CCL wins, allowing 1 bottle of wine per person over 21, and NCL has a $15 corkage fee per bottle.

NCL cruisers were older, experienced cruisers (maybe because of the TA)

CCL were young, young families, and a lot of first time cruisers.

A lifeboat drill: NCL takes very seriously. NCL takes your names and cabin numbers during the drill to see if everyone is present. They even had a remedial class for those that missed the drill on the first day. CCL was controlled chaos.

Food: Starting with breakfast. Both dining rooms were pretty equal, although NCL croissants were smaller than CCL and you had to order them with your breakfast in the dining room. CCL brought baskets of pastries around.

The Lido breakfast buffet NCL wins hands down.

In what universe is cut up hotdogs, onions, and peas breakfast food? Also with CCL cut up breakfast sausage in tomato sauce. They also had the bacon police.

Overall the lunch buffets were pretty similar, but CCL had grilled deli sandwiches all day, and their pizza was MUCH better than NCL.

Note: NCL does open their dining room on embarkation day.

Food overall Carnival wins. NCL seems to serve their best meals in their pay restaurants. Carnival MDR served escargot vs Shrimp on NCL. Also CCL soups were much better. Carnival desserts were much better. NCL serves crepes on the LIDO every evening which DH liked very much.

For outside seating Carnival has much more. NCL uses most of their outside for balconies and suites. Carnival's serenity deck, and outside eating venues were very good.

These are just a few of the differences that we noticed on these 2 cruises.

 

What ships were you on that the OV was bigger on NCL than on CCL? I have not had OV on NCL but I have had insides and balconies on both and NCL was definitely smaller than CCL....from what I have read only the suites were bigger on NCL. Just curious what you sailed to have the opposite in the OV rooms.

[DGP1111]

I can sum it up by saying that I don't miss anything when I sail NCL because I prefer it. The reason is the small details.

 

Ditto on that!!

 

When you come back from port, you hear the band playing on the lido and the crew outside on the dock are there waiting with cool drinks and towels. Is this a big deal, no....but when you get it, it's nice and when you look at the people boarding the ship docked next to you getting on with no cool towels and no band playing on the ship, you're pretty happy you chose NCL. Sometimes, there will be crew outside on the dock dancing. Passengers are all joining in and there is a party going on before you even get back ON the ship.

 

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. . . My only hope is that they stay this way....once they went public with their shares, I started to get nervous. I don't like the possibility that shareholders will mean more than passengers.

 

Ditto, the sequel.

 

Halos...yes the "welcome back" on NCL is truly sweet...

on Pearl we had a BIG welcome from all sorts of crew, entertainment staff, guys on stilts cruise director ...all cheering and singing to us, balloons, huge welcome home banner, giving cold towels etc as we "walked the red carpet" back to ship....

 

Yes the "Welcome Back" is a nice touch *unless you have a balcony room right above. After the 100th time of hearing the same song, I had to go inside.

I can understand that sentiment, but on two sailings my balcony was in that exact proximity described, and really enjoyed watching it all, and taking in the raw/fun energy.

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And if you return to find your ship is neighboring yet another NCL vessel (giving you twice the effect) . . . hang on!! The two teams have fun creating one 'team'.

 

 

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[DGP1111]

NCL also still offers a crew recognition event (after the two theatre performance on the final evening) on all sailings, where representatives of all departments are present. Crew & staff recognize each other with applause, and passengers get to offer their thanks/applause to all as well.

 

Then as the passengers exit the theatre, they find crew/staff lining the walls to again say, "Thanks for choosing us, and we hope to see you again soon".

 

The cost for the pier celebration and the theatre celebration have a very minimal cost . . . but the effect can (for many) by rather priceless.

 

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[DGP1111]

Oh, and a daily pool deck Caribbean band with (non-synthesized!) steel drums. :D

 

The chefs in the background are due to the pool deck buffet that is offered at sail away (and sometimes a second time).

 

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[halos]

Thanks Don....my PCD is now killing me. :p

Is it February yet???????????????????????????

[DGP1111]

Thanks Don....my PCD is now killing me. :p

Is it February yet???????????????????????????

 

My next isn't until late February as well.

Hang in there!! :)

 

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[Cruizinman]

Oh, and a daily pool deck Caribbean band with (non-synthesized!) steel drums. :D

 

The chefs in the background are due to the pool deck buffet that is offered at sail away (and sometimes a second time).

 

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Very nice . Carnival should take note !

[Betsybill]

What ships were you on that the OV was bigger on NCL than on CCL? I have not had OV on NCL but I have had insides and balconies on both and NCL was definitely smaller than CCL....from what I have read only the suites were bigger on NCL. Just curious what you sailed to have the opposite in the OV rooms.

 

For the NCL TA we were on the Star, towards the bow, had a lot of movement. On CCL we had two cabins, mid and aft on the b2b2b, both were smaller than the cabin we had on NCL.This was on the Fascination.

Both NCL and CCL had enough storage for us. We had a seperate counter and a desk on the Star, but a combo counter desk on the Fascination.

[Warm Breezes]

For the NCL TA we were on the Star, towards the bow, had a lot of movement. On CCL we had two cabins, mid and aft on the b2b2b, both were smaller than the cabin we had on NCL.This was on the Fascination.

Both NCL and CCL had enough storage for us. We had a seperate counter and a desk on the Star, but a combo counter desk on the Fascination.

 

I don't mean to argue with you, but this just seemed contradictory to everything I have read so I looked up the oceanview room size for those 2 ships on NCL and CCL's websites. NCL stated that the Stars oceanview rooms were 159 SF and CCL stated that the Fascinations oceanview rooms were 185 SF. This is in line with what I have read about the oceanview rooms and what I experienced on our own cruises on NCL and CCL in inside and balcony rooms.

[NYcruzzer]

I don't mean to argue with you, but this just seemed contradictory to everything I have read so I looked up the oceanview room size for those 2 ships on NCL and CCL's websites. NCL stated that the Stars oceanview rooms were 159 SF and CCL stated that the Fascinations oceanview rooms were 185 SF. This is in line with what I have read about the oceanview rooms and what I experienced on our own cruises on NCL and CCL in inside and balcony rooms.

 

Does a larger stateroom on Carnival trump better production shows, live poolside steel band, bigger/better buffet and poolside BBQ offered on NCL ?

[Warm Breezes]

Does a larger stateroom on Carnival trump better production shows, live poolside steel band, bigger/better buffet and poolside BBQ offered on NCL ?

 

No....but a larger room at a lower price does ;). I'm not arguing one is better than the other...I like them both for different reasons and will continue to sail them both...for different reasons. I was just trying to correct wrong information....NCL OV rooms are smaller than CCL OV rooms, their own websites substantiate it. That's all.

[pe4all]

We did Breakaway last August to Bermuda. Enjoyed straying from CCL. Each line has different things to offer. I think we enjoyed NCL because it offered a change after 16 CCL cruises in a row. I liked the free- style dining much more than I thought I would. I also did the 3 restaurant special they offered, and really liked that. So much, in fact, that we booked the Gem for August!

[NYcruzzer]

No....but a larger room at a lower price does ;). I'm not arguing one is better than the other...I like them both for different reasons and will continue to sail them both...for different reasons. I was just trying to correct wrong information....NCL OV rooms are smaller than CCL OV rooms, their own websites substantiate it. That's all.

 

As I stated earlier I am Platinum on both lines. Sailed the Spendor in May and Breakaway in August. In regards to lower prices, I agree, Carnival has some great deals out there. However If you check pricing NCL isn't much higher. I just wish Carnival would put a new or completely renovated ship in NY to compete with The Breakaway and coming soon Royal's Quantum of the Seas.

[Skipper Justin]

One of my favorite aspects is that NCL has a 24 hour sit down cafe! It is so nice when all the other options are closed, and some other lines charge for room service after awhile. It is nice to have other options than pizza. The Improv shows are great as well.

[Warm Breezes]

[quote name='NYcruzzer']As I stated earlier I am Platinum on both lines. Sailed the Spendor in May and Breakaway in August. In regards to lower prices, I agree, Carnival has some great deals out there. However If you check pricing NCL isn't much higher. I just wish Carnival would put a new or completely renovated ship in NY to compete with The Breakaway and coming soon Royal's Quantum of the Seas.[/QUOTE]

Pricing is never my most important factor in choosing in a cruise. That factor in the past has been timing, embarkation port, itinerary, ship or any combination of these. After my choice has been narrowed down by those factors, then price is taken into consideration. Every time we have chosen to sail NCL, the CCL alternatives were already knocked out of the picture by not meeting our main objectives. Whenever CCL remained in the picture by meeting our other objectives, they won out because of their pricing. The one time NCL won out because of pricing, was not against CCL but against RCCL. We chose Epic over Oasis because of the price ($1000 lower). CCL was not in the running because we had just done 3 CCL cruises in a row and our main objective was something different than CCL.

People can say that other cruise line pricing is not all that much higher than CCL.....but that really depends on the cruise a person is looking for. For the cruises we have been looking for that has never been the case and I do check prices after we have our choices for what we want narrowed down to the ships that meet our main objectives for that vacation. If CCL was in the final running, their pricing always put them on top. I don't doubt others have sometimes found the deals on other lines....but I can state for a fact that in our 11 cruises I have yet to come across it .

Just look at our last 2 cruises for example...CCL Freedom in August for 2 person Balcony was $91 pp/pd. NCL Jewel in October for 2 person Balcony was $121 pp/pd. Freedom won our choice in August because of embarkation port/timing/price. NCL won our choice because of embarkation port/timing/itinerary...which knocked all other ships out of contention so we didn't even look at price (except to compare it with a land vacation to Las Vegas we were also looking at).

The cruise line is never a factor for us unless we have a future cruise credit that needs to be used. We have enjoyed our time on every cruise we have gone on. Yes NCL has better entertainment....but I don't necessarily sail for the entertainment. It's just one part of whole. There are multiple things that make cruising enjoyable for us and I have yet to sail on a ship that I couldn't find things to enjoy for the price I paid. The more I pay the higher my expectations. Every cruise has met or exceeded my expectations. I paid more for our last NCL cruise than our last CCL cruise. I expected a better (different for us as there were 4 new ports for us) itinerary and better entertainment. I was not disappointed.

Most things on a ship are subjective (food, entertainment, service)...room size is one thing that is not. The fact is that NCL inside, OV, and balcony rooms are smaller than CCL and NCL suites are bigger with better benefits. For us that is not a big deal anymore since we started getting 2 rooms for the 4 of us. But I have to say the inside room on the Jewel with 4 people was extremely tight. Carnival was much more roomier. But we didn't find that out until we went on the Jewel. It was after that cruise that we started booking 2 rooms for the 4 of us. That may be a factor for a family looking to book one room choosing a cruise.

[mm3386]

Thank you everyone for the informative responses! Does anyone know about the Vibe section on NCL? I loved Carnival's Serenity deck on the Miracle and Pride, but was really disappointed in the Splendor's. I'm wondering which the Vibe is more comparable to. We're big fans of the hammocks and clamshells (the Splendor Serenity area had neither :( )

[NYcruzzer]

[quote name='mm3386']Thank you everyone for the informative responses! Does anyone know about the Vibe section on NCL? I loved Carnival's Serenity deck on the Miracle and Pride, but was really disappointed in the Splendor's. I'm wondering which the Vibe is more comparable to. We're big fans of the hammocks and clamshells (the Splendor Serenity area had neither :( )[/QUOTE]

If you want to purchase a vibe pass you have to be on the first group boarding. They sell out immediately. We purchased Vibe passes in August. If I remember correctly cost was either $75.00 or $79.00 per person. It was so worth it. Servers bringing moist towels and fruit ka-bobs. Very private area with padded lounge chairs always available. Best money we ever spent.

[riffatsea]

[SIZE=2]Hmm? I wonder if NCL has changed a lot since our one Alaska cruise??? At that time the buffet was just horrible so I was amazed to hear people say that it was now equal to what is offered on Carnival! I also thought the MDR food choices were boring. The only really decent food was in the specialty restaurants for which you had to pay extra!! We have never wanted to try another NCL cruise after our first experience so it is interesting to read these positive comments.[/SIZE]

[S.S.Oceanlover]

[quote name='riffatsea'][SIZE=2]Hmm? I wonder if NCL has changed a lot since our one Alaska cruise??? At that time the buffet was just horrible so I was amazed to hear people say that it was now equal to what is offered on Carnival! I also thought the MDR food choices were boring. The only really decent food was in the specialty restaurants for which you had to pay extra!! We have never wanted to try another NCL cruise after our first experience so it is interesting to read these positive comments.[/SIZE][/QUOTE]

Things change. I used to book CCL almost exclusively.

Took an NCL cruise years ago and was like you. Wasn't impressed, so we avoided them. We did the Star to Bermuda 2 years ago and have since gone on the Dawn it had changed so much since our cruise years ago.

Just as CCL has slid down the hill, Ncl has risen.

Bill


Sent from Iphone 4S using Cruise Critic App

[Florissouri]

[quote name='mm3386']Hi all! I'm looking for some general info on the ways NCL differs from Carnival and what people have been most surprised with or missed when they have cruised NCL instead of Carnival.

Here is my background: Late twenties, from New England, cruise with my boyfriend, have only ever cruised Carnival (Pride, Miracle, Splendor) and always do your time dining because we enjoy more of an intimate dining experience for 2. My bf and I just took the 11/17 Splendor cruise and left pretty disappointed compared to previous cruises. It wasn't a bad cruise, there were just little things that by the end of the week added up and left us looking for a different experience.

That being said, I am looking at the NCL Breakaway for our next cruise. Can anyone who has cruised both NCL and Carnival tell me what I can expect the same/different? For what it's worth, I was also thinking about trying the Breeze, but with the added airfare the cost would be about the same, and my bf really wants to try another line after the Splendor issues. We have not given up on Carnival, but would like to venture out and expand our horizons a bit more. Any thoughts/suggestions would be appreciated![/quote]

I haven't sailed on the Breakaway yet, so I don't know if they screwed it up like they did with the Epic (and I hate the Epic).

The Freestyle Dining on NCL is far superior to Your Time Dining on Carnival.

Carnival's cabins are larger, but the decor, design and layout of NCL ships are much better and the ships are much easier to navigate.

I've spent half my life in restaurant management and I think the food is a bit better on NCL, especially the buffets, and they have a much better selection of hot vegetables than does Carnival. Whoever writes the menus at Carnival thinks of hot vegetable as an after-thought. The Great Outdoors on NCL is a fantastic place to have breakfast, lunch and dinner with the exception of the Epic (did I mention I hate the Epic?).

Carnival has more social hosts and activities than does NCL.

Carnival's prices are usually a bit lower. Edited December 6, 2013 by Florissouri

[riffatsea]

[quote name='S.S.Oceanlover']Things change. I used to book CCL almost exclusively.

Took an NCL cruise years ago and was like you. Wasn't impressed, so we avoided them. We did the Star to Bermuda 2 years ago and have since gone on the Dawn it had changed so much since our cruise years ago.

Just as CCL has slid down the hill, Ncl has risen.

Bill


Sent from Iphone 4S using Cruise Critic App[/quote]
[COLOR=Purple][SIZE=2]THANKS for writing and explaining!!
I will have to rethink my options and REconsider NCL!
[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Florissouri]

[quote name='Skipper Justin']One of my favorite aspects is that NCL has a 24 hour sit down cafe! It is so nice when all the other options are closed, and some other lines charge for room service after awhile. It is nice to have other options than pizza. The Improv shows are great as well.[/quote]

Oh, yeah...I forgot to mention this. The Blue Lagoon is hands down, by far superior to Carnival's crappy pizza for late night dining. You actually have menu choices. Edited December 6, 2013 by Florissouri

[soccersharon]

[quote name='riffatsea'][SIZE=2]Hmm? I wonder if NCL has changed a lot since our one Alaska cruise??? At that time the buffet was just horrible so I was amazed to hear people say that it was now equal to what is offered on Carnival! I also thought the MDR food choices were boring. The only really decent food was in the specialty restaurants for which you had to pay extra!! We have never wanted to try another NCL cruise after our first experience so it is interesting to read these positive comments.[/SIZE][/QUOTE]

Just off the Epic a couple of weeks ago.

Epics Garden Cafe is hands down better than Carnival's Lido buffet. More variety, fresh, and flavourful offerings.

We found CCL's MDR better. We ate 1 lunch and 1 dinner at Taste. We preferred the Garden Cafe. We also ate at Cagney's, and the sushi and noodle restaurants. All were worth the fair extra charge.

Sent from my GT-S5830D using Forums mobile app Edited December 6, 2013 by soccersharon