Carnival VS Norwegian

[Carnival Cutie]

I have also cruised on NCL and Carnival, four times on NCL and 8 times on Carnival with two more upcoming. I cruised on the Dawn in 2003 and loved it even though the cabins IMO are small. As a matter of fact I liked the Dawn so much I cruised on it again in 2009. Big disappointment, the incident that turned me off on the Dawn was when we went to Karioke (excuse my spelling). There were some young men that decided to perform a rap song with questionable language. Many of the people who were there left. So did we. I enjoyed the freestyle dining on the Dawn and loved the Blue Lagoon, particularly their wings. They had a spicy breakfast sausage that my husband absolutely craves to this day. Having said that, I prefer Carnival. We have been treated very well, the staff is so friendly and they have lots of activities during the day. They also have better itineraries.

 

Everyone has their own opinion. If you have not cruised NCL you may like it. I may try it again if the price and itinerary are right but at this point I will probably stick with Carnival.

[hamgela]

Oh something I forgot to add. On Carnival, you can check your account balance on the television in your room. On NCL you cannot. You have to go to guest services and stand in a long line waiting. I hated that. However, On NCL the 'service charge' (gratuity) is added daily. On Carnival it all hits your account the second day. I liked it hitting daily instead of all at once. It felt more manageable (even though it's the same amount). Our next cruise is on Royal and we prepaid the gratuities. I am so excited to have that paid off ahead of time. :cool:

[legion3]

I agree with pcheng...the family suite with butler on NCL is hard to beat, along with all the perks. But it also spoiled me that I can't see sailing any other way on NCL. So our next cruise will be back on classless CCL.

 

I won't envy those who have better perks on Carnival because they really don't have any that are, "boy I wish I had those perks". NCL does and I know it. Can't imagine going on a NCL ship with haven and not being in the haven.

 

I liked NCL's extra resturants but generally preferred Carnivals MDR food and choices.

 

After two straight CCL we went NCL but now back to NCL.

 

As an aside our two little ones liked both lines kids clubs equally. But I liked camp carnival better. They fed the kids for free most nights but ncl charged $5 per kid to do so. Also if the kid lost his entry badge he got a new on on carnival, no muss no fuss. Ncl charged.

[bingo3]

I have sailed Carnival, Norwegian and Royal and honestly, each has it's pros and cons and a lot depends on what you are looking for in the way of activities, food, kid's programs, etc. I think they are probably more similar than different however, and I think you'd enjoy either one.

 

Food is such a subjective thing, but I have enjoyed food on all three lines. I certainly have not gone hungry!

debbie

[sgttami]

I did one cruise on Norwegian (Spirit 2006) and it wasn't to my liking whatsoever. There is really nothing positive that I could say about it other than it left from and returned to NY.

 

Primarily I had sailed RCL and then took a break from cruising for a few years.

 

This winter I decided to give Carnival a try despite hearing all these horror stories about the line. Splendor left from NY in the winter, prices were great, no flying etc. I figured if it were that horrible, I wouldn't go again.

 

Lo and behold, I'm going on Splendor in October for the 5th time since February. Yes, I like Carnival and I'm glad I took the chance and did it.

 

I did meet a woman on one of the Splendor cruises who has sailed Norwegian over 30X and claims it is her favorite line. I told her my feelings about the one cruise I did and she urged me to give it another try on Breakaway or Gem, if I want to leave from NY in the winter.

 

Perhaps when the weather is cold and miserable this winter I will give Norwegian another try. Open heart...open mind! It's still a CRUISE!!!!

[Shayhooper]

While both lines are reasonably similar they each have their strong points.

 

Carnival has larger rooms, tastier deserts, and much better service in the main dining room. Having the same servers each night really makes a difference in the services. You never have to look for to find a coctail server.

 

NCL has nicer linens, a better buffet, and fantastic entertainment. Not having a set dining time works beautifully if you have children and having the option of eating in the main dining room for breakfast and dinner is fantastic. The children's program is amazing.

 

Otherwise, the lines are pretty much the same. You will friendly helpful crew, decent food, and plentiful drinks.

[DMH15]

One thing that I have learned the hard way is to never use just one experience to flavor my judgment. I'm sure that every ship of every cruise line has had some issue, but I don't think that I would never cruise that line again just because of that one time with that one ship years ago.

 

 

I agree with you wholeheartedly. Restaurant reviewer's always dine twice to get a good sampling.

 

So much goes into a cruise's vibe. The same ship, itinerary, crew might feel different on another sailing.

 

 

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[buddylover]

Here are just a few I think the differences are : no set dinner seating - 5:30 - 10:00 two main dinning rooms - many specialty resturants -- Italian, French , Asian/ Chinese - Tappeneki - reservation and a charge -- Cagneys Steakhouse - on Ncl newer ships hot dog cart - Carlos Bakery - ( -The Cake Boss )

 

Cabins are larger on ( Ncl)

 

 

First cruise 1991 inside cabin -- worked our way up to the villa - Haven -- now I will be on #37 - in an inside on Carnival hoping for a upgrade --

 

I am very excited to be going on Carnival can not wait ! I needed a change !

 

That is not a true comment.....you have to compare "apples to apples". To the contrary like and equal catagory cabins are smaller on NCL.....a basic normal balcony on CCL is about 188 sq ft vs 149 sq ft on NCL. In order to get the same sized balcony when we cruised NCL, we had to upgrade into what NCL calls a "mini suite" to just be in an equivalent sized cabin.

 

Our take on NCL vs CCL:

Entertainment: While NCL had some name brand entertainment like Blue Man Group, a Cirque du Soleil dinner theatre....once we saw them there was little else to do on the ship. We were bored vs CCL where there seems to be constant activities and choices of entertainment later into the nite.

Food: CCL wins hands down....we thought NCL's food was very mediocre in almost all venues, but they had more eating choices however many were for extra "fee" too

Ship itself: Even with CCL's glitzier/gaudier decorating it was far better than the Epic which was blah. Hallways on NCL are barely one person wide, thus very narrow and almost claustrophobic. CCL's ships have many more open spaces, many more ocean viewing windows thruout which is more appealing to us.

Cabins:CCL's cabins are much larger comparing same catagory

Cost: CCL offers a better "bang for the buck", less expensive and you get more!!

Crew:There seemed to be less crew on NCL, we rarely saw any, and when we did they were not very friendly (we were in a "mini suite"). CCL's crew is quite visible and has always been very friendly.

 

 

This was just our opinion. All in all, we seem to prefer CCL to NCL.

[GrandBistro]

On my experience, the food is immeasurably better, beds are more comfortable and there are more activities on Carnival. I personally don't care for the free style dining- I like traditional dining at sea.

 

 

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[jerseyjjs]

Oh something I forgot to add. On Carnival, you can check your account balance on the television in your room. On NCL you cannot. You have to go to guest services and stand in a long line waiting. I hated that. However, On NCL the 'service charge' (gratuity) is added daily. On Carnival it all hits your account the second day. I liked it hitting daily instead of all at once. It felt more manageable (even though it's the same amount). Our next cruise is on Royal and we prepaid the gratuities. I am so excited to have that paid off ahead of time. :cool:

 

 

 

That couldn't be farther from the truth. On NCL, not only can you check your balance on your cabin TV, you can also make reservations to shows, dining venues, order from room service, etc. Also, you can upload the Norwegian iConcierge on your smart phone and book venues during the cruise from anywhere on the ship (Epic, Breakaway and Getaway have this feature) without causing any charges to your cell service.

[pe4all]

After 16 in a row on CCL, we will be enjoying our 3rd NCL cruise this Christmas. Each line has its' own good and not as good. One major reason we are straying from CCL is that we are tired of seeing the same shows over and over. We are trying different ships on NCL to see all the different shows. For us, price point is lower as we get better casino pricing on NCL. As we have been to almost all the ports numerous times, the ship becomes the destination - not the ports.

[Tapi]

People who like NCL, will not be happy with what I have to say.

 

Years ago, we cruised on the NCL Star....

 

 

Others have said it, but I'll say it too. Don't judge an entire cruise line because of one sailing. If that was the case, I would've never sailed on Carnival after our first Carnival cruise on the Tropicale. What a boring cruise aboard a dumpy, small ship. And the service was so bad that it was the ONLY time in my 30+ years of cruising when I didn't tip. Had I decided to never sail on Carnival after that experience, I would've missed out on many, wonderful and memorable cruises.

 

In all fairness, some Carnival cruises have been great. Some not so much. I've seen the ups and downs throughout the years. And even sailing on the same ship has provided completely different experiences (for example, we've done the Fascination 4 times, ranging from awesome to mediocre). But the point is that cruise lines change and evolve so what was an accurate assessment years ago, may not be as accurate today.

 

 

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[hamgela]

That couldn't be farther from the truth. On NCL, not only can you check your balance on your cabin TV, you can also make reservations to shows, dining venues, order from room service, etc. Also, you can upload the Norwegian iConcierge on your smart phone and book venues during the cruise from anywhere on the ship (Epic, Breakaway and Getaway have this feature) without causing any charges to your cell service.

Ok when *I* was on the NCL Pearl in November of last year, you could not do this. If it's different on some ships or they've updated, that's great. I just know that was a downside for us.

[Elvis4]

I cruised Carnival several times and loved it. For my 40th birthday my family decided to go on a cruise and the only one that would fit in with birthday/school holidays was the NCL Jade. I have to say when we landed at Barcelona before the cruise we would have happily turned and went home. But what a huge mistake that would have been. We had 4 kids in our party and our bus was full of senior citizens so we weren't too hopeful of fitting in. How wrong we were. We had an amazing time and my thirteen yr old daughter talked of nothing else but the cruise when we got home. Repeatedly telling us it had been the best week of her life. Freestyle dining, although not for everyone, proved to be a great option for us. The Jade had such a mix of ages that it would be hard to believe that anyone felt left out and the end of cruise show where the crew were singing 'we're all Norwegian now' had me in tears. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that I had low expectations of NCL from reading reviews and I didn't think they would ever compete with Carnival but they did. I would definitely use both of these cruise lines again.

[Shayhooper]

That couldn't be farther from the truth. On NCL, not only can you check your balance on your cabin TV, you can also make reservations to shows, dining venues, order from room service, etc. Also, you can upload the Norwegian iConcierge on your smart phone and book venues during the cruise from anywhere on the ship (Epic, Breakaway and Getaway have this feature) without causing any charges to your cell service.

 

Those are benefits that are only available on the newer ships. Ones that are older than Epic won't have it.

[lemansz20]

I have cruised both. I find that carnival has a much better layout on all their ships when you need to get . Norwegian to me at least just doesn't have the layout of the ships thought through well.

 

I also have to disagree with someone who answered here heavily. I did the included dinners and Norwegian wasn't even a blip on the radar compared with carnival. Carnivals food was way way better, and it seemed Norwegian only had the included dinners so they could compete with the other cruise lines, a total after thought.

 

As for the specialty food they both have excellent choices that I enjoyed on both.

 

I definitely can say that my wife and I just always have a better time on carnival as their is just always something to do.

 

As a small tidbit, I am pretty positive that carnivals rooms are bigger also. (I have not been on the Norwegian breakaway though so maybe they did something new)

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Ok when *I* was on the NCL Pearl in November of last year, you could not do this. If it's different on some ships or they've updated, that's great. I just know that was a downside for us.

 

 

And unless things have changed you can't check it on all CCL ships either.:)

 

Bill

[hamgela]

And unless things have changed you can't check it on all CCL ships either.:)

 

Bill

 

Hmm, we were able to the last few we've been on. Including the sensation (i believe... that one was so quick, I don't remember much, lol).

[dltvermont]

I cant compare....YET.....but we went on our first cruise ever this past Spring on NCL Dawn which is a smaller, older ship. We loved it but maybe were a bit star struck as it was our first time. We will be sailing on CCL Breeze this coming Spring with the rest of our family. The main reason? PRICE. I compared the identical itinerary with NCL and CCL and was going to have to dish out MUCH more money for the family to cruise NCL. I have friends who do CCL only and am sure we will have a great time. If its just my wife and I, I would do NCL (or CCL) but as a family, there was no comparison when I looked at the money involved.

 

As someone above said, its a cruise! A Vacation! anything's better than work or staying in the Northeast cold temps!!

[Cruzaholic41]

Ok when *I* was on the NCL Pearl in November of last year, you could not do this. If it's different on some ships or they've updated, that's great. I just know that was a downside for us.

 

And unless things have changed you can't check it on all CCL ships either.:)

 

I'm not aware of any cruise line that has interactive TVs on every one of their ships. Even the cruise line that first introduced interactive TVs, RCI, doesn't have it on all their ships.

[pe4all]

Those are benefits that are only available on the newer ships. Ones that are older than Epic won't have it.

I think the Gem is older than Epic, and we were able to check out our bill, etc., on the tv this past August.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

I have been following this thread and just wanted to add a couple NCL videos to show that while CCL is called the fun ships NCL is lots of fun too.

 

 

dock party in Cozumel getting back to the NCL Star and Dawn.

 

 

Bill

[SoloCroozer]

Hi, we are Diamond level past pax with Carnival and Platinum with NCL.....you might guess that we love both cruise lines and you would be right, many things are similar some things different, but we enjoy and appreciate all the things that both of them offer....good luck and Bon Voyage!

Alice

 

 

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[jerseyjjs]

Those are benefits that are only available on the newer ships. Ones that are older than Epic won't have it.

 

I understand that, hence why I didn't claim ALL NCL ships have those benefits. My response was to the poster who claimed that NO NCL ship had interactive TVs. It was bad and or misleading info.

[Shayhooper]

I think the Gem is older than Epic, and we were able to check out our bill, etc., on the tv this past August.

 

No kidding? I hadn't read that before. Cool. :)