norwegian vs carnival

[baileydanae]

Hi everyone,

 

So I have some questions. I have only been on one cruise so far, the carnival Ecstasy, which I loved. I have been invited to join for a bermuda cruise this may on the norwegian dawn. It sounds like a pretty good deal but I don't know much about ncl.

 

How is the food there? Is it the same set up for mdr dinner regarding time and free cost? I don't want to have to pay for every meal I eat.

 

Do they have the equivalent of "fun times" for each cabin? And do they make towel animals or other cute welcoming gestures?

 

How is the lido deck music? Carnival had a dj with top hits playing, which I didn't like. I want more steel drum type stuff.

 

How is the atmosphere and the people?

 

Also, how is the bermuda port (kings wharf)? Is there easy access to the beach?

 

For people who have cruised on both, are there any other big differences? Thanks!

[SeaGoingDAD]

NCL has upped their game over the years, while CCL has downgraded it. Many people I know who hated the old NCL that are CCL cruisers now swear by it. WHile NCL has many pay meal venues, they have many non pay venues as well.

 

I don't think CCL sails to Bermuda other than tops, once a year. Haven't looked if that's changed for 2015, but they never sail in season there. Not since 2003.

 

As far as Kings Wharf and getting to the beach, there is easy bus service to and from Horseshoe Bay, and many other south facing beaches. You may wish to consider buying a multi day transportation pass, which gives you unlimited access to the buses, the ferries, and the jet ferry, which can whisk you over to St. George.

 

Go for it!

Edited February 14, 2015 by SeaGoingDAD

[DHnDWplus2]

We like both NCL and Carnival, not loyal to either. Yes to your question about MDR setup. There will be plenty of included food. Yes for towel animals. In my opinion, food is better on Carnival. Entertainment and staff much better on NCL. On our NCL Alaskan cruise, an aerial show so good i almost peed my pants! Lol

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Forums mobile app

[Cool_Tropical_Breeze]

Hi everyone,

 

So I have some questions. I have only been on one cruise so far, the carnival Ecstasy, which I loved. I have been invited to join for a bermuda cruise this may on the norwegian dawn. It sounds like a pretty good deal but I don't know much about ncl.

 

How is the food there? Is it the same set up for mdr dinner regarding time and free cost? I don't want to have to pay for every meal I eat.

 

Do they have the equivalent of "fun times" for each cabin? And do they make towel animals or other cute welcoming gestures?

 

How is the lido deck music? Carnival had a dj with top hits playing, which I didn't like. I want more steel drum type stuff.

 

How is the atmosphere and the people?

 

Also, how is the bermuda port (kings wharf)? Is there easy access to the beach?

 

For people who have cruised on both, are there any other big differences? Thanks!

 

1) Food: NCL is set up for anytime or "freestyle dining". You show up whenever you want for dinner within the dinner time hours. We never had a problem getting a table for 2 and never waited more than a few minutes in the main dining room for a table. NCL has 3-4 pay venues per ship if you choose (Italian, steakhouse, French etc) Personally I think the food on NCL is pretty good overall.

 

2) Lido Music: Unlike CCL they still have live caribbean bands playing and not DJs pumping out dance music for the most part.

 

3) Atomosphere: Good IMO

 

4) Fun times: Yes they have something similar and towel animals too.

 

5) Bermuda: Easy access to beaches and attractions by the inexpensive bus system and taxis are available as well.

 

Try NCL I recommend it.

[RCmommy]

Our first cruise was with NCL and I would not hesitate to sail them again.

 

My only thought when people asked how our cruise was, the food could have been better.

 

I love the freestyle idea and we had many dining options without having to pay. We did once for the Italian place. It was better than buffet, but still just okay.

 

We had a few towel animals, and our cabin was very nice and super clean. I don't recall the music, but I don't recall thinking "good grief, turn that off!"

 

We were on a cruise with an older crowd and few kids (like 39 on the entire ship) So, I figured things would be a bit more subdued but they truly were not.

 

Our next is with Carnival and I cannot wait to experience the differences.

[bonniemari]

I've done 32 CCL cruises and just got off the my 6th NCL cruise (Dawn) a couple of weeks ago. I have to say that I think NCL beats CCL in entertainment & food. They have some great shows (as mentioned upthread the aerialist is amazing) and they have a real live band playing on the lido deck. This last cruise we had the Ultimate Dining Package and so we never ate in the MDR for dinner but the food in the specialty restaurants was really good. Didn't have 1 bad meal. One other thing I like about NCL is they have rules regarding kids in the adult hot tubs and also a 1 a.m. curfew for 17 & younger that they apparently enforce. Never saw kids in the hot tubs & no kids running the halls/pushing every floor on the elevators. Also liked the MDR is open for lunch on embarkation day and the 24 hr restaurant was great for a late night snack. Loved their wings.

Edited February 14, 2015 by bonniemari

[Rudyard]

Did our first NCL cruise a few months ago and absolutely loved it. The only reason we're not on them again next year is that we wanted to do the Eastern itinerary out of Galveston, and we wanted to sail on Magic before she leaves next year. Will definitely be looking at NCL for 2017.

 

Things we really enjoyed were the Freestyle Dining (going to miss all the different specialty restaurants), the Caribbean band on the pool deck, and the pier party when we got back to the ship in Cozumel (really going to miss that!).

[Nicky Mouse]

Been on 1 CCL and 4 NCL and my personal opinion is that food and alcohol selection and quality is much better on NCL over CCL.

 

CCL has limited variety of liquors and they are also a weaker proof, yet still same cruise pricing.

 

NCL seems to just be better bang for the buck.

Edited February 15, 2015 by Nicky Mouse

[petesweet]

Also liked the MDR is open for lunch on embarkation day

 

I was just going to hop on board here and mention this. That's a BIG PLUS in my book.

 

Big minus: No traditional dining, which I love. Other lines have a choice of traditional or freestyle. Some say NCL does freestyle better than any of the others, but I dislike all of it.

 

Another big plus (if I remember correctly) is that you can stash your hand luggage in a room upon embarkation until your cabin is available. Do they still do that?

 

Happy sails. Any cruise is a good one.:)

 

Kathy

Edited February 15, 2015 by petesweet

[Cruisegirl6]

I mostly cruise with Carnival, been on many RC which is my favorite cruise line and some Princess cruises which are my second favorite cruise line. NCL is above Carnival in the MDR and shows.

I find the lunch buffets maybe an edge over for Carnival just because they have daily meat carvings where on my last NCL cruise on the Breakaway they only had a meat carving the first day and never saw one again for the rest of the cruise.

 

As far as late night snacks, on the Breakaway they had O'Sheehans that has a limited menu past 10pm but offers things such s pizza, burgers and other comfort foods along with wings. Carnival only offers pizza.

 

OP on NCL they have "freestyle dining" which means there are not set times for dining such as early and late you go when yoou want to and you can make reservations either prior to the cruise or on the ship. There are three different restaurants (speaking of the Breakaway/Getaway class of ship) to choose from which is nice and you don't get the feeling of a huge banquet room but of being in a restaurant.

 

I find the people on cruises from the north to be more lets say not as reserve...I can say this because even though I been living in Florida for the past 30 years I have lived 22 years in New York...people up north are more outspoken, they can be arrogant such as on my Breakaway cruise from NY we had people using some language while getting into the elevator that we never had heard on cruises out of Florida, we heard people being more abrupt about negative issues that we also faced on the Breakway (but we don't go complaining to strangers telling them this) and people can be rude just not pleasant sometimes but this can be anywhere but my experience, it was much more. I can't recall how many times in my head I called somebody a complete azzhole. But you see them for a few seconds and you never see them again so remember this.

 

I found the staff a whole lot more friendlier on Carnival and quite the opposite on the Breakaway..we assumed there was a rule that NCL didn't allow the staff to have any chat with the passengers but was told this is not the case...we also felt many on the Breakway didn't understand english as well as the staff did on our Carnival ships...a few times we would get the wrong drink, or if we ordered a drink many times the bartender would ask us what we wanted or repeat 2-3 times asking if a certain drink was what we wanted.

 

Bermuda is beautiful but word of caution....when I was on the Breakway I had 50 cruises under my belt and the Breakway was the rockiest ship I ever been on in my life, in fact we turned white a number of times on the way back to NY from Bermuda, and was told it was quite normal due to the currents on the way back....we won't go on another cruise because of this and the weather was not bad either.

[sixesandeights]

We have done numerous RCCL, 2 CCL, and several NCLs. We now are sticking to NCL. They have consistently out performed the other two for us. We HATED our CCL trips. We thought the food was bad, the entertainment was very poor, and overall we had the least enjoyable experience on them. RCCL was our go to, but they are TERRIBLE at late nights. Often times they will close the dance club by 1am. They have no food available late other then room service. They also do something we have NEVER seen on other lines. They close the ship very early for a crew night very often. On each of our last two cruises one of the nights was a "crew night" and EVERYTHING shut down by around 10pm. I mean EVERYTHING. On the last cruise we had to assemble a very upset group of over 100 guests to force a bar open so we could get a drink after 10pm. That was the absolute last straw with us an RCCL. We have never had a bad time on NCL. The staff is amazing. The food is fantastic. The entertainment is top notch. Late night there is always a place open 24 hours for food outside of room service which is nice. We could always find a place to get a drink. The ONLY downside to NCL that we have is they serve Pepsi....Mixed drinks made with Pepsi are an abomination. I really wish they would switch to coke, but I can carry on a bunch of bottles and get my drinks made with them, but its a bit of a hassle to always have to have a bottle of soda with me.

 

Brass tacks if you like CCL you will also like NCL. It is a much more laid back trip and the freestyle concept is nice.

 

6&8

Edited February 15, 2015 by sixesandeights

[Pikaia]

You should go!

 

Regarding rough seas: we've cruised to Bermuda twice, once on the Dawn and once on her sister ship the Star, both times on the last sailing in May (into June). The first time the water was completely calm, the second time we had a couple hours of rocking on one of the sea days. No big deal, I didn't even bother with meds, just popped some ginger capsules. The curtains were swaying a little in the theater, but the dancers took it in stride. We're going back again on the Dawn this year.

 

Bermuda is a fantastic place to visit by cruise ship. Being docked the whole time means you can plan evening events (boat tours, dinners out, etc.) and the public transportation system makes it easy and inexpensive to plan your own excursions. Spend time on the Bermuda board here (link below) and you'll find plenty of beaches and things to do.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=196

[Cruisegirl6]

I been on the Allure and entertainment/music went well past 1am, and the promenade cafe offered an assortment of foods and then there is the pizzeria. The bars were always open we stay up until around 2:30-3:00 am and everything was open and available including the casino.

 

When I went to Bermuda we were docked for two nights there and the casino's were closed I believe last year they past a new law in Bermuda allowing casino's to open in port between 9pm-5am.

[Rudyard]

Another big plus (if I remember correctly) is that you can stash your hand luggage in a room upon embarkation until your cabin is available. Do they still do that?

 

When we boarded the Jewel (around 12:30) we were told we could drop our bags. When we went to do so it turned out our cabin was actually ready. Nice surprise.

[soccersharon]

We sailed the Epic in 2013, after 4 Carnival cruises. I wrote a full review, but here's a snapshot of our thoughts:

 

MDR food - Carnival

Buffet food - NCL

Entertainment - NCL (BMG was fantastic), live music available all over the ship.

Crew - Carnival (much friendlier on CCL)

Cabin - we really liked our Mini suite on deck 10. Was a nice change from CCL.

 

While the Epic was a pretty ship, we felt a disconnection from the ocean. No wrap around promenade, and a "mall" feeling to the interior public spaces.

 

We are back on NCL in July. I think we'll enjoy being on a smaller, albeit older, ship.