Carnival Cruiser Considering NCL

[NHL Philly Fan]

While I respect your opinion, mine is very different. IMO, sailing CCL and then NCL is like having dinner at McDonald's and next going to eat at a McDonald's down the street. They're far more alike than they are different.

 

CCL dirtier ships, lots of rust and peeling paint everywhere. No 24 hour food other than greasy pizza. Hard to find a soft drink any time after about 9:00. Lower quality buffet and all other food. Poor shows and less of them. Smaller cabins with in attentive stewards. Smaller casino with less options for play and much higher house rake at poker. Other than that, yeah they are about the same.

[clean1owner]

Hello,

I've been on three carnival cruises and one royal Caribbean cruise, but I am considering the Epic for our next family cruise. What are something's I should know before booking ncl? Are there charges for shows, room service etc? Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

 

Even though it's more than a year old, here is a link to my Epic review. It may be helpful for some general information. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2294587

[bluebelt]

We have been on the Epic twice, getaway once, Carnival Breeze, and several RCI cruises...we loved the Epic...but we haven't been on a ship where we have had a bad time [emoji3]....as long as you research the bathroom design online and search for pics or videos of the set-up and can live with it you should be fine...Each cruise line and ship has their strengths and weaknesses. We loved the slides on the Epic (I am an eternal kid at heart) [emoji16].

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[TruckerDave]

CCL dirtier ships, lots of rust and peeling paint everywhere. No 24 hour food other than greasy pizza. Hard to find a soft drink any time after about 9:00. Lower quality buffet and all other food. Poor shows and less of them. Smaller cabins with in attentive stewards. Smaller casino with less options for play and much higher house rake at poker. Other than that, yeah they are about the same.

 

You have been on ONE CCL cruise (as per your own post a bit earlier) and you are making a lot of general statements about their ships? :confused: How can you say they have dirtier ships and "lost of rust and peeling paint everywhere" if you have only (again according to you own words) been on ONE CCL ship????

 

I have been on 4 CCL and 2 NCL myself and your Micky D's to Ruth Chris comparison is a "bit" of a stretch in my opinion. And I am in the "I like NCL better than CCL" camp myself. I never found the food to be much better or worse on either. My reasons for liking NCL a bit more are the freestyle dinning, solo cabins and the places they sail. I am much more into history and the places NCL sail to interest me much more that another caribbean cruise.

[djacobson]

Hello,

I've been on three carnival cruises and one royal Caribbean cruise, but I am considering the Epic for our next family cruise. What are something's I should know before booking ncl? Are there charges for shows, room service etc? Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

In some aspects, NCL and CCL are very much alike. However, I have been greatly impressed with NCL on some of the little things they do:

 

1. No dancing in the dining rooms after dinner every night; but you are greeted with dancing outside the ship as you are returning to the ship. The Cruise Director, cabin stewards, waiters and the guys who do the laundry are all out there,especially when there is another NCL ship in port.

 

2. Breakfast in the dining rooms offer more variety of options, such as biscuits and gravy with sausage. Pepper mills on the table and a coffee pot for each table. Just looks nicer. Speaking of coffee, balcony and suites have a coffee pot in the room.

 

3. Music is more toward my taste in music as a little older person (61). More 70's music and tributes to Sinatra, Billy Joel, Beatles, etc.

 

4. Dining package allows you to try different restaurants. I think the food is a little better on NCL. Cagney's (Steakhouse), Moderno (Brazilian steakhouse) and Le Bistro (French) are great. The dining rooms and O'Sheehan's have excellent food as well.

 

5. NCL has a spa package that is a great value.

 

6. When you board the ship for the first time, crew members are greeting you on the decks. When you are disembarking, the hotel manager and chefs, along with other crew members are there to thank you for sailing with NCL.

 

7. If you drink soft drinks, they have Pepsi instead of Coke products (only negative I can think of).

 

8. Comedy shows are excellent on NCL. If your ship has Howl At The Moon, you should try to go to those shows.

 

I have probably listed a bunch of trivial things, but what impressed me was that NCL was paying attention to these sort of details and they seemed to be trying harder to make your cruise experience with them the best possible.

 

You may want to check out the Undercover Boss episode from a few years back when the then CEO of NCL, Kevin Sheehan,went undercover on several ships, including the Epic.

Edited January 6, 2017 by djacobson

[NHL Philly Fan]

You have been on ONE CCL cruise (as per your own post a bit earlier) and you are making a lot of general statements about their ships? :confused: How can you say they have dirtier ships and "lost of rust and peeling paint everywhere" if you have only (again according to you own words) been on ONE CCL ship????

 

I have been on 4 CCL and 2 NCL myself and your Micky D's to Ruth Chris comparison is a "bit" of a stretch in my opinion. And I am in the "I like NCL better than CCL" camp myself. I never found the food to be much better or worse on either. My reasons for liking NCL a bit more are the freestyle dinning, solo cabins and the places they sail. I am much more into history and the places NCL sail to interest me much more that another caribbean cruise.

 

I can say that because the ship I was on had a LOT of rust all over the place as well as badly peeling and chipping paint. ZERO after hours dining other than the greasy pizza. IOW it is the truth.

[luckyinpa]

make sure you look at youtube for the bathrooms to see what they are like

[KarimaJ]

In some aspects, NCL and CCL are very much alike. However, I have been greatly impressed with NCL on some of the little things they do:

 

 

6. When you board the ship for the first time, crew members are greeting you on the decks. When you are disembarking, the hotel manager and chefs, along with other crew members are there to thank you for sailing with NCL.

What ship were you on? I just sailed the Getaway and this was a negative for me. You go up a ramp and are dumped into a hallway near an elevator. No staff greeting you, finally someone came and said to go to the buffet for lunch since rooms weren't ready. That was it, disappointing.

 

7. If you drink soft drinks, they have Pepsi instead of Coke products (only negative I can think of).

Yup a minor negative for me, good thing we aren't big soda drinkers.

[luckyinpa]

In some aspects, NCL and CCL are very much alike. However, I have been greatly impressed with NCL on some of the little things they do:

 

 

6. When you board the ship for the first time, crew members are greeting you on the decks. When you are disembarking, the hotel manager and chefs, along with other crew members are there to thank you for sailing with NCL.

What ship were you on? I just sailed the Getaway and this was a negative for me. You go up a ramp and are dumped into a hallway near an elevator. No staff greeting you, finally someone came and said to go to the buffet for lunch since rooms weren't ready. That was it, disappointing.

 

 

funny you mention that. december was my 1st cold cruise out of NYC and when we got on there was a single female employee greeting people and otherwise you were just free to go where you want with no direction, not that thats a bad thing. but in october there were a bunch of people outside waving and doing exciting kind of things.

[TruckerDave]

I can say that because the ship I was on had a LOT of rust all over the place as well as badly peeling and chipping paint. ZERO after hours dining other than the greasy pizza. IOW it is the truth.

 

I'm not saying that was not the case on that ship...but you are making it sound like their entire fleet is like that and it is not.

[Quilting_Cruiser]

I'm not saying that was not the case on that ship...but you are making it sound like their entire fleet is like that and it is not.

 

 

Not knowing the PP's cruising history, I wasn't aware he or she has been on only one CCL ship. I didn't want to engage since he or she obviously hates CCL, so what was the point? But having been on about a dozen CCL cruises, I knew my experience have been vastly different. The only ship that even came close to what was described in my experience was the Holiday, which is no longer a CCL ship. I have enjoyed each of my Carnival cruises, but I happen to prefer NCL. I find NCL to be a better fit for me personally, but I certainly don't think CCL is a bad line and I haven't experienced any of the things NHL has.

[Quilting_Cruiser]

In some aspects, NCL and CCL are very much alike. However, I have been greatly impressed with NCL on some of the little things they do:

 

1. No dancing in the dining rooms after dinner every night; but you are greeted with dancing outside the ship as you are returning to the ship. The Cruise Director, cabin stewards, waiters and the guys who do the laundry are all out there,especially when there is another NCL ship in port.

 

 

On my first NCL cruise (Jade Adriatic), this was the case and I loved it! It was missing on my Epic and Pearl cruises and I was disappointed--it was such a fun welcome back!

[fmrlkr]

DH and I have been on 19 Carnival cruise for a total of 107 nights, 6 NCL cruises for a total of 66 nights and 3 Princess cruises for 24 nights. We currently have one NCL booked and one Carnival booked. To some, that is excessive, to others we are still newbies.

 

We are happy with both Carnival and NCL and choose based on convenience, price OR itinerary whichever is most important for that trip. There are different things we like with each line. Generally we have found that the Carnival staff is MUCH friendlier, and the Carnival food is better, but there have been exceptions.

 

Worst Ship we have been on, Carnival Holiday (the last cruise we took on the Holiday, we liked our first cruise on the Holiday)

 

The best ship we were ever on was the Carnival Conquest on its first sailing out of New Orleans, when it was the largest cruise ship. Wow we thought it was massive and sparkly and new. We felt privileged to be on it.

 

Worst Food was an NCL transatlantic, if we hadn't had a certificate we would never have booked NCL again, so...

 

Best Food was NCL Jewel in Alaska, also the friendliest staff and my favorite cruise EVER, by far, and we continue to sail NCL.

 

We like the specialty restaurants on NCL, the main dining room not so much. We like the main dining room on Carnival.

 

We prefer the buffet on Carnival but NCL's chicken salad is one of my favorite.

 

Carnival rooms are bigger, NCL are designed better, more user friendly.

 

Favorite cabin Carnival cove cabins, we love being that close to the water and protected by the sun.

 

Hated the mini suite on NCL. I needed a "spotter" to get in and out of the bathtub. the extra room and curtain was nice but I just could not get over the bathtub trying to kill me.

 

Favorite cabin steward was on the 16 day transatlantic on NCL.

 

We cruise out of New Orleans most of the time. Carnival beats NCL there.

 

We do not like being entertained so do not attend shows.

 

Yes the shorter Carnival cruises are more boozy, never a problem for us even though I do not drink.

 

The longer NCL cruise have a very senior demographic, which I love because I feel young.

 

The other cruisers are the same on both, you will find nice people and problem people.

 

The above is just my, and my husbands, opinions. Other peoples opinions will be, and have been, taken into consideration, maybe.

[rjrpar]

Sailing CCL and then next going to NCL is like having dinner at McDonalds and then next going to eat at Ruths Chris.

 

You have to be kidding! Been on 5 mass market cruise lines, including the two being discussed, and you are way off base. One can debate their favorite lines, but they are all very similar. Since you have probably been to McDonalds, I would guess you have never been in Ruth's Chris. This is a misleading post

[LoraJ]

Haven't been on Carnival in years, they used to be my preferred cruise line when I was single. At the time, it was easier to travel solo and there were many others I could hang out with around my age and great night life. I then tried going solo on RCI, and didn't have anyone to really hang out with.

 

Now that I am married, I have a husband who is anti-social. The two CCL cruises he went on with me were chartered and so we had open seating for dinner. He's not big on eating with strangers, so an assigned dining table is a turn off for him. When we did princess, we had a suite and ordered room service to eat on the balcony.

 

We tried NCL out on a 1 night cruise to nowhere and fell in love and did more CTN's and a 1 week on The Epic. We enjoy the specialty restaurants and have never had a problem getting a table for two in the main dining rooms. Plus, not having an assigned time.

 

However, I have been eyeing the new Carnival ships and they look like fun. So maybe we will be back sometime. But, I think you will have an easy time transitioning.

[manmtnmike]

I switch between RCI and Carnival. I am trying NCL for the first time in March. I think all lines have both good and bad qualities, but I love cruising and find something enjoyable on each ship. I feel bad for those who turn up their noses at other lines, they just may miss out on a wonderful vacation. I will probably never reach the top tier on any line since I am not loyal to one, but I am having a wonderful time trying. But everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and if one line turns you off just move on to another until you find a good fit.

 

 

What agreat post!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[djacobson]

In some aspects, NCL and CCL are very much alike. However, I have been greatly impressed with NCL on some of the little things they do:

 

 

6. When you board the ship for the first time, crew members are greeting you on the decks. When you are disembarking, the hotel manager and chefs, along with other crew members are there to thank you for sailing with NCL.

What ship were you on? I just sailed the Getaway and this was a negative for me. You go up a ramp and are dumped into a hallway near an elevator. No staff greeting you, finally someone came and said to go to the buffet for lunch since rooms weren't ready. That was it, disappointing.

 

7. If you drink soft drinks, they have Pepsi instead of Coke products (only negative I can think of).

Yup a minor negative for me, good thing we aren't big soda drinkers.

 

Number 6 happened on the Jewel, Jade, Dawn (twice) that I remember.

[NHL Philly Fan]

I'm not saying that was not the case on that ship...but you are making it sound like their entire fleet is like that and it is not.

 

No you are inferring that.

[NHL Philly Fan]

You have to be kidding! Been on 5 mass market cruise lines, including the two being discussed, and you are way off base. One can debate their favorite lines, but they are all very similar. Since you have probably been to McDonalds, I would guess you have never been in Ruth's Chris. This is a misleading post

 

 

CCL is sub par to NCL in MANY ways. There are some minor similarities between all cruise lines, but overall, CCL is not even close to the quality cruise line that NCL is.

[darlene62]

I have been on 6 CCL cruises and 3 NCL cruises (Breakaway). I find them both to be about equal. I don't like eating with strangers and was easily accommodated every time with CCL once that I learned I could ask in advance. I found the food on both ships about the same, some great some not so much but food is subjective and I found it to be different caliber on the ship and time of sailing not the cruise line including the specialty restaurants. Staff very accommodating on most sailings. I have been on the Splendor and Breakaway both 3 times out of NYC and each sailing experience has been different every time. My only big grip is with Breakaway dsembark and my experience it has mostly been disastrous. But I did have a friend who sailed Breakaway who had a smooth disembark. While I have no stats to back up my thoughts I wonder if this is because of Sunday disembark and my CCL have been on other days when maybe more staff to handle?

[TruckerDave]

CCL dirtier ships, lots of rust and peeling paint everywhere. .

 

Your words. "dirtier SHIPS..." ships is plural, not singular. But according to your post earlier in this thread you have only been on 1 CCL ship. I am not inferring anything, just responding to your words and obvious lack of knowledge about CCL.

[LakeWobegon]

I have never been on a CCL ship so I can not comment. I do know though that on our last cruise we encountered 3 different Carnival ships in port and they all looked pretty run down with major rust in some cases. Conversely, not just the Escape but a smaller, older NCL ship (Spirit I think) we saw in port had a guy or several guys washing and repainting the sides of the ship while docked. I wondered how much extra expense NCL occurs to do this but that little attention to detail makes a big difference to many people. And offers a better first impression to those cruise shopping for their next vacation when looking at the ships in port.

[Hendricks Clan]

CCL is sub par to NCL in MANY ways. There are some minor similarities between all cruise lines, but overall, CCL is not even close to the quality cruise line that NCL is.

 

Carnival prior to say 2012 was great! Since then IMHO, its exactly how you described it. A continual cheapening of the brand/downgrade of the product.

[ShipsAhoy508]

CCL is sub par to NCL in MANY ways. There are some minor similarities between all cruise lines, but overall, CCL is not even close to the quality cruise line that NCL is.

 

I agree 100%. I was a Carnival cruiser and thought I'd give NCL a try and enjoy it much better. I can't wait. In three weeks from today going on my second NCL cruise.

[Kova15]

I can only speak to what I have read, as our first NCL cruise is booked for March. It sounds like NCL and CCL are similar and more alike than different. I will also be sailing the Epic (my brother picked it) so I have done a lot of research about the ship. I am not terribly excited about the ship. BUT I am excited to try a different cruise line. We normally eat a lot when we cruise however my husband and I recently changed our lifestyle so I think food will be less than a priority for us. Also this cruise is more than we would pay to be on the Vista so I have somewhat high expectations since the Vista is the ship we have been wanting to go on. I will report back when we get off my thoughts (for what they are worth!). :rolleyes: