Any loyal Carnival cruisers tried NCL?

[Smokett]

I have been on 10 cruises, 9 of them with Carnival. We sailed on the NCL Epic last time. We had a great time. There are some differences that I noticed, some I liked and some I didn't. I loved the décor of the ship. It was very classy in my opinion. I loved the big screen TV in guest services area. They played a lot of games in this open area. I loved the fact that I never had to wait more than 5 minutes at guest services. They always had someone walking the line asking what you needed and telling you where to go. I loved the fact that I could book another cruise while onboard and not have a wait at all! (I think Carnival has changed theirs now too but I'm not sure) I loved the fact that they gave warm washcloths when returning from an excursion! LOL I liked how they were always at the doors with hand sanitizer saying washy washy. LOL I did not care for the food at all, neither did my mom or son. We did get a specialty food package for 3 meals, thank goodness! We all enjoyed the food at the specialty restaurants. I didn't like the fact that I had to book reservations and that they lost the reservations that I made online. The way the ship was layed out made it seem small to me. Overall I am glad that we went and we will definitely be going again, just not this next time, we are going on Carnival again. :)

[mosiegirl]

Been on NCL once.. and Carnival 6 times.. my husband and I are real foodies.. We LOVE the food on Carnival.. so were excited to try something "new" on NCL.. but we found the food on NCL to be horrible. They tried to pass off porkchops as steak. and the ravioli I had one night that was supposed to have three cheeses on it.. had melted CheezWhiz on it instead. Not impressed. Hope your experience was better than ours. We swore never again.. from now on its Carnival only !

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Been on NCL once.. and Carnival 6 times.. my husband and I are real foodies.. We LOVE the food on Carnival.. so were excited to try something "new" on NCL.. but we found the food on NCL to be horrible. They tried to pass off porkchops as steak. and the ravioli I had one night that was supposed to have three cheeses on it.. had melted CheezWhiz on it instead. Not impressed. Hope your experience was better than ours. We swore never again.. from now on its Carnival only !

 

just goes to show how subjective food really is.:)

 

Bill

[Computer Nerd]

Having 2 or 3 drinks a day does not make a person an alcoholic. At the average price of $15 a drink, that is $30-$45 a day. Paying the gratuity on a drink package at roughly $14 a day is a considerable savings. So, yes that makes the package free!

Pat

 

No, having 2 to 3 drinks a day does not make a person an alcoholic. Having 15 or so, every day of a cruise does, IMO. And on which line does a beer run $15?? Paying the gratuity is what makes the package NOT FREE. More affordable, yes. Free, NO!. Spin it anyway you want, you have to pay something to get the alcohol package even though they market it as free (a lie). Worst of all, it's on NCL so there's that problem to deal with itself.

[BNBR]

Been on NCL once.. and Carnival 6 times.. my husband and I are real foodies.. We LOVE the food on Carnival.. so were excited to try something "new" on NCL.. but we found the food on NCL to be horrible. They tried to pass off porkchops as steak. and the ravioli I had one night that was supposed to have three cheeses on it.. had melted CheezWhiz on it instead. Not impressed. Hope your experience was better than ours. We swore never again.. from now on its Carnival only !

 

Yes, I'm sure NCL is so horrible, they really just use cheese wiz in their restaurants. :rolleyes:

[sparks1093]

Yes, I'm sure NCL is so horrible, they really just use cheese wiz in their restaurants. :rolleyes:

 

That may have been just a perception. On the Gem we ate in Il Adagio for dinner one night and ordered the chicken parmesan. The spaghetti was overcooked and the sauce tasted like tomato soup. Did they actually use tomato soup? I have no way of knowing, but that is certainly what it tasted like to me. Fortunately the chicken itself was excellent, but the spaghetti certainly was a jarring note to the meal. You can say that every meal that you've ever eaten on NCL was superb but that doesn't change the PP's experience.

[First and Ten]

This comment further exemplifies the rhetoric that your age group uses.

 

Think about it. Self reflection is always a good thing imo

 

Ahhhhhh, not good form. For you to take a post from one poster and generalize that across an entire group of people is being close minded....Is it fair to say all Millennials are entitled? Of course not

[First and Ten]

Reservations is one of my favorite things on Oasis class ships also. Just book the comedy and headlining shows, then show up and walk in with great seating. No lines, no stress. We walked into kind of late on the Glory to the family comedy show and found seats near the bar. But they made a note about how big the line will be for the next show, we passed. No interest in waiting in lines wrapping around the ship.

 

I was on the Epic and they used the in room reservation system for the headline shows....it has its plusses and minuses. If you like to be spur of the moment, that isn't for you. We got on board and I tried to reserve seats for my party and the first night we got to see the headline show was night 3 (there are 2 shows per night mind you). What I didn't like about the Epic cruise, was they didn't have a lot of Headline shows. It was the same show night after night. I believe the 2nd half of the cruise they changed it, but again, there were only 2 Headline shows for the entire 7 nights. I like Carnival where there is a different show every night (I get the same performers, but different theme if you will) The Epic had hands down the best buffet on a cruise ship. We only ate in the MDR 1 night, the buffet was that good

[BNBR]

That may have been just a perception. On the Gem we ate in Il Adagio for dinner one night and ordered the chicken parmesan. The spaghetti was overcooked and the sauce tasted like tomato soup. Did they actually use tomato soup? I have no way of knowing, but that is certainly what it tasted like to me. Fortunately the chicken itself was excellent, but the spaghetti certainly was a jarring note to the meal. You can say that every meal that you've ever eaten on NCL was superb but that doesn't change the PP's experience.

 

On no cruise has every item been superb. I'd say last year I enjoyed the MDR food slightly better on my Carnival cruise compared to Royals... however, the food on the Carnival buffet was essentially inedible.

 

Ultimately, the food on all the lines is pretty similar. The idea that one is so much better than the other is kind of ridiculous.

[quickrate]

No, having 2 to 3 drinks a day does not make a person an alcoholic. Having 15 or so, every day of a cruise does, IMO. And on which line does a beer run $15?? Paying the gratuity is what makes the package NOT FREE. More affordable, yes. Free, NO!. Spin it anyway you want, you have to pay something to get the alcohol package even though they market it as free (a lie). Worst of all, it's on NCL so there's that problem to deal with itself.

We don't drink beer when cruising, so the drinks we drink average 12-15 each. I expect to pay grat., that's a given, so for me, their advertisemnt is not deceptive at all. for a 13 day cruise, I know the bar bill for my husband and I will be roughly $400 and that's total price, no gratuity added at time of purchase. Pretty good deal to me!

Pat

[BNBR]

I was on the Epic and they used the in room reservation system for the headline shows....it has its plusses and minuses. If you like to be spur of the moment, that isn't for you. We got on board and I tried to reserve seats for my party and the first night we got to see the headline show was night 3 (there are 2 shows per night mind you). What I didn't like about the Epic cruise, was they didn't have a lot of Headline shows. It was the same show night after night. I believe the 2nd half of the cruise they changed it, but again, there were only 2 Headline shows for the entire 7 nights. I like Carnival where there is a different show every night (I get the same performers, but different theme if you will) The Epic had hands down the best buffet on a cruise ship. We only ate in the MDR 1 night, the buffet was that good

 

With Royal, I just use the cruise planner ahead of time to book my excursions, drink packages, shows, activities, etc. It's a nice tool as it has a calendar so it's easy to space things out and book the times that make sense. The thing about these reservations, is that you don't HAVE to go during that time. You can decide to skip it and go another night. They have a standby line and every time we used standby on Oasis we still ended up with decent enough seats. So it's nice that you can schedule on your terms - spur of the moment or reservations. The only thing you may not get in to is the comedy club without a reservation. But they also had comedy in the main theater which had far more seats than needed, so we still saw comedy shows.

 

I view the reservations like a fast pass, essentially. You can wait in line, or you can come back at your scheduled time and skip the line. Who doesn't like fast pass?

 

I just pulled up my upcoming Harmony cruise to see how many shows. Between the comedy club, aquatheater, ice show, and main theater, we have 6 different productions reserved in 4 different interesting venues. Which is almost more than I would want to see on a 7 day cruise.

 

 

We are considering Getaway for a cruise next year, good to know they do great buffets! Especially since I am a firstie who has to get to the buffet early on sail away day.

[sparks1093]

On no cruise has every item been superb. I'd say last year I enjoyed the MDR food slightly better on my Carnival cruise compared to Royals... however, the food on the Carnival buffet was essentially inedible.

 

Ultimately, the food on all the lines is pretty similar. The idea that one is so much better than the other is kind of ridiculous.

 

I have had good to great meals on all of our cruises and rarely run into anything that is so bad I can't or won't eat it (which is what makes that spaghetti memorable;)). My point was that you can say whatever you want to, it's not going to change the PP's mind about the experience that she had.

[First and Ten]

That may have been just a perception. On the Gem we ate in Il Adagio for dinner one night and ordered the chicken parmesan. The spaghetti was overcooked and the sauce tasted like tomato soup. Did they actually use tomato soup? I have no way of knowing, but that is certainly what it tasted like to me. Fortunately the chicken itself was excellent, but the spaghetti certainly was a jarring note to the meal. You can say that every meal that you've ever eaten on NCL was superb but that doesn't change the PP's experience.

 

Being from an Italian upbringing, I get I am biased....Having gone to Italian restaurants on various cruise lines, the food is decent (think Olive Garden or Macaroni Grill). I sort of pity when posters say "its the best Italian food I ever had" :eek:

[BNBR]

Being from an Italian upbringing, I get I am biased....Having gone to Italian restaurants on various cruise lines, the food is decent (think Olive Garden or Macaroni Grill). I sort of pity when posters say "its the best Italian food I ever had" :eek:

 

Or the best sushi or best steak. Lol. Cruise ship food, in general, is more Olive Garden than Scarpetta.

[First and Ten]

Or the best sushi or best steak. Lol. Cruise ship food, in general, is more Olive Garden than Scarpetta.

 

Uh-oh....look out BNBR, we may be agreeing on something....Did the world stop spinning? We better hold on!!!! :o

[sparks1093]

Being from an Italian upbringing, I get I am biased....Having gone to Italian restaurants on various cruise lines, the food is decent (think Olive Garden or Macaroni Grill). I sort of pity when posters say "its the best Italian food I ever had" :eek:

 

I get it, one of my favorite countries to visit when I was in the Navy was Italy. Mangia, mangia!

[First and Ten]

Or the best sushi or best steak. Lol. Cruise ship food, in general, is more Olive Garden than Scarpetta.

 

You had to have been there on the "Steakhouse" threads....a poster was asking about the Steakhouses and I chimed in, being to many cruise ship steakhouses, that it is more than worth the $35 upcharge since the ambiance is very nice. While the steaks are "good", please don't mistake a steak on a cruise ship for something you would get at Berns, M&M, or Lugers. I compared it to an Outback or Longhorns (quality) in a nicer setting....just trying to set the proper expectation with the poster....Well, you would have thought I insulted someones wife or mother. People flipped out. "It is probably the best steak I ever had" were some of the responses. Yes, if all you ever had was an Outback or Longhorn steak, then I could see a cruise ship steak being the best you ever had. It is not comparable to a steak in a fine steakhouse

[BNBR]

You had to have been there on the "Steakhouse" threads....a poster was asking about the Steakhouses and I chimed in, being to many cruise ship steakhouses, that it is more than worth the $35 upcharge since the ambiance is very nice. While the steaks are "good", please don't mistake a steak on a cruise ship for something you would get at Berns, M&M, or Lugers. I compared it to an Outback or Longhorns (quality) in a nicer setting....just trying to set the proper expectation with the poster....Well, you would have thought I insulted someones wife or mother. People flipped out. "It is probably the best steak I ever had" were some of the responses. Yes, if all you ever had was an Outback or Longhorn steak, then I could see a cruise ship steak being the best you ever had. It is not comparable to a steak in a fine steakhouse

 

They don't have the kitchen setup to make steaks like Berns. Personally, I don't think it's worth a $35 up charge for slightly better than MDR. If I want a special dinner dining experience beyond MDR, a cruise ship doesn't have it. I would consider upcharge restaurants in certain situations like Sabor on Royal for lunch, Johnny Rockets, Vintages, and we have purchased some sushi as well. But a "fancy steakhouse" for dinner, for $35pp extra? Lol, no.

 

Flew over to Berns a few months ago with some friends. That was worth the upcharge :)

[First and Ten]

They don't have the kitchen setup to make steaks like Berns. Personally, I don't think it's worth a $35 up charge for slightly better than MDR. If I want a special dinner dining experience beyond MDR, a cruise ship doesn't have it. I would consider upcharge restaurants in certain situations like Sabor on Royal for lunch, Johnny Rockets, Vintages, and we have purchased some sushi as well. But a "fancy steakhouse" for dinner, for $35pp extra? Lol, no.

 

Flew over to Berns a few months ago with some friends. That was worth the upcharge :)

 

Berns is awesome. Hands down best wine selection of any restaurant out there....If I was forced to pick one steakhouse for my best steak ever....I would have to go with Lugers....Berns is easily top 5 steak houses

[moorene]

Yes, I'm sure NCL is so horrible, they really just use cheese wiz in their restaurants. :rolleyes:

I have cruised with NCL at least 7 times and have never seen cheese wiz on food. Although we usually eat in the speciality and a few complimentary restaurants. The food for us is superb.

 

Sent from my SM-G925V using Forums mobile app

[BNBR]

Berns is awesome. Hands down best wine selection of any restaurant out there....If I was forced to pick one steakhouse for my best steak ever....I would have to go with Lugers....Berns is easily top 5 steak houses

 

Bern's, I believe, has the largest wine collection in the world. Hopefully you toured the cellar!

[S.S.Oceanlover]

I was on the Epic and they used the in room reservation system for the headline shows....it has its plusses and minuses. If you like to be spur of the moment, that isn't for you. We got on board and I tried to reserve seats for my party and the first night we got to see the headline show was night 3 (there are 2 shows per night mind you). What I didn't like about the Epic cruise, was they didn't have a lot of Headline shows. It was the same show night after night. I believe the 2nd half of the cruise they changed it, but again, there were only 2 Headline shows for the entire 7 nights. I like Carnival where there is a different show every night (I get the same performers, but different theme if you will) The Epic had hands down the best buffet on a cruise ship. We only ate in the MDR 1 night, the buffet was that good

 

Carnival still has production shows every night? It was my understanding that they have 3-4 production shows in a 7 night cruise and a couple hasbro game shows and karaoke wars where the passengers are the entertainment?

 

Bill

[SNJCruisers]

If I want a special dinner dining experience beyond MDR, a cruise ship doesn't have it. I would consider upcharge restaurants in certain situations like Sabor on Royal for lunch, Johnny Rockets, Vintages, and we have purchased some sushi as well. But a "fancy steakhouse" for dinner, for $35pp extra? Lol, no.

20.00 for lunch at Sabor and 7.00 for lunch at Johnny Rockets. You just paid 27.00 extra for two lunches. I'll pay 35.00 for any Carnival steakhouse and eat at Guy's Burgers for free. I paid 8.00 more and got more bang for my buck, IMHO. And since this is a thread comparing Carnival and NCL, why are Royal venues being mentioned?

[Computer Nerd]

We don't drink beer when cruising, so the drinks we drink average 12-15 each. I expect to pay grat., that's a given, so for me, their advertisemnt is not deceptive at all. for a 13 day cruise, I know the bar bill for my husband and I will be roughly $400 and that's total price, no gratuity added at time of purchase. Pretty good deal to me!

Pat

 

I don't disagree that it's a pretty good deal for someone who drinks. $100 to drink for a week for someone who is a drinker I would consider to be exceptional. BUT, to label it as "Free" which many people here and at NCL try to claim (the deception part) is an outright lie. If one MUST pay for something to get it, no matter how little, it's not "Free" and to me, the $100 is still more than my bar bill would be at the end of a cruise.

[Aquahound]

If I want a special dinner dining experience beyond MDR, a cruise ship doesn't have it.

 

I disagree. I have really enjoyed some of my specialty dining experiences and in most cases, I think they are a far better option than the MDR.