NCL or Carnival ??

[cruisinn]

I am planning on 7 day cruise with my wife and 2 year old kid. From the research i narrowed it down to NCL and carnival as the kid friendlier cruiselines. I live in boston and am considering one of the following two, but not able to decide which one. I am a frist time cruiser, so any advise would be great.

 

1. NCL Spirit - Bahamas & Florida from Newyork

Pros for me so far:

* Convenient and no need to fly, so will save about $500 overall

* Looks like better ship than carnival victory

* Free style dining

Cons:

* Been reading that, sea might be rough leaving from NY and also its cold weather here, so might not enjoy outside much on the sea days (I only have 2 sea days and 4 port days)

* Been reading some bad things about food (It might be subjective though)

* Also when i talked to travel agent and asked him, if i can request them to prepare indian (i am originally from India) food for our stay, he said No they wont do that.

 

2. Carnival Victory - western carribean from Miami

* Less convenient than NCL and have to pay extra for air fare..But atleast my whole trip would be warm.

* My friends travelled on carnival before and they could order the indian food without any hassle

* Dont know how much good/bad this ship compared to NCL spirit..

[Seago2]

If I were you I would pick the Spirit. I have five kids and so am always scoping out the children's areas when I am on vacation. The Spirit children's area is beautiful. I cruised Carnival with four of the kids last summer and I was shocked at how lame Camp Carnival was compared with the facilities on NCL Spirit. My 7 year old loved Camp Carnival but he had nothing to compare it to...

 

The food on the Spirit? What can I say- I loved it. I mean... some things I loved. Some things I liked.

 

I wrote a review of the NCL Spirit (keep in my mind that I had no kids with me so I don't cover that part of the shipboard experience): http://www.cruisereviews.com/NorwegianCruiseLine/NorwegianSpirit14.htm

 

I also wrote one of the Carnival Elation: http://www.cruisereviews.com/CarnivalCruiseLines/Elation79.htm

 

Those might be of help to you.

 

Cruising with a 2 year old is an iffy proposition IMHO. You will be on your feet a lot. The good news is that at least on Carnival you can't put a child UNDER 2 in Camp Carnival, so you are in the clear there. You can also have a sitter in the room on both lines.

 

The last cruise I took on the Spirit was a little bit of a thrill ride. I happen to LOVE the rocking of the boat. There are currently a few threads on the NCL board that address the question of whether the Spirit has sufficient stabilizers. When I cruised the Elation this summer I did not feel the ship move once- not one time. I never knew when we were moving. Guess which ship I prefer???

 

The Elation had an Indian-themed lunch buffet one day that was surprisingly good. Other than that you are out of luck.

[Glamourgal]

I hate to make you even more confused but there is also the Carnival Legend leaving out of NYC, depending on when you are planning your cruise. We traveled the Legend last year in May and loved her. We are going on the NCl Spirit this June. Do a lot of reading on these boards and go with a good attitude and I think no matter which cruise you choose you will have a wonderful time. Good Luck!!

[caviargal]

I would choose NCL over Carnival. The Conquest class of ships IME are very crowded and poorly designed.

[janetz]

We are over here in Western Mass! We just booked the Legend from Ny over the Spirit...All the reviews I read about NCL Spirit were pretty negative. So we will see..Happy Cruising! :D

[Hootsie]

My friend just got back from an NCL cruise and said it was the oldest group of people she'd ever seen (we're talking seniors). They were really bored after 10pm because everyone was sleeping.

 

Carnival is a great line for kids.

 

The Bahamas and Florida out of NY would be such a boring cruise. The Bahamas aren't much to brag about at all. I'd MUCH rather take a Caribbean cruise any time. Look in the Ports of Call for Nassau and you'll see there isn't much there. Many people call it a wasted port.

 

If you're talking about the Keys for the Florida part, again a wasted port. When we cruise out of Miami, we drive thru the Keys a day before our cruise and you get much more time to yourselves. They Keys are pretty, but SO crowded when a cruise ship comes in.

 

The Western Caribbean is SO awesome.

[janetz]

The Legend goes put of NY, 8 days to the carribean...Would that work for you? ;)

[Seago2]

 

The Bahamas and Florida out of NY would be such a boring cruise. The Bahamas aren't much to brag about at all. I'd MUCH rather take a Caribbean cruise any time. Look in the Ports of Call for Nassau and you'll see there isn't much there. Many people call it a wasted port.

 

I would have to agree with that- even though I am booked on the Spirit for that same itinerary next month.

 

I disagree that the Spirit is a second rate ship. She's beautiful- really a special ship.

[Fredr]

Hello,

 

Have you checked Vacations to Go and other websites to see which ships are going where from Cape Liberty and NYC? RCCl Princess, and Celebrity have beautiful ships with excellent children's programs.