Carnival Fantasy V NCL Spirit - You Asked For It!

[Rowan555]

Several people here asked me to compare the Carnival Fantasy with the NCL Spirit, since those are our two cruising options out of New Orleans right now. I've done my best to compare the two ships on as many points as possible. If there's something I missed, just ask and I'll try to answer any questions you may have. Which cruise YOU prefer will obviously depend on you and what your priorities are - but hopefully this post will help you make a decision one way or the other. I'm going to list all the comparison points, vote a "winner", then give any important details. Hope this helps.

 

Embarkation - Slight edge to the Fantasy. On the Fantasy, you are able to enter the terminal and proceed directly to check-in. Once you check in, you take your embarkation photo then sit down in the order you arrive. When boarding begins, the rows of seats are called in order and you take your Sail and Sign id photo, then board the ship. On the Spirit, we arrived at the terminal before check-in began. Each person is given a number upon arrival, and you are called to check in according to your number (but many people are given one number, so you may end up in line behind people who arrived 20 minutes after you did). Once you check in you sit down anywhere you like. Boarding is also done by number, and you get up and get in line to board when your number is called. Embarkation photos are taken as you board, which slows the process down a bit. I found the number system to be pointless and to add to the confusion. Carnival's embarkation process is much simpler and just seems a bit more painless.

 

Ship Decor - Spirit wins this one. The Spirit is a really pretty ship, with lots of eye candy and the feel of a nice resort rather than a cruise ship. I would like to also point out that I personally really like the Fantasy as well, particularly the theming on the Promenade Deck, and the Cat's Lounge is one of the cutest lounges I've ever seen. The Spirit, overall, is a more elegant, pretty environment.

 

Ship Layout - Fantasy has a much better layout, in my opinion. The Spirit feels very disjointed, and it's difficult to get from one place to another without having to take two different sets of stairs due to the choppiness of the decks. We would eat dinner on Deck 6, then have to go up to 7, down a hall, then down another set of stairs to get to our room on Deck 5. There were people on the last sea day who were still completely confused about how to get to the main dining rooms, or to the show lounge. I missed the Promenade area that all Carnival ships have, and it was much harder to meet up with people on the Spirit because the various lounges are located in different spots on different decks. I enjoy sitting and people watching, and that's just harder to do on the Spirit. I met someone on day 6 of our Spirit cruise who mentioned that the Fantasy had a nice disco, and the Spirit didn't have one at all - she didn't realize that she had to walk all the way through the casino to find the disco. On the Fantasy, everything can be reached from the Promenade deck, which makes things much less confusing.

 

Muster Drill - Fantasy wins. NCL takes roll at the drill, which causes things to last a bit longer. We were also packed like sardines along the outside deck, and it was very hot and uncomfortable. On our 3 Fantasy cruises, we had a much better muster drill experience.

 

Freestyle v. Assigned Dining - I have to give this one to the Spirit, but it's a VERY individual decision. We had good servers each night, and while we ended up having dinner at 5:30 each evening ANYWAY, we can see the benefits of freestyle. If you want to have dinner with new friends, or eat later due to a long day in port, freestyle allows for that flexibility. Of course even with traditional dining, you can eat on the Lido Deck, order room service, etc. I think Freestyle is just a bit better in terms of flexibility and options. I also liked being able to eat lunch in the main dining rooms by ourselves - we avoid lunch in the dining rooms on Carnival because we are seated with other people, and we prefer to eat by ourselves.

 

Food - FANTASY wins hands down. I won't go into all the detail I could here, but let me just say we enjoyed all our meals on the Fantasy and every other Carnival ship much, much more than we enjoyed dining on the Spirit. We had a few really good meals on the Spirit, but overall the Fantasy is just better. This includes buffets on the Lido, main dining rooms, and room service. Fantasy is superior across the board. I also appreciate the fact that Carnival has lemonade, tea, apple juice, and fruit punch available 24/7 - on the Spirit you could only get tea and water after breakfast - my kids were not at all pleased with this! One plus on the Spirit was the Blue Lagoon restaurant, which was available at no extra charge - we really enjoyed this. My husband said that he prefers the 24/7 pizza available on Carnival, though.

 

Pools - NCL Spirit wins this round. The lido deck Tivoli Pool area is lovely, and the pool is about the same size as on the Fantasy. It's just prettier to look at! The kids' pool on Deck 10 aft is amazing for young children, and my kids had a blast there. The kiddie pool on the Fantasy is a pathetic little thing, so this was a big plus on the Spirit. After the Fantasy's refurb next September, though, I think it will be the winner in this category.

 

Arcade - the Spirit has a much larger arcade, so if this is something that's a priority for your family you will enjoy the Spirit's arcade quite a bit more. The Fantasy's arcade is basically a tiny dark hallway with a few games. Neither ship has air hockey, though, which is strange to me. Even the tiny Holiday had an air hockey table!

 

Open Deck Space - the Spirit wins this one. There is lots of tiered open deck space at the aft of the ship, and the Promenade is actually an open air area - you can walk all the way around the ship on Deck 7 without going inside. This is very different from any Carnival ship we've been on. The Lido Deck pool areas have the same amount of deck space and lounge chairs on the Fantasy and the Spirit - but the Spirit has much more open deck space overall.

 

Activities - FANTASY! Can I say that again a few more times? We found the NCL Spirit to be B-O-R-I-N-G. Daytime activities were minimal, and nighttime activities were, well, they just WEREN'T. Most people seemed to turn in very early, and we would see the same 6 or 8 people just wandering around from 10 to midnight, looking for something to do. We tried to make our own fun, but you just shouldn't have to work that hard to have a good time on a cruise ship! I've never seen a ship so dead after 9 PM. I thought we had accidentally boarded a Holland America Alaskan cruise. In addition, there were several activities printed in the dailies that simply didn't happen. We would go to that location and it was closed - no staff, nothing. With so few things happening, the listed activities should actually take place.

 

Casino - The Spirit wins this one. The casino seems larger than on Fantasy, and much less smoky. Table games were less crowded, but it was hard to tell if there were more of them, or if fewer people were playing.

 

Tendering - Fantasy wins this. Although the Fantasy is not currently tendering, they've handled it much better when they did. The Spirit attempts to hold you hostage on the ship for the first two hours in port unless you are on an NCL excursion. I went to the lobby at 7 AM the morning we were in Belize b/c the dailies said tender tickets would be available at 7 AM. No one was there with tickets. I woke up my kids, then went back down - by that point the crew member had shown up (late) and started handing them out. We were given number 729 and 730, and we were told it would be about 2 hours before those numbers were called. Our tour was in an hour and a half. We ate breakfast, the whole while thinking we would miss our tour. We attempted to go to the gangway but were denied. We decided to return to our room, and we passed another crew member standing at a gangway access point. He greeted us and asked if we were ready to have a good day in port. I told him that we'd love to, but no one would let us off the ship. He said it was a slow morning, and he let us go ahead and board the tender. Had we not encountered this employee, we would have missed our tour.

 

Photography - Fantasy wins. Photographers are more plentiful, photos are more professional, there are MANY more spots to have portraits done, and the pictures are much cheaper. No prices are listed for anything in the photo gallery area, and you have to ask for prices of cameras, pictures, frames, etc. Carnival clearly lists all prices.

 

Duty Free Shops - Fantasy wins. Even though the ship is a bit smaller, the shops are larger with a better selection. Liquor prices, as well as prices on gift items, are lower on the Fantasy. The lobby area on the Spirit was constantly crowded with tables set up where they were selling watches, jewelry, and other souvenir items.

 

Staterooms - the Fantasy wins again. The staterooms on Fantasy are considerably larger and are laid out better. We sleep 4 to a room, and we have never felt crowded on Fantasy. We were literally falling over each other trying to get around at night on the Spirit due to the smaller rooms. Storage space on the Spirit is about 2/3 of the space available on the Fantasy. The beds, bedding, and pillows on the Fantasy are 10 times more comfortable than on the Spirit. One plus on the Spirit is the sliding glass shower door - MUCH nicer than the useless shower curtains on the Fantasy!

 

Stateroom Service - Fantasy wins. Our stewards on the Fantasy have always been extremely friendly and often make towel animals for each child. Camp Carnival leaves cookies for the kids on their pillow a few nights during the cruise. Our steward on the Spirit did his job - he kept our room clean and set up the kids' beds. But he ignored us in the hallway, and he made only one towel animal the entire week. This isn't a big deal, but it's an area where Carnival excelled over NCL for us. One problem we had was that we had to ask 4 times for our beach towels to be replaced. They would take them in the evening, but not give us new ones. On port days when we wanted to head out early, we would have to track down our steward or his assistant, then wait for him to find towels for us.

 

Crew - Fantasy wins. The crew on the Fantasy just seemed nicer and more willing to greet you, talk to you, and go out of their way to help you than on the Spirit. Several times we were given incorrect information on the Spirit by staff who just didn't want to bother finding out the correct answers to our questions. When my husband asked for cream cheese for his bagel at Raffles, the employee basically told him there wasn't any. I had to ask 3 people for cream cheese before someone finally went into the kitchen to get me some. These sorts of things happened each day, and it was frustrating. We simply didn't experience this on ANY Carnival cruise.

 

Kids Program - from my kids' point of vew, it was a tie. They enjoyed the programs equally, loved the counselors, and made great friends who they will remember for a long time. From the parents' point of view, Carnival wins. Camp Carnival is open on port days and there is no extra charge. On NCL, you must sign up ahead of time for "port play" on port days, and there is a $5 per hour charge per child. Camp Carnival has kids' dinners at 6 PM each night except the first night - NCL's Kids Crew has only one kids' dinner the entire cruise. Lastly, the late night program ends at midnight or one on NCL (depending on the night) while the program on Carnival runs until 3 AM.

 

 

If I've missed anything, feel free to ask. We didn't go to any of the shows, and we didn't do any NCL excursions, but we got LOTS of feedback from people who did. If you want to know what they said, let me know. I wanted this post to be only our first hand experiences, but I'm happy to add more information if needed. As I'm sure you can tell, we prefer the Fantasy - we feel it's more fun, the food is far superior, and the staff is much friendlier. We have 3 cruises booked for the Fantasy next year, and we can't wait!

[mariemorgan]

Thanks so much for the comparison :)

 

Did you order via room service? Was it only cold stuff like Carnival?

[Grits53]

Sure makes it easy for me to decide whether or not to try NCL!! Thanks!

[Rowan555]

Thanks so much for the comparison :)

 

Did you order via room service? Was it only cold stuff like Carnival?

 

 

We normally order room service each night on Carnival. We ordered it ONCE on NCL. The sandwiches and salads, among other items, are apparently all premade in the morning. We asked for a turkey sandwich on white bread instead of french bread and were told nope, they're already made. My Ceasar salad had clearly been made hours earlier - the lettuce was soft from soaking in the dressing, and the croutons were mushy and just fell apart when I put the fork on them. The fruit plate had microscopic slices of melon and pineapple - it was hilarious. The only way to get pizza on the ship other than on the kids' menu in the dining room is through room service, so we ordered pizza as well. It was cold (and I mean still a bit frozen, not cooked and then cooled off) and completely disgusting.

 

The funniest food on the Spirit was in Raffles, the buffet, on the last sea day. They had "Blackened Tilapia with New Orleans Barbeque Shrimp." It was grilled, seasonless fish with tiny frozen shrimp covered in barbeque sauce. Not "bbq shrimp" seasoning, but actual barbeque sauce like you would put on ribs. Unbelievable.

[NCTribeFan]

I love the fantasy-class ships. Maybe just because I haven't been on a larger ship (soon, though!), but I really like them.

 

The casino on the Elation was also horribly smoky, to the point that I spent much less time (and money) than I had planned.

 

My main complaint has been there was nothing like the outside promenade deck like there was on Empress. I absolutely LOVED that wide deck that totally circled the ship and had loungers. You could drag it over to the rail and sit in the sun, or stay back by the wall in the shade. Plenty of room to do either and not interfere with people walking the deck.

 

Fantasy-class ships have an outside deck and nowhere to sit. Honestly, that's my only complaint with those ships. Can't complain about not having a supper club, since I don't (yet) know what I'm missing. I mean, I've had great meals in the dining room on every cruise without having to spend an extra $30 pp.

 

I never order room service (I spend very little time in the cabin), so that isn't an issue to me. DD is too old for kids programs and arcades, so those aren't an issue. And I never sit on the Lido deck by the pool when I'm sunning. Always go up a deck, aft. Convenient to the buffet and drinks and away from the kids and pool "activities."

 

Now, can you please sail on RCI's Grandeur of the Seas for me? :D She's 74,000 tons (but lists 2,446 passengers!), which seems like quite a few more than the Fantasy class ships, which are nearly the same gross tonnage.

 

Thanks for your comparison review!

[Rowan555]

Now, can you please sail on RCI's Grandeur of the Seas for me? :D She's 74,000 tons (but lists 2,446 passengers!), which seems like quite a few more than the Fantasy class ships, which are nearly the same gross tonnage.

 

Thanks for your comparison review!

 

I would love to, but RCI took the Grandeur out of New Orleans! We had planned to book a cruise on the Grandeur, and then we discovered they weren't coming back! Oh well, for now we'll stick with Carnival. Living 15 minutes from the cruise terminal, it's hard to justify driving or flying to another city to take a cruise. When the kids are older we'll probably fly somewhere so we can try a new itinerary - but for now, we'll stick with the Fantasy!

[jtfire006]

rowan you know there was a disco up on the 13th that was NEVER OPEN on any night?? the red one above the galaxy! oh by the way we were 2 of the ones looking with rowan for thing to do. you better love to go to bed early on this one. if you do not gamble, its really going to suck for you.

we ordered room service twice, the first time at 11 pm it never showed up

then agian it did show but was not good at all, olny cold sandwiches including our grilled cheese which i have always thought was supposed to be cold. sorry rowan as you can see i am still upset with this boring cruise. she also had to listen to me ***** on the ship lol.

like she said it is a pretty ship, but who goes to look at a ship for 7 days.

all you guys going you better stay up late and not go to bed before getting on this ship, because you will have plenty of time to sleep on the ship.

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[Essiesmom]

Fantasy: 70,367 tons; Passengers 2056/2634 (lower beds/all berths)

Grandeur of the Seas: 74,137 tons; Passengers 1950/2446

Grandeur bigger with fewer passengers. EM

[happy cruzer]

Loved your review/comparo.

 

Made me remember my one cruise out of NO on Enchanted Seas. Wonderful food and lots of fun.

 

Thank you.