NCL Jewel vs. Carnival Legend...family of 6??

[travelloverontario]

We are trying to decide between a 5 night NCL Jewel, or a 7 night Carnival Legend.(both Western Car.) We have booked the Jewel already, but may change to Lagend.

 

Have tried to read as much as I can on each board.....here are some issues I need to think about some more:

 

1. $$$$$ issues.......5 night as opposed to 7 night is less expensive, but with more$$ comes 2 more days on the cruise!! It will cost about an extra $2000.00 for the six of us....me, hubby, 2 sons...20 and 18 in thier own inside cabin,..and 2 girls aged 13 and 8 with us in a balcony cabin....to do Legend 7 night.

 

2. Itinerary......Legend, being longer, has 2 more stops...Belize, which I believe will stay, and currently, Roatan...but that may change to Costa Maya once that port is back up and running. After what I've read, I think I would enjoy Roatan better, but I have no control over where the ship goes. We are not sailing until Feb 28 on Legend, or March 1 on Jewel, so Legend may switch back to Costa Maya before then. Either way...these stops seem exotic, and we would like to experience these places at some time. We'd like to do cave tubing, and maybe zip lining at these 2 extra ports.

 

3. Ports.....Legend out of Tampa....airport is close to port, read that customs is easy etc... Jewel out of Miami....Flying into Fort Lauderdale is much cheaper for us, but we do need to pay for shuutle from airport to port. Also read that Port of Miami is much busier, and that customs is much longer.

 

4. Food.....This is the big one....we like the idea of getting great food all included, without the need to go to speciality restaurants and pay a fee for better food. I'm concerned that with the Jewel, if we want a really good meal, we need to pay extra. But on Legend, their main dining rooms feature loster, shrimp cocktail, steak, etc...all very good, and all included. I know there is a supper club that is extra, but for the most part, I'm leaning toward the food being better on the Legend.

 

5. Kids' clubs.....Again, from what I've read, Camp Carnival seems to be rated better than the one on NCL. One good thing is that free camps operate on port days on Carnival, whereas on NCL, you have to pay. Sea days are free, but port days would be $8.00 per hour for my 2 girls. ...However, if I take the cheaper cruise, I could pay extra for the camps.

 

6. aaaaahhhhh!!!!!....I know I am totally overanalysing this, but that's just who I am. The more I research, the more questions I have, and the more choices I have. It is also a lot of fun reading and finding info on our cruise.

 

7. Deposit....with NCL...$100.00 per person, ...with Carnival..$250.00 per person.

 

8. Formal wear....My sons are probably not going to want to dress up formally...or even semi-formally unless I can do some smooth talking. Jewel is probably much more laid back as far as dress during dinner. I guess on formal nights on Legend, they could eat in the buffet if they won't dress up. Who knows...maybe I can talk them into it?? Although, not sure if I want to pack all of that extra stuff.

 

I don't really know about the cabin size or balcony size differences, shows, etc, they all seem pretty comparable from what I've read.

 

We have not gone a family vacation with all 4 kids in several years. This will be my boys' first cruise and our second...first one 3 night Disnay. This will most likely be our last vacation with all the kids together as the boys are heading out on their own soon. Parts of me say... go for it...spend the extra money, it's woth it, ..but the other side says, we need to be reasonable, and keep within our budget. We will be flying from Buffalo, so that cost will be added to either cruise we choose.

 

So....what would you do????

[bill turcotte]

if your paying more then 80 dollars a day per person ,your paying to much .

 

just off the jewel - the food in the buffet was great , on the main dinning room was good . we had lobster thier ot was good .

 

The kids club opens once the ship hits the seas even on port days .