Help! Carnival Imagination, Norwegian Sky or RC Majesty of the Seas?

[bridget711]

Good morning! I need some help trying to decide which cruiseline to sail on. My cousin and I will be taking a weekend cruise to the Bahamas departing Oct. 3 and returning Oct. 6, but we have a couple choices...

 

Carnival Imagination: We've cruised with Carnvial before and loved it (food, rooms, beds, service, entertainment, etc), but were a little disappointed in the nightlife. Everyone on the ship was in bed by midnight it seemed! We're looking for a crazy girl's weekend - keep in mind we're both 28 so we're not looking for spring break crazy, but we want to have fun. We're leaning towards the Carnival Imagination because that will give us the whole night in Nassau. The thought is that even if the nightlife on the cruise ship is sleepy, we'll at least have the entire night in Nassau on Saturday.

 

So I'd like to get some feedback - I've always heard that Carnival is more of a "party cruise" but it wasn't on the cruise we were on. Would we have better luck on one of the other 4 day cruises out of Miami on Oct 3rd? Anyone have comparisons??

 

Also, neither of us have been to Nassau so we're a little undecided on what to do. If we do go with Carnival, we're deciding between renting a room so we can spend the day at Atlantis and spend the night in clubs/bars/casino there (which my cousin is leaning towards). Or our other option is two afternoon shark dives with Stuart's Cove (we're both certified) - on top of the two AMAZING dives, we'd have some time to check out the island and we could spend the night in the bars/clubs right near the cruise peir (which I'm leaning towards).

 

And lastly, has anyone cruised at the beginning of October before? Should we be concerned with the weather? Should we pay extra for insurance?

 

We'd really appreciate any input you can give us!

Bridget :)

[bridget711]

Oh! Almost forgot - what is our best bet with booking? Last time I booked directly through Carnival and didn't have any problems - should we do the same again or can we get a better deal if we go through a travel agent?

 

Thanks again!

[Grannycb]

Always get insurance. A number of things could go wrong when traveling. It's better to have them covered than be out of pocket for $$$$$.

 

You might be able to get a bottle of wine by booking with a TA, but not much else on such a short cruise.

 

Carnival sounds like a good fit. By sticking with the same cruise line you end up getting loyalty perks down the line.

[McDebbie]

We chose the Sky because of the balcony cabins but haven't sailed yet so can't comment. Our very first cruise together was Carnival Imagination and we had a blast and now I understand it has been all upgraded. Not sure about the night life as we were on a 4 day (m-F) cruise.

 

Try looking at some of the rates with the on line TA's, sometimes you get free insurance or free gratuties paid by going through them, however for such a short cruise they may not offer anything. Maybe a coupon book?

 

We always cruise in September and October and have never had a cruise affected by the weather but there is always that chance so, like the OP said, make sure you get the insurance.

[Cruising89143]

The night life is going to depend with the passengers on board and that changes from cruise to cruise.

[firefly333]

I was on the Sovereign, B2B end of Sept and beginning of Oct. First off the cabins are teensy tiny, so dont book a inside unless you dont mind living out of your suitcase under your bed (only 5 small thin drawers in the desk, no other shelves, not even in the closet, 119 s.f. vs 185 s.f. on Carnival for a inside. So, you will need to book at least a OV to give you the illusion of space and a couple of drawers if you book Majesty.

 

Second you asked about the weather. We were supposed to go to CocoCay both times. The first time just as they started lunch it started to rain and didnt stop until the ship left. The second time, the wind was 20 knots or something they said was too much to safely tender into coco cay which is a tender port, so they skipped it and didnt even announce it until after we passed it by, so no one knew until about 3 hours after we were past it. Insurance wouldnt help if you miss the port, they dont pay for avoiding storms and ports.

 

Hard choice, I enjoyed the cruise, but you would need to spring for a more expensive cabin than a basic cabin on the Majesty imo. We also had a OV which was much better and had shevles in the closet and 2 drawers small chest.

[bridget711]

I know we are at least booking an oceanview and I think we're going to go with Carnival - larger rooms, more time in Nassau and we'll get the past passenger rate.

 

Thanks for the insight everyone!!

[ce2000]

I think that Carnival will be you best choice, I cannot recommend the NCL Sky.