Carnival cruiser looking at trying NCL

[DMH15]

mpk-

 

Some nights I like Tex Mex, some nights Italian, burgers, steak, salad, etc. Cruises are the same. Different can still be different, but just as good. I am looking forward to trying Azamara and maybe Princess, I would go on Celebrity or Royal again (have been on each of those once). Like you, I tried Carnival once and it was my least favorite line to date. I doubt I would go again, but never say never.

[mpk218]

mpk-

 

Some nights I like Tex Mex, some nights Italian, burgers, steak, salad, etc. Cruises are the same. Different can still be different, but just as good. I am looking forward to trying Azamara and maybe Princess, I would go on Celebrity or Royal again (have been on each of those once). Like you, I tried Carnival once and it was my least favorite line to date. I doubt I would go again, but never say never.

 

Thats the funny part , I always say " never say never "

and as you can see in my signature I went on a second Carnival cruise ( a bit of coaxing applied ) by a carnival lover friend of mine ... Oh well to each his own . But this time I mean it :p

[Mrs. H.]

What NCL ship were you on before? Which one now?

 

We were on the Dawn when we encountered a major when the ship didn't arrived until 8PM i/o 7AM in NYC. We were there since noon and got onboard at 9PM and left at 11PM. Too tired for the free drinks. Lost a day of sailing which screwed up the amount of time in a theme park in Orlando.

We are taking the Dawn again in May since NCL was the only cruiseline that had the right amount of days, leaving from NYC, price was right and going to a very nice port which I wouldn't mind seeing again.

 

I really would like to cruise Princess again but the prices seem to always be so high. Might be because its worth it. lol

[newmexicoNita]

We were on the Dawn when we encountered a major when the ship didn't arrived until 8PM i/o 7AM in NYC. We were there since noon and got onboard at 9PM and left at 11PM. Too tired for the free drinks. Lost a day of sailing which screwed up the amount of time in a theme park in Orlando.

We are taking the Dawn again in May since NCL was the only cruiseline that had the right amount of days, leaving from NYC, price was right and going to a very nice port which I wouldn't mind seeing again.

 

I really would like to cruise Princess again but the prices seem to always be so high. Might be because its worth it. lol

We choose Princess over NCL this past Jan because the prices were a little lower..

 

NIta

[Jamrenjer]

We are kind of like Mike and Amy-- in our jobs we deal with people all day long-- we are definitely not anti-social--but most of the time when we go on a cruise-- it is just to relax and enjoy each other.... with this said- we have been on 3 other lines besides NCL.... If we are with other friends or family members- we dine with them-- otherwise on other lines we have always been able to get a table for 2 with no problem.... as far as the time to eat goes--- that pretty much is the only thing scheduled-- and that is only dinner.:) So we dont mind making it to the set dinner time....

Although one RCCL-- it could not be changed the first night-- we sat at a table for 8-- and only 2 other couple showed-- and one of them was like an hour late.... we explained to them that they probably wouldnt see us again as we were going to get a table for 2-- of course said very politely etc.... The next morning, we decided to eat breakfast in the main dining room-- and couldn't get a table for 2.... ended up with two other couples.... and to make a long story short-- we immediately recognized the accent of one couple-- ended up they lived not too far from us.... anyway... (trying to make this short!) That night at dinner-- we had our table for 2 -- and in that huge 3 story dining room -- who is at the next table?? The couple from breakfast-- and they had a table for 6 with one couple not showing-- we ended up having dinner with them the rest of the cruise- the other couple was great too.... so the moral of the story is: YOU CAN NEVER TELL! Here we loved dining alone-- but were so surprised to enjoy some other guests.... (Sorry in advance for the ramble!):)

[Tmrlovesjr]

My experience is Carnival is the younger party crowd, the NCL is more refined and a little older. Eventhough we are mid 30s-40 we prefer the NCL, quieter, less drunkiness, still fun.

[Mrs. H.]

My experience is Carnival is the younger party crowd, the NCL is more refined and a little older. Eventhough we are mid 30s-40 we prefer the NCL, quieter, less drunkiness, still fun.

 

I beg to differ. I've been on Carnival 3x and I don't think of them as the 'younger party crowd'. Maybe back in the day. You never do know what kind of crowd your going to get any any cuise line/ship nowadays.

To me refined and a little older would be Princess.

[jasmine196]

Ok, just back from the NCL Pearl 7 Day West Carb cruise. So here is my take on the differences between NCL and Carnival. The cabins are much smaller. We had a balcony and it felt like we were consintently on top of each other. The balcony itself was a bit bigger than what we had on carnival. The bathroom though, was smaller, but I LOVED the sliding glass doors instead of the curtains that never keep the water in. Oh and the balcony door was a sliding door as well, loved it.

 

The food was much worse on NCL. Granted I did not try the speciality resturants since I'm sorry I pay enough for the cruise I'm not adding to it. I sometimes wonder if they make the dining room food worse to force you to pay for it. The dining room service and food was terrible. And I also missed having table mates. The buffet was fine no better, no worse. Room service was also about the same.

 

Activities wise, I did a lot, but NCL didn't have the same amount of activities as Carnival. I did feel like the ages on the ship were a good mix, I always thought it was an older cruise line, but there really was a good mix.

 

Overall, I had a good cruise. I'm not sure freestyle cruising is for me. If the price was right I would cruise NCL, but if I had a choice I would go back to Carnival in a heart beat. But that's just my 2 cents. I wanted to give it a try to see what it was like. A cruise or any vacation is MUCH better than being at work.

[Dukegirl5577]

We've been on two cruises with NCL and one with Carnival, and will be taking our third with NCL this spring. (I've also sailed on Sitmar back in the 80s before it was bought by Princess, but I was just a kid, and that was a while ago, so I'll keep my comments only to NCL and Carnival.)

 

I much prefer NCL.

 

The Carnival cruise was fun-fun-fun, which actually happened to be what we were looking for on that cruise, as it was a group cruise with 40 other people for our friend's wedding (the wedding happened on board the ship while it was docked in San Diego on embarkation day, and half the people in attendance at the wedding actually debarked after the wedding before sailaway). Since we were there with a large group, the constant party atmosphere was great, but it would not be what I was looking for had I just gone on a cruise with my husband as a relaxing vacation.

 

The food was OK on Carnival, although nothing special. The best food of the entire cruise was actually the buffet lunch when we first boarded (while waiting for the bride and groom to get dressed in order to start the ceremony) and the hors d'ouevres at the wedding reception before sailaway. The rest of the time, it was mediocre at best. My husband laughed that Carnival probably went out of their way to serve good food during the time that the non-sailing wedding guests were on board, to entice them to return and cruise with Carnival sometime. Wouldn't be surprised.

 

From that little taste, we'd assumed the food would be great for the rest of the cruise. Not so. It wasn't bad, of course, but just so-so.

 

Plus, there's the whole assigned seating thing. It wasn't too bad, since we were with such a large group, so all our assigned tables were people from the wedding, which was fun. But had it just been me and my husband, I'm not sure I would want to be assigned to eat all my meals with random people. Like one of the other posters, when I'm on vacation, I want to just relax and enjoy my husband. I don't want to be forced to make random chitchat with strange people we will never see after that cruise. They're not my friends. I don't want to have to pretend that they are.

 

Of course, some people love getting to meet new people at dinner, so if this appeals to you, then Carnival is probably a better bet than NCL. But if you want to relax with only your traveling companion, it's great to be able to get a table for 2 on NCL.

 

I personally love NCL's Freestyle concept. I love eating when, where, and with whom I want. I don't want to be stuck with a certain assigned seating of either 6 or 8. I want to go to dinner when I want to go. Not when the cruise line assigns me. I know some cruisers have found long lines when they've tried to get into the main dining rooms on NCL ships, but I've never waited more than 15 minutes at most...for the most popular dining times, too! Heck, I often wait much longer than that at restaurants at home! And most of the time on NCL ships, I've gotten in right away...no wait at all.

 

Plus, I found the quality of the food to be much better on NCL. It's not 5-star dining, but it's quite delicious.

[ce2000]

Ok, just back from the NCL Pearl 7 Day West Carb cruise. So here is my take on the differences between NCL and Carnival. The cabins are much smaller. We had a balcony and it felt like we were consintently on top of each other. The balcony itself was a bit bigger than what we had on carnival. The bathroom though, was smaller, but I LOVED the sliding glass doors instead of the curtains that never keep the water in. Oh and the balcony door was a sliding door as well, loved it.

 

The food was much worse on NCL. Granted I did not try the speciality resturants since I'm sorry I pay enough for the cruise I'm not adding to it. I sometimes wonder if they make the dining room food worse to force you to pay for it. The dining room service and food was terrible. And I also missed having table mates. The buffet was fine no better, no worse. Room service was also about the same.

 

Activities wise, I did a lot, but NCL didn't have the same amount of activities as Carnival. I did feel like the ages on the ship were a good mix, I always thought it was an older cruise line, but there really was a good mix.

 

Overall, I had a good cruise. I'm not sure freestyle cruising is for me. If the price was right I would cruise NCL, but if I had a choice I would go back to Carnival in a heart beat. But that's just my 2 cents. I wanted to give it a try to see what it was like. A cruise or any vacation is MUCH better than being at work.

 

jasmine196 thanks for the review. I agree with your comparison between NCL and Carnival. Carnival is just more fun and offers much better food in my opinion. I did eat in Cagney's (Pay Extra Restaurant) once, and the food was much better there, but it cost $20 per person extra. Did you ever have breakfast in the main dinning room? I found the breakfast served there was very good, but was very disappointed with the lunch and dinner served in the main dinning room.