Norwegian Pearl or Carnival Spirit to Alaska?

[nolejagbuc]

We are looking at booking an Alaskan cruise for June 2010. We have sailed on Carnival but have never been on Norwegian. I was trying to read about their kid programs online. From what I am getting, Norwegian charges for the children programs while in port. The Alaskan cruise is port intensive and want to be able to let the kids go without paying an arm and a leg. Can someone clarify Norwegian's in port kids policy? Has anyone been on either ship? Our kids will be 2, 6 and 9 when we go. We narrowed it down to these two ships because our two year old would be able to go to the kids area. Thanks for any input!

[bensmom1]

We took our then-4yo on Carnival Conquest a couple of years ago, and he loved the kids club. We're taking him on NCL Pearl to Alaska in August, but seriously considered Carnival Spirit as well. We chose NCL because the Pearl had great reviews, it's Seattle round-trip, and cruises Glacier Bay (Carnival does not). I read good things about NCL's kids club, which we certainly plan to use; however, we do plan to bring DS on shore excursions (with a 2-yo, that may not work as well for you). I have not read that NCL charges for the kids club while in port.

[nolejagbuc]

We took our then-4yo on Carnival Conquest a couple of years ago, and he loved the kids club. We're taking him on NCL Pearl to Alaska in August, but seriously considered Carnival Spirit as well. We chose NCL because the Pearl had great reviews, it's Seattle round-trip, and cruises Glacier Bay (Carnival does not). I read good things about NCL's kids club, which we certainly plan to use; however, we do plan to bring DS on shore excursions (with a 2-yo, that may not work as well for you). I have not read that NCL charges for the kids club while in port.

 

 

Thanks for your response. We are leaning towards the Pearl for the very same reasons you mentioned. The charges are mentioned on the NCL website and when I called them they confirmed the same thing. I know that most of the time that we are in port, we would all be doing a shore excursion together. However, there are two excursions that we are looking at that we would like to do without the kids for a couple hours. We are going on the Norwegian Sky in two weeks to see how the kids like the kids area and to get a better feel of how Norwegian is. I will let you know what I find out. You will have to let me know how the Pearl is!

[lovesublime]

We've cruised Alaska on both Carnival Spirit and Norwegian Pearl. On Pearl, we traveled with our 21 y/o son. On Spirit, we traveled with my sister and her family including our 12 y/o neice. Obviously, our son didn't participate in kids activities. Our neice never once participated or went to circle c on Spirit. She's an only child, is mature, and prefers the company of adults-so sorry-I can't help you there.

 

I know that Spirit is doing rountrips out of Seattle next year, but we went last July and did the southbound one way from Anchorage. If Spirit were still doing the one way cruises, I would definitely recommend NCL Pearl. It would be less stressful and would save you money on airfare. However, both ships are beautiful and we had a good experience on both. I'm going to give the edge to Pearl-as it is a newer ship and does Glacier Bay which is breathtaking. I guess this isn't much help. You really can't go wrong with either cruise.

[JessLCH]

We sailed NCL Pearl last summer with our kids (ages 3 and 6). They both loved the children's program. I cannot comment on the port play since we always take our kids ashore with us. We love freestyle cruising and think NCL is the best line for our family.