Carnival VS Norwegian
Last week my husband and I set sail on our first Carnival cruise. He insisted on coming along because of the
reputation Carnival has built for wild parties and brawls. He just didn’t feel safe letting me solo
cruise on this one! I’m happy to report
that I didn’t seen a single fight and while the parties have definitely had
more energy than on other lines they were not over the top or inappropriate. I
did not go out after 10pm though, so things might have been crazier as the
night went on.
So, what
are the differences between Carnival and the cruise line I have the most
experience with, Norwegian (NCL)?
1.
The drinks package is more expensive on
Carnival. This is a little difficult to measure exactly but if you just
take the surface cost NCL offers their “Free at Sea” promotion which gives you
unlimited cocktails bear and wine by the glass. This is not actually free as
they charge you $20/day in gratuities on the package, but at $20/day you come
out much cheaper than the $70.74*/day that Carnival charges! In fact, if we had purchased the drinks
package it would have cost more than our cruise fare! In addition, Carnival’s “unlimited” drinks
package actually has a 15 drink per day limit that they don’t advertise. Norwegian doesn’t count. On Carnival’s behalf,
though, they include specialty coffee, energy drinks and bottled water where
NCL does not. Both of these programs
only cover drinks up to a certain price (NCL covers up to $15 and Carnival up
to $20) but what they do above that price differs. On NCL if you order a drink that costs more
than $15 you only pay the difference plus 20% gratuity, so if you ordered a $19
drink you’d pay $4.80. On Carnival if you order a drink that costs more than
the limit you get 25% off the drink instead of paying the difference. This means that if you order a $24 drink
you’d pay $21.24 after gratuity. This
only comes into play if you enjoy top shelf liquors and expensive wine though
since most of the ships’ drinks are priced under their drink package limit.
*$70.74 = $59.95 per person per day pre-cruise price + 18% required gratuity
2.
The average age aboard Carnival is lower and
the energy is higher. There were
many more people and much greater participation at the sail away parties on
Carnival than there were on Norwegian.
That’s not to say that there aren’t older people on Carnival or younger
people on NCL, but they are the exception. NCL seems to cater to the middle
aged primarily. I believe most of the
people I’ve seen on the ships are 40-60.
3.
Dining is handled differently between the
lines. On NCL everyone has Freestyle
dining which means that you eat where you want when you want. You will only ever eat with the people that
you request to, meaning you made a reservation or showed up and requested a
table for your party. This doesn’t mean
you CAN eat wherever you want whenever you want. In fact reservations at specialty restaurants
typically fill up months in advance. If you want to eat at a certain time in
the main dining room you’ll want to reserve it before your cruise, but you’ll
typically be able to get into any of the main dining rooms without too much of
a wait if you walk up. NCL opens
reservations for dining about XXX days before the cruise
Carnival handles things differently.
When you book your cruise you sign up for either traditional or “Your
Time” dining. Traditional dining has two
sittings, early and late, and will always be served in one specific dining room
and at the same table. I believe you
will be able to choose whether you’d prefer to eat at a table with just your
party or at a larger table shared with other cruisers. The same applies with Your Time dining except
you don’t choose a particular time you just sign up for a virtual que when you
are ready to eat and about 10-20 minutes later your table will be assigned and
you can enter the restaurant. Having
tried the Your Time dining on this cruise I think I would prefer the set dining
time since I tend to eat at the same time anyways and that way I’m not having
to wait for a table in a lobby full of people.
NCL has three main dining rooms typically, all of which serve the same
menu. It also will have a buffet and a
24 hour pub included in your cruise fare.
Most ships will have at least 4-5 additional specialty dining
restaurants you can choose from, often more. Room service continental breakfast
is complimentary, but other room service will incur a delivery charge if you
are not staying in a suite.
Carnival has two main dining rooms, one for set dining and one for your time,
which, again, serve the same menu. They
also have some specialty restaurants, this ship has two plus an extra charge
counter service restaurant. The buffet
on the Carnival Radiance is a fraction of the size of the buffet I’ve seen on
even the smallest NCL ships, but they have many more passengers which means
long lines with grumpy people. Carnival
also has several counter service restaurants in the buffet area which churn out
standard menu items fairly quickly but if you have a special request, like
gluten free, you’ll have to wait 15 minutes or more, which is awkward if you
are dining with someone else.
4.
Entertainment is pretty similar between
the two lines. You will have stage
productions, comedians, and music around the ship. Norwegian definitely has a higher caliber of
stage productions, many of their shows being from Broadway. I found one of the
comedians on Carnival to be funnier, but overall I’m not a big fan of the
crass, offensive humor dished out in these shows on either line. The music around the ship is not great on
either line with off-key singers doing poor renditions of popular songs, often
with mistaken lyrics.
Norwegian has much more going on during the day as far as game shows, bingo,
and audience participation events like puzzles and trivia. Carnival has a few of these things as well,
but not as many. You’ll find karaoke on
both lines, but Carnival has an additional option of group karaoke in the piano
bar – a nice option for those that enjoy singing but would be hesitant get up
in front of others.
5.
The staff are helpful and engaging on
both lines. My husband has gotten a stronger impression from the staff on
Norwegian that they enjoy their jobs and are happy to be there. Also, the
cleanliness and maintenance on Carnival, at least on the Radiance, were much
poorer than on NCL. Our cabin was not cleaned
well with dirty mirrors and sinks, mold/mildew in the bathroom and I even found
a fake fingernail on the carpet next to the bed. The general state of the ship was more dingy
and well and in need of maintenance. On NCL you were constantly seeing people
cleaning the public areas, painting and polishing too. On Carnival I only saw staff vacuuming an
area once, and when they did the area was impassable making it tricky to get
where you needed to go.
6.
One of the biggest differences that my husband
and I experienced between Carnival and NCL was the lack of an Observation
Lounge on Carnival. When we go on a
cruise we’re not there to drink from the time we wake up until the time we pass
out, we’re there to enjoy the ocean and the destinations we are going to. Our
favorite way to spend the day is in a lounge with floor to ceiling windows and
comfortable chairs, preferably with tables that we can play games on. We’ve had a lounge like this on every NCL
ship we’ve traveled on, but there was nothing like this on Carnival. We saw a few people pull up chairs to the
windows in the Casino, but the smoke and loud noise made this less appealing to
us.
So what’s the verdict? For us, Carnival is a nice cruise line but it
doesn’t match what we’re looking for in a vacation. I would recommend it for cruisers that are
high energy and enjoy parties and drinking.
You also need to be a sound sleeper because every little noise filters
into the cabins through the doors and people tend to congregate in the halls. I’d
be interested to try one of Carnival’s newer ships to see if they have options
that better match our preferences, but I’m not likely to cruise on the Radiance
again. Carnival’s prices are frequently
lower than NCL so if I can find a ship that has the features I like, I might
try them again!
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