Carnival, Royal Carib, Princess or Norweigan????

Question

Hello. I am looking for a cruise to either the Caribbean or the Bahamas. I am in my twenties and I am taking my mom who is in her fifties. I am into the pool and nice beaches scene and she is into great food. Which cruise line is better? What are the best ports of call in the Caribbean? Thanks for your feedback!

Answer 1

Carnival for reasonable prices....Jamaica for all around fun in the sun, shopping, etc....Best contact a travel agent for all the teeny details....Bon Voyage!!!!

Answer 2

Carnival is affordable, which could mean that with affordable, you will run across many of the college kids who will be up late hours of the night screaming up and down the halls. Not saying there is anything wrong with it, just keep this is mind if your mom  isn't all into that scene.  As for ports of call, St. Thomas is beautiful! Haven't done any Caribbean cruises, just seen some of my friends pictures. So I couldn't tell you what any other ports of call are like.

Answer 3

Well I have been on Royal Carr to the Western Bahamas, Norweigian to Hawaii, and Carnival to the Eastern Bahamas all for family vacations lasting 7 days.

I would have to say that Norweigan had nice pools, but I thought the food was lacking. I also thought that there wasn't much to do on the ship.

If i remember correctly, both RC and Carnival had midnight buffets. And not just any buffets....delicious chocolate buffets with beautiful sculptures and decorations.

I went on RC and stopped at the Grand Cayman Islands, which was my favorite stop. My family of 15 and I went snorkling with turtles and fed stingrays. On the same ship we stopped in Cozumel, Mexico and swam with dolphins. The excursions can be pricey, but I think they are well worth the money. Everywhere in the Bahamas has great shopping if that is something you like. On the RC cruise I went to Belize City, Belize and found it to be the only stop I didn't care for. The people there hound you to buy their things while you walk on the streets and it becomes rather annoying.

You should do at least one snorkling excursion, try the island food, and try to go to some waterfalls.

Overall I would have to say that Carnival was my favorite but Royal Caribbean is up there too. Norweigan just didn't have enough to do on the ship.

And...although I have not been there, I have heard that Jamacia is beautiful!

Hope I could be of some help to you! Have a fun, safe vacation with your mother! I'm sure that no matter who you cruise with or where you go it will be the vacation of a lifetime!

Answer 4

This is a tough one to answer.    My first reaction on the pool and food would be Princess.   As for the best ports of call, the answer to that is: it depends

How long of a cruise do you want to take?   What are your criteria for a port being 'best'?   Shopping?  Scenery?  Beaches? History? Shore excursion options?   Need a bit more info.

Answer 5

go here and click on cruise crittic  then click on port reviews you will find a ton of info there

http://redhotescapes.com/index.php?pageI...

Carnival is fun but also a younger party crowd.  I took my mom on Caibbean Princess  and she loved it definately more upscale and a alot of older people on that boat.  I have only done those 2 cruiselines.  If you leave port out of san juan you will get to see alot more islands.  Dont do the st thomas and St maarten the islands are alot alike Check into the southern Caribbean it hits barbados curacao St lucia Aruba etc.  Cruises are awesome that above link also has a cruise section  Cayman islands is awesome too.  Too many to choose.

Answer 6

That's a tough question, indeed!  There are fans and non-fans of all the cruise lines.  But you can get a wide variety of opinions, and match up their criteria with yours, at CruiseCritic.com.  Click on "Reviews" at the top of the page, then choose your line/ship and read what pros and, especially, past passengers have to say [click on "Member Reviews"].  

For info on all aspects of cruising, click on "Boards" at the top of the page, then choose your topic.  There is a "Ports of Call" board, where you can get advice and opinions on the different ports of call.  There are things I like about the Western, Eastern and Southern itineraries, so it's hard to pick a favorite.

Carnival gets "dissed" a lot, but it's a good value and a good first cruise.  Royal is supposedly about the same quality, but is usually a little pricier.  Norwegian seems to have a wide range of opinions - either you love it or hate it, it seems.  Princess is said to be a small notch above any of these three; Celebrity and Holland are a larger notch above the three [and I'd recommend either of these for the food and service, especially].

You might also want to get a book on cruising from your library or bookstore, to get an overall view of what's involved in cruising.

Answer 7

I took norwegian last year. I like their free style cruising, which allows you to eat whenever, wherever, with whomever you want. Most ships have several restaurants to choose from and you dont have to worry about having to dress up for dinner. Very casual.

cayman, nassau, and jamaica

Answer 8

I prefer the Princess cruise lines as they are well rounded. Carnival would be fun for you, but your mom would most likely  want something more sophisticated then Carnival. Forget Norwegian cruise lines as they are just not up to pare as the other cruise lines. I have never been on Royal Carib, but have heard many good things about it.

Answer 9

I have been on Princess, Norwegian, and Royal Caribbean ships but not Carnival and can vouch that they are good cruise lines. However, there are some differences.

Princess has great ships that are more classy and reserved than the other cruise lines.  They have great food choices and  in my opinion seem to feature food "presentation" at dinner with meals that look pretty as well as taste good.  Princess also has 'personal choice' cruising meaning that you can select from the traditional first or second seating, OR option to go to dinner any time you want (just like Norwegian advertises with their "Freestyle").   If you want a better cruise experience for your money go on Princess. The difference in cost over the others is not that much.

-Carnival is the budget cruise line that has more first time cruiser and young people (20 to 35 age group) who want to party, party, party. If that is what you are looking for then Carnival is the cruise line for you. Carnival is family oriented to an extent and will also have a good number of kids and also some older passengers.

-Norwegian cruise line is good and I have been on many of their cruises. Its the line that you want to go on if you want to be informal for pretty much your whole cruise. They have formal nights like other cruise lines but they do not stress dressing up; the call it "dress up if you want to" night. In my experience their passengers tend to be a mixture of young and middle aged people. They also have programs for the kids.  My personal preference is not to go on NCL any more because I do not care for the freestyle dining.  I prefer to have MY waiter, MY table, and get to know my wait staff and have them learn what I like.  But otherwise the cruise is the same as any other.

-Royal Caribbean caters most to families and has the most and best on-board activities. Many Royal Caribbean ships have things like ice skating, roller blade track, rock climbing wall, mini-golf course, full sized basketball courts, and adults only pool and hot tub area called 'Solarium", the surfing simulator on the Freedom Class ships called the "Flowrider". RC also has kids programs called Adventure Ocean and on many ships a special area on the ship for them, plus a teen disco called Fuel. You cannot go wrong with RC.

Regardless of which cruise line your parents select, the things that are included are pretty much the same. The price of your cruise includes your cabin, all meals (including breakfast, lunch dinner, snacks and free room service)(you do pay to eat in the specialty restaurants), all shows and entertainment, and free use of all facilities on ship. The things that you will have to pay for are; gratuities, alcoholic drinks and soft drinks, souvenirs, photos, tours, casino play, and other incidentals you buy on ship.

For the decision you will have to make on where you want to cruise to in the Caribbean, consider this. There are really three basic types of Caribbean itineraries.

- Western Caribbean cruises typically go to Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Jamaica and a private cruise line island. If you go western Caribbean you will have great beaches (like 7-Mile Beach in Grand Cayman) to visit and the opportunity to buy tours to Mayan ruins.

-Eastern Caribbean typically go to St Thomas, St Maarten, a private cruise line island and maybe another island like Tortola or Puerto Rico. If you want to do a lot of shopping then pick a cruise with St Thomas as one of the port stops. St Maarten is also mainly a beach and shopping stop.

- Southern Caribbean cruise itineraries typically start in Puerto Rico and go either to Aruba, Curacao, and St Thomas and St Maarten, OR they go to the southern Caribbean islands like Barbados, Grenada, Antigua, St Lucia and maybe St Thomas and/or St Maarten. The main difference between these two itineraries, aside from the different islands, is the Aruba cruise has 2 "at sea" days with no port stops, while the other has a port stop about each day.

If you want to do a Caribbean cruise that is longer than 7 days you may want to consider one to the Panama Canal. Cruises there typically do stops similar to the Western Caribbean (as I mentioned above) including Jamaica, Cozumel or a Mexico port, and Grand Cayman along with Panama and Costa Rica.

That's my feedback for you based on my experiences.

Answer 10

My first cruise was with Carnival. I was ripped off big time and will never sail with them again. So I would have to say Royal Caribbean.