Cruise line recomendations - Carnival vs Royal Caribbean vs Norwegian?

Question

Starting to plan for a 3 to 7 day cruise - without the kids. This will be a first for both of us. Hoping to get a feel for cruising to later plan a Disney cruise with kids.

Can anyone offer opinions on which cruise line to look at for a first time trip? Really appreciate first-hand knowledge.

Also - any advice on Gulf cruises vs. Western, Eastern, or Southern Carribean? Best ports to hit? any to stay away from??

Thanks!!

Answer 1

I can't comment on Norwegian though I know friends who love the free-style dining on their cruises.  My experiences on Royal Caribbean and Carnival were night and day!  RC was awesome and had a wonderful time!  Everything was top-notch and the food was round-the-clock and delicious; whether you chose to dine in the Captain's Dinner or if you just wanted to order in room service.  Definitely go on the newer and bigger ships.  We were on a 7-night Southern Caribbean cruise and left from San Juan, PR and stopped on 5 different islands:  St. Thomas, St. Marten, Barbados, Antigua, and St. Lucia.  Beautiful islands and great island excursions!

Carnival was a nightmare....but we were with 20 family members and we made the most of it!  The food was awful and it happened so that we were on a cruise with a 1200 member family reunion of "Patels".  We were the minority and experience unrelentless rudeness and people were like animals running up and down the corridors.  Some cabins had 10 people staying in them.  The ship personnel were fed up as well so complaints fell on deaf ears.  I can't say you'll experience what we did but you may want to check the manifest before you book!  Your travel agent can help you with this....ours didn't!  I'm glad to say that our Carnival experience will not prevent us from cruising again!  It's a blast!  Good luck and have fun!!

Answer 2

I personally like Norwegian the best.  Their ships are very nice (if it was built during or after 2001, Norwegian Star or newer).  They have an elegant and classy feel to them, but not to the extent that you feel you have to be classy the whole time.  It makes you feel at home so you're more comfortable.  Royal Caribbean to me felt like I was expected to be proper at all times and not have any fun.  Carnival made me sick at how gross people can be with extensive drinking and made me feel uncomfortable.  

My first cruise was with Norwegian.  I was absolutely thrilled with everything.  The food was great, everything was clean, they have a great sanitation system, the cheapest rooms were very elegant and cozy.  I heard that Royal Caribbean was so much better but I honestly don't like them better for reasons above.  I also went on Carnival and I HATED it.  So for a first hand experience, I would go on NCL.  But whichever cruise line you go with, I can almost guarantee that you will have a great time.  Even the people who get sea sick have a great time (I could never feel the ship moving).  Have fun, I know I did!

Answer 3

Carnival is the bottom of the barrel when it comes to cruising. They are the least expensive and it shows. Food is mediocre at best. They tend to cater to families with children and to young adults under 25.

Royal Caribbean is one of my favorites and have some great ports of call. Norwegian is perhaps a small step below but also very good. Nice thing with Norwegian si there are no set dining times.

Ports of call to visit:

St. Thomas, St Marteen, Martenique, Barbados, Grand Caymen just to mane a few

Best website to book:

Cruisequick.com once you have all of your information.

Answer 4

i went on a royal carribean cruize and it was a great experience.  i havent been on any of the other ones, but i can tell you that the royal carribean was a good choice.

Answer 5

Well first of all don't book anything shorter then a 7 day cruise because it take a day to get on and a day to get off so that takes away from the short trips.  My first few cruises were Carnival and I loved people watching their are some characters.  NCL was nice and i did like the free styling. They did have a dining restraunt for an extra fee I think it was 15 to 20 dollars which was a special treat. It is nice to be able to go eat dinner when your hungry and not having to rush.  I was on the Sun.  Every cruise line has its pros and cons.  depending on what you are actually looking for.  I took my kids on Carnival when they were younger and they loved it.  I can not tell you about R.C. as of yet. I do have a trip with them next August.

I am looking forward in trying them out.  I have been on Celebrity Summit the service was outstanding and the food was very good.

Answer 6

Hi; have been on 5 cruises and would say Norweigan is best. Food, services & price. Free style cruising allows jeans some others prefer not. Suggest inside room as you will not be in room that much to spend the extra $500.each. Also 7 days cruise to give you the fell. Go by where you are to base your cruise on plus, what you like. Open water or scenery. Each Cruise Line has sites with deals and you can see the rooms. Enjoy Good Luck.

Answer 7

I just got off of Carnival (my first cruise). I can't speak for the other cruises, but let me give you some good information. Expect to pay an automatic 15% gratuity on just about everything you buy. Sodas are not free. There will be around a $4 charge for the bottle of water in your room if you drink any of it. There will be an automatic $10 per person a day charge for gratuity for all the service you receive on the ship. For example you and your husband take a 7 day cruise, they will add $140 to your bill (you are allowed to go to the purser to take any or all off if you so choose to. When you get to your room start checking daily your bill on the tv screen by punching the number on your card they give to you on the Main Menu. All the crew members will always say hello as you pass them in the hall, because they want your gratuity. They will expect you at the end to pay the Maitre'D gratuity. When you go on the excursions, expect to pay your guide gratuity. I'm not saying any of this is a bad thing, I'm just preparing you so your not suprised about gratuity,gratuity,gratuity. Finally there will be a million ways to spend your money on the ship alone. Spend it wisely, unless your wealthy, or could care less.

Answer 8

I've been on all three.

Given the three cruise lines you've asked about, it's got to be Royal Caribbean.  Norwegian and Carnival do not match the levels of service, quality of food or overall ambiance that RCCL does.  

The big question here is how structured you want your cruise to be.  Both Carnival and RCCL have "assigned" dining times and various dress codes for dinner (formal nights, casual nights, etc.), where NCL has "Freestyle" dining.  In other words, they have 8-12 restrauants for you to choose from, and you eat when, where, and with whom you want - and dress as casual as you please.  Another aspect of NCL, is that they have - very quitely over the past few years, been building many new ships.  They have a pretty young fleet.

You also asked about which cruise to take - if you're only able to do a 3-4 day cruise, you'll only be able to get to the Bahamas and back - a nice intro to cruising.  A 7-night cruise from Florida will get you to Eastern (my wife's favorite for shopping in St. Thomas) or Western ports (generally more adventurious shore excursions).  For a Southern Caribbean cruise (my favorite), you'll need to fly to San Juan. The decision here is that the airfare to San Juan is about $200-300 more per person than airfare to Florida.  So your budget does come in to play in both departure city and cabin selection.  A quick scale, from least expenseive to most expensive cabin types is: Inside; Oceanview; Balcony; Suite.  The best location for least motion is as close to mid-ship as possible - another factor that not too many people realize is that the higher decks have more motion than the lower decks.

Some final thoughts; 1) make sure you use a good travel agent; 2) ask your travel agent to price out "Celebrity Cruise Line" for you - they're a sister company to RCCL, and absolutely the best (our personal favorite!); and 3) remember that August - October is hurricane season.

Have fun - planning is a big part of the enjoyment!

Answer 9

My preference is:  Royal Caribbean first, Norweagen second, and not Carnival. The Carnival ships seem to me to roll more and I get queezy

Answer 10

NONE!!  Go on Holland America Line if you are older or are taking younger children with you.  Or Princess for all ages.  

Do not go to Cozumel or Cancun.  There is not much to see or do still after the Hurricane.  They are still building.

Answer 11

Never being on a Carnival cruise

my best is the Celebrity

but the Royal and Norwegian are great

take the Eastern OR Souther Carribean

you will love ST Maarten and do dimond shopping

(your husband might like that)

Have fun

Answer 12

Carnival=targets younger age group, ships tends to be older

Royal Caribbean=awesome food and accommodation.

*Royal Caribbean and Celebrity are sister cruiseline.

Norwegian= a friend of mine just came back from it and he absolutely hates it.

I wouldn't suggest you to go on a 7 days to starts as it might be too long for you for the first time, and you'll miss the kids!  It's hard to say which cruiseline is better as it depends on the ship.  I went to Western Caribbean for 5 nights.  The port was Jamaica and Grand Caymen.  I love Jamaica but you do have to be careful with your valuables in there.  Grand Caymen, I'm not too crazy about it as I find it really commercial.  Eastern Caribbean has more activities and the city tends to be further away from the ports.  My friend told me it cost about US30-50 for a taxi ride.  We embarked from Fort Lauderdale, it was good for a day or 3 visit there but I was there for 3 days and find it way too long.  If you want more unbias reviews and find a cruise that most suit your need, visit this website:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/index.cfm

I got it from a friend and it was extremely helpful.  Travelers post reviews on amenities, food, accommodation, etc. for different ship of different cruiseline and it's itinery.  Bon Voyage!

Answer 13

I would recommend Royal Caribbean.  Their service is great.  Food is great.  The price is in the mid pack.  I am sure there are better cruise lines out there but those would cost you double or triple the price.

I am looking at a 5 day cruise our of NYC in two weeks.  It's only $399.  Check out the link below.

Answer 14

I have gone on 4 carnival cruises my first was with carnival, 1 with norweign and 3 with royal caribbean. Carnival was nice, we liked it a lot until we tried royal caribbean. Norweign I would never go on again, they say they offer free style dining but every time my and my husband requested a table for 2 they sat us with 4-6 strangers, and the quality of the food was not that good, the ship we were on was old. Royal Caribbean is a little more money but is really worth it. The bigger the ship and the newer the ship you go on you will find the sailing to be smoother. To try a cruise just to find out whether or not you will enjoy it, almost any cruise line for a short 3 day cruise would be fine. Right now there are some great deals on cruises, try different web sites. skyauction.com is one royalcaribbean.com is another as well as lastminutedeals.com. If I were you I would go to souther caribbean, aruba, curaso, st thomas, barbabdos, st martin  all of the islands that the ships go to are usually nice and safe. Go on a 7 day cruise 3 days is too short. We actually love to go on 10 or 11 day cruise. I have not gone on a Disney cruise but worked with a few people who have gone on them with thier kids and they loved it. Enjoy and I can almost bet once you cruise and see what you get for the money that will be your first choice as far as a vacation.