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'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 2

Royal Caribbean Vs Carnival

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Cruise line recomendations - Carnival vs Royal Caribbean vs Norwegian?
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...

Answer 4

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 5

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 6

I have been on three cruises and they all have been norwegian. My family loves this cruise line and I gurentee you will to. The nimber one thing thay saynds out about nowegian is the free-style dining. It dosen't matter when or where you are you can eat. Another thing is that norwegian has great deals like a liquor package for a balcony room. You can also bring all the liqour you want(as much as you can carry). The people on norwegian are very friendly. You will have an even better time without kids. My friends told me that carnival is not as exciting and free as norwegian.

Answer 7

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 8

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 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

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 11

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.