Cruise Line Comparisons

This comes from a comment I made on someone asking to compare Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL) to Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL).

I'll let you know in 2025 after I cruise them all to see if I eat my words, but for the moment, these are my unfiltered impressions.

All of my cruises up til now have been on Carnival (I'm Gold level), but I am booked on Virgin, Royal Caribbean (RC), and NCL for my future cruises (plus another Carnival in there as well!).

From using their websites, participating in Facebook groups, and talking to people in general, here are some of my observations:

Carnival demographic is more mixed class-wise and diversity-wise. I think people who look down on Carnival as a hobby are more likely to be extremely (religiously and politically) conservative, also more likely to be racist.

I'm Canadian and there don't seem to be as many Canadians cruising Carnival.
But Canadians seem to LOVE RC, Disney, and NCL, from what I can tell.

Virgin is 18+ and attracts a wide range of people, but mostly 45+ age group, also lots of 2SLGBTQ+ folk. It's a party, but it's a very gay party. So good food, champagne, and dancing. Their customer service line answers the phone very quickly.

NCL itineraries are very port heavy and they put a lot of emphasis on excursions, which are really more guided tours. If you are at the point in your life that you don't want to walk everywhere and would rather have a bus take you around, this is the cruise for you!

If you look at NCL's extras you can order to your room, the demographic is definitely interesting because while like Carnival, you can order chocolate covered strawberries, on NCL you can also order a whole sheet cake for 40 people, a $1600 bottle of wine, and a platter of assorted "funeral" sandwiches. I'm really unsure what people will be getting up to in their cabins on NCL. Sounds like a bizarre church luncheon.

RC seems like a great family ship, but really overpriced for essentially the same stuff you would find on Carnival for free. But it's cheaper than a Disney cruise, so people like it. *shrug* 

It has stuff like a skating rink and a rock climbing wall, which I am going to do simply so I can say I ice skated on a cruise ship. But I didn't go looking for that.

I'm trying them all out because I don't like to compare. I feel like they all have something to offer and that's what makes it interesting. I don't think there's such thing as a perfect cruise line. 

I booked with Virgin because I wanted to try the 18+ atmosphere. 

I booked with RC because it fit perfectly as a B2B with my Virgin cruise. 

And I booked NCL because it has my bucket list destination (the Azores) that few other cruise lines offer.

I haven't had to call customer service yet for RC or NCL, but I've had to for Virgin, so that might say something. Out of all of them, Virgin's site is the hardest to navigate for the booking info page. It's not as intuitive as the others. 

So those are my impressions so far. We'll see how I feel afterwards. 

Carnival Liberty Review - Nov 2022 Sailing

 My honest review:

Sailed Monday, Nov 28-Dec 2nd. (We are the sailing that arrived late on Friday)

This was my fourth cruise with Carnival, my first on the Liberty.

I brought my best friend along for his first cruise and I upgraded us to a suite. We were in cabin 7231. It was very quiet - probably my quietest cabin ever. 

We got on the ship around 10:45am and were able to drop our bags off in our room and get changed into swim gear. We jumped in the hot tub pretty much right away. My friend went down the water slide (I'm too chicken).

Muster was the quickest ever: we walked over, they scanned us, asked us if we knew how to put on a life jacket, we both said 'yes' and they told us to go have fun. 

I saw no issues with the condition of the ship or cleanliness. I didn't find it worn down or anything. I was just on the Horizon in June, so while there's no comparison there, I didn't see or smell any issues.

I love these smaller ships. Easy to navigate and find everything. Our cabin location was great. 

I spent a lot of time in the steam sauna. It was never crowded, and there were always lots of towels and very clean. The showers there were also nice and hot and no one was ever in there. I feel like I was the only one who used them. My friend used the gym and running track. 

We went to the Steakhouse the first night. It was excellent and the view of the sunset was magnificent.

Sea day brunch was a little wonky. They all seemed very rushed and they forget my friend's tea order. 

I eat gluten free and never have an issue finding safe food for me to eat. Carnival does this well consistently, in my opinion. I enjoy the gluten free cake option every day at the buffet. 

Only had one disappointing meal the whole time. It was in the main dining room. My ribs were extremely tough and dry. Couldn't eat them, gave up, and asked for a salad. I had that and the lava cake for dessert. 

When it was announced we would be arriving to port late on Friday, I was able to sit back and relax because we had Fly2Fun. Carnival rebooked our flight home for the next day and put us in a hotel for the night. They emailed me all my changes and info before we were off the ship. 

All in all, nothing to complain about, and would absolutely sail on the Liberty again.