You won’t feel as nickel-and-dimed onboard either, as most dining and activities are included in your cruise fare. Specialty dining, excursions, drink packages, and onboard internet are all additional add-ons to consider when pricing your cruise. With a lower cruise cost, the cruise line attracts a wide range of travelers.
Carnival Destinations
Royal Caribbean debuted Johnny Rocket’s on Voyager of the Seas in 1999 and has been adding new and exciting options ever since. Steak, seafood, Italian, Mexican can be found along with the interesting, imaginary, and very instagrammable venue, Wonderland. Onboard Breakaway, Epic, Escape and others, theater lovers can also choose to enjoy a meal while enjoying a show. Wine Lovers the Musical is held during the day, with Cirque-style shows in the evening. Other complimentary venues near the pools are the Wipeout Café offering burgers, hot dogs, and pizza, while healthier dishes served in the Solarium Bistro. Main dining room menus consist of a rotating selection of starters, an always available selection of 6 Classic Entrees, and changing selection of around 6 Featured Entrees.
Carnival Food
Plus, don’t miss the private sundeck and pool – your own serene spot on the ship. Carnival Cruise Line is celebrated for its vibrant parties and dynamic night scene, featuring energetic discos and piano bars. While their stage shows are not the main focus, they offer unique performances like “America Rocks” through Playlist Productions, which incorporates LED screens and special effects.
Fleet
It should also be noted that on the Norwegian sailings, you can pay a higher fare and receive the Free at Sea selections as an additional benefit. Passengers may choose from a beverage package, shore excursion credits, specialty dining, or onboard WiFi. The Free at Sea is not included in OX, BX, or MX categories (the cheapest cruise fares).
Carnival Cruise Line and Norwegian Cruise Line are considered mainstream cruise lines with family-friendly cruise ships. This means you’ll find affordable fares regardless of which cruise line you choose. Along with families, both cruise lines still provide an excellent vacation experience for couples, seniors, and solo travelers. Dining on Norwegian Cruise Line is based around the cruise line’s freestyle approach with no set dining times or even dress codes. Instead, the cruise line has multiple restaurants available for dining each evening. You’ll enjoy more freedom and flexibility with your dining, but most restaurants onboard are specialty restaurants that cost extra.
The fleet's spa cabins are disappearing in 2024 to make room for more solo cabins. Another area where Norwegian gets particularly creative is in accommodations for travelers cruising solo. Studio cabins are designed for one, with mood lights and other features that make the inside accommodations seem more spacious than they are. The benefit here is single-occupancy pricing and a private lounge for socializing with other solo passengers. Carnival Cruise Line and Norwegian Cruise Line are two of the most popular cruise lines in the world, offering a variety of ships to cater to different types of travelers. Both cruise lines offer daily schedules filled with trivia, bingo, movie screenings, port talks, shopping opportunities and live music.
Embarkation Ports
You have a butler to cater to any requests, and there’s a special lounge and restaurant exclusively for Haven guests. Otherwise, it’ll come down more to the price and the features of the ship, so let’s keep going. Carnival’s fleet consists of 26 ships currently sailing, and one more that is due to join.
Lunch buffets are complementary and served at several locations so food is nearby no matter which part of the island you find yourself in. Most activities, such as the aquapark, waterslide, and dragon Coaster are an additional fee to enjoy. Norwegian’s private island, Harvest Caye, is located off the coast of Belize.
The ships are unquestionably playful vessels where guests of all ages can let their hair down and enjoy an excellent value proposition, thanks to a wide range of included activities, food and entertainment. Newer ships boast innovations like the SkyRide (a midair, suspended bike course) and Bolt (full roller coaster at sea). There has been a tremendous increase in the number of restaurants onboard cruise ships.
Carnival Panorama is the only ship in its class to have a SkyZone trampoline park. Finally, Mardi Gras will feature the first ever roller coaster at sea when the ship debuts in 2020. Balconies on the newer ships can be on the small side, though still large enough for two to sit and enjoy.
For the most part, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean have done a great job of breaking up the crowds so that it never feels overly crowded on their mega-ships. While the quality of the comedy shows has been quite good, each show is not unique. In addition, we’ve been disappointed to find that the seating for most comedy shows and dueling piano performances consists of hard, wooden, straight-back chairs. Elsewhere onboard, passenger participation shows like Deal or No Deal can be found, along with dueling pianos and comedy.
On ships such as Bliss, Getaway, Escape, and Breakaway, it is the only pool deck dining location with complimentary food and can get quite crowded during prime breakfast and lunch hours. Royal Caribbean continues to lead the way in shipboard activities as well. Famous for its Flowriders and multi-deck rock climbing walls, Royal Caribbean is even pushing the envelope with its shipboard waterslides. Riptide is the first headfirst waterslide at sea and The Blaster, an aqua coaster, are both onboard Navigator of the Seas. Carnival’s main theater Playlist Productions is still mostly traditional cruise ship singing and dancing without much a story or plot to follow.
Should I cruise on Princess to Alaska? I booked a sailing to see for myself - Cruise Blog
Should I cruise on Princess to Alaska? I booked a sailing to see for myself.
Posted: Thu, 10 Aug 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Alongside those, you get great comedy and game shows too, including Deal or No Deal and Wheel of Fortune. Again, NCL has something slightly similar with Family Balcony Staterooms, but they don’t have special theming, nor is there a special lounge either – the rooms are just closer to the kids’ club and pool deck. But if you don’t need a lot of space, then being able to cruise without super-high supplements is a big win. This is one of the best reasons to consider booking an NCL cruise – the cruise line has some of the best options for solo travellers. These offer a spacious accommodation option, with up to an extra 80 square feet compared to a regular Balcony stateroom, and you get some additional perks and amenities too. When you book The Haven, you’re in for a step up in the cruise experience.
If you do love the spa, or you want a fun family-themed room, Carnival has some great choices, though NCL’s Spa rooms are also good. The Cloud 9 Spa staterooms and suites are located right next to the Cloud 9 Spa on the ship, but it’s not just about the convenience of having the spa on your doorstep. Carnival has a range of ‘themed’ staterooms and suites that have additional perks, depending on the type of cruiser you are. So many cruise lines treat single guests as an afterthought, while NCL is actively increasing the number of solo studio rooms available across the fleet. Not only do you get a great rate, but there’s also a Studio Lounge that’s aimed at solo guests. Carnival’s private islands include Princess Cays and Half Moon Cay, and both destinations have great spaces to unwind and relax along with a range of exciting activities to try.
Carnival's largest cruise ship is about 1,130 feet long and has a gross tonnage of 183,521 tons. Carnival features a large fleet of around 24 cruise ships that travel around various parts of the world. Norwegian Cruise Line features around 19 cruise ships as a part of its overall operating fleet.
