Carnival vs. Norwegian: What’s the Better Cruise and Value?

Comparing the Carnival Mardi Gras to the Norwegian Escape from a Carnival Diamond Member

I don’t think a well rounded traveler and cruiser can only travel on one cruise line so I decided to go on a Norwegian cruise when I had a few extra days off.  I just achieved Carnival VIFP Diamond Status in September 2023 when I sailed on the Carnival Celebration. I hit the 200 night mark at the very end of that trip.  With that milestone, I thought a great comparison for my Carnival experience would be to go on a Norwegian cruise and do a comparison with Carnival.  I’ve been on the Norwegian Bliss and Breakaway out of New York, and now I’m on a 5 day cruise from New York to Bermuda that started yesterday November 5^th.

Since my website is All About Carnival, whenever I travel on another cruise line, I’ll compare to Carnival.  When I say ‘Carnival’, I am referring to the brand and not the company since Carnival Corporation is the parent of Princess, Celebrity, Costa, Cunard, and a few smaller brands. I’ve been only on the Carnival ships with the Red funnel.  😊  I started out going on Carnival when I was surprised with a cruise from my Then Boyfriend and Now Husband Troy.  I never gave thought to going on a cruise before, except for decades earlier when I thought my dream job would be a Cruise Director-BUT, more about that some other time.  Maybe when I write my book!  😊

What I’ll focus on in this comparison are the features/criteria  of what I like to do since I can only speak from my own experience.  For instance, I don’t gamble. I have nothing against gambling except my checking account does.  😊  I’m not a winner in that category. Primarily what I like to do is eat, drink, meet new people, sit under an umbrella at the  beach, go to comedy shows,  and relax.  I can’t really compare shore excursions from cruise line to cruise line since they’re likely all the same and use the same operators from port to port. The difference MAY be in the cost that is charged by each cruise line. 

A great way to save money is to go directly through Viator, but you’re taking the risk of the operators not being vetted for safety, security, quality, and more.  Also, the ship will leave you if your tour runs late.  Be forwarned! 

The Carnival ship that I’ll compare this cruise to is mostly going to be the Carnival Mardi Gras.

The reason being that it’s the most similar in size and age of the design.  Carnival Mardi Gras set sail in 2021.  Norwegian Escape’s maiden cruise was 2015, but it was refurbished (updated) in 2022, so it’s very similar in the age of the design and features. 

Here are some statistics (rounded up and taken from either Carnival, Norwegian , or Wikipedia:

• Carnival Mardi Gras:
  • 181,000 gross tonnage.
  • Normal  occupancy:  5,282 passengers. (6,500 passengers)
• Norwegian Escape:
  • 165,000 gross tonnage.
  • Max passenger capacity: 4,266

What’s interesting about these numbers is that Carnival is ~10% bigger, but carries (based on 5,282) 24% more passengers.  If carried the same proportion of their size difference, they would only carry another 426 more passengers.  The reason I figured out these numbers is that I’m going to refer to when I look at the options between the restaurants and bars for each.  Also, when I talk about the cabin size, I was confused why my Norwegian cabin was much smaller than the somewhat equivalent Carnival cabin. I thought Norwegian was squeezing more cabins onto their ship than Carnival.

The goal of this comparison is to give you my opinion of each of the features that I have experienced and then declare a ‘winner’ for each variable and an overall winner at the end of this cruise.  This is not going to be an overly scientific comparison.  I’m not going to use weighted averages, but just an overall impression that I had on what I prioritize.  I’ll start in order of what is the most important to me to less important, with the exception of the ‘Vibe/Ambience’ category because that would give away the Winner right away!.  This category is a  ‘Dealbreaker’ for me.  (Also, cost is a variable that is not the first that I list, but I can’t get onboard if I can’t easily squeeze into my budget!) Even if the food, bars, etc. are wonderful, if the friendliness of the staff, passengers, and a general feeling of enjoyment isn’t there, I’m likely not going to do a repeat of that cruise.  Important to note, I’m not including some of the perks that I get as a Carnival Diamond member since that wouldn’t be fair or ‘apples to apples’. 

So, here we go!

Dining:

Being someone who spends a lot of my free time eating out on land or sea, the dining options and food are, pretty much, at the top of my list of whether or not I’m going to love the cruise or not.  For this, I’ll consider the food quality (taste, texture, temperature, and appearance/presentation), variety (choices and number of complementary and specialty restaurants), and service (staff friendliness and attentiveness, speed of service, accuracy of order, and options of dining times.).  I’m not including cost as a part of what I declare my favorite since they’re really different on how they price their dining options (I’ll explain below), and once I’m on the ship (unless it’s ridiculously cost-prohibitive), I’m going to splurge since it is vacation.  I simply want to eat good food.

Carnival:

Most people would agree that Carnival doesn’t have the best food choices or quality.  You’re paying an economical cruise fare so you’re not getting 5 star food.  Even still, I’m just happy I don’t have to cook, and the choices are much more vast and better than what I prepare at home.  It’s mostly good, and there are a few options that I absolutely love and look forward to like Guy’s Burgers, Bonsai Sushi, and their Sea Day Brunch. The first thing I do is get up to Guy’s and get my first burger of the cruise.  He’s made up some fun burgers and a lot of variety like the Pig Patty (bacon on a burger), the  Chili Maximus (Chili Burger), and more.  The French fries are just right. Crispy and cooked with the skins on them, just the way I like them.  If you want to read more, check out my review of Guy’s Burgers.

 In the evening, I’ve eaten at Bonsai Sushi (when the ship has the Teppanyaki restaurant, they’ll have the shrimp tempura and filet steak-THE BEST)  almost every single night of the cruise since the sushi rolls are sooo good. The quality of the fish in the rolls, the friendliness of the sushi chefs and staff, and enjoying a warm sake makes this a Must for me.  Everything is extremely inexpensive ($7 or $8 for a large sushi roll, for example) that it’s hard to not eat there every night.  I haven’t been able to find that quality of sushi roll in my home city of Richmond, Virginia. 

Now, the Sea Day brunch.  Wow. The variety on that menu is unbeatable.   I always have the eggs benedict with extra hollandaise, pork sausage links, corned beef hash, cheese grits, ricotta pancakes, hashbrowns, and then I may add something else, but it just depends on how much I care what the server thinks of me. 😊 If you’d like to see my Youtube short on Seaday brunch, click here!

It looks like I’m about to do a food eating contest!  

Oh, I do need to mention Shaq’s new grill with chicken sandwiches that rival Chik Fila. It’s really good and a 10, but I’m just not a huge chicken person. 

Outside of these favorite’s, the rest of the food is either not my preferred style of food (Blue Iguana is like Chipotle’s and good, but not a Must for me), or it’s pretty average like their buffet and main dining room.  I like the convenience of not cooking so I’m just happy to have a good meal.  I’d give the main dining room and buffet (the same menu at night) a 5-7 on average. 

 The Carnival Mardi Gras has 16 specialty restaurants where you pay additional $  so there’s a good variety to choose from (the additional cost is subsidized substantially), but like I said, their service (except in the Main Dining Room when it’s slammed) is pretty good. 

Norwegian:

As I recalled from previous sailings, the food on the Norwegian was pretty good.  I would have even said better quality than Carnival. This sailing changed that opinion.  Let’s start with the Buffet food.  The hamburgers, hot dogs, and pizza that I ate were like eating at a junior high cafeteria. The hamburgers, including the buns, were pretty dried out.  The hot dogs were okay, but the buns were dried out under the heat lamp, and the pizza was as thin as paper. The crust on the pizza was non existent, and the toppings matched that. 

The rest of the food was on par with Carnival, a good variety but the quality was pretty average, sometimes cold, sometimes flavorless, and some was good.  The standout for me was the Indian food selection. I loved that and noticed a lot of people repeatedly in line for it.

  I didn’t have the prime rib the first night, but I’m sure that’s good.  I know this sounds harsh, but I always hear how Carnival’s food is horrible, but Norwegian’s is about the same at the buffet.  Like I said before, it’s better than I eat at my house on a normal basis, and I’m sure it’s tough to cook for so many people at once so the quality of the food is going to suffer a little. 

Now, let’s talk about the specialty restaurants. Norwegian has 8 specialty restaurants compared to 16 on Carnival.    I define the specialty restaurants as the places that aren’t the Main Dining Room and Buffet where the food is included in the cruise fare.  There’s additional $ you need to pay, plus they’re not the coffee shops with pastries. Here’s something pretty interesting about Norwegian.  A lot of the cruises they promote a free specialty meal included in the fare. I’ve learned nothing is ‘free’.  It’s just a marketing.  Well, now I can see how they include these meals for ‘free’ because the food in the specialty restaurants is about the same quality as the Main  Dining Room.  Also, if you didn’t purchase a meal at a set price, you pay for the food a la carte, and the prices are really the same as if you weren’t on a cruise; whereas, with Carnival, it’s definitely subsidized like the sushi roll example I mentioned.  Carnival will charge $7 or $8 for a good size and delicious sushi roll where Norwegian will charge double that price.  If I’m paying the normal price for food, I definitely expect it to be the same quality as I’d get off the ship. That’s not the case. 

Here are a few examples. 

The first specialty restaurant I went to was Cagney’s Steak House, which I tried to book before getting onboard for a decent time, but the only times available were late in the evening. Luckily, I got an earlier seating once I got on board and made the reservation. TIP:  I highly recommend going RIGHT to the Comedy Club and booking your meal reservations.  Anyway, my husband and I ordered the Rib Eye Steak.  That’s what we always order on the Carnival and eat at home.  On the Carnival, it’s spice rubbed, and I asked for that on the Norwegian.  Granted Carnival’s steak quality has gone down a lot in 10 years, but it’s still good.  The Norwegian steak had 0 flavor, was thin, not a lot of marbling, and so we left that almost untouched. Also, if they put any spices on it, I couldn’t taste it. I think we ate, maybe, 30% of the steak. 

The Lobster Bisque was good with a lot of chunks of lobster, and my mashed potatoes were good, but the steak wasn’t.  The server was nice and did a great job, at least. 

I never would have paid the a la carte prices for what we ordered. 

Next, we went to Moderno Churrascaria, a Brazilian steakhouse where they have a salad bar and bring out the meat to you.   Just don’t go in expecting it to be like Fogo De Chao or Texas De Brazil.  That’s a mistake. 

The salad bar had a few good things like sushi (although it wasn’t good sushi), a few cheeses and meats, and lobster bisque (forget it-no lobster chunks in that), but what it mostly had was a bunch of vegetables that weren’t that appetizing. 

Again, don’t compare to Texas De Brazil at home.  Here’s where it gets pretty sad.  When we sat down, the waiter got our drink orders and brought out our sides of mashed potatoes, biscuits, and Yucca pretty quickly.  We went to the salad bar right away and didn’t eat much since not that appetizing and want to save our appetites for the meat.  After that, though, we never received our plates for our meat.  We had our cards turned over to the green side, and the meat servers would walk by us and just pass by since we had no plate.  At Texas de Brazil, you can get the plates at the buffet, or the server brings to you right away.  We had to ask the server a couple times for our plates.  I think we sat there 20 minutes without any food at all.  Here’s what I think. I think they don’t give you plates right away since they’re pacing out how much meat they’ll give people. I could see the whole restaurant from my seat. It was full, but there were times there were no meat runners at all for a while, or only a couple.  That’s odd. Also, the quality.  Oh, the quality.  I had the sirloin that was dry and hard to eat, the lamb (that was okay), and the filet. The filet was the best. The rest wasn’t. 

The next specialty dining experience was the Italian restaurant La Cucina.  Again, non-subsidized menu prices if you didn’t get the all-in-one promo when you booked, and the food was minimal and on the level of an Olive Garden.  I got the calamari to start. I think there were 6 rings in it, and they were tiny.  Then, I got the fettucine alfredo. It was okay, but what I could get at the Main Dining Room for free if they offered it, and my husband’s meal didn’t look any better, and he wasn’t overly impressed.  I could see his portions were as small as mine.  That’s all well and good unless you were paying the a la carte prices, and that would be completely unacceptable. 

My thought on the specialty restaurants and why they’re ‘free’ is because it’s just really Main Dining Room (MDR) level food, separated out into niches around the ship, and they get extra $$ if you’re willing to pay for them.

There were 3 very bright spots that I enjoyed.  First, the main dining room food quality was pretty good. I know I just said that the specialty restaurants were on the level of the Main Dining Room quality, which means that the specialty restaurants’ food is fine, but not (in my humble opinion) worth paying the additional $$. I would say (except for the lack of a Sea Day brunch that I love on the Carnival) the food variety and quality was good and somewhat better than Carnival.  The food usually came out warm or hot and the length of time to get my food and drink was the same as Carnival. 

The second bright spot was the O’ Sheehan’s Neighborhood Bar and Grill. The food quality there was really good. I only had lunch there, but the nacho’s, sandwiches, and hot dogs were much better than the buffet food.  It’s FREE, too! 

Last bright spot, was the Pincho tapas restaurant. Even though the food wasn’t free, I’m not including in the Specialty Restaurant category since you don’t purchase this as a meal. So- I thought the prices were pretty reasonable, and loved the bacon wrapped dates. Those I could eat over and over again, and the server Queenie Santos  was SUPER nice and very helpful in explaining the benefits of our premium drink package.  She made sure we got a bottle of wine with our meal since that’s what we were paying for!

Overall Winner:  This one is tough, but I would have to say Carnival is since the specialty restaurants are a better value, and the food is better.  The main dining room food isn’t quite as good as Norwegian, but it’s not significantly worse, either. The buffet is about the same, but Carnival has Guy’s Burger’s, Bonsai Sushi , and a better variety of specialty restaurants at reasonable prices.

Bars and Drink Package:

I’m not someone who drinks much, but I do enjoy a cocktail or glass of wine when I’m out to eat.  Also, being a pretty cost-conscious person, I want a good deal.  I’ve figured out on Carnival, that it’s usually a better deal to get the that include Cheers drink package  that includes non-alcoholic drinks. Regardless, if I ‘break even’ or not, it’s just easier to get my drinks and not constantly be concerned about the expenses adding up with an unpleasant bill at the end of the trip.  There are quite a few differences between the two cruise lines’ drink packages. Before I go into them, I’ll say that my experience going out of New York, Norwegian already has an advantage.  This is a first, but when we went out of New York on the Carnival Venezia, we weren’t allowed to purchase the drink package for the first day. It’s some type of regulation imposed from NYC, we were told.  We were wondering if it would be the same situation with Norwegian Escape for the first day, that answer is NO.  Not an issue. Not sure why? Maybe it’s because it was ‘included’?  Now, let’s get into the differences in the drink package options.

Carnival:

First, let’s get into what the drink package is for Carnival as of November 2023.  Carnival Cheers Drink Package.  The description from the website is below.  If you purchase the drink package, remember that they automatically add 18% for gratuities. When it says $59.95 per day if you purchase prior to boarding the ship, you need to add 18% to that which comes up to $70.74 a day. One of my pet peeves is when they say it’s $59.95, but you have to add the 18% gratuity even before receiving your service.  What if the service is bad?  You still have to pay the gratuity or look really stingy and tell the bartender to take it off, and who does that?  Just give us the total amount and specify that it includes the gratuity! 

When you’re onboard, you don’t have to purchase the drink package the very first day, but you do by the 2^nd day, or you can’t get it.  The daily price is 10% higher than if you purchased prior to boarding. It’s $65.95 + 18% gratuity so that’s about $77.82 per day. 

Is this a good deal for you and your cabin mate?  Remember that anyone over 21 that purchases the drink package must make sure their cabin mate wants to do the same thing.  Carnival is making sure there is no sharing of drinks.  Also, there is a 15 drink maximum per day, and you can’t purchase for a day or two.  You need to purchase for the entire cruise (or remainder if you get Day 2).  Looking at the average drink prices in November 2023 (most drinks went up from January 2023), you’ll pay between $12-$13 for good liquor drinks.  Beer is about $8, and wine can be about $10 to $15.  Of course, this all depends on the quality of drink and liquor that you get.  Let’s say that you drink beer, wine, and liquor. I would ballpark that the drinks average $10 a drink + 18% mandatory gratuity which makes each drink about $12 All In.    With the pre-cruise drink package of $70.74 a day, it makes sense to get the drink package. That’s only 6 drinks (don’t scrutinize the math-rounding up for simplicity and illustrative purposes) per day to ‘break even’.  How easy it to drink 6 drinks on vacation when you’re not driving and have all day?  Very easy.  Even for a light drinker on land, it’s really easy. On vacation, I’ll go to brunch with a mimosa in my hand and order a Bloody Mary at brunch.  For lunch and the afternoon, I’ll order a couple drinks over 5 or 6 hours. That’s simple.  In the evening, I’ll order a pre-dinner drink while watching a band, head to dinner with a drink so I don’t have to wait for the server at dinner to get me one, order a drink at dinner, and then have a drink or 2 while I’m enjoying bands, shows, etc.  What’s the count up to now? That’s easily 9.  I more than ‘broke even’ and didn’t even ‘binge’ drink.  For me, it’s WORTH IT!  Also, one more thing.  When I’m on vacation, the last thing I want to do is count every nickel that I spend.  By doing the drink package, that’s not an issue.  I’m not obsessing over the 3^rd martini at the Alchemy bar-‘should I get this?’.  I just get it and consider the entire cruise a Tasting Experience where I sample different drinks and liquors that I normally wouldn’t at home.

As far as the variety of drinks and alcohol on board, it’s plenty for me.  I’m not trying to drink the most expensive or top shelf so I’m good.  I do find that the drinks seem ‘watered’ down. I don’t seem to even feel anything when I drink them.  You could say that I’ve built up a tolerance during the cruise, but I feel that way Day 1, and others have said the same to me.  It’s strange. I’m not sure why that is.  This isn’t exactly in the ‘drink category’, but I do like the bartenders on Carnival. They tend to be pretty friendly, at least, so it makes drinking much more enjoyable.

Carnival’s Drink Package!

DETAILS

Enjoy the ease of paying one flat price for your spirited beverages over the entire length of your cruise.  Now, that’s something to cheer about! Save up to 10% by purchasing before you sail. 

Cut-off for pre-purchase is 11:59 PM the day before embarkation and 9:00pm EST through call center. Additional restrictions apply, see below.

CHEERS! INCLUDES:

• All spirits (including cocktails), as well as beer and wine by the glass with a $20.00 or lower menu price 
• Sodas, Zero-Proof frozen cocktails, energy drinks, specialty coffee, hot tea, 500ml bottled water and other non-alcoholic bottled beverages
• Packaged water in the Dining Room and Specialty Restaurants
• 25% discount off the menu price for any spirit or wine by the glass above $20.00
• 25% discount off the menu price for wine and champagne by the bottle
• 25% discount off beverage seminars and classes

CHEERS! EXCLUDES:

• Beverages promoted and sold in souvenir glasses
• Bottles of liquor
• Beverages offered at gangway
• Beverages offered through room service, mini bars and/or in-stateroom beverage programs
• Sharing cocktails, floaters, pitchers, tubes and buckets
• Beverages offered at private parties and/or events
• All other beverage-related programs including merchandise, cigars and cigarettes
• Food items

TEXAS AND NEW YORK

Cheers package begins on Day 2 for ships sailing from Texas and New York – activation will occur at 6:00am on the second day of the cruise.

Applicable state and local taxes will be charged to the guest folio when this program is used within US waters. The tax is based on the state’s tax structure and the cost of the individual drink purchased (not the daily program rate). For example: if the drink price is $5 and the tax is 10%, the guest’s Sail & Sign card will be charged $0.50 for tax. This applies to all US ports (embarkation home ports and ports-of-call). Cheers Package is inclusive of VAT, if and as applicable on European cruises. Package is non-transferable and non-refundable after 10:00pm ET the evening before departure.

Like I said, I experienced the moratorium on the drink package in New York Day 1 when we traveled on the Venezia.  That must be rather new since we never had that experience before. That’s really LAME!

Norwegian:

The information for the Norwegian drink package (not including non alcoholic information) is below and through this link: Norwegian Drink Package November 2023.  This was ‘included’ in our fare.  To compare ‘apples to apples’, I’m giving you the prices for the basic and premium packages.  The rates below do not include the 20% gratuity (2% higher than Carnival), and with the package included in the price, Norwegian did charge the 20% to us prior to boarding.  As you see, we purchased the premium drink package since that included a better Wifi package.  At $109 per day + 20% gratuity, that is $130.8 per day versus $77.82 per day on the Carnival (comparing Carnival’s post boarding price since Norwegian doesn’t have a discount if you purchase prior to boarding) which is 68% higher than Carnival.

Is ir worth it?  Let’s look at the average non-premium drink prices and see what it takes to ‘break even’.  Remember on Carnival, you would need to drink about 6 drinks to make it worthwhile.  I saw that you can get beer for $7, some wine as low as $8, and some liquor drinks as low as $9.  That’s better than Carnival’s drink prices, in many ways.  There are still non premium liquor drinks that are the same as Carnival’s, but since you can get less expensive drinks on Norwegian, does it make sense to pay $130 a day?  Let’s say you drink the least expensive drinks of each category, and let’s make the average $10 with tip, you would need to drink 13 drinks a day to ‘break even’.  Even if you have a couple more expensive drinks, you would need to drink much more than 6 like Carnival to make it worthwhile.  Frankly, on Day 3, I almost can’t even drink my 6 drinks since it starts making me nauseated, but I will still sample drinks throughout the trip. (Oh, people over 21 sharing a cabin need to all purchase the drink package, just like Carnival. )

In my opinion it’s not worthwhile to pay that much for the drink package, but I’m sure 90% or more of the people onboard got it ‘included’ through the Free at Sea packages that are included in the fare.

Since we upgraded to the Premium package, every time I ordered a glass of wine, I could get an entire bottle!  I sure didn’t need that much wine.  Also, we could order the more expensive wines and liquors, but that doesn’t really matter to me. My husband did that since we didn’t have to pay for the base package so it was a nice indulgence. 

The variety of liquor and drinks on Norwegian’s menu seemed more extensive than Carnival, but I’m sure with both cruises, whatever you want, a bartender can make for you.

Like I said, the bartenders don’t technically fit into this category, but Norwegian’s bartenders aren’t that friendly, even when they’re not that busy.  They don’t chit chat with the cruisers so a disincentive to sit at the bar. 

Here is the information from Norwegian’s website:

Unlimited Open Bar Package

$109.00 USDper person per day

With the Unlimited Open Bar Package, enjoy a wide selection of beverages both on board and at Great Stirrup Cay. Here’s what you get:

• • Select, premium cocktails & spirits under $15 USD
• • A variety of beer and wine by the glass under $15 USD
• • 20% off all bottles of champagne and wine
• • Unlimited soft drinks and juices

Please Note: The Unlimited Open Bar Package is included with your reservation if you booked through Free at Sea.

Must be purchased for all guests 21+ on the same reservation. Individuals under 21 must purchase the Soda Package.  A 20% gratuity and beverage service charge will be added at checkout. See Terms and Conditions for full details.

Unlimited Open Bar Package Flyer

Premium Plus Beverage Package (ages 21 & older)

$138.00 USDper person per day

With the Premium Plus Beverage Package, elevate your cruise experience with our widest beverage selection both on board and at Great Stirrup Cay. Here’s what you get:

• • All top-shelf cocktails & spirits
• • All beer, red wine, white wine and our exclusive brand of rosé Champagne by the glass
• • Select premium bottles of wine with dinner including our exclusive brand of rosé Champagne and 40% off all other bottles
• • Unlimited soft drinks and juices
• • Unlimited still & sparkling bottled water
• • All Starbucks^® coffee & specialty drinks
• • Energy Drinks

Please Note: The Premium Plus Beverage Package is available as an upgrade from the Unlimited Open Bar Package included with Free at Sea.

Must be purchased for all guests 21+ on the same reservation. Individuals under 21 must purchase the Soda Package. A 20% gratuity and beverage service charge will be added at checkout. See Terms and Conditions for full details.

*For sailings prior to January 1, 2023, the price will be $128 per person, per day

Premium Plus Beverage Package Flyer

Overall Winner: Norwegian!

Since I believe most people get the basic drink package included in their cruise fare, I’m looking at the variety of drinks and there is flexibility to purchase up to a premium package.  Also, I felt like there was more liquor in the drinks. Remember I said I never felt differently drinking Carnival drinks?  That’s pretty big since I’m purchasing alcohol, not water.  In addition, even if you didn’t get the Free at Sea drink package and had to purchase your alcohol, there are enough less expensive selections where you could get 8 drinks versus 6 to break even. 

Norwegian isn’t an ‘easy winner’ in this category, but they’re a point or two above Carnival.

Cabin:

One of the most important parts of the cruise is where you’re going to rest, and enjoy your down time.  That would be the cabin.    Right after the destination and the ship, you make the cabin selection.  This is where you can really splurge or save quite a bit on the cruise fare.  What’s typically important is the size, if it has a balcony and/or view to the outside with a window, the layout and how many people can sleep in the room, the cleanliness, storage space for your clothes and more, a comfortable bed, a usable bathroom, a good size tv with enough channels to watch,  a refrigerator to store water and food, space to move around, low surrounding noise from other cabins and the ship, and a great room steward to keep the room clean.  Not sure if I hit everything, but that’s about everything that goes into a decision of which cabin to purchase and how much you like it after you’re in it.  Since I need I got an interior cabin for this cruise, I’ll compare it to the Carnival Venezia interior cabin we had for our NYC cruise in August. 

Carnival Venezia Interior Cabin 8351: 170 square feet

To make this really simple and without writing a ton down about all the details of the room, I’m sharing a video of the room that I posted on Youtube .  Also, you can see the square footage and layout. It’s not a bad size room and was really comfortable.  In fact, I thought I would kinda hate it since it was smaller, and I HATE not having natural sunlight coming into my cabin. Is it day? Is it night?  Well, I really loved it and felt like I was in a really comfortable cocoon.  There is less storage and cabin space than a balcony size room, but it was just enough to store my belongings for a short cruise. The bed was extremely comfortable, and the sheets and pillows were smooth and soft.  Perfect. So perfect that it was hard to leave the bed.  Again, it was nothing fancy or spacious, but just fine for a 5 day cruise.  The room steward was okay.  Once we told him when we wanted him to clean the room, he showed up and was rather friendly. Tipping helps.  😊  I liked the storage of the closets where you could fold down shelves, or not. The refrigerator kept rather cool, and the bathroom was just big enough to turn around in. If you’re a bigger person , it wouldn’t be that comfortable.  The number of sockets was good so if you bring an international adaptor and a US adaptor, you should be set for your electronics. It helps to bring an extension cord to keep your phone charged next to your bed.

Norwegian interior cabin 13631: 135 square feet

I took another video to share with you. You can see that the square footage is considerably smaller than the Venezia.  135 square feet versus 170.  This was a hideously small cabin.  I thought the Carnival cabin was small; this was like being in a shoe box the whole time.  The closet had only a hanging bar and side shelves.  The shelves weren’t deep so you could only put a few things on each.  There was a top shelf, but that was about it.  To get to anything up there, you’d need a stool to make sure something wasn’t buried behind your clothes.

The sides of the bed were so narrow you really couldn’t walk forward, you’d have to go sideways to get into the bed.  The desk area had no space, just a shelf or two, and that’s it.  Essentially, we spent the whole time just jumping into the bed to rest.   The bathroom was actually a good size for an interior cabin. I think it was a bit larger than the Carnival’s bathroom, which made me wonder if people would prefer a smaller bathroom and bigger living area or the reverse? I would say I would prefer a smaller bathroom and a bigger living area and storage.  I don’t think a person of size would be comfortable in this room at all.  Regarding the cleanliness of the room and the cabin steward, he was fine, but his service improved once you tipped him. We typically (‘tip’ically lol) tip $20 in the beginning to set the tone of the service, and tip $20 every other day to keep up the service levels.  On a positive note, the bed was very comfortable.  The sheets were smooth and the pillows were okay. 

Overall Cabin winner:  CARNIVAL!

While the décor of the Norwegian cabins is very nice and updated, the lack of space and storage made the room feel more cramped and disorganized than it should have been. 

Technology/Internet:

I know.  People say, you’re on a cruise to get away from it all, including technology!  Well, that worked for the first few cruises, but we decided we wanted some access to civilization and social media after that.  Also, there are times that we need to check into work randomly or work the full day on the ship.  We met someone who was a Diamond at a very young age who told us that he, pretty much, lived on the ship and worked during the days.  How awesome is that?  If you don’t have kids or pets and can afford it, that’s great!  So, for someone like him, internet speed and reliability is critical.  Without doing a long write up about the app’s for each , I’m just going to give a brief opinion the onboard ship app where you schedule dinner, see what’s happening, etc. and the internet speed and reliability.

Carnival:

The internet premium speed and reliability is great. I can watch Youtube and Netflix without a problem, unless it’s a peak time and everyone is online. That’s usually really late at night or mid morning.  Besides that, it’s great. The price has increased considerably from $14 to $21.25 a day in the last 2 years for the premium wi-fi so now we only get one plan and share it.  The Carnival Hub app is amazing and everything you need is easy to access, the format is great, and a great way to access a lot of services.

Norwegian:

Since we upgraded to the premium liquor package, we got unlimited premium internet. What comes with the Free at Sea is barely enough minutes for half a day, much less an entire trip. 

The internet was HORRIBLE and constantly couldn’t access websites, much less watch something on a streaming service.  The Norwegian app wasn’t accessible at times, and the text was jumbled sometimes. It didn’t have as much capability as the Carnival Hub App. It, almost, seemed like it was a new app for them that still hadn’t been tested much.  The internet was way too expensive for what you got.

Overall Technology/Internet Winner:  Carnival!

Embarkation process:

Since getting on the boat can set the tone for the first day, the whole cruise for Some, as well as be the first impression someone has of a cruise line, this is where I’ll start.

Carnival:

Prior to cruise, I check in online where I input my passport information, credit card, and preferred onboarding appointment time. When I arrive at the port, I stand in line to be checked in at a tall desk where a couple people are there to check my passport and my boarding documents.  From there, I  go through security and then proceed to an area to wait before I’m called on the ship.  The picture from my passport pops up as I get on the ship.  Once I get on the ship, I go straight to my room where the room door is open, and I put my carry on baggage.  Sometimes the room key is waiting for me some times it’s not.  If it’s not, I use my boarding document with a bar scan to get drinks or make purchases. It’s an extremely smooth and hassle free process. 

Norwegian:

Same as Carnival, I do the same online check in process.  Where it differs from Carnival is you go through security and then stand in a long line to have your passport validated, take a picture, and then get your cruise key/pass.  This can take a while.  Once that was complete, you wait to get on the ship.  Once you get on the ship, if your room is ready, you can drop off your luggage and then go walk around, get your drink, etc.  This definitely takes longer than Carnival’s process.  Carnival’s boarding process is the same for every departure port, from my experience.  Also, I was just on the Carnival Venezia in August out of Manhattan so this is a similar comparison to Norwegian. I don’t know if Norwegian changes by port.

For Embarkation, the clear winner:  Carnival!

Cost:

I’m sure most of you agree with me, if you can’t afford to get on the cruise, the other variables don’t matter!  How I’m going to compare the cost of each is where I’m going to depart again from the Carnival Mardi Gras. The reason being is that each port has different taxes and fees.  Also, you’re charged by the type of cabin that you purchase.  When I was on the Carnival Mardi Gras, I was sailing out of Port Canaveral in a balcony cabin.  I’m in an interior cabin out of New York, so I should compare to the cost of the Carnival Venezia trip I just took from New York in an interior cabin.  The Carnival Venezia is a newer ship, too, so it’s pretty equivalent.  Also, since Norwegian ‘includes’ certain benefits in their cruise fare, I’m going to have to adjust that to make it equal and then will come down to a $/day to see which is the better value.

Carnival:

For an inside cabin on the Veneizia, we paid $1201.62 with taxes and port charges for the 2 of us for a 4 day cruise out of New York City.  That comes to  $300.41 per day or $150.20 per person per day.

Norwegian:

For an inside cabin on the Escape, we paid $1535.92 with taxes and port charges for the 2 of us for a 5-day cruise out of New York City.

Here are the ‘included’ Add On’s

Comparing Apples to Apples-Carnival Cost versus Norwegian Cost

To do a crude cost comparison, I’m going to have to adjust Norwegian’s $1535 and account for  the extra’s that were included since Carnival’s fare doesn’t include those. I’m using Norwegian’s published prices as of the cruise date in November 2023. Also, I’m going to show Carnival’s price if you purchased the equivalent add on’s so you could see what the cost would be if you have the bar package or not, paid for the specialty dinner or not, got the wifi package or not, and had the shore excursion discount or not.  This is where I’m going to have to be somewhat liberal in how I do this, since Carnival doesn’t offer $50 shore discounts, their drink package doesn’t start until day 2 (but will ‘pretend’ it starts day 1) , Norwegian and Carnival don’t have a price for a 75 minute internet package, and I’m going to use Carnival’s price for their steakhouse as the specialty diner equivalent.  In addition, their gratuities are different.  As you can see above for gratuities, Norwegian charges 23.6% for dining and 20% for beverages; whereas, Carnival charges 18%. 

Most importantly, how does Norwegian come up with ‘savings’ of $527.10 where you can see the individual add on’s add up to much more. My suspicion is that Norwegian inflates it’s bar prices to make it seem like you’re getting a much better deal than you really are.

Last, what would this cruise REALLY have been without these Free and Sea perks?  I don’t know if there they even advertise those, but I didn’t look at the time so that’s a big factor. In the future, I could write up a whole article on how Norwegian does their pricing, but that’s out of scope for this article.

All of this really makes it pretty impossible to do a decent comparison, but I’ll try!

	Norwegian	Carnival
Fare (Norwegian adjusted for ‘savings’ of $527 and taking out gratuities)	$      777.22	$  1,201.61
Specialty Dining (2 meals)	$        99.00	$        98.00
Gratuity	$        23.60	$        17.64
Dining Total	$      122.60	$     115.64
Beverage package for 2	$  1,090.00	$     599.50
Gratuity (not ‘free’)	$      218.00	$     107.91
Beverage Total	$  1,308.00	$     707.41
Excursion Discount	$        50.00	$        50.00
75 minutes of wifi	$        10.00	$        10.00
If you drink	$  1,535.92	$  2,084.60
Cost per day for 2 people	$      153.59	$     208.46
If you don’t drink	$      959.82	$  1,377.25
Cost per day for 2 people	$        95.98	$     137.73
If use Carnival Cheer’s Package Price and Gratuity	$  1,667.23
Cost per day for 2 people	$      166.72	$     208.46

For Cost, the Winner is Norwegian!

Vibe and Ambience:

As I said, this is my ‘dealbreaker’ category on the ship. I saved this for last so I didn’t give away my CLEAR WINNER between Carnival and Norwegian.  The reason I’ve stayed with Carnival so many years is because I consider the staff and passengers (mostly) FUN and FRIENDLY.  Part of my enjoyment of cruising is meeting new people and talking to the staff. It’s really important to me that  the staff  and crew members are friendly, polite at a minimum, and very service-oriented.  You can tell they want the passengers to have a great time, and they know they contribute to that.  I hope most of the crew understands that some people that come on a cruise ship have never been on one, and they’re setting the stage for a person to become mildly obsessed for the rest of their lives, or say ‘forget it, I’m never doing that again!’. There are some people that love cruising that can’t do it much.  This is a trip they’ve scrimped, sacrificed, and saved for a long time so it’s a huge splurge for them.  I understand that’s hard to remember when you’re working long hours and everyone seems the same to you, but everyone has a different story and background. Now, let’s look at the differences I’ve experienced.  

Carnival:

From the moment you get on a Carnival ship, you feel the thrill and excitement of being on the ship. Every time I’ve walked onto a Carnival ship, the entry way is right into the Atrium where there’s a bar, music playing, and the employees are greeting you enthusiastically.  I immediately notice all of the smiles of the passengers, hear their laughter, and how they’re ‘wow’d’ by the general open grandeur of the ship. I’ve been on the older ships and the newer ships where the layout may be a little different, but Carnival definitely has it right by putting you into the mood the second you step inside.

As I go to my cabin to drop off my luggage, the cabin stewards are cleaning feverishly to get the cabins ready for the next guests, but they still manage a quick ‘hello’ and a smile, as well.  This lasts throughout the cruise.  I’m not sure if Carnival and Disney have the same customer philosophies, but it seems like they do.  They make you feel special!

Also, as I walk throughout the ship, I like hearing the music, seeing people singing their hearts out doing karaoke without having to constantly look up things to see where the ‘action’ is.  In fact, most of Carnival’s ships have what I’ve called ‘Action Avenue’. Think of that 80’s song ‘Electric Avenue’.  That’s what comes through my head as I walk down that corridor with the casino’s,  the bands, the bars, and the general hubbub that surrounds me. 

Now, here is what I really like.  I like meeting new people.  There was a time I was thinking ‘wow-I’ve spent enough on cruises to buy myself another home’, but I wouldn’t be able to travel in that home without ever leaving it, and as far as I know, I wouldn’t have a huge selection of people that would be sitting at my vacation home bar that I could meet.  This is truly where the Carnival experience shines-the passengers.  Typically, I sit at a bar to enjoy my all-you-can-drink package.  Sometimes I initiate conversation with others and sometimes I don’t.  But, I do know that if I did talk to someone, they would be friendly, warm, and we could find something in common-mainly our love of cruising and the fun we’re having.  More often than not, people strike up conversations with me when I’m solo, or with me and my husband.  We can sit for hours with others listening to music, enjoying a cocktail, and talking back and forth.  I love it!

In addition, the workers are very friendly and doing their best to give you the best customer service and experience with a big smile on your face, as well as remembering your name if they see you more than once.  In fact some actually remember me and/or my husband from previous cruises.  That’s pretty awesome!

If you like going on the deck to see hairy chest contests, ice sculpture demonstrations, listen to music, and more it’s very festive.  If you enjoy quiet and solitude, there’s a Serenity deck, libraries to play chess (I’ve never done that, LOL), and plenty of options where you don’t have to be around anything in the high decibel range.  The point is, you have options.  If I were to sum up the vibe of the Carnival it would be Fun, Friendly, and Caring.

Norwegian:

It’s an extremely different feeling on the Norwegian. Let’s start with when you get on the ship.  Instead of going right into the Fun Zone like Carnival, you go by the dining rooms. There’s no music, no bar, nothing but courteous employees greeting you as you get on the ship. This is where Norwegian wildly differs from Carnival. Remember when I said employees were friendly?  On Norwegian, they’re polite and transactional.  Only a couple times were there truly friendly employees.  One was Queenie Santos at the Tapas restaurant, the Cabin Steward (maybe it’s because we tipped him-before that, he was just polite), and a server in the Manhattan restaurant on the first night.  Outside of those 3 Stand Out’s,  the employees from the bartenders, servers, staff, and everyone were just transactional. I was disappointed at the Atrium bar.  Even when it wasn’t excruciatingly loud and busy, I tried chatting up the bartenders, and they would have nothing to do with that.  There was one bartender (don’t remember his name) that was a little more open to chatter.  One of the female bartenders seemed stunned that I was even trying to talk and get to know her. It wasn’t a fluke because it was the same the next time with her so I just gave up.  In addition to the employees, the passengers weren’t into interacting with people outside of their group. They were very fun and friendly with the people they were on board with, and that was it. Like I said, I’ve been on the Norwegian 3 times, and this was the same the other 2 Norwegian cruises, as well.  I’m not sure why that is. I think the passenger friendliness emanates from the employees. If the employees don’t seem that interested in the passengers, then the passengers aren’t really interested in getting to know each other.  Of course, there were a few people here and there if you talked to them, they were friendly and responded, but that was it.  We went to multiple bars and sat around, and a big fat zero in the sociability department. 

Plus, there really is no ‘Action Avenue’ where you walk up and down a strip, and there’s continuous entertainment.  I felt like everything was tucked away. I wouldn’t accidentally walk by people singing karaoke, or hear a band unless it was the Atrium area.  All in all, I felt like I was in a nice hotel where there was a lot going on, but I had to seek it out.

The 3 words I would use to summarize Norwegian in this category:  Polite, transactional, and average.

Vibe Winner:  CARNIVAL, HANDS DOWN

Now for my overall Cruise Ship Throwdown winner, well, of course, it’s Carnival!  Like I said, the dealbreaker are the employees and my fellow passengers, and Carnival is where it’s at, and why I keep going on Carnival cruises.  Since I’ve reached that Diamond status, I intend to cruise other Carnival brands, as well as Royal Caribbean and other cruise lines to do more comparisons. I hope you found this enjoyable. I will do a video someday when I have TIME!

Overall Winner: Carnival, Hands Down.

Well, that’s it for this review.  I didn’t get into the entertainment (but I tried on previous cruises and everything was booked within hours of getting on the ship) or shore excursions (since I didn’t do, but I will write an article of what to do right off the ship in Bermuda), so that’s it for this review.   I know this is really LONG, and it’s taken me a while to finish it, but I hope you found this of value. I realize that everyone’s experience with Norwegian Escape, Carnival Mardi Gras, and Carnival Venezia will be different, but that’s the beauty of traveling-one size doesn’t fit all.