I've been on 3 cruise lines - Carnival, Norwegian and Sea Dream
Carnival - It was cheap, but had a blast. We were with a group of people so that certainly helped with the fun times. I thought the food was fine. Best ever? Not close, but good selection all around and the main dining room I thought the food was good.
Norwegian - Hated it. Seems like everything was in disarray. It was an older crowd and there was alot of complaining. Getting off the ship was like a cattle call. The free food was horrible. Like school cafeteria bad. To get decent food, you had to go to one of the restaurants and pay a surcharge per person. On the plus side, there was a cool english style pub that had a decent beer selection (much better than Carnival). But I'll never book them again.
Sea Dream - Can't even compare it for relaxation. No shows because it is a small ship (maybe 70 couples). But the food and service are world class. All alcohol was included. Dinners were world class and included pretty high end wine. You could get off the ship and go with the chef to the local farmer's market to pick out the daily meals ingredients. Being a beer snob (who hates heineken), I actually wrote ahead of time to find out what selection of beer they had on ship. When I showed up, there was Leffe, Hoegarden (sp) and some other belgian beers in our mini fridge. They had purchased the beer on one of their stops. Not that Leffe is the end all in beer, but the fact they got it, put it in my cabin and always had it waiting at the bar was pretty stellar. Expensive cruise, but worth it.
Carnival - It was cheap, but had a blast. We were with a group of people so that certainly helped with the fun times. I thought the food was fine. Best ever? Not close, but good selection all around and the main dining room I thought the food was good.
Norwegian - Hated it. Seems like everything was in disarray. It was an older crowd and there was alot of complaining. Getting off the ship was like a cattle call. The free food was horrible. Like school cafeteria bad. To get decent food, you had to go to one of the restaurants and pay a surcharge per person. On the plus side, there was a cool english style pub that had a decent beer selection (much better than Carnival). But I'll never book them again.
Sea Dream - Can't even compare it for relaxation. No shows because it is a small ship (maybe 70 couples). But the food and service are world class. All alcohol was included. Dinners were world class and included pretty high end wine. You could get off the ship and go with the chef to the local farmer's market to pick out the daily meals ingredients. Being a beer snob (who hates heineken), I actually wrote ahead of time to find out what selection of beer they had on ship. When I showed up, there was Leffe, Hoegarden (sp) and some other belgian beers in our mini fridge. They had purchased the beer on one of their stops. Not that Leffe is the end all in beer, but the fact they got it, put it in my cabin and always had it waiting at the bar was pretty stellar. Expensive cruise, but worth it.
