BONUS POST: Bahamas Cruise Comparison

I have now cruised on all three of the 3-Day Bahamas cruises leaving from Miami, on the three different cruise lines offering this itinerary.

Each of them has their good and bad points, and because I am a wordy bastard, I thought I would share these ratings with you, my loyal Blog readers.

The three ships I cruised were the Norwegian Sky (NCL), The Majesty of the Seas (RCL), and the Carnival Imagination. Please note that Carnival is no longer using the Imagination on this route; there was a different ship in port (the Ecstasy) when we were in the Bahamas last month. This doesn't cover every aspect of cruising; just the ones I took note of. For example, if you want to know about the Spa, or the Art auction, or the Pool, or Bingo, ask someone else.

Ship Size (Subjective Measurement)
NCL
Carnival
RCL
I have no idea what size the boats *really* were, but it sure *seemed* like the Norwegian ship was the largest.

Room Size
Carnival
TIE: Royal
TIE: NCL
I usually purchase one of the smaller, interior rooms. All three had a desk in the room; the Carnival room also had extra space to leave things laying around. RCL had two, easy to get to outlets. Carnival had one that was a hassle. NCL had one that was easy.

Bed Comfort
Carnival
NCL
RCL
All three ships have two beds that combine to a single bed. On the Carnival cruise, I could not feel where the two beds were joined. I don't know if it was the mattresses, or the sheets, or what, but I slept like a baby on that cruise.

Best Cabin Boy Service
Carnival
NCL
RCL
All of my Cabin Boys gets $20 (in addition to their standard tip) the first time I see them. My Carnival room was always made up with fresh towels immediately upon leaving the room. The RCL guy was friendliest, but I saw him the least of all my Cabin Boys.

Ability to Keep Your Stateroom at Arctic Temperatures
NCL
Carnival
RCL
The Norwegian ship was nice and cold. Once we found the thermostat on the Carnival cruise, we could make the room cold. There was no thermostat in my RCL stateroom.

Whimsical Towel Animals
Carnival
NCL
RCL
The Carnival people go all out on the Day at Sea. Early in the morning, they put a Whimsical Towel Animal on every lounge chair around the pool. It's pretty impressive. I also returned to a nice assortment in my stateroom every evening. The RCL Cabin Boy left me no Towel Animal the first night, and a lame one the second night. When I called him out on it, he stepped up his game for my final night with an excellent Whimsical Elephant. But please, we go on cruises to see Whimsical Towel Animals... don't drop the freaking ball!

Sit Down Dinner (Not including Extra-Charge Dining)
RCL
NCL
Carnival
The Main Courses on the RCL ship were all large and very tasty, but the Appetizers were lacking. The last day, we just ordered Main Courses as our Appetizers, and all was well. Carnival's choices were pretty limited.

Sit Down Breakfast
Carnival
NCL
RCL
Carnival's Breakfast Menu had the most choices, and everything we ordered was tasty. Aside from the Towel Animal Jamboree, they also do a "Brunch" for the at-sea days that had a lot of cool options. I had a Filet and Eggs for my breakfast. RCL's Breakfast was terrible. So terrible, we decided to eat at the buffet rather than be subjected to the sit-down food.

Buffet Area
RCL
Carnival
NCL
RCL's Buffet had the largest selection of different items, with a lot of different stations. I did not feel like eating at their buffet was a step down at all, except maybe at Dinner. Carnival's and NCL's were about equal, but I liked Carnival's better.

24-Hour Food Availability (Not Room Service)
NCL
Carnival
RCL
Norwegian had a hot Buffet (limited) going all night, plus Chicken Wings, plus other stuff, too. Also, their Sports Bar served food until the morning places opened. Royal Caribbean only had Pizza after 1:00 am. And bad Pizza at that. Really bad Pizza.

Wings! At 2:00 AM!

Room Service Menu
RCL
Carnival
**Did not try NCL's Room Service
All cruise lines had 24-hour Room Service. RCL charged a couple of dollars for 'delivery' after 1:00 am, I think. RCL had a nice selection of stuff on their menu; Carnival had very few items, and some of them were just plain useless.

Things to Do On Board
Carnival
Norwegian
RCL
Most stuff on board is hokey, but fun. Carnival always had a bunch of things going on, but the RCL ship seemed to have less to do. If you like playing trivia and Name That Tune, you will love cruising everywhere.

Casino
RCL
NCL
Carnival
RCL had all $10 minimum blackjack tables, Carnival had $6 minimums, and I don't remember what they were on NCL. Royal had the best atmosphere and Carnival was the least fun.

Most Pretty Girls on Board
RCL
Norwegian
Carnival
On our RCL Cruise, there was a 24-girl Bachelorette Party, full of beautiful, drunken Mexican Girls. And to make it better, they sat all around us at our Dinner Table. But even without them, there was a ton of eye candy on board.

Most Annoying Kids on Board
Carnival
Norwegian
RCL
Duh. Carnival markets to families.

Friendliness of Staff
TIE: All Ships
It's impossible to walk by an employee on a cruise ship and not get a smile and a hello. That's one of the best things about cruising.

Private Island
NCL
RCL 
Did not visit Carnival's island.

Ribs on Private Island
NCL
RCL
Did not visit Carnival's Island
Norwegian's Ribs fell off the bone. RCL's didn't.

Amount of Time in Bahamas
Carnival - Docked all night
TIE: Royal
TIE: NCL
The Carnival ship got in fairly early and didn't leave until 8:00 the next morning, allowing us to go onto the island for more than just a quick walk-around. Both of the others pulled out late afternoon/early evening, so if you did an excursion, you had no time for anything else in the Bahamas.

Getting On the Ship
RCL
NCL
Carnival
RCL really had their shit together. It appeared as if there were 60972759508394509 people getting on the ship, but they moved us through quickly and efficiently. We weren't sure that we would EVER get on board the Carnival ship.

Getting Off the Ship
RCL
NCL
Carnival
Carnival made you wait FOREVER to get off the boat. RCL allowed us off at around 8:00 am; we could have stayed on later if we wanted. Also, RCL's exiting process was much smoother than what we experienced on the the other two cruise lines.

So there you go... Anchors Aweigh!