My wife and I took her mother on her first (our third) cruise for Christmas. Our first two were on Carnival - one of which was our honeymoon last year. This was our first Norwegian cruise. We compared NCL and Carnival the entire trip:

Embarkation/Debarkation: NCL wins. Seamless and easy. It took at most 10 minutes to embark. No lines to debark. We used the "normal" debarkation (i.e. leave your bag outside the door). It was also very easy to get on/off at each port of call. They even have staff outside the ship at each port with water & hot towels to wash off and hand sanitizer when you get back on. Mother-in-law was particularly impressed.

Entertainment: NCL. No comparison. The shows were much better and entertainers are much more talented than Carnival. There seemed to be more crowd involvement in the various activities (which we enjoyed more than Carnival). Many activities seemed more original (Dancing with the Stars, the Quest, and Liars Club to name a few). Read more