Carnival Vista Vs. Norwegian Escape Vs. Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas Review

In the last 12 rolling months, we have been incredibly lucky to get to go on three cruises!  Our goal was to try out the three major cruise lines that interested us to see who we were going to pick to be our cruise line of choice in the future.  At the end February 2017, we went on Carnival Vista (CV), May 2017, we went on the Norwegian Escape (NE), and May 2018, we went on Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas (RCA). Vista and the Escape were the newest/best ships on Carnival and Norwegian when we went on them.  Royal Caribbean has newer ships but the Harmony of the Seas doesn't have a pool in their adult area and the Symphony of the Seas is brand new and has a MUCH higher price point right now than the Allure... and we thought that the Allure was a nice enough ship in Royal's fleet that it would compare well against the other two ships that we'd been on.  So after going on all three ships, I thought that others might like to see the comparisons.  Now, please remember that these are just my experiences and thoughts of the cruise lines and I'm only rating things that my husband and I find important on ships.  Just for a reference point, my husband and I have been on 5 cruises now, 2 with Carnival, 2 with NCL, and 1 with RCCL.  With that said... let the comparisons begin!!

Embarkation Process

As far the embarkation process goes... I'd have to say that Carnival Vista and Royal Caribbean are pretty darn similar in my opinion.  We got through security very quickly with Carnival Vista and Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas, and it was very clearly marked as to where we would be going to get on the ship.  They also had a spacious seating area and a very easy process for getting people onto the ship.  To me that wasn't a significant difference between the two where one was better than the other.  With that said, I'm going to give the point in this category to Royal Caribbean, because they had 5 or 6 different "take your picture with the ship" stations which caused that area not to bottleneck, and they had a play area for kids.  While I thought that both Royal and Carnival embarkation process was good, I feel that Norwegian's had some room for improvement.  As you can see above, the Norwegian Escape did not have any signs or indications on where to line up to get onto the ship.  It made us feel pretty stressed out since we felt rushed to get on the ship for Vibe passes on the Escape (more on that later).    RCA 1 vs. CV 0 vs. NE 0

Room Availability

When we travel, we only pack what will go in our carry on bags, and we keep those carry on bags with us when we enter into the cruise ship so that we have our stuff right away.  So, we have a vested interest in our rooms being ready quickly so that we can drop our stuff off.  On Vista our room was ready right when we got on the ship, whereas we saw a note on a locked door on the Escape and the Allure of the Seas telling us that our room weren't ready (and it wasn't for a few hours after we got on the ship).  So...  RCA 1 vs. CV 1 vs. NE 0

Cheaply Priced Exclusive Area:  Havana Vs. Vibe Vs. Nothing?

Again, Carnival wins in this category.  Carnival Vista has the absolute right idea on an exclusive reasonably priced area on their ship (Havana rooms costs about $200 more than regular rooms).  The Havana area had a pool, two hot tubs, and the shaded seats in the water were wonderful.  It also had plenty of padded lawn chairs and pods/beds that were all included in the price of the area. I think that the Havana area is my FAVORITE area on any cruise ship that we've been on.  Even better, access to the Havana area is tied to buying a Havana room, so if you want access to that area you just book a cruise during a time when a Havana room is available.  Our experience was that the area was rarely ever crowded, and we never once had trouble finding a seat in the there.

 Norwegian's equivalent is kind of the Vibe area.  It is significantly smaller than the Havana area on Vista, with only one hot tub in the area, but plenty of padded comfortable lawn chairs.  The service in the Vibe area is unlike service that I have ever experienced on a cruise ship.  The waiting staff is so good at getting to know you and making sure that you are taken care of that it's great.  Besides the usual of taking drink orders, the wait staff also walk around passing out cookies, fresh fruit, and cold wash clothes throughout the day. We did find the hot tub to be a bit crowded in this area, but we never had a problem with finding a place to lay down.  We found the Vibe area on the Getaway to be better because it had 2 hot tubs in it, but this a review of the Escape not the Getaway...  One HUGE downside to this area is if you are not a VIP on Norwegian or have a way of getting onto the ship before the general public... good luck at getting one of 70 limited passes for this area.  Obviously Cody and I proved that it is possible to get these passes, but waking up at 7am, rushing to the port, and then running like crazy to get the passes is not a good way to start your vacation.  Even worse, is doing all of that but still missing out because the passes to sell out in two minutes.  There were a lot of disappointed/angry people that weren't able to get the Vibe passes during our cruise.  I am predicting that someone is going to get hurt on a Norwegian cruise because people are running to get these passes.  I think the Vibe area would be better if rooms were sold as a "Vibe room category" just like the Havana area is sold on Vista.  Now I know some nay-sayers might say, "Well Norwegian does have an exclusive area that you can buy a room type for... the Haven."  And to that I say... Yes you are correct.  However, for a week in the Vibe area it only costs $200 extra per couple. Haven rooms start between $3,500 up to $7,500 per person, so I'm not going to call that comparable to the Havana area on Carnival Vista which is around that $200 extra price point like the Vibe.

I think this category was a big miss on the Allure of the Seas. Unless you were a suite guest (which doesn't meet the $200 price point of it's competitors above), I did not see any comparable area that the Allure had like the areas above. I also did not see any padded lawn chair areas that us "common folk" could use. This is the first cruise that I've been on that didn't have an option of padded lawn chairs to lay down in, and I was thinking that this was going to be really annoying to me, because I LOVE those comfy chairs to lay in during the day. I was surprised that just using two towels wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but come on Royal!!! Add these padded chairs into your adults only Solarium area (similar to the Serenity adults only area on Vista) and at least have some comfy option for people.

RCA 1 vs. CV 2 vs. NE 0

Drinking Package

I would say that an area that Norwegian definitely stands out from other lines is that they include the all you can drink package with your cruise (if you pick that promotion).  This really gives cruising a different feel because you don't have to worry about money as much.  Also, the Escape really stands out to me for having a really good variety of bars that have different types of drinks at them.  We found the drinks to be much more tasty and convenient to get on Norwegian than Carnival.  We did end up spending around $800-$900 on the drinking package on both Carnival and Royal Caribbean so that we "wouldn't have to worry about spending money."  We drank a TON on the Escape and Allure, but I was not impressed with Carnival's drink selection, nor did they really have servers coming around taking drink orders (in the Havana area at least which is where we spent most of our time).  However, when we were on Royal Caribbean the drink servers were AMAZING and had a "keep 'em full" mentality.  Every time our drink was empty, they'd be right there to take our drink order.  We drank way more on Norwegian than we did on Carnival, BUT I also think that we drank more on Royal than Norwegian.  However, we did have pay quite a bit extra on Vista and Allure for that luxury so point goes to Norwegian... cause there's just no way to beat the drinking package being included and their variety of bars.  

RCA 1 vs. CV 2 vs. NE 1 

Lunch Options

I feel compelled to break up the food category into multiple categories, because in some areas I felt different ships were better than others.  So for lunch... Vista wins!  Carnival has teamed up with Guy Fieri and his two lunch areas on the ship are the BOMB!  We loved the Burger Joint and Pig and Anchor.  With REAL burgers and great toppings, and the BBQ was SO good with a bunch of different sauce options... Vista also had a chinese and Italian restaurant that served lunch portions for free too.  YUM!  We often didn't eat lunch on Norwegian because there weren't any exciting lunch venue places like there were on Vista. We did enjoy eating in the Solarium lunch area on the Allure for the tasty, healthier, and convenient options that it provided (being attached to the Solarium where we spent most of our time), but Vista stands out as having awesome lunch options.

 RCA 1 vs. CV 3 vs. NE 1 

Dinner Options

However, for dinner options... I have to say that the Escape wins, but I would say that the Allure is a close second.  On both ships you can eat at any type of restaurant you could want for dinner... hibachi, italian, french, brazilian, steak house, and etc...  The range of dinner options on both is outstanding and for the most part they both have high quality food in them too.  They are both also similarly priced and offer a dining package to make the specialty dining affordable.  I rated the Escape a little bit higher, because I think that the food might have been a little bit better, and the speed at which we got our food was definitely more efficient.  I do not think that we had any meal shorter than an hour and half to over two hours on the Allure.  It just seemed like there was a big wait time in between getting each new item of food, and I'm not even talking about between courses either.  There were a couple times that we ordered more than one appetizer and we'd get the first appetizer and then had to wait at least another 10 minutes or longer for the second one, and then that patterned continued for every course.. at every restaurant that we went to on the Allure.  I also felt that the specialty dining locations were pretty small for how the big the ship was.. especially the Hibachi place (only 3 hibachi stations).  Another thing that we really liked on the Escape was the outside dining areas on the waterfront.  We were able to eat outside right on the water and see the sun set every night on Norwegian, and I really missed this on the Allure because all of their venues are on the interior of the ship.  The Allure didn't even have a window view of the ocean let alone ocean front seating.  Another great benefit of Norwegian is that they allowed us to make our dining reservations before we got onto the ship even though we had the dining package.  Royal only let's you make reservations in advance if you are not buying the dining package, which consequently had us running once we got on the ship to make our reservations for the week.  The Vista falls a little short in the specialty restaurant department, because they only have 3 specialty areas and they do not have a dining plan.  Their steak house was top notch though and we really liked the food that we got there.  We found that since they had such limited (and kind of pricier specialty dining options) that we had to eat in the MDR a lot, and there were quite a few nights when we just weren't all that impressed with the options on the menu in the MDR.  Another issue I had with Vista is that you can't walk right up the MDR and get your seating assignment.  On the Vista you have to go up to the floor above the dining room to get your seating assignment, which seems like a really bizarre set up to me. I have no idea why Carnival decided to do that. 


 RCA 1 vs. CV 3 vs. NE 2 

Dessert

The dessert options have to go to Carnival Vista!  Carnival's signature dessert, the chocolate melt cake, is legendary!  Not only that but Vista also has a whole buffet section dedicated to desserts in their buffet area, and they have a really good ice cream place called Cherry on Top where you can make ice combinations kind of like Cold Stone.  They also had a milkshake spot where you could order regular and alcoholic milkshakes.  I would say that we liked the desserts on Norwegian second best, but nothing really stands out to me.  However, I really didn't care for the desserts on the Allure during dinner at all.  I thought that the apple pie that they served was gross!  And Cody was shocked at Giovanni's when we ordered canoli's and they were filled with orange filling.  Yuck!  He loves canoli's and before he ate his we asked for some to go to take back to our room.  They gave us 4 extra ones, and when we got off the ship there were still 3 left in our fridge which is unheard of for him.

RCA 1 vs. CV 4 vs. NE 2 

Cruise ship Apps

It's the digital age, so obviously all three cruise lines have an app that you can hook up on your phone and use for free on the ship.  All three apps show you your onboard balance and activities that were upcoming on the ship.  I would say that Carnival's app was the best of all of the apps. It had a feature that allowed you to mark upcoming activities as a favorite, and then you could sort your day by your favorite activities which I loved!  This made it very easy to see when the activities you were interested in were coming up on Vista.  Also activities that had already past fell off the app, so that you were just left with current/upcoming activities which also made it simpler to find things you were interested in. It also showed you pictures that were taken of you by their photographers which I also really liked.  Norwegian's app did not have the features above, but it was functional.  Royal Caribbean's app is the one that made me the most upset!  They had a "feature" that I was SUPER excited about.  Two weeks before your cruise, you could view your upcoming cruise compass.  I completely went through every single day and I made a spreadsheet and had everything all listed out for what we wanted to do.  When we got on the ship we made our dining reservations based on those plans...  You can imagine how mad I was when I realized that the app wasn't correct!  Once we got onto the ship and hooked up to the ships wifi, new cruise compasses loaded up with totally different information than what was listed before the cruise (once on the ship it did seem to be accurate though).  So we ended up having to change our dining reservations and my "pre-work" was basically useless.  Also, the app had a feature where you could change your reservations on the app, but when we did that our reservations got lost and they didn't have us listed for one of our dinner reservations.  Grrr! 

  RCA 1 vs. CV 5 vs. NE 2

Appearance of the ship

I honestly usually think that most cruise ships look pretty similar to each other... but the Allure of the Seas really sticks out as being different.  It caught my attention from the moment that we walked onto the ship.  I liked the different areas of the ship, and all of the green space.

I loved how the Royal Promenade looked.  I loved the ceiling that changed colors, and I liked how the 5th and 6th floors really meshed together very well.  This cruise ship really had a different feel to it (it honestly didn't feel like a ship at all).

However, while the point is going to go to the Allure, I'd be reminisce if I didn't mention the chandelier on the Escape. It was truly the centerpiece of the ship and it was beautiful... especially at night when it changed colors.  I spent a bit of time gawking at it while we were sitting at the bars around it so it deserves an honorable mention.  Vista had a digital column that just didn't compare at all.

RCA 2 vs. CV 5 vs. NE 2 

Theater Seating on the ship

You might think that it's odd that I'm rating the theater seating on the ship, but I feel compelled to do this, because the Carnival Vista has the WORST theater setup I've ever seen.  You walk in and all of the chairs are right on top of each other.  There were chairs that were fixed in their position, and then there were ones that could move.  It's almost like they decided "Oh we have quite a bit of room in-between these aisles, let's bring in some extra chairs and set them down to get an extra row of seating."  which caused there to be no room in-between the rows of seats.  The theater also didn't have stadium (or raised platform) seating, so if someone tall was in front of you... forget about being able to see.  You can't tell in this picture, but they also have large/gigantic support beams that block your view in the theater.  No matter where we sat in the Vista theater, I had a hard time viewing the show we were watching because people or support beams were blocking my view and it was incredibly frustrating.

The chairs also have these awkward little tables on them, presumably to put a drink on (but I feel like any drink could easily fall off that little table).  Nonfunctional.. arm rest stealing tables...  get RID of them Vista...  PLEASE!  The Escape's and Allure's theaters were like a breath of fresh air after having been on Vista, because both were set up like a large movie theater which was absolutely refreshing after being on Vista. All I have to say about the construction of the Vista theater is why?!?!?  I'm thinking that they must have wanted it to not feel like a theater... but... that's what it is... so I don't know what they were going for.  This honestly was so painful/frustrating to me, that it is actually keeping me from wanting to go back on the Vista or it's sister ship, Horizon.  Now like I said above, the Escape and Allure both have proper functioning theaters, but after some thought, I think that the point in this category is going to go to the Escape. While the theater on the Allure was functional, I think that it could use a face lift.  Numerous chair backs were ripped/the seats got stuck and wouldn't go up on their own.  It wasn't a huge deal or something that would prevent you from enjoying your show... but when comparing the different ships I'd say that the Escape's theater didn't have those problems so they win.

RCA 2 vs. CV 5 vs. NE 3

Theater Show Entertainment

When it comes to entertainment, I have to say that the Allure wins.  The sheer variety that they have is unbelievable...  anything from Aqua (diving) shows, to ice skating shows, to comedy shows, and to even Broadway plays... I was super impressed with the theater entertainment on the Allure.  I was interested and enjoyed every show on the Allure that we saw.  The Escape also has high quality/Broadway plays on their ship as well.  They also have another smaller area called the Supper Club that puts on very good shows as well.  I think that this venue offered smaller acts as well that I didn't see as an option on the Allure.  For example, on our cruise it was a juggler (who had won the gold medal in the world juggling competition) and then a singing group that was phenomenal.  However, I will say that the acts on the Allure were shows that younger people (under thirty) could enjoy.  I found the main theater shows on the Escape were kind of boring for us (and we along with half the theater walked out on the show), but I think that with a better Broadway play choice that Norwegian could course correct this pretty quickly.  Now, while I thought that the entertainment was high quality on both the Allure and the Escape... I have to say that Vista really falls short of their competition in this regard.  Every night they have a new 45 minute show that plays twice a night.  However... the quality of these shows were not very high, and I think that we only like 2/7 that we saw.   We went to a juggler on Vista who I honestly think would have been X'd on American's Got Talent, and the overall entertainment was just super disappointing in my opinion.

RCA 3 vs. CV 5 vs. NE 3

Carefree Lifestyle

One area that I think that Carnival stands out is their carefree lifestyle. If you do not like to make reservations for dinner or shows... then Carnival is for you. You can just walk up to any venue without reservation and get right into the show/dining venue. On the Escape and the Allure you have to make dinner and show reservations well in advance in order to be guaranteed a seat. Personally, I am a planner and I do not mind having a schedule to follow. However, I can see how it would be nice to go to dinner whenever you want and see either the early or late show for the night. I honestly think that if you do not have any experience cruising, then Carnival is a really good place to start. You can just show up on the ship and go as you'd like. The other ships, you have to do a bit more planning and I can see how it'd be easy to miss stuff (or have to wait standby) because you didn't know to make reservations.

RCA 3 vs. CV 6 vs. NE 3

 Adults Only Area

I was pleasantly surprised with how much fun Cody and I had in the Allure's Solarium area.  We loved that the area had lots of seating (two decks worth of seating to be exact), two hot tubs, a fresh water pool, and a breakfast/lunch venue right by it.  We went to the Solarium every day, and in the beginning of the cruise we found it to be a bit crowded but we were always able to find chairs to sit in.  The drink servers in this area were fantastic, and they were constantly coming around and making sure that everyone had drinks.  The Solarium would be absolutely perfect if it had padded chairs to lay in.  This is in one area where Vista's adult only Serenity area was better than the Solarium.  However, the lack of a pool is what is causing the Vista the point in this category.  The Escape's area wasn't all that impressive... no pool... no padded chairs... just basically a sundeck and a couple hot tubs.

RCA 4 vs. CV 6 vs. NE 3


Comedy Club

I have to say that Vista wins in the comedian department.  Carnival changes comedians every 3 days on their ship, so literally almost every night you can go to a different comedy show if you'd like to.  Norwegian and Royal keeps the same comedians on their ship the whole cruise, and you can only go to their shows one time during the cruise (except the last night when they are in the main theater).  

RCA 4 vs. CV 7 vs. NE 3

Photography

Welcome to the future of cruise photography!!  Instead of printing out every picture they take of you and putting it into a binder for you to review (yes I'm calling you out Escape and Allure) the Carnival Vista has huge digital screens that you can type your room number on and pull up all of your pictures.  You can also view all of our pictures on their Carnival Hub app.  I thought that this was brilliant, and I bet that this is a style that all cruise ships will adopt in the future. I was so impressed that it made this list.

 RCA 4 vs. CV 8 vs. NE 3

Piano Bar

Norwegian Escape wins the Piano Bar competition hands down.  Howl at the Moon is outstanding and is so much fun to be at, and it has a very different atmosphere than the piano bar on Vista or the Allure.  Howl at the Moon has two pianos and 3 different performers.  In addition to the piano's they have a drum set and two guitars.  They have a light production and a video taping them while they perform.  Every hour the performers rotate out and get a 30 minute break.  Also they interact with each so well.  They back each other up, joke around, and if one person doesn't know a song they can throw it over to have the other person sing the song. Whereas, on Vista and Allure there was one person on a piano that sang 6 days a week for 6 hours straight.  I don't care how entertaining that one person is... they can't compete with Howl at the Moon.  Of all the activities on all 3 ships, Howl at the Moon was our absolute favorite thing that we did on any of them.


 RCA 4 vs. CV 8 vs. NE 4

The Crew

Now I don't have anything negative to say about Carnival's crew... but I just don't have anything to say that really stands out to me either.  However, on the Escape there were several crew members that knew our name and even bartenders that knew our drinks.  The crew on the Escape also seemed to have a lot of energy and seemed to have a lot of pride in their work.  I also liked that at the finale show that Norwegian called up the room stewards, bartenders, waiters, and etc... to be recognized for their hard work throughout the cruise.  I will say that we also had some good bartenders and waiters on the Allure as well, but I just feel like Norwegian stood out a little bit more to us.

RCA 4 vs. CV 8 vs. NE 5

Loyalty Program

Sorry Royal Caribbean... this isn't really a fair category to you, because this was our first Royal Caribbean cruise so the Allure is eliminated off the bat, because there isn't anything that I comment on.  However, it was our second cruises on both Carnival and Norwegian.  I didn't feel that we got any recognition on Vista for being a repeat guest.  Whereas, on the Escape we got a bottle of champagne, strawberries, and promotions for future cruises.  And after talking with different people in the Vibe, I believe that Norwegian has the best loyalty program out of any of the cruise lines, and I think that Norwegian takes care of it's loyal customers really well.  But I don't want to hate on Royal because we just don't have experience with being a repeat guest with them yet.

 RCA 4 vs. CV 8 vs. NE 6

Exiting from the Ship into Port

One thing that annoyed me on Carnival Vista is that their ports are not convenient for their passengers.  They specifically herded us through gift shops and made the walks off of the ship more congested and slower.  You can see the area that Vista dropped us off in San Juan.

Same port... straight walk into San Juan from the Allure.  No doubling back and having to go through the gift shop.  Norwegian did not drop us off at one port where we had to walk through a gift shop to enter through the port.  They also had carts that were shuttling passengers to and from ports that had longer piers.  Hrmm... this is a hard one between the Allure and the Escape, because I really feel like there wasn't any difference.  I guess I'll call it a tie and give them both a point.

 RCA 5 vs. CV 8 vs. NE 7

Returning onto the Ship from Port

Norwegian knows how to treat their guests!  When you come back onto their ships they always have drinks and cold wash clothes to help refresh you.  At one port they were also passing out popsicles to everyone.  Another time, they had balloons set up and the crew was dancing to songs and welcoming you back onto the ship.  I can't remember Vista or the Allure ever doing anything like that.

 RCA 5 vs. CV 8 vs. NE 8

Private Island

 Sorry Vista, here's an unfair category to you...  Carnival did not have a private island that we went to (I'm not even sure if they have one??) so they are eliminated off the bat from this topic.

We found that Labadee, Haiti was a great beach day.  The island was REALLY big and had lots of activities and beaches to go to.  We thought that it was easy to find a chair to sit in as well.  They also had a kids play area that was nice too.  I also liked that the food on the island and drinks (if you had the drink package) were included on the island.  Although, the drink selection was very limited... basically I hope that you like beer and pina colada's because that's about what they had available.

One thing that left a bad taste in my mouth about Labadee was the Artisan Market, where local people were selling souvenirs.  I had heard that the locals were aggressive in Labadee, but wow I was still shocked!  While we were walking through the area, it felt like there were a hundred local men standing around and trying to get you to buy items from them.  At least every little hut had at least 5 guys standing in front of it trying to get people to look at their items.  We couldn't take 5 steps without someone approaching us.  Cody called it walking through the "gauntlet."  I honestly did want to browse and shop, but I didn't feel like I'd be allowed to leave a hut without buying something and it made me feel very uncomfortable so we just walked through the market as quick as we could, dodging people along the way.  And after we were done with lunch, we refused to walk back through that area. We waited over 20 minutes for the shuttle to arrive with TONS of other people.  The shuttle took so long to come (and then was small so there was a mad rush to get on), and a bunch of people were saying that they just wanted to walk back but didn't feel comfortable walking back through the market area again.  I'm sure that there must be a good reason why Royal allows so many sellers in that area, but I really think that the area would feel safer and more approachable if there were less sellers in the area.

On the other hand, Norwegian's Harvest Caye was absolutely delightful.  They had a gigantic fresh water pool that we loved.  The local shops were also permanently in place and had nice decor in them.  There was no bum rushing of people pushing sales, and it was really fun to walk around and browse at different things.  One bad thing about Harvest Caye was that the food and drinks were not included, and if you wanted something you had to buy it.  Cody and I came off the ship, swam around for a bit, got lunch from the ship, and then came back out to the island which was fine for us.  Now the point in this category is going purely on preference... Harvest Caye was a perfect day for us.  We aren't really ocean people, so we loved the the huge fresh water pool, and it was one of our favorite (and free) days in port.  So for us, the point goes to Norwegian... but I do absolutely see the merits and benefits on Labadee and I'm sure that some people might prefer it over Harvest Caye.

RCA 5 vs. CV 8 vs. NE 9

Pools on the Ship

  

The Allure hands down wins the pool battle on all of the ships that we went on.  If you like pools, the Allure has 5 of them from you to pick from.  They have the adults only pool in the Solarium (where we hung out), then they have two other main pools, a sports pool, and a kids pool.  Not only that, but they also have massive hot tubs all around.  I was super impressed by the Allure's pool deck.  I would say that this is the area that the Escape (and Norwegian in general) really struggles in.  The Escape only has two small pools, which aren't really enough for everyone on the ship.  I would say that this is probably one of the biggest complaints about Norwegian.  To be honest, we stayed in the Havana area most of our time on Vista so I'm not really sure what the other pools on there were like, but I don't remember being impressed with it like I was on the Allure.

RCA 6 vs. CV 8 vs. NE 9

Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas won 6/22 of my categories: 

Embarkation Process, Appearance of the Ship, Theater Show Entertainment, Exiting from the ship into port, Adults Only Area, and Pools.

 If you like sitting around in a pool for most of the day then going to a variety of high quality shows at night; including diving shows, ice skating shows, and broadway plays.. (that you'll have to make reservations for in advance), and you don't mind paying a premium for it... then I'd say that the Allure of the Seas could be your dream ship.  I'd say that the Allure of the Seas is a highest priced ship of the three that I reviewed, but it is a massive, beautiful ship, and it definitely had a lot to offer.

 

Carnival Vista won 8/22 of my categories: 

 Room Availability, Exclusive Areas, Lunch Options, Dessert Options, Cruise ship App, Carefree Lifestyle, Comedy Club, and Photography.

If you're a carefree person (or a new cruiser) that doesn't want to be on a schedule while on vacation then I'd say that Carnival Vista could be your ship.  However, that carefree approach does come at a cost, as the high quality and variety of productions that the other ships offer are switched out for short, easy to perform shows that repeat twice a night that have varying degrees of quality performances.  Also, if you are a comedy show fan you will love Vista, because there is are new comedy shows almost nightly on the Vista.  If you grab a Havana room (just a $200 premium) then you will be able to enjoy one of the nicest exclusive areas that I've seen on any ship.  Combine this with the great lunch and desserts options... and I'd say that Vista is a solid option for some.

The Norwegian Escape won 9/22 of my categories:

Drinking Package, Dinner Options, Theater Seating,  Piano Bar, The Crew, Loyalty Program, Exiting from the ship into port, Returning onto the ship, and Private Island

If you are a person that likes to drink and go to a variety of different bars and enjoys a good night life... then the Escape could be your ship.  Combine this with the Escapes ability to display high quality performances in it's various theaters, and that it has some of the best dining options on the seas... this definitely makes the Escape a top contender.  Combine all the good aspects of Norwegian with the fact that it has a lower price point than Royal Caribbean, and I'd say that it is definitely a cruise line to consider.

Overall:

I'm honestly torn between Royal Caribbean and Norwegian.  I like them both similarly (high quality shows and good food) in some ways, and then in other ways they stand out against each other.  For instance on the Allure I liked the pools during the day, and the variety of shows that they offered every night (the diving shows, ice skating shows, and the Quest was hilarious!)... but after the shows.. there were nights where we weren't really sure where to go or what to do next.  We never really had our night time "spot" on the Allure.

The Escape had high quality entertainment that changed frequently enough that we never got bored at night on the ship (like we were on Vista).  I think that the drinks were also higher quality on the Escape and there were so many different bars with themes to go to on the Escape.  Howl at the Moon truly made our cruise on Norwegian, because we'd see our show for the night and then we'd be off having a blast for the rest of the night.

As much as I loved the Havana area and lunch options on the Vista, I was personally disappointed with the theater and the shows that Carnival had.  Also, I just didn't feel like they had any nightlife options that we really liked, and we were in bed before 10pm numerous nights on our cruise because we didn't have anything to do (unheard of for us). After having been on Norwegian, and going back to Carnival it just felt like a world of difference to me.  Our goal was to find our future cruise line that we wanted to stick with and build loyalty points with... but to be honest I'd be interested in going on either Royal Caribbean or Norwegian again. I think that it's going to be more dependent on the ports and new features on upcoming ships.  But whichever cruise line you choose to go on, I really don't think that you can go wrong with going on a newer ship of any cruise line.  I think that they're all bound to have nice features and things that you'll like.  Thanks for reading my long review!  I hope that you enjoyed it.