Loyal Princess Cruiser Tries Out Carnival

Background:

Having cruised Princess over 10 years and really enjoyed their product and service, I have been reluctant to venture out to other lines. I did try out RCI once, which was fine, and Disney once, which was way too chaotic and loud for the kids' liking! This Carnival cruise was a killer deal and fit perfectly into our plans for a quick getaway, so why not give it a go? DISCLAIMER: As someone who swore they would never sail with Carnival (after all, it is the Walmart of cruising, right?) I did go on with the expectation that this would be a cheap, cheesy, tacky adventure....read on to find out if this was the case!

Sailing on this adventure was myself, DD (aged 9) and DS (aged 4). Both kids have been cruising since they were 6 months old so are no strangers to the procedures and expectations! The cruise was on Carnival Inspiration out of Long Beach - 4 days to Catalina and Ensenada along with one sea day.

Embarkation:

As (almost) Elite on Princess, we have been lucky to have priority check in and boarding for some time and have taken for granted the fact that we don't have to wait in line to check in and embark. In our experience, Princess has always provided a smooth, fast procedure. For Carnival, we didn't have this luxury but, lucky for us, they offer a product called Faster to the Fun that gives you (almost) the same benefits as repeat cruisers. At $50 per cabin, this was worth every cent if it meant not having to wait in line with two kids constantly asking "Can we board yet?". We arrived at Long Beach port at 10:30am and were directed right through to the Faster to the Fun line up to check in - no line! We were told that boarding would begin in an hour and we would be priority after wedding parties, platinum, diamond, and suite guests. With an hour to kill, we wandered over to the Queen Mary and found that Carnival guests were allowed free tours of the ship if they show their Sail and Sign card. Nice touch Carnival! We wandered the Queen Mary and killed a good 45 minutes, then headed back to the dome. A significant line had built up in the time we were gone - standing room only for the general population, a separate lounge for the repeat cruisers, and an area for Faster to the Fun that had some seating. We took a seat and waited for about 10 minutes and then saw that the wedding party guests were being led through to board. This piece seemed a little unorganized as some waiting passengers just tagged on to the end of the line and followed them through, despite not being part of the wedding. No one ever asked if they were with the group and it was only when it became apparent to the the staff standing there that no wedding party could be that big, did they actually cut it off. After this, they called for Diamond, Platinum, and Suite, which only took a few minutes. Then it was Faster to the Fun....yahoo....on our way on board! Very fast and easy process - not sure how much time the Faster to the Fun actually saved us, but psychologically it was well worth it to know I wouldn't be waiting in line fighting to get on the ship!

The Ship:

The decor on Carnival is certainly different to Princess. Rather than the subtle, neutral tones, Carnival is all about the neon, loud, vibrant colours! As I entered the main atrium I was a little overwhelmed by the "disco" feel - loud music, flashing lights, crowds of people...yikes! Throughout the ship, the space was really well used - lots and lots of open area on deck with more sun loungers than I have ever seen on Princess, many bar areas that seemed to appear out of nowhere (never a problem finding a drink on this ship). The Waterworks water slides at the aft was a great addition for the kids as they were disappointed to find only one (small) pool that was FREEZING the entire cruise! The buffet area was large with lots of seating both inside and out - didn't love the fact that the aft area around the buffet was netted (maybe to keep out seagulls, hopefully not to stop folks throwing themselves overboard after all the neon) and the layout was good, split into different stations so you could avoid a big line by going to other areas for food...(Princess should take note of this one....). There was a very nice, large mini golf area and jogging track which were very well maintained (much nicer than the sorry looking mini golf we have seen on Princess). The adult only Serenity area was FREE (another point over Princess) and looked to be very comfortable and quiet. It was located at the aft and when I went back there it was way too windy for me, so I didn't hang around! Nice loungers, towels, etc, and a great view of the wake! The Fun Shops were a little disappointing - other than Cherry on Top (which was all candy...) we couldn't find anything to spend our money on! I was surprised that they didn't even stock basics that you may have forgotten (like toiletries, tissues, etc...) but there were also no cute souvenirs other than some tacky keychains and magnets and high end clothing and watches. The lounges were precisely that - lounges, though the main show lounge (no theatre on this ship) didn't have a bar and the service was very sporadic. Of the four times I was in there, I didn't once get approached and asked if I would like to order a drink....The seating was comfortable and there seemed to be more than enough space, but I prefer the theatre style seating on Princess for production shows.

The Room:

We have sailed every category on Princess from inside to suite, and you really do get what you pay for! Since this cruise was all about price, I chose the cheapest option available - an inside guarantee. I was assigned the room about 3 weeks before sailing and was given exactly what I had paid for - an inside on Riviera deck (deck 4) at the aft of the ship. The room turned out to be extremely quiet - didn't hear a sound from above, below, beside, or the hallways, and was convenient for the aft elevators up to the buffet! The layout of the room was nice - 2 lower twin beds arranged in an L shape, and two uppers. This left a nice open space in the middle of the cabin that gave it the illusion of being bigger than it actually was! There was a desk with drawer storage, three closets with shelves and hangers, and two small nightstands. I prefer the open concept closets on Princess and don't think there would have been enough room for clothes if we were on a longer cruise. The bathroom had no shelves/storage at all - Princess does much better with their bathroom layout in my opinion, and there was no fan (this caused an issue as I kept the door open a little for my first shower to prevent the place getting fogged up - this set off the smoke alarm! Yikes! We couldn't turn it off ourselves and had to wait for maintenance to come and verify there was no fire and ask for it to be stopped!) and no hairdryer!!! The beds were super comfortable and we slept really well. By biggest complaint about the room was that it was FREEZING! The air conditioning was on full blast and there is no thermostat to adjust temperature. We did eventually figure out that the ceiling air conditioner had a dial to adjust how much air was being pumped out of it and it was better when we turned the air off completely. Unfortunately, this meant that there was no air flow and after a while the room became smelly, so it was a fine balancing act to determine when we should switch the air back on again!

(more to come later)

Great review Can't wait for more

Thanks

Food and Drink:

For this cruise I had been waitlisted for early seating (I find this best when dining with kids) but, despite having Faster to the Fun that supposedly gave priority for dining, I never got moved from Anytime dining. I figured I would try it out and was glad I did - we were able to get seated as soon as the dining room opened each evening at 5:45pm. Unlike Princess, Carnival really seems to have Anytime Dining managed well - no reservations accepted, just walk up whenever and you either get seated or get a pager for when a table is available. At 5:45pm we never had to wait! The food was surprisingly good - nice choices of meat/seafood/veggie as well as a "rare finds" dish that included alligator, and snails (not that I was brave enough to try either one). There were also offerings such as lobster and steak, etc for an additional fee. We really liked the little shows the waitstaff put on each evening - nice touch Carnival! In addition to the main dining rooms, there was, of course a buffet. The buffet wasn't open 24 hours and had set times for breakfast, lunch, dinner but it was laid out really well and had good food choices. We particularly liked the deli and pizza stations, and the separate salad bar was convenient when there was a line up for hot food as we would just eat salad before getting mains! The free drink offerings were more generous than on Princess - unlimited tea, coffee, lemonade, milk, chocolate milk, juice at breakfast - all self serve. The buffet also had a self serve frozen yogurt station open 24 hours and a bar inside the buffet for purchased beverages. I didn't see any bar staff taking drink orders so, unlike with Princess, if you want a drink you go get your own! The Blue Iguana station seemed very popular, offering up burritos, but since I don't care for them I didn't try it out. I did eat at Guy's Burger everyday - truly delicious and the topping bar was outstanding. I'm not sure if this ship had a specialty/paid restaurant - if it did, I never found it - not that I was ever looking for it!

One noticeable difference between this cruise and what we are used to on Princess is the amount of alcohol consumed! It's easy to see why Carnival is called the "Fun Ship" since most everyone on there seemed to be drunk the majority of the time - not in a bad way, though! I pre-purchased the Cheers beverage package which allows for any drink up to $50 (excluding bottles of wine, etc). They did have a limit of 15 alcoholic drinks in 24 hours, and you were also required to wait 5 minutes between drink orders. I get the idea behind the 5 minute thing, but it was a little frustrating not being able to get my coffee and bottle of water at the same time! I'm not sure I got my moneys worth with the drink package (it cost just over $50 a day) but it was nice not to have a bill at the end of the cruise, so I would definitely do it again! I loved the specialty coffees at the coffee bar (especially the spiked ones) and the frozen drinks were really good. From what I could tell, most cocktails/frozen drinks were around $9 and beers around $6 and up. Comparable pricing to Princess. For the kids, I purchased the Bottomless Bubbles package, which was basically unlimited soda and juice. I had hoped for something more like Princess Soda and More card, as my youngest doesn't drink soda and only likes apple juice - he does, however, like shakes and non-alcoholic cocktails. Sadly, these were not included! Having said that, the kids package was only $4 a day, so I really didn't mind that we barely used it!

Demographic:

Not surprisingly, the passengers on Princess are quite different to the passengers on Carnival. I often feel young on Princess, but on this cruise I felt positively old! Don't get me wrong, there were definitely people of all ages and walks of like on board. However, it seemed the vast majority were in their 20's/early 30's and it seemed to be a requirement to have a tattoo and lots of bare skin :D One noticeable difference was the lack of wheelchairs/scooters/walkers - I think I may have seen two scooters the entire cruise...though after the amount of alcohol some of the youngsters were drinking, they certainly seemed to have difficulty walking! One disconcerting thing was the number of "F Bombs" I heard constantly. Seriously, it seemed that most of the kids couldn't say a sentence without inserting a swear word - it ordinarily doesn't phase me, but having two impressionable kids exposed to this talk frequently did worry me a little!

For the most part, the passengers were well behaved - although tipsy it seemed that there were no trouble makers or aggressive types. I did witness one young girl who was a little the worse for wear who threw up outside the elevators in the atrium, and a group of young boys who ordered tequila shots in the bar and walked away without giving their cards to the bartender. Other than that, all seemed peaceful. The real kids on board, however, were not quite as well behaved. I noticed far more kids wandering the ship unsupervised than I see on Princess - one particular group of boys (around 13/14 years) seemed intent on causing trouble wherever I saw them. At one point, they decided to get in the hot tub and use cups from the buffet to fill with hot water and throw in the faces of other kids in the hot tub. I spoke to them a few times about their behaviour, but to no avail. There were no pool staff that I could see, and no security in sight so I reported them to the bar staff and they sent someone over to talk with them. This stopped that particular behaviour, but next day they were at it again! For the whole 4 days, I never saw them with an adult!

Activities/Entertainment:

I noticed that the activities on Carnival were, in some ways, similar to those on Princess. Trivia, karaoke, comedy shows, dance classes, etc. However, there seemed to be far more of these activities on Carnival - so many that it was impossible to do everything that we wanted to do as the times clashed! I did watch the two production shows - Motown and Studio VIP, both of which were excellent. There was a family game show based on Hasbro games, which the kids really enjoyed but I was surprised that they featured this over a production show! The singers and vocalists throughout the ship were outstanding - I loved The Rocking Dead who did songs through the decades and had quite a loyal following by the last day! The karaoke was a lot of fun and there was never a shortage of singers! I didn't manage to catch any of the comedy acts and didn't do any of the late night stuff with the kids! I really liked the family activities that Carnival offered - I feel this is one area where Princess falls down as, outside of kids programming, there isn't an awful lot for kids to do. Carnival did a Dr Seuss theme with a parade through the ship followed by storytime with the characters. They also had Green Eggs and Ham Breakfast ($5 each), which was a lot of fun - too bad it clashed with seaday brunch so had to miss that! The other activity the kids loved was the Build a Bear (again, an added cost) where they got to stuff a bear and dress it, and take it home (sadly, this clashed with afternoon tea, so I had to miss that, too)!

The sailaway party on the pool deck was a lot of fun, but actually took place a full hour and a half before sailaway! A little strange! There seemed to be a lot of partying in the plaza at many different times - after the production show, during a Mardi Gras party, just because....My only "grumble" about Carnival is the volume level - at times the music was so loud that you couldn't even talk over it. Maybe I am just showing my age, but I prefer to be able to hear what my kids are saying and not have to scream back an answer to them!

Really enjoying your review. Glad you are posting.:D

Muster Drill:

While this is not my favorite part of cruising, I understand it is a requirement and why it is needed. On Princess it is usually an organised, quick procedure. On Carnival, it was disorganised and felt completely pointless! We were instructed to head to our assigned muster stations - ours was nowhere near our room, up 5 floors and mid ship. We didn't need our lifejackets, which was a plus! On arrival at the muster station, we were herded in with no scanning of cards or checking that we were where we were meant to be. It was at this point that the kids were handed their wristbands with that muster station printed on it - guess it might be an issue if you weren't in the right place! The lounge was not big enough to accomodate everyone, there were no seats available and, as more and more passengers were herded in it was impossible to actually see anything that was being demonstrated. The leader kept asking for quiet, which was totally ignored as guests continued chatting and laughing. He also stressed the rules - the first being no food or drinks, yet ignored the fact that almost every passenger in the room had an alcoholic drink in front of them! We waited and waited and finally got to listen to some announcements, which were hard to hear over the continued conversations, and watch a lifejacket demo, which was impossible to see as by now there were 4 rows of people stood in front of us. We then were told to await further instructions, so we waited and waited again. At this point, we were taken up to our lifeboat station on an open deck. We were crowded into a small space on deck and just stood there for about 15 minutes. There were no instructions, no explanation, nothing. Then we got an announcement that we were free to go, the drill was over! Really? What was the point of standing on deck for 15 minutes in silence? After the drill, there was an announcement of around 50 names of people who had missed the drill - how did they know that? At no point were we ever scanned in, so how do they know who attended and who didn't? Princess definitely has the upper hand on muster drill - I kept my fingers crossed that there wouldn't be any real emergencies on board this ship!!

Great review! Thanks for taking the time to entertain us! :D

I've never appreciated the Princess muster drills until reading about your recent one! :eek: Good thing you have experienced little cruisers!

Yes, muster is tedious & pretty routine to us now. Thank goodness you are back safe with no need to test the crew there to see how they managed an emergency when muster is such a challenge for them!

Thank you Princess for doing a muster drill that gives us confidence in the crew! :D

Happy Sailing!

Thank you nicer review. But Carnival is not for me.

Tony

I don't Carnival is for me either. ;)

Kid's Club:

This was one of the things on Princess that kept us coming back time after time - both kids LOVE the clubs on Princess and I have always been more than satisfied with the activities they provide - more than just babysitting or sitting the kids in front of a video game! We have noticed recently that the clubs are starting to slip - maybe the number of kids on board is increasing, but we were disappointed to be on a few recent cruises where waitlists were in place and we had to get to the club super early to get a spot! Not cool, Princess! I have no idea if Carnival has a waitlist policy if there are more kids on board than the club can handle - it wasn't an issue on this particular cruise, though there were a good number of kids! The Carnival clubs are split into the following age ranges: 2-5, 6-8, 9-11 and then two other clubs for older kids. For our cruise, the 6-8 and 9-11 groups were together. My 9 year old was given sign in/out priviledges and felt quite grown up being able to go to the club or back to the room alone. This was also an advantage if there were scavenger hunts as kids who were not allowed to sign out were unable to participate. The hours were really great - port days, the club was open all day and parents could leave kids on board while they went ashore (though I have never done this, and would never feel comfortable doing it....what if I didn't make it back to the ship???). The club staff took kids to lunch if needed and basically had activities going on all day. On the sea day, the club was open all day other than a break between 3pm and 5pm where other activities were scheduled that required adult participation. There was also an option for kids dinner every evening - Princess usually only offers this once or twice/on formal nights. The activities included arts and crafts, pirate night, tshirt decorating, dance party, and a few learning activities (my little guy learned a lot about penguins!) My older child loved the Night Owls program (an extra fee) which was open from 10pm to 1am. She stayed for the Beach Bash party and was handed a huge backpack full of goodies when she left which made the $15 fee more than worth it! She would have happily stayed every evening until 1am but it was tricky with the younger one as he was ready to sleep by 10pm and I had to physically pick the older one up from Night Owls (no sign in/out allowed after 10pm) and was too scared to leave him asleep in the room by himself. The other nice touch from kids club was the fact that they gave you a cellphone on the first day and you kept it throughout the cruise - that way they could easily contact you (or you them) if there were problems. Nice touch, Carnival!

Thank you nicer review. But Carnival is not for me.

Tony

I felt the same way but was pleasantly surprised. Not saying they would be my first choice, but if the price is right I would certainly do it again. Got to beat staying home, right? :p

Disembarkation:

Once again, we have been spoiled on Princess as we have become so used to priority disembarkation. With our purchase of Faster to the Fun on Carnival we were also given some priority to disembark. There were two options provided - self disembark at 7:30am, which basically had you first off the ship as soon as it was cleared. We chose option two, which was to leave our bags out the night before for collection and then to be in disembark group 1 scheduled to be off the ship at 9:15am. We were instructed to meet in the library at 8:30am - there was a sign outside indicating that this was the meeting area for Faster to the Fun, but no staff member present. There were refreshments provided, which was a nice touch. We waited until around 9am and then a staff member came and announced that Faster to the Fun were cleared for disembark. She then led us downstairs and to the front of the line up, which was very long, and we were off the ship within minutes. Very smooth and organised!

Conclusion:

Comparing Princess to Carnival is really like comparing apples to oranges. Though they essentially provide the same product - a cruise vacation - they are providing to a very different demographic with very different expectations. For this reason, their product has to be delivered differently, and it most certainly is! I can't honestly say that one is better or worse than the other - just very different! If I were looking for a fun packed, loud, energetic cruise vacation then Carnival would win hands down. If looking for a quiet, relaxing time then Princess is the winner!

There were certainly some aspects that I felt Carnival did better and then other areas where Princess excelled. I was pleasantly surprised with Carnival but I did not go on with the same expectations I have when I step on a Princess cruise - if I had, I likely would have been disappointed! It is important to keep an open mind and accept that things will be different on the two lines and very nature of the younger, fun loving crowd on Carnival means that you will have a very different experience to that which you would have on Princess. Carnival would not be my first choice of cruiseline (Princess still has that trophy right now) but I would definitely not rule out sailing with them again if the price/itinerary were right. Overall, we had a lot of fun and that was the point of the cruise in the first place - any longer than 4 days might have been a little too much fun, though. I came home feeling like I need another vacation to recover!:D

We took our first Carnival cruise in July 2015. It was an 8 day on a bigger ship out of Ft Lauderdale but we experienced the same general things you did. There was a good size group of Wal-Martians, many spent the whole cruise in the buffet. I did see some poor attitude toward obeying the rules or the crew instructions. A cruise is what you make of it. I was not going to let some idiots ruin my vacation. Overall I was pleasantly surprised and I would sail with them again.

Nice Review. When our kids were younger, we enjoyed Carnival and NCL. We took our now 20 something kids on Princess. Our son in law fell asleep before midnight in club fusion while band was playing and our daughter could not dance as her "knees were sore". Guess we are the young ones afterall.

Great review ceilidh1 - finally an objective review by a non Carnival cruiser - well done - I hope it changes some of the unfair reviews of Carnival - my wife and I are just the opposite, we primarily cruise Carnival and we are looking forward to 7 days of quiet and relaxation on Regal Princess 11/27. This will be our first Princess cruise and I hope to provide a similar review. I am going in knowing the demographics are very different. We will adjust well, we are in our 40's and will easily blend in and behave accordingly. It is too bad your loyalty to Princess and CCL Corp was not recognized and that you were unable to enjoy priority check-in, boarding and disembarkation. I am also disappointed my Platinum status will not be recognize on Princess. Priority check-in, boarding and disembarkation are our favorite perk. I hope you agree with me there should be some shared benefits across all CCL brands that reward our loyalty to Carnival Corp.

Even though we have never been on Carnival, it was a good review and confirmed that we most likely would not be on that line.

Thank you for taking the time to explain your experiences on your get away. I totally understand the need for a refresher and trying to keep the $$ down.

Again, thanks!! :)

Great review! I am thinking of doing the same 4 dayer with my niece and her 3 teenagers. Your review cinched it for me! I will miss the perks I get on Princess being elite, but wanting a quick get a way in the summer while kids on school recess makes Carnival a must do.Thank you!

Thanks for your time to do a very comprehensive comparison. :)

We have never sailed Carnival and likely never will. The "minor" annoyances you experienced - wild neon colors, extremely loud music, lots of vulgar language, someone vomiting outside the elevators, etc. are a complete turn off for us. We like Princess for the quiet and the passenger decorum.

I'm very happy that you enjoyed the cruise on Carnival and I am also very happy there is a line that fits the tattooed, pierced, foul mouthed crowd as it keeps them off of Princess. There is a place for everyone and we seem to have found our place on Princess.

Many thanks for the even-handed review.

We are definitely Princess cheerleaders:D, but we HAVE done one Carnival cruise and enjoyed it for the most part. I can't help but think that some of the things mentioned in this great review--the extremely young demographic, the excess alcohol, the loud music, the vulgar language, the vomiting--can be chalked up to this being such a short cruise. Short cruises on Carnival just seem to bring out the "party" in people.

I wouldn't judge all Carnival cruises by this one.

We are definitely Princess cheerleaders:D, but we HAVE done one Carnival cruise and enjoyed it for the most part. I can't help but think that some of the things mentioned in this great review--the extremely young demographic, the excess alcohol, the loud music, the vulgar language, the vomiting--can be chalked up to this being such a short cruise. Short cruises on Carnival just seem to bring out the "party" in people.

 

I wouldn't judge all Carnival cruises by this one.

I agree with this - I think a longer Carnival cruise to somewhere that didn't involve drinking in every port (what else is there to do in Ensenada??) would likely be a little less of a drunken party! It did seem the majority of people on this cruise were only on it to get drunk and have a wild time - thankfully, they didn't spoil my enjoyment and were very well behaved!

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Thanks for the comparative review. We enjoyed our 7-night Carnival cruse many moons ago, and would consider them again, if price and itinerary were right. While we enjoy Princess overall, sometimes it's fun to have a little more energy throughout the ship and experience. Glad you enjoyed. Happy sails!

So what wrong with wild neon colors, Extremely loud music, Vulgar language and Vomiting outside the elevators. You tell me. All I know it's NOT FOR ME!!!!

How can anyone think it's OK even if it's on a seven day cruise with college kids on spring break.

Tony