Carnival Victory compared to Majesty of the Seas ?

Has anyone here sailed on both ships? How would you compare them? I really liked Majesty of the Seas last year, but Carnival has a really attractive 4 day Thurs - Mon itinerary that hits Key West and Cozumel and the 4 day prices on Majesty just jumped up. Carnival standard rooms way bigger for 3 people than Majesty as well. Been a long time since Carnival, kind of gun shy to book with them.

I've been on both.

Out of the two, I prefer Victory.

It went thru dry dock recently. Victory has more things to do and is larger. Waterslides, comedy club, nightly poolside movies and concerts on the big screen, larger cabins, more food choices. Victory is one of carnivals few ships that has a live band with their production shows.

Food was good. You will have one night with Lobster. RCCL stopped that on their short cruises. We didn't even have lobster on our 7 day Med cruise.

If the itinerary was Half Moon Cay and Grand Turk. Hands down victory.!

However, Coco cay is one of my favorite private islands.

Has anyone here sailed on both ships? How would you compare them? I really liked Majesty of the Seas last year, but Carnival has a really attractive 4 day Thurs - Mon itinerary that hits Key West and Cozumel and the 4 day prices on Majesty just jumped up. Carnival standard rooms way bigger for 3 people than Majesty as well. Been a long time since Carnival, kind of gun shy to book with them.

Thats a tough call. I've never cruise Victory, but I have been aboard the ship. She's so damn gaudy....I've been attracted to some of her short itineraries too but because I don't like the ship, I never bit the bullet. What about Enchantment?

Thats a tough call. I've never cruise Victory, but I have been aboard the ship. She's so damn gaudy....I've been attracted to some of her short itineraries too but because I don't like the ship, I never bit the bullet. What about Enchantment?

Miami is only 45 minutes. Canaveral is about 3 hours. If I depart from Miami (Or better yet, Port Everglades) I can work half a day departure day and also on return day. If I go to Canaveral I lose that. Enchantment cost more and doesn't have KW. I'll wait until Enchantment is in Miami.

I like CocoCay. But living coastal Florida going to CocoCay or not is not a deal breaker. I always enjoy KW, and Coz is nice enough. The Carnival itinerary has a decent amount of sea time; the Majesty itineraries that include KW is not a lot of sailing time really.

Yeah, the Carnival ships are gaudy, and their entertainment has been lacking, but I can overlook an ugly ship for a large room, and I read C is bringing back Calypso bands and more live entertainment.

I guess I am just looking from reassurances from people familiar to the RCI product that Victory is good. If I ask only on the C board I think I'd get an echo chamber response. (firesuit on)

I haven't been on neither ship. I would consider myself "loyal to Royal", but on the other hand , If I were in your shoes I think I would give victory a shot. it's a short cruise, I don't think you have anything to lose. Jmho. Dan

I was on Carnival Victory 14 years ago. I had a great time! I love the Royal ships, but both lines have their pluses and minuses. I think the deserts on Carnival are much better than Royal Caribbean's (specifically the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake available every night, and the Creme Brulee)They also had escargot and lobster during a time when it became unavailable on Royal due to shortage :/ Pizza is pretty good too! My favorite line is still Royal with Carnival being a very close second!

I guess I am just looking from reassurances from people familiar to the RCI product that Victory is good. If I ask only on the C board I think I'd get an echo chamber response. (firesuit on)

If you're looking for a short booze cruise on a ship that looks like vomit from a psychedelic unicorn and staterooms made out of naugahyde, you'll have a great time.

Sorry. I guess that probably wasn't the reassurance you were looking for.

Wouldn't Brilliance compare more to Victory than Majesty?

I have nothing further to add....just want to say I'm laughing my a$$ off at "vomit from a psychedelic unicorn." :D:D:D

If you're looking for a short booze cruise on a ship that looks like vomit from a psychedelic unicorn and staterooms made out of naugahyde, you'll have a great time.

 

Sorry. I guess that probably wasn't the reassurance you were looking for.

Actually that's exactly what I was looking for. Sounds like a don't miss experience in my book :D

I was actually thinkin the same thing but at first wasent sure if I should comment. Anyway Sign me up.!

I haven't been on Majesty yet (booked for December!). But we were on Victory this past February for that exact cruise. A couple of the pluses: it was an amazing bargain!, the itinerary seemed nice until we actually did it. We were in KW at like 7 am (too early to really experience what we wanted to there) and left at 2. The lines to get back on the boat were SO long. Then we didn't arrive in Cozumel until 2 so our beach day was really short. The lines for everything on the ship were really long and the ship was pretty worn down. However that trip was weeks before her upgrade. Regardless of the few bad things, we were on a cruise in warm weather instead of home in snow :) they did have a lobster night, warm melting cake is amaaaaazing, the piano bar was so much fun every night, the staff were all really nice and helpful and it was a great crowd on board. We had brought some friends from home who this was there first cruise and the experience totally turned them off from cruising again. Overall my husband and I thought there were a lot of improvements needed but for the price it was a good trip. Excited to go on Majesty now!

I've been on both. The Victory is not a bad ship, plenty to do and see. As other users have commented, the design elements are less than subtle but that does not largely contribute to overall satisfaction. Major bummer is the short time in Key West, almost might as well not stop. I would sail both ships again and for a 4 day cruise, I would probably go with the itinerary vs. the ship. Both are fun.

Haven't been on Victory but 5 carnival cruises, sailed on Majesty and didn't like the ship one bit. You could go check out reviews on Victory and see what others are saying. For me I would pick Victory over Majesty as we really didn't like the ship at all. Also it might just come down to what itinerary fits your needs best.

It is going into drydock in May 2016 which should help

Ended up booking on Victory instead of Majesty for a few reasons.

We already have a 4 day Bahamas cruise on NCL coming up; Carnival goes to KW and Cozumel instead of Bahamas. The date that worked best for us for Majesty had a sea day instead of Key West.

Victory Oceanview rooms are 220 square feet. That is HUGE. Literally twice the size of Majesty standard rooms. I often say the rooms don't really matter, but with an infant in a pack and play it will make a difference. In fact, that will be larger than any room I've ever had on Royal Caribbean including D category balconies.

Carnival pricing for an Oceanview for 3 people was barely any more money than 3 people on Majesty interior.

Since Carnival 4 day is Thurs-Monday I would use less vacation time than I would for Royal Mon-Friday 4 day. For my wife the one day less vacation time works well enough for her to take two full weeks off at the end of the year, which is nice for her.

We liked Majesty of the Seas but my wife said why are we going to go on a ship we've been on last year to go to places we will be going on NCL; Carnival seems like a good family value and hits many of the marks. It has been a LONG time since I've been on a Carnival ship, and that was the older and smaller Fantasy class. I just didn't care for all the downgrades the company made, but they seem to be listening to customers and making some improvements and so I am curious to try it out.

It will be our sons very first cruise and so 4 nights seems like a good amount of time to see if it works for him or not. Short port times are OK because we are going to limit our activities so we don't have an infant having meltdowns.

If Majesty had been the same price as Carnival for a SOV room (still way smaller than carnival room, but probably the realistic smallest for comfort for 3) and had KW on the schedule it would have been a tougher decision.

I will miss the Diamond perks on Royal, but the ones that mattered for us were the free photos, internet time (which isn't as good as it used to be, and now carnival has a $5 per day plan), and of course the free booze! Carnival will let us bring 2 bottles of wine, same as Royal would, so for a 4 day cruise I will live.

Now, after I cruise Carnival it will be interesting to compare Majesty, NCL Sky, and Victory in terms of short cruises from Miami.

Only thing I don't like about Carnival is that you can't book and pay in CDN dollars like you can with RC

Only thing I don't like about Carnival is that you can't book and pay in CDN dollars like you can with RC

I hate it when I can't pay for my jollies with toonies :D

Are you from Canada?

Are you from Canada?

No, but I am aware that fluctuations in exchange rates are a big deal to my friends from the north.

We've gone to some states and they knew nothing about Canada, thinking we lived in igloos and they knew we were great at hockey. So the exchange plays a big factor, but with RC we can book and pay in CDN dollars, along with Princess, Celebrity and HAL I believe

I think that you are going to be pleasantly surprised! I have always been loyal to RC and have the platinum perks to enjoy so I was very wary about going on a Carnival cruise. However, the price couldn't be beat and the itinerary was just right (KW and Coz) so I decided to give it a chance. Once I got onboard any concerns that I had vanished. The cabins are a good bit larger than the ones on the Majesty but the other areas (food, service, entertainment, etc.) were comparable to the Majesty. In fact, having traveled on both, it would be hard to say which one was better than the other IMHO. Actually, I have a cruise on the Victory coming up in September and one on the Majesty during Christmas.

At the end of the day, if you go with an open mind, you will have a great time no matter which cruise line you decide to go on.:)

I've not sailed on a Carnival ship, but I've been around one docked in port.

It felt like this:

We sailed on the Victory several times..she was the ship that went from NY to Canada..she might be gawdy..but we like to think of her as a grand old dame..just beware of the seahorses (at the base of the banisters..people tend to bang into them)..

I have been on the Victory twice and it remains one of my favorite ships. I have had both ocean view and balcony cabins. The food is typical for cruise ships but remember the cliental is typically from all over the world so it may or may not be spiced the way you like. Don't be surprised when you see someone with two turkey platters full of food for themselves. My last experience had Guys Hamburgers which is where I ate most lunches. Prices are low so I think it attracts what I would say is a wilder crowd, especially shorter cruises. I have always enjoyed the production shows and the comedy club on Carnival (I'm not on Broadway so I adjust my expectations). Depending on the timing of the cruise it will probably have lots of kids. I never had a huge problem with the younger kids, sometimes the parents but not kids. So far with HAL, Princess and Carnival they have the best entrainment. Beds were hard and service was good. It is an old ship and for its age it is in good shape. Disembark is a mess if there is any glitch in the system. We self disembark so we get off fairly quickly. I have been in the Canaveral, Miami and Galveston Carnival terminals and never had a great delay. Lines moved smoothly and for the number of passengers, they moved rapidly.