xitappers2bx

So... Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk and St. Thomas are my three favorite ports thus far, outside of Alaska.

If you really want to veg out, HMC and Grand Turk are great places to do that on a sandy, sunny beach. But I MUCH MUCH prefer 8 night cruises, that extra night really does make a difference, something about getting on board and you have "longer than a week" I much prefer 8 nights to 7 nights (and am doing a less-than-exciting itineracy next week to do that 8 night over a 7 night).

but i do believe you can change the name of a person going for $50 (at least, it was $50 a few years ago)

(although I don't think this is true for ES)

I've been carrying a tablet for a few years now... certainly much lighter than a laptop. Free WiFi can be found at a McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts. We've used the McDonalds in Nassau a few times. There is also one right down the street in St Thomas.

 

Steve

starbucks offers free wi-fi too!! (at least the ones we saw in st. thomas and san juan did... i think that's company wide. when we were in nassau a few years back the starbucks by the port also had free wi-fi). some hotels might also have it too, or you can hang out in the lobby, look like you belong and then ask the front desk for the passcode.

As a "CCL-er" who did RCCL once (Liberty of the Seas) I think you hit it all spot on the head. I think the best thing about RCCL (okay, the best two things) were the Dreamworks movies on the TV's in the cabins, and the shower doors which justted out in that half-circle and pulled shut. when open the bathroom didn't feel small, and when taking a shower who cares if there isn't a lot of room in the bathroom?

This comparison is limited to my experience on Carnival (Legend, Imagination, Sensation and Breeze) and Royal Caribbean (Freedom of the Seas).

 

Cabins: as a general rule they’re bigger on Carnival and I noticed that I missed the space a bit but it wasn’t that big of a deal. Both lines have adequate storage and cabin layout. I missed my Carnival robe though on RCCL. It’s a nice touch that Carnival gives everyone a robe, not just elite members. Also RCCL don’t give pens or paper or toiletries or anything like Carnival does. The shower however was awesome compared to Carnival as it had closing doors and great water pressure but I heard from a friend this is ship dependant, not across the line. I also liked that Carnival gives you pool towels in your cabin and they change them for you whenever you need them to. This was nice on Port days as I found it a slight bit easier to just pack up in our room than having to send someone up on deck to get 6 towels for our family whenever we needed them. Not a big deal, but something I enjoyed on Carnival a little more.

 

Ship layout: this depends on the ship, not the line IMO. I thought the layout was fine on every ship I’ve been on, but I did like how RCCL has the interactive maps everywhere and their signage is better to find your way around. Elevators seemed less cramped on our RCCL ship than previous Carnival ones. Décor seems to be hit or miss on either line. We loved the promenade though which Carnival ships don’t really have. It was bright, open, inviting and fun.

 

Food: I found the dining rooms to be equivalent, menus equivalent and food equal for the most part. I however prefer Carnival for lunch and breakfast. They have much much more variety. I got bored of the windjammer after day 3. The food just repeats in every line. Carnival however has lots of different themed areas all around the ship which I preferred. We defaulted to the dining room for lunch and breakfast whereas on carnival we never found a need to. I like how Carnival makes it easier to eat around the pool. They serve food and drinks on the pool deck, on RCCL you have to walk further and get fully dressed and go into the buffet area to get food. Carnival has buffet food out there, pizza out there and sometimes a hotdog stand. I kind of like being able to eat in my lounge chair in my bathing suit on vacation and I missed this on RCCL. I also found it hard to get a cold drink other than water on the pool deck on RCCL. Whereas on Carnival you could walk over to a drink station really close by. Lastly, there is only 1 little ice cream machine on RCCL and it’s on the pool deck. Carnival seems to have a few more spread out so they’re easier to access. Pizza however is way better on RCCL. Sorrentos is delicious and it’s nice that they have Italian desserts, fruit cups and biscotti there.

 

Staff: amazing on both

 

Kid’s camp: My children actually preferred Carnival. Carnival has more toys in the camp for kids to play with and the children liked the free play time more on Carnival. They also liked the Carnival scheduled activities more. I found they watched more movies on RCCL which wasn’t as exciting for them.

Entertainment: The skating show is a nice touch but it’s a tradeoff for Carnival’s comedy show. You can really only see the skating show once but Carnival has a different comedian almost every night. I missed that. The production numbers were way better on RCCL in my opinion. Also the little extras like parades, entertainment on the promenade, etc were awesome. We also loved the rock climbing and flow rider but on Carnival loved the ropes course and the 5D movie theatre.

 

Pools: hot tubs were hotter on RCCL which was nice. Pools were bigger too which was nice. Splash area for kids though was better on Carnival b/c of the slides. But, it was nice that they had hot tubs for adults in the splash area so adults could sit in there while kids played. I don’t remember that on Carnival.

Crowd: We met nice people on both lines and observed rudeness on both lines.

 

Cost: Everything seemed a little more on RCCL. From the price of the cruise, to the price of drinks, to the daily tipping amount. There also seemed to be more things in general that weren’t included on RCCL. For example Johnny Rockets charges $5 a person whereas Guys Burgers doesn’t charge any fee. Room service has a charge at certain hours, Carnival does not. Fresh squeezed juice there was a charge on RCCL but you could get it at least in some places on Carnival included.

 

Embarkation/Debarkation: same on both

 

Overall we really loved both. I would sail either again in a heartbeat. I will make my book my next cruise based on price, ship reviews and itinerary as I don’t find the differences to be enough to sway me towards one or another.

I sailed on the Splendor last year and will sail on the Miracle in April. What sorts of things are different about these 2 ships? How will Miracle compare and what are the big differences I should expect? Which do you prefer?

The Miracle is my favorite ship, and the spirit class my favorite too. My first cruise on the Splendor will be next week. Down below in my signature I think I have TONS of photo's of the Miracle. She's smaller, but well taken care of. The food was great, the decor typical Carnival, but still enjoyable. I love the Gatsby's area, I love to hide out there with a good book, usually the only people i ever saw were employees relaxing there between shifts. the phantom theater is kind of cool, but i'm a phantom of the opera fan.

when the miracle left NYC i was saddened, I almost booked the Miracle for an alaska cruise last summer (even though we were already booked on HAL for an alaskan cruise). i think the only thing that held me back is that Malcolm stayed in NYC.

Thank you for the replies. It's settled, I'm booking tonight! The price is great as it is, so why not?! After the year we've had (and its only March-eek) this cruise is much needed. I can't wait. :D

YAY!!

i just did the same thing in january for a cruise that leaves in 9 days... sometimes you just gotta say screw it, we're going on vacation.

My wife and I have been on 2 Carnival cruises in 2008 and 2009, and we intended to go on at least one a year until life got in the way lol. Well here it is 5 years later and we've decided to get our cruise on again. Yesterday we got an offer in the mail from Carnival for a one time platinum upgrade and on board credit if we book a cruise this month. This sounded good because we actually intended to book this month anyway.

 

Last night I logged onto their website and did a mock booking to get an idea what we are looking at. I didn't go through with it though because we were going to look it all over this weekend together. Well this morning I got a call from 305-599-2600 saying they were with Carnival and they wanted to go over some specials offers they have and help plan our next vacation. I didn't give them any info and I asked them to call back later. I did a reverse number look up and it shows this number is associated with Carnival.

 

Has anyone ever had Carnival call from this number or really I guess any number when you don't even have a current booking with them? When they call back should I deal with them or just call 888 number on the website?

It was a PVP making a sales call. they won't offer you anything that's not on the website, and they're great at pressuring you, and calling every single time you log into the website.

someone at carnival screwed up big with this lousy idea to harass people just looking on the website. i never log in, i only use a TA and the daily calls get obnoxious.

TA

Pro: on board credit sometimes

Someone else handles everything for you

 

Con: any issues carnival will refer you back to the TA and will not assist with any booking problems.

You can do everything a TA can through carnivals PVP (their in house agents)

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

BUT... a TA works for YOU, so if there is a problem, they'll not only be aware of it, they'll solve it for you in order to get your repeat business.

The biggest different is a TA works for YOU. a PVP works for CARNIVAL. i used a pvp (almost) and it was a miserable disaster of an experience, and i went running back to my TA. some people love their PVP's but I adore my TA.

Is there an advantage to booking a cruise, let's say a year in advance vs a couple of months? Are the rates cheaper?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

It's really a crapshoot. There are so many variables that come into play. Are your dates flexible, are they set? Do you want to do Early Saver? Are you able to do Pack'n'go rates? (They're really the only last minute 'good' deals out there, but that's booking, packing and planning a cruise in mere days, and that's if the ship isn't sold out).

So many things go into the pricing of the cruise, capacity, rate of sales, overall sales of the company, and so much more. If you book well in advance, you know you're getting the room you want (if you pick a room and don't do a guarantee), and if you do the ES rate you can potentially get refunded any price drops that do occur. There's always the risk of a ship being near capacity or sold out much closer to the sail date, and if you wait until the very last minute you might snag a great deal from a pack'n'go but unless you live in the southeast where you can drive easily to a number of ports you might get left without a cruise, or seriously expensive airfare that would negate the cheaper cruise fare.

My family is cruising on the Breeze on June 1st. My daughter will be 11 and two months away from being 12. She really wants to be able to go to Circle C with the older kids. She normally feels more comfortable with that age than younger kids. How strict are Carnival with their cutoffs? I spoke with a Carnival booking agent and they thought it would not be an issue. Although they were looking to sell me a cruise so maybe they would tell me anything. Anyway, does anyone have any info on this?

you can ask, but don't expect them to permit her to bump up... we typically cruise over my daughter's birthday, and when she's cruised and "aged up" during that cruise, it's been a crapshoot as to which group they'll let her join, but they definitely will not permit a child who isn't not of that age join the group, regardless of whether or not they're two months, two weeks, or two days away from being that age.

it was not appropriate for the carnival booking agent to tell you otherwise, since they basically endorsed another employee from going against a rather strict carnival policy of keeping the ages separate--i'd be very very displeased with that pvp for not being honest.

I'm just going to answer in red after each question...

My husband and I are thinking about going on the March 27th sailing out of Tampa. We have some time off from work and we haven't been on a cruise in 2 years, so we're seriously considering it.

 

Questions are:

 

Will the price drop at all before the cruise? I've been tracking the prices and they haven't changed at all. I don't mind paying the price it is now, but I'm not sure if this is the best deal or not.

 

Quote possibly not, especially if the ship is nearing fully capacity. if the price is good for you now, i'd book it now. it could very well go up in cost. i booked my cruise for this month in january, and the price has gone up and down, and is now back to being more than when it was when i booked, and it's about 10 days out.

 

What should we expect on a short cruise? We've only been on 7+ day cruises, so this shorter cruise & smaller boat is kind of making me nervous. I also think it's during some college spring breaks, and it's going to Cozumel, so I suspect it will be a party cruise. (Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, I'm just curious about what to expect).

 

a short cruise on the smaller boats aren't bad at all... my first cruise was on the sensation 4 night and it was a blast. they're still massively huge ships, and it's still a good time. but it probably will be a party cruise, but that just means you'll have more reason to let lose and have fun.

 

Should I book through the website, or would I benefit from calling Carnival directly? Normally, I do everything online, but I wonder if calling will get any discounts/upgrades?

 

if you call carnival, they will give you the exact same price as if you booked it on their website. the only way you could hope to get a discount of some kind would be to book through a third party website or through a travel agent who might offer OBC or something to help build loyalty (I only use a TA, it's always been a positive experience, and i tend to be able to book a few hundreds dollars cheaper than the ccl website shows, but you're so close to the sail date there may be nothing incentive-wise even from a TA)

 

Thanks for any and all advice! :)

Do you think the grand suites are worth the extra money or not?

Just looking for opinions.

go for the ocean suite... i've been in both, and the only difference between the two is there's a little bit less room, and the sofa isn't one of those big wrap-arounds. The GS is only worth it if you have a few kids or something, but for two adults, a teen, and a younger kid (twin beds, the sofa, and one of those pull down from the ceiling deals) the OS was MORE than enough space. The balcony huge, and the bathroom and dressing area are the same size, the whirlpool tubs the same. you get no added benefit being in a GS over a OS.

We will be in Nassau/Freeport next week. Can anyone tell me if the water will be to cold to swim/snorkel.

we were in nassau in december, right before christmas a few years ago, and it was beautiful. the water was great, considering we were coming from a cold snowy northeast.

I have a handicap but I love to swim... do the pools have steps to get in and out??? Do they have the lift chairs for handicap people.... Please help me if you can.... thank you:confused:

No lifts, and from being around handicapped members of my own family, I'm not sure some of them could make it safely over the pretty large "step" into the pool area safely, but unfortunately there is no lift. I haven't been on a carnival cruise with a hydrotherapy pool, but we were just on a HAL ship that had one, and I would think with those types of steps getting into that particular pool wouldn't be too difficult, unfortunately, it's usually at least $150 for access.

I probably should have added this to one of the tipping threads out there but not sure if it would be answered. I prepay my tips when we book it's just one less thing on the sail and sign account.

 

What I'm curious about is tipping extra to our steward and/or wait staff. If either of them are "exceptional" or go out of the way for us (which they always seem to :) ) how much extra should I give them? Is an extra $10 or $20 sufficient or does that seem cheap? For instance the day we embark is our first wedding anniversary so I purchased the Happy Anniversary cabin decorations so this will take some extra time on our stewards part...

 

Thank you everyone! And this is an extra tip not in lieu of auto tips.

 

 

I take all my tips off... I give each room steward $50 bill when we get onboard. and i'll give them another $50-$100 afterwards depending on their level of service, which typically is phenomenal once i've given them the biggest tip they'll probably get on that cruise, since everyone else is giving them barely a few bucks per day. they clean the bathroom. twice a day. they deserve it.

The last night of the cruise, I'll give each of the three servers a tip between $40 and $60 depending on the level of service, their attention to my pickiness and how they interact with my daughter.

now, before I get crucified for taking the tips off and giving them out (really choosing how I want to spend my own money) myself, unless you tip the cooks that cook your meals when you go out to eat, and the kid who sweeps the floor when you get your hair done, and the woman who answers the phone at the nail salon, i don't want to hear it. I tip those who provided exceptional service to me.

To me being on HAL is like being in the movies. Like this is the way a cruise ship is suppose to be. Tuxs and long dresses on formal night. Ect. Saying that most of the people are older on HAL. You should try it once even just to say you did that

EXACTLY!!

and you should do it more than just once.

We sailed on Holland Zaandam last year to Alaska. Was not impressed at all. No music on lido, in fact hardly any people on lido. No activities. Average age was about 65 and there was no music past the 50's and 60's. The crew and food were not as good as they are on Carnival in my opinion. Only good thing was we weren't there to cruise, we were there to see Alaska and also, I knew going in what this particular ship entailed.

See... and now I was a few weeks past my 29th birthday and my daughter 8 when we cruised alaska last year, and i think one of the best parts of the cruise was the fact there was none of that stupid on deck stuff, the clientele would have hated it, and honestly, i learned much more from my elders while watching whales than i would have from some second rate mambo band.

i really think it's personal preference.

Thanks for the response. When i sailed HAL I was in a Deluxe Veranda suite or Superior Suite. On the Breeze I have booked an Ocean Suite which appearsa to be about the same size as a HAL Superior. I realize theres no suite lounge on Carnival but that's OK . I never enjoued sitting in the Neptune Lounge anyway. (Why sit in an interior room when there is a beautiful ocean view from my balcony!) I guess Im just curious about what Carnival fans perceive as the differences between the 2 lines. Im excited about my upcoming cruise on the Breeze!

We were in a SB on HAL (neptune suite?); typically on carnival we travel in an ocean suite, it's a good size, and the layout was basically exactly the same as the SB on HAL, (which is the same layout as the grand suite, which is also the same layout as the ocean suite). in my links i have photos from the ocean suites, and they're pretty standard ship to ship if you're curious what the room looks like.

my ONE serious piece of beef with holland america is this--I'm spending a ton of money for a suite, the pull out bed shouldn't be the worst bed my body has ever laid on--ever. carnival by far and away has a MUCH MUCH MUCH better sofa bed than HAL does.

I just did my first HAL cruise last year in Alaska, and FELL IN LOVE WITH THE LINE.

I couldn't possible rave more about HAL---Carnival is about exactly the opposite of HAL. The clientele is different, the ships are very different (HAL more elegant, Carnival more kitschy)

I'm thinking you might have mis-typed and meant that the cure for cruise addiction is Carnival... I'm not going to say that's necessarily true.

If you're someone who generally cruises in the Penthouse Suite on HAL, you're probably not going to like Carnival, but if you're a regular person then Carnival will probably be fine for you. While there is no service equal to the Pinnacle Grill (we were in a suite, and ate breakfast there every single day--it was stellar) the steakhouse service is pretty close. The dining service, while the employees in HAL dress more elegant, was the same (both fantastic). The room stewards are about equally great, although the ones on HAL went above and beyond without hesitation whereas on Carnival I've had both great and mediocre stewards (but, I've cruised on Carnival much more than HAL--only one HAL cruise so far). The spa on Carnival has been a much more positive experience than my experience with HAL, but I"m pretty sure they're the same company running them so I wouldn't put too much stock in my one bad experience.

Now... kids clubs... my daughter LOVED HAL's but it was an Alaska cruise and they had naturalists and natives onboard and there were so few kids (it was a mid-May trip) onboard that it was basically a one-on-one experience for her. So I'm sure that's why she loved HAL's more.

Food... the food in the Pinnacle was a bit better than Carnivals steakhouse, but really I'd say HAL's dessert was by far and away the best one I've ever had in a speciality restaurant. the Main Dining Room food I would say is about equal. Room service on Carnival is better, although it was great being able to get dinner off the main dining room menu for room service on HAL because we were in a suite, that was a perk that i LOVED, and seriously wish Carnival had.

Activities... there was more bingo on HAL... otherwise, Carnival has the more goofy poolside stuff than HAL had, but our cruise was definitely an older demographic so there was no desire for hairy man contests and stuff like that.

If you want any specific comparisons more than what I've written here I'd be happy to help you.

Overall I liked HAL more because the experience was the "whole package" and the passengers were great... but with that said, I am leaving for a Carnival cruise in two weeks, so obviously HAL didn't ruin me for good.

I always get massages on board, and never once have they tried to sell me ANYTHING while performing the massage.

Afterwards... now that is a different story.

You need the Passport BOOK which takes care of everything. :)

 

While the Passport CARD is nice to also have (we do) and convenient as a government ID in most ports on cruises and crossing by car form the US to Canada or Mexico, the most important and needed is the Passport BOOK.

 

LuLu

~~~~

YESSSSSS

get the passport book!! save yourself the worry and possible trouble heaven forbid there is a reason you need to be home.

thank you. would this apply to any child under 18yr, that is not mine?

yes.

while cruising is a great family vacation, the child you bring you'd be responsible for 100%. i'm not sure i'd want to take on that responsibility on my vacation. hopefully it all works out for you and it's a good trip!!

tHow do these upgrade offers work? I booked my mom and sister in an interior room for our upcomibg cruise in May and now my mom is thinking that she would like a window view room? Is it best to wait it out and hope we get an upgrade offer or call the agent who booked me and hope she can get a pretty good deal? All advice is appreciated.

you should always book what is acceptable to you.

if you want to get an ocean view you need to call your TA or PVP and ask them how much it would be to upgrade and then do it that waiting. waiting for an upsell or upgrade call is always a bad strategy, there have been people on here who have cruised 20+ times and have never received that call.

to the OP, unless the price you got for what you currently have was totalllllly awesome, $510 seems high, i might go for it if it were half that though. but i don't have a huge affinity for the aft-view.

I know I have seen threads on this, but don't find one now. We are trying to book a reservation at the steakhouse on the Sunshine. We are logged into our carnival account and have tried several times to book a reservation and have been told we would receive and email with no response. Is there another way to book a reservation on the Sunshine. Thank you for your help.

there have been times we've reserved and not received an e-mail at all, and when we've gone onboard checked to make sure they had our reservation and it was there just waiting for us.