what do you love about Carnival?

Hi all, I live on the East Coast and have only sailed NCL because the Boston and NY cruise ports are easy for me, and I can only go certain times of the year as I am an educator. However, I am looking at flying to NOLA and taking the Carnival Dream to the Caribbean during my February break.

What do you love about Carnival?

How does it compare to NCL ( if you've been on both)

I love NCL for the freestyle dining..does Carnival have something similar?

I am looking at booking a balcony as the prices are a lot cheaper than most other ships for that category.

I would also love to hear any cons about this cruiseline.

Thanks for all the help!

We sailed the Dream two years ago out of NOLA and had a fantastic cruise!

What do I love about Carnival? The “laid back” vibe we get from everyone around us. I love the lower cost we pay for a FUN vacation. There is something enjoyable for everyone in our family.

Your time dining is similar to the freestyle dining. You can go anytime between like 5:30 and 9:00 or something like that.

I have only sailed Carnival because I've been so happy with the overall product, I haven't looked elsewhere.

The main things I love about Carnival are the service and the fun!

The main thing Carnival stinks at is food quality in the common areas. But every ship has "pay extra" restaurants that serve food WORTH EATING. That being said, some people think the food at common areas (Guys burgers, etc.) are fine. Depends on what you're used to, I think.

Overall, I love Carnival!

I like Carnival because the prices are good and my two young daughters enjoy the fun of the ships and they sail at a very good price. My girls loved all the fun stuff to do on the Vista. I've sailed the NCL Escape and am sailing the new NCL Bliss for 15 days in March with my kids. They are very similar in most ways. I enjoy the food in the MDR and buffet more on NCL but do enjoy the Guys Burgers and Blue Iguna at lunch. The only real cons are those of personal preference or observation. The food on carnival is just ok and your fellow cruisemates can be less than desirable due to the low pricing on Carnival. We've alse sailed Royal, MSC, Holland America and Princess. We are sailing Carnival again to Cuba next year.

overall the best. just ask the 15 people we've taken on vacation.

Friendly, happy staff.

Stay as busy or as relaxed as I choose, in sun, shade or inside.

Eat/drink when I choose.

Comfortable cabin.

Views of the ocean from nearly everywhere on the ship.

Cloud 9 Spa on Dream class ships.

Value received for $ spent.

Chef's Table.

And back to friendly, happy staff. Everyone has a bad day now and then but most of the crew, most of the time, seem genuinely happy to be there.

Carnival is an incredible value, a great time, and very laid back. Sign me up.

We like Carnival because the price is fantastic for what you get. Sure RCL and some of the others might give you fancier shows and food, but you are definitely paying for that too. I don't need super fancy food at home or broadway entertainment so what Carnival gives me is perfect. You can't beat the value that you get on Carnival.

I have only sailed on Carnival because I have been happy with them but I have only been on 3 cruise thus far. Glory once, Dream twice. The first time on Dream my impression was yes, bigger than Glory but it seemed as though they added more cabins but did not make anything else bigger and seemed extremely crowded. The 2nd time we were on Dream it didn't seem so crowded, probably because it was in September so, less kids.

I haven't had many issues with the food. At lunch I usually just have salad so I really don't have many complaints about the buffet. Otherwise we eat at the steakhouse for dinner or the main dining room. For breakfast I always order room service.

We enjoy the comedy shows, the spa, the piano bar and just the overall relaxing atmosphere.

Carnival does roundtrips from Charleston, SC.

For me, it's the demographics and how the ship is ran. My wife and I are in our 30's so we don't want to be in a floating K&W cafeteria or a nursing home. We want a younger crowd that likes to have fun. The whole art/classical musical thing isn't for us. We want current music, played loud, and a fun atmosphere with younger people. Plus Carnival has great prices!

The crew. They are phenomenal. Also, the demographic. It runs younger, and I don't just mean chronological age. Even the passengers who are "older" tend to act much younger and know how to have a good time. We love the customer service. We love the Dream class ships. We just love everything about Carnival.

Carnival does roundtrips from Charleston, SC.

I don't think they had any for the date I need. My schedule is very limited when it's not the summer as I am an educator who has specific vacation breaks

Great info from everyone, thanks. I think I may end up booking one this week.

Some of the reasons we usually pick Carnival

• Value for the money is better than the other lines. Included food is on a par with what we experienced on NCL, RCCI, Disney and the price is better. OUR opinion of course.
  
• The crew members are always friendly and interesting
  
• The other passengers are great. They are down-to-earth and aren't so full of themselves that they think they are better than everyone else. Most of them anyway. Of course, there are a few passengers that think the other passengers are "less than desirable". We avoid that type: the I-am-better-than-everyone-else-even-if-I-am-on-the-same-ship-and-paid-the-same-price type. There are very few of those on Carnival (lots on Celebrity).
  

We like Carnival because the price is fantastic for what you get. Sure RCL and some of the others might give you fancier shows and food, but you are definitely paying for that too. I don't need super fancy food at home or broadway entertainment so what Carnival gives me is perfect. You can't beat the value that you get on Carnival.

I agree. I've tried multiple times to book something with Royal as it does seem like an appealing product. The clear consensus is that their shows are better and the ships are fancier. The rest seems to be personal opinion. I don't go to the shows. It's tough to stomach hundreds of extra dollars to fill a void that isn't there. One day, I will venture out. Carnival makes it tough. They have what I need, for cheaper.

Our first cruise was with a group that was booked on Carnival. It was the Destiny and at that time was the largest cruise ship afloat. We had a ball. Got hooked. When we decided to cruise again, we never gave it a thought to go to another line.

After our fourth cruise on Carnival, we wanted to see Aruba. At that time, Carnival didn't stop there so we went with RCI. What a difference. As another poster mentioned above, it seemed like everybody thought they were better than everybody else. The crew acted like they were inconvenienced if you ask them for something. Never ever had that on Carnival. We decided then that RCI is not for us.

On Carnival, everybody talks to everybody. As an example, on our last cruise on the Paradise, we went topside to the Whale Tail as we were going under the bridge. There were two ladies up there that started talking to us. The next day we went up to the Lido deck and they were sitting at a table with their husbands. They asked us to join them. We spent the whole sea day with them. It's so easy to make acquaintances on Carnival

There are so many different things going on during a Carnival cruise. There's always something to do or you can just sit back and people watch. I have mentioned in other postings that we didn't enjoy our RCI cruise. People have suggested that we try it again. If I get burned by touching something hot, I don't need to touch it the second time to see if I get burned again. Same with cruising.

Sure, some of the stuff is corny like the hairy chest contest, yet it's funny watching it. You'll hear the same lame jokes from the CD's on every cruise. You just have to realize that out of the 3000 passengers that are on the ship, probably 80% of them haven't heard those jokes before.

The bottom line for us is that Carnival has Funships. We have had fun on every cruise we've taken with them and we become Platinum on our February 2019 cruise.

Carnival ships with Cloud 9 Spas that have Thalasso pools...

Price, I was looking at a holiday cruise for next december and RCCL was 3900 for two in an ocean view and carnival is 2800 for a balcony. I understand it's the Allure but I don't want to pay 1000$ more for the same ports. I haven't had any bad experience and I like the ships.

Hi all, I live on the East Coast and have only sailed NCL because the Boston and NY cruise ports are easy for me, and I can only go certain times of the year as I am an educator. However, I am looking at flying to NOLA and taking the Carnival Dream to the Caribbean during my February break.

 

What do you love about Carnival?

How does it compare to NCL ( if you've been on both)

I love NCL for the freestyle dining..does Carnival have something similar?

I am looking at booking a balcony as the prices are a lot cheaper than most other ships for that category.

I would also love to hear any cons about this cruiseline.

 

Thanks for all the help!

We sail both CCL/NCL pretty often. I do love NCL/RCL out of NYC/NJ for sure. Big selling point for us.

As far as CCL goes, they have followed the 'freestyle' model pretty well now. We actually stopped sailing CCL in maybe 06'? because we were sick of assigned table mates/times and loved Freestyle on NCL. But now Anytime dining is basically the same thing, and there are enough extra restaurant options where I now dont see much of a difference between the two lines.

What we like--always great deals as far as price goes, and many itins to choose from. Embarkation/Debarkation is typically super slick and easy in Miami. Great sail away too. Good for kids. Good service in general. I find the food as good as NCL. Ships are nice, but not as wind attractions as NCL has.

Cons--can be more of a party crew, depending on what itin you sail. If its a 7-day, then it will be a more relaxed group. They do more cheesy 'hairy chest competition/dancing waiters' etc stuff which to be honest we just kind of think is silly at this point. Physical entertainment, like climbing walls/waterslides/etc is certainly not to the level as NCL has perfected.

Enjoy your cruise!

They leave from Jacksonville, Fl

I call it the Redneck express..

Dennis

Jacksonville, Fl

I love Carnival because they are the only cruise line that sail from Galveston year round.

Doesn't hurt that I'm Diamond now...

Some of the reasons we usually pick Carnival

• Value for the money is better than the other lines. Included food is on a par with what we experienced on NCL, RCCI, Disney and the price is better. OUR opinion of course.
  
• The crew members are always friendly and interesting
  
• The other passengers are great. They are down-to-earth and aren't so full of themselves that they think they are better than everyone else. Most of them anyway. Of course, there are a few passengers that think the other passengers are "less than desirable". We avoid that type: the I-am-better-than-everyone-else-even-if-I-am-on-the-same-ship-and-paid-the-same-price type. There are very few of those on Carnival (lots on Celebrity).
  

Agreed. I have been on both NCL (worst cruise ever in life) and RCI just to be open to what other cruise lines are offering and I wasn't impressed with either and spent way too much money for "bragging rights" when most people I encountered I wouldn't want to be around on land. The service was great but far too many fellow cruisers on both lines were way too cliquish, "look at me" and more worried about being envied for their status types via their room or other self-important propaganda that again, I wouldn't bother with on land.

I have never had a bad vacation on Carnival. I have never not felt I got more for my money than paid for and I love the people who take a Carnival Cruise because they are genuinely appreciative of their vacation and most aren't their for validation from others but to enjoy everything their hard earned money has paid for. They are more laid back, fun and help keep the general vibe of the ship on a positive note. Some talk down on Carnival but, again, these wouldn't be people I'd want to share my vacation with anyway so no loss.

My first cruise was on NCL and every one since has been on Carnival. The two biggest differences that I noticed were the food and entertainment.

On NCL we found that all of the food on Lido was either some exotic foreign dish we had never heard of or hot dogs and french fries. There was no in between, they seemed to think Americans only ate hot dogs and french fries. Our food in the main dining room on NCL was okay but we tend to prefer a quick dinner most nights. On Carnival I don't find the food to be amazing (except Guy's burgers yumm), but I've never had a problem finding something to eat on Lido and the food in the dining room when we do go has always been great.

Entertainment wise I felt like there is a lot more to do on Carnival. WAY more comedy shows (at least two PG and two R shows almost every night) which is one of our favorite things.

Things I love:

1) L-shaped balconies

2)Alchemy bar

3)Jiji's

4)great Indian food

5)Steakhouse

6)comedy club