Carnival Repo vs Celebrity Repo

We recently did our first 14 night "Journey" cruise on board the Carnival Pride, after having sailed the Celebrity Summit 8 night Repo from Puerto Rico to New Jersey, last year. Aside from the length difference, we were in an standard balcony on Carnival, but upgraded to Aqua class on Celebrity. This obviously skews the food and service comparison a bit. We immensely enjoyed our first cruises on both Carnival and Celebrity. After being disappointed with maintenance and the mattress situation on our 2nd Carnival cruise, we had hoped that the “Journey” upgrades would help even the score again.

Embarkation:

We were on the ship within half an hour, on both lines. My only complaint: Carnival’s boarding packet only included 1 sick form. After passing through security, the employee assigned to hand out these forms, berated us for only having 1. “I’ve been explaining this all day long, 1 form each. How many times do you people need to hear this?” Well, it was his first time telling us. I didn’t know I was suppose to be listening from the hotel.

The room:

Our Aqua cabin on the Summit was wonderful, with fresh fruit and tea. Of course we paid extra for that, but the general comfort and cleanliness were excellent.

Our Carnival cabin was clean, although we heard from others who had mold in their vents. The bathroom water was consistently yellowish. The mattresses had seen better days, but we came prepared with egg crates. Our balcony door handle fell half off outside, and had to be screwed in diagonally. There were already too many screw holes horizontally, and from the opposite diagonal position, that it was time to utilize the final option. Also, the wood of the balcony floor was spongy enough to make us nervous to walk out on it.

The food:

We enjoyed Celebrity’s BLU immensely, a noticeable upgrade over the MDR, especially in breakfast menu and service. While I don’t normally enjoy buffet food, the buffet seemed to have improved over our Millennium cruise. The Indian dishes were delicious, and I was never disappointed with the wok.

I was happy onboard with Carnival’s MDR, mostly sticking to lamb and seafood. The soups and desserts were delicious, and the vegetables were fresh. The 3 times I ordered a beef dish or tortellini, I found it to be overly greasy or bland. My wife doesn’t eat seafood, so more consistently noticed a downgrade with the American Table menu.

I never ate lunch at the Carnival buffet once, It did not look appetizing. I tried to utilize brunch in the MDR, eating in port, ordering room service, or last resort was the Blue Iguana. Guys Burgers incredibly unhealthy, low grade beef, gobs of mayonnaise (thicker than the patty) on top and bottom. I know for some this might sound delicious, but I thought it was absolutely gross, even scraping as much mayo off as I could.

The People:

Initially both crowds were comparable, same age demographic. By the end of the Celebrity cruise, passengers were very relaxed, and more openly friendly and enthusiastic with the people they had met on the trip.

The Carnival passengers on the other hand, became more frustrated and irritable as time went along. Not all or even the majority, but enough to make their presence known. The most restless began gathering around the pool and buffet area, where the “F Bomb” became commonly used in disputes. Someone throw a plate at staff, and by the last day, there was blatant cutting and shoving in buffet lines. As a cold broke out, some were all too willing to share it by not covering before coughing or sneezing on other people, or grabbing a piece of jello with your hands.

Sanitation:

Celebrity used the standard procedure of having well stocked hand sanitizers, at all eateries and the casino. There was also the outgoing staff member handing it out, “Washy Washy”, which makes it hard to resist. There was no noticeable sickness going around the ship, but it was only 8 days long, ending in May.

Carnival really dropped the ball by not placing sanitation devices anywhere prominent unless you entered the buffet from the back. Also there were sanitizer stations that had no sanitizer for the entire trip. There were times I had to go searching for one that was visible and stocked, and witnessed very few doing the same.

The Spa:

Celebrity: We never purchased anything in the spa area, but the friendliness and low pressure sales techniques, were appreciated. We had trial massages, went to the Gym, and Persian Guardian. While I tend to avoid the Spa, it was very welcoming.

I decided to get a hair cut on Carnival, and asked for my pony tail to be cut to my shoulder blades. The hairdresser pulled my hair up without measuring, and cut it to an inch past my ears. When she saw what she did, she started laughing at it. “Oh my goodness, you can still make a little pony tale, if you just have to have one.” I was offered a refund on the hair cut, and a scalp massage (which I refused). The salon manager insisted that I not show up to show her what my hair looked like. When I heard that the same stylist had botched someone’s $30 shave, and this individual had to finish the job in his cabin, I called back to report it. “Who is he? What is his name? You tell him to come to the salon so I can meet him. I want his name or cabin #…”

Improvements:

Celebrity’s shows improved in scale and variety, moving beyond the 70’s pop culture nods, and added more sea day activities. Taste of Film was interesting, and Captain Kate was a hoot.

Carnival’s Academy of Fun was our favorite addition to the Journey cruise, with talks about wine, astronomy, art, navigation, etc. The Alchemy Bar makes for creative hard liquor drinks.

Conclusion:

Celebrity only improved upon our previous cruise experience with them, while Carnival mostly did the opposite. Given that I’m going to start a BBB claim on Carnival, for avoiding a $650 refund of a canceled art purchase, the past three months to ponder all this, have not sweeten the pot.

Thank you for the comparison review. We have not cruised Carnival in a few years. Our dear friends who mainly cruise Carnival are booked on their first Celebrity cruise with us in October(Celebrity Infinity, Panama Canal, 15 night) and I am nervous about what they will think.

Thank you for the comparison review. We have not cruised Carnival in a few years. Our dear friends who mainly cruise Carnival are booked on their first Celebrity cruise with us in October(Celebrity Infinity, Panama Canal, 15 night) and I am nervous about what they will think.

I'm sure if they're open minded, like relaxing atmospheres, luxury, or are foodies, they'll find something to enjoy. Hopefully they take the good with the bad on other lines previously.

We befriended a couple of Carnival loyalists on the Summit, who complained about everything. Passengers were snobbish because they dressed up for dinner, and crew were terrible because someone snapped at them in the buffet. I never got the details, but I can't imagine blaming an entire ship's crew on one person. They also hated RCL and NCL, but seemed to follow whoever had the cheapest sales, and assert their loyalty to Carnival while they cheated.

We always cruised on Carnival and Princess. I persuaded my wife into trying Celebrity. I read about how healthy AQ was supposed to be and we upgraded to AQ for the wellness classes and healthier food.

We booked the Solstice and as soon as we boarded and greeted with a glass of bubbly and then walked into the atrium we both went WOW. We were really impressed with the cabin, the modern looking bathroom and shower panel.

We enjoy AQ but many of the so called benefits weren't really there. The first time we were in AQ we asked for the pillow menu. Was told all the pillows are there just choose one. There were no wellness classes and now they have a video on the TV. The menu in Blu doesn't seem to be any healthier than the MDR.

After a few cruises on X we did a cruise on the Carnival Dream when it was rather new and had a Spa cabin. It was a nice cruise but the smoking allowed in many areas keeps us away from Carnival.

I don't know if you ever been on a Celebrity S class ship ship. There is a big difference in the AQ cabins and Persian Gardens. The S class were made for with AQ. The M class ships converted a few cabins to AQ and Blu was a part of the MDR converted to Blu.

Thanks for your comparison. It helps to convince me to stick with X.

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌞

The S class ships are gorgeous! We are sailing on an M class with our first time Celebrity cruiser friends. We have sailed on the M class many times, but, they can be somewhat underwhelming. Truth be told some of the M class are looking a bit worn. We were on the Infinity last month, and had a fabulous time, but, some of the cabins, furnishings as well as public spaces are really showing their wear. I do think they will appreciate the no smoking in the casino.

Looks like we're going to be doing M class for awhile, all of the exotic itineraries that we're eyeballing, are on them. S and E are something to look forward to. As far as Aqua, I think it's worth it if the price is reasonable. I'm not sure how much healthier it is, but the service, setting, and enhanced breakfast menu were a treat.

Looks like we're going to be doing M class for awhile, all of the exotic itineraries that we're eyeballing, are on them. S and E are something to look forward to. As far as Aqua, I think it's worth it if the price is reasonable. I'm not sure how much healthier it is, but the service, setting, and enhanced breakfast menu were a treat.

Our last two cruises(Summit, July 2016, Eclipse, Jan 2017) before the Infinity last month were in AQ. We were actually looking forward to going back to the main dining room as we prefer the food in the main dining room. We were not disappointed. We had excellent food, service, and sommelier in the MDR, so no regrets.

Thank you for the comparison review. We have not cruised Carnival in a few years. Our dear friends who mainly cruise Carnival are booked on their first Celebrity cruise with us in October(Celebrity Infinity, Panama Canal, 15 night) and I am nervous about what they will think.

They will probably enjoy the food and ship but find the cruise a bit boring. Carnival has lots of daytime activities (both in the sun and inside the ship). We've sailed on both lines, prefer Carnival but love Café Al Bacio on Celebrity and use Celebrity as our "do nothing" cruise.

Looks like we're going to be doing M class for awhile, all of the exotic itineraries that we're eyeballing, are on them. S and E are something to look forward to. As far as Aqua, I think it's worth it if the price is reasonable. I'm not sure how much healthier it is, but the service, setting, and enhanced breakfast menu were a treat.

Booking an AQ is worth it if the price differential justifies it. Our cut off price is about $20/day pp for the M class and $30 for the S class. Many times it is worth AQ or CC over a balcony as you may get more SBC, or sometimes there are promos to pick 2 or 3 perks instead of 1. Plus sometimes those 2 extra cruise points per day may be needed to get to the next level.

There was a difference of $950 between a 1A cabin with a large balcony and AQ on the 7 day Silhouette cruise we were recently on. We found that the breakfast in the MDR was not much different than being in Blu. They came around serving the same pastries, coffee, same juices, and bar or premium coffee (extra charge) service plus there was an expanded menu that offered the same items that are in Blu plus more. We also always had a table for two that we prefer.

On the M class the AQ and CC cabins are larger than a regular balcony cabin, but there are no footstool unless you get one of the newer aft cabins with the large balconies, the other balconies are small, the Persian Garden isn't as nice, that is my reason for the $10/day PP difference.

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌞