entertainment RCCL vs. Carnival

[williamson_ja]

My dh and I went on our first cruise in Jan. and are now hooked! We went on the Disney Magic and it was wonderful. Now, we want to bring the kiddies with us, but the Magic is twice as much as Carnival or RCCL for what we wanted to do. :(

 

So, which of these options has better/child friendly entertainment? Entertainment is very important to our family, but price is also important. We are looking at doing the Carnival Splendor or RCCL Mariner. RCCL is $800 more for our family because we need to get 2 staterooms. I had heard that the carnival entertainment was a little inappropriate for young children.

 

I also wanted to know about the smoking in public areas. I have a daughter with extreme asthma that cannot be around smoking at all. Which one of these lines has less smokey public areas?

 

The Disney ships were wonderful with this! I really wish we could afford to do that, but alas with the economy the way it is, we just can't do it. I never smelled smoke in public areas on the Disney ship. The only place I really saw it was on one side of the adults only area. We loved that!

[cb at sea]

Since RCI has banned smoking in the cabins, you really shouldn't have too many public areas that smell of smoke.... (it used to filter down the hallways, into the public spaces!) Only a couple of the bars and some outside areas allow smoking, so you should be able to avoid it 99% of the time! RCI does still allow smoking on balconies.

 

The entertainment on both RCI and Carnival will be similar...there will be production shows which are billed as "family entertainment", even tho it's NOT going to be Disney "G" rated...think PG13....and there will be "guest" entertainers....unless the show is "late-night adult", you should be ok for most things.

 

Carnival is a decent family line...it's not the "party ship" that it used to be!

[boulders]

I found Carnival to be much smokier than RCCL. Neither line will have kid-friendly shows like Disney. The closest you will get are the ice shows on certain RCCL ships.

 

Why do you need to get 2 staterooms? RCCL ships have cabins that sleep up to 14.

[williamson_ja]

I found Carnival to be much smokier than RCCL. Neither line will have kid-friendly shows like Disney. The closest you will get are the ice shows on certain RCCL ships.

 

Why do you need to get 2 staterooms? RCCL ships have cabins that sleep up to 14.

 

 

I didn't know that they had rooms that slept that many. On the website, it only allows for 4 people. We have a family of 6.

[crusinmama06]

I didn't know that they had rooms that slept that many. On the website, it only allows for 4 people. We have a family of 6.

 

Call RCI directly on their 800#. They can help you. They have cabins that sleep families of 6. You can't do it online. Don't know why -- I know it's a screwy system. ;)

[williamson_ja]

Is it cheaper to get two smaller cabins or one big one to fit this size of family?

[luvmykid98]

My dh and I went on our first cruise in Jan. and are now hooked! We went on the Disney Magic and it was wonderful. Now, we want to bring the kiddies with us, but the Magic is twice as much as Carnival or RCCL for what we wanted to do. :(

 

So, which of these options has better/child friendly entertainment? Entertainment is very important to our family, but price is also important. We are looking at doing the Carnival Splendor or RCCL Mariner. RCCL is $800 more for our family because we need to get 2 staterooms. We are a family of four and have cruised on both Carnival and RCCL during the past year. In both cases we purchased two cabins. On Carnival we could open up the divider between the two balconies. It made going between the two cabins much easier. There are family cabins available however, we have always found it to be more comfortable to get two cabins.

I had heard that the carnival entertainment was a little inappropriate for young children.

I would say between the two venues that we were on Royal had better/ more plentiful entertainment. Both lines have great kids programs but it depends when you will be traveling as to how many other kids will be on board. Also, we think the food on Carnival was much more family friendly. (and better, too)

I also wanted to know about the smoking in public areas. I have a daughter with extreme asthma that cannot be around smoking at all. Which one of these lines has less smokey public areas?

One thing to consider is the embarkment port. Some countries and some areas of the US tend to have more smokers. I too have a child with severe asthma. You will quickly discover the smoking areas on the ship ( ie; which side of the pool, etc.) and they can be easily avoided.

 

The Disney ships were wonderful with this! I really wish we could afford to do that, but alas with the economy the way it is, we just can't do it. I never smelled smoke in public areas on the Disney ship. The only place I really saw it was on one side of the adults only area. We loved that!

 

All things considered we've decided to stick with Carnival. (Save the extra money for an excursion.):D

[VCR]

We usually do RCCL but went on Carnival for the 1st time over spring break. During the show we took my 4 year old to she kept asking "Are they naked mommy?" because the costumes were g-strings. We were also surprised at the diofference in the kids programs. RCCL beat hands down to my kids.