Please tell me my first Carnival cruise will be more fun than Celebrity

[cmlmich]

I was on a Celebrity cruise a few weeks ago and it was nice. The ship was nice, the crew was friendly, and the food was good. But the days at sea were boring.

All the activities seemed to be geared for a very old crowd. They had a scrap booking class, art auctions, water color painting class and when we finally heard some noise coming from the pool area, it was a name that show tune contest :eek: Maybe it was because it was a Alaskan cruise and it wasn't very warm to have deck activities, but we spent our sea days mostly sleeping and watching TV. This was my first cruise and my wife and I will be taking our first cruise together in November on the Valor. Should we expect about the same thing?

 

I did love Alaska though :)

[Carolin]

You will have a very different experience. I love the Valor. Go the the piano bar and the comedy shows. They are great. There's a ton of activites on sea days. Look up Fun times for the Valor and see what you get to look forward too. :D

[hdawson]

FRom my experience, Carnival will be different. Hairy leg/chest contest, bellyflop contests, some very noisy guests, fewer people that dress appropriate for the evening dining room. Don't bother taking the tux. BTW a very noisy dining room in the evening with lots of organized yelling, etc.

[gone_cruisin]

Yes, Carnival is very much different than Celebrity.

 

The one and only Celebrity cruise I went on was absolutely boring when we out to sea. Just like th OP mentioned, all activities geared towards senior citizens. Not that I have anything against senior citizens, but it appears at least Carnival's seniors tend to be much more open to the "fun ship" atmosphere.

 

I love watching 70 year old men participate in the hairy chest contest - they are such a hoot!

[mag]

I have never sailed Celebrity so I can't compare...but I can guess that you will have a ball and it will be very different. The good thing about Carnival is that you see people of all ages and and can choose to be active and loud (in a fun way) or quiet and laid back (also in a fun way). You can dress up or down and still obey the "rules"...and not have to worry about being judged by the way you dress. We have met many older cruisers who say that they are bored on other lines and have come back to Carnival to stay.

 

Have fun on the Valor and let us know what you think!

[bubbadog]

I AM sure,That you will have a much better cruise,Than the one you had on Celebrity,There seems to be,lots of things to do during the day,and at night too,so get ready to have a blast;):p

[chachi]

I think it may have something to do with being an Alaskan cruise. I did an Alaskan cruise on Carnival, and it was very different from my other Carnival experiences. There was very little to do on sea days in Alaska.

[med2cruise]

We did Celebrity about 2 years ago Medeteranian and are going on Carnival Iberty in 4 weeks. First cruise was to celebrate 25th anniversary so it was husband and 3 other couples, it was nice very relaxing. The Carnival cruise is with our kids 19 and 21 so we thought this would be more lively. Would do Celebrity in a heartbeat again, just without kids.

[riclop]

FRom my experience, Carnival will be different. Hairy leg/chest contest, bellyflop contests, some very noisy guests, fewer people that dress appropriate for the evening dining room. Don't bother taking the tux. BTW a very noisy dining room in the evening with lots of organized yelling, etc.

Stay on celebrity and read your book and go to sleep at 9 00 pm because it seems you dont enjoy anything else GOODNIGHT !!!!!!!!!!

[cmlmich]

FRom my experience, Carnival will be different. Hairy leg/chest contest, bellyflop contests, some very noisy guests, fewer people that dress appropriate for the evening dining room. Don't bother taking the tux. BTW a very noisy dining room in the evening with lots of organized yelling, etc.

 

Thank you for that answer!!!!! Sounds like a MUCH more fun time! I am only 46, I guess I can plan on another Celebrity cruise in oh....about 40 years. :D

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

We love the product Celebrity has - though I agree that they will need to set their sights to a new age group eventually! I seem to recall a 50's "Name That Tune" on our sailing with them last month... I mean REALLY??? 50"s ???

 

At least on Celebrity they will sell you buckets of BOTTLES of Corona's at the pool bar instead of pouring them into PLASTIC CUPS like they do on Carnival - I suppose they don't see as much rowdy activity where glass might become a problem. Also, on Celebrity I can order Honey Sesame Chicken Wings through room service to enjoy on my balcony with those beers. Yes, Carnival has more going on during the day - but I enjoy some of those things which Carnival does not provide. There is not a "perfect" cruise line for anyone, so we will continue to sample multiple lines... we used to be "only" Carnival, but one grows tired of certain things over time --- and a company that can't seem to get its act together w/regard to past guests (and I mean guests with over 20-30 cruises)!

 

Tom

[JRock59]

Your first Cruise with Carnival will be fun. :) There is a reason they are called the FUN Ships.....:D

[grest]

For sure find something you will enjoy. I like the one experience I had with Carnival enough to book another cruise (Freedom next month!), and I've found lots of ways to enjoy every cruise, but my favorite is Celebrity, for a lot of the little extras. If the line bores you, though, by all means try this one.

[cmlmich]

It is possible that the destination has allot to do with the activities. Like I said, everything else about them was nice. Even the lounge areas on the ship played very laid back music with no dancing. I am sure that we will have a blast on Carnival. Maybe days at sea on Celebrity in the Caribbean is a different experience than Alaska.

[Luvtoeat]

Was on the Celebrity Solstice 3 weeks ago and its a beautiful ship and had a great time but thought it was a little on the quiet side. I was looking forward to a more relaxed cruise but not that relaxed. Will be on the Inspiration in August and know it will be a totally different cruise experience. Cruised the inspiration 4 years ago and am expecting to have the same wonderful time now as we had then then.:)

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Was on the Celebrity Solstice 3 weeks ago and its a beautiful ship and had a great time but thought it was a little on the quiet side. I was looking forward to a more relaxed cruise but not that relaxed. Will be on the Inspiration in August and know it will be a totally different cruise experience. Cruised the inspiration 4 years ago and am expecting to have the same wonderful time now as we had then then.:)

 

We were on the 5/30 sailing, which one were you on?

 

Tom

[F5Loar]

Done both many times and you are talking night and day comparsions on many things.

Too many to name but as most say Carnival is the FUN SHIPS and in that respect you can expect more activties geared towards more fun things to do.

[Luvtoeat]

We were on the 5/30 sailing, which one were you on?

 

Tom

 

We were also on the 5/30 sailing.

[travelwitch23]

Been on celebrity twice. As far as daytime, I amuse myself with my two favorite hobbies while cruising, photography and scrapbooking. For nighttime, Carnival has many things going on like: piano bar, one man band in casino, rock and roll band in lounge, main show, and entertainers in the lobby bar. You have a choice of several things. The two times I was on celebrity the nightlife was very lacking. Sitting in a cigar bar with little or no entertainment or sitting in the disco with a dj playing records and a main show lounge. There was also some "easy listening" music in the martini lounge. It was pretty dull compared to Carnival. Hope you enjoy your cruise.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

We were also on the 5/30 sailing.

 

You were not, by chance, a participant in the CC roll call group activities were you? If not, we may have crossed paths (you never know).. especially if you spent any time playing blackjack!

 

Back OT --- I do like the fact that Celebrity assists with setting up Cruise Critic meetings. It would be nice if Carnival did that on 7+ night sailings.

 

Tom

[ManyMore]

FRom my experience, Carnival will be different. Hairy leg/chest contest, bellyflop contests, some very noisy guests, fewer people that dress appropriate for the evening dining room. Don't bother taking the tux. BTW a very noisy dining room in the evening with lots of organized yelling, etc.

 

How can you say to someone... don't bother bringing a tux? My husband wears his and loves to do so. Just because you don't find Carnival as elegant a dining experience doesn't mean others don't enjoy it. I have never had a loud dining room experience and certainly NEVER yelling. I have cruised Carnival 17 times, along with other lines and haven't had dining room issues.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

How can you say to someone... don't bother bringing a tux? My husband wears his and loves to do so. Just because you don't find Carnival as elegant a dining experience doesn't mean others don't enjoy it. I have never had a loud dining room experience and certainly NEVER yelling. I have cruised Carnival 17 times, along with other lines and haven't had dining room issues.

 

I believe that hdawson is referring to the organized "singing" (and dancing) that the waiters engage in on Carnival in the MDR. There, to me at least, is something a little "off" about wearing my tux to a (formerly) formal dinner only to have "Hot, Hot, Hot" or other similar song played during my meal. On Carnival sailings of 7 or more evenings, I still bring my tux - on shorter sailings I no longer bother with it. I would wager that the OP did not see such (dining room shenanigans) on Celebrity. :D

 

I will say that our recent NCL sailing was refreshing in that regard. At least with them you leave on your cruise KNOWING that there is no dress code. You stand a good chance of having someone sit down at a table next to you in jeans (in a pay restaurant) and it's no biggie... and that could just as easily be on their "Dress up or not" night!

 

Tom

[mathgeek1978]

Your experience is most likely due to the Alaska itinerary. We just came back from the Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Celebrity Solstice and had a great time, partying past 2AM every night. It had a much younger and active crowd, and there were many different themed parties. Here's the Latin Pool Party "Sizzle":

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/mathgeek1978#p/u/8/v8INDjguYSA

[geenafeena]

i have the celebrtity silhouette on a courtesy hold until wednesday....not sure about it after reading these posts. we have been on RC, carnival and princess. not sure if we will be bored on celebrity. it is a 12 day cruise with 3 days at sea, then a couple islands, then another 3 days at sea so i am a little concerned. i am not one to sit around all day and do nothing. how is the activity by the pool?

[mathgeek1978]

i have the celebrtity silhouette on a courtesy hold until wednesday....not sure about it after reading these posts. we have been on RC, carnival and princess. not sure if we will be bored on celebrity. it is a 12 day cruise with 3 days at sea, then a couple islands, then another 3 days at sea so i am a little concerned. i am not one to sit around all day and do nothing. how is the activity by the pool?

I just came back from the Solstice EC cruise which is the same class ship. What can you do during the day? Well, yoga, dance classes (ball room, salsa, 70's), shopping (yes, there's plenty of shopping, especially for jewellery and clothing), visiting the art gallery, golf putting (Real putting on REAL grass, not those silly miniature golf), lawn bowling, and the HOT glass show, many musical performances (iTones, a Jersey Boy type of performance), string quartet, live band music by the pool, steel drums sometimes, wine tasting, wine seminar... That's just what I can think of in a minute of what we did, and I'm sure there were lots more that we didn't get a chance to do.

 

However, there's NO hairy chest contest, NO belly flop or red white and blue and scream as loud as you can kind of stuff, and no hearing from your CD a dozen times a day...

 

You can check out my Celebrity Solstice videos by clicking on the link below.