Princess Loyalist going on a Carnival Cruise

[Sunmist]

Hi everyone,

 

So i'm a huge Princess loyalist. I have sailed with Princess for the past 10 years. Love everything about Princess, but my friends that I'm sailing with this year wanted to try out Carnival, so I gave in and we are about to embark on a 8-night Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Miracle. I'm kinda nervous b/c of course i've heard all the rumors about Carnival being wild and crazy. I'm in my mid 20's so I'm all about having fun, but i don't want it to be out of control. Also, i love to dress up on my cruises (dresses, heels, etc) and i'm just worried i may feel out of place on non-formal nights if the majority of guests on carnival are wearing jeans. Does anyone have some advice for me or can give me insight on the big difference b/t the two lines?

 

I'm definitely excited for a change but i just don't want to be in for a huge surprise...

 

Thank you! :D

[TracieABD]

:)Bon Voyage!

Not to worry. Princess will still be here when you get home...:)

[OntCruise]

Hi everyone,

 

Also, i love to dress up on my cruises (dresses, heels, etc) and i'm just worried i may feel out of place on non-formal nights if the majority of guests on carnival are wearing jeans.

Thank you! :D

 

Why does everyone say that? I've been on 3 carnival cruises and I hardly saw anyone in jeans in the dining room. It's an extreme minority for sure. Lots of casual capri pants, and even dressy shorts, but not jeans.

[kooljamming]

Rumors, you are way to young to take rumors seriously. I dress to please the person in the mirror and DH.

 

Carnival Pluses:

Food in the MDR, comfortable beds, night life, lively atmosphere, Deli, energy, deck parties, dancing waiters, young families, price, waterslide, stupid cheesy contest, lif is what you make of it feeling

 

Princess Pluses:

elegant ships, classy atmosphere, pools, aft deck, afternoon tea, live bands, buffet and Oh God I can't beleive I am here feeling.

 

I am a type A personality so Carnival tops Princess for me. I take dressing up quite seriously. I don't need others to dress a certain way for me to feel good about what I put on. I can wear a gown to Walmart and possible look better in a pair of skinny jeans on formal night that some who thinks it should not be done. However, so many gowns with so few cruises planned, why bother. You are in your mid 20' go do your thing. When you leave make sure at least one person say, glad she was here;)

[DrivesLikeMario]

Carnival does some things well, just like Princess. Go with an open mind and appreciate Carnival for what it is. Enjoy all the delicious free drink choices at the buffet, enjoy the "fun" atmosphere and try not to compare it to Princess.

[PatriciaF]

Comparing our 2004 Princess cruise to the 2006 Carnival--the Carnival ship had much more energy; piano bar more entertaining; live music actually Caribbean style quite a bit of the time; much better food. Formal nights were quite dressy. MDR on casual night less so--but not too many jeans--more dressy tops for women with perhaps city shorts.

 

At your age, you should enjoy your self. Plus--more music for people your age--which we didn't care for, but our 4 kids in their 20s that we took with us did.

 

PS My son met his wife on that cruise--pretty funny that two Southern Californians met on a Caribbean cruise and married 11 months later. For their 3rd anniversary, they took a RCCL Mexican Riviera cruise. Will be back to Carnival next time.

[NotWthOutablcony]

To the OP, we also are 100% Princess cruisers, we have yet another booked for February, Hawaii on the Sapphire (our favorite) we splurged on the mini suite which meant this cruise absorbed most of our excess cash flow :D we wanted to take a cruise this year though to celebrate my father's retirement in August so we chose just a quickie 7 day MR cruise on the Carnival Splendor, then we had the bright idea of surprising my father, by booking it as a b2b and not telling him about the second half :p we were only able to do this because of Carnival's prices, it made it affordable and we were able to book an aft balcony as well. Carnival was the line we sailed for our first few cruises, that's where we fell in love with cruising, so they had to have done something right. I too am in my late 20's, I don't like the party atmosphere, I don't like loud music or tacky pool games, or drunks, or children...my list goes on and on, I love Princess because its quiet and elegant, however I don't enjoy "dressing" up for dinner, I have to dress up in my professional life, my down time is exactly that, mine. With Carnival, if I don't care to witness silly pool games, I'll go elsewhere, same goes for children, and obnoxious drunks. As far as the dining room dress is concerned I really have no idea, haven't sailed with Carnival in almost 10 years, but from what I hear you rarely see jeans in the dining room, although they are accepted. Just like anywhere, it is what you make it, dress it up or down, its your cruise, enjoy it. You may be pleasantly surprised.

[mtaylor04]

Be sure and report back to us what you thought about the cruise, the similarities and the differences. Have a great time and dress to please yourself. :)

[Sunmist]

Thanks everyone for your replies!!

[BobT172]

We are Princess loyalists also... have done NCL (never again) and have enjoyed RCCL and Holland America...

 

Will be interested in your report back on Carnival..

 

have a great cruise...

[nmuzik2]

We have been on two cruises about a year ago with our three kids. We chose Carnival because they have rooms that fit 5 and they give a veteran discount, which I think Princess should be doing. We went out of Miami for one and SJ, Puerto Rico for the other one. We loved them and didn't see any crazy out of control people. One of the cruises was even during Spring Break. There were a lot of families, younger couples and college kids, but every group was pretty much represented. Everyone was respectful, but having a good time. We never ever had a problem. We could pick and chose how involved we wanted to be.

 

We leave in 2 weeks for our first Princess cruise on the Caribbean Princess. It's for my 40th b-day, so my wife wanted to do something special as a couple. I think Princess will be more our speed with no kids. You can't beat Carnival for the price that you can get many times, but this time we wanted to go a step up.

 

Michael

[doe326]

OP I am 63 and DH is 65 and we are going on our 10th Carnival cruise in Nov. I have not seen any really "wild and crazy people" on these cruise. I have seen a lot of people having fun and enjoying themselves. As another poster stated if you don't want to be bothered with kids go somewhere quiet; if the drinking bothers you go to the library. There are so many places where you can go and enjoy some peace and quiet. Some Carnival Ships have a Serenity area for adults only. I think someone your age will have a very good time on Carnival. I get so tired of the "Carnival is a wild party cruiseline". They really do cater to families and the average age for cruising is somewhere around 45.

Carnival is not as subdued as Princess. I have heard the 3 day cruises get pretty wild. That's mostly due to the age group that sails on them. Go and have a good time. When you come back let us know how it was. But most of all just enjoy yourself.;)

[LaidBack]

I do hope you will have a great cruise. I, too, am loyal to Princess because they deliver what I want.

 

I've only once sailed on Carnival, the Glory, and it was just not my thing. The flashing neon decor made my head ache; the constant PA announcements to "buy, buy, buy" were irritating. I was embarrassed for the dining room staff who are required to dance and pretend they're having the time of their lives. They aren't.

 

My next goal is to give HAL a try as I hear many fine things about the line.

 

Have a wonderful time and let us know what you think.

[janisutx]

I have been on 11 Carnival cruises and only two of the sailings had a small percentage of rowdy people. The cheap 4-5 day cruises sometimes attract the party people. I wouldn't worry about an eight day sailing. Enjoy your cruise! I love Carnival especially the newer ship. The MDR food is very good. Also the outside and balcony cabins are larger.

 

Next April I'll be taking my first Princess cruise. Of course I'll be comparing it to my HAL, RCI and Carnival cruises. I will miss the free wash and fold laundry for Platinum passengers on Carnival.

[fredman]

Everyone has done a good job describing Carnival! Carnival has been trying very hard to market their "funship" motto as opposed to the old party ship image. Carnival is truly an all age and a family orientated cruise line.

 

As others have stated, you can do as much or as little as you want. Activities span all age groups. Young children and kids are well occupied having fun so little kids aren't a issue.

 

We are trying Princess out of curiosity and the fact that Carnival doesn't offer a lot of 14 day cruises unless it is a repositioning, Hawaii, or the occasional Panama cruise.

 

You may find the interiors interesting. I call it Vegas classy! Some think their interiors are garish...I don't. They are colorful and fun. Best thing is go for it, experience it for yourself. I don't think you will regret your cruise. If you don't like it that's fine. You will be that much more experienced!

[bubbadog]

Carnival actually has great cruises,and we found them to be better than princess in some areas,WE had a great cruise,and have 2 more booked,and rci,and princess,dont worry you will have a great time on your cruise;):p

[casinovisitor]

Ya gotta have the molten chocolate cake :D

There is no such thing as a bad cruise.

There are no icebergs in the Caribbean.

[hughdm]

Most of the differences you'll notice will be in ship decor and the dining room shows. Dress seems very similar to us. You'll be fine and have a great time. Enjoy.

[KroozeKid]

We sailed on the Miracle its maiden season, went with 2 young adult children. Had a real good time. Food was good (not outstanding), service was very good, ship decoration was "colorful". Maybe a tad overdone but still nice. Dining rooms are pretty wild.

Dress was pretty much the same as other cruises we have been on, formal nights still had lots of suits and gowns.

We've done RCCL, NCL, Carnival and Princess for our first 4 cruises just to check them all out. All have positives and negatives and we will probably sail Princess more than any other in the future but would not hesitate to go another way if the itinerary or deal was well worth it.

Enjoy the differences and form your own opinions. Have a great cruise.:)

[Whimsy]

Our first cruise in 2005 was on Carnival and our last cruise in 2009 was on Carnival. Both of those cruises were on the Fantasy, older Carnival ship but it was still nice.

 

We like Princess better but had a good time on both of our Carnival cruises. We did find that we had to stop comparing Carnival to Princess as the two are similar in some regards but different in others.

 

I like to dress up and I did so on Carnival and did not feel out of place. Food on both are very good but found Princess has better main dishes, Carnival has better desserts. That Molten Chocolate cake is wonderful on Carnival! I think Princess has more entertainment going on that Carnival such as comedians, things during sea days, etc. I loved the towel animals on Carnival though, it was fun to come to the room at night and see what new one we had. We thought drink prices on Princess were lower but we could be wrong. We also like the International Cafe on Princess but I was able to try some good sushi on Carnival.

 

The point is that both cruise lines are good, in their own way. We just find we are a better fit with Princess but going out of New Orleans works great for us and if the price is right we would do it again on Carnival.

 

Have fun!

[wwinfl91]

I hope you have a good time on your Carnival cruise but the one time we sailed with Carnival on the Legend was the last time for Carnival. The food in the MDR was bad to terrible and the service was a little better than you might get in a highway Denny's. The ship's interior was dirty. The chandileir in the main dining room had cobwebs hanging from it and about 1/3 of its light bulbs were out. The passengers generally were pushy and didn't seem to understand the concept of standing in lines or of "NO smoking" signs. I could go on but suffice to say I couldn't get my wife back on another Carnival ship unless they gave us the cruise and even then I suspect it might be a fight.

 

You might have better luck and I hope you do. Other people seem to have had better experiences than we had but I would rather stick with Princess, RCL, Celebrity and HAL. I would even go back on another Costa cruise but not Carnival.

 

Good luck on your next cruise.

[Iamcruzin]

Hi everyone,

 

So i'm a huge Princess loyalist. I have sailed with Princess for the past 10 years. Love everything about Princess, but my friends that I'm sailing with this year wanted to try out Carnival, so I gave in and we are about to embark on a 8-night Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Miracle. I'm kinda nervous b/c of course i've heard all the rumors about Carnival being wild and crazy. I'm in my mid 20's so I'm all about having fun, but i don't want it to be out of control. Also, i love to dress up on my cruises (dresses, heels, etc) and i'm just worried i may feel out of place on non-formal nights if the majority of guests on carnival are wearing jeans. Does anyone have some advice for me or can give me insight on the big difference b/t the two lines?

 

I'm definitely excited for a change but i just don't want to be in for a huge surprise...

 

Thank you! :D

 

I have never seen anyone wearing jeans in the Caribbean. It's too hot. Also don't worry about the wild and crazy out of control reviews. There will be something for everybody. I have also found that the formal nights on Princess are getting less formal. In general I notice that people in your age group tend to dress up more than people in my age group. Let's just say that I am old enough to be your father. Those in your age group are still out socializing so they tend to dress to impress. People in my age group are home wearing gym shorts and a tee shirt waiting up for your age group to come home, which is why I am on Cruise Critic at 1:00am. I think I hear a car. I better get on the couch and pretend I'm sleeping. Enjoy your cruise you may even like it better than Princess.

[deej696]

Like the OP, the wife and I are 20 somethings who have almost exclusively sailed with Carnival, with about 6-7 cruises in the last 5 years or so. After our last one, we've decided its time for a change, as we are sort of over Carnival. We've never had a bad time, the food is always great, and we've loved every one of our cruises. That said, it just doesn't seem to fit us anymore, so we're doing RCL in December and Princess next May for Alaska. Maybe then we'll decide Carnival actually was for us, but I'm doubting it.

 

To the OP...you'll have a great time on your cruise. Go into it knowing its going to be different, but different isn't always a bad thing.

[kooljamming]

Maybe then we'll decide Carnival actually was for us, but I'm doubting it.

 

 

deej, if you enjoyed it, then it was for you at the time. RCCL is my favorite but I would get bored to tears doing the same line and even same kind of vacation over and over again. You will find there are so many different things to love and appreciate about each line. The price and when you have kids might keep you going back to Carnival, the Quest show to RCCL (have mercy:eek:), and afternoon tea to Princess.

 

BTW....mighty impressed with the new generation of 20 something. Mine was about happy hour and dancing on bars. At the time that was fun, miss them too!

[terigo]

Carnival gets a bad rap, I think.

 

The cabins are larger than Princess, if that matters to you.

The elegance and little touches like the $100.00 butler service dinner are not there, though.

 

They both have those stupid art auctions.... which used to be a good deal with good art 20 years ago when they started, and are now just "hawk a hack" commercial enterprises.

 

We were on the Miracle 2 years ago, and it was one of our best cruises. The entertainment was excellent, the staff was friendly, and the food was surprisingly good (though the first night, not so much) even though we have had better on other lines.

we also paid a lot more on other lines. the difference in price could have easily been covered by going to the specialty restaurants, if that what we chose to do.

 

Yep, they have silly games at poolside. We actually found them amusing to watch.

 

The ship is run very efficiently, and if you don't mind the signature Carnival over-the-top decor, is laid out efficiently as well.

 

We are twice as old as you are, and had a ball.... so my expectation for you is that you will, as well.