A Big Thumbs UP for Carnival

[cherjoe5]

How can anyone not like the Radiance of the Seas. That is one of the most beautiful ships afloat.

op did not like the radiance.........it is her opinion and she is entitled to it..........this is where people get to voice their opinions even if we don't all agree......that's what makes cruise critic interesting imho........

cheryl

[pixiemom&shawn]

Since everyone is wondering why I hated the Radiance of the seas I will give you a quick overview......

 

I thought the ship was beautiful......

 

with that said many things were not right on the cruise,

 

1. the solarium pool area seating was always taken during the day by people who were not even swimming or in the solarium, IE they dropped their towels and left the area for the day.....

 

2. the solarium pool was closed for "cleaning" every night (it rained every day of the cruise)

 

3. the solarium café was only open on our last day for about 3 hours

 

4. the MD was not impressive and the food was terrible along with the service... we did eat at Portifinos and chops.... we liked chops

 

5. the buffet in Windjammers was fast food like and not very good

 

6. the international pier in coz is terrible, we took a taxi to the porta Maya pier... (pouring rain and 40 mi hr winds)

 

7. you pay for room service after 12am, and their menu was very very limited

 

8. the shows were not that great...

 

9. drinks were more expensive and less variety

 

We had a good time on our cruise but I just have to say that over all I liked carnival better. I did like the dancing on Royal Carib better than Carnival... but missed the steal drum music that carnival plays on deck. Carnival had better food over all..... Radiance is a beautiful ship with lots of wonderful features but they were not very well mantained....

 

order of fav ships I have sailed on

 

#1 Disney Magic

#2 Carnival

#3 Radiance by Royal Caribbean

[G'ma]

In order to "hate" a cruise, especially on a cruise line so similar to Carnival, something very out of the ordinary and extreme must have happened. What ship was this on?

 

"Hate" like "hero" is a much over used word today for some reason.....

 

Both words should be taken with a small grain of salt....

[cheers]

Since everyone is wondering why I hated the Radiance of the seas I will give you a quick overview......

 

I thought the ship was beautiful......

 

with that said many things were not right on the cruise,

 

1. the solarium pool area seating was always taken during the day by people who were not even swimming or in the solarium, IE they dropped their towels and left the area for the day..... this happens on all ships and all lines. Some are now removing stuff. I always remove their stuff if I need a seat.

 

2. the solarium pool was closed for "cleaning" every night (it rained every day of the cruise) you can't blame the cruise line for the rain during the day.

 

3. the solarium café was only open on our last day for about 3 hours

I'm not familiar with the cafe but did the rain have anything to do with it not being open?

 

4. the MD was not impressive and the food was terrible along with the service... we did eat at Portifinos and chops.... we liked chops when I receive something I don't like I usually ask for something else

 

5. the buffet in Windjammers was fast food like and not very good NC

 

6. the international pier in coz is terrible, we took a taxi to the porta Maya pier... (pouring rain and 40 mi hr winds) again with weather issues - not RIC's fault

 

7. you pay for room service after 12am, and their menu was very very limited you are paying a tip after 12am because most don't tip and it's not fair to the server. you are not paying for the food, just the 3.95 tip

 

8. the shows were not that great... NC

 

9. drinks were more expensive and less variety they will make whatever you ask for if the have the ingredients, which i"m sure they do

 

We had a good time on our cruise but I just have to say that over all I liked carnival better. I did like the dancing on Royal Carib better than Carnival... but missed the steal drum music that carnival plays on deck. Carnival had better food over all..... Radiance is a beautiful ship with lots of wonderful features but they were not very well mantained.... maybe the rain had something to do with no steel drum??? I agree, the food choices and the food is better on Carnival.

 

order of fav ships I have sailed on

 

#1 Disney Magic

#2 Carnival

#3 Radiance by Royal Caribbean

 

I have never been on a cruise I didn't like. I hope your next cruise is a better experiance!

[5waldos]

Why does Carnival deserve a thumbs up? :confused:

 

For not being RCCL I guess.:confused:

[nytraveller53]

Why does Carnival deserve a thumbs up? :confused:

Because she liked the cruise. :rolleyes:

[FLSteve11]

We went on RCCL after several CCL cruises. We enjoyed the fact that we were cruising but have to honest that it just did not live up to any of the times I enjoyed carnival.

1. meals were all bland (every one of them including the Buffet)

2. Layout of the ship was just not good for people watching in my opinion.

3. Cabins were incredibly tiny compared to carnival(at least the one I was in and others that I looked at on our way off the ship)

 

We all can have our opinions and mine just happens to agree with the first poster. While I did not hate it I would most likely never tried cruising again if that had been my first experience due to the fact that it was just not as good or better than any other vacation I had been on land or Sea. I love to cruise since our first one but RCCL will not be a choice unless the deal is to good to pass up.

 

I have to say, I've been on the Majesty on RCCL a few times, and the rooms are TINY. However, this is one of the two oldest ships in the fleet (like 20 years old), and have easily the smallest rooms I've ever been on from any ship. I would not really pick this (or the Monarch) as indicative of RCCL. Just like I cannot really make a comparison of the CCL ships based on the two fantasy class ships I've been on. I would say try a Voyager or Freedom class ship sometime, it is a totally different cruise (particularly for people watching!). I am looking forward to trying a spirit or conquest class ship on CCL sometime in the next year as well. I think it's good to have the variety of different lines when you can swing it.

 

I will say overall I thought the MDR food on carnival to be slightly better, and the buffet on RCCL to be slightly better, from what I have seen. (both being better then the standard, non-specialty restaurant food on NCL or Disney and worse then Celebrity)

[FLSteve11]

Since everyone is wondering why I hated the Radiance of the seas I will give you a quick overview......

 

I thought the ship was beautiful......

 

with that said many things were not right on the cruise,

 

1. the solarium pool area seating was always taken during the day by people who were not even swimming or in the solarium, IE they dropped their towels and left the area for the day.....

 

2. the solarium pool was closed for "cleaning" every night (it rained every day of the cruise)

 

3. the solarium café was only open on our last day for about 3 hours

 

4. the MD was not impressive and the food was terrible along with the service... we did eat at Portifinos and chops.... we liked chops

 

5. the buffet in Windjammers was fast food like and not very good

 

6. the international pier in coz is terrible, we took a taxi to the porta Maya pier... (pouring rain and 40 mi hr winds)

 

7. you pay for room service after 12am, and their menu was very very limited

 

8. the shows were not that great...

 

9. drinks were more expensive and less variety

 

We had a good time on our cruise but I just have to say that over all I liked carnival better. I did like the dancing on Royal Carib better than Carnival... but missed the steal drum music that carnival plays on deck. Carnival had better food over all..... Radiance is a beautiful ship with lots of wonderful features but they were not very well mantained....

 

order of fav ships I have sailed on

 

#1 Disney Magic

#2 Carnival

#3 Radiance by Royal Caribbean

 

 

As much as you try, it's hard not to get down on a cruise that rains every day. You tend to not like the cruise as much. I've done the Radiance and found that it really is a gorgeous ship. One thing about it though, I found that out of all my RCCL cruises, that ship just had less activities going on for some reason. I had many more things to do on my other RCCL (and also other lines, maybe not NCL as much) cruises. It seemed that this ship relied more on the beauty of the ship, and the outdoor areas then other ships I've been on and thus had less scheduled indoor activities. It was certainly much more "laid back" then other RCCL cruises. With it raining every day, it would be tough to find enough things going on. It's not the cruise lines fault, but it will put a damper on it just the same

 

Shows are very subjective, I've seen some really good ones and some really poor ones. Sometimes on the same cruise. Same thing with food to some regard, especially buffets. They're all the same in some regards. They're buffet's, neither RCCL nor CCL have top restaurant quality foods in them *grin*

[Nanaimobound]

I have never had a bad cruise either but i have come to the conclusion you can't judge a line by a particular ship. Ships have their own personality even within the lines.

[patattack]

My very first cruise was on Soverign of the Seas and really enjoyed it. It was about 4 years later that I started cruising Carnival exclusively and am Platinum. As a sometimes "solo" traveler, I watch for specials and found one on the Enchantment of the Seas this past January. I had an awesome time. There was tons of things to do, and I loved the solarium and the shows. I stayed busy even though it was the coldest cruise I have ever been on. But.........I sure missed the food on Carnival. I am somewhat of a picky eater (ok a really picky eater) and I sure missed the food I loved on Carnival.

[ehfl]

Since everyone is wondering why I hated the Radiance of the seas I will give you a quick overview......

 

I thought the ship was beautiful......

 

with that said many things were not right on the cruise,

 

1. the solarium pool area seating was always taken during the day by people who were not even swimming or in the solarium, IE they dropped their towels and left the area for the day.....

 

2. the solarium pool was closed for "cleaning" every night (it rained every day of the cruise)

 

3. the solarium café was only open on our last day for about 3 hours

 

4. the MD was not impressive and the food was terrible along with the service... we did eat at Portifinos and chops.... we liked chops

 

5. the buffet in Windjammers was fast food like and not very good

 

6. the international pier in coz is terrible, we took a taxi to the porta Maya pier... (pouring rain and 40 mi hr winds)

 

7. you pay for room service after 12am, and their menu was very very limited

 

8. the shows were not that great...

 

9. drinks were more expensive and less variety

 

We had a good time on our cruise but I just have to say that over all I liked carnival better. I did like the dancing on Royal Carib better than Carnival... but missed the steal drum music that carnival plays on deck. Carnival had better food over all..... Radiance is a beautiful ship with lots of wonderful features but they were not very well mantained....

 

order of fav ships I have sailed on

 

#1 Disney Magic

#2 Carnival

#3 Radiance by Royal Caribbean

 

 

If I notice towels or other items left on unused chairs, I just assume that someone lost their items. I do them a favor and return the items to lost and found, then I make use of the empty chair. Chair hogs are certainly not limited to RCL.

 

Were all the pools closed all night every night, or just one? I would hope that all the pools would be cleaned during the cruise, but it would be strange for just one pool to be closed. I have never seen that on RCL.

 

I don't know why one restaurant would only be open on one day. I've never seen that on any ship.

 

I have generally had good service on both Carnival and RCL...but there are occasions on either line where service is not up to standards.

 

I've always found the WJ to have a variety of food. Except for pizza, I've never seen "fast" food. Always had a good selection of salads, fruit and entrees.

 

I'm not 100% sure that RCL can be blamed for the weather.

 

The charge for room service starts at 2am, not midnight. I'm assuming that if you really need to eat in your room after 2am, that this is not the biggest problem you have.

 

I've found the shows on RCL to be much better, and especially the ice shows. On Carnival Valor, the main show featured a singing, flying red couch, which was simply not very entertaining.

 

Can't say much about variety of drinks. I drink mostly red wine, and I like the wine bar on RCL, especially the dispensers that let you try a variety of wines by the glass.