carnival, party ship or not?

[bunchesofun]

sorry clicked on the wrong "post" button. I'll put this in separate post.

[zqvol]

hi, i have some question about carnival cruise to clear any prejudice i might have over the company

 

i have read that carnival is reputated to be a party ship and lot of sunbathing and drinking crowd with lots of children but their ship look really awsome both in look and activities i must admit, a am not really into party and i dont really like having lots of childrend running left and right

 

my traveleling friend with whom i cruised on the ncl sky with has experience with several cruise line including carnival, when i told him about carnival reputation, he told me, its depend wich time of the years basically, he told me the best time to take a carnival cruise is outside summer period and outside other school holiday, so fewer children

 

i also heard from him that carnival toned down their reputation of party ship and you, what do you think about cruising on carnival for someone who is not much into party??

 

What you have heard both from others and your friend is 100% accurate. If you don't want children running around, and a sunbathing and drinking crowd, you need to get off the mass market lines and into the upscale/luxury lines.

 

In spite of what others will claim Carnival is the MOST "Party Ship" of any of the mass market lines.

[redhydra]

i just found a good video on you tube, its a guy walking on the pool deck of a conquest class ship while filming and its definately confirm everything my friend and you people said, the ambiance look fairly similar to what i found on ncl sky

 

so carnival is definetely one of the candidate to travel with

[oregonrebel]

share the link?? lol

[plywood12]

I am 65 years old. My wife and I took a Princess cruise to Alaska last May and both will agree that we had a MUCH better time on our Carnival Cruises. Yes, the crowd is typically younger on Carnival ships but that's really what makes the days at sea more fun for me personally. I'm not ready to sit and do nothing. I like the fun and noise of happy people. You very seldom see obnoxious people (which I've seen on each of my cruises on 3 different lines). I always seem to come back to Carnival. My next cruise is in two weeks on the Carnival Valor.

[bluehenfan]

I am a grandmother and a nondrinker. I had been on numerous cruise lines but refused to even try Carnival as I thought I'd be so out of place on the youthful party cruise line. When CCL Pride came to Baltimore, 30 mins. from home, I reluctantly tried it. That was June 2009. Since then I've been on 5 other Carnival cruises. The food, the cabin size, the price and the activities have sold me on Carnival. Yes, I've seen some passengers who probably had a few drinks too many, but nothing that I haven't seen on other lines and nothing so bad it disrupted my choice of activities. As for kids, never a problem. I found it ironic you mentioned NCL Sky. My adult daughter use to cruise a lot too, but after a terrible vacation on the Sky two years ago, she has refused to go on a cruise on her vacations. It just goes to show you, you can have a great time or a horrible one on any ship or cruiseline. It's all in what you make of it. I've been on DCL, NCL, RCCL and of course CCL, and while I now prefer Carnival, I won't turn down a good deal on any of them.

[redhydra]

i would share the link if i could find it again, i dont remember the name, may be if you try, carnival (insert ship name) walk around, tour or something, sorry about that

[SMSACE6]

I am not by any means a "party cruiser", not even my first Carnival cruise. That being said, I do tend to avoid the spring break times, as well as other holiday periods, where young party types/spring breakers and many families with children who are out of school go cruising.

 

I think though, that even at those times you will find a party atmosphere in certain areas of the ship, at various times of the day, but there are also places on the ship where you can have a more relaxing atmosphere. I think you can find what ever suits you, you just have to know what to avoid.

 

If you like peace and quiet, I highly recommend a ship with a "Serenity" deck, or if in your budget, book a balcony room, and enjoy your own little peice area of peace and quiet. If you like to kick it up a bit in the evenings there are lots of entertainment and clubs/lounges that appeal to differnent tastes. This of course JMHO:)

[mjl1960]

The last cruise I was on was pretty much dead. The clubs were pretty empty at night. I think if your looking to party, you better bring people to party with. I am sure cruises that involve spring breaks, etc, will be a little livelier.

 

I go for the relaxation, and am not into the "loud" bar scene. So I don't mind that it is quieter, and try to schedule when school is in session so that there are few rug rats.

[mjl1960]

We've been on 23 Carnival cruises from 3 days to 14 days in length. We've sailed at most times of the year - spring break, fall, Christmas, winter and have never seen a drunk person on any of these cruises. We are not big partiers and don't go to the disco or the piano bar late at night. We enjoy each other's company and don't have a problem finding a place to hang out where it's not really noisy. We've been on other cruise lines and again have never had a problem with obnoxious behavior. In fact, the most outrageous behavior happened on a Disney cruise where a couple was looking for other people to join in their swinging parties. We prefer to stay away from the main pool and usually use the aft pool because it is quieter. I think it depends more on where you are on the ship and which activities you participate in or are close to than what time of the year. Try it and I'm sure you'll like it.

:DObviously you missed someone like me on my last cruise when I got into the Long Island Iced Teas a little heavy wasting time while gf was in the spa. Not sure how I found my cabin...:eek: And to my gf's displeasure, we didn't make dinner that night.

[The4Cruisers]

Riiight.

 

It's ok to love Carnival and all, but to suggest that you haven't seen a drunk person on one (in 23 trips) is a bit over the top.

 

Gotta' say... we've been on 7 fiv- night CCL cruises and we've seen quite a few partiers. But I've only seen one person that was what I would call "flat-out" drunk. I just happened to be in the public restroom when he stumbled in to have a "technicolor yawn". :p

[teacher34]

We ar not drinkers or the wild party type, but we love CCL. We were on the Legend last year and it was great. We never saw many kids, although later someone told us there were over 400 kids onboard. we really never saw them. I only saw one woman who had too much to drink imo, but that was only one out of a whole ship. We are sailing on the dream next week and I'll let you know about that, but I don't anticipate any problems. We have friends who are over 60 and they just got back a couple of weeks ago from a 7 night trip on the Dream and they loved it. They also are not drinkers and they had a great time, with no problems about children running wild or anything. I say, give them a chance.

[DocF]

Our first Carnival cruise on a few years ago on the Elation. It was five days out of Port Canaveral at spring break for the East Coast colleges. We had no rowdy behavior; most of the college students were fun to be around. The one guy who was usually plastered was actually a very nice guy.

 

Now we cruised two years ago on the Carnival Pride out of Baltimore in late August. There were 860 elementary age kids on board. They were not in the way and we spend most of our time on the ships in adult venues, so this was not a big deal at all.

 

I did strike up a sort of a friendship with this cute little girl who appeared to be about 12. She was staying on our deck with her family, so we were always running into each other. Finally, I asked her how old she was. Her Answer; "I'm 18, I know I look like I'm 12, but I'm 18 and I have a passport to prove it."

 

Doc

[kicia]

We really haven't seen any drunks in our 23 CCL + 8 other cruises. There were a lot of people that were drinking but no one that we thought was obnoxious or falling down drunk. Maybe after midnight in the disco, piano bar, or other lounges you're more likely to see some of that but we're never there so no, we haven't seen any.

[Frank12]

Gotta' say... we've been on 7 fiv- night CCL cruises and we've seen quite a few partiers. But I've only seen one person that was what I would call "flat-out" drunk. I just happened to be in the public restroom when he stumbled in to have a "technicolor yawn". :p

YUCK!!!

BTW, OP your friend was "spot-on".

[marshhawk]

A cruise is what you make it. If you hang around the bars you most likely will see drunk people, eventually. If you hang around the games(which at times are a little risque) then you will see rowdies. If you go when kids are out of school, you will see more kids, but if you don't want any of that, you can stay in your cabin and watch TV(that's what we do at home) and that's not why I cruise. I don't drink but I love to get out there and LIVE!:D

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

We still love carnival

[ooulio]

We just came back from Carnival. I don't consider it a party ship. Had more partiers and drunks on RC than on Carnival. We have done all types of cruises from 5days to 8 days. Never had a lot of drunks. Just came back from a 8 days Exotic Southern. Had a Great time. I enjoy Carnival.

[DTC]

Just got off the Miracle on the 15th of February. 8 day Exotic Southern itinerary. The average age was 60. I'm not kidding. We had to look out for walkers and motorized scooters, not partiers or kids. My son is 15 and the Club 02 girl said there were 6 kids his age on board, only 3, including him, signed up for the club. Most of the time he was in there by himself.

 

Like others have said it depends when and where!!

[gail8]

Just off the Victory and I think the biggest party was in the teen clubs...LOL.

[carnival or bust]

I agree that it definitely depends on when you cruise and the length of the cruise as to how much partying and how many kids are on board.

 

We just returned from S. Caribbean on Miracle on Tuesday.......and this ship was NOT a party ship in any way....my 20-something sons dubbed it the "geriatric" cruise. More than half of the pax were over 70 with walkers, wheel chairs and oxygen.....most certainly NOT a "party" ship at all!!!! LOL They even changed the dining times to earlier times to accomodate the elderly folks.....LOL....no partying on this ship!!!

 

We were on that cruise and felt like we were "the children" on the ship at age 48 and 50! There were so few kids or teenagers I thought they had been banned from the ship :rolleyes:

I do agree with the others in that you can do as much or as little as you want to, its you vacation!!!

[Haoie]

Well this is the line that attracts firstly 1. The most first time cruisers, and 2. A wide diverse range of ages.

[Shipbound]

I started cruising with CCL back in 1992 and it was a party ship back then it was great very few children, if any, but as the years went by CCL changed the markerting direction toward a family cruise line. It is not a party cruise line even during spring break because look at the games on the ships and how they are structured, during the early ninties we used to have drinking games and other fun games it was really a lot of fun. It is still fun but different ,things change that is the way it goes.

 

Gary

[Anjanu]

I am over 50 years old and I've only sailed Carnival and next month will be my 8th Carnival cruise, my 4th cruise on the Fascination and 2nd time during spring break on the Fascination.

I don't mind Carnival being called the party ship. I love to party when I'm on a cruise. I have even been known to leave the disco in the wee hours of the morning followed by a trip to the Lido for ice cream. I love watching the young adults have fun and at times I'm having fun right along with them. I have received nothing but respect from these young people and actually enjoy them.

I guess it helps that I also work at a university so I'm pretty much used to being around these people.

I'm actually hesitant to sail any other line for fear that I might get bored. :o

[redhydra]

i indeed almost chosen carnival as a first cruise with carnival imagination, one of the reason why i selected ncl norwegian sky instead was because it offered balcony room wich is what i wanted

 

i liked the ambiance on ncl sky on january, it was multigenerational but not too much kids, so from what i see from all these post and what i saw on you tube, i assume it most be almost similar with carnival ship