Loyal Royal Caribbean Cruiser Considering Carnival - Got Some ?'s

[Scottee25]

As far as the room. If you can forgo the tub, then book an aft balcony. The view will be great and the balcony size is huge. Although the one thing people say is that people can look down from the upper decks. They have a long balcony on the sides next to the Aft balcony. They are longer about 2xs the size of a normal. Then they have extended ones, not longer, but wider pushed out. The suites have more space and a tub, but not balcony. I don't think the suites live up to the two levels that you can find on Allure.

 

We've been fortunate to have aft balconies on the Serenade and Liberty while sailing on Royal. If possible we always try to get them. One thing I like about the Radiance class is that they have Junior Suites on the aft. The deep balcony along with the bathtub is a win/win :) However, I am trying to find out what perks are available to suite passengers on Carnival that would intice me to book an OS or GS over the Vista or Aft balcony cabins. If the only difference is the bathtub, double sinks, and priority embark/debark, then it might not be worth it to me to spend the extra on the suite. Trying to weigh the pros and cons of both at the moment.

[Scottee25]

Thanks for all the replies guys! I am getting the concensus that the Freedom is a popular ship, and I would agree that the surprise of a cruise would be overwhelming enough to make my wife overlook a line or ship and enjoy the trip!

[ihibernate]

Hi Scott,

What a nice guy! We have gone back and forth since both lines leave from our back yard. Hands down, I go with Carnival because of the value for the money with the room size, we like balconies. I know you aren't in them that much, but that extra room and nicer beds sure feel nice on a longer cruise. I was surprised how similar both lines are. I have to agree with most of the replies, any cruise is better than not being on a cruise. I don't think you would regret a Carnival cruise. Have fun and be sure to let everyone know what you decided to do! I like closure.

 

Kelley

[mariemorgan]

Here are some pics of the aft wrap:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=24792468&postcount=4

[firefly333]

We've been fortunate to have aft balconies on the Serenade and Liberty while sailing on Royal. If possible we always try to get them. One thing I like about the Radiance class is that they have Junior Suites on the aft.

 

Hi, there are really NO PERKS to booking a suite on Carnival. Yes, you get VIP boarding and debarkation .. but if you are platinum you already get this. Thats it, no other perks.

 

I too had a JS on RCL, on Liberty OTS and I didnt like it nearly as well as you did, despite the size. The ship only had two banks of elevators ... so it was a much much longer walk all the way to that aft facing JS.

 

Carnival has three banks of elevators, so the walk isnt as bad.

[firefly333]

To the OP adding to Fire's post: Sometimes Fire posts in other threads in favor of RCL - this is because there are better single-passenger deals on RCL than on CCL. Don't worry.

 

Actually its not the reason or reasons. I find Carnival has more sameness from one ship to another and after doing 4 Carnival cruises in a row, Im a bit burnt out. I think RCL varies a bit more or their ships have more things different. All classes on RCL the cabin sizes are different for one thing. RCL seems to have more shows, a show every night in the main lounge, HUGE point to RCL here. I like shows, and now that Carnival has replaced them with a comedian in a back lounge, Im even more bored with Carnival. I want a show.

 

Im not a 100% RCL cruiser and never will be. I love Carnival's beds for instance and some of their meals, for instance the ribs and not closing the buffet between meals.. points to Carnival.

[stargate fan]

My wife and I have been on 5 cruises, all of them with Royal Caribbean. We have liked the itineraries they have offered, as well as, their ships. In the past we had never considered Carnival in large part due to the many negative things we had heard. So if I am so happy with Royal, then why would I consider Carnival? Well here's the deal...

 

On (Saturday) October 6, 2012 my wife will turn 40. I really want to surprise her with a cruise for her birthday. Plan is to have all of her stuff packed so when she comes home from work on Friday evening, it's off to the airport. I had been browsing Royal's offering for late September/early October of '12 only to see that they only have 3 ships sailing the Caribbean (not including Bermuda/Bahamas cruises). During the same time frame, Carnival has 8 different ships all sailing out of different departure ports. This variety alone meant I could no longer keep overlooking them.

 

I have made up a list of the Royal and Carnival cruises taking place in the week before and the week after her birthday. Ideally I would prefer a southern or eastern Caribbean itinerary. I would prefer a cruise that either departs on birthday or is still sailing on her birthday. A cruise that ends on her birthday is out of consideration. I don't want the vacation to end on her birthday. After looking through the list, Carnival has several Sun-Sun cruises that would have us on a sea day for her birthday. Downside it most are western Caribbean or other ports I am not sure she would be interested in. My top 3 choices are as follows:

 

#1: Carnival Freedom - Sat 10/06/2012 - Sun 10/14/2012: Southern itinerary visiting Grand Turk, La Romana D.R., Curacao, & Aruba. The last two ports have been on our wish list for a while now. Dominican Republic will not be so new for my wife as she lived there for a while in her teenage years but it would be nice to go to Santo Domingo to see the oldest city in the New World. There are also 3 Sea Days with 2 of them at the end of the cruise so plenty of time to relax to end the trip. Leaves out of Ft Lauderdale which typically has plenty of flights in and out. This is my first choice because all of the ports will be "new" to us as far as cruising goes. Biggest negative is that my wife has never really had any interest in cruising Carnival.

 

#2: RCCL Allure of the Seas - Sun 9/30/2012 - Sun 10/07/2012: Eastern itinerary visiting Nassau, St Thomas, St Maarten. We have done St Thomas and St Maarten several times. Nassau would be new but have read that Nassau isn't really a "blow you away" kind of port. Therefore, the ports would not be the biggest selling point on this cruise. What I like most about this that even though we have been to St Thomas and St Maarten before, we have always had fun there and know we would have fun again. We would also be on a Sea Day on her birthday which is the biggest positive as I could have some sort of spa package arranged for her. This cruise also sails out of Ft Lauderdale so air travel in and out would be painless. Negatives on this cruise is that the Allure comes at a premium and I know she has voiced that she has no interest in sailing the Oasis/Allure as she thinks they are too big.

 

#3: Carnival Victory - Sun 10/07/2012 - Sun 10/14/2012: Eastern(Southern) itinerary visiting St Thomas, Barbados, St Lucia, St Kitts, St Maarten. The Victory sails the exact same itinerary a week before that would have us on the ship on her birthday, but I'll get to why I picked these dates instead. As far as the ports go, we have been to them all already tho there is always something new we could try at each of them. However, the itinerary is a bit odd in that is circles back to St Maarten so the only sea day is in the middle of the cruise rather than the last day. It is also very port intensive and I would prefer she have a relaxing vacation rather than a taxing one. Another negative is that it appears that Delta is discontinuing non-stop service out of Detroit to San Juan so getting there may be a chore. So why consider this itinerary? Well my wife is Puerto Rican. She was born and raised there and still has a large number of family members there. Plan would be to fly in on Friday night(if possible) or as early as possible on Saturday morning (her birthday) and arrange for her family meet us (and surprise her) in San Juan. She could spend her birthday in San Juan with family and then leave Sunday on the cruise. This option would more than likely involve the most stress for all involved and it may be more than she is willing to put up with (while her family is great, they have a tendency to change plans last minute without warning). Part of me believes that if I told her this plan after the fact, she would respond with a "yeah, I would prefer to avoid the drama". So I can say, it is the thought that counts :)

 

Now I have tried to do as much research as a can, but sometimes it is just nice to ask people. For instance, I have a friend that swears by Carnival. She loves the atmosphere and recently returned from a short cruise with her husband and 2 young sons. The biggest stigma against Carnival is that they are "party" boats full of unruly passengers. However, I would not put my friend in that category, and she has never complained about such behavior while she has been onboard. If they are all really party boats, I would have expected that she would have changed lines a while ago. You also hear that Carnival's typical passenger would resemble Larry the Cable Guy or someone from Jersey Shore, but then again, you get those same people on Royal's ships.

 

I would like to know what to expect if I decide on sailing Carnival? I am not looking to turn this into a Carnival/Royal bashing thread. I understand there are good and bad to both lines. Prefer to hear from those that have sailed both and can give honest comparisons.

 

I know both the Victory and Freedom are Conquest class ships. I have looked at their deck plans to get an idea of their offerings. Which class of Royal ships would they most closely resemble? Radiance?

 

I still haven’t decided which cabin type to go with if we book Carnival. What cabins types are the most sought after? I had been looking at the Vista Balcony as I am sure my wife would love that. But do those rooms only come with a shower stall? Do you have to upgrade to a suite to get a tub? Looks like there are only 2 Junior Suites on this ship and their balconies are tiny so have ruled them out. What is the biggest differences between the Ocean and Grand Suites? Only thing I can tell is that the Grand comes with a bidet (big deal :) ) and appears to be about 50% wider. Aside from that, they both have tubs (my wife does like that as it makes it easier to shave her legs). Anything else majorly different between the two? Aside from the larger cabin size and tubs, is there any other benefits to suites other than priority embark/debark?

 

I was looking at Carnival's site for shore excursions but there are not all that many listed for the ports on the first cruise I listed (didn't really look at ports on 3rd cruise yet). Is that because of how far out the cruise is? Also many of the excursions listed were very short, like 2-3 hours. I just know with Royal that if the ship is in port for 8 hours, it was not unheard of to find excursions that were 5, 6, or even 7 hours long. Would these be something added later? Or would I be better off trying to find things to do through 3rd parties?

 

Me pulling this off is still contingent on her employer working with me to grant her time off without her knowing about it but she has worked there for over 10 years so I am hopeful they will. I know I have included a lot of info in here, but I am hoping that by laying out what I am looking for, you guys can help me by providing me useful information I can use to make my decision. I am sure I will have more questions as time goes on, but this is all I have at the moment. Thanks guys!

 

First, I want to tell you how lucky your DW is to have such a thoughtful DH. It looks like you have really done some research.

 

Second, I want to give you some of the nitty-gritties of Carnival/Royal Caribbean. (You did ask for comparison. ;)) We have sailed three times on RC (last time on Liberty of the Seas, 11/10) and five times on Carnival (last time on Carnival Splendor, 4/11). While I do not claim to be an expert, I think we have sailed enough different classes of ships on both lines to form opinions.

 

A few things that really made impressions:

 

*Carnival had trays in the buffet; RC did not. It was very difficult to balance silverware, plates, and drinks with just two hands on LotS.

 

*Carnival had 24-hour soft serve ice cream, RC offered soft serve on the pool deck from 11 am to 6 pm. If I wanted ice cream at night, I had to buy it at Ben & Jerry's. (Which I did not do.)

 

*On Carnival, we got pool towels in our cabins and were able to leave wet ones for the room steward who gave us clean ones at night. On RC, we could only get towels on the pool deck with our cards and had to return them ourselves.

 

*At the Carnival buffet, we had many different food choices-Deli, pizza, Indian, stir-fry, salad bar, burrito bar, etc. I really liked that there were many food choices at the pools. I didn't need to get covered up to get food outside.

 

*RC had sliding balcony doors, which ALL ships should have. Carnival's balcony doors are heavy and slam loudly.

 

*RC had sliding shower doors which ALL cruise ships should have, not stick-to-my-butt shower curtain that Carnival had.

 

*RC's pools and hot tubs are open later into the night than on Carnival. Why, Carnival? Why?

 

*RC's past guest program is so much better than Carnival's.

 

In my humble opinion, it is worth trying Carnival. If it is not to your liking, you can always go back to RC or try another line. I am NOT a Carnival cheerleader! And I am NOT making this a Carnival vs. Royal Caribbean war. I am giving MY honest comparison. Best luck with DW's boss and making plans.

[H82seaUgo]

*Carnival had 24-hour soft serve ice cream, RC offered soft serve on the pool deck from 11 am to 6 pm. If I wanted ice cream at night, I had to buy it at Ben & Jerry's. (Which I did not do.)

 

rccl only has soft serve yogurt.

[StingRaysfan]

Firefly-mmmm the ribs.. I can't believe I'm going to be eating those ribs in just a few days.. LOVE THEM!

 

OP- The bathtub/suite issue. I also love the bathtubs for several reasons, and I'm pretty sure that the suites are the only ones with them. The differences between GS and OS are pretty much what you said, bigger room two chairs instead of one, a bidet, also a bigger bathtub. Also the tubs have glass doors instead of a curtain which is a big plus! The Ocean Suites are our favorite... the bathtub, though jetted, really isn't very big though.. just a warning. For Balcony space the aft wraps of course (but no tub)! Empress deck is great, and my favorite, because it's cabins above and cabins below...

 

I personally would LOVE to try Oasis or Allure one day... however.. not sure I'd want to do it on an itinerary that I've done many times or have no interest in. Of the cruises you posted I would also choose the Freedom. That itinerary is awesome!

 

No sure about the excursions in those ports. Most of the ports we've been too (granted all Western Caribbean) have all had longer excursions listed when we booked.We've done them from 4 hours to 8 hours long. There is always the option though of private (usually cheaper) excursions.

 

I've never been on Royal Caribbean so I can't compare, other then the people that I know that have sailed with them. Those people are not much different then me and probably would have had a good time on Carnival too. I'll be honest, I haven't seen any crazy behavior on Carnival at all... some fun, but nothing like what you describe.

 

GOOD LUCK with surprising the wife.. I think she will be soooo thrilled!!!! DH could surprise me with a cruise on a rustbucket tugboat to Aruba and I would be excited!!! :)

[maxamuus]

I'd vote go with the Freedom and give Carnival a try. If you go into it with a open mind you will enjoy it im sure.

 

I have sailed Carnival, and RCL and Princess. Contrary to what you here on CC they all are more alike then different.

 

Dollar for Dollar we still prefer Carnival over Princess or RCL.

[nybumpkin]

My vote would also be for Freedom. We haven't sailed her, but we've sailed all the other Conquest-class ships. As much as I love Victory (sailed her four times), the layout on Freedom is better - you have additional options like the Supper Club, the fish and chips, and general buffet lines. Victory's buffet area is more congested - although I'm not sure how congested it gets on a port-intensive cruise. You also mention that you haven't visited the ports the Freedom itinerary - while I don't sail for ports, that would be a selling point for me.

 

Why not Allure? She looks fantastic - however, if your wife has already said that she's not interested in such a large ship, I'd go with her thoughts since it's her birthday. In addition, you've already visited St. Thomas and St. Maarten. Nassau's okay, but IMHO isn't worth the extra cost of sailing on Allure.

 

As for Victory - The itinerary's just too port-intensive. If you like ports, that's great - but if you like sea days, you'll either be exhausted by the end of the cruise or have to decide on one port day to turn into a sea day by staying aboard. If all that, coupled with visiting the family, would lead to a not-very-relaxing vacation, I'd pass.

 

As for cabins - we've had balcony, aft wrap balcony, junior suite and grand suite. For two people, I think the junior suite is plenty of room. If you like balconies, however, the aft wrap balconies are great. The downside is the shower, with the dreaded shower curtain. (We just bring clothespins to weigh down the curtain and keep it from wrapping around our legs.)

 

Here's aft wrap balcony 8428 on Victory:

 

And junior suite on Glory:

 

 

And grand suite on Conquest:

 

[hoop4321]

i am going with the "they are more alike than not" consensus. We started out sailing with rccl, but the itineraries on carnival is what made us take our first cruise. We have just returned from the valor (great Americana decor!), which was our second time on the ship. The food is slightly better, and we think the slide is fun too! I liked the steakhouse better than chops, but we have always had a great experience in portofino. I think you may be surprised. The ship is clean, the staff is friendly and helpful.

 

The party ship image is tough to shake, i know. We have booked the destiny which is a smaller ship, a 4 day cruise, on a weekend.....we winced when we booked it.....and we have been on 2 carnival cruises prior. I was told to stay away from carnival cruises that were 5 day and under and left on a weekend. After our last royal cruise....we thought....surely carnival cannot get much worse. In the end....if we are dissatisfied, we wont book such a short cruise with them again. I would not hesitate to book a 7 or more day cruise with them. Don't miss the bitter and blanc (dessert) in the MDR:)

[missemo12345]

Hey Missemo! I owe you a picture :) Not sure how well it will come out, but this one is of my boys when they were considerably younger. They are getting older now and no longer looks this "youthful" :)

Great picture thank you for sharing!!!

[Native Floridian 26]

I can appreciate the concern you have over trying Carnival after being loyal to RCCL. I had the same feeling up until a couple of weeks ago. I have been on 16 cruises all different lines including Celebrity, Princess, Royall Caribbean, Holland America, Premier and Chandris (last two don't exist anymore). I had not sailed on Carnival for about 18 years and had sailed on the first Carnival ship the Mardis Gras in the 70's when I was a kid.

 

Although Carnival is usually less expensive and I am a bargain shopper, I have steered away from Carnival when picking my cruises for many years thinking they attracted a lower clientele. I remember the food on my last Carnival to be a little more homestyle and not as fancy as the other cruise lines.

 

That said, I picked the Fascination 5 night on 5-14-11 for our family vacation due to the price and the date fit our schedules. I was a little concerned with the posts on here talking about the amount of smoking allowed compared to other ships. There were also references on this board about it not being the Wal-mart cruise, but The Dollar Store cruise. So we didn't go into the cruise with very high expectations.

 

I must say we loved the cruise. The food was excellent. We were very impressed by the personal attention we got. The hostess and wait staff called us by name every day as well as our steward. No complaints about the service at all.

 

The smoke was not a problem. It was pretty easy to avoid the side of the deck where smoking was allowed. Of course the casino is always smoky.

Our cabin did not smell and the beds were so comfortable.

 

There were no unruly passengers. Yes, some people did not dress for dinner, but you see shorts in the evening on other cruise lines as well.

 

I don't think you'll be sorry. In fact we loved the cruise and will probably lean towards Carnival for our future cruises.

[swimmom32]

If you can go out of Miami Carnival Breeze is a brand new ship and that might fit your needs especially if you cruise RCCL...You can also choose the Liberty if your looking to do the Freedom...and out of TX Galveston is the Brand New Magic that ship too looks so beautiful...

[firefly333]

I too vote for a aft wrap if you can book one over booking a suite...the balcony that wraps around is awesome, who needs a bathtub?

[SadieN]

I think you need to decide which of her feelings is stronger-- Not wanting to cruise on Carnival or not wanting to cruise a truly big ship.

 

Only perk for the suites is the embark/debark.

[kmkasza]

We just returned from a week on the Carnival Liberty after not having sailed Carnival in 17 years. Have done RCCL, Princess and Celebrity since most recent Carnival cruise. I believe that Carnival is not as good as it was 17 years ago and compared to the others I have mentioned. My opinion is the food has good down hill and not much of a choice or even having the buffet open for any length of time. Also the friendliness of the staff was not what it use to be or compared to the others. That said you go to have and make your own fun. Your wife will be happy just with the surprise whatever you decide.

[boingy300]

I must admit I am getting the "Freedom" ships confused.....who named these things?lol. Thanks for the advice everyone. Since Carnival/Princess and Holland are owned by the same company I didn't know if they gave any "perks" across the board. (That's why I asked.)

Karen

[vamartha]

I apologize in advance for hijacking your thread....

 

but do you have a brother? :D

[Tripper10]

I have sailed Carnival Freedom 2x and loved it both times. For me, Its like RCCL Explorer of the Sea class, but better as I have sailed them both. The food better and rooms are nicer on the Freedom. The Indian cuisine buffet near the center pool is to die for. I also think the Freedom is sailing at a great price a the moment.

[candigirl]

Wow...what a lucky wife you have! I am very impressed with all the thought you have put into making her 40th over the top special. I've cruised both Royal and Carnival and you really can't go wrong. Each has it's own merits. It might be fun to try a new line to see what you think.

Have fun...I guarantee...either way, she will love it!;)

[NavarreCruiser]

*Carnival had trays in the buffet; RC did not. It was very difficult to balance silverware, plates, and drinks with just two hands on LotS.

 

 

 

.

 

 

FYI to all that read this thread. We just got off the Carnival Valor and the buffet had no trays. They had switched the plates to larger platters and did not have trays. The staff members I spoke with said Carnival was attempting to roll this out fleet wide to save the time and resources needed to wash all the trays. Knowing that Carnival often responds to customer feedback, if they get a lot of backlash we may never see a wide rollout.

[Scottee25]

I too had a JS on RCL, on Liberty OTS and I didnt like it nearly as well as you did, despite the size. The ship only had two banks of elevators ... so it was a much much longer walk all the way to that aft facing JS.

 

Carnival has three banks of elevators, so the walk isnt as bad.

We never minded the walk all the way back to the aft cabins. Helped us burn off all we ate and drank on the cruise. Only negative is if you forgot something, all the time it took to go back to the room. But you knew the only people that would be near that area of the ship were generally people that had a reason to be there :) Made for a much quiet area. For the 2 of us, the JS on RCL were perfect. :)

[Scottee25]

First, I want to tell you how lucky your DW is to have such a thoughtful DH. It looks like you have really done some research.

Don't go spreading any nasty rumors about me now! Last thing I need is for my wife to think of me as thoughful. It will blow my cover!

 

Trays in the buffet is smart. I am surprised RCCL has not done the same. Having to make 2 trips to get food, silverware, beverages, etc can get to be a pain. Perhaps they don't have the trays as to not give the impression of it being a cafeteria?!?! Who knows?

 

Food will be one of the biggest things. I keep hearing how Carnival is beating RCCL out on food lately. One of our biggest complaints lately is how the quality of food on the RCCL ships keeps degrading cruise after cruise. On our past cruise there wasn't a single dessert dish that really stuck out at us. It seems to have gone from wonderful to mediocre. Quality of food is a very important item to us.

 

As far as the shower curtains go, I think our cabin on our first cruise (Nordic Empress) had shower curtains. Also, our JS had a shower curtain but that was in a full sized tub. I guess if we choose the Carnival cruise, I'll have to follow the suggestions I have read on how to fight back against the shower curtain :)

 

Thanks again for all your input! I really appreciate it!