alli Posted April 27, 2004 Author #26 Share Posted April 27, 2004 Princessofquitealot- You're going on my favorite ship CENTURY! Thanks for the info on Carnival...Ill just be happy not to be working on our short trip. While on Century check out the t-pool. We also tried the spa treatment that involved a mud rubbing treatment for two(under $100.00)and loved it! I would go back to the Century a third ime, however, they stay with the same shows and that became a bit boring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Princess-of-Quite-alot Posted April 27, 2004 #27 Share Posted April 27, 2004 It's good to try different ships.... it seems like Century is everyone's favorite ship! Me thinks me gonna like her lots!! We have planned to relax in the T-pool every evening before we retire. Have fun on Carnival...it's alllll good! Celebrity Century 5/8/04 -Western Caribbean Carnival Ecstasy 2/04 - Baja Tahitian Princess 2/03- French Polynesia Sea Princess 7/02 - Alaska Carnival Ecstasy 5/02 - Baja Royal Caribbean Monarch 10/00 - Southern Caribbean Carnival Elation 10/99 - Mexican Riviera Royal Caribbean Monarch 1/97 - Southern Caribbean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlmlb Posted April 27, 2004 #28 Share Posted April 27, 2004 Carnival cannot compare with Celebrity; low expectations is the key...and then let them overdeliver.....4 nights is just too short, i like quick getaways but don't really associate them with a cruise; more of a go to a resort and stay...Vegas, ps, etc.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annee1967 Posted April 27, 2004 #29 Share Posted April 27, 2004 I love Fascination, even though I've only done the 3-day! I miss it and looking forward to going again real soon, but I have a Disney cruise planned for later this year, maybe I can squeeze in Fascination for December The things I love about Fascination are: the free soft serve vanilla ice cream, available almost 24 hrs. a day, karaoke, the comedians, the spa, the whirlpool in the spa is not so crowded, the gym, the staff, fellow guests, hamburgers, chicken sandwiches by the grill, fries, pizza, etc. The rooms are spacious, clean, and beautiful, Not much of a dining room fan for fancy food, that's where Celebrity excels! The dining staff on Celebrity is the best! Hate to admit it, but on my first Carnival cruise, I went with low expectations and was oohing and ahhing all the way!!! It more than exceeded my expectations! I gave Carnival a glowing review! Just recently took a Celebrity cruise and the food on Carnival is more than comparable, definitely more dining choices than Celebrity! I love both Carnival and Celebrity!!! Have fun!!! Celebrity Century 5/26/01 Carnival Fascination 10/11/02 Carnival Fascination 1/24/03 Carnival Fascination 6/6/03 Princess Sun 8/25/03 Royal Caribbean Sovereign of the Seas 12/12/03 Celebrity Galaxy 2/20/04 Southern Caribbean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annee1967 Posted April 27, 2004 #30 Share Posted April 27, 2004 I agree with Lois. Sailed the 3-day Sovereign of the Seas and the room was tiny, smelly, and old with a filthy bedding that I requested to be changed! Heard so many people raving about Royal Carribean, I had to try it and was so disppointed Prior to boarding, I had my room decorated with flowers and a $30.00 Bon Voyage package from the ship to pretty up my room. The decorations looked like they were only worth about $5.00 and the flowers were smaller than I imagined, although they did last long. Hint: buy flowers onboard as they are much cheaper! Carnival and Princess do great jobs in room decor! Anyhow, I was in a back room somewhere. The service was all right. The food was okay. I did love the lasagne. Free vanilla soft serve was excellent when the machine was working. Overall, the food tasted better than on my recent Galaxy cruise because RCI had more dining choices. The best part of my Royal Caribbean vacation was definitely the private island - totally LOVED it!!! Celebrity Century 5/26/01 Carnival Fascination 10/11/02 Carnival Fascination 1/24/03 Carnival Fascination 6/6/03 Princess Sun 8/25/03 Royal Caribbean Sovereign of the Seas 12/12/03 Celebrity Galaxy 2/20/04 Southern Caribbean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rustynail Posted April 27, 2004 #31 Share Posted April 27, 2004 I've sailed on both Carnival (Legend) and Celebrity (Century) and didn't really see a vast difference. Food, service and entertainment was fantastic on both lines. There were no rowdy drunks on either of our experiences. I personally think Carnival gets a underserved bad rap for the partying ways of their passengers. A drunk is a drunk is a drunk regardless of the line. College spring break excluded of course. Rusty CARRIBEAN PRINCESS JAN 2005 CARNIVAL'S LEGEND JAN 2003 CELEBRITY'S CENTURY DEC 2003 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reggierail Posted April 27, 2004 #32 Share Posted April 27, 2004 If I had to choose between cruising on Carnival and being in Bakersfield(mid 90's today), I'd take the cruise. Reggie Rhapsody 10-17-04 Mercury 12-06-04 Monarch - Sometime soon Viking Serenade 1998 Viking Serenade 1999 Voyager of the Seas 2000 Viking Serenade 2001 Majesty of the Seas 11-2002 Norwegian Sea 11-2002 Vision of the Seas 11-2002 Mercury 5-03-03 Monarch of the Seas 6-09-03 Mercury 10-12-03 Monarch 11-17-03 Monarch 1-19-04 Monarch 3-29-04 God bless the USA and all freedom loving people. May God protect all those who fight and die to protect those freedoms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShipsAhoy Posted April 27, 2004 #33 Share Posted April 27, 2004 Alli we were on her in 1997 so it could very well be in need for repairs. 11th cruise Zenith Oct.27 2003 12th cruise Dec. 5, 2004 "Infinitinis to Hawaii and Beyond" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaznBugs Posted April 27, 2004 #34 Share Posted April 27, 2004 WE were on the sensation and when we got off everyone said the only to get me back on afun shipwould be for free or at gun point and it better be a big gun Jim SEABREEZ 98 OCEANBREEZ 99 MAJESTY 2000 SENSATION 2001 CENTURY 2003 CENTURY JULY 10 2004 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NitaBcruising Posted April 27, 2004 #35 Share Posted April 27, 2004 A hint for not being by the cabins with kids? Just make sure when you book, that there are no quad cabins near you. It works, to a certian point. Some put teenagers in an inside, across from their outside. I've had kids noisy nearby, also. But, once when our door was knocked on late, we looked and it was an adult! DH said I should have followed them to their cabin and knocked on their door at 6 am!!! Nita Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cloud9 Posted April 27, 2004 #36 Share Posted April 27, 2004 We've done Carnival and had a wonderful time, I never saw anyone drunk or rude. We saw more staggering older people on Celebrity! I think the Martini Bar is the colprit! (sp?) Until no one's home Carnival Fantasy 12/01 Celebrity Galaxy 10/02 Celebrity Horizon 9/03 Carnival Miracle 5/04 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brn2crz Posted April 27, 2004 #37 Share Posted April 27, 2004 Originally posted by drk:I have to chime in here on this one. We (51M and 45F) have been on 5 cruises the past few years with 4 on Carnival and 1 on Celebrity. We enjoyed all of them. The myth that Carnival is a drunken orgy is just that...a myth. While your statement may hold true to some of the newer,bigger ships,with longer sailings. It is no myth that the 3 & 4 days sailings are largely "party" atmosphere.Period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Princess-of-Quite-alot Posted April 27, 2004 #38 Share Posted April 27, 2004 I have been on 3 Carnival cruises, and only the 3-day had the drunken idiots yelling in the hallways during the night. On top of that, there was pot smoking in the hallways, and the crew was loudly cavorting at 2am in the employee stairwell across the hall from our room! The other 2 cruises were as civil as any Princess or RCCL I had been on. The cheaper weekend cruises do attract a younger crowd looking to party and let loose. (Not to say all young people are partiers either!) Celebrity Century 5/8/04 -Western Caribbean Carnival Ecstasy 2/04 - Baja Tahitian Princess 2/03- French Polynesia Sea Princess 7/02 - Alaska Carnival Ecstasy 5/02 - Baja Royal Caribbean Monarch 10/00 - Southern Caribbean Carnival Elation 10/99 - Mexican Riviera Royal Caribbean Monarch 1/97 - Southern Caribbean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gene624 Posted April 27, 2004 #39 Share Posted April 27, 2004 I suspect that you will enjoy your short Carnival trip, but it will make you appreciate HAL or Celebrity or RCCI. Gene in Birmingham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rftsr Posted April 27, 2004 #40 Share Posted April 27, 2004 My 2 cents: Carnival is my second favorite cruiseline, Celebrity being number one of course. I've only done 7 day trips. The food is good, the staff fabulous, and nobody throws a party better! The crew is great... down to earth and nice to talk to. It's a nice change from the formality of Celebrity, and an incredible value. I had no expectations when sailing Carnival and really was pleasantly surprised. It's better than RCCI (food sucks), better than Princess (food and staff REALLY suck)! If you have the right attitude Carnival is really a fun cruise...so enjoy!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midnightblue Posted April 27, 2004 #41 Share Posted April 27, 2004 I know that I am going to get beat up for this reply, but I have to be honest. We just got home yesterday from a 10 day cruise on the Celebrity Galaxy. It was fantastic.....But our previouse Carnival Cruise was more fun. My wife and I are both in our mid 50's and we are not drunks, we just like to have fun and we enjoy the company of young people. The entertainment on Celebrity was excellent but geared for an older crowd. We like to snorkle and Scuba Dive and para sail and some of our excursions were cancelled at the last minute because there were not enough people interested. If you are young or think you are young I would say that you will enjoy Carnival much more. But again I must say Celebrity was fantastic. One of the draw back of going on a ship with an older crowd is, they tend not to get up and move around a lot hence you can never get a place to sit down, they sort of hog up all the good spots. Except in the clubs they are usually empty. OK I appologize to my fellow Galaxy Mates I know that you will hate us for these comments, but we still had a lot of fun and love you all Carnival Victory 4/14/02 Celebrity Galaxy 4/16/04 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lornadoons Posted April 27, 2004 #42 Share Posted April 27, 2004 Carnival was okay for our family of 4. We went on an 8 day Christmas cruise on the Spirit which was brand new at the time. We, as a family decided to book this only 2 weeks before we went. We found the crew and employees at embarkation extrememly helpful... we had a few problems from the start. However, days at sea were lacking with activities and we, as well as many, many others complained about this. Maybe it was this particular ship. I also noticed that many, many people chose not to dress up for Christmas day which I found surprising. Lots of jeans and t shirts for such a holiday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schinz Posted April 27, 2004 #43 Share Posted April 27, 2004 I have to chime in. my wife and I are 38. we were on the galaxy last October and have booked the Summit this October. I have to be honest also and say this. Prior to last year we had been on 7 other cruises and six out of the seven were on Carnival. We travel with my parentsand Grandparents so we range in age from 38 to 82!! I will tell you with 100% honesty that we never had a Carnival Cruise that we didn't like. If you wanted to go to bed early <My Grandmother> you did, if you wanted to do the congo line on Lido deck at midnight <MY GRANDFATHER!!>, YOU DID. Carnival is a more lively active line but it didn't mean we couldn't ever relax when we wanted to! We never went in the summer or over kid's vacations, although I can say we have been on several cruises with lots of kids and, like another poster said, we simply had a good time and didn't worry about them. Too many people fret and worry about a kid making too much noise, etc. The cruise eis what you make it. Carnival's entertainment is second to none and their food was just a notch below Celebrity. Having said all that, we love to relax and found the Galaxy the best cruise we had ever been on, even though the first on Celebrity. We have booked the Sumit in October because it is 10 days and has the itinerary we love. But if Canival had an 11 night with the same itinerary we wouldn't have thought twice about taking Carnival again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yanceycruiser Posted April 28, 2004 #44 Share Posted April 28, 2004 Alli, You've heard about every type of opinion ranging from the terrible to the great. Let me sum it up for about half these posters. You will have a great time. Don't even try to compare one to another. We've been on NCCL, RCL, Princess, and yes the once dreaded Carnival. Our last cruise was on Carnival and I swore I would never do one based on what we have heard. Our friends from Canada talked us into taking the Carnival Pride last year and we had a great time just like we did on the other cruise lines. When I was on the Carnival cruise critic board, I continued to hear so many negative things about Carnival that I was beginning to regret booking her. However, several posters convinced me that a cruise is what you make it. Have fun! Yanceycruiser Dreamward 1/95 Norway 1/97 Grandeur of the Seas 1/99 Grand Princess 2/01 Carnival Pride 2/03 [img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=000080&cdt=2004;08;22;17;0;00&timezone=GMT-0800[/img] Until the Infinity on August 22, 2004 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alli Posted April 28, 2004 Author #45 Share Posted April 28, 2004 Again, thanks for all the replies and opinions. Keep them coming! This is all a moot point anyway...I'm booked and paid in full...however it's great to hear all of your experiences. Maybe this trip I'll finally right that review I swore I'd write on the last 8. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NitaBcruising Posted April 28, 2004 #46 Share Posted April 28, 2004 Alli, Please do! It would be interesting, after all this discussion, to see what you really think! Nita Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celbercrz333 Posted April 28, 2004 #47 Share Posted April 28, 2004 Alli, Sounds like you are going on our cruise earlier in the year. We are doing Fascination in the Fall from Miami to Nassau. Let me know how you like it. --Joanne Celebrity Zenith 10/2003 Fascination Fall 2004 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMKohler Posted April 28, 2004 #48 Share Posted April 28, 2004 Nita -- someone actually knocked on your door???????????? I can't believe that! Schinz -- we are taking our third Summit cruise next year -- you will love her. My husband and I have only been on RCCL (SOS) and Celebrity. It was interesting to hear about how old SOS is becoming. It was our first cruise she holds a special place in our hearts. However, the last five cruises have been on Celebrity. I hate to bring this up -- but the main reason we won't try Carnival is (in our opinion only) their safety record. They seem to have had more problems (i.e. fires, breakdowns) with their ships. I know Celebrity has had it's share of problems as well with pods. Anyway -- I'm sure you will have a great time --just being on a cruise, any cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodofpine Posted April 28, 2004 #49 Share Posted April 28, 2004 My point is that Carnival probably has the broadest qualitative spectrum in the industry. And the extremes are probably more radical on ships doing the shorter cheaper itineraries. Carnival has some very fine interesting new ships and some really worn lesser old ships. In my single experience, the galley prepared some really excellent dinner items, and served some stuff at breakfast that would be shameful at a Wafflehouse. It was hard to believe the stuff came from the same kitchen. The passengers were of every sort including a couple of real characters; one that was a dirty version of the guy on the album cover of Jethro Tull's "Aqualung" (yeh - worse! A what bridge did they find him under (?) guy) It was interesting in that way and you can't beat Bahamian water so - have fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nealberk Posted April 28, 2004 #50 Share Posted April 28, 2004 Based on total numbers, Carnival has had more of the over 60 crowd than any other line including HAL. With that said, Carnival used to be "party boats" back in the 70's and that is where they made their initial money, but over the years Carnival has tried to push hard for a more civilized crowd. They no longer push the drunken brawl cruises and are trying hard (and have mostly suceeeded) in killing that image in favor of a lively but respectable image. It is a lot like comparing Vegas to Reno. Totally different atmosphere and I do have a preference but both have their good points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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