Back from Carnival; will stay loyal to RCCL

[11legend]

I personally dont feel its fair to compare cruise "lines" but rather each ship individually...they are all different on each line...

 

These are my comparisons between Carnival Legend and Explorer of the Seas:

 

I found the food in MDR on Legend to be better...especially Chocolate melting cakes...yum...I'm just not a "napolean" kinda gal...

 

Also, wait staff on Legend..loads of fun..singing...dancing...our assistant waiter on Explorer..um...had BO...yikes:eek:

 

The room steward on Explorer was really really great!! He was always available and cleaned our room and made up our bed like 50 times a day!! On legend...saw him once....

 

They are NOT cheap with the liquor on Explorer...many times I had to stop the bartender from pouring half the bottle of rum into my drink!!:D

 

Shows and entertainment on Explorer....far exceeded Legend!

 

I like the pool set up on Legend much much better. Plenty of tables to eat outside...much bigger bandstand and dance area....However, the pools themselves on Explorer were bigger....

 

And here's one thing I dont get...people talk about the wow factor with RCI ships...I found Explorer to be...well...a little boring compared to Legend...but...I like bling!:D

 

Carnival ships are what they advertise to be...the "fun" ship...however, also had an AWESOME time on Explorer...I would cruise either line any time but I would read the reviews and pick my ships carefully.....

 

With that said, DH won a free cruise playing Bingo on Explorer...will be sailing on LOS in March and cant wait!!!;)

[BillOh]

.............. excursion choices, etc. are so much better on RC'...

 

I'm glad you posted and I have no direct experience with Carnival, so I was reading with interest, but this one surprised me. I assumed there were a limited number of excursion companies in each port and they deal with all the cruise lines. This isn't an area where I expected any difference. I've been on a few excursions where people were from both lines.

[cruisecrasy]

I don't think that cruising on an older ship should be an excuse for poor service, poor food selection, or just about any other complaint that is validated on the older Carnival ships. Service standards should be the same across any company. It is corporate culture and expectations that dictates whether or not service is given with a smile, not the age of a ship. As far as food, menus are usually the same fleet wide. You don't need a new ship to offer the same food. Royal Caribbean has always been updating and retrofitting its ships so that they are up-to-date in entertainment, decor, food, activity, and stateroom offerings.

 

Sorry have to disagree with that - I no longer eat in any RCLs MDRs because the food quality is so poor these days and always book the specialty restaurants..While on the Carnival cruise we sailed I found the MDR food better than RCLs although I also ate half the nites in the Carnivals supper club also. I really enjoy fine dining..

 

Now Celebrity yes I wld agree is equal to but not really that much better if any than Carnivals MDRs food. It is a little better than RCLs though and while on Celebrity this year (twice on same ship in 7 weeks) I ate in the specialty restaurant also half the nites & I was a little disappointed with the quality there..perhaps the chef had an 'off' week...

 

Of course, its JMO anyway.....although I used to own a catering company so have a wee bit of experience with food..:)

[smeck]

I've sailed both lines as well as Disney and NCL. Order of preference,

 

RCCL, ccl, NCL, and Disney. Very slight edge to RCCL because of flow of passengers onboard. Disney worst food by far.

[Tapi]

I do agree that RCI offers a better cruise experience (I'm even more certain after sailing on the Allure a few months ago! :D)

 

HOWEVER, saying that you won't cruise Carnival again after sailing on the SENSATION, is not a fair assessment. Not only is the Sensation one of Carnival's oldest and smallest, but its also relegated to short cruises catering to budget minded cruisers. Of course service and overall experience are lacking! Believe me when I tell you that its not representative of what Carnival truly has to offer.

 

Our experience on Carnival has varied wildly (from wonderful aboard the Carnival Liberty to terrible on the Sensation). The best piece of advice I can give you is that if you ever decide to try Carnival again, select one of their larger, newer ships.

[Hap]

I am truly looking forward to my TA on RCI....but I have to say that comparing any of the RC ships you mention to Carnival Sensation is like comparing the Queen Mary to the S.S. Minnow. Sensation is at least 10 years older than any of the ships you mention, and also unlike those, Sensation makes the 3/4 night runs to the Bahamas - you could fairly say she's been ridden hard and put away wet. To have the same expectations for Carnival Sensation as you would have for Oasis is just silly.

 

Carnival Legend is a fantastic ship, and RC will have to go some to show me a better time or feed me better food than I've had on Carnival Freedom.

 

Can't say for sure about Carnival "cutbacks"....which in any event should mean nothing to someone who hasn't previously cruised Carnival....but I've read at least as much complaining on these boards about RCI nickel-and-diming as I've read about cutbacks on the Carnival boards.

 

Summing up everything I've read, people who've cruised on both (and who are not cheerleaders) seem to think there are far more similarities than differences between Carnival and RCI.

 

I'll know for myself in about 459 days. :D

 

I agree with you. I am a diamond on RC and have sailed Carnival 7 times. I have found the food better on Carnival and the entertainment better on RC. Both of these are subjective as everyone has different tastes. Also, most Carnival cabin's are larger than on most RC ships. But you cannot compare a much smaller and older ship to the newer larger ships out now. You can't compare the Monarch to the Oasis or the Freedom of the Seas. You will find more similarities than differences. I would not hesitate to sail either RC or Carnival. We are on The Freedom of the Seas in March.

[mark0114]

I think the OP specifically stated he/she was prepared for a smaller ship experience.

 

 

Thank you...that was my intention all along...knowing that the ship was going to be very small compared to Oasis...thank you again for clarifying!

[Tapi]

Thank you...that was my intention all along...knowing that the ship was going to be very small compared to Oasis...thank you again for clarifying!

 

Were you prepared for it being a budget experience because you were cruising on a short itinerary out of Port Canaveral, at budget prices, with budget minded fellow cruisers?

 

In my opinion, It's not the size or age of the ship, but what type of cruise it is. You booked a cheap cruise and experienced a cheap cruise. Are you really surprised that you didn't enjoy it as much?

[pcur]

Would you say that Royal is more like Princess then? Haven't sailed Princess but their ships look nice and they have some great itineraries.

 

The problem we had on our Princess cruise (the Sapphire) was the ship's layout. It seemed much narrower, especially the outside decks along the side of the ship. The traffic flow in the buffet was really bad; I mean frustratingly bad.

 

Otherwise, it was very similar: food, staff, entertainment were all on par with RCCL.

 

We are D+ so we also missed our little extra perks on board. I would have to find a screamin' deal with a great itinerary to go on Princess again. We felt we gave up just a tad too much for the same cost of the cruise.

[GaNavy]

Kitkat, yes RC and Princess very similiar only there are more activities and its more active past 11pm on RC than Princess ships. Other than that food, service, entertainment very similiar.

 

I put Carnival on the bottom of my list and stay with the ones that continue to offer me decent food, service and entertainment, Carnivals buffets are full of all fast food!

 

Dixieva I not understand how you can say Carnivals food is better but we all eat differently I guess I will explain:

Carnivals buffet breakfast sausages, bacon so greasy and eggs runny

RC offers you that ham carving fresh and their other meats not sitting in grease like Carnivals

 

Carnivals pool deck party is only of limited mexican type food, tacos, chips, chopped beef and such...RC gives you that outdoor fresh bbq of steaks, chicken, pork, suckling pig, etc.

 

Carnival after 10pm only offers pizza, hot dogs, fries, hamburgers...RC shiops have Cafe Promenade that also offer you desserts, sandwiches, salads, cookies, in addition to their grill offering the same items as Carnival.

 

Carnival in the main dining room offers you nightly Flat Iron Steak a tough shoulder piece of meat...RC offers you either NY Strip or Sirloin a much better cut of beef!

 

Carnivals lunch buffet offers you sandwiches, wok (meat is all tough), fish n chips (to me its like chicken fingers only seafood), then they offer you the burgers, fries, hot dogs, chicken fingers, mac and cheese, only one vegetable, one potato offering, one type of meat dish and one seafood dish and a meat carving.... their salad bar has cut down to very small...the tomatoes are always very soggy, they do offer maybe a potato salad, but it is very limited.

 

RC offers you a variety of all types of hot dishes that includes chicken, turkey, lamb, pork, beef, ethinic cuisine and with many choices of vegetables and rice and potato dishes along with two different meat carvings...choice of 3-4 soups too....along with the "fast food type foods" as Carnival gives. They even have a cold salad bar that usually has greek salad and other nice cool salads with cheese platters. and blocks of cheese.

 

I have cruised many carnival ships in the past and have always found the service a hit or miss...nothing really excellent.., on RC service overall is excellent.

 

The shows on Carnival are cheap type shows and cheesy types..game show, that juggler, etc. RC offers you production type shows.

 

When I read these kinds of comments, it's hard for me to believe we've been sailing on the same ships. Just for starters I've read at least as many complaints about RC's buffets as Carnival's. And Carnival doesn't offer "production type shows"? Puh-leez.

 

But the best part of cruising for me is being on the ocean, and it's the same ocean for everyone, no matter what line you're on or how much you paid. Cheers to all!