Mariner or Carnival out of Galveston?

[phantomII]

I am in a quandry. We are looking at a cruise for the end of November out of Galveston. It is either the Mariner or the Carnival Magic. They both have the same itinerary except for the port in Jamaica. They are about the same price but I can get a better deal by about 100.00 with Royal and some OBC. I know the Magic is newer but we did like RCI when we did one cruise with them on the Voyager out of Galveston. Any ideas or opinions??

[cruizinmimi]

I am in a quandry. We are looking at a cruise for the end of November out of Galveston. It is either the Mariner or the Carnival Magic. They both have the same itinerary except for the port in Jamaica. They are about the same price but I can get a better deal by about 100.00 with Royal and some OBC. I know the Magic is newer but we did like RCI when we did one cruise with them on the Voyager out of Galveston. Any ideas or opinions??

 

Dan - I think you've answered your own question:D;) We've been on the Mariner 3 times. I can't wait for the Mariner to be back in Galveston. We will be on her in November:D

[klingoncruiser]

Both are good ships, but the Mariner is even better than the Voyager. All things being equal, I would go with RCL.

[phantomII]

Dan - I think you've answered your own question:D;) We've been on the Mariner 3 times. I can't wait for the Mariner to be back in Galveston. We will be on her in November:D

I posted the same thing on the Carnival board and am waiting to see what those folks have to say. The Magic is a brand new ship so that would be interesting and we have never been on Carnival before. What to do, what to do?

[hollon]

That is a hard question since carnival is newer, but if it's not broken, don't fix it. We have been on the voyager and the mariner and to me the mariner is much better. I didn't look to see if you have cruised with carnival before, but we went on princess this summer and we kept comparing it to rccl, just didn't like princess as well and didn't enjoy our trip as much, because we love rccl ships, just my opinion, good luck

[Aquahound]

Out of curiosty, I just read both threads on both boards. Have you noticed Mariner is the majority of the recommendations....on both? Your choice, of course. And I'm sure you'll enjoy either one. The one thing that I can't wrap my head around is the passenger to space ratio. It seems the biggest complaint about Dream is crowding and if I read correctly, Magic has even more people. Couple that with the pool size, it seems to be a design with a purpose....quantity, not quality. That's just my impression. Take it or leave it because my experience with CCL (including Dream) is just ship tours.

[Cruising89143]

Out of curiosty, I just read both threads on both boards. Have you noticed Mariner is the majority of the recommendations....on both? Your choice, of course. And I'm sure you'll enjoy either one. The one thing that I can't wrap my head around is the passenger to space ratio. It seems the biggest complaint about Dream is crowding and if I read correctly, Magic has even more people. Couple that with the pool size, it seems to be a design with a purpose....quantity, not quality. That's just my impression. Take it or leave it because my experience with CCL (including Dream) is just ship tours.

 

I agree Paul. Having been on a Conquest class and the Magic is just another stretched version of that ship, one of my biggest complaints was how crowded it was inside and out. The pools are far too small for the amount of guests on board. Hands down it would be the Mariner for me and since you get a better overall deal, it's a no brainer.

[phantomII]

Thank you everybody for the feedback.Based on the comments from this board and the Carnival board I am going with the Mariner. Vote total was Mariner 12 to Magic 3. Now I just have to hope the price doesn't go up between now and Monday.