Is RCCL really worth twice the $$ VS Carnival??

[frazzledrazzle16]

We are trying RCCL for the first time this May, after 12(ish) cruises on Carnival. We were debating between the Breeze or the Allure, and after a price drop for the Allure we pulled the trigger. The cost of the two cruises were just about equal for an oceanview balcony. So far, I'm very happy with the decision... From all the preplanning and research Ive done it seems like there is more to do on the Allure, plus I was getting bored with our usual routine on Carnival.

[golfadj]

We are trying RCCL for the first time this May, after 12(ish) cruises on Carnival. We were debating between the Breeze or the Allure, and after a price drop for the Allure we pulled the trigger. The cost of the two cruises were just about equal for an oceanview balcony. So far, I'm very happy with the decision... From all the preplanning and research Ive done it seems like there is more to do on the Allure, plus I was getting bored with our usual routine on Carnival.

 

Also getting bored with the usual routine on Carnival but hard to pay 400 pp more on RCCL which is what we have been seeing.

[vwrestler171]

I would like to try Allure or Oasis, but until Carnival gives me a reason to pay more for a different brand or until RCCL prices come down, I don't see it happening anytime soon.

[ciera123]

It's a matter of personal preferrance, but for me, I would much rather take a Carnival cruise and have enough to take a 2nd one later on, than just 1 on RCCL. We've done both and I really did not see a huge difference, much less differences enough to be twice the cost. Service on both lines was very good, as was the food. Decor was the biggest difference, and now with Carnival using a new decorator who did the Breeze, I think I'll stick to Carnival.

[yanahd]

We are a family of four (51,45, 10 and 6) looking at a cruise to Carribean in April 2013 and considering RCCL Freedom (or maybe even Oasis) VS Carnival Dream. We are not sure we like size of Oasis as looks like the interior area (Central park/Promonade) more like being in a mall and breaks up pool deck. We like sea days, great pools, great shows and nice food.

 

Balcony on Dream looks like about half price current quoted of same on RCCl (either Freedon or Oasis)!. Freedom balcony for 4 is about $3855 vs Dream about $2100. Any thoughts please from experienced cruisers who have been on both style/ships??

We have sailed Freedom of the Seas last year and have been on multiple carnival ships. RCCL is really nice but we found things that we liked better about RCCL and things that we liked better on Carnival. I feel the food is better on Carnival, rooms are bigger on Carnival. Entertainment was better on Freedom, liked the ice show. I would choose Carnival bc its half the price and you pretty much get the same experience.

[LisainFL]

It's a matter of personal preferrance, but for me, I would much rather take a Carnival cruise and have enough to take a 2nd one later on, than just 1 on RCCL. We've done both and I really did not see a huge difference, much less differences enough to be twice the cost. Service on both lines was very good, as was the food. Decor was the biggest difference, and now with Carnival using a new decorator who did the Breeze, I think I'll stick to Carnival.

 

 

Those are my thoughts exactly. Everytime I have looked at RCCL cruises, I think to myself "I could take two Carnival cruises for that much"...and I've never met a Carnival cruise I didn't like.

 

If you want to save money, and aren't too particular about where your stateroom is located on the ship, the best time to book a cruise is a week or less before it sails, and that's true on both cruise lines.

 

We are sailing on Sunday, March 17 and just booked the cruise yesterday morning (March 9). We didn't get exactly the stateroom we were looking for, but we did get one 4 rooms down from it, so I'm not complaining, and my husband and I are cruising for a little over $400 total for 5 days. I can cruise a lot for that kind of money. I've been watching this cruise for about a year, and that's the lowest price I've seen offered, down from over $1200 for two for the same stateroom 8 months ago.

 

So my advice would be to pick out an intinerary/ship you would want to sail on at some point in the future, and watch the next couple of sailings to see how low the rates go right before the ship sails. You might be able to take an RCCL cruise without spending twice as much!

[alrichards4003]

We have been on both Oasis and Dream, we were not crazy about Oasis, and like Carnival much more. As much as people call Carnival the Wal-mart of cruises, we thought the service was much better on Carnival, and we enjoyed our fellow passengers more on Carnival, we noted more rude people on Oasis than any other ship.

 

However, I think it is about what is most important to you. What are the most important features, if it is the flowrider and rock climbing wall, you would probably prefer Oasis, but if you think your children are too young for that, and are focused on swimming in the pool, you would probably enjoy Carnival. Also with the price difference, you might use the extra money for shore excursions, spa treatments, etc.

[cruisinfanatic]

It's a matter of personal preferrance, but for me, I would much rather take a Carnival cruise and have enough to take a 2nd one later on, than just 1 on RCCL. We've done both and I really did not see a huge difference, much less differences enough to be twice the cost. Service on both lines was very good, as was the food. Decor was the biggest difference, and now with Carnival using a new decorator who did the Breeze, I think I'll stick to Carnival.

You may change your tune when you see and taste the new menus on Carnival

[CarolR]

We have been on both Oasis and Dream, we were not crazy about Oasis, and like Carnival much more. As much as people call Carnival the Wal-mart of cruises, we thought the service was much better on Carnival, and we enjoyed our fellow passengers more on Carnival, we noted more rude people on Oasis than any other ship.

 

However, I think it is about what is most important to you. What are the most important features, if it is the flowrider and rock climbing wall, you would probably prefer Oasis, but if you think your children are too young for that, and are focused on swimming in the pool, you would probably enjoy Carnival. Also with the price difference, you might use the extra money for shore excursions, spa treatments, etc.

 

Agreed. We have sailed mostly Carnival but did the Navigator and Oasis on RCI. Enjoyed the Navigator and would sail that class again. While we enjoyed Oasis as it was a family cruise, I would not chose that class again. I felt like I was in a resort and not on a ship. We sail to enjoy the feel of being on a ship not in a land resort or shopping mall. One thing I will give to Oasis was the shows. Great comedians and Hairspray was outstanding. But flowriders and ziplines are not important to pay that much more money for.

 

We love the promenade area on Carnival ships where you can sit and people watch, listen to the music outside the casino, go to the disco or the casino. We also love the fact that you can get your breakfast at the lido buffet and walk right outside and enjoy the sea breezes. On Oasis, there was no place to eat breakfast outside. Service has been good on both lines but we want good value for our hard earned vacation dollar and will sail the itinerary we want at the best price. So far, it has been Carnival.

[cruisinfanatic]

Those are my thoughts exactly. Everytime I have looked at RCCL cruises, I think to myself "I could take two Carnival cruises for that much"...and I've never met a Carnival cruise I didn't like.

 

If you want to save money, and aren't too particular about where your stateroom is located on the ship, the best time to book a cruise is a week or less before it sails, and that's true on both cruise lines.

 

We are sailing on Sunday, March 17 and just booked the cruise yesterday morning (March 9). We didn't get exactly the stateroom we were looking for, but we did get one 4 rooms down from it, so I'm not complaining, and my husband and I are cruising for a little over $400 total for 5 days. I can cruise a lot for that kind of money. I've been watching this cruise for about a year, and that's the lowest price I've seen offered, down from over $1200 for two for the same stateroom 8 months ago.

 

For that $400+, you're also going on the oldest class with the least amount of activities available to you.

Apples to Apples, RCCL is no where near double and is often less. People start this stuff and everyone believes it

[yogimax]

 

Apples to Apples, RCCL is no where near double and is often less. People start this stuff and everyone believes it

 

Spot on!

 

Not sure where the "double the price" came from, but it is inaccurate. Sure, there may be some cruises where RCCL is more expensive, but if you do your homework, you can get very reasonable rates AND a better product from RCCL.

 

In addition, the RCCL loyalty program is head over heels better than Carnival's.

[golfadj]

For that $400+, you're also going on the oldest class with the least amount of activities available to you.

Apples to Apples, RCCL is no where near double and is often less. People start this stuff and everyone believes it

 

RCCL is usally not double but on the last few we have priced it has been pretty close.

 

We will keep watching and hopefully sooner rather than later we will do another RCCL.

[TeresaJ]

We are a family of four (51,45, 10 and 6) looking at a cruise to Carribean in April 2013 and considering RCCL Freedom (or maybe even Oasis) VS Carnival Dream. We are not sure we like size of Oasis as looks like the interior area (Central park/Promonade) more like being in a mall and breaks up pool deck. We like sea days, great pools, great shows and nice food.

 

Balcony on Dream looks like about half price current quoted of same on RCCl (either Freedon or Oasis)!. Freedom balcony for 4 is about $3855 vs Dream about $2100. Any thoughts please from experienced cruisers who have been on both style/ships??

 

Being that your kids are 6 and 10 choose the Dream. You won't regret it. My kids were 7 and 11 last year when we sailed the Dream and they loved it. IMO, that is too much of a price difference to even consider Royal.

[golfadj]

You may change your tune when you see and taste the new menus on Carnival

 

We can always find things to interest us.

 

Latest menus out about a year now so suspect a new one is comng soon.

[Florissouri]

Actually, the whole "Carnival's cabins are larger" argument is not true anymore. That used to be true 20+ years ago (when the Majesty of the Seas was built), but not anymore. When you compare staterooms (specially higher categories) Carnival lags behind other cruise lines. Here are some numbers for comparison purposes:

 

• Carnival Dream balcony stateroom: 220 sq ft (185 sq ft + 35 sq ft balcony)
  
• Oasis of the Seas balcony stateroom: 232 sq ft (182 sq ft + 50 sq ft balcony)
  
• Freedom of the Seas balcony stateroom: 253 sq ft (200 sq ft + 53 sq ft balcony)
  

 

I usually get cheap inside cabins and with RCCL they are really, really dinky. The only RC cruise I've been on, though, was a very last minute (as in booked on Sunday and cruised the next day) that I booked an inside, but was bumped to an OV cabin which was still dinky. Fortunately, I booked it as a single so it was pretty comfortable.

[Georgiagolfer]

RCCL is usally not double but on the last few we have priced it has been pretty close.

 

We will keep watching and hopefully sooner rather than later we will do another RCCL.

 

While I agree RCI usually is higher than CCL, our upcoming Freedom of the Seas cruise is actually $50 less than the Dream, same week-end and both are Western Caribbean. Booked using a resident rate and had a savings certificate from RCI Loyalty program for $125. DW and I have sailed Dream before but not Freedom. Looking forward to the cruise and any comparisons.

[JYeagersGrl]

They all have their pros and cons. We just did explorer of the seas and the food at lido was awful same thing daily many times it was dry or bland. But the room we had was incredible a family ocean view room that spanned the front of the ship. Richard spacey the CD was the best we've ever had (past CDs were Brett Alans, Malcolm burns and Sinan Ulucay I probably butchered that he is on NCL). We love the layouts and food on carnival but have found rccl and NCL sometimes cheaper lately than carnival. We've never been on a ship we hated but carnival still tops our list followed by NCL and then RCCL.

[mpcaruth]

No, for my family of four, it is not worth that much extra money.

 

We have cruised the Dream, and although we have not sailed on the Freedom of the Seas, we have sailed on other RCI ships. Almost ecery year, we consider the Freedom, but the price is just too high to make it worth it. For us, the most important factors in deciding a cruise is 1) itinerary, 2) price, and 3) ship.

 

To me, I would rather spend my money on amazing shore excursions than on the ship. We are not foodies, and we are not worried about the crew knowing our names. Basically, after you have been on numerous cruises, the ships all seem to have more in common than their differences.

[katiel53]

We have sailed on Royal Caribbean enough to be Diamond Plus as well as being Platinum on Carnival. I would sail Freedom of the Seas in a heartbeat before I sailed Carnival again. I say that even though I enjoy Carnival Dream so much that we have sailed on her six times.

 

We want to go on a cruise next January. I looked at prices on both websites to see which we would do as we like sailing from our homeport of Pt Canaveral. We wanted to do an Eastern Caribbean, but we couldn't get the cabin we wanted on Freedom, so decided to do a Western Caribbean.

 

We are going Jan 5 on Freedom. We will be in a D1 category which on the Royal Caribbean website is almost $600 more for the two of us than on Carnival Dream in an 8D which is what we choose. With a bit of searching on the net, a site that only books cruises, had a price for exactly what we want on Freedom of the Seas for the same price as Carnival Dream. For us, it's a no brainer to do Freedom.

 

I had thought in the past that the food on Carnival was better, but now that they have lowered the standards, and Freedom has a new menu, I am looking forward to trying Freedom again.

 

I wouldn't pay twice the price for Freedom unless I were sailing in an inside cabin, but we never do that so twice the price for a balcony wouldn't be worth it to us. After this cruise, I would like to try the Carnival Dream 12/6/2014 which includes Aruba and Curacao.

 

We shall see how the prices go on that cruise as now they are a lot higher than what we are paying for Freedom. I don't agree that with the poster who thinks that Royal Caribbean is for older people, although we are retired.

 

We did a family vacation last year with kids and grands etc. and we all had a great time on Freedom. The kids loved the flow rider and rock climbing wall as well as the ice skating. With two artificial knees, these weren't for me, but the rest of the family loved them.

[dwsurfin]

Thanks all for thoughts. Wow - confusing. As we are travelling from Australia on a last minute holiday (and air fares will be more than cruise!) it is not a matter of "well we will do it next time when /if price is better" as next time might be 3 years away.

 

And currently Carnical is about $2200 for the 4 of us in balcony room VS $4300 on RCCL (either Freedom or Allure). So we are in a quandry.

 

Carnival sounds great for kids but I'm worried about their entertainment. We like to go to shows 9not much into disco anymore) and think we might struggle on carnival with shows as sound sa bit poor. Have never been on Carnial or RCCL so either will be new experience. Have sailed Costa, Princess, NCL, Celebrity and P&O and rate Celebrity best of those.

[sjcruiser]

Been on both lines, and depending on the season, and ship, Royal can come close enough in price to Carnival to choose Royal (this is how I went on my first Royal cruise). Depending on how far in advance I plan, the itinerary and available dates have more weight than price. Currently booked on Carnival leaving in a week, looking to join a family cruise in August, which is also on Carnival, but I'd probably get back to Royal in 2014, if not before then.

[negc]

Individuals can decide for themselves whether or not the higher fares are worth it to them, but if RCI can charge more and still fill there ships, it is clearly "worth it" to many cruisers. The law of supply and demand hasn't been repealed. People make value judgements all the time and there is usually more that goes into making those decisions than price alone. As others have also pointed out, it is not necessarily true that Carnival prices are always lower than RCI's and if you are comparing prices it is important to factor in all of the elements that go into setting those prices.

Bill

[meatloafsfan]

I just got back from the Explorer of the Seas and for my money, I'd stick with Carnival.

 

I found the food and entertainment to be uneven. Sometimes things were very good, some things were very bad and a lot was "meh".

 

I missed the seemingly constant activity that's on Carnival cruises - I found there was rarely anything to do on the Explorer (I don't rock climb or skate). Activities were limited, short and it was like everything was scheduled at 10am, 2pm and 10pm. Nothing was scheduled during early dining but they seemed to have no problem scheduling stuff so that we had to beat it out of late dining to get there.

 

Portofinos was a joke for us (terrible), compared to our awesome experiences at the steakhouse on the Dream.

 

The adult pool area was nice but over cholerenated - I wear a tshirt over my swimsuit so my sholders don't burn - it was bleached from medium green to very light green after 1 time in the pool and hot tub.

 

The buffet food was repetative, bland and overall not very enticing. We ended up eating in the dining room for every sea day lunch and skipping most breakfasts.

 

The cruise wasn't bad - it just wasn't as good as I've experienced on either Carnival or Disney.

 

For the price we paid, it served it's purpose - was very relaxing, didn't do much, enjoyed the freestyle coke machines and some of the meals. It's just not an experience I'm rushing to repeat.

 

I am looking to book another Carnival cruise though - I now appreciate the fun atmosphere, the costant activities and the menus (yes, I had the recent menus and the comedy brunch last October so I'm not in for any disappointments).

[JYeagersGrl]

I just got back from the Explorer of the Seas and for my money, I'd stick with Carnival.

 

I found the food and entertainment to be uneven. Sometimes things were very good, some things were very bad and a lot was "meh".

 

I missed the seemingly constant activity that's on Carnival cruises - I found there was rarely anything to do on the Explorer (I don't rock climb or skate). Activities were limited, short and it was like everything was scheduled at 10am, 2pm and 10pm. Nothing was scheduled during early dining but they seemed to have no problem scheduling stuff so that we had to beat it out of late dining to get there.

 

Portofinos was a joke for us (terrible), compared to our awesome experiences at the steakhouse on the Dream.

 

The adult pool area was nice but over cholerenated - I wear a tshirt over my swimsuit so my sholders don't burn - it was bleached from medium green to very light green after 1 time in the pool and hot tub.

 

The buffet food was repetative, bland and overall not very enticing. We ended up eating in the dining room for every sea day lunch and skipping most breakfasts.

 

The cruise wasn't bad - it just wasn't as good as I've experienced on either Carnival or Disney.

 

For the price we paid, it served it's purpose - was very relaxing, didn't do much, enjoyed the freestyle coke machines and some of the meals. It's just not an experience I'm rushing to repeat.

 

I am looking to book another Carnival cruise though - I now appreciate the fun atmosphere, the costant activities and the menus (yes, I had the recent menus and the comedy brunch last October so I'm not in for any disappointments).

 

Felt the exact same way. We did enjoy the ice skating as that was something we did a lot of and Richard Spacey was great but other than that hands down Carnival won.

[goodml]

I love both lines and I am platinum on Carnival and Emerald on RC. That being said, we sailed on Liberty of the Seas and Explorer of the Seas last year and if the price is close I would choose a Voyager or higher class of RC ship over any other line in a heartbeat. I just love the amenities that much and I can't wait to try Allure or Oasis but so far, just haven't been able to justify the cost.

 

On the other hand, we sailed on Valor (18 of us!) this past New Year's and chose the ship and itinerary for no other reason than it was the most economical 7 day holiday cruise we could find to take 18 people on and not break the bank for the four families involved. We had an absolutely spectacular time! Absolutely no comparison as far as beauty of the ships or amenities but the service was wonderful and even though I've read lots of complaining about Carnival's food lately, it beat both RC ships we were on last year, hands down.

 

For the OP, at double the price for your situation, there is no way I'd choose Royal Caribbean for this one. That's a lot of $ to be used for other things. Whatever you decide I hope you have the best vacation ever.:)