Bachelorette cruise on Carnival with a little Celebrity Comparison with few pics...

[CruisingGatorGirl]

I posted this on the Carnival board but thought I would post it here too for those that are interested in the comparisons I made between Carnival and X. I tried not to compare them too much because I am a Celebrity kinda gal. If this is not appropriate for me to post on the X board, I apologize!

 

Just got back from the 7/18-7/21 Sensation Bahamas cruise out of Port Canaveral for my Bachelorette cruise.

 

First pic and drink of the day. I am the one in white.

 

The good:

- We had 2 rooms across from each other (window and inside). The window room had the "L" shape lay out which made more room for dance parties and getting ready ;) (of course the music was not loud, no worries!)

- Rooms more spacious than RC Majesty of the Seas, less spacious than Celebrity Solstice.

- Our room steward, Jose, was awesome! We left him nice notes every night and of course tipped him extra. The chocolates were bad.

- pool chairs! We actually NEVER had a problem getting chairs, believe it or not. Maybe because it was cloudy? We also got a late start to the day not sure if that helped. We were able to get chairs by the main pool and serenity area.

- Up-keep. Yes, the ship is purple and outdated but very clean!

- Atmosphere, yes this had that "party" feel people talk about with the reputation which was fun for this trip. Gregory from Orlando? One of the entertainment host guys was awesome. He did a good job trying to get people to party and bought me a drink.

-Casino- well it was smoky, yuck, but we had fun and won! I left in the green.

- Over-night in Nassau. We did not go out at dark in Nassau. There were some pretty serious warnings about being safe in Nassau so we just stayed out and went to the beach in the afternoon. But we like that the ship stayed docked. I get sea sick so I liked that we would not be moving over night

- I know, I know, but I am being truthful, we snuck wine on and it made it. We also bought several drinks but enjoyed drinking in the cabin before hand.

- Staff in general were awesome and seemed happy to be here. Except our main waiter (see below). We also had a nice talk with Ana who worked the Atrium bar. She was really nice and talked with us for a while in the middle of the day and gave us Prosecco.

 

"L" shaped window room

 

In Nassau:

 

Neutral:

- Tea time? Ok this is an odd ball review, not sure where to place it. I have a thing for macarons and desserts in general so I wanted to go to tea time. First, what the heck??? THE HAND ROOM? What was that LOL. Most random room for "tea time" we were cracking up in that room. Also the macarons, horrible, dry and nasty. It was just so random this tea time that I had to mention it LOL! The chocolate cake at tea time was good!

- Music in general was hit or miss. The girl DJ by the pool was bad, played odd music that you don't associate with being on a cruise. There was a guy that was better. The pianist during tea time could not play any of the "classics" not what I expected from tea time, he said he plays rock?

 

The "Hand Room" for tea time (yes, my one bridesmaid put beer in her tea cup LOL, how classy!)

 

The bad:

-One American outlet. The one in the bathroom did not work. This made for longer time to get ready for girls :) Maybe next time we will bring an extension cord.

- No fridge in room, however our Jose our room steward always had fresh ice for us but would have been nice to have a fridge.

- The food. We all found it to be poor in both the MDR and buffet. Only one night did we enjoy our food (formal night). We also felt the buffet had the same items every day. None of the buffet desserts were good. However, we did like the food by the pool more (how can fries, chicken fingers, and cheese go wrong haha). To be fair, my last cruise was on Celebrity so that is my most recent cruise trip to compare to. They food was 100X better on Celebrity.

- Long lines at buffet, pizza late night took forever

- Music in the "clubs" every night it was the same hip-hop. We tried to get some "EDM" music to play. Even the top 40 EDM songs (i.e. "I need your love" by Calvin Harris which is in the top 10 right now would not play).

- Our waiter in the MDR. WAS. HORRIBLE. He did not engage with us, interact, talk about the meals, nothing. He gave a hard time about ordering a second appetizer or main dish. Even if we ordered it with the first round he made it sound like it was an ordeal.

- Being a non-smoker, the ship did seem smokey

- Dress code from others in MDR. The first night there was girl in cut off little shorts and a mesh see through top with her bikini on (she was middle school/high school age). The Maitre D (I think) actually came on the mic and made a comment about dress code (is this normal?) it was really bad what some people were wearing. Then again, as I stated my last cruise was Celebrity in the Mediterranean which does tend to be more formal.

 

Overall:

The ships serves it purpose. We wanted a quick, cheap get away for my bachelorette party and this did the job! The food was poor, we all agreed, but we had a blast!

 

Like I mentioned before, my last cruise was on the Celebrity Solstice which is newer, has huge rooms and bathrooms, and amazing food. I do not think it is fair to compare the 2, especially since there is a 20+ age gap between the 2 ships (I think?).

My personal bottom line: If I want a quick girls trip again, I would book the Sensation. For our honeymoon- we will stick with Celebrity (which we are, the Equinox).

 

 

So this ended up being a little longer than what I thought, sorry! If you are interested, in my signature I have the link to my very detailed and picture heavy Celebrity review form last summer.

 

Let me know if you have any questions!

 

Thanks!

[pdcat21]

Thanks for the comparison Ashley. After reading your Solstice (engagement) review I look forward to reading anything you write and will look forward to hearing how you like the Equinox in December as my family plans to book that ship for April 2015. I have cruised mostly Celebrity with one cruise on Carnival also and much prefer Celebrity. Hope your wedding plans are coming along and thanks again for your review.

[Cruising89143]

I cruised on this ship back in 1995. At that time she was one of Carnival's newest ships sailing seven night cruises from Miami. Doesn't look like much has changed interior wise. Tacky then and tacky now but we had a good time on the ship but I was a lot younger and did not care about the things that I do today when it comes to cruising.

 

We have crossed Carnival off our list. The only cruise line that I will not cruise again. Actually I try to steer clear of a Carnival Corp. line. Not a Mickey Arison fan. Glad that you had a good time and thanks for sharing.

[CruisingGatorGirl]

Thanks for the comparison Ashley. After reading your Solstice (engagement) review I look forward to reading anything you write and will look forward to hearing how you like the Equinox in December as my family plans to book that ship for April 2015. I have cruised mostly Celebrity with one cruise on Carnival also and much prefer Celebrity. Hope your wedding plans are coming along and thanks again for your review.

 

Aww thank you, that is so nice of you to say :) :) :)

 

Yes, I will be keeping a detailed journal for the Equinox trip! Carnival is good for a super quick, short, cheap get away. X does not do the 3 night little Bahamas trips out of PC. Wish they did!

 

Thank you, the wedding plans are coming slowly but surely. Here is our wedding website:

 

http://www.mywedding.com/tylerandashleypollard/index.html

 

I cruised on this ship back in 1995. At that time she was one of Carnival's newest ships sailing seven night cruises from Miami. Doesn't look like much has changed interior wise. Tacky then and tacky now but we had a good time on the ship but I was a lot younger and did not care about the things that I do today when it comes to cruising.

 

We have crossed Carnival off our list. The only cruise line that I will not cruise again. Actually I try to steer clear of a Carnival Corp. line. Not a Mickey Arison fan. Glad that you had a good time and thanks for sharing.

 

Crazy to think how times have changed, what was once new is old. All you can do now is laugh at the purple and silver hands haha! For this trip, we could careless about decor. This was all about fun girl time! However, if all the planning were up to me, I am X all the way! I can't get over how poor the food was on Carnival! And I was not the only one, we all agreed it was bad.

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

Hey, all that 90s stuff is coming back! Just give it a few more yrs, it'll be back in.

 

;)

 

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Forums mobile app

[CruisingGatorGirl]

Hey, all that 90s stuff is coming back! Just give it a few more yrs, it'll be back in.

 

;)

 

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Forums mobile app

 

True! I can't believe the 70's style one piece jumpsuit things are coming back in style!

[miched]

Carmival is what it is. A real cheap get away. The price was probably at least 1/2 of what a cruise on what X would cost and that is probably why you took it.

 

You made the right choice of taking X for your honeymoon.

 

Thanks for reminding us and showing us the difference. It has been a long time, last Oct, since I was on Carnival. Got a free extra sea day due to Sandy. Usually look for a great bargain to to extend our time in Fla when we travel there to take our main cruise on Celebrity. If the price is right it is cheaper than staying in a condo or motel.

 

 

.

[Miss SeaBee]

Omg, the cabin was orange? That would have been worse than being sea-sick!

[CruisingGatorGirl]

Carmival is what it is. A real cheap get away. The price was probably at least 1/2 of what a cruise on what X would cost and that is probably why you took it.

 

You made the right choice of taking X for your honeymoon.

 

Thanks for reminding us and showing us the difference. It has been a long time, last Oct, since I was on Carnival. Got a free extra sea day due to Sandy. Usually look for a great bargain to to extend our time in Fla when we travel there to take our main cruise on Celebrity. If the price is right it is cheaper than staying in a condo or motel.

 

 

.

 

Exactly! This cruise was about 50% cheaper than the Celebrity 4 day cruises.

 

Omg, the cabin was orange? That would have been worse than being sea-sick!

 

Haha, yes it was, what is more shocking is the 1992 purple everywhere :) I remember being very little (6 or 7) and seeing commercials for Carnival with the glass elevators and neon purple and pink lights. Now 20 years later I am on that same ship haha! I will have to see if youtube has any old commercials.

[NordicPrince]

Thanks for the comparison Ashley. After reading your Solstice (engagement) review I look forward to reading anything you write and will look forward to hearing how you like the Equinox in December as my family plans to book that ship for April 2015. I have cruised mostly Celebrity with one cruise on Carnival also and much prefer Celebrity. Hope your wedding plans are coming along and thanks again for your review.

 

Went on 10 day Caribbean cruise on Equinox in Feb 2013. Two words:

classy and elegant. It is a WOW experience. We;ve taken about 10 cruises on RCCL, NCL and HAL.The ship is the most well designed and again elegant I have been on. Everything is new. The cabin sizes are large. We had an inside and it was 200 sq. feet, bigger than some of the balcony rooms we have had.

The entertainment is outstanding in every aspect. The Solarium area is extremely calming and nicely put together with padded wooden loungers.

DW loved the amenities in the Spa area, especially the heated stone beds. A large proportion of the DR crew is from Eastern Europe so you may have a little language difficulty but not enough to spoil your experience.

You will not regret making the Equinox your ship of destination. FYI I am in the 55-60 year old age group male from the Northeast US if this makes any difference in judging my comments.

[CruisingGatorGirl]

Went on 10 day Caribbean cruise on Equinox in Feb 2013. Two words:

classy and elegant. It is a WOW experience. We;ve taken about 10 cruises on RCCL, NCL and HAL.The ship is the most well designed and again elegant I have been on. Everything is new. The cabin sizes are large. We had an inside and it was 200 sq. feet, bigger than some of the balcony rooms we have had.

The entertainment is outstanding in every aspect. The Solarium area is extremely calming and nicely put together with padded wooden loungers.

DW loved the amenities in the Spa area, especially the heated stone beds. A large proportion of the DR crew is from Eastern Europe so you may have a little language difficulty but not enough to spoil your experience.

You will not regret making the Equinox your ship of destination. FYI I am in the 55-60 year old age group male from the Northeast US if this makes any difference in judging my comments.

 

Thank you for all of the positive information! We cant wait to see the Equinox! We loved our time on the Solstice.

[A Sixth?]

I have a question. :p

 

Can you please post more pictures and if the boat is in the background of you ladies... that's okay. :o

 

("He's old, not dead" - Sakini - Tea House of the August Moon)

[CruisingGatorGirl]

I have a question. :p

 

Can you please post more pictures and if the boat is in the background of you ladies... that's okay. :o

 

("He's old, not dead" - Sakini - Tea House of the August Moon)

 

HAHA what happens on the cruise stays on the cruise!