What would it take to pick Carnival over Royal??

[pmama]

Made the mistake of sailing Carnival once. It was like a very bad 2 star motel on water. Taped together parts in bathroom and tons of drunks. Never again.

[shipshape sam]

I posted never, but reality tells me to never say never. $400 did not seem like enough to me for the following reasons (my reasons/ my value proposition):

 

1) I do not like the demographics. My last cruise on Carnival Glory, a young lady was punking in the elevator as we thought we were getting on the elevator on the first night of a 7 night cruise. Never seen this on any other ship in almost 30 cruises. I will say in 2003, our first Carnival cruise, we did enjoy it on Imagination.

 

2) Behavior of party groups is not what I want to be around. I have has some issues with 3 day cruises on Royal too, but never on a 7 day cruise.

 

3) Assuming it is the same as on Glory, they divided MDR into 3 groups and had a running competition for the week. EACH night people were standing on chairs during the pep rally and desert was delayed each night for at least 15 minutes while the contest tabulation went on.

 

4) Again, IMHO and based on my Glory experience, the food was sub par and wait staff over extended in the number of tables having to serve.

 

Overall, I put a lot of value into the onboard experience and even when spending money on only an inside cabin, would not like to know I am purchasing an onboard experience that is less than what I expect on Royal or Celebrity. Why take a week off/travel to port and then for $100 to $400 have a less than excellent experience which is the premise of the poll. Most of us do not have lots of weeks to take a cruise. I only cruise, right now, one cruise a year. IF I was doing 4-5, I might consider one of them being of lesser quality from the onset. To be fair to Carnival, things could have changed and I could have a great time, but not willing to gamble the $$$ I would spend to find out. :)

[DJSteve552003]

The last Carnival ship we cruised was a out of San Juan with a great itinerary.

 

One morning we were approaching our port of call and I went on deck to get coffee and watch our arrival.

 

The big screen TV at the pool was BLASTING CNN! Very loud. It ruined the "moment". The last thing I want to hear BLASTING from the speakers on a cruise ship is Wolf Blitzer!

 

Most other times the big screen was BLASTING commercials for Carnival.

 

Never again.

 

We stick with HAL and Celebrity, and we just booked a B2B on the Jewel. We could have booked the Carnival Valor for 2/3rd the price. Nope, ain't gonna do it!

 

Would you have been equally annoyed if Sean Hannity was blasting over the big screen?

[flyawayca]

RCI, Carnival, NCL, or other. It doesn't matter to me. If it's an itinerary I like, or a ship I want to see, and if the price is affordable I am more than happy to sail.

 

I have yet to have a bad cruising experience. :cool:

[JasonTehGreat]

All of the Royal Caribbean ships to sink.

 

 

 

 

My feelings EXACTLY!

[TM38Rob]

I didn't vote either as I would only sail Carnival if I want to go to Grand Turk & Half Moon Cay. The 5 Night Carnival Victory to Grand Turk, Nassau, & Half Moon Cay vs. 4 Night Majesty of the Seas to Nassau, CocoCay, and Key West which I've sailed the latter before. The Majesty of the Seas won that contest for reasons other than price.

 

Wanted to sail Majesty at least one last time before it leaves the fleet. CocoCay is my favorite island, more time in Nassau, the list goes on.

[Richjoxyz]

Would you have been equally annoyed if Sean Hannity was blasting over the big screen?

 

YES, absolutely! It isn't about politics, it's about the mood and ambiance.

 

We have cruised Carnival in the past and enjoyed our past cruises. But that large TV blasting commercials and news, SO LOUDLY drove me away.

 

I want steel drums, not Sean Hannity and Wolf Blitzer. LOL

[Summer99611]

For me it would be if it were a "friend" vs. family cruise. If a group of friends (or even my sybs and parents who have never cruised) wanted to go on Carnival, I'd go. It would be experienced as an opportunity to see the people, and the company would be a secondary aspect. Otherwise, hubby and I will stay loyal to Royal.

[mcatmcat]

When a family invite me and pays for it, I was invited to carnival liberty like 2 months ago, what a disaster!!!, but I had a great time with my family. But I rather dont comment about carnival :-0

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[Philly Steve]

While a CCL cruise may be a good value, we still prefer RCI even though airfare is not part of the mix for us. Baltimore is our embarkation port of choice so it will be RCI from here on out.

[Toddcan]

I selected $300 pp cheaper, but it's really more complicated than that.

 

Our last 2 cruises have been on Freedom Class ships, and I'm just too cautious to try Carnival again.

 

I know this is my fault, but there are a few things on the RCI that I've come to enjoy - the Solarium, the Promenade, and Quest. I would really miss those - and I have no idea if Carnival has the equivilant.

 

But, the single most important factor to me is Labadee. I know I'm unique here, but I lived in Haiti for 18 months back in the 80's and Labadee is my chance to speak Haitian Creole again, and talk about Haiti with Haitians.

 

If we decided to take a cruise which did not include Labadee, I would certainly consider Carnival - and I think the $300pp cheaper is about right.

[mm1251]

I didn't vote because my answer is not there. If someone else was paying my expenses, I would not turn it down. But, when we book we look at RC.

We were on one Carnival cruise and we enjoyed ourselves but we were with our daughter and her boyfriend so that was a unique experience. We missed many of the little things from RC.

 

Good point. I answered, "nada," but if it was a free cruise I'm sure I would go!

 

We enjoy other Carnival brands - Princess is very nice and if you haven't done a Cunard transatlantic (at least one time) you are missing the boat. :cool:

[BillOh]

If you added another choice, I might pick, "If Carnival was free" ;) Seriously I almost got roped into a family cruise that would have been on Carnival. If someone was paying for my cruise I might go. When I have sailed all the intineraries I wanted to at least twice I might try something different.

 

This is no slam on Carnival, I have no real experience.

[dixieva]

The last Carnival ship we cruised was a out of San Juan with a great itinerary.

 

One morning we were approaching our port of call and I went on deck to get coffee and watch our arrival.

 

The big screen TV at the pool was BLASTING CNN! Very loud. It ruined the "moment". The last thing I want to hear BLASTING from the speakers on a cruise ship is Wolf Blitzer!

 

Most other times the big screen was BLASTING commercials for Carnival.

 

Never again.

 

We stick with HAL and Celebrity, and we just booked a B2B on the Jewel. We could have booked the Carnival Valor for 2/3rd the price. Nope, ain't gonna do it!

 

 

I hate to be the one to tell you but RCI is adding these big screen TV's to their ships too.

 

I have been pleased with all 5 of my Carnival cruises. Have another one booked in Nov. We had an 8 day with RCI booked and canceled to book a 7 day with Carnival for about 1/3 the price!! Both cruises have 3 port stops and both out of Baltomore. We got a balcony room on Carnival for a total of $530 per person, that's including taxes and fees. The 8 day on RCI in a D1 balcony was around $1,400 per person! A no brainer for us.

 

I am surprised to see so many answer no way no how to trying Carnival. Oh well, to each his own. We have always gotten good food, and great service on CCL so until that changes we'll continue to book with them as well as with RCI.

[DonnaK]

I wouldn't sail Carnival again, even if it were free. Our experience on Miracle was horrible, especially in the area of MDR service, crowdedness, weak program for tweens/teens, layout and décor of the ship, etc.

 

The time investment and associated expenses wouldn't be worth it for me.

[mo&fran]

We did one Carnival cruise, just to see what is was like. Have no plans of ever going again. Once was enough.

[GTMoose]

In June I went on a Girl Friends cruise with CCL. I went kicking and screaming! BUT, I was pleasantly surprised, I did have a nice cruise and a good time with my friends. We all had to plan so everyone could afford it and the planner found a cruise that was less than $500 for an IS (w/taxes, port fees, etc) so we all agreed and went. I wasn't the only one that was not too excited about the choice but thought, hey, I will be with my friends and we will have a good time no matter. It really was a good time because I didn't expect Royal...I would cruise again with CCL but only if it was with family/friends. For me it is not a question of cost but of who will be on that CCL ship...

 

 

Pretty much what would put us on Carnival. They will almost never be our first choice, but if our group of friends were to choose this, we won't stick our noses in the air. We'll still go on board, and have a good time. :)

[Aquahound]

I hate to be the one to tell you but RCI is adding these big screen TV's to their ships too.

 

There is a big difference between RCI's big screens and Carnival's big screens. The city of Key West actually had to order Carnival ships to turn down the volume because they were getting noise complaints from nearby houses.

 

I've cruised a couple RCI ships now with the large screens and not once have I heard them blast the volume like CCL ships that pull in here.

[PattyG12]

I tried Carnival ... NOPE, Never again!! I'll stick with Royal. Maybe will try Celebrity.

[Trainer]

I have taken two free cruises on Carnival. Although they were free, and I sort of enjoyed them... it was free after all ... I would not pay for the experience. I thought the décor was garish and the ambience was not what I prefer. Although I was surprised at how good the food was, overall the trips were not as good as either RCCL or Celebrity. So the price is not the defining reason for my selecting not to go back to Carnival.

[dfishner]

Carnival ships are just to small for the amount of people they hold. I do like the Breeze since this is their first ship without Joe Farcus and it looks great but the amount of people they hold for a ship that size does not work for us.

[Tapi]

We've enjoyed sailing on Carnival tremendously because we go with REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS. It's cheap, convenient for us (they are the only cruise line sailing from our two closest ports of embarkation), and we adjust our expectations accordingly. When we want a more polished experience, we dig a little deeper in our pockets and choose other cruise lines.

 

Carnival is a great way to enjoy the basic pleasures of cruising without breaking the bank. We don't go expecting beautiful decor, lavish entertainment, polished service, superb cuisine or to rub elbows with the elite. We go expecting a nice stateroom, relaxing days at sea, a few ports of call, and some basic forms of entertainment and cuisine. THAT, they deliver and deliver well.

[JohnSnowGOT]

Honestly, a major part of what keeps me loyal to RC are the D+ perks. Years ago we had some fantastic cruises on Carnival.............If Carnival offered me the same D+ perks I'd sale with them in a minute. At least one time to check it out.:)

[yj2cute]

I voted Never, but am booked on the Breeze in November. That's a girls' cruise with friends that had Carnival future cruise credit they had to use. That's the ONLY reason I'm going and I insisted that it be Carnival's newest ship. I wouldn't step foot on one of their "ation" ships. I'm looking forward to having a good time with my girls, which can probably happen anywhere. After that, I have NO plans to sail Carnival.

[reigle4]

I have always felt you get what you pay for. Saying that, we had cruised Carnival until we could afford better. Carnival is not in the same class as RC or Disney or any of the others. They do not have the same service, they do not have the same caliber of food, they do the best they can with what they have but for some it isn't good enough. TO me it feels like a college age spring break type of ship. I like energy and liveliness on my cruises but with class. That is what Carnival lacks......Class.... just sayin....my opinion