Carnival Choices

[PixieLegal]

Hey Gang! Looking to cruise for Thanksgiving. My choices are limited. I see one with Carnival Freedom, Victory, or Imagination. One of the downsides of the Imagination is that it does not offer the pre-pay beverage package. The Freedom and Victory look older but seem to carry decent reviews. Aghhh I am stressing out! Please let me know you thoughts. Hubby & I are in our early 30's we will be bringing our 2 Girls 7 & 2 1/2 years. I am listening....

[Warm Breezes]

Hey Gang! Looking to cruise for Thanksgiving. My choices are limited. I see one with Carnival Freedom, Victory, or Imagination. One of the downsides of the Imagination is that it does not offer the pre-pay beverage package. The Freedom and Victory look older but seem to carry decent reviews. Aghhh I am stressing out! Please let me know you thoughts. Hubby & I are in our early 30's we will be bringing our 2 Girls 7 & 2 1/2 years. I am listening....

I haven't sailed on Victory or Imagine, but I have sailed on Imagine's sister ships Inspiration and Elation and we have been on Freedom 2x, along with her sister ship Glory. In fact we were on the Freedom just last month. Freedom is my favorite Carnival ship and I think if I were looking at your options, I could easily choose Freedom again....depending on the ports involved. That may be more of deciding factor for me more than the shp chosen.

[GRANNYOFSIX]

Hey Gang! Looking to cruise for Thanksgiving. My choices are limited. I see one with Carnival Freedom, Victory, or Imagination. One of the downsides of the Imagination is that it does not offer the pre-pay beverage package. The Freedom and Victory look older but seem to carry decent reviews. Aghhh I am stressing out! Please let me know you thoughts. Hubby & I are in our early 30's we will be bringing our 2 Girls 7 & 2 1/2 years. I am listening....

 

The Imagination was launched in 1996. The Victory in 2000 and the Freedom in 2007.......... whichever cruise you choose, have a wonderful time and a great Thanksgiving on the ship:)

[crusinpsychRN]

I'd pick by itinerary, not beverage package. You have other chices for that, not for the itinerary. Have fun!

[CarnivalBreeze319]

My choice would be Freedom. But whichever one you choose, you will have a Great Vacation!

[CruzLover80]

Hey Gang! Looking to cruise for Thanksgiving. My choices are limited. I see one with Carnival Freedom, Victory, or Imagination. One of the downsides of the Imagination is that it does not offer the pre-pay beverage package. The Freedom and Victory look older but seem to carry decent reviews. Aghhh I am stressing out! Please let me know you thoughts. Hubby & I are in our early 30's we will be bringing our 2 Girls 7 & 2 1/2 years. I am listening....

 

Hey you had the same options as us!! We went on the Victory in April for our wedding and loved it... it is a smaller ship than the Freedom and Conquest, but we loved it all the same. We were actually booked originally on the Imagination, then switched to the Victory and opted for the extra days now we are booked on the Conquest. Still don't know how we went from 4 days to 7 but whatever!

 

For us our decision came down to the ports. The Victory is going to Nassau, HFC and Grand Turk... the Conquest is two of those ports and throwing in San Juan and St. Thomas. And it really depends on how much you are looking to spend. Obviously Imagination is the cheapest of them all, but the prices for the Victory and Conquest are still decent. I wanted it to be a longer trip, so that's what won out. I even gave up my balcony on the Victory for a longer cruise.

[Lovefuninthesun]

The Freedom is a fairly new ship -- 2007 (compared to Imagination, 1995 and Victory, 2000).

 

We loved Freedom -- our favorite ship and cruise so far!! I know it doesn't have 2.0 yet, but don't feel as if we missed that. The fish and chips restaurant is great!

[CruzLover80]

Another thing to consider:

 

Us Puerto Rican's do celebrate Thanksgiving so many things may be closed while in port (this may be the case with some other islands as well). I would assume that the restaurants would remain open.

[PixieLegal]

I haven't sailed on Victory or Imagine, but I have sailed on Imagine's sister ships Inspiration and Elation and we have been on Freedom 2x, along with her sister ship Glory. In fact we were on the Freedom just last month. Freedom is my favorite Carnival ship and I think if I were looking at your options, I could easily choose Freedom again....depending on the ports involved. That may be more of deciding factor for me more than the shp chosen.

Thank you, Warm Breezes! It would actually be the exact cruise you just went on! So maybe that should be the winner! It says on here you are from MI...I was born and raised there! Stay warm!

[Warm Breezes]

Thank you, Warm Breezes! It would actually be the exact cruise you just went on! So maybe that should be the winner! It says on here you are from MI...I was born and raised there! Stay warm!

 

It's just starting to turn a little nippy, but I'm looking forward to sailing again in a month so that keeps me going. We enjoyed this last cruise. They still have the same shows we saw the first time and both DH and I thought they were better than the first time we saw them. Freedom still has the live band playing in the atrium and the orchestra in the pit. The best entertainment we have seen on a Carnival ship.

 

Out of the ports our favorite was Jamaica. This surprised me since it was our first time there and I have read about many people complaining about the vendors being pushy. We did a Carnival Tour to Mystic Mountain (Jamaican Bobsled) and avoided all that. Mystic Mountain was absolutely beautiful and I would go there again in a heartbeat. We did an island tour in Grand Cayman that we booked right off the ship for $20 pp. It took us to the Dolphin Experience where we just watched the other people who were doing excursions with the Dolphins (we could have gone across the street to the turtle farm if we wanted to for the price of admission but we didn't). It also took us to the Tortula Rum Factory, Hell, and lastly an hour and a half stop at the 7 Mile Beach public beach. We had previously done the Sting Ray excursion but there was no way my kids wanted to do that again. Key West was just unbearably hot so just did a little shopping and then went back to the ship. DH & I had a nice relaxing time in the Serenity area while most people were off the ship.

 

I hope you have a great time no matter which cruise you choose.

[lazydayz]

We loved the Freedom. It gets our vote. Good luck picking the right one for you and your family.

[PixieLegal]

It's tough it will be an extra 1,000 to go on the Freedom but it is also 2 more nights. And it seems to have really good reviews.

[CruzLover80]

Apparently everyone loves the Freedom, we didn't chose the Freedom because we had just went to Key West and are going to Ocho Rios and Grand Cayman next year on the Epic.

 

I would say if your trying to stay within the price point of the Imagination, you should really consider the Victory. We were on it in April and we had a great time. Like I said previously, it's not as big as the Freedom or Conquest, but still had plenty to do. It's one extra day for slightly more $. For the extra $ on the Freedom you can get on the Conquest and get an extra day as well. This is where we were tossing around what we wanted to spend. It cost us the same for a 7 day on a 4j that it was for our balcony on the Victory, we opted for the extra days.

 

The Glory is also going out that week for a western Caribbean for that price point of the Conquest as well.

 

I have it all memorized because of my constant debating of what we wanted to do, LOL.