Carnival Vs Celebrity

[Cruise Arizona]

I hope to get some good input on this. I have never done a Carnival Cruise, and my adult cruise experience has all been with Hal or Celebrity.

I loved my Celebrity and Hal cruises.

 

One of my friends is a travel agent and has nothing but good things to say about Carnival (Maybe because of the Volume she does with them). She just booked a group of 16 friends on a Carnival Cruise. She also says that she has never booked anyone of Celebrity, and that her upscale clients do Hal.

 

After seeing so many negative comments about what people wear to the dining room on Carnival (Trucker Hats???ect) I was goofing around last night and checking prices on 7 day Carribean Cruise on Carnival Vs Celebrity.

 

Celebrity's prices were coming up around $1100 for ocean view, and Carnival was coming up about $600-700.

 

Besides maybe fewer trucker hats in the dining room... What do you feel like you get for the extra $500 or so per person.

[Iamthesea]

As the old saying goes, "You get what you pay for."

 

Celebrity and Carnival do not compare. Enough said! ;)

 

PS - After looking at your list of cruises, I can safely say that you would not be happy with Carnival.

[nick0danger]

As far as a general experience i think the staff on carnival, have a more general I love my job happy to be there feeling. Where on celebrity, is more of a trained response for everything, neither negative. But the biggest thing i noticed.

 

 

 

The boats are decorated on different scales, carnival is over exaggerated, where celebrity is nice and is not over done, and has a conceptual look.

 

 

 

Food, both have wonderful meals, you could put a plate of both beside me and you could not tell the difference. But there are some higher end scale meals on celebrity like frog legs. And they don’t turn people away from the dinning room on carnival for not dressing properly but there where definitely no hats in the dinning room (except at lunch but I always take mine off).

 

 

 

They are both clean, and but the, the bedding does seem more up to date on celebrity. But I think the room stewards and cleaning staff are far more intuitive on carnival and pick up on things like when you wake up and if you use the ice or if you are going to use the mini bar, that sort of thing and they never made a fuss about you calling them to do something.

 

 

 

No real difference except rooms are larger on celebrity and you get more of a trained feel from staff. I have talked to a number carnival staff member the used to work on celebrity and they prefer carnival not only for wage but they say it is a better company to work for

 

 

 

 

 

Personally if I had to pay I would go carnival, cause I like the staff and it is always fun. Not that I did not like celebrity ( I did not have to pay for any celebrity cruises) it was more grown up feel and no place to smoke cigars. But really no big difference, except the feel from the staff, and they décor

Quick edit, service has always benn better on carnival than celebrity. For the extra 500$ celebrity is not worth it in my mind.

[ritt]

We have done Carnival and Celebrity, among others. Sorry, but must say if someone cannot tell the difference between the food,their palate has to be broken.

As far as the other differences go, this very true story might illuminate. We were having a bite at the buffet when this man layed his baby down on the table next to us and proceeded to change it's very dirty diaper ! In other words, hats are the least of the problem.

For years now we have had no reason to go anywhere but Celebrity.

Smooth sailing all,

Mary

[OCruisers]

nickOdanger .... Thanks so much for the comparison! Like the fact that the staff seemed to actually enjoy what they were doing on Carnival!

 

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

[morriscats]

Papa and I love Celebrity but we took the grandkids on Carnival and had a great time. Pride was a beautiful ship. Your right when you say the staff is more animated. They had such fun singing at night in the dining room. We always had towel animals in our stateroom. "Elvis" was always - and I mean always, somewhere in the hallway and greeted us as we came and went, calling the girls "little princess". Celebrity is more subdued. I would sail Carnival again - but I think we would like any cruise ship.

[starsjohn]

I have been on 29 cruises with Celebrity, but just one on Carnival.

 

On the Jubilee, hard alcohol glasses were thrown in a riot in the lounge and drugs were avalible openly on deck. On a recent Princess cruise out of San Juan, we saw the Carnival crowd tear up a local bar. Enough said.

[CGAGE]

I'm curious as to which ships you're comparing. I've been on numerous Carnival cruises...both new and older ships...I've never had a bad cruise...EVER! I have to say...the new ships have more to offer, for obvious reasons, but the shorter itineraries on the older ships were just fine.

I haven't cruised on Celebrity yet...Feb 2006 will be our first time...but from what I've read on these boards...I'm anxious to compare and see the difference! We have a CC cabin on the Sky Deck booked and I can't wait!

If your looking at a 7 day itinerary...I would definitely go for the new class of ships...the Spirit class is our favorite!

Any specific questions...feel free to email me at Cgage61299@aol.com

Thanks!

[tarheelmjfan]

I asked this same question a little while ago on the Carnival board. I had to laugh, when I came here & saw the same question. Perhaps, you could go over there & get another perspective. I asked, because we would like to visit New Orleans & sail from there. Carnival is the only option. Unfortunately, by the response, it seems we probably wouldn't enjoy Carnival.

[Iamthesea]

nickOdanger .... Thanks so much for the comparison! Like the fact that the staff seemed to actually enjoy what they were doing on Carnival!

I have to say that we had excellent staff on both Celebrity and Carnival. The funniest waiters we had were on Celebrity and my teens still talk about Celebrity as being their favorite.

 

It wasn't the ship or the food (although Celebrity does have an edge), but the people on Carnival that made our experience less than grand.

 

Would I cruise on Carnival again? Yes, if the price was right for what I wanted in a cruise.

[Sky Sweet]

I hope to get some good input on this. I have never done a Carnival Cruise, and my adult cruise experience has all been with Hal or Celebrity.

I loved my Celebrity and Hal cruises.

 

One of my friends is a travel agent and has nothing but good things to say about Carnival (Maybe because of the Volume she does with them). She just booked a group of 16 friends on a Carnival Cruise. She also says that she has never booked anyone of Celebrity, and that her upscale clients do Hal.

 

After seeing so many negative comments about what people wear to the dining room on Carnival (Trucker Hats???ect) I was goofing around last night and checking prices on 7 day Carribean Cruise on Carnival Vs Celebrity.

 

Celebrity's prices were coming up around $1100 for ocean view, and Carnival was coming up about $600-700.

 

Besides maybe fewer trucker hats in the dining room... What do you feel like you get for the extra $500 or so per person.

 

It sounds as if this TA has a special relationship with Carnival, which also owns HAL, and consequently her opinion is not objective. The experience on a Celebrity ship is very different than on Carnival, and most people who love Celebrity do not like Carnival. However, there are also people who love Carnival and do not like Celebrity.

[dzney]

I can only say my opinion on Carnival as this will be my first Celebrity cruise. We had a wonderful time on Carnival. We brought our one year old with us and the staff couldn't get enough of her. It made bringing her so much easier on us to know that the crew loved having her aboard and did everything to make her comfortable. I don't have a bad thing to say about the cruise and I would use Carnival again (as long as we have another mini-suite with balcony).

 

That said, maybe I'll write a comparison when I get off my Celebrity cruise with my growing family (now have two girls, ages 4 and 6). My older one doesn't remember her first cruise, but she sure will remember this one. I can't wait!

[DrKoob]

I posted this earlier (before we sailed with X) but it bears repeating:

Our Carnival Cruise from Hell

 

General views:

 

First I should state that the travel agent who booked this cruise for us cautioned us against booking on Carnival as she felt that we might find that the party atmosphere was more than we might enjoy. I can say now that we should have taken her advice. Not because of the party atmosphere but for numerous other reasons. Below is a blow-by-blow account of what we like to refer to as the cruise from hell.

 

OK, it wasn’t that bad. We flew from Seattle to LAX on Monday morning with no major hassles. We were met by the Carnival folks at the airport who efficiently got us on buses to the ship where we didn’t have to stand in line for too long before we were allowed on the ship. Embarkation was handled very well. From there on, just about everything was downhill.

 

You should know that we had cruised before to Alaska with Holland America on the Westerdam, which is owned by the same parent company as Carnival. I will use that as a comparison for this cruise. What a difference!

 

The first sign that this would be a bad experience was the lifeboat drill. All passengers were informed that there would be a lifeboat drill at 4:30 pm (the ship was set to sail at 5:30) Much was made of the fact that there would be no smoking or drinking at the drill and that we were to proceed to our muster stations at that time.

 

Upon arriving at the muster station we found that the members of the crew who were supposed to be running the drill were not willing to take any initiative in controlling the groups. We were about halfway back from the crew members (part of the Cruise Director’s staff) making the presentation and giving directions of what to do in case of emergency but we could not hear a word that was said due to the party that was going on behind us. Numerous passengers were already inebriated and many had drinks in their hands the entire time. On Holland America, roll was called to make sure that all aboard were in attendance and a crew member checked each and every life jacket to make sure that we knew what we were to do in event of an emergency. On the Ecstasy, I may as well have stayed in my cabin. No one would have known or cared and I would have known just as much as I know now as I could still not tell you what was said during the drill. It was just window dressing for the Coast Guard. This is totally unacceptable in our post 9/11 world.

Food:

 

When we first boarded the ship we were hungry after flying for 5 hours. The ship advertised that they had 24 hour pizza available and that sounded good to me. Right up until I ate it—cold. From the pizza guys’s hand to my hand and sitting at a table in the dining room took all of 90 seconds and in that time, it was cold. Shades of things to come.

 

This was not the only case of cold food. The first full day out of LA we decided to have breakfast in the dining room where we could order what we wanted and have it served to us at our table as opposed to the buffet upstairs.

 

Everything we ordered that morning (with the exception of some very weak coffee—you can get espresso but you have to ask for it, it is not on the menu) was cold. I ordered eggs benedict, which should have been singular as they brought me one very overdone poached egg on a cold English muffin with a congealed hollandaise sauce on it. The sauce literally looked like a candy coating when you cut into the egg. I had also ordered toast, which came cold as well.

 

Dinners in the dining room most nights were mediocre. The first night was the best and the appetizers and desserts seem to be the best part of any dinner. High marks to the escargot and the Grand Marnier soufflé. The folks at our table ordered a variety of main courses during the week and no one ever seemed to be very impressed. As an example the lobster I had on the second night out was one tough lobster who had been in one too many fights. My wife had the pork that night which she found very dried out.

 

FYI: On a four day cruise there is one formal night, the second one out and the rest of the nights are classified as "casually elegant." None of this is enforced as even on the formal night there were people at our table in khakis and Izod shirts.

 

We ate the rest of our breakfasts and lunches in the Panorama Grille and the omelets were not bad but the lunches left much to be desired.

 

Service:

On Holland America we had been dazzled by the service. From our asst. waiter in the dining room to our cabin steward, every minute the staff was at our beck and call. On the Ecstasy, it almost seemed like the staff was doing us a favor to wait on us. It is sad to say that the best service we got all week was from the man who made our omelets on the buffet line.

 

Two incidents come to mind. The first was that fact that each night our waiter would tell us tales of woe about how poor the working condition on the ship were, how little money he made, how he hated his job. Made us feel really good about spending money on the cruise and we always felt like he was angling for a bigger tip.

 

The second situation kept happening all week long with our cabin steward. Whenever he would service our cabin he would just make himself at home. We always found the TV tuned to the Spanish language channel (and many times it was left on) when we returned from dinner or breakfast. And many times our personal things had been moved around even though they did not need to be. The final straw was the third night when we brought another couple from our dining table down to look at pictures we had purchased. When we entered the cabin, it was very evident that he had just left and had used our cabin’s bathroom to defecate. The toilet was dirty and the smell was overpowering. I am sorry and I don’t want to sound like an snob, but this is wrong. Needless to say we could not invite our friends in and had to turn on our fan and just get out of there.

 

The Worst Part:

 

That about covers the cruise right up until we got to what my wife and I call our "worst travel day ever!" During the disembarkation talk on the day before we arrived in LA our cruise director (who spoke very fast and sometimes unintelligibly with a cockney accent) received a note that he read to us that informed him that "Upon arrival in LA, all passengers would have to be check by the INS (prior to this cruise only foreign born nationals were checked by INS and we sailed in March 2002) before anyone could disembark." He told the group, "This won’t be a problem." And it wasn’t—for him. For everyone else, it was a nightmare!

 

They decided to set up the 6 INS agents who would check the passports of the 2000+ passengers in a small lounge at one end of the ship. They then announced that everyone should get in line at a specific time and wait to present their papers. And then everyone associated with the ship disappeared. (except for the Vegas review dancers, dressed in sport coats who hardly spoke English who were seen running around doing nothing.) There were times when we felt very unsafe and that no one was in control of any situation. People would cut in the very long line and others would threaten them and yell at them with fist fights almost breaking out a number of times. No one from the crew was anywhere in sight. The lines grew so big that people were lined up in stairwells and even though we were docked at the pier at this point, if there had been a fire, surely many would have perished as there was no way to get through the huge crowd.

 

After we got through the INS part of the line (2+hours) we were told to wait in a lounge to be escorted off the ship after the INS inspection was done. The lounge we were directed to wait in had an occupancy sign that read a maximum occupancy of 100. I personally counted more than 160 people in that lounge. Not only was it crowded but there were people sitting in the doorways and again if there had been a fire or emergency, the consequences would have been horrific.

 

We were in a group that had early (prior to 1:00 PM ) flights from LAX. The majority of the folks in that group (about 100) missed their flights as the advertised time of disembarkation of the ship in LA was 8:30 AM and we were finally allowed off at 11:00 am. And we were in the first group off. Many of those folks ended up paying huge sums of money (which I am not sure if they can get Carnival to cover) to change their flights.

 

We fully realized that the INS inspection was not the fault of the Ecstasy crew but we were appalled at how they handled (or did not handle) it. No supervision, no direction, no communication, no nothing from 7:45 in the morning until 11:00 AM when someone from the crew finally came to lead us off. We felt totally unsafe throughout.

 

I want to also note that the area we were waiting in on line and after were designated non-smoking but since no one was there to tell people they could not smoke, they lit up anyway. Being highly allergic to smoke meant I got a whopping headache that took hours to go away.

 

I should say that since we had a 12:50 PM flight, we did make our plane but just barely with a lot of help from the security people at LAX. We do feel though that we will do our best to avoid LAX at any cost when flying into LA. Normally going to that area we fly into Ontario or Orange County, much better airports line and crowd wise.

 

To sum all this up, yes, we will cruise again but NEVER on Carnival. Not because of the party atmosphere but because of their lack of supervision and that for the first time in years of traveling, I actually felt unsafe.

 

I also want to add that last year when we were on shore in Cabo on an X Panama Canal cruise we ran into some folks who were in port off a Carnival cruise. We couldn't help overhearing their very loud conversation as we stood in line waiting for our shore excursion. They were talking about how they had been out for six days and they were comparing bar tabs. Both said that they were already in excess of $1,000. They said they wished they hadn't been so high but they couldn't remember drinking after 9:00 pm. They had basically been drunk the entire time. Amazing.

 

To summarize, if you want drunken debauchery, unsafe conditions, a crew who complains constantly then by all means book Carnival. If not then stick with X. Our Panama Canal cruise was our first but we have three more booked and would never think of going with anyone else.

[ccletzgo]

celebrity and carnival, 5 months apart.

 

 

things I missed about celebrity and royal, while on carnival. Room service menu. Carnival has a very limited menu. no real meals. We like to order dinner in one night. :(

Pool service. Impossible to get a drink waiter while at the pool on our carnival cruise. dont know why? :confused: They just were not out there at all.

 

The dining room was to busy. Not relaxing. Waiter was more worried about rushing to be ready for there performance. The singing matra'd that did Frank S. song everynight, was tacky, in my opinion.:o (just my opinion)

 

The pride was a very nice ship, although the decor was heavy. I was sick of it, by day 5. (Hubby loved it) I never get sick of the classic decor on a celebrity ship. Or, the soft decor on a Royal ship. The pride reminded me of a theme hotel in las vegas.

 

Carnival has no loyalty program. I booked a suite, just to get priority embarkation. (and I got my Bailey's taken away from me @ embarkation):mad:

 

Yes, there were denim shorts in the dining room. I over looked it. Didnt bother me. The crowd was younger then our past cruises and seemed to be party'n more. Yes, people wore there robes in the lobby. .. no big deal. They had on there cowboy hat too. They were fun people. (best Pub crawl ever)

 

Just differant all around atmosphere. Food, celebrity is better. But Carnival has a great buffet. :) Alot of choices and the buffet is set up real well. Carnivals buffet is better then there food in the dining room, in my opinion, again.......

 

Service was most missed.

 

*******Bottom line.............If I am with a group of friends or family, I would sail carnival again, for the party. If its just DH and I, I will go with Celebrity or Royal, for the special service and individual attention.**************

[CamelliaCity]

Wow, DrKoob, sorry you had an unpleasant cruise. I guess it is bad to pay money for a cruise, money for a flight, look forward to going, and then

whammo, bad cruise. That's too bad. Hubby and I have not had a bad

cruise yet. Hopefully never will.

 

We have booked Carnival's Liberty for a transatlantic. I don't think that it will be a party ship with a lot of drunks. I think it'll be a bunch of old farks sleeping around the pool. Actually, Carnival may end up disappointed with their liquor revenues. I can see where cruises to the Panama Canal, the Caribbean or anywhere in Mexico would draw a party crowd with Carnival. I would tend to avoid those Carnival itineraries. We did the Panama Canal on GRAND Princess and it was old folks galore. It was quiet and boring but hubby and I enjoyed it.

 

We also have booked Carnival's Spirit to Hawaii. I am hoping that the old folks on it might like to party (some). I don't think all of Carnival's ships are party ships. My best friend cruises 4 times a year and she would/will never cruise anything but Carnival. She loves their food.

 

Hubby and I have sailed Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, and Princess and I have to admit that Celebrity was/is our least favorite. Every single friend/person that we cruised Celebrity with thinks we are nuts because we don't love it but they love us anyway. Both of our Celebrity cruises were 12 day cruises.

 

You didn't like Carnival and I'm sorry to hear that, but thousands love Carnival. I'm going to continue to be excited about all of our upcoming Carnival cruises. Afterwards, if we don't like Carnival we'll find us another cruise line.

 

I cannot imagine being on a new ship for 16 days and not liking it whether she belong to Princess, Carnival, Celebrity, Holland, or ....

 

Once again, I'm sorry your cruise was bad. I hope your next one will be more to your satisfaction.

[nick0danger]

We have done Carnival and Celebrity, among others. Sorry, but must say if someone cannot tell the difference between the food,their palate has to be broken.

As far as the other differences go, this very true story might illuminate. We were having a bite at the buffet when this man layed his baby down on the table next to us and proceeded to change it's very dirty diaper ! In other words, hats are the least of the problem.

For years now we have had no reason to go anywhere but Celebrity.

Smooth sailing all,

Mary

'

 

 

Busted palate?? Okay what every you say. I mean you must always spend $500 bucks on every meal you eat, where i only do that 1 or 2 times a week.

[CAPinBoynton]

As with most things, it all depends upon what you are looking for. My main objection to Carnival is the smoke. The whole ship reaked of the smell, even in the few areas where people were not smoking. Yes, there were a lot of loud drunks; but I could avoid them. But, unfortunately, I was forced to breathe the ship air. :mad:

[mmp13]

I have esponded to this question before but I think it bears repeating. We sailed carnival against my better judgement about 2 years ago. I was very pleasantly surprised. It was on the legend . I think the newer carnival ships do a great job and I would not hesitate to sail on legend again.

 

We sailed Celebrity twice. Same ship, same itinerary, same time of year. In other words the exact same cruise 2 times. Had 2 very different experiences. Really was not that thrilled with first Celebrity cruise. Tried it again only because my husband really pushed it. Second cruise was fabulous. I should note there were lot's of problems at home when we left for the first cruise.

 

I am totally convinced that having a great cruise has more to due with mental state than it has to do with cruise lines. That being said there are a few lines I know would just not be right for me.

 

We are cruising Celebrity again this year because of the great second impression.:D We like longer cruises so Constellation fits the bill for us this year. Would not hesitate to sail on CArnival agin. would only take a 7+day cruis on their newer ships. I think the older ships with the shorter Itinerary draw a rowdier frat house type cruise.

 

Whatever you decide hope you enjoy!

[dmarch@islc.net]

We have been on two Carnival cruises. One was really nice and one was absolutely horrible. All of our four X cruise have been terrific! I would much rather pay the extra $300 and know I'm buying a quality product as opposed to saving a little on a "dice roll".

[Happy ks]

Our one Carnival experience was not good, I probably could not talk my family into going on another one of their ships. The food was actually better than we had expected, but we've had superior service at Denny's. The photographers were probably the best we've expereinced on any ship. The entertainment was pretty good. Those are the good points.

 

We hated our tacky cabin, to the point where we started calling it our camper shell. They came in and made up our room (4 ppl w/our kids) by 4 pm every day and we had to get ready for late seating with bunk beds down. One bunk had a problem, which they promptly fixed in the morning, but then left sawdust all over the room until after dinner. We hated the gaudy decor of the ship. We hated the fact the entire ship reeked of cigarettes. We did not observe any rowdy behavior, but, we didn't go anywhere near the bars or casino, since breathing wasn't an option there.

 

 

OK, now, our one experience with Celebrity was amazing. The food was great every night, our servers were funny and pampering us, without getting too familiar. Our cabin steward, well, I actually only saw the assistant once, but our room was always clean, extra towels every day, any requests were prompt (DH talked with him several times). We loved the decor of the ship everywhere we went. We only had to smell cigarettes in areas that were designated for smoking, so after locating those places we could avoid them. The photographers were fine, but we only pose for photos if there is no line. The entertainment wasn't as good as Carnivals, but I'm not one for production shows, I prefer a good piano bar. Celebrity Infinity had a wonderful ensemble in Cova Cafe. The T-pool area was lovely and we spent many hours there. I loved the fact that Celebrity does not hawk over the loud speakers all day.

 

I do realize many people love Carnival, they would not be so huge if they didn't have so many loyal fans. But, for us, the extra $$ are really very worth it to have a more understated style and cleaner air. I would never tell anyone to avoid Carnival because of what I experienced, but I would hesitate to recommend them above any other line. Personalities are quite different, another person could be bored to tears without all the gaudy lights and crash bang entertainment.

[NJ Cruisers]

A couple of years ago after numerous curises on Celebrity we notice an incredibly cheap price for a Carnival 4 day trip out of NY for Labor Day weekend. Since we wouldn't have to fly, it looked like a great break and I said "how bad can it be?". Dumb question.

 

Our cabin looked like someone just got out of the bed and threw it over. We tried to call our cabin attendent but our phone didn't work. Checking the bathroom, we had mold in one corner of the shower.

 

Tried the buffet and the food was not bad but the tables were all sticky with dirt. There was one lone staff member cleaning tables with a filthy looking gray towel.

 

The food in the dining room was again fairly good and the staff was friendly, but they had way too many table to provide real attention to anyone for long.

 

We decided to try the "pub" bar for a drink after dinner only to find it packed with a rowdy drunk crowd. I ordered my usual vodka & tonic only to be told they don't have tonic in that particular bar?!? We ended up at the Martini/Wine bar but you guessed it, you could only order wine or a Martini. Every Celebity ship we have traveled on will have someone go to another bar if they don't have what you order!

 

We went to customer service about our phone and our cabin condition only to be told they would "get around to fixing the phone" and that we should call our cabin attendent about the condition of the cabin?! Needless to say the phone never got fixed and we never got the cabin in presentable condition.

 

There are more horrors about the decor and the general ship cleanliness but suffice it to say we would never do it again no matter what the price.

[Slakkie]

I have done 2 RCCL cruises and one Carnival and I will never EVER go back to Carnival. The ship was an older one and the beds were full of springs (which will be meaningful later) the childrens area was laughable. We bought a drink card and found out you got a tny cup full of ice with a warm Coke poured into it YUCK.

 

The night before we got to Cozumel someone spilled a drink on the stairs - I unknowingly went down the stairs and fell, breaking my tailbone. One of the ladies working in a shop came out and told me she had told someone to clean that up almost an hour prior.

 

The medical staff was so rude it was not even funny, the safety person treated me like I was the one who was at fault, when I called and complained about the medical staff I was told - oh well. When I asked for extra blankets so I could try to minimize the coils and was told no.

 

Besides my cracked rear, other than a marvelous waitstaff I felt like I was stuck in an infomercial to buy a video or bingo cards.

 

We have decided to try Celebrity since service is a key for us now!!! I just booked a Sky Suite on the Mercury for next August.

[Slakkie]

I have done 2 RCCL cruises and one Carnival and I will never EVER go back to Carnival. The ship was an older one and the beds were full of springs (which will be meaningful later) the childrens area was laughable. We bought a drink card and found out you got a tny cup full of ice with a warm Coke poured into it YUCK.

 

The night before we got to Cozumel someone spilled a drink on the stairs - I unknowingly went down the stairs and fell, breaking my tailbone. One of the ladies working in a shop came out and told me she had told someone to clean that up almost an hour prior.

 

The medical staff was so rude it was not even funny, the safety person treated me like I was the one who was at fault, when I called and complained about the medical staff I was told - oh well. When I asked for extra blankets so I could try to minimize the coils and was told no.

 

Besides my cracked rear, other than a marvelous waitstaff I felt like I was stuck in an infomercial to buy a video or bingo cards.

 

We have decided to try Celebrity since service is a key for us now!!! I just booked a Sky Suite on the Mercury for next August.

[fireguy091]

You don't tell us what you like. I know people who would love one and hate the other. I have done both and I find that X is very nice but not very fun.

[teedee]

I think it depends on what you are looking for, and what your expectations are. I've sailed with both Carnival & Celebrity several times, and had wonderful cruises on both. I prefer Celebrity, I think their service is superior and I prefer the quieter atmosphere and elegance of their ships. That being said Carnival is a lot of fun. Maybe I've been lucky, I've never experienced some of the problems others have reported. I thought the fod and service was perfectly fine on Carnival, just not up to Celebrity's standards. But for a big diference in price like the OP mentioned, I would sail on Carnival with no worries.

Terri