Royal vs. Carnival

[Scottohiocpa]

We just got back from a 3 day on the Enchantment. It was fun except for not being contacted when a family member was hospitalized (there is another thread on this).

 

I don't know if this cruise was typical for RCL since it was only a 3 day and they had cut the price so low that half the boat was comprised of locals who paid as little as $99 for an outside cabin.

 

Here are some comparisons on various parts of the cruise:

 

RCL stop at COCO CAY vs. CCL stop in Freeport - Wow! COCO CAY was awesome! Great beaches, great snokeling, good lunch. Better than Freeport for sure. Point to RCL.

 

Comedy - RCL had 1 comedian - Jim Macdonald - on the 3rd night at 11:30pm. Our last CCL cruise had at least 2 every night, 1 for family and 1 for adult. Point to CCL.

 

Shows - RCL used 10 dancers and 2 singers. CCL had 20 dancers and 4 singers. RCL's orchestra was 3 guys. CCL's orchestra was at least 6. RCL costumes and sets were far below those on Carnival. Despite the differences, both were entertaining. RCL had 1 show on 1 night, Carnival has 2 shows on most nights. Point to CCL.

 

Soda card - RCL has Freestyle soda machines, and you can get canned soda. CCL only has cans. Machines were located in the atrium and in the Windjammer cafe. It was a little annoying that they roped off the cafe machines every morning so you couldn't use them, but you could get soda from the atrium machine. It was also annoying when the atrium machine ran out of flavors, but this only happened a few times. RCL wins this one.

 

Room size - RCL room was smaller and the bathroom was so small that a "plus size cruiser" probably couldn't fit. RCL made up for some of the smallnes by having really good storage spaces. Still, CCL wins this one.

 

Food - After reading these boards, I was hoping RCL dinners would be better that CCL. RCL had fewer selections to choose from, but both lines did a good job on everything except steak. CCL "flatiron" steak was one of worst steaks I have ever had and the RCL "strip steak" I had wasn't very tender either. I should have know not to order the RCL steak when the waiter warned me that I shouldn't order it Medium because it might make it tough. Well, he did warn me! This is a tie.

 

Events - It seemed like RCL had only half as many events to attend, but maybe that was just because they don't spend every other minute telling you not to miss the next fabulous thing happening in the........ This one could go either way, depending on whether you prefer a more laid back time or a non stop time. One of the reasons we decided to try RCL was we have seen one too many "hairy chest" contest on CCL (like one where the men put on dresses and had to pretend they were women???? More strange than entertaining)

 

Drinks - Prices seemed higher on RCL and the selections were more old fashioned than CCL. It seemed like there was a lot less drinking on RCL.

 

Food offerings other than the dining room - CCL KILLED RCL here. CCL has 24 hour Pizza, a larger deli selection, Asian made to order, and 2x the variety of buffet choices. CCL's dessert tables have way more choices. The RCL buffet only offered the exact same 3 or 4 choices that the main dining room offered. Finally, there is warm chocolate melting cake on CCL.

 

Both lines had friendly staff and both did a great job cleaning.

 

A lot of these things can vary cruise to cruise, so this may not be typical of every CCL or every RCL sailing.

[seaofwonder]

Great analysis! Thanks for sharing :)

 

 

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[onefishtwofish]

Have to say that we are RCCL cruisers, but did sail (and plan to sail again) the Carnival Breeze......my kids love ordering room service and Carnival's room service menu is SO much better than RCCL's! My son was ordering off the tv and it would arrive pretty quickly with much more variety!

Just my 2 cents regarding a comparison! :p

[Yorkvillain]

It looks like you have been on 8 Carnival cruises and only 1 3-day Enchantment cruise. It's kind of hard to compare the two lines when that is all you have to base Royal on.

 

I think you really need to experience a few 7-day cruises on a Voyager, Freedom or Oasis (or Quantum!) class ship to get the full Royal experience. There are alot more options on those ships than the smaller Enchantment.

 

But nice breakdown though. I enjoyed it.

[yogimax]

Shows - RCL used 10 dancers and 2 singers. CCL had 20 dancers and 4 singers. RCL's orchestra was 3 guys. CCL's orchestra was at least 6. RCL costumes and sets were far below those on Carnival. Despite the differences, both were entertaining. RCL had 1 show on 1 night, Carnival has 2 shows on most nights. Point to CCL.

 

 

This is strange. On our 7 night Carnival Glory cruise, there were only 8 singers and dancers who did both, and did both quite poorly I might add. There were no sets, but simply some flashing visual effects for a background. Terrible presentation!

 

Our cruise on Brilliance had a full cast of four professional singers and six or eight dancers. In addition we saw a Temptations Tribute show. IMHO, RCCL's entertainment wins hands down!

[Rocket3D]

OP...nice detailed post....fun to read.

 

 

 

:D

Edited December 19, 2013 by rocketsurgery

[joepeka]

Thank you for the post and the comparisons, well done. We too just finished our first RCI cruise (8 day on Independence) after many on CCL and I have to agree with most of your points, with the exception of the main theater shows. I would score that one a tie as the shows on Independence were as good as any we've seen on CCL. The size of the live orchestra, the number of dancers and singers and the variety of sets was very comparable to the shows we've seen on the longer Carnival cruises. Otherwise, I think your observations were pretty much spot on. Thanks again! :)

 

P.S. We much prefer Labadee to HMC and while I know that wasn't in your list, if you want to do apples to apples private island comparison, Labadee beats HMC, so a point for RCI on that.

Edited December 19, 2013 by joepeka

[14Terry]

OP, enjoyed reading your review!

 

 

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[dfgf]

Couldn't agree more with the food thing - I've been on almost every class of Royal ship and only the smallest class of Carnival but there is no comparison.... if eating outside the dining room Carnival food is SO much better!

 

Overall I prefer Royal because of the ships themselves. If your favorite thing on a ship is the casual food, though, I recommend trying out Carnival. You won't be disappointed.

[simpleman]

We are going on our first Royal Caribbean cruise 1/22/15. Having been on 16 CCL cruises we felt it was time for a change and we are looking forwarded to being Wowed.

[jc4me]

Thanks for sharing. We are booked on our first RC cruise for September and I'm looking forward to it. Will be interesting to see the differences up close and personal. Of course, for what we are paying for an inside room on Grandeur of the Seas we could get a balcony on almost any Carnival ship! :eek: I do hope that the difference in price is worth it. I am disappointed that they don't have laundry facilities on our ship as I have been spoiled with Carnival and the ability to take a morning toward the end of the cruise and do all of our laundry so I don't have to do it after I get home. I've read other places that the food on RC isn't as good as Carnival, but I guess that can be very subjective. Again, thank you for sharing your opinions!

[blueteam]

RCL and CCL are the only ones I've enjoyed, but I'm not critical enough by nature to have disliked any part of any cruise at any time. Also, we are late-30s and have kids ranging 7 to 15, so our views may not fit everyone's. But I will say the following completely subjective gross generalizations:

 

RCL has better ships.

CCL has more fun.