Carnival or RCI

[irishcraig]

Not sure if this is the right section to post this but anyway......

 

We're 32 and 27, and have been on 4 cruises with Royal Caribbean on 4 different ships; allure, freedom (east and west Caribbean), mariner and rhapsody in Asia and Australia.

 

We're looking at a Southern Caribbean cruise next June on adventure from San Juan but the price has gone up from around €1400 to €2000 in the past couple of weeks, so we had a look at other companies and found a similar itinerary with carnival on their valor ship.

 

Is there much of a difference between the 2 companies, does carnival have drinks packages, anytime dining etc, etc....

 

Would we be disappointed with carnival after 4 cruises with RCI?

 

Looking for advise from anyone that has experienced both lines or even better been on both ships, adventure and valor.

[Life is Good Cruising]

There was some recent discussion on the RCI forum comparing the 2 cruise lines.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2071042

 

Have never sailed on Carnival so I can not comment, we enjoy cruising with RCI.

Edited July 25, 2014 by Life is Good Cruising

[DonnaK]

We've been on one Carnival cruise, and never again...

 

To us, there is a big difference between the two cruiselines, and there is no way I'd choose a Carnival ship over an RCI ship.

 

I'd recommend reading the reviews for Valor and for Adventure to help make your decision

[SadieN]

Carnival does have Anytime Dining and several drinks packages- soda, alcohol and wine packages are all available.

 

Ask on the Carnival Board for info about the Valor. I've sailed on several of her Class-sisters but not on her and there are some differences.

 

On Carnival you will not find rock walls, flow riders, carousels or ice skating rinks. You will find tall, fast water slides.

Carnival is more democratic is the way it treats it's passengers-- no special areas on the ship for the different loyalty levels or cabin category pax. A pax in the lowest inside is treated the same as a pax in the largest suite. (Carnival does have lousy suite benefits, only priority Embark and Debark.)

 

Carnival ships have food available 24/7. No charge for room service (except tip). Self serve laundry is also available.

[dorisis]

Carnival gives a decent cruise for the price. But not in suites. The food and service is good. It is far from our favorite line but you can enjoy any ship if you do not have expectations that are too high.

Edited July 25, 2014 by dorisis

[Cruzaholic41]

I can't imagine any scenario I would want to cruise on Valor over the Adventure. Stick with RCI. Not only do you have loyalty status, Adventure is a thousand times better than Valor. I don't think Valor is quite as ugly as some of her sister ships, but she is still ugly

[Marie51]

I have been on Adventure, Freedom and Mariner as well as Carnival Valor. I would not take another Carnival cruise unless it was free. There is no comparison and this is just my opinion but Carnival lovers will disagree.

Whatever you decide have a great trip.

[MCC retired]

Cruised on both CCL & RCI many, many times.

Personally find them more the same than different.

Like the design of the RCI ships better ,

Like the dinning experience on CCL better

Entertainment I may prefer CCL.

 

 

When the $$ difference is great , CCL has more bang for the buck.

(Good time to try CCL for yourself).

 

When I was a TA , always got the "anything but CCL " request ,

mostly from those that "heard stuff" . Once they did stop turning their nose up on CCL and tried it , most were pleased .

[irishcraig]

Hey guys,

 

Thank you for all the replies and opinions so far.....

 

From what we've read both companies have a lot in common, both have pros and cons, we were never going to get a straight cut answer.

 

I'd like to stay with RCI, but would have no problem trying carnival, especially for the Southern Caribbean as both itineraries are really port intensive with only 1 sea day.

 

It's probably the fact that an OVC is around €600 cheaper with carnival at the moment and we have the added expense of air fare from Ireland to take into account aswell.

 

I also know that prices on RCI will probably come back down or they'll have another "sale", just don't want to leave deciding too long incase carnival starts selling well and drives the price of that cruise up too!

[OCruisers]

You might consider giving Carnival a try for this one cruise ... knowing you could take your next on Royal Caribbean if you wish.

It's fun to "sleep around" every so often. :D

LuLu