Royal Caribbean vs. Carnival - Pros & Cons

[peteukmcr]

We've just returned from 2 cruises, 1 on RCI (our 18th) and our very first on Carnival.

 

As background we have sailed exclusively on RCI since 2004 and as mentioned above the latest cruise was our 18th sailing with the company.

 

We have been D+ C&A members for just over 12 months and are in the 50-60 age range.

 

We have sailed on 10 ships from the RCI fleet across the following classes.

 

• Vision
  
• Radiance
  
• Voyager
  
• Freedom
  
• Oasis
  

Obvious comparisons were made throughout our 1st Carnival sailing against our experiences over 11 years, on the 10 ships we have sailed on out of the 5 classes mentioned above.

 

To give an idea of our expectations from a cruise and the operating company, these are as follows:

 

• Satisfactory Food
  
• Friendly and helpful staff
  
• Reasonably priced and a good variety of beverages
  
• Interesting itineraries / ports of call
  
• A variety of entertainment
  
• Comfortable balcony staterooms
  
• Relaxing venues to enjoy after dinner drinks
  
• A variety of speciality restaurants (not a mandatory requirement)
  
• Great Customer Service
  

What was reason for choosing Carnival?

 

• Price
  
• Duration
  
• Ports of Call (Southern Caribbean)
  
• Port of Embarkation (Port Canaveral)
  
• Disappointed in the decline of service on RCI, food quality and increase in prices
  

Now the following are entirely thoughts and observations which obviously are very subjective.

 

It is worth remembering that this Carnival cruise was booked exactly 12 months ago in May 2014, so it was way before the latest increase in beverage prices by RCI, the removal of the Wine & Dine Package, increase in speciality restaurant cover charges, the increase to 18% gratuity and the latest announcement of an increase in the daily service charge.

[B-52]

Carnival has good and bad ships....you sailed only one so it's hard to judge if it was one of the better ships or not.

Even a good ship can have bad cruises...it's hard to keep a score card in my opinion....

Many times it is the fellow passengers that make or break a cruise....can depend on time of year, demographics, etc.

Edited May 17, 2015 by B-52

[peteukmcr]

Carnival has good and bad ships....you sailed only one so it's hard to judge if it was one of the better ships or not.

Even a good ship can have bad cruises...it's hard to keep a score card in my opinion....

Many times it is the fellow passengers that make or break a cruise....can depend on time of year, demographics, etc.

I understand the points you make and we have experienced good and bad sailings on RCI ships.

 

However, IMHO it is possible to review the differences in the operation of the 2 lines, even if we have only sailed on one Carnival ship.

 

The following comparisons are in the areas where I would like to believe Carnival is consistent across their fleet as I am comparing in a lot of cases the processes and procedures in place on RCI ships.

 

I am under no illusion that as I am posting this on a RCI board, the RCI cheerleaders will find fault with most, if not all of my comparisons and summary conclusions, and will therefore, endeavour to undermine my findings at every opportunity.

 

Undeterred, I will proceed with my comparison which I hope some may find illuminating and also useful.

Edited May 17, 2015 by peteukmcr

[denatravels]

I'm interested in hearing what you have to say. However, from researching Carnival, there is a HUGE variation across their fleet. What ship did you sail on?

[peteukmcr]

Pros for Carnival Valor (does not have the 2.0 upgrades)

1. Beverages

a. Less expensive alcoholic beverages.

b. Wine package available starting at $114 for 5 bottles.

c. Only 15% gratuity on beverages.

d. Sodas / mixers from cans, not soda gun (no use of syrup mixers).

e. Sufficient bar servers, resulting in no waiting in line to be served.

f. Many beverage staff serving in Main Dining Room and pool areas.

 

2. Cabins / Ship design

a. Bathrobes provided even for 1st time cruisers.

b. Larger bathroom.

c. Shower gel, shampoo & soap provided.

d. Magnifying shaving mirror provided.

e. Notepad and pen provided.

f. Towel animals provided every evening.

g. 3 banks of elevators (forward, mid & aft) resulting in few waits for one.

 

3. Food Availability

a. Soft serve ice cream available 24 hours.

b. Pizza available 24 hours, several options available and cooked to order.

c. Coffee, Tea and juices available 24 hours.

d. Freshly cooked burgers available for 6 hours daily.

e. Snacks available until 1 am.

f. Deli open until 11pm.

4. Food buffet (subjective view)

a. Burgers / Hot Dogs / Pizza far superior, freshly prepared.

b. Fresh Eggs / Omelettes readily available from several stations.

c. Desserts larger variety and tastier.

d. Greater range of options catering for a wide range of tastes.

e. Multiple free beverage stations with wide range of options.

f. Coffee far better quality.

g. Free beverages served at the table.

h. China mugs for beverages not plastic & stained as in Windjammer.

i. Freshly made Burritos, Paninnis, Pizza, Deli Sandwiches, Mongolian Wok, Fish & Chips etc.

5. Laundry

a. Ironing rooms available.

b. Washing machines and dryers available.

6. On board account

a. Management via kiosks (print statements, break bills, pay in cash to credit account).

b. Account review on in room TV available every day (not available consistently on RCI ships when it should be available).

c. Travellers cheques cashed at Casino (no longer an option on RCI which results in waiting in line at Guest Services).

d. No conversion of on board account balance into non-US currency using poor exchange rate as is done on RCI.

7. Main restaurant

a. Pagers provided if need to wait for a table if ‘Your Time Dining’ chosen (pager only needed on 1 occasion).

b. Sea Day Brunch available from 8:30 – 1pm on every sea day (multiple courses available).

8. Cleanliness

a. Public bathrooms have high speed hand dryers.

b. Public bathrooms have separate tissue dispensers to be used to open doors with bins outside for deposit of used tissues.

9. Entertainment

a. Several pool parties which are well attended with staff encouraging involvement.

b. Wide choice of movies on outdoor screen, normally at least 2 daily with free popcorn provided.

[peteukmcr]

I'm interested in hearing what you have to say. However, from researching Carnival, there is a HUGE variation across their fleet. What ship did you sail on?

We sailed on Valor which does not have the 2.0 upgrades and I agree that there must be a great variation across the fleet as there is on RCI.

[peteukmcr]

Cons against Carnival Valor

1. Ship Design

a. Ship décor not subtle and quite loud.

b. Passenger flow - not as easy to get from location to location.

c. Pool areas appear more crowded on sea days.

d. Adults only area has little shade and no pool and often closed due to wind as a result of its location on deck 12.

e. No ‘digital way finders’ to help navigate the ship.

2. Guest Services

a. Few guest service agents, with a priority line for some guests.

b. No updates by captain on weather conditions despite being rocky and windy for 3 days.

3. Venues around the ship

a. Casino extremely smoked filled which drifts onto ‘promenade’.

b. Promenade cluttered with photographers nightly.

c. Limited offerings in the shops.

d. Only 1 quiet bar venue.

e. Many private functions which restricts access to a number of ‘open’ venues.

4. Dining

a. Dinner interrupted by staff performing which not only delays dinner service but is humiliating for the staff IMHO.

b. Only one speciality restaurant.

5. Entertainment / Recreation

a. Live entertainment extremely loud in the lobby, promenade and pool areas (and singers not very good too).

b. Live entertainment / production shows not as good as Royal Caribbean.

c. Not as many ‘sporting’ activities available (rock climbing, ice skating, zip line etc.).

6. Beverage options

a. Only 1 alcoholic beverage package offered with a 15 drink limit per day and has to be purchased by all adults in a stateroom.

b. Only 5 bottle wine package available on 8 day sailings.

7. Cleanliness

a. Few obvious hand sanitizers located throughout the ship with no staff encouraging guests to use them.

[racerxspeedy]

Nice job on your comparison.

 

You definitely put some time and effort into this. I am taking 4 Carnival Fans on Royal this fall and will use your list for reference to see if they agree.

 

I have sailed Valor twice and agree on most points. I enjoyed the Valor Production show and space ratio much more than Carnival Breeze.

 

The overall the experience is very close. When I "weight" each difference that impacts me personally I give a slight edge to RC. The best overall value I have seen is Carnival, but they had to drop prices due to bad press.

 

Thanks

[ententecordiale]

Yes, thank you for your thorough comparison. It really show how it very much depends on what individuals are looking for in a ship. I go with my kids and don't drink at all, so all those issues about beverages doesn't apply to us. We are also not bothered with restaurants and love the buffets on the RCI. We however value the entertainment and activities, so RCI clearly more suited for us. I hate smoking and unecessary noise to, so again, RCI more suited.

 

I'm sure others will read and might actually consider that Carnaval might suit their needs better.

[Noillid2]

Thank you for your review, Peter. We have sailed on Carnival once. We sailed on Miracle and did not enjoy much of the decor and colors. Most of the ship was painted gray, which reminded us of a military ship. The dining room was completely opposite. It was decorated with a purple chrome grape vine ceiling. We might like the loud colors you found on Valor! :p :D

 

 

 

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[maureencruiser]

Pete, Thanks for your comparison. I have sailed Carnival twice in the last year and agree with most of your results. I however, haven't found the casinos to be overly smoky, in fact, we played a little bit in there on this last cruise. Where I feel Carnival lacks is the shows, and things to do later at night. I also find RC's ships easier to navigate and such things as menus, daily Compass, etc available on the electronic signs extremely helpful. Also, whoever is raving about Carnival's pizza clearly isn't eating what I've been served, it's just as bad as RC's. Now, MSC, I'm still salivating over their pizza. As to the photographers clogging the promenade, well........guilty as charged. :o

 

[splash_in_the_water]

nice comparison OP! we've been on 4 carnival, and 1 RCI now and I think the consensus is we still like both...They sure are different, many of the reasons you already outlined. I do feel like a lot of these little things are convenience/ preference things though. Whatever the case I think you'd have a hard time not having fun on either though...Really does seem like a "well they lack in this dept, but really make up for it here", so you're still having a pretty great experience...

[Eng23]

Pretty fair comparison between the two lines in my opinion. I just sailed my fourth time on Carnival. I sailed the Splendor last week. It is very similar to the Valor in class and size. You are spot on about the ships layout not being very efficient to get around. I pretty much agree with all of your comparison's and I would have to say none of them would keep me from sailing Carnival again. You can see in my signature I have future Carnival cruise's booked as well as Royal Caribbean.

Edited May 17, 2015 by Eng23

[sailaway2010]

As a nine time Carnival cruiser I am going on my first RCI cruise in October. My travel companions and I wanted to try something different. I really appreciate your comparison, I found them very interesting. I was surprised to read that RCI has no laundry facility for the passengers and no robes in the cabin...horrors!!! This is different but I'll post how things worked out when I return.

[RCCL Fan]

I too am a longtime RCI guy, with one Carnival under my belt.

 

I was surprised by the food quality on Carnival, it was good.

 

All your other pros don't mean much to me... minus the tissues to open the door. But most RCI ships have the automatic doors where you can press the button which i always do with a paper towel, or lean into it with my shoulder if it opens out.

 

But the Carnival negatives you mentioned were mine too and why I never went back.

 

The ship I was on was so poorly designed and laid out, I hated having to go to certain floors to access certain stairs to get to certain places. I was like who designed this thing!!!

 

It was smoke filled, and the passenger to space ratio was all wrong. I felt the crowds.

 

The mirrors and lights and neon, drove me nuts.

 

and yes the rocky water and weather, it was like the captain made no effort to get us out of it.

 

mix in ho hum service and I was done.

 

Their prices these days have made me wonder.... but I just don't think I can do it.

Edited May 18, 2015 by RCCL Fan

[Big_G]

Nice comparison Pete. It's been a while since we sailed Carnival but I think I agree with most of your comments except for food quality. While things may have changed, we thought the food was unremarkable at best. We have no plans to sail Carnival in the near future but we're waiting for some Vista reviews. We'll never rule them out. Thanks for the review.

 

 

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[pspercy]

Our only Carnival so far was a five nighter on Triumph out of Galveston 12/2013.

 

Overall it was fine, I had issues with the volume out of the pool area jumbotron, even early morning it was blaring idiot TV shows to the extent the ship next door (in Cozumel) was complaining. Ship's decor was a bit strange in places. Casino wasn't too smoky and had live entertainment.

 

MDR food was good, as was the service. Sea day brunch in aft dining room was excellent, best steak & eggs in many years, land or sea - was actually a small filet (as advertised) :)

 

Cabin (8F balcony) was bigger than its equivalent on RCL IMHO, steward invisible but 100% effective.

 

Overall, I'd do it again for the right price, we had fun:)

Edited May 18, 2015 by pspercy

[L454S]

Agree with your descriptions. Service and food were both as good and sometimes better than RCI. This was last year on the Dream.

 

We just could not get past the decor and layout of the ship. Guess we were not the intended demographic........

[Sherri914]

 

Their prices these days have made me wonder.... but I just don't think I can do it.

 

I've never been on Carnival, but I have been recently thinking of giving them a try. I kept reading on CC about how their low-low prices so I started looking. I must be doing something wrong because every cruise that appealed to me is roughly the same as what I paid last time on Oasis, and for my upcoming Oasis cruise. It's probably me, but I just can't seem to find those bargain basement prices.

 

I still enjoy reading the reviews on their forum though - and I'm slowly familiarizing myself with their ships. (Why are they all so gaudy!? :eek:)

 

Maybe one day I'll find one of those elusive bargain rates and give Carnival a try myself.

[davy jones]

Sailed both lines with more than one ship on both lines and enjoyed every cruise. I agree with most, if not all, of the OPs comparison. I will make a few opinions about Carnival 2.0 .

 

1. I like the Carnival 2.0 casual food changes (Guys Burger and the burrito bar). The food is good and more in line with my personal lunch preferences.

2. I do not like the Carnival 2.0 entertainment changes. The production shows are significant cutbacks that use flashy lights and loud canned music mask over significantly reduced casts of less talented performers. The shows themselves barely last over a half hour.

3. Recent reports indicate that newer Carnival builds have moved from the whimiscal Joe Farcus decors to a more refined decor.

[sailingwithfriends]

I have sailed on RCCL once (with another one booked in about 3 weeks) and Carnival 3 times. I think you have hit the nail on the head in your reviews. I do think people that are going to try Carnival for the first time need to realize that if you go on a short (5 days or less) cruise, the atmosphere will be different than if you take a longer cruise. Because Carnival has more reasonable prices, many people think of the shorter cruises as a big party. The longer cruises still have the fun, but the people enjoying themselves don't seem to take over ship. I do agree that the professional entertainment on RCCL is superior to Carnival. I guess that is one way Carnival has chosen to save money so they can pass the savings on to their guest. Carnival does have some fun "game show" entertainment for both families and adults. Many people don't know to try these. I believe the food on Carnival is much better with more selections. If you go on one of the newer ships, or the ships that have the 2.0 upgrades, there are a lot of options for free and for a fee. My option is don't limit yourself to just one brand. Give several a chance. I'm sure you will like something a lot on all cruise lines.

[American Bear]

We sailed on Valor which does not have the 2.0 upgrades and I agree that there must be a great variation across the fleet as there is on RCI.

 

If you like a Carnival ship without 2.0 upgrades, you'll love the ones with 2.0 upgrades!:)

Food choices, drink choices, and entertainment choices are far better on a ship with 2.0!

 

Agree with you except in a couple areas,,,

Carnival has many more options of ordering drinks pre-cruise then RCL. Your list was very minimal of the offerings.

The Staff in the MDR performing is really good, and from the diners participation, it would seem most love it.

Edited May 18, 2015 by American Bear

[buckirj1]

My experience on Carnival is on the Triumph and later class ships, not the Fantasy-class or the Spirit-class. I don't think I'd care for the Spirit-class, so I never tried them. The Fantasy class doesn't go anywhere I'd want to go, so there's no point. My only experience on RCI was on a Vision-class ship, and I didn't like it either time...at all. Those slippery floors, even carpeted...I can't even...

 

That said, Carnival has bigger cabins, nicer linens and human-sized showers. I like that RCI has a sofa in every cabin, where Carnival has sofas only in some 1A's and in oceanview and higher cabin categories. Carnival's self-serve laundries are terrific! I like having them even if I never use them.

 

Carnival also has better food, but RCI's is perfectly adequate. Cabin service is about the same (very good) between the two lines, but Carnival has the better dining service. Wait staff on RCI don't seem to know what to do with solo cruisers; I was alternatively butt-kissed and utterly ignored. I liked the bar staff better on RCI; they cheerfully filled my unlimited soda cup, every bartender/every time. I got a whiff of attitude sometimes from some Carnival bartenders about refills, but most of the time bar service was fine.

 

RCI seems to have the better itineraries and port times, so far as I can tell. I love the option of going to Canada/NE in mid- to late-October, and I love the Alaska itinerary that has the long daytime stop in Victoria.

 

It could be the difference between leaving from NY as opposed to leaving from Baltimore, but I thought I was climbing the stairway to heaven to get onboard the RCI ship. The climb wasn't nearly so long or steep to reach the Carnival ships in NY.

 

I like that RCI gives double credit to solo cruisers, in most cases. If you're going to make me pay double, it only makes sense that I get double points. At least, I hope RCI is still doing this.

 

Most importantly (to me, at least), there's a vibe on RCI I just can't shake. Both times, I felt like somebody was always crawling up my butt trying to get me to do...something. It got downright stressful, and is the real reason I hesitate to try RCI again. I don't think I'd like the Radiance-class ships, but I think I'd like the Voyager-class ships a lot...if they'd just leave me alone. I realize I'm not explaining it very well, but it's almost a frantic feeling I've never experienced on any other cruiseline.

 

I guess it all comes down to individual situations, and how different folks like to cruise. It's no secret that what's fun to a family or a couple might not be so for a solo cruiser. I'm heavily driven by price, and Carnival almost always wins out by having the best solo price. Hope the OP makes the best choice possible, and has a great cruise.

Edited May 18, 2015 by buckirj1

[wstxn]

We are in our 60's, cruise both lines and have future cruises booked on each. I think the comparisons are valid. We embark only out of Texas and select a cruise to try to add variety to our experiences. We enjoy both, but "do" Carnival more than RCCL, primarily for the economics. If both cost the same, we would still cruise each.