Thinking about booking RCCL

[s0ccermom]

Hoping to get some feedback, advice etc.

 

I've been on 4 Carnival cruises. All were great. 3 on Fascination and 1 on Sunshine. RCCL is having a 30/30 sale. Found a 5 day on the Brilliance of the Seas for a good price.

 

What can I except of the Brilliance ship compared to Carnival?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[comxkid]

Brilliance is a beautiful ship. If you getting a good deal, my advice would be to book it and test the RCCL waters.

 

Bill H.

[cruiser fanatic]

Go for it, I haven't been on RCCL in years but if you have a good price then take it. It is always good to try out other cruise lines.

[love my grandkids]

If the price is comparable would do it.

 

We recently started sailing on Princess and wish we did that some time ago.

[srlafleur]

Never been on that particular ship, but we've been on Sunshine (and other CCL ships) and several RCCL ships.

You'll probably find more similarities than differences, IMHO.

That's my feeling about the 2 lines.

[mrsfuzzmo]

The Brilliance is a really pretty ship. Not huge, but a very nice size and layout. RCCL and Carnival are so similar in amenities, the only thing that you'll notice, really, is the layout of the ship/design of the ship, being different. We've done numerous Carnival and RCCL ships of all sizes and have loved all of them.

 

The one thing I like about RCCL is the passenger space ratio. They have always been full ships, but never seem crowded. Carnival on the other hand have always seemed crowded in the public areas, whether they are full or not. Doesn't make or break a cruise, but that's one of the differences for me. RCCL will often times have freshwater/chlorinated or desalinated pools which I MUCH prefer to salt-water of Carnival. Again, not a deal-breaker either way.

 

We cruise for the itinerary and price. We've done NCL, Princess, Celebrity and a few other obscure lines as well, and have loved every cruise.

[s0ccermom]

Thanks for the thoughts and advice. I've looked at RCCL before but Carnival won mainly due to price.

Looking forward to trying a new line!

Edited June 2, 2015 by s0ccermom

[dacsmom]

I started out with Carnival, then went with RCI for a while, now looking to book with Carnival for a bit. The lines are very similar and the Brilliance is a nice ship. It is not one of the larger ships, but it has a nice Solarium and the crew is very friendly. It now has an outdoor movie screen,The specialty restaurants are; Giovanni's Table which has good Italian food, Izumi, an Asian restaurant, and Chops, the steakhouse. It does not have the waterpark, but does have a rock climbing wall, and mini golf. There are some pretty good deals out there on the Brilliance, and I do like the port of Tampa.

[frenchcanrican]

Just came off the BOS this past April out of Tampa. We took this trip because it was under $250 per person for my DH and I. Also we are taking the BOS from the UK to Boston in September. So we wanted to check it out and find a waitstaff that we liked.

 

The ship is beautiful. The staff was great.

 

The cruisers coming on in Tampa were rude, loud, and very drunk. I would never take a 4 day cruise again. So if you are looking for a relaxing vacation then this might not be the best choice.

Also since this was a short drinking cruise for this type of clientele it made the staff very cranky/short. The place smelt like booze for 3 nights. There were so many empty bottles and drink cups at the pool. It was almost impossible for the staff to keep up with the drinking.

People were being escorted to their rooms and some bars were **** down due to the guest behavior.

I did ask the guest relations and they did say that these cruises were drinking vacations and it was a little unusual that the drinking was so out of hand/

Edited June 2, 2015 by frenchcanrican

[Vitamin_Sea]

Hoping to get some feedback, advice etc.

 

I've been on 4 Carnival cruises. All were great. 3 on Fascination and 1 on Sunshine. RCCL is having a 30/30 sale. Found a 5 day on the Brilliance of the Seas for a good price.

 

What can I except of the Brilliance ship compared to Carnival?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

This area is for Carnival cruise lines....please Go to the Royal caribbean thread.... they know more info

Edited June 2, 2015 by limoguy1

[nealstuber]

This area is for Carnival cruise lines....please Go to the Royal caribbean thread.... they know more info

 

 

Disagree with your position here. OP has obviously enjoyed sailing with Carnival and has reservations about making the leap to bother line. What better place to find a similar a perspective than the Carnival board?

 

OP, having done 10 cruises on CCL and 7 on RCCL, we're generally willing to pay 100pp more for a week on a balcony with RCCL assuming all other things are equal.

 

If you're comparing the brilliance to a fantasy class ship, definitely with a at least 100 more pp for a 5 day. If you're comparing to a spirit class, still probably worth a little more. Compared to sunshine and conquest/Destiny class, Still would lean towards RCCL. Don't think any of the dream classes are doing 5 days but I would choose one of them over Radiance class ships such as the brilliance.

[dmdiver]

I have no problem sailing RC if I can get a good price. Just hasn't really happened for me. I was happy with both RC cruises, but did miss the robes for ALL staterooms that CCL does (no robe unless you have a balcony on RC) and the 24/7 ice cream. RC ships are prettier in my opinion. I love the solarium. I prefer 7 night cruises to shorter ones. Food & service on RC seem about the same as CCL to me. We frequently vacation with another couple who prefer RC, which is why we have the 2 RC sailings. I tend to book by price & itinerary. My next cruise was picked due to the ship & itinerary. This would have be our RC year (taking turns) with our friends, but we all liked CCL's itinerary better this time. You should have a good time on RC.

[xeroxme]

If the price is comparable would do it.

 

 

 

We recently started sailing on Princess and wish we did that some time ago.

 

 

I would definitely take advantage of a good deal on RCCL. I agree on Princess though I haven't sailed on them lately. Princess has great ships!

[JimAOk1945]

Go for it! You will enjoy it. We have cruised on both lines as you can see. That particular class of ship is exceptionally beautiful. We cruised on its sister ship the Radiance of the Seas on the Alaska southbound route a couple of years ago and loved it.

 

Happy cruising!

[drdewlittle]

So much is subjective, but if you found a good deal, why not try and decide for yourself?

[AngAndBoys]

I was thinking of trying RCCL myself, then read something here from a person really unhappy about recent increases in drink prices to &14 and change for a pina colada. This got me thinking maybe I didn't need it so much. I also looked at cabins and it did not look like their OVs had couches in them. I'm still mulling it over, those are just a couple things making me think twice.

[TheShayQueen]

It's not often when RCI has a GOOD sale, so I would say go for it if it's a good deal. I can't speak for Brilliance of the Seas, but I recently tried my 1st RCI cruise (booked on a good sale 2 years in advance) on Oasis and it was an amazing experience. There were a few differences in Carnival and RCI, but for the most part they were very similar. It's good to branch out and experience new things. I'm sure you'll have a great time!

[mulan1123]

I have only sailed on RCL and going on my first Carnival cruise in December, which I'm looking forward to it.

 

Although, I have not been on Brilliance, the service and ships of RCI are awesome.

 

Try it out, because I think that is the only way to see if you like another cruise line, and if the price is right, it's a bonus.

[MCFTJCH2V]

Hoping to get some feedback, advice etc.

 

I've been on 4 Carnival cruises. All were great. 3 on Fascination and 1 on Sunshine. RCCL is having a 30/30 sale. Found a 5 day on the Brilliance of the Seas for a good price.

 

What can I except of the Brilliance ship compared to Carnival?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Go for it! And then you can compare yourself! We find it a better experience overall.

[peteukmcr]

Having just sailed Carnival after 11 years exclusively on RCI (twice on Brilliance) I will give you my thoughts but obviously it is subjective.

 

I really like the class of ship that Brilliance belongs to as we're on Serenade in 2016.

 

However, we found the new drink prices are outrageous with cocktails starting at $10 plus 18% gratuity, but the majority are $12 plus tip.

 

Bar service is bad as there has obviously been staff cuts

 

Food is better on Carnival and as you will know drinks are cheaper. Cabins are larger on Carinval in general and you get more 'extras' like robes even as a first time cruiser.

There are many more pros to Carnival but that's a personal perspective.

[dacsmom]

This area is for Carnival cruise lines....please Go to the Royal caribbean thread.... they know more info

 

I think this a perfect place for the OP's question. She/he wanted a comparison from people who have sailed on both cruise lines.

[AandBmom]

We ended up trying RCCL b/c we were feeling like trying something new. We love Carnival but everything was starting to seem repetitive - pool games, menus, buffet, etc. We tried the Freedom of the Seas and loved it. I missed certain things from Carnival but liked some things on RCCL. Here's what I wrote as soon as we got home after trying RCCL. This is my comparison between the two.

 

 

Cabins: as a general rule they’re bigger on Carnival and I noticed that I missed the space a bit but it wasn’t that big of a deal. Both lines have adequate storage and cabin layout. I missed my Carnival robe though on RCCL. It’s a nice touch that Carnival gives everyone a robe, not just elite members. Also RCCL doesn't give pens or paper or toiletries or anything like Carnival does. The shower however was awesome compared to Carnival as it had closing doors and great water pressure but I heard from a friend this is ship dependant, not across the line. I also liked that Carnival gives you pool towels in your cabin and they change them for you whenever you need them to. This was nice on Port days as I found it a slight bit easier to just pack up in our room than having to send someone up on deck to get 6 towels for our family whenever we needed them. Not a big deal, but something I enjoyed on Carnival a little more.

 

Ship layout: this depends on the ship, not the line IMO. I thought the layout was fine on every ship I’ve been on, but I did like how RCCL has the interactive maps everywhere and their signage is better to find your way around. Elevators seemed less cramped on our RCCL ship than previous Carnival ones. Décor seems to be hit or miss on either line. We loved the promenade though which Carnival ships don’t really have. It was bright, open, inviting and fun.

 

Food: I found the dining rooms to be equivalent, menus equivalent and food equal for the most part. I however prefer Carnival for lunch and breakfast. They have much much more variety. I got bored of the windjammer buffet after day 3. The food just repeats in every line. Carnival however has lots of different themed areas all around the ship which I preferred. We defaulted to the dining room for lunch and breakfast whereas on carnival we never found a need to. I like how Carnival makes it easier to eat around the pool. They serve food and drinks on the pool deck, on RCCL you have to walk further and get fully dressed and go into the buffet area to get food. Carnival has buffet food out there, pizza out there and sometimes a hotdog stand. I kind of like being able to eat in my lounge chair in my bathing suit on vacation and I missed this on RCCL. I also found it hard to get a cold drink other than water on the pool deck on RCCL. Whereas on Carnival you could walk over to a drink station really close by. Lastly, there is only 1 little ice cream machine on RCCL and it’s on the pool deck. Carnival seems to have a few more spread out so they’re easier to access. Pizza however is way better on RCCL. Sorrentos is delicious and it’s nice that they have Italian desserts, fruit cups and biscotti there.

 

Staff: amazing on both

 

Kid’s camp: My children actually preferred Carnival. Carnival has more toys in the camp for kids to play with and the children liked the free play time more on Carnival. They also liked the Carnival scheduled activities more. I found they watched more movies on RCCL which wasn’t as exciting for them.

Entertainment: The skating show is a nice touch but it’s a tradeoff for Carnival’s comedy show. You can really only see the skating show once but Carnival has a different comedian almost every night. I missed that. The production numbers were way better on RCCL in my opinion. Also the little extras like parades, entertainment on the promenade, etc were awesome. We also loved the rock climbing and flow rider but on Carnival loved the ropes course and the 5D movie theatre.

 

Pools: hot tubs were hotter on RCCL which was nice. Pools were bigger too which was nice. Splash area for kids though was better on Carnival b/c of the slides. But, it was nice that they had hot tubs for adults in the splash area so adults could sit in there while kids played. I don’t remember that on Carnival.

Crowd: We met nice people on both lines and observed rudeness on both lines.

 

Cost: Everything seemed a little more on RCCL. From the price of the cruise, to the price of drinks, to the daily tipping amount. There also seemed to be more things in general that weren’t included on RCCL. For example Johnny Rockets charges $5 a person whereas Guys Burgers doesn’t charge any fee. Room service has a charge at certain hours, Carnival does not. Fresh squeezed juice there was a charge on RCCL but you could get it at least in some places on Carnival included.

 

Embarkation/Debarkation: same on both

 

Overall we really loved both. I would sail either again in a heartbeat. I will make my book my next cruise based on price, ship reviews and itinerary as I don’t find the differences to be enough to sway me towards one or another.

[VASOXFANN]

I like RC and would sail them more often if they offered the same itineraries at the prices Carnival does. If you find a good price, go for it :D

[crookedhalo]

Having just sailed Carnival after 11 years exclusively on RCI (twice on Brilliance) I will give you my thoughts but obviously it is subjective.

 

I really like the class of ship that Brilliance belongs to as we're on Serenade in 2016.

 

However, we found the new drink prices are outrageous with cocktails starting at $10 plus 18% gratuity, but the majority are $12 plus tip.

 

Bar service is bad as there has obviously been staff cuts

 

Food is better on Carnival and as you will know drinks are cheaper. Cabins are larger on Carinval in general and you get more 'extras' like robes even as a first time cruiser.

There are many more pros to Carnival but that's a personal perspective.

 

 

I to have sailed RCCL exclusively since 2008 and am coming back to Carnival to give them another try. Pricing on RCCL has really gone haywire recently and it made the decision easy.

 

Add in all the changes to the loyalty programs and Next Cruise Credits and it really hurts my desire to book with them again.

 

Until now have only sailed older, shorter Carnival trips - this will be our first seven nighter on Carnival. This trip is almost half the price of a similar trip on RCCL (Grandeur out of Baltimore vs. Pride out of Baltimore) - who would choose RCCL? Sad thing is I am only 17 nights off Diamond for RCCL - I'll get there someday, maybe ;)

[mediccruzin]

I looked really hard at RCCL for next year, but we are doing a 8/6 B2B on the Breeze for about $2,000 more than a 7 night on RCCL. Plus everything I've read about their drink prices makes me not want to book them. Maybe after we retire in 4 years and take a cruise during the off season we might try them.