Why I decided it's Carnival From Now On...

[Podna's]

Somehow I got into a Tupperware Rally. Put away the pom poms people. Just because they jump around and remember your name, they are not the end all of the cruising industry. Lots of other lines to try. Unless, cheap and in your face is your thing.

 

 

Why must everyone who speaks highly of Carnival or chooses to only cruise with them such as myself carry these pom poms? That makes about as much sense of the Walmart of the sea line. I also do not get the cheap thing either. I paid over a grand for 2 for a 4 day weekend cruise next month on the Triumph and over 3 grand for 8 days on the Vista next year. Those amounts are anything but cheap to me but I pay it because I know Carnival will continue to give me the vacation they've been giving me since the 90's. We all know you have only one agenda on this site, does it really hurt you that bad to see Carnival being as successful as they are and to have theses diehard Carnival customers that are posting on this thread? Anyway ra ra ra!

[Mommabear2Five]

Why must everyone who speaks highly of Carnival or chooses to only cruise with them such as myself carry these pom poms? That makes about as much sense of the Walmart of the sea line. I also do not get the cheap thing either. I paid over a grand for 2 for a 4 day weekend cruise next month on the Triumph and over 3 grand for 8 days on the Vista next year. Those amounts are anything but cheap to me but I pay it because I know Carnival will continue to give me the vacation they've been giving me since the 90's. We all know you have only one agenda on this site' date=' does it really hurt you that bad to see Carnival being as successful as they are and to have theses diehard Carnival customers that are posting on this thread? Anyway ra ra ra![/quote']

 

Well said! I didn't start this thread to bash any other line. I just love my Carnival cruises.

[Podna's]

Well said! I didn't start this thread to bash any other line. I just love my Carnival cruises.

 

 

I agree. I gave NCL and Royal both a shot. I have absolutely nothing bad to say about those cruises but it just wasn't the same atmosphere I experience with Carnival.

[cruisinfanatic]

I get it! When we were on a Hawaiian cruise (R/T from San Diego) on the Spirit, we got a call from our son about two days into the cruise letting us know our Greyhound had passed away in his sleep at the Greyhound rescue place we boarded him in (same place where we got him).

 

He went through Corporate in Miami and they, in turn, contacted the ship and then they put the call through to our cabin. The call lasted about 30 minutes and they didn't charge us a dime. The even re-connected us when the connection was lost.

 

I think any other line would have charged us as satellite time is expensive. Although we're not married to Carnival (have had cruises with Celebrity and want to try RCCL) we do consider Carnival our "Home" cruiseline. Their Guest Services won us over not only for that incident but during our other cruises with them as well. Their crews are some of the friendliest we've found, ships are clean, food is good and the service is always outstanding. Are they perfect? No, no cruise line is perfect much like no human is perfect.

I don't think I would have called you

[cruisinfanatic]

I've sailed on multiple lines. I thought our trip on RCCL and the Independence of the Seas last year was one of the best yet. Too many lines and options to be loyal to one especially if you haven't tried the others. I always felt RCCL was the most well rounded in the categories.

I agree. Independence is one of our favorites.

[Cushing985]

I don't think I would have called you

 

Yeah...my son and daughter had a long discussion about it before calling us. They both knew he was special to us and debated long and hard about it. I still don't know if their decision was right. Pros and cons on both sides. Their hearts were in the right place though and that's all that matters. Our son did go with us when we scattered his ashes where he loved hiking with me.

Edited March 10, 2016 by Cushing985

[StolidCruiser]

Call it a budget cruise line. Call it the bottom of the barrel, but I call it the cruise line for me.

 

 

I agree! Nice to see more and more positive threads about the Carnival experience instead of the "doom and gloom" ones about such trivial issues as pillow chocolates and the availability of lobster.

[Tapi]

We started on the opposite end. Our first Carnival cruise (Tropicale 1994) was, without exaggeration, horrendous. I vowed to NEVER set foot on another Carnival ship ever again. But in retrospect, I'm glad that I gave Carnival another chance. 6 years later, I finally sailed on Carnival again, that time aboard the Destiny out of NYC. The experience was MUCH better, and it opened the door to many more Carnival cruises to come.

 

For years, I sailed on Carnival exclusively, and during that time, I had some absolutely fantastic cruises (although I also had a few that weren't as good). Now, after 25+ cruises aboard various cruise lines, I've learned not to judge one cruise line based on one or two bad experiences. As mentioned above, that would've kept me away from Carnival and many great memories.

 

With all of that said, I'm glad that during the last few years I've allowed myself to diversify and forego any loyalty that I ever had towards Carnival because this has also opened the door to even more wonderful memories and some of the best cruises of my life. [emoji3]

Edited March 10, 2016 by Tapi

[Jimmy Geegitz]

We put Carnival above RCI. But we loved our Princess cruise too. So now we split between the 2 depending on who we are traveling with. Princess is more subdued but the food is amazing and the ship's are classy. Carnival definitely more active and fun loving.

[CruisinCrow]

Don't set your sights too high for the Majesty of the Seas. It's an OLD ship that RCI brought back for the short cruise market.

 

Majesty of the Seas is newer than Fantasy. :)

 

Don't worry about your Majesty cruise, Mommabear. You'll have fun. Just realize that the cabins on that ship are REALLY tiny.

 

I agree with you, problems will arise on trips. How they are handled makes a big difference.

[TC Cruiser]

I've also been happy with HAL, Celebrity, and Princess. NCL and RCCI are lower and Carnival is in the middle for me. My next cruise will most likely be with HAL.

[Mommabear2Five]

Majesty of the Seas is newer than Fantasy. :)

 

Don't worry about your Majesty cruise, Mommabear. You'll have fun. Just realize that the cabins on that ship are REALLY tiny.

 

I agree with you, problems will arise on trips. How they are handled makes a big difference.

 

Thanks! We may have the time of our lives - and it's a cruise!! Beats goi g to work :)

 

Ship age and style really don't matter to me. We had a blast on the Sensation last month and she was really showing her age. I just want a good crew, good food and lots of activities. And fun! Lots of fun.

[jordanaire]

I agree. I gave NCL and Royal both a shot. I have absolutely nothing bad to say about those cruises but it just wasn't the same atmosphere I experience with Carnival.

 

Well said! We are about to go on our 20th cruise with Carnival' date=' after trying Royal Caribbean twice. In fact, we sailed with RCL twice within 6 weeks of each other. We did notice several differences, although minor, between the two cruise lines. I have to agree that Carnival's atmosphere is both better and more fun. My wife and I are in our early 60s and not the party goers that many people think Carnival caters to. We enjoy the food, the staff and the itineraries that Carnival offers. Why else would I spend thousands and thousands of hard-earned dollars on one cruise line if it didn't offer exactly what I expected of it? Carnival does just that!

 

Yes, I do shop at WalMart because they, too, offer what I expect. And I do get it at a better price than most competitors. Why not save money? Unless of course you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth and never had to slave 8+ hours a day at work! I want my earnings to go a long way and I don't feel as though I'm getting a raw deal by cruising with Carnival. So what if they took away the mints from your pillow or start cleaning your cabin once a day? Show me one company in the US that hasn't made a cutback or two during the past 5 years. Not having the mints or a tablecloth on your table is trivial and not worth getting upset over. I doubt very seriously if anyone held a gun to your head and made you book your cruise with Carnival. When Carnival raises their rates so high that I can't afford them, then maybe we'll look elsewhere. Until then, I'm sticking with what has worked for us...Carnival![/color']

Edited March 10, 2016 by jordanaire

[Warm Breezes]

I love Carnival. Having said that I would never say that I would only ever sail Carnival from now on. Why limit yourself based on a few experiences on 2 different lines? We have sailed 13 times on 4 different cruise lines with 2 more booked on 2 different cruise lines. Most of our cruises have been with Carnival. But the only cruise we picked because of the cruise line so far has been the one we have booked on NCL Escape next year....we needed to use our FCC on NCL before Oct 2017 so that was the only thing that made us limit our choice to one cruise line for that vacation. Well, I take that back. I first 2 cruises were on Disney. Because we had 2 young children and were going with friends with 2 young children and we wanted to give them the "Disney" experience. Other than that the our decisions were based on what we wanted out of our vacation....like embarkation port, itinerary, type of ship, and dates. Once we had the ships that met those restrictions we looked at cost. As you can see Carnival won out most of the time.

 

If Carnival fits your vacations wants right now then sail them and enjoy....but you may want to keep your options open when looking for what best meets your vacation needs in the future. Limiting yourself based on a couple experiences could mean missing out on something else you may really enjoy just as much, if not more than your Carnival cruises. We love Carnival, Disney, and NCL all for different reasons. While we had fun on our Princess cruise it wasn't my favorite. But I would not rule out sailing on them in the future....just maybe not the near future.

[littysmom]

Haha love it

[evandbob]

I haven't sailed HAL yet so I explored some of its ads and read its blog and discovered that most of their clientele are of a certain age - mine! GASP....

[ryano]

Don't set your sights too high for the Majesty of the Seas. It's an OLD ship that RCI brought back for the short cruise market. I might sail on it to just get a weekend away, but I wouldn't expect much.

 

Actually that is not correct at all. Majesty was not brought back from anywhere. She has remained under the Royal Caribbean flag since the day she was built. Im also pretty sure shes NEWER than some of the Fantasy class ships and certainly more appealing to the eyes decor wise than most Fantasy ships :) Majesty is going into drydock late April before coming from Miami to Port Canaveral.

Edited March 10, 2016 by ryano