I tried Carnival. . Some things to not take for granted on your next X Cruise!

[cyntil8ing]

Having been on each line at least 10 times, I feel at home on both. We are looking at Vista for next summer's family cruise.

 

This spring break, we did a four day on Constellation. Last spring break, we did a four day on Fascination. Both were booked last minute and we got a great price on both. We loved both cruises.

 

Unlike many Carnival fans, I hate the warm chocolate melting cake. I think it tastes like raw brownie batter. My husband, on the other hand, loves it and orders it every night. All-in-all, I give soups and desserts to Carnival, salads to Celebrity and the entrees are very similar. The OP mentioned missing the indian food on the buffet, but Carnival offers a nightly indian meal in its dining room. It changes each night. It's not on the menu, so you have to know to ask for it. I always get it at least once.

 

The cabins, in my opinion, are better on Carnival. We have stayed in insides, outsides and balconies. The bed itself and bedding are significantly better. More comfortable and better quality. Cabin size is slightly bigger in all categories, I think.

 

If you don't have a drink package, prices are more reasonable on Carnival. They have a daily cocktail special for around $8 and I think regular prices are around $10. Sodas are about $1 cheaper. We can always find a decent bottle of wine for under $40 in the dining room.

 

Gratuities are lower too. Our onboard spend is always lower on Carnival, except for the fact that our TA cannot offer OBC over $25 on Carnival.

 

When it is just DH and I, we prefer Celebrity. When it is the family, we choose based on price and itinerary. My kids don't use the kids clubs, preferring to do family activities. And we can generally find more of those, scavenger hunts, trivia, mini-golf, etc. on Carnival. But we always manage to keep ourselves busy and having fun wherever we are.

 

We have met wonderful people on both lines, but in general, the people on Carnival seem to be friendlier and more outgoing. I am generally not a strike up a conversation with a stranger type of person, but do find myself more engaged with others on a Carnival cruise.

 

But we love both and will continue to use both. And Carnival just announced a Cruise Critic Meet and Mingle program like Celebrity has had for years.

[Keith1010]

A great writeup. Thanks for taking the time to put this together.

 

Keith

[josumello]

SO glad you enjoyed our son, Jordan Peterson. He is loving performing on the Eclipse! I agree, he SHOULD have his own bar!!! He is really working on becoming a guest entertainer, and the prospects are looking pretty good!

 

 

We saw Jordan on the Century Jan 2014. He was the highlight of our cruise. Will be on Infinity Mar of 2017. Wish he would be on also!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[osborne66]

SO glad you enjoyed our son, Jordan Peterson. He is loving performing on the Eclipse! I agree, he SHOULD have his own bar!!! He is really working on becoming a guest entertainer, and the prospects are looking pretty good!

 

Hello - I remember you. We shared a cab ride from Port Liberty to the Newark International Airport a few years back. Yes, Jordan is great. We sailed the Summit back in Jun 2014 and he was still onboard. Actually got to ride the ferry over to Hamilton with him and had a great 1/2 hour conversation with him. Glad to hear he is doing well

 

Scouser David

[MustBCruzn]

Hubs and I have had some wonderful cruises with Carnival. I actually enjoy the happy party atmosphere of Carnival ships, but Hubs doesn't enjoy it as much. We are at the point in our cruising where the ports really aren't the focus of our vacation any more. Relaxation is. We often cruise now and don't even leave the ship. We always have a balcony and make good use of it. Celebrity plays the music of our generation, which we enjoy very much. Plus, you just can't beat a Celebrity shower stall! :D I do think we have found our "cruise home" with Celebrity, but I always look at all the cruiselines when I plan our next vacation and am open to sailing with a competitor if the itinerary, price and perks are appealing.

 

 

Ditto. In fact, while reading this I thought I wrote it! :D

[NCMtnBoys]

We just got off Reflection a couple weeks ago, our third Celebrity cruise. Last October we sailed the Carnival Breeze over Halloween. While on Reflection, I remarked a couple times that I honestly and truly liked the Breeze better... the ship itself. I loved the Breeze's outdoor promenade area, the specialty food offerings included (Guys Burgers, Blue Iguana Cantina, etc.), and Ocean Plaza. The Halloween party onboard was a lot of fun! The Reflection was wonderful (and we had sailed on Silhouette in 2013 so we knew what to expect), but I just felt like I liked the musical entertainment, layout, and offerings of the Breeze better. We've been on Fascination too, and yes, the ship itself does make a difference. While I didn't dislike our Fascination cruise, other ships that we've been on were definitely superior.

[hues of blue]

As you can see by my signature we have cruised with Carnival many times and Celebrity just a few. I will have to say after being on Carnival just a few months ago I booked us on Celebrity for next winter. Celebrity does not have the WOW factor in their atriums or show lounges like Carnival does, much more understated elegance. Beyond that though I really liked that on both Celebrity cruises every staff member we came across greeted us, and i do mean everyone.. it was unreal. Food a think alot better in MDR and buffet on Celebrity but Carnival MDR is more fun. I did miss the singing and dancing on Carnival. Show wise I think pretty similar, all though the acrobats on Celebrity were amazing. We will keep cruising Carnival when price is a huge factor, although with the added perks that online agencies are able to offer for other lines I think that will decide who we cruise with.

 

Sherri

[Flafun888]

I'd love to try Carnival, just as something different, but their Vista sailings are way more expensive than X S Class. Looked at the Vista for same 7 day 2017 Caribbean itinerary as the Silo I'm booked on next year and a balcony stateroom was a couple hundred more per person - without a drink pkg or obc. I always thought Carnival was the "bargain" cruiseline? Is that only for their older/smaller ships?

Edited April 6, 2016 by Flafun888

[jbuch02]

Vista is doing alternating 6 and 8 night Caribbean itineraries. I'm pretty sure your comparing apples to oranges when looking at a 7n cruise on Silouhette.

 

As well, this is Carnival's newest mega ship. Will launch in May. Demand is high at present and commanding higher pricing.

 

Step down a class of Carnival ships to say Breeze or Sunshine and you'll see some very competitive pricing on some very nice ships.

[Rosethorn40]

I enjoyed reading your thoughts. I think you were very fair, which is refreshing to say the least. On a 5-nighter Carnival you will run into more families, hence more kids. Carnival does try to appeal to everyone as I have see everything from couples, to girls cruises, and extended families. I do like Carnival for a Caribbean cruise; love the casual vibe and the ability to drink many Mocha Chocolate Getaway's (Drink made with rum, chocolate, some other stuff) and not have to worry about driving, not that I can drink more than 2 without getting sleepy.

 

Anyway, looking forward to trying my first Celebrity cruise in a few weeks.

[Iamcruzin]

Thanks for the report. Sounds like you had a good time. Happy you enjoyed it.

[Viva_la_Vida]

I enjoyed reading your thoughts. I think you were very fair, which is refreshing to say the least. On a 5-nighter Carnival you will run into more families, hence more kids. Carnival does try to appeal to everyone as I have see everything from couples, to girls cruises, and extended families. I do like Carnival for a Caribbean cruise; love the casual vibe and the ability to drink many Mocha Chocolate Getaway's (Drink made with rum, chocolate, some other stuff) and not have to worry about driving, not that I can drink more than 2 without getting sleepy.

 

Anyway, looking forward to trying my first Celebrity cruise in a few weeks.

 

My biggest regret of my carnival cruise is not trying THAT! Sounds amazing, enjoy your cruise!

[Viva_la_Vida]

Was this out of Charleston?

 

It was out of Jacksonville, but from what I understand, we were on one of the last sailings out of that port, at least via Fascination.

[Flafun888]

Vista is doing alternating 6 and 8 night Caribbean itineraries. I'm pretty sure your comparing apples to oranges when looking at a 7n cruise on Silouhette.

 

As well, this is Carnival's newest mega ship. Will launch in May. Demand is high at present and commanding higher pricing.

 

Step down a class of Carnival ships to say Breeze or Sunshine and you'll see some very competitive pricing on some very nice ships.

 

Thanks - I definitely don't know as much about Carnival as the other lines - and didn't realize how new Vista was - so I get the novelty factor - just like RC's Harmony - which has much higher pricing than her sister ships too. Unfortunately, I don't recall seeing any Breeze or Sunshine sailings out of Ft Laud/Miami - which are our ports. Mostly seeing Victor, Splendor, Conquest - 1 or 2 Glory sailings. Did anyone enjoy sailing any of those ships?

[kwokpot]

To the OP, thanks for a great review, and I would have to concur with your general assessments! My husband and I favor Celebrity and Royal, with NCL being the third cruise line we sail. We have done a couple of Princess and several Carnivals, but it was about 12 years since our last Carnival UNTIL this past February when we did a 6 night Caribbean on the Conquest and B2B 5- night on the Constellation. So we where able to make some similar observations.

 

One thing you missed that Carnival does better is their casino offering. On the Conquest, which is an old ship, the casino had the LATEST slot machines that were recently introduced on land based casinos. My husband, who is an avid gambler (incidentally, these both were casino offered cruises) said he had the best time in the Carnival casino than any Celebrity or Royal or even NCL ship!

 

We also and an AMAZING dinner at the Carnival Steakhouse (Compliments of the casino!) and for comparison we had dinner at Tuscan Grille on the Constellation and HANDS DOWN, in every facet of food and service the Carnival steakhouse was superior!

 

We also thought the burgers at Guys Burgers were excellent and worth the hype.

 

Where Celebrity shines is the overall atmosphere of it's product. Although the Conquest is a much larger ship than the Constellation it is actually NEWER than the Constellation! But to be honest, the over the top decor of the ship was extremely off putting to me and it has aged terribly (Not that it was dirty or worn, just very, very dated design!) It's like going to shop at Walmart vs Bloomingdale's or Saks.

 

We had an enjoyable time on both cruises (Spring Break - TONS of crazy college kids!!!) but it is very, very apparent that the two cruiselines in question offer a totally different product!

[sound_guy0918]

The two major differences we noticed were: (1) Excessive NOISE, especially music, announcements, and event hosts on Carnival. Celebrity was a much more relaxing and tranquil experience. We stayed aboard the Summit while docked in St. Lucia and we were surrounded by two Carnival ships. It was like pulling up to a stoplight with teenagers blaring the radio on either side of you. All day long. We never noticed it while we were on the Pride, but now that we are aware of it we probably won't cruise CCL again. (2) Other passengers on the Pride were less courteous, especially while in line at the buffet or other common areas.

 

We consider CCL to be similar to a nice Holiday Inn...hotel and food both. Celebrity is more like a downtown Sheraton or Raddison.

 

Otherwise, we thought most things were equal.

 

But for $50pp more we got a free drink package and substantial OBC on Celebrity. Winner.

[sippican]

OP, thanks for your review.

We decided to try our first Carnival cruise a few years ago. It went very badly from a poor maintainence issue, to an uncaring response from customer service and management and topped off by improper medical treatment of an onboard injury.

Thinking the experience was a fluke, and giving Carnival the benefit of the doubt, we tried another. The ship was in a horrible state of repair. Our stateroom had torn drapes, a leaky window, no hairdryer, only a rickety wooden chair for seating, threadbare towels, etc. We figured if they take that same kind of care with the internal workings of the ship, we have no desire to sail with them. To be fair, on that second cruise we had the best stateroom attendant ever, hands down! Food was great and the entertainment was on par with other lines. We do not care for the "glitzy" loud decor, or the general lack of serenity we enjoy on other lines, but those alone would not keep us from sailing with them again. However, the total lack of accountability for customer safety and the poor maintenance and upkeep we observed on both of our cruises will mean we no longer consider Carnival an option.

Edited April 7, 2016 by sippican

[gail8]

Thanks for your review...we love both for many of the reasons you state. We cruised on the Sunshine after it was reburbished and it was honestly our best cruise ever.......but the kids can be a nightmare. We love the quiet of Celebrity for our adult vacations and Carnival when we take the kids or have a group going.

 

Gail