WHY (in your opinion) does Carnival seem to have a low rank among many 'cruise snobs'

[ryano]

This isn't exactly an endorsement of Carnival.

 

 

Im not trying to endorse Carnival. Just relaying my person experiences on Carnival is all. Im just saying I have not witnessed the "wal mart of the seas" mentality on Carnival but I have on Royal.

 

The fact that I have chosen Carnival again after sailing Magic and have said cruise paid in full almost 8 months before it sails should be endorsement though if I were actually going to endorse them. They will likely get my money in 2018 too.

[jagsfan]

Carnival started with one old refurbished ship, the Mardi Gras and little money. Arison sold the first cruise is affordable and fun. She sailed out of Miami and promptly got stuck on a sand bar, while the other cruise lines rolled on the floor laughing watching her being towed back into port.

Arison knew how to market and he made a huge success of Carnival, and we know what the corporation owns now. Once he started building ships instead of buying old ones, he hired Joe Farcus to design the interiors and it was pretty different........some might say tacky or garish. From then on, Carnival has been considered on a lower rung of the ladder from the other lines.

I have sailed on most lines, from an inside cabin on Premier to a suite on QM2, and I can tell you that we enjoyed the Carnival cruises just as much as any other. Each line has something different to offer, so the people who don't or won't ever sail on Carnival aren't really missing anything, because they don't know what they might be missing, but they might be able to cruise more often if they fit a Carnival cruise in with the others. I haven't been on Carnival in a few years because we sail on Royal Caribbean or Princess, but I wouldn't hesitate to book a Carnival if I saw something I wanted. Their food nowadays is on a par with the other guys, and I learned about goat cheese on pizza on Carnival........win win for me!

[Computer Nerd]

BTW, to the OP, just what exactly defines what a "Cruise Snob" is and when did the thoughts of a self stated "Cruise Snob" dictate which lines are better or worse for everyone else? No two people are exactly alike and I'd bet money that even those who consider themselves "Cruise Snobs" can't decide which lines are better and even if they could decide, their thoughts would have no impact on who I like to sail with..

[ginger123snaps]

We LOVE all of our cruises including Carnival. I will say there is an ambiance difference among the cruise lines...but that is true for each line. We have sailed in ocean view cabins going up to NCL haven suites on various cruise lines. They each have something unique to offer. As far as service is concerned....we have been happy with every line. We have also had FUN on every line. Its what you make of if!

[sparks1093]

People keep saying "Walmart of the Seas" as if it's a bad thing. Both CCL and Walmart are industry leaders. To me and my stock, that's a good thing.

 

BTW, for perspective, I have sailed CCL, RCCL, Princess, HAL, NCL, and the US Navy. Carnival still takes the win in my book and my wallet is happy for it. :D

 

 

CCL would need to sink pretty low to be beaten by the Navy:D.

[BNBR]

People keep saying "Walmart of the Seas" as if it's a bad thing. Both CCL and Walmart are industry leaders. To me and my stock, that's a good thing.

 

 

RCI's stock has VASTLY outperformed CCL, for what that's worth. Not sure it's a good analogy.

[Sitzmark]

Im not trying to endorse Carnival. Just relaying my person experiences on Carnival is all. Im just saying I have not witnessed the "wal mart of the seas" mentality on Carnival but I have on Royal.

 

 

 

I didn't see any of that on the Oasis either, I guess I'll see what the Dream presents. My biggest concern about a cruise is being locked up in a space for a week with not much to do, I don't see much difference in that regardless of the brand. With that said when you start googling it does seem like Carnival has more than their share of problems. Drunks, mechanical problems etc they get a lot of press.

[Jackie81]

I've heard people refer to Carnival as the "Walmart of the Seas." Fine by me though. I like quality products at a cheaper rate.Its silly to pay almost double for the same product. As far as I'm concerned, I have one up on those snooty people. While they've spent double the money on 1 cruise, I've paid for 2. :cool: LOVE sailing with Carnival.:D

[CanWeGoYet?]

I've thought in the past that food between Carnival & Celebrity is pretty similar - with the buffet area on celebrity being quite a bit better. Haven't tried American Table yet, maybe that will give a further edge to Celebrity. I always shop for bargains cruising, and Celebrity has so many perks between the gratuities / drink package / OBC promotions. I am not so sure that Carnival is such a bargain when Celebrity rolls those perks into the cruise fare. I really wonder about the comments on how Carnival is a low class cruise line - whether the folks who post that kind of thing have any first hand knowledge or its just what they've heard. From what I've seen, between carnival, celebrity & HAL, there isn't a lot of difference.

[Tapi]

As far as I'm concerned, I have one up on those snooty people. While they've spent double the money on 1 cruise, I've paid for 2. :cool: LOVE sailing with Carnival.:D

 

 

Years ago, every time that I performed a cruise search online, I would sort the results by price. Carnival would almost always be at the top of the list and that's who I would almost always sail on.

 

As the years have gone by, and with an increase in discretionary income, I've started sorting results differently. Pricing is no longer the biggest factor in my searches. And the thrill and pride that I used to feel every time that I scored the cheapest cruise possible has diminished. I now find pride in finding the ship, cruise line and itinerary that truly make me happy, not just the lowest price.

 

What I'm saying is that, although it does feel good to get a great bargain on a cruise (and I still look for ways to do so), those "snooty people" sailing on another cruise line are gladly paying more for that experience and they have the money to do so. They don't care that Carnival is cheaper. They are not driven by price. You may think that you have one up on them because you paid less for your cruise on Carnival, but they may think that they have one up on you for a litany of other reasons.

 

Fortunate are those who've experienced multiple cruise lines but who still consider budget friendly Carnival to be the cruise line that best fits their personalities and needs. But fortunate are also those who consider a more expensive cruise line a better fit for them (for whatever reason) and who have the income to sail on them. It's silly to look down on anybody (whether they make more or less money than me) because of how they choose to spend their vacation money.

 

 

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Edited February 24, 2017 by Tapi

[sparks1093]

It's silly to look down on anybody (whether they make more or less money than me) because of how they choose to spend their vacation money.

 

 

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That says it all right there and it applies to so many areas in life.

[crooooze]

Seems kind of silly to have this thread for folks to post opinions about why other people have opinions...

 

But then again, that's just my opinion of people having an opinion of other people's opinions. :-)

 

Anyway, I occasionally browse the CC forums for the more expensive cruise lines, even though I've never sailed them, and find it amusing that they have the same themes... food quality going down hill, lounge chair hogs, etc.

 

People are people...

 

 

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[DirtyDawg]

Why does anyone care what another person thinks of their favorite cruise line? :confused:

 

Or their preferred car brand, or smartphone, or your favorite coffeeshop, or, or, or........................................

 

If someone doesn't like it, tough.

 

I've cruised on Carnival, NCL, Royal and Celebrity. Out of the four Carnival is at the bottom of my list. Not by much, but its rank, for me, is slightly below the others. I could list the reasons why but, who cares, it's my ranking, not my brother's, or my mom's or my neighbour's etc. etc.

 

The only reason I probably won't sail Carnival again, even if the price difference was substantial, is due to the fact that Carnival is waaay below the others on Mrs. Dawg's rankings. And in the end, her opinion is the only one that I have to pay attention to ( a little bit. ;)).

[krehberg]

I didn't see any of that on the Oasis either, I guess I'll see what the Dream presents. My biggest concern about a cruise is being locked up in a space for a week with not much to do, I don't see much difference in that regardless of the brand. With that said when you start googling it does seem like Carnival has more than their share of problems. Drunks, mechanical problems etc they get a lot of press.

 

 

I bet there are about 2000 people that boarded the Majesty of the Seas 10 days ago that wish they had chosen Carnival :p

[krehberg]

I didn't see any of that on the Oasis either, I guess I'll see what the Dream presents. My biggest concern about a cruise is being locked up in a space for a week with not much to do, I don't see much difference in that regardless of the brand. With that said when you start googling it does seem like Carnival has more than their share of problems. Drunks, mechanical problems etc they get a lot of press.

 

I've thought in the past that food between Carnival & Celebrity is pretty similar - with the buffet area on celebrity being quite a bit better. Haven't tried American Table yet, maybe that will give a further edge to Celebrity. I always shop for bargains cruising, and Celebrity has so many perks between the gratuities / drink package / OBC promotions. I am not so sure that Carnival is such a bargain when Celebrity rolls those perks into the cruise fare. I really wonder about the comments on how Carnival is a low class cruise line - whether the folks who post that kind of thing have any first hand knowledge or its just what they've heard. From what I've seen, between carnival, celebrity & HAL, there isn't a lot of difference.

 

 

Since my wife really wanted to sail on the Vista, we already booked her for April 2018..but I did go ahead and do a dummy booking on Celebrity for April 2018 for very similar Eastern Carib itenerary for 8 nights and no doubt..although you pay $1,000 more for a Panorama Deck Balcony (in my specific example) it includes $300 OBC and the drink package for 2. They also include tips and internet, but I was comparing to my Vista booking which I prepaid tips and well..I give no value to the internet package since one of the reasons I love to cruise is to disconnect and refuse to use it except at wifi spots in port LOL. That said, since I prefer to get the drink package...it does basically make CCL slight more than Celebrity for the same Itenerary during the same time period. Only downsides are lack of any status with them...while being Plat on CCL and likely similar to RCL...probably paying for some drinks that exceed the limit..but I do need to try them out one day. Non-drinkers or very light drinkers might not see the same value.

[Sitzmark]

I bet there are about 2000 people that boarded the Majesty of the Seas 10 days ago that wish they had chosen Carnival :p

 

 

Maybe, maybe not, wouldn't matter to me.

[Kanyon71]

To be honest I think sometimes people do it just because they hear others doing it and so on and so forth. It sort of becomes the trendy thing to do.

 

I think most of the cruise lines in the price points of Royal, Carnival, Norwegian are about on par with the experience you are going to get. Each one with offer things and experiences people like or don't like. There is no perfect cruise line just as there is no perfect car, truck, hotel and so on. It's all about what you want to experience.

 

I enjoy my time on the ships I have met all sorts or people from different walks of life. Some were nice some not so. Didn't let the not so nice ones deter my vacation from being enjoyable though. You can go in any business and you are likely to see people behaving badly and the money they have or their social status doesn't determine which ones will be the ones acting badly.

[krehberg]

Maybe, maybe not, wouldn't matter to me.

 

 

That just happens to be the most recent cruise line issue I found on Google :) Oh, and the only Norovirus outbreak I've ever personally dealt with was on the Independence of the Seas.

 

My main point though is I'm not sure you can use stories on Google to determine if problems on CCL are worse than other lines. Would need to see if there is data anywhere that can be compared before making that determination.

[Sitzmark]

That just happens to be the most recent cruise line issue I found on Google :) Oh, and the only Norovirus outbreak I've ever personally dealt with was on the Independence of the Seas.

 

My main point though is I'm not sure you can use stories on Google to determine if problems on CCL are worse than other lines. Would need to see if there is data anywhere that can be compared before making that determination.

 

 

The question is about opinions, not data. I'm sure that everyone remembers the infamous poop cruise quite clearly, one need not have been on it to imagine it. There was the Concordia of course, not Carnival but the same parent company. More videos of bad behavior than I can shake a stick at to be sure. I certainly can't think of any other cruise line that has had so much negative press attention. I am not a cruise person so I don't subscribe to any industry propaganda, but if there is going to be a negative story on the evening news about a Cruise ship, it just seems most often to be a Carnival ship. This is how opinions are formed.

 

Carnival's advertisements imo tend to embrace the hard party atmosphere rather than shy away from it so it doesn't seem that they mind this reputation. Quite the contrary they are trying to place themselves as the budget line of the industry. Maybe they aren't the Walmart of the seas, perhaps they are Kmart. Whatever they are, it seems that is what they want to be.

[ryano]

It doesnt really take rocket science to figure out that since Carnival is the largest cruise corporation in the world, they would likely be the ones with the most problems publicized. With that said, there is absolutely no shortage whatsoever of VERY recent Royal Caribbean problems like Captains sailing their ships straight into the pits of Hell, engine troubles, fires, numerous norovirus outbreaks, faulty lifejackets, and of course your drunks, fights, etc and so on. Im sure NCL and others have their share too. I just dont follow them at all.

 

I find it absolutely hilarious that we have a few here trying to make all this a Carnival only problem. Yeah, so what, there was a "poop cruise". Seems like to me over the last 5 years RCI has been negatively in the news way more than Carnival has. JMO though

Edited February 24, 2017 by ryano

[ryano]

The question is about opinions, not data. I'm sure that everyone remembers the infamous poop cruise quite clearly, one need not have been on it to imagine it. There was the Concordia of course, not Carnival but the same parent company. More videos of bad behavior than I can shake a stick at to be sure. I certainly can't think of any other cruise line that has had so much negative press attention. I.

 

You havent been listening or watching the news at all then. It is my opinion that those problems from 5-6 years ago really caused Carnival to step up their game as far as the safety and seaworthiness of their ships goes.

 

Give me one instance in the last 5 years where Carnival has been cast negatively on the news. I will give you at least 5 or 6 back for Royal Caribbean.

[sparks1093]

You havent been listening or watching the news at all then. It is my opinion that those problems from 5-6 years ago really caused Carnival to step up their game as far as the safety and seaworthiness of their ships goes.

 

Give me one instance in the last 5 years where Carnival has been cast negatively on the news. I will give you at least 5 or 6 back for Royal Caribbean.

 

 

Undoubtedly true, but public perception seems to paint Carnival as the cruise line with the issues (albeit unfairly). As long as they continue to meet my needs I will sail with them, public perception be hanged.

[Sitzmark]

You havent been listening or watching the news at all then. It is my opinion that those problems from 5-6 years ago really caused Carnival to step up their game as far as the safety of their ships goes.

 

Give me one instance in the last 5 years where Carnival has been cast negatively on the news. I will give you at least 5 or 6 back for Royal Caribbean.

 

 

Again they are just opinions, but people around here that don't cruise still mention the poop cruise, it was on the news daily for over a month. Then about when it died down they had another break down and not only was the new one on the news, but the Triumph disaster popped right back up and spent another month on the TV. We had family that was going on the Dream in March of 2014, over a year later and still much of the family at the holidays couldn't believe they would book with Carnival.

 

The Majesty thing this month? didn't even register on the local news, it was a non issue and no one around here knows about it or cares about it. Sure other lines have issues, but they don't seem to get coverage around here.

 

You are right about one thing though, I definitely don't watch as much news as I used to, but that is not any Cruise lines fault, that is the collective result of all political parties relentless domination of the headlines.

[stevec999]

We have mostly sailed Carnival. Last year we took our first non Carnival cruise on HAL. We booked because of the itinerary and enjoyed the cruise. Was HAL better than Carnival? I would say it was different. All in all I think I prefer Carnival to HAL. HAL was not bad just at age 59 I am far to young for HAL (based on the cruise I took).

 

We are just back from our first cruise on Oceania (Riviera). It was as different as I think is possible from Carnival. Of course there is a cost for that difference, a bit more than twice what a comparable Carnival cruise would cost. Was it worth it? For us the answer is yes. Entertainment wise what there was is equivalent to Carnival but Carnival has a lot more activities. It is mostly about quiet and relaxing. Food is on a different level than Carnival. As an example the buffet was better than the Steak house on Carnival. Will we cruise Carnival again? More than likely, will depend on timing and itineraries.

 

I would never look down on Carnival cruisers , it is a good product and we have always had a good time. I always find it entertaining on Carnival when we run into those people looking down their nose at others on the ship because of lower status :). Things like "we shouldn't have to stand in line with them they are only Gold" LOL

[Harrylinden]

I have been on 7 Carnival cruises,2 Princess ,3 RCL and 1 Celebrity cruise so far.Our last cruise was on the Carnival Breeze.That being said that last cruise did it for us for Carnival.Unsupervised kids running around everywhere ,parents with their babies in diapers in the hot tub,people with glass drinking glasses in the hot tub,people in the buffet line without shirts (hairy chested) :eek:.Even though there were rules posted everywhere no one enforced them! We enjoyed the cruise anyway,clean and friendly crew members but I won,t be booking another Carnival cruise in the future! I would rather pay more for a cruise than go through that again.I always say ,You get what you pay for!!!