Question about Royal Caribbean

[Bsw0619]

Hello,

I was considering Royal Caribbean after taking the last two cruises on Carnival. One of the big reasons for considering Royal Caribbean is their longer Canada/New England Cruises lasting 9 + days. I've always heard from others that Royal Caribbean could be considered a bit boring compared to Carnival, esp for children and teens. Other big issues I've heard from people with Royal Caribbean is that the food is not as good and the ship is too crowded, making activities near impossible. Can anyone speak to this? I wanted to get some info on how it differs from Carnival. I really like Royal Caribbean's itineraries on different cruises they offer. What is the plus and negative to Royal Caribbean ?Thanks for your feedback!

[Clarea]

You may also want to post this on the RC and Carnival forums to get a wide variety of opinions:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=215

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=83

[Grandma Dazzles]

Would suggest asking questions on the RC board.

 

One thing to be aware of is the big differences in RC ships. You can't compare one of their smaller ships to the mega ships. Look on the RC website for complete descriptions of all their ships.

 

Most families find loads to do for kids - especially on the bigger ships. RC entertainment is excellent. I have never heard anyone indicate their kids were bored. Again, activities depend on the ship.

 

Food is so subjective that I won't comment.

 

Longer cruises, over 7 days, tend to have an older passenger mix, but that can also depend on the time of year.

[Bsw0619]

You may also want to post this on the RC and Carnival forums to get a wide variety of opinions:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=215

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=83

 

So Sorry about posting this in the wrong spot. Thanks for the links, I'll post my question there!

[Aquahound]

Hello,

I was considering Royal Caribbean after taking the last two cruises on Carnival. One of the big reasons for considering Royal Caribbean is their longer Canada/New England Cruises lasting 9 + days. I've always heard from others that Royal Caribbean could be considered a bit boring compared to Carnival, esp for children and teens. Other big issues I've heard from people with Royal Caribbean is that the food is not as good and the ship is too crowded, making activities near impossible. Can anyone speak to this? I wanted to get some info on how it differs from Carnival. I really like Royal Caribbean's itineraries on different cruises they offer. What is the plus and negative to Royal Caribbean ?Thanks for your feedback!

 

I've cruised both lines. First the boring part. RCI is far from boring. Many of the activities are exactly the same as on Carnival. That said, it's reasonable to assume that on a 9 day New England cruise, you may not be cruising with the most active demographic.

 

The kids clubs are equal to or better than Carnival.

 

The food quality is exactly the same. Some people like CCL' menu better and some like RCI's menu better. But the quality is still exactly the same.

 

Crowded? No way...at least, not compared to Carnival. If you look at space-to-passenger ratios for CCL and RCI, you'll see that Carnival ships are typically more crowded than RCI. I have never experienced such crowds on RCI that prevented me from doing anything.

 

As for the difference....I think the biggest difference is ship design. RCI ships are nicer looking esthetically, and have much better passenger flow. You're not forced to bottle neck through the smoky casino to get from one end to the other like on many CCL ships. RCI also has nicer pool decks and adults only pools.

 

I think you should give RCI a try. Curious though....what ship is it?

[bslater]

Well where do I start. I've Cruise on Carnival, Celebrity, Dolphin, Norwegian, Disney, Holland and Royal Caribbean cruise lines. You need to figure out if your cruising with children or just you and your spouse. If you are cruising with children I would recommend Carnival or Norwegian cruise line because they are cheaper and caters to families. If it's you and your spouse I would recommend Royal, Celebrity, Princess or Holland America. The entertainment, food and the Specialty Dinning is so much better. You get what you pay for in regards of quality and comfort. I seen to much problems with the lesser two ships.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Scrapnana]

I did a 9 day Canada/New England cruise on Liberty of the Seas a few years ago. The food was ok but they did have good selections in the buffet. The only time the ship felt crowded was when waiting for an elevator. There are only forward and midship elevator banks (many large ships have forward, midship, and aft) and a total of 14 elevators for 3600+ people. There was a drydock last year and a number of water related activities were added.

[cruiserking]

Royal Caribbean is anything but, boring. There are tons of things to do on board these ships.

 

Anthem of the Seas - does a 9-night New England/Canada trip in the fall. This beautiful, contemporary ship has bumper cars, rock climbing wall, flow rider (surf board simulator), IFly (sky-diving simulator) plus a huge water park area for kids.

 

You and your children will have a terrific time on board this ship. The food is excellent, the service is top-notch. Go ahead and book a Royal Caribbean cruise for your family, they will thank you for it.

 

Jonathan

[Bonnie J.]

Our last two RCCL cruises were on their Freedom, 4200 passengers. We both thought breakfast and lunch we just awful. Example: hamburgers at lunch: the cooked hamburgers were all stacked in a 'pan' on top of each other. You got your own untoasted roll, put your burger on it and if you wanted cheese you put the cold cheese on your burger. Just looking at the pile of the burgers was unappetizing!

And finding any place to sit for breakfast & lunch, was very difficult, the buffet was always crowded!. We don't like the time it takes to eat in the main dining room then. Dinner was OK though.

On Carnival, even if the ship doesn't have a Guy's Burgers, you see them cook the burgers and put them on your toasted roll. If you want cheese, the cheese is put on as the burger is cooking and melts. You also get hot fries here. We have always found somewhere to sit & eat on Carnival ships.

 

We did like the Flow Rider on RCCL, which I did 7 times and this is fun to just watch. (I was 70 when I did this and loved it!) The night time entertainment was good but we never got to the ice rink. I could not believe the kid's water area you see when yo get on the Lido deck. There was more then one kid's pool, falling water in places and all sorts of fun water stuff for kids. Never saw the RCCL kid's group here though.

 

Carnival is know for its kid's program but if you've been on Carnival you know this.

 

Try RCCL . If you don't like it, don't do it again! We much prefer Carnval and have no kids cruising with us- we're too old.

 

Oh, when we did NY to Canada in the end of June, beginning of July, it was so cold, I bought a hoodie! Coming home there were few people on deck because it was so windy & cold. So make sure you bring a wind breaker and maybe long jeans!