Royal Caribbean question

[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!

[Big_G]

Royal has such a wide variety of ships, boring for kids would be relative to the ship you're sailing and I don't believe you'll find a Royal ship more crowded than any Carnival ship. People get too caught up in what others say. You need to try them out and make your own judgment.

[Gabruska]

I feel the exact opposite. Especially the food is much better on Royal. We did our last cruise with Carnival and decided that we will definitely stay with Royal in the future. It is worth the higher price to us. I agree with the previous comment it depends what ship you choose. Our two kids loved Indy and we are going on Freedom in November and planning Harmony in the futures. We would probably not do any smaller show than freedom class because of our kids.

 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[cb at sea]

Carnival and RCI are more alike than different. The larger RCI ships have PLENTY for every age...no worries about that. The main difference is ship design and cabin size. Carnival's standard cabins are a bit larger than RCI's standard cabins. RCI's ships have better "flow" in public areas.

If you are booking a suite, RCI has better "perks" for suites above a JS. Food is more similar than different. So is entertainment and activities!

[cruzeluver]

Here is my reply to your same question from the Carnival boards in case you look here first:

 

Which Royal ship are you considering? As far as boring for teens, kids or anyone who wants a lot of on board activities, no Carnival ships can hold a candle to Royal's Voyager, Freedom, Oasis and Quantum class of ships. In general I feel when comparing these two lines specifically it is better to compare ships vs. the entire fleet.

 

Overall we found food and service similar between the two lines.

[Bsw0619]

Thanks for the replies! I greatly appreciate it. I've done two cruises, both on Carnival. My fiancé and I are in the process of adopting an older child and wanted to try a Canadian Cruise next summer. Royal Caribbean seems to have a wide range of itineraries to choose from, and I like the fact that they do longer cruises as well. Because we've had such a positive experience with our first two cruises, we were just a little hesitant to try other lines. Again, thank you for the great feedback!

[Havingfun2010]

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!

 

RCCL has multiple class ships, and if you were talking about the smallest ships, then the level of activities are limited, but the larger ships, are packed with items for the enjoyment of preteen and teenagers. My boys loved RCCL over Carnival. As far as the subjective food, I would say, that RCCL beats Carnival in food, but not by huge differences. I think RCCL spends more money on food, and you get better quality.

 

RCCL designed their ships for good flow of passengers. Even in the "buffet" they designed the food in islands, and practically eliminated all lines. On a really hot Caribbean day, you might find lines on the flow rider, but that's expected.

 

For adults, and again on bigger ships, the entertainment is a higher quality, with more live music, and multiple places each night to enjoy it.

 

Plus, you said it, RCCL offers more cruises around the world. I would properly warn you that longer cruises like 9 days or longer, might have less kids on the ships. I think it is just because many families don't want to spend that many days, or money on a long trip, only to have the kids bored. That might be your only issue.

 

The ships also are not "dead" at night for the "fun" people to dance late at night.