Considering Carnival--will we be disappointed?

[sea_loving_couple]

stay with celebrity. We did 2 cruises with celebrity then tired NCL, entertainment was good, food was horrible, drinks were good, flooding in our room was really bad. THey did not comp us anything did not help we were stuck in a moldy room whole time and I missed 1/2 day excurssion because they misplaced my wallet while trying to save their furnature. Celebrity would have handled this better by far. I did not feel like anyone cared there. Will never do again.

[BNBR]

Mainstream cruise lines are all way more similar than different.  I've done a few Carnival cruises and they have all been outstanding.  They certainly do a lot of things well, especially the available complimentary food options. 

 

Look at cruise reviews. You can find a miserable experience on every ship there is.  I ignore those unless they point out systemic issues. But "the food wasn't great and the server didn't bring us french fries"... Whatever. 

 

My next 3 cruises are Celebrity, Carnival, and Royal.  All 3 are going to be great. 

[Luvcrusn]

We did several cruises on Carnival compliments of my husband's company who gifted them to us. We had an enjoyable time on both.  Admittedly there were a large number of fellow company members on both sailings so that definitely skewed the general passenger demographic. We do vastly prefer the X experience however. It's a more laid back, sophisticated atmosphere than on a Carnival ship, and we like not hearing announcements all day long and over all, the food and service is much better. If we were sailing with children, we would definitely not choose X, as there is much more for young ones on lines like Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Carnival or Disney.

[swigso]

On 8/23/2018 at 11:04 PM, KKB said:

We have done Celebrity our last 4 cruises & have fallen in love.

That being said, we have done RCCL & Princess and would cruise them again in a heartbeat.

(also did DCL...probably not again with kids being young adults now & how expensive they are).

Looking at Xmas cruise & flights to Galveston are very reasonable, and Carnival is by far the best priced cruise.

We have found our cruises to be more alike than different...and we are pretty easy going.

Our son has said NCL is a step down from our other cruises but still good. (my thought is any cruise is a good cruise!)

Thoughts?

EE you must be mad to go on a carnival cruise over the Christmas period

that should read Never go on a Carnival cruise

sorry but have you ever been in port with a Carnival Ship

 

[meatloafsfan]

I love Carnival - they truly are fun ships. Lots of activities, and events - always something happening.

 

Celebrity is sedate - almost to the point of boring (for us). I'll do a shorter celebrity cruise (have a 5 night booked) but I've learned my lesson and no more long (9+ nights) on Celebrity for me.

 

The food is good on both lines - different but still good. If you do decide on Carnival, try their seaday brunch, and their lido "made to order" options (pizza, deli, burgers, taco/burritos, wok, and depending on the ship - pasta bar).

[Denny01]

14 hours ago, KikisDad said:

We are Celebrity Elite plus and will be Carnival Platinum on our next sailing. We prefer Celebrity, but, with the right attitude, always have fun on Carnival. Don’t sweat the small stuff, ignore the four times a day sales pitch, enjoy a Guys burger and you will have a good vacation. They are the fun ships for a reason. Vista over freedom. 

I agree that it’s attitude. I’m not a big fan of Carnival, but have gone on it with a large group and family and enjoyed. My experience is I’ve not been on a bad cruise. You can step away from the things you don’t enjoy on a party/‘fun’ Carnival Cruise. 

 

But I’ll disagree with the ‘mainstream  cruise lines are more similar than different’. It depends on the ship Class for me. I’d not go back to any of the large 5000+ ships. I’m looking to enjoy the feel of being at sea and those ships don’t provide that, they are floating cities/amusement parks. If I want to visit Times Square, I’ll go to NYC. They do have excellent plays, but again, not worth it to me. The large Celebrity ships are the max for me. And I do see a difference between what we all consider similar Lines and thats why right now, we cruise Celebrity for the most part.

 

 Going to try a few smaller ships to see if the cost of more expensive small-ship cruising is worth it. But not sure one of those would be worth not going on more cruising. Will see. 

 

Den

 

[BNBR]

10 minutes ago, Denny01 said:

I agree that it’s attitude. I’m not a big fan of Carnival, but have gone on it with a large group and family and enjoyed. My experience is I’ve not been on a bad cruise. You can step away from the things you don’t enjoy on a party/‘fun’ Carnival Cruise. 

 

But I’ll disagree with the ‘mainstream  cruise lines are more similar than different’. It depends on the ship Class for me. I’d not go back to any of the large 5000+ ships. I’m looking to enjoy the feel of being at sea and those ships don’t provide that, they are floating cities/amusement parks. If I want to visit Times Square, I’ll go to NYC. They do have excellent plays, but again, not worth it to me. The large Celebrity ships are the max for me. And I do see a difference between what we all consider similar Lines and thats why right now, we cruise Celebrity for the most part.

 

 Going to try a few smaller ships to see if the cost of more expensive small-ship cruising is worth it. But not sure one of those would be worth not going on more cruising. Will see. 

 

Den

 

 

The mainstream lines are all very similar.  They all try and provide a similar experience in their own unique way. There is nothing shockingly different, in other words.  Similar approach to dining, entertainment, ship design, stateroom sizes, service, etc.  It's all very, very similar.  Yes, you will obviously enjoy the experience on one more than others, which ever one fits your personality better.

 

You are not a mainstream cruiser.  Which is why you probably don't like them too much and you are trying out smaller ships.  That's not the direction that mainstream lines and cruisers are going right now.  It's fine, and it's great that other lines offer the smaller ship experiences, but yes, mainstream lines are all VERY similar in their approach and product.  That's not really a controversial fact.

Edited October 19, 2018 by BNBR

[actuarian]

My wife and I have been on 6 different cruise lines, although most of our cruises have been on either Royal Caribbean or Celebrity.  We think that there is actually a lot to like about Carnival; the rooms are very nice and the food is surprisingly good.  The Carnival steakhouses are definitely a cut above Royal Caribbean's Chops.  Nevertheless, we have not been on Carnival since 2010 and I doubt whether we will ever cruise on Carnival again.  The reason is that my wife has COPD and a lot of the events that we wanted to be able to attend, including most of the trivia games, were at the Casino Bar.  There was no wall separating the Casino Bar from the smoking section of the casino, which made it impossible for my wife to attend any of those events.  Like I said, we have not cruised on Carnival since 2010 so it is possible that this has all changed.  However, if it has not, then Carnival is no place for anyone who does  not want to inhale second hand smoke.

Edited October 19, 2018 by actuarian