RCL Vs Carnival

[Rogueperson]

15 hours ago, KKB said:

 

I will say having cruised the Mariner & the Allure--Allure was our BEST cruise & Mariner was our WORST.

 

 

I've done several across the cruise lines.  My worse cruise ever, was Jewel.  My BEST cruise ever unbiased, was Grandeur.  My absolute best cruise, which can't count, is Carnival Pride, but that's because I got married on her.

[asalligo]

1 hour ago, Alter Ego said:

I’m curious about people saying there’s more to do on Carnival during the day - can someone elaborate?

 

I just want to say that I appreciate fair comparisons between Royal and other cruise lines.  I see/hear people at the guest services desk saying they will never cruise Royal again, so it helps me to see what’s different between the lines.  Like others have said, each line has its pluses and minuses. So, my thanks to the OP.

 

This really is a place that Carnival shines. There will be so much going on during a sea day, that you will have to pick and choose and you could never do it all. On the Lido deck around the pool, there will be a constant schedule of games, pool competitions and silly shows like hairy chest, Carnival beauty pageant (which is men), ice carving, belly flop contest. Indoors there will also be a steady stream of scheduled activities also, trivia will be scheduled all day for almost every half hour with 20 different topics. Games at different venues across the ship all day. Sales events such as liquor tasting. Bingo most of the day in the main lounge, between several shows like the on shore shopping show, fun aboard fun ashore show, the morning show. Casino events like raffles and drawings. Afternoon Tea.  All kinds of group meetings you can attend. 

[Stayinggolden83]

I don't understand why someone wouldn't like reserving show times on a boat with thousands of passengers. If you end up not going, it's no big deal. But I know that if I want to see Mamma Mia or a comedy show, I have a guaranteed spot in that theater waiting for me. I also book shows as late as I can, so it doesn't interfere with anything else I may want to do (we're night owls, so I have no problem with going to  comedy show at 11:59pm.

Edited November 21, 2018 by Stayinggolden83
Typo

[asalligo]

[Husky1987]

OP thank you for the comparison.  Wife and I are trying Carnival for the first time next July.  Mostly due to the fact that we're taking our daughter and a friend (we sent her on a Carnival cruise for a college graduation present recently and she liked it so we're doing it for them).

[KelSny1011]

Thank you for the comparison.  I'm sailing with Carnival in April and have only been on Royal and have sailed on two of RC larger ships. (Oasis and Allure)

[Rogueperson]

18 hours ago, kinggartk said:

I'll try not to provoke an us vs them war...and I'll try not to be biased.

 

I just completed my first RCL cruise aboard Oasis.  I'll start by saying Oasis is a beautiful and massive ship.  It rarely felt crowded.  The staff was all very nice.

Carnival has no ship to compare to Oasis.  In that category...RCL wins Hands Down. Agree

 

Staff for both cruislines are excellent... This one is a draw. My experience differs here.  In my opinion, Carnival is better overall because they are consistently good.  Royal Caribbean seems to have more give.  Which means they have the potential to be stellar, but they also have the potential to be only mediocre.  I've seen both ends of the spectrum, but all my Carnival ones have been consistently similar, though does not reach the highs that Royal Caribbean can.

 

Main Dining Room...that's where Carnival shines in my opinion.  Carnival seems to have a more varied menu from night to night in the MDR than does RCL.  RCL had many items repeated night after night with only a couple of changes from night to night.  Carnival on the other hand...has only a couple of items that show up each night while the rest of the menu changes each night.  Also...Carnival has Warm Chocolate Melting cake...RCL trys to replicate...but fails.   Carnival wins hands down. I'm odd.  The Chocolate Melting cake is okay, but doesn't floor me.  That being said, escargot every night, is what knocks me down.  I find Royal Caribbean MDR food to be slightly better, but close enough that it doesn't matter.

 

All other food venues.   Carnival and RCL are pretty equal.  Food Quality is fairly equal across both cruiselines. This one is a draw. Agree, only because Carnival has highs and lows as well as Royal Caribbean.  Carnival's sushi blows away Izumis.  But Royal Caribbean's Chef's Table is superior because they wine pair each course.  Carnival has Guys, which destroys Johnny Rockets, especially since Guys is compimentary.   Their Steakhouse is equally good.  So, yeah, its a draw.

 

I don't like the reservation system for shows on RCL.  This is just my preference, others may feel different.  Carnival Wins As others have said, that's just Oasis and Quantum Class.

 

I like that Carnival has their shows scheduled to work around MDR schedules.  If I have late dinning, I can go to the early show.  If I have early dinning, I can go to the late show.  RCL seemed to only have shows at one time (10:30).  We had 8:00 dinning and found ourselves with not much to do from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM.  On carnival...we would have been seeing a show during that time.  Carnival Wins. See above

 

Carnival seems to have more going on during the day than RCL...maybe that's just my perception.  I wanted to do more than sit in a lounger by the pool during the day...but just didn't find much more to do during those times.  Carnival Wins. My opinion here is that Carnival has superior cruise directors. They are more hands on in getting the passengers stirred up.  Royal Caribbean's are more laid back, and at least one I had, was downright horrible.

 

The Quality of the show are hit or miss from cruise to cruise.  The Water show was fantastic...Cats was very good, the Ice Show was good.  Come Fly with me was a snoozer and singers were not good.  Overall Carnival and RCL are equal when it comes to the Shows...but the Water Show and Ice Show put RCL over the top.  RCL Wins (because of the Ice and Water shows) Royal Caribbeans Feature shows on Oasis and Quantum win, but Carnival is close because of their dedicated comedy shows.

 

RCL communication with passengers was a little lacking.  We had to figure out on our one what documents to take with us to the various ports.  RCL gave us very little information about when and where to meet for excursions.  There was information provided on the tickets them selves...but finding the various excursion meeting locations was a crapshoot...especially on Labadee.  Carnival Wins. I find this equal across the board.

 

Finally...Price.  This cruise seemed to be much more expensive than any of the cruises I have taken on Carnival.  Carnival Wins.  In general, yes, but I have seen Royal Caribbean cruises priced less than Carnival on a per day basis at least out of Baltimore.

 

My experience is 5 Carnival Cruises and 7 Royal Caribbean

 

[Clarea]

32 minutes ago, Stayinggolden83 said:

I don't understand why someone wouldn't like reserving show times on a boat with thousands of passengers. If you end up not going, it's no big deal. But I know that if I want to see Mamma Mia or a comedy show, I have a guaranteed spot in that theater waiting for me. ...

 

You don't have a guaranteed spot unless you show up before they let the standby passengers in.

 

In other words, the timing may be a bit different, but it's similar to ships without show reservations.  If you don't get to the show venue early enough, you are out of luck.  

 

The big difference comes when don't have a reservation and  you have to take your chances in the standby line.

[BillOh]

19 hours ago, kinggartk said:

 

 

Disclaimer:  I have been on 5 Carnival Cruises and one RCL cruise.  I would definitely sail RCL again...but this Cruise on RCL helped me confirm I'm partial to Carnival.  I tried not to be biased...but...maybe I failed.

 

 

I thought it was a good read, worthy of my time.  With no experience on Carnival, I'll agree with you on the scheduling of show, ignoring the shows you have to reserve on the Oasis class ships, but the other shows. Royal use to schedule  two shows so both early and late dining could get to them easily, but they have stopped that in most cases the past few years. 

[KKB]

1 hour ago, asalligo said:

We have not sailed Carnival, but Princess, DCL, RCCL & Celebrity.

Interestingly, each of those daily schedules is AT LEAST double that in activity offerings...

I have attached Patters from the Star Princess...4 columns worth of activities on a port day.

Glancing an Allure one...similarly almost 4 columns worth.

Celebrity Constellation (only 2K passengers)...2 columns worth. 

So I don't think that Carnival has the lock on activities. The other lines appear to generally have has much or more--tho Carnival may be more efficient at listing them on the schedule. (NOW depending on the line/destination/ship the offering may or may not be to your taste. For instance, we enjoyed the silly pool side games on one cruise, but not really our cup of tea)

(Interestingly, I looked at recent Mariner schedule...1 1/2 columns worth. Explains why we were bored on that cruise...)

 

CB Sept11.pdf

Edited November 21, 2018 by KKB

[asalligo]

That looks like a great list of activities also. 

[sayvan]

On 11/21/2018 at 7:47 AM, kinggartk said:

We didn't go...planning to do comparisons, but it's human nature to compare.  And...to be clear...we thoroughly enjoyed our cruise and wouldn't hesitate to sail with RCL again.  This was not intended to be a bash RCL segment...it was just observations.

To be clear,  I never meant to suggest that you were bashing any particular line. In fact, having sailed both lines I actually agree with many of your initial thoughts. My point was more along the theme that for us it doesn't matter which line we are on. You know things will be different. Some you will like and some you wont and yes sometimes you will think "on Carnival or Royal they do this..." I'm just saying its a vacation... if folks get to involved in the comparison they will find it harder to enjoy the different line they are on. Not saying that was you! Cheers and Fins up!

Edited November 24, 2018 by sayvan

[lovescats5]

We have sailed both Carnival (2 times) and RCCL (3 times) and much prefer RCCL.  Food is pretty much a non-issue as you can get a great meal one night and a neh meal the next.  We really loved the ice carvings on Carnival but the things to do on the Anthem far out-weighed what Carnival offered.  The bumper cars were an every sea day must, the iFly was addictive, there was roller skating, trapeze, flow rider (we did not partake), rock wall, full basketball court, ping pong, and I am not sure what else.  We are not pool people so standing in the sun with hundreds of other people watching somebody belly flop would not have been on our list, we enjoyed more of the family things that could be done. One of the main things we enjoy with RCCL over Carnival are the rooms and balconies.  Of course, everything is subjective depending on what we expect from a boat and how our day is going while on the boat.  That must be why there are so many cruise lines, we can all find the one that we love to cruise on.