Carnival Versus RCI food? Comparable? DIfferences?

[Momto3girlsintheCarolinas]

Happy New Year, Everyone!

 

My husband and I have always sailed RCI (for the most part - see signature), but we are going to take our first Carnival Cruise.  I am a little worried.  We've done RCI, Disney and Norwegian and had great experiences.  I have read that Carnival has a different (more tacky?) decor and much more of a party atmosphere.  We're okay with that, but I am a little concerned about the food.

 

I have heard that Carnival is more "hamburgers and hotdogs" fare.  Is this true?  How comparable is the food on Carnival?  

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

[retiredgram]

We have only sailed on one Carnival ship several times, so I can only comment on the food from that ship in comparison to RC.

We found that the free food was somewhat better than RC. Food is subjective, but that was our opinion.

Enjoy your cruise and I am sure you will enjoy the food.

[champagne123]

I cruise all of the major cruise lines.  When it comes to food, I actually rate Carnival's food a tad better than Royals.  Hamburgers and hotdogs?  NO.   Their dishes at dinner time are the same as everyone else and in my opinion have better options.  As far as the party atmosphere, I do agree with that statement if it is less than a 7 day cruise....but not too crazy (unless it is Spring Break)   Go and have a good time!  We always do.  (still love RC though..lol )

[payitforward]

8 minutes ago, Momto3girlsintheCarolinas said:

Happy New Year, Everyone!

 

My husband and I have always sailed RCI (for the most part - see signature), but we are going to take our first Carnival Cruise.  I am a little worried.  We've done RCI, Disney and Norwegian and had great experiences.  I have read that Carnival has a different (more tacky?) decor and much more of a party atmosphere.  We're okay with that, but I am a little concerned about the food.

 

I have heard that Carnival is more "hamburgers and hotdogs" fare.  Is this true?  How comparable is the food on Carnival?  

 

Thanks in advance!

People weren't joking about the tacky decor!! As for the party atmosphere, I was on a 7 night cruise and didn't think it was any different than other cruise lines.

 

Of course food is subjective. In the MDR, the atmosphere and food were similar. Carnival did not have as many things that I personally liked, but it was far from burgers and hotdogs. My bff loved it. I did find that Carnival had a lot more free options that were open later. There was a full service deli serving grilled sandwiches as opposed to the Cafe Promenade which has very little. The pizza on Carnival was far superior to RCCL, but the lines were very long.

 

8 minutes ago, Momto3girlsintheCarolinas said:

 

 

[Tapi]

What ship will you be sailing on? Carnival has toned down their decor on their newer ships and can be quite tasteful (gasp!), at least compared to the older ships in the fleet. But the older ships, specially the Joe Farcus era ones, tend to be quite “glitzy” and over the top. Definitely not my favorite, but a lot of people do say that they enjoy the wild decor and the theme behind each ship. Unlike Royal where the decor tends to be fairly consistent across the fleet, Carnival’s decor on each ship revolves around a central theme or idea. It can be crazy (and yes tacky), but it’s rather interesting at times. 

 

As far as the cuisine goes, I agree with others. I place main dining room selections one notch above Royal, at least in taste. At the buffet I place Royal one notch above Carnival simply because there seems to be more variety and health conscious options. 

 

Yes, you’ll find pizza, hot dogs and hamburgers on Carnival intertwined with other selections , but in my opinion, not more than on Royal. Carnival has Guy’s Burgers, Royal has Johnny Rockets, etc. These options are there but they are far from being the bulk of what’s offered. One thing that Carnival does differently is that they offer some “comfort food” items at the MDR (think fried chicken, meatloaf, etc) in addition to their other entree’s. 

 

Overall, who your fellow cruisers will be, and how much of a “party atmosphere” you’ll find on Carnival, will be determined by your itinerary, length of cruise, port of embarkation. and time of year, just like on Royal. Fellow passengers do tend to be more unpretentious on Carnival and, in my humble opinion, less caring about what other passengers may think of their attire choice or dinner etiquette. But don’t mistake “casual and unpretentious” with party atmosphere. Carnival does push for a more local clientele on their sailings from secondary ports of embarkation, like Charleston, Mobile, and Jacksonville. 

 

Do go with an open mind and avoid direct comparisons. I have also sailed on all the cruise lines that you’ve mentioned above among several others, and if there’s one thing that I’ve learned is that there’s no perfect cruise line. Each one excels at some things and they suck at others (even on Disney, which many refer to as the benchmark of excellence in the mass market cruise industry). Like the others, Carnival has its plus or minuses. You get to determine how important these will be specifically to you. 

 

Edited December 30, 2018 by Tapi

[champagne123]

Tapi...have you ever been on the Splendor?   Gigantic pink circles all over the place...lol.   It is actually my favorite Carnival ship.  (originally a sister of Costa Concordia).