First time sailing Carnival Impressions and comparison to NCL & RCL

[jlabs03]

We just got off our first cruise with Carnival.  It was a 5 day out of NOLA on the Glory that went to Cozumel and Progresso.  It was over spring break but honestly there were a lot more kids than college aged spring breakers.  Most of the college aged spring breaks stayed in the adults only sections that I spent very little time in since it was my 12 year old daughter and I.  I am also a morning person and spend a lot of time in the Casino not at the clubs or at the bars at night.  I go on a cruise to relax so I do spend a lot of time in my cabin on my balcony instead of out and about on the ship.  I chose a cruise for the ports and I have also sailed RCL, NCL, and HAL.  I am not going to compare to HAL since that cruise was over 10 years ago but I did have a great time and would sail HAL again.

 

First impressions, the Glory is a nice ship (I prefer smaller ships since we take the stairs instead of the elevators), but it is dated and a little worn.  What I mean by dated and worn is the color scheme remind me of what you would see in Vegas during the 80's & 90's, there were loose tiles in main areas, wooden banisters are worn, part of the carpet in our room was coming up, our bathroom light switch had to be really pushed and held for the lights to come on, and our door to our balance did not seal correct so when we were travel at night you could hear a whistling sound.  However this stuff does not bother me since everything was clean, I am just mentioning it since I know it would bother some.  The staff, with an exception of one of the room service delivery person (he looked like he rather be anywhere but on the ship), were very friendly and nice, always saying hi and greeting us.  The people on board were nice and friendly and we met some really nice people.  Until disembarkation day, people all of a sudden because very pushy.  

 

Comparison:

Buffet: Carnival food at least on this ship was poor at the buffet.  The selection was very limited as compared to NCL and RCL.  I am not saying that NCL or RCL have great buffet food but it was way better selection and taste than what we had on the Glory.  However the deli, Guys, and the pizza cannot be beat, however you will wait in line most of the time.  You will even wait in line at the buffet with the way it is set up on this ship.  Also the lunch buffet was the almost exactly same every day.

 

MDR: I cannot say a lot here since we only ate breakfast in the MDR (the buffet breakfast was typical breakfast foods) but it was always cold so we ate breakfast in the MDR when we could, which was better and had fast service.  On sea days they only were open until 1:00 and it was a brunch menu only.  We did not like this since we usually did not eat breakfast until about 9am and would not eat lunch until after 1pm and it had brunch items not lunch items.  The dinner menu was not appealing to us, I am a pretty picky eater and if I am going to spend at least 1-1 1/2 hours eating dinner I would like a good steak.  The only steak you could get was a flat iron steak all other cuts were a $20 up charge, except for the last night which had I believe had a tenderloin.  They may have had prime rib on the fancy night but we did not bring any appropriate cloths for this night, I am very casual and we packed only one suite case for the two of us. The MDR on RCL was just ok nothing special and was really slow, taking over 2 hours to eat, way too long in my opinion, but once again this could of been our cruise or the ship we were on. NCL was much better than either RCL and Carnival, you could easily get in and out in about 1 hour, they had fast prompt service.  We also never had to wait for a table.  RCL and NCL had better menu selection and always had a good cut of steak on there menus without an up charge.

 

Pool:  Even though this is a smaller ship and has two pools, the all ages pool was very crowded.  Granted it was spring break and there were a lot of kids on the cruise (I assume summer season would be similar).  It was very hard to walk across the lido deck anytime something was going on at the pool. The adult only pool barely had anyone in the pool anytime we went to go get pizza.  The hot tubs on the other hand were always full to the brim.  At the regular pool I never saw an adult in the hot tub it was only kids and there were sometimes no space at all left in the hot tubs.  

 

Rooms:  We had a balcony room on the lido deck (deck 9).  We booked three weeks before the cruise so there was not much choice and I would not have chosen this floor otherwise.  That being said it was a great location, I would defiantly book it again.  We had easy access to everything.  The room size is larger than NCL but similar to RCL.  I liked the layout of the storage better on Carnival and RCL than NCL.  The beds and pillows were conformable and comparable to RCL and NCL.  The thing I missed was the sliding glass doors.  I like to hear the ocean and feel the breeze when I am in my room and with sliding glass doors you can leave the doors open but on carnival unless you bring a bungie cord you cannot leave the door open.  Also every-time someone closed their balcony door nearby you would hear it slamming.  Thank goodness we mostly had families near us and did not have people slamming their balcony doors at 3 am.  Also this maybe just the Glory or similar aged ships but anytime anyone walked and/or talked in the hallway you could hear it loud and clear.  Also you could easily hear the ships announcements in our room even with the door closed.  On NCL and RCL ships that I have been on you would barely hear the chime for an announcement and then have to open the door to hear it (I prefer this).  We did not have problems with hallway noise at night but I am a very sound sleeper so there may have been people coming back to their rooms in the middle of the night making a lot of noise but I did not hear it except for the last night since I do not sleep as soundly since I know I have to get up really early, I did hear a drunk group talking down the hallway at 3am.

 

Casino:  I preferred RCL and NCL casinos, they just had a better selection of slots.

 

Spa: I always get at least one massage while I am on a cruise.  I know they are more expensive but they really are not if you went to an actual spa resort to get a massage they are similar prices.  With that in mind, that is what I expect in my experience.  That is not what carnival offers and if we do go on another Carnival cruise I will not spend the money on the spa.  It does not remotely feel like you are at a spa at all, which once again may be because I was on an older ship, but then they should not charge the same.  The table was uncomfortable, I was laying on towels, and covered by an itchy sheet.  I got a hot stone massage that was ok.  When I got a hot stone massage on NCL it was the best massage I had ever had. RCL and NCL you get a spa experience so Carnival cannot compare.

 

Internet:  They should not be able to charge for such poor internet service.  I did buy the premium aware that it was going to be bad based off cruise critics but too me they should just offer the social media and not the other two packages if they cannot provide the speed of service you are paying for ever while on ship.  Social media was even bad with the premium package, it would take pictures in facebook forever to load.  I felt like I was on dial up.  Both NCL and RCL had excellent internet service (I am sure this varies by ship).  I usually work while on vacation, I am a college professor and teach online classes so I do need to answer emails and grade maybe one to two hours a day or every other day (for those that say you are vacation you should not be working, I say without working I would not be on vacation because I would not be able to afford it, and by working while on vacation for a couple of hours I will spend over a month cruising this year).

 

Shows: We did not go to any show on Carnival based on what I read on the CC boards.  The shows on RCL and NCL are great and I recommend going to at least one.

 

Kids club:  My daughter is social so she likes to meet other kids her age.  She loved Circle C, she liked the freedom it gave her to come and go as she pleased.  However sometimes events were held in Club O2 (the older kids club 15-17).  She did not feel comfortable going in there with the older kids to look for her friends.  She also liked the NCL kids club, she spent all her free time there.  The only downside is if she checked herself in she would have to stay for at least an hour before she could check herself out, but she always stayed until close.  RCL was a completely different story.  She hated it and only went once.  We were on a cruise in Feb so there were not many kids and they had all age groups in one room.  It is not fun playing with 3 year olds when you are 9.  

 

Overall impressions: 

I would sail Carnival again but it would have to be when I am not working or be port intensive so I can use my cell data to use the internet. I would probably sail Carnival again before RCL until my daughter is in the teen club since she disliked it so much.  But I prefer the sliding doors in the balcony, and for me this is probably the biggest reason I would chose another line before Carnival since I do spend a lot of time in my room and on my balcony.  The reality is as many have said before there are more similarities than differences, so keeping that in mind, enjoy your cruise, don't sweat the small stuff, and you will mostly like be happy on any cruise line.

[bury me at sea]

I enjoyed your informative, balanced comparison.  Thanks for posting.

[JaniceB]

Very nice review.  I think you should try one of the newer Carnival ships for better internet, better spas (book a spa cabin) and all the bells and whistles, maybe the Breeze.

[jlabs03]

5 hours ago, JaniceB said:

Very nice review.  I think you should try one of the newer Carnival ships for better internet, better spas (book a spa cabin) and all the bells and whistles, maybe the Breeze.

 I will look into the Breeze.  Thanks 

 

I am sailing on the NCL Spirit in May for a 14 day cruise.  It will be an interesting comparison to the Glory since it is a little older built in 1998 and a little smaller about 2000 passenger vs 3000 on the Glory.  It will be a completely different demographic I suspect (very few kids) since it sails at the end of May and it is a 14 day out of Southampton but it will interesting to compare the ships.  

[Tapi]

We also noticed several, small maintenance issues on our last Carnival Cruise. Like you said,  nothing that truly hindered our enjoyment of the cruise, but they were frequent enough to be noticeable. In our stateroom, the window seal leaked and water would pool on the window ledge. The closet door ripped off its hinges, the water faucet in the bathroom broke, the TV only received 3 channels (all others showing no signal), and the electrical outlet worked intermittently. In public areas, carpet was worn in several area (even though carpet had been recently replaced in others), cabinet doors in public bathrooms were held closed with bungee cords, dividers were ripping off the walls, and window tinting was peeling in mypany places. We had a great, fun cruise, but it was just sad to see the ship a bit neglected.

 

About massages, my wife loves to get massages (at spas, resorts, cruise ships, etc), and she has repeatedly said that the beach massages ashore are some of the best she’s ever had. And you can’t beat the price. On our last cruise, she got a beachfront massage in Progreso for $20.

 

Thanks for your review! Greatly appreciated. 

[Jared100]

Thanks for the well written comparison 

[mpdog42]

I really enjoyed my First Royal cruise( B2B) last Sept..On Freedom Of The Seas,..except I missed Carnival's lunch time options, Guy's.. Mexican cantina, and Mongolian Wok...and except for some of the Platinum Perks..I thought RC has some advantages over Carnival lately..especialy on its drink package...Don't know if I will ever try the Oasis class but will probably do my next B2B with Royal!!

Thanks for your fair review!

Mike

[MrFunInTheSun]

56 minutes ago, mpdog42 said:

.Don't know if I will ever try the Oasis class but will probably do my next B2B with Royal!!

Thanks for your fair review!

Mike

 

If you want to be totally wow'd you can't miss sailing on an Oasis class ship. They are simply amazing. Check out my signature for some of my Oasis class ship trip reports.

 

Nice review Jlabs.

[mpdog42]

Just now, MrFunInTheSun said:

 

If you want to be totally wow'd you can't miss sailing on an Oasis class ship. They are simply amazing. Check out my signature for some of my Oasis class ship trip reports.

 

Nice review Jlabs.

Thanks, I will!!

Mike

[cruise_mojo]

enjoyed your review, sounds fair for an older ship

 

you might enjoy the Carnival Liberty size or a bit bigger a bit better, its newer and was one of our favs, the even newer ships like the suggested Breeze are even more blinged out! 

 

also, some of the other older ships like Pride and Legend though smaller have a French door type outside cabin without a true balcony but doors that open up often with obstructed views where people with prop a chair against one just to have that sea-air exchange into their room - and yes there's threads on that here on CC too   ( those ships are are more intimate design though ) 

 

 

[jsglow]

23 minutes ago, cruise_mojo said:

enjoyed your review, sounds fair for an older ship

 

you might enjoy the Carnival Liberty size or a bit bigger a bit better, its newer and was one of our favs, the even newer ships like the suggested Breeze are even more blinged out! 

 

also, some of the other older ships like Pride and Legend though smaller have a French door type outside cabin without a true balcony but doors that open up often with obstructed views where people with prop a chair against one just to have that sea-air exchange into their room - and yes there's threads on that here on CC too   ( those ships are are more intimate design though ) 

 

 

 

Those Spirit class French doors have (or are) being replaced and going away.

[JaniceB]

16 hours ago, jlabs03 said:

 I will look into the Breeze.  Thanks 

 

I am sailing on the NCL Spirit in May for a 14 day cruise.  It will be an interesting comparison to the Glory since it is a little older built in 1998 and a little smaller about 2000 passenger vs 3000 on the Glory.  It will be a completely different demographic I suspect (very few kids) since it sails at the end of May and it is a 14 day out of Southampton but it will interesting to compare the ships.  

A 14 day cruise sounds fantastic, enjoy your cruise aboard.

[mizLORInj]

You are right that Glory is an older ship.   We've sailed on it a few times out of NYC, along with sisters like Liberty, Freedom and others in that size class.   I prefer Carnival's newer ships' decor.   Still I would take a cruise on Glory vs. no cruise!   😄  I agree the Carnival buffet is not great and we prefer NCL or RC buffets.  We are fans of the Carnival Sea Day Brunch.

 

That said, we have not yet had a bad cruise on any of those lines--including Carnival.  😁  They all have their plus-es and not-quite plus-es.

[cruise_mojo]

that's what we've always felt is that between rcl ncl and carnival you get basically the same product its just presented a bit differently, they focus on different things so say one's buffet might be stronger, where their mdr might be a bit sketchy 

 

and vice versa and of course there can be fluctuations and ship to ship variations - Carnival has the best comedy stuff, I think royal does have the best shows Carnivals new shows are better now that they have scaled back the ton of Hasbro stuff ( that got old real quick ) we haven't saild NCl in about 12 yrs but when we last sailed NCl the ships we were on weren't suited well to freestyle so we never got the good freestyle experience then they started screwing with the lattitudes people and drove us away 

 

we may sail them again some  day and probably will now that my wife is retiring but we are big time repeaters near diamond on carnival, and are platinum on royal and after this year just one cruise from emerald on royal so building time there towards diamond too so ncl might have to wait or be squeezed in from the cape or tampa with a b2b deal sometime

 

 

[Tapi]

27 minutes ago, cruise_mojo said:

Carnivals new shows are better now that they have scaled back the ton of Hasbro stuff ( that got old real quick ) 

They have?? On our last Carnival Cruise a few months ago, the main theater was occupied three nights out of five with Hasbro stuff. During the day, they also had multiple Hasbro themed activities at smaller venues. 

 

It had been a few years since our last Carnival Cruise, and I feel that the night time entertainment has definitely gone downhill since our previous Carnival Cruise, and it is considerably worse than anything that I’ve seen on any of the other cruise lines that I’ve sailed on recently. 

 

It seemed to me that, while other cruise lines are improving and amping up their stage entertainment, Carnival has cheapened and downgraded theirs to embarrassing levels. We still had a great time on that cruise, but not because of the stage entertainment.

[SNJCruisers]

Since you mentioned that you like sliding doors on your balcony, look into the brand new Mardi Gras, which I believe will have what you're seeking.

[jlabs03]

1 hour ago, SNJCruisers said:

Since you mentioned that you like sliding doors on your balcony, look into the brand new Mardi Gras, which I believe will have what you're seeking.

 

Thanks, I saw that. I actually just looked at Mardi Gras sailings for dec 2020 but chose NCL Joy for about same price but has four ports instead of three on a seven day cruise.  But I will not discount it for a future cruise.  Thanks

[cruise_mojo]

hi Tapi 

 

we just did 9 days on elation b2b and in the evening they had toned back the Hasbro but yea during the day and all the touristy stuff they had the Hasbro glow on but since we skip it we didn't even notice it really other than to see they still had some of it

 

they had a couple new rock centered shows that are pretty lively and somewhat entertaining, and believe it or not the old warhorse divas is still hanging around on elation, at least one show on the two cruises,   

 

generally we're more back of the boat peeps anyway with the comedy shows but this b2b deal we stayed up on verandah and did more shows and the ones we saw were new to us - turnover is slow thru the fleet though and we do cruise 3-4 times a year so once you see a show 4-5 times you sort of pass on it anyway most times 

 

I like royals shows and look forward to seeing what Rhapsody has for us next month. At least we won't have had to book the shows months in advance ala Oasis last year or FOS the year before - NOW THAT IS WORTH A MENTION to first timers having to book shows in advance on some ships like Oasis size ships or a couple of the big NCL shows and ships where seating is limited. 

 

That is the hardest thing for us to get used to doing is planning out a cruise 6 months in advance on the megaships. One reason we haven't cruised a lot of super megasized ships. 

 

We are doing Harmony of the Seas at Halloween this year though!😈