Royal Caribbean vs. Carnival

[coldqueen]

This will be our first Royal Caribbean cruise.  What are the differences if any from Carnival Cruise line?  We will be on Enchantment of the Seas, which is a smaller ship.  Our first cruise was on the Carnival Ecstasy which was a small ship.  Other ships we've been on were larger.  Not to worried about the smaller ship, since we are more excited about the ports we are going to.

[Biker19]

15 minutes ago, coldqueen said:

We will be on Enchantment of the Seas, which is a smaller ship.  Our first cruise was on the Carnival Ecstasy which was a small ship. 

The diff is that Enchantment is still sailing while Ectasy is being dismantled on a beach in Turkey. Seriously, read some Enchantment threads - pull down menu on the main RCI page here at CC.

[loman]

 

[loman]

 I posted a video for you , there are a few more on youtube .

Enjoy !

[CruiserLucas]

We were first time cruisers to Royal in late February 2022 after Carnival (4 for me, 5 for my partner). Sum up of the differences we noticed, both good and bad below. Please note we went on Harmony, and this is just one experience so far, though overall positive, and we'll be on our second Royal cruise in May.

 

Positive

• Better food and drinks - quality, quantity, taste, waitstaff was awesome (not that Carnival's waitstaff isn't great)
• Along this: better specialty restaurants. Some of the best food land or sea I've tried
• Better guest services experience - felt more focused on solving a problem rather than denying it or questioning
• Better ship layout (not sure how Enchantment will compare to Harmony in regards to this), but we liked the neighborhood layout of Harmony.
• Room layout - we had a balcony room, and it felt more modern and spacious than similarly aged balconies on Carnival
• The bed - whoa it was probably the most comfortable bed I've slept on. Better than my bed at home or any I've slept on in a hotel.
• The Solarium adults-only area - just felt classier and nicer than Serenity on Carnival

 

Negative

• Royal app - it was glitchy, our calendar never updated, it wouldn't show my boarding pass (I brought paper copies luckily), and the dining reservation system never worked for us
• My Time Dining in the main dining room - Carnival gets this the best through the Hub hands down. To me "anytime" dining is I go during the hours of operation whenever I'd like without a reservation ever needed. We were given a dining reservation time, which was impossible to change on the app, and some days there was no reservation and I couldn't add one, and I didn't want to bother a staff member every day we decided to eat at a different time to have it changed or added. So we'd go and stand in line (there's two lines - those with or those without reservations). As you might know, Carnival lets you just check in on the Hub app, you can do whatever you like, and when it tells you your table is ready you show up within ten minutes and skip the line.
• Excursion ticket process - for both ship booked excursions we were never given our tickets, and one was cancelled due to weather and we were never told. We only found out because we went to the excursions desk when we again didn't get tickets and were told by the staff member there. 
• Signage for open times - this was early 2022, so I'm sure staffing wasn't consistent to keep venues open during their "normal" times, but sometimes the app was out of sync with the venue - we would show up and something might be closed, or there would be no sign at the venue explaining when the operational times were. That can make it hard to plan out the day onboard. 

Edited January 12, 2023 by CruiserLucas

[ajtaylor29]

I think it's hard to make comparisons, each ship is different and a lot of it is personal preferences. We've sailed on both lines, and many different ships, and still haven't had a bad cruise on any ship!!! We have loved the smaller RC ships we've been on so i think you'll like it! I personally think the food is better on RC, but we've also had some good meals on Carnival. We find the staff to be wonderful on all of our cruises. All of the casinos take your money (that's their job, just budget your spending there and have fun!) We try to avoid the buffets on all ships....the food is never going to be great, so set your expectations accordingly if going to a buffet (just like land-based buffets). The MDR and the specialty restaurants serve much better food, imo. 

Enjoy your cruise!

[PhillyFan33579]

I have cruised over 20 times on both Carnival and RCI. I have never had a bad cruise, but currently I only cruise on RCI (and Celebrity but that is another topic). 
 

I prefer RCI for several reasons, which may or may not matter to you. 
1. Food is very subjective, but I think the food on RCI is significantly better. 
2. RCI still uses dining cloths every night of the cruise in the MDR. 
3. RCI still services your cabin twice a day. 
4. RCI ships are much nicer in my opinion. 
5. The drink package on RCI is significantly better. No limits on the number of drinks or drink restrictions like no doubles. However, Carnival’s drink package is almost always lower price wise. 
6. RCI ships never feel crowded.  Over the last several months I have cruised on Voyager, Freedom, Quantum and Oasis class ships, including cruises over the holidays, and never felt crowded anywhere on the ship with the exception of a few popular trivia games. On the other hand, it feels like Carnival ships are always crowded. I have sailed on every class of ship on Carnival with the exception of Mardi Gras, and they are all crowded especially at night. 
7. RCI’s loyalty program is significantly better with benefits that include free drinks, daily happy hour for Diamonds and above, discounts on both cruises and merchandise, beautiful glass blocks of the ship you are on once you reach 140 points and another one for every additional 70 points. 
8. Double points if you book a suite. 
9. Double points if you travel solo.  
10. The Royal app is significantly easier to use and contains a wealth of information. I may be biased here since I have mainly cruised RCI recently and I am very familiar with their app. 

[time4u2go]

You'll probably find them to be more similar than different, although cruising on Enchantment after being on newer Carnival ships could be a significant letdown.

 

I find the food on Carnival to be significantly better than on RC, .  The service is great on both.

[neverbeenhere]

The Ecstasy had a teak deck with waves in it because of the wear from short cruises and the years of service. The buffet was a cluster. The decor was circa 1985. Plastic everywhere. Most of the "shops" didn't exist because of the short itineraries.

 

The Enchantment is old. "Interesting" features. Definitely needs some help, but it in a totally different class versus what the Ecstasy was near it's end.

[firefly333]

33 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I have cruised over 20 times on both Carnival and RCI. I have never had a bad cruise, but currently I only cruise on RCI (and Celebrity but that is another topic). 
 

I prefer RCI for several reasons, which may or may not matter to you. 
1. Food is very subjective, but I think the food on RCI is significantly better. 
2. RCI still uses dining cloths every night of the cruise in the MDR. 
3. RCI still services your cabin twice a day. 
4. RCI ships are much nicer in my opinion. 
5. The drink package on RCI is significantly better. No limits on the number of drinks or drink restrictions like no doubles. However, Carnival’s drink package is almost always lower price wise. 
6. RCI ships never feel crowded.  Over the last several months I have cruised on Voyager, Freedom, Quantum and Oasis class ships, including cruises over the holidays, and never felt crowded anywhere on the ship with the exception of a few popular trivia games. On the other hand, it feels like Carnival ships are always crowded. I have sailed on every class of ship on Carnival with the exception of Mardi Gras, and they are all crowded especially at night. 
7. RCI’s loyalty program is significantly better with benefits that include free drinks, daily happy hour for Diamonds and above, discounts on both cruises and merchandise, beautiful glass blocks of the ship you are on once you reach 140 points and another one for every additional 70 points. 
8. Double points if you book a suite. 
9. Double points if you travel solo.  
10. The Royal app is significantly easier to use and contains a wealth of information. I may be biased here since I have mainly cruised RCI recently and I am very familiar with their app. 

I think rcl has already switched to once a day cabin service unless you are in a suite. 

 

I'm booked on a 14 day carnival going some ports rcl doesnt go to out of Galveston.  Overall right now I prefer royal. 5 drinks and 2 days of wifi, I lean rcl. 

 

Prefer carnival pizza especially their white pizza and prices for speciality, my time dining, agree carnival does this much better. 

[LeeW]

Since you are cruising for the ports, you win.  You will notice less gaudy environment.

[smokeybandit]

Less of a chance that a fight breaks out on an RC ship

[PhillyFan33579]

1 hour ago, firefly333 said:

I think rcl has already switched to once a day cabin service unless you are in a suite. 

 

I'm booked on a 14 day carnival going some ports rcl doesnt go to out of Galveston.  Overall right now I prefer royal. 5 drinks and 2 days of wifi, I lean rcl. 

 

Prefer carnival pizza especially their white pizza and prices for speciality, my time dining, agree carnival does this much better. 

I have been on 5 RCI cruises since the beginning of December (just got off Wonder last Saturday) and they were still servicing the cabin twice a day on all 5 cruises. All were balconies, none were suites.  

[moposh]

I sailed on Enchantment in August.  It was nice, but not a lot of frills.

 

I did think the headliner entertainment was not as good as past cruises.  They had one comedian do two nights.  He wasn't that funny so he shouldn't have been booked for one night, let alone two.  There was another entertainer, but I had a shore excursion so didn't go.  I was disappointed that they didn't have him on a cruising day (like the night before).  Then they had the RC singers and dancers.  I don't know if it is because post-Covid it's hard to find/pay entertainers or what the issue is, but I was really disappointed in the headliner entertainment in the theater.  I think that's what they call it.

 

I enjoyed the cruise.

 

I have never been on Carnival and have no plans to every sail on Carnival so I can't compare and contrast for you.

Edited January 12, 2023 by moposh

[Oceansaway17]

4 hours ago, coldqueen said:

This will be our first Royal Caribbean cruise.  What are the differences if any from Carnival Cruise line?  We will be on Enchantment of the Seas, which is a smaller ship.  Our first cruise was on the Carnival Ecstasy which was a small ship.  Other ships we've been on were larger.  Not to worried about the smaller ship, since we are more excited about the ports we are going to.

might be less fights but better cookies.

A lot of folks love the Enchantment and check out You Tube videos.

 

[renza]

We have been on many carnival ships. We always have fun. Royal is definitely a step up. Carnival is like Walmart. You will see things that you really don’t want to see with guest. Oh it’s great people watching for sure. Shows are not near as good as royal. Would we go on carnival again? Sure. So many more food options on carnival, that’s one thing I love. It’s definitely a fun time. 
Royal is a little classier. Not as many drunks or people in bathing suits that are 9 times too small. Royal can be fun but carnival puts fun to another level. Their staff really makes great parties. I am sure people will tell me how wrong I am to talk about guest but it’s so true with Carnival. It can be like going to Walmart in the middle of the night. PJs and Curlers in hair, you name it you will see it on carnival. 

Edited January 12, 2023 by renza

[Rubyfisch]

I was on Enchantment for Christmas and did a live review. I loved it, despite being old and small. If you have any specific questions, happy to answer them.

[keishashadow]

The above poster is very brave and, IMO, spot on as to our experiences with some guests on a couple of CCL sailings in the past.  Not to say I don’t look at both CCL and RCCL when deciding what cruise to actually book before making the final decision.

 

Have come to conclusion that the cheaper, shorter sailings often do attract a customer who may be focused on a non stop party.  Others, solely focused on using the ship as transport to the various ports.  Not tossing shade, I’m planning two shorter cruises this year as an add on to MCO trips.  One size truly doesn’t fit all.

 

When discussing cruising with acquaintances, it always strikes me funny when people explain that they are trying out RCCL vs their normal CCL because there is no limit on the alcohol pkg.  we all have our priorities lol

 

OP - no idea how things are currently, as have not sailed for ages…finally, dipping all ten toes back into the waters this year!  Cannot wait 🙂

 

My suggestion is to go into your first sailing on RCCL with an open mind and enjoy the journey.

 

 

[fair-winds39]

5 hours ago, coldqueen said:

This will be our first Royal Caribbean cruise.  What are the differences if any from Carnival Cruise line?  We will be on Enchantment of the Seas, which is a smaller ship.  Our first cruise was on the Carnival Ecstasy which was a small ship.  Other ships we've been on were larger.  Not to worried about the smaller ship, since we are more excited about the ports we are going to.

We have mostly cruised with Carnival for the last 12 years and before that with Cunard, Celebrity, RCL, NCL, so we’ve been cruising for a long time. The Baltimore port was a big draw for us; no flying and we could drive to the port (1 1/2 hrs.). We like the smaller ships so the Carnival Pride was just right for us. In 2020 just before things closed down we decided to try RCL again on Grandeur of the Seas from Baltimore; it was very nice, but what made it great was we had a Junior Suite when we usually book traditional balconies.

 

We felt the Grandeur was comparable to Carnival; food was about the same, we thought live music was a little better on Grandeur, staff were very friendly and helpful, loved Grandeur’s Solarium. We had no complaints. This year we are trying the Anthem of the Seas from Bayonne, to see if we might like the larger ship experience. The only other Royal ship we were on was the Empress of the Seas many years ago and that was also nice.

 

[jcc1025]

4 hours ago, firefly333 said:

I think rcl has already switched to once a day cabin service unless you are in a suite. 

 

I'm booked on a 14 day carnival going some ports rcl doesnt go to out of Galveston.  Overall right now I prefer royal. 5 drinks and 2 days of wifi, I lean rcl. 

 

Prefer carnival pizza especially their white pizza and prices for speciality, my time dining, agree carnival does this much better. 

 

We were on two RC cruises last year and had two day cabin service on both.