What’s so “fun” about Carnival?

[cruiselover19811981]

We have sailed with Carnival, NCL and Royal all in the past 10 years, twice each line. Our children, ages 13 and 15 enjoyed each and every sailing, but our kids feel Carnival does have the "fun" factor advantage. The cruise directors are more involved and out there with the guests. The crew went out of their way to interact, even the cleaning crew on the pool deck during our most recent Carnival Cruise in December. Our kids enjoyed the conversations and connections made. 

[jimbo5544]

What makes the FUN ships fun?  The crew, they are THE most important component of what FUN really is.  From first name recognition with a smile  throughout the cruise, engaging FUN squad staff that endeavor to engage cruisers into fully immersing themselves into their cruise.  Dancing and singing MDR wait staff, CD’s lead main atrium sing alongs and party atmosphere.  Lido deck parties, the list goes on and on.  The components of a cruise are significantly similar, some lines focus on the ship or the elegance, some on the elegant experience, Carnoval focuses on FUN.

[DukeASUGirl]

On 6/30/2023 at 6:57 AM, Joanne G. said:

Our observation after our first few Carnival cruises, mostly on Conquest class ships, was that without the amusement park features of Royal Caribbean or the newer NCL ships, the Carnival cruise director and his or her staff made a particular effort to get people involved in FUN activities - dance lessons, pool games, passenger talent show, and so forth.   I remember one cruise director saying, "We want you to do something you've never done at home."   

 

While other cruise lines may have similar activities, we were struck by the strong focus on passenger involvement on our Carnival cruises. (Our previous cruises had been on HAL and older NCL ships.)  One of the funniest things we ever watched on a cruise was on Carnival - an impromptu competition between a team of men and a team of women to choreograph a water ballet around and in the pool.  🤣

 

I would definitely agree with this. Personally, I thought the production/show entertainment was better on Royal, but felt that the cruise directors worked harder to make sure guests had a great time on Carnival.

 

On Royal, during the day, it was all "sign up for ice skating, etc" but my kids don't consider that to be a vacation (daughter is a figure skater and son is a hockey player, so they needed a break from the ice, and anyway they would have been beyond frustrated to have to wear rental skates and a helmet and just skate in a circle, no jumps, no speed, etc). We loved attending the skating shows, and went multiple times, but didn't really feel like there was much in the way of classes or other organized daytime activities. It was too chilly on the sea days to actually enjoy the waterslides or Flowrider (don't get me wrong - we did go on them, but by the final sea day we were freezing), so most of the time we were left floundering, whereas on Carnival there were always dance classes, games, etc we could join in.

 

All in all, I felt like there were more similarities than differences, and I did love the big production shows of Royal, but I think my next cruise will be back to Carnival.

[DukeASUGirl]

On 6/30/2023 at 1:22 PM, craig01020 said:

 

• Guy's Burgers for free!

 

I'm always amazed that people will pay the upcharge for Johnny Rockets on Royal. It's not even like it's a unique dining experience or anything - there are Johnny Rockets all over the place on land.

[craig01020]

22 minutes ago, DukeASUGirl said:

 

I'm always amazed that people will pay the upcharge for Johnny Rockets on Royal. It's not even like it's a unique dining experience or anything - there are Johnny Rockets all over the place on land.

I've heard that breakfast is complimentary on Johnny Rockets, but haven't verified that.

[mamiamjo]

1 hour ago, DukeASUGirl said:

 

I'm always amazed that people will pay the upcharge for Johnny Rockets on Royal. It's not even like it's a unique dining experience or anything - there are Johnny Rockets all over the place on land.

I agree, not really a fan of Johnny Rockets and definitely wouldn't pay extra for it on a cruise

[pfdaxe358]

1 hour ago, craig01020 said:

I've heard that breakfast is complimentary on Johnny Rockets, but haven't verified that.

Yes, B-fast is

[sunshower9]

I'm a regular Carnival cruiser who just did my first Royal Caribbean cruise on Wonder of the Seas last week.  The whole time it felt like something was missing but I couldn't figure out what it was until close to the end of the cruise.  I realized that while the crew on Royal was pleasant, their vibe was different from the crew on Carnival.  Carnival crew always seem genuinely happy to be there, and it shows in the way they interact with guests.  They're more engaging and approachable - I always see the Fun Squad around the ship.  On Royal, I never saw the cruise director or any of the entertainment crew aside from during their performances. 

 

Another thing I noticed is that on Carnival our room stewards would typically call out to us by name every day, even when they saw us at the other end of the hall.  It dawned on me that our steward on Royal never called us by name once.  He did his job as he was supposed to so I had no complaints there, but that was a personal touch that I realized I missed.  There's just a different energy on Carnival ships and I personally find it more appealing that what I experienced on Royal.

 

That being said, I did see one guy get totally naked during the Quest show on Wonder, so there's that. 😂

[john91498]

It could just be me, but it seems people on a Carnival cruise are just easier to talk to. That's what makes it fun for me....

[Haljo1935]

These people had their own idea of fun!!

[mlshum]

I’ve only been on one RC cruise, about a dozen on Carnival, and it was on one of the smaller RC ships so I may not be the best person to answer.  We’re in our 50’s but very active and we enjoy lots of different things, like the ropes course, water slides, trivia, games, deck parties, etc.  To us, it just seemed like Carnival had a younger, more casual vibe.    One example was the dancing in the evenings.  The dancing on RC tended to be things like Foxtrot, waltzes, etc.  We certainly don’t mind that but for us personally, we like our dancing to be a bit livelier.  For trivia, RC did a progressive version where you had to hit every one.  Carnival was pretty much “stand alone”.  Personally I thought the food was better on CCL but entertainment better on RC.  Just my thoughts.

[Sailor75]

I don't think one is necessarily more fun than the other, I have fun on any cruise, I just enjoy the atmosphere, food, drinks, and just getting away.

[mz-s]

Carnival is basically Hooters without the hooters.

[jimbo5544]

Uh oh, here comes Walmart lines

[icft]

2 hours ago, mz-s said:

Carnival is basically Hooters without the hooters.

No problem; I bring my own hooters.

[icft]

1 hour ago, jimbo5544 said:

Uh oh, here comes Walmart lines

No comparison; Carnival has Walmart beat when it comes to lines.

[BlerkOne]

I think a lot comes down to the attitude of the passengers. Carnival passengers don't worry about other cruise lines. Don't be a Debbie.

 

 

[VentureMan_2000]

Don't ask the question...

Experience the question and decide for yourself.

[Linsuesue]

   We have only sailed on NCL and Carnival. Hands down Carnival wins for pleasant, engaging, customer service friendly employees. I never even met the room steward on our last NCL cruise. We had to flag somebody down to get ice in our room. Our room stewards-and other employees-on Carnival have always been visible, friendly, helpful, and doing their jobs to the best of their abilities. 

   I love the Groove for St. Jude on each cruise! I think it is such an honorable charity and it is fun to support it.

    The comedy clubs on Carnival are our favorite. We prefer the adult shows and have met many  great friendly people while waiting for the shows to begin. I find the passengers on Carnival are more approachable.

   We were on the NCL Encore this year. There wasn’t anything fun about having to reserve a seat in advance for the shows. They way they handled large crowds waiting to debark for excursions was the very opposite of fun.

[Pellaz]

 

Almost without exception we've gotten a towel animal every evening in our room on our Carnival cruises.  That's kinda fun. 

 

On my Royal cruises -- and granted, they have lately been full-boat metal music charters -- the average has been about 30% of the time.  Fewer towel critters = less fun.   

 

On the morning of the last full day, weather permitting, Carnival room-stewards will descend en masse on the main pool-deck and place towel animals on every lounger by the main Lido pool.  It's not required; they just DO it.  It's fun.  Show me ANY other cruise line where they do this.  

[Haljo1935]

9 hours ago, Pellaz said:

 

Almost without exception we've gotten a towel animal every evening in our room on our Carnival cruises.  That's kinda fun. 

 

On my Royal cruises -- and granted, they have lately been full-boat metal music charters -- the average has been about 30% of the time.  Fewer towel critters = less fun.   

 

On the morning of the last full day, weather permitting, Carnival room-stewards will descend en masse on the main pool-deck and place towel animals on every lounger by the main Lido pool.  It's not required; they just DO it.  It's fun.  Show me ANY other cruise line where they do this.  

HAL also does the Towel Animal Takeover.

[cocomango]

I like that Carnival doesn't take themselves too seriously. They are silly and make fun of themselves.  That's just the general vibe of the crew. 

 

 

[carol louise]

15 hours ago, Pellaz said:

 

Almost without exception we've gotten a towel animal every evening in our room on our Carnival cruises.  That's kinda fun. …

On the morning of the last full day, weather permitting, Carnival room-stewards will descend en masse on the main pool-deck and place towel animals on every lounger by the main Lido pool.  It's not required; they just DO it.  It's fun.  Show me ANY other cruise line where they do this.  

I’ve been on multiple Carnival cruises, but usually forget about that towel animal zoo—always a delightful surprise!

[Pellaz]

10 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

HAL also does the Towel Animal Takeover.

 

So cool!  I haven't cruised on HAL since I'm not 60 yet.  😉 

 

HAL is part of Carnival, so it shouldn't have surprised me.   

 

 

[glrounds]

Come on, everybody. Admit it. It's the price. I've enjoyed all of my cruises on Carnival, but the main reason I'm there is the price, which, incidentally, isn't always Carnival. Especially for solo cruisers. Finding out there are others, even upscale cruisers like Princess which give me some great pricing out of Galveston. I would like to keep building on my cruise history to get to Diamond shortly, but sometimes you just have to pay homage to the dollar.

And always had a great FUN time on every Carnival cruise.😊