How would you rate Carnival vs Royal Carribbean?

[Successea]

We always cruise RCCL yet have been reading about this new ship the Splendor with spa cabins etc and sounds pretty neat. In our 40s with a 3 year old and we're not the party hard types so not sure if Carnival Splendor is right for us.... Thanks in advance for the help.

[Shoequeen]

I just happened to come across your post, and will be curious to see the answers to your questions. We, too, are pretty much RCCI, and Princess fans. We are, however, going on the Splendor on July 2nd for the inagural cruise in Europe. We are very much looking forward to it, but we are also anxious to see the differences beween Carnival and the others.

[alinehu]

Why the people have the idea that Carnival is only for the party hard?? There is something for everyone.Im also in my 40's never have been the party hard type.i have cruised on Carnival and RCCl as well as other lines. We always have enjoyed Carnival with or without our kids.My kids now are grown up (14 and 18) but they have been traveling since they were 3.The first one being onboard the Inspiration and the last one a Med cruise on board the Freedom .Great children program, great entertaiment and the food is way much better than RCCL.Crew is the heart of the ship.you will always find a quiet place on the ship if you like.Give it a try,you are going to love it.

[alinehu]

shoequeen:

You are lucky!! You are going to also have the best crew and John Heald as your cruise director.Prepare for the best time of your life.If you have any question please ask.I also been on board RCCl and princess so I can compare

[alinehu]

May i recomend that you read John Heald blog

http://johnhealdsblog.com if you want to know more about the Splendor and Carnival/

[BeyondKen]

We're not the party hardy types.

I just sailed the Carnival Glory. They serve tea with sandwiches every afternoon in the Ivory Club with live classical music.

 

You may not be able to handle such excitement.

[jordanaire]

Party hard? C'mon! Just because Carnival's commercial ads say "FunShips" doesn't mean that it's nothing more than a drunken party boat! My wife and I are ready to set sail on our 12th Carnival cruise and will continue sailing with them for a long, long time. We are both in our early 50s, don't drink and have been known to hit the dance floor once or twice during all of our cruises. But there's no better way to spend a vacation than to take a Carnival cruise!

 

We've taken 2 RCL cruises and enjoyed both of them very much. There were a few differences that we noticed between both cruise lines, but all-in-all, we like Carnival better. The bigger RCL ships have alot more to offer, but along with it comes the longer lines of people. The food was very similar to Carnival's, but the diningroom service was better at Carnival.

 

Maybe the "FunShip" ads are referring to the family atmosphere aboard the Carnival fleet of ships. Sure, you're going to see a small number of college-age kids having the times of their lives, but we saw that on both RCL cruises, sometimes even worse!

 

Would I go back to RCL for a cruise in the future? Probably. But right now, we have never had any complaints with Carnival, so why should we? Book your Carnival cruise and see for yourself. You WILL have a great cruise!

 

:cool: Bill

[mom2girls]

I've taken 2 cruises with Royal Caribbean. One was on it's smaller ship. The other was on it's largest ship. In my personal opinion, Carnival is MUCH better. I really enjoy the entertainment in the dining room. I also found that the room stewards on Carnival take the extra effort to call you by name, and see if there is anything special you may need. And, last but not least the food on Carnival is a great deal better. (Unless you want to go to Chops or Portofino's everyday on Royal Caribbean. But,that can get kind of expensive.)

[Shoequeen]

May i recomend that you read John Heald blog

http://johnhealdsblog.com if you want to know more about the Splendor and Carnival/

Thanks so much for the info... I was reading another thread and they talked about John's blog, but I didn't have the slightest idea what they were referring to. Now I do and I will certainly check it out.

[GaryWT]

We sailed RC 4 times and then tried Carnival. The first thing we noticed is that there was a lot less drinking and less pushing the drinks on Carnival.

 

Carnival had a rep back in the 80's and part of the 90's as the party ships but have moved towards the family cruise the last few years.

 

We love RC, our first three cruises were great and we never considered changing, thought nothing could be better. After our Navigator cruise we found the staff to be overworked thus service not as good. The dining room service was slow etc. The basic set up of the ship did not work for us.

 

We decided it was a big ship thing so we try to stay with the smaller ships. We could not find anything on RC on the smaller ships so we tried Carnival and liked it a lot. The kids had fun, the food was good, the staff was great.

 

Someday we will try a larger Carnival ship but right now we like the service on the smaller ships.

[Successea]

Great info. Thanks all! John's blog is great and we're looking into Baltic 8/6/08. Basically any cruise is great...

[J and J]

Why the people have the idea that Carnival is only for the party hard?? There is something for everyone.Im also in my 40's never have been the party hard type.i have cruised on Carnival and RCCl as well as other lines. We always have enjoyed Carnival with or without our kids.My kids now are grown up (14 and 18) but they have been traveling since they were 3.The first one being onboard the Inspiration and the last one a Med cruise on board the Freedom .Great children program, great entertaiment and the food is way much better than RCCL.Crew is the heart of the ship.you will always find a quiet place on the ship if you like.Give it a try,you are going to love it.

 

Wow so you prefer Carnival's for over RCCL? We were last on RCCL and worried about booking Carnival for all the stereo types it's been given. The more I read on the boards, the more excited I am getting. We are on the Valor 8/10/08. Thanks for the input.

[firefly333]

Iv been on both cruiselines and so far the only party hardies were on the RCL Rhapsody, but it was Easter week, so I dont hold that against RCL, just saying the only loud obnoxious drunks were on a RCL cruise, not on Carnival. Some times its about timing, if you go spring break or close you are going to run into more drinking.

 

My last RCL cruise we kept saying to ourselves, we couldnt wait until our Conquest cruise and a cabin that was 220 s.f. the OV we had was pretty tiny. Carnival has the best pizza and beds of any cruiseline. I hear RCL food is better if you like heavy sauces, it wasnt my taste but I can always find something to eat. Carnival Conquest has more eating options and buffet open more hours. They also have sur mer for fish and a sushi place hidden near the children's activities. Plus a deli where you can get reuban sandwiches they toast there and are to die for. My sister likes those especially. We skipped the dining room the last night for me to get pizza and she got her reuban, we were tired of heavy fancy food. So maybe Im just an odd ball, but I preferred the food on Carnival. I know I would get stoned on RCL for thinking that. That being said you can bet I still want to rebook Voyager on RCL, variety is the spice of life and I always have fun. You can say you prefer the food on one cruiseline over another without meaning you wouldnt jump at the chance to go on Voyager. Just cant get away now.

[alinehu]

Glad I could help!!! Yes I prefer Carnival over RCCL. Last year because of the turns in life I end up doing Carnival Freedom and Adventure Of the Seas with just a month between them and that really gave me a chance to compare. In entertainment and food there is a great diference yes.But the thing that impressed me the most is the human part of it.Adventure is a big beautiful ship but it is just that a hollow structure.The Freedom had a heart. The people we meet on board. The crew made our experience unforgetable, perfect.Read John's last blog Carnival Emotions thats it.Succeseas John Heald or other CD is going to be there to welcome you home.That makes the difference.

Any cruise is great is what you make of it.

[Sky Sweet]

My husband and I have been on many cruises, but we only took one Carnvial Cruise eight years ago. At the time I felt Royal Caribbean and Celebrity had beter food, but Celebrity's food has slipped in recent years, and I have heard that Carnival's food has improved during that time frame.

 

With that said, we decided to try Carnival again and will be sailing from NYC to Canada on Victory in August.

 

My only concern is that Carnival has a higher passenger per crew ratio, but as long as the service is good, it is not important to us to have a waiter who spends a lot of time chatting with each table during dinner.

[dan40]

If you sailed the FREEDOM OF THE SEAS on Jan.1. Then sailed CARNIVAL FREEDOM on Feb.1. Then FOS again Mar.1. Back to CF Apr. 1. Would you have 2 RCL cruises alike and 2 CCL cruises alike? NO, you would not. You would have 4 distinctly different cruises.

And the difference between the 2 FOS cruises could well be greater than the differences between FOS and CF. On 7 day cruises, you could take all the pax from a CCL cruise and all the pax from a RCL cruise. Put them all in a warehouse, mix em up and nobody on the planet would be able to pick out one from the other.

 

RCL has the better ships, CCL has the better cruise experience. But I'm talking 99 to 98 in both cases.

 

Dan

[alinehu]

Dan:

Great way to put it and its true.

Now the question that you have to ask is What do you prefer The better cruise experience or the better ship ?

Ill go with the better cruise experience anytime.

[Countryspice]

I'm mostly a lurker here but I have been on 1 RC cruise and 1 Carnival cruise. The Explorer of the Seas and the Carnival miracle. My first cruise was the Explorer because when I was deciding upon RC or Carnival my friends told me how much better RC was over Carnival. They said Carnival was a drunken party boat with low class people. They told me how luxurious RC was so I was expecting to be pampered in a luxurious cruiseline. Boy I never should have listened to them. :rolleyes: What I found on the Explorer was a dirty ship, glasses and dishes left in the elevators and the buffet area. The food in the dining room was cold and bland most of the time. And as far as drunks, up in the pool area there were a whole bunch of kids drunk one night and one even through up. :eek: There was a thread on the Ask a cruise question section of this site and I wrote the same thing. My friends told me how Carnival was a drunken party boat but yet I didn't find that at all when I sailed with them. As a matter of fact, that Carnival cruise was so much better. The service, food and everything I found better on Carnival. The service on RC was nothing special. The only thing I would give RC the edge for was the decor of the ship, but it was clouded because of how dirty the ship was. Ohhh and I also paid a lot more money for that RC cruise. :mad: That Royal Promande was also nothing special. It was way too crowded and if I didn't know I was on a ship, I would have thought I was at my local mall at Christmastime. That is how crowded it was. I really don't know what the hype is about RC. The Miracle was extremely clean and the service was excellent. The food was very good as well. I would definitely sail Carnival again. I would also sail RC again to give them a second chance, but I will never go on the Explorer again. I will try a different ship. Maybe it will be better.

 

I also find that the people on the RC section of this site compared to the Carnival people much nastier. The RC people seem to like to make fun of the Carnival people. I don't like people like that. I would never post this on that portion of this site. They would throw me to the sharks. :(

[dan40]

Dan:

Great way to put it and its true.

Now the question that you have to ask is What do you prefer The better cruise experience or the better ship ?

Ill go with the better cruise experience anytime.

 

Roger that!

 

To us, its really where we feel like going, what we feel like doing. The line that satisfys that is the one we use. The ship is just a tool. Sometimes a great tool, but a tool.

 

Dan

[IndyGirl]

Carnival has bigger bathrooms! LOL!

[belldebb]

We have sailed on both cruise lines several times (5+) and we are in the 40 age bracket. When we sail on both lines, we have sailed with our children ages 16-25. We have all voted we like Royal the best. The line itself pays attention to the small details.

Example; On the steps of Carnival Glory a slice of tomatoe was dropped. That slice of tomatoe stayed on the step the entire week; it dried on it.

On Mariner of the Sea our 16 year old purposely dropped a slice; it was removed the next morning we noticed on our walk.

The difference is the detail but both lines...it all depends on the ship!

happy cruisin...

d. bell

[firefly333]

We have sailed on both cruise lines several times (5+) and we are in the 40 age bracket. When we sail on both lines, we have sailed with our children ages 16-25. We have all voted we like Royal the best. The line itself pays attention to the small details.

Example; On the steps of Carnival Glory a slice of tomatoe was dropped. That slice of tomatoe stayed on the step the entire week; it dried on it.

On Mariner of the Sea our 16 year old purposely dropped a slice; it was removed the next morning we noticed on our walk.

The difference is the detail but both lines...it all depends on the ship!

happy cruisin...

d. bell

 

Yup, we were in a quad on the SOV and it had a broken bunk bed, instead of fixing it, they decorated it with a picture, hanging out from the wall, it wouldnt go up completely. Obviously had been broken a long time for them to be decorating it hanging a picture from the side.

 

When it got rough the bed snapped down and could have hit my sister on the top of her head had she been sitting up instead of sleeping at 3 a.m. All our room steward asked was if we got hurt, nope, ok fine. Yup, the proof is in the details. Lets leave a dangerous upper bunk hanging out from the wall. At least they are right there with those fans when the sewers back up on deck 2 of those older ships that are known for their bad smells on that deck.

[mom2girls]

Yes, it does depend on the ship. We went on Liberty of the Seas last year. This is a brand new ship. It was one of it's first sailings. Yet, we constantly saw dirt. The mirrors were all smudged. There was food left out on the tables on the Lido deck for several hours, etc.

 

I've been on the Inspiration twice. There was always someone there to pick up plates when you were done eating. Also, we always saw crew cleaning the railings, elevators, etc.

 

So, it does depend on the ship. In my experience Carnival is better. (Maybe, it's more difficult to keep the bigger ships clean. Although, the Glory was much cleaner than Liberty of the Seas and, they are close to the same size.)