RCI fans cruises Carnival and loved it!

[OHCruisin]

While my first and only cruise on Carnival was not the greatest (still, I don't bash them because of it), I do want to give them another try sometime. Unfortunately, despite everyone always reporting CCL is cheaper, to date I've not found that to be true when I sail (and the ships I'm looking at). So RCI is first choice but I will make it back on Carnival one of these days to check it out.

[Georgiagolfer]

I can't imagine not having a good time on any cruise line. I have been looking more at Carnival lately though since RCI decided to pull out of Galveston full time. I also would consider Carnival for the shorter cruises out of Galveston. Sometimes you just need a quick getaway and RCI pulled out on that one too. But, until I'm unhappy with RCI for whatever reason, they will always be our go-to cruise line. They haven't disappointed me yet! :) :)

 

Is the Carnival Conquest the only ship left in Galveston? With so many people in the West/Midwest, I can't understand why there are no more sailing options.

[Georgiagolfer]

i will never trade rccl for carnival ilove rccl i had taken 10 cruise with carnival and never got a gift from them not even a upgrade,rccl the second cruise they gave me a grade up to a jr suite,carnival does no treat they past guess good,rccl 5***** cruise line

RCI gave the DW and I an upgrade on the Mariner of the Seas last November also. We had booked a regular balcony but really wanted to have a JS. So RCI came through and gave us an upgrade, after we paid the difference in the room.:p Unless there has been an issue, or there is an advertised special, what reason would a cruise line have to give an upgrade from a balcony to a JS.

[Majesty Fan]

Hubby and I are avid RCI fans but do not like that they have moved almost all of the Radiance Class and Voyager class ships out FL. Mariner will be gone next year, I can go on the Brillance but I have to go all the way to Miami and I don't always get 10/11 days of vacation. I can go on Navigator or but it doesn;t do the longer cruises. Bigger is not always better. I have 26 cruises with them and stock too but for now we are on Carnival. I can cruise out of JAx, Tampa, Mobile, Tampa, PC, New Orleans year round on 3-5 day ship and with RCI my closest and only choice is Port Caneveral or Tampa but not year round.

 

Yes Carnival does push the drinks so does RCI. Last hawaii cruise we did the bar goes wpould rather serve a guy who wanted a beer or a frozen drink rather than to refill my coke cup. But they did get that gratiuty on my coke card already which was over $100.

 

CCL seems to go to more ports than RCI. Upgrades. I do get upgrades or money off my balcony. But with AAA I get a 2 catg upgrade on CCL.

 

We will still cruise both lines.

Lexi

[lady_cruiser]

I'm just the opposite. I sailed on Carnival (Conquest) first, then Norweigan (SUN) second, and more recently on RCL (Voyager) - and I felt the RCL was the best of the three.

[CanTex]

Is the Carnival Conquest the only ship left in Galveston? With so many people in the West/Midwest, I can't understand why there are no more sailing options.

No, it's not alone. Carnival Ecstasy is there year-round as well. It does 4 & 5 day Western Caribbean itineraries -- great for a quick getaway.

 

I do wish RCI would revisit its U.S. homeport strategy in light of all of the travel industry turmoil. Carnival seems to be doing that, with bringing a ship back to Baltimore and taking one of its ships off of seasonal European cruises next year.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

I think Carnival has some good ships, but watch out for the charges. On Liberty they were even charging a .50 cake cutting fee for a piece of cake. I think you get what you pay for. Carnival is more of a party cruise based on the ships I have been on. If that is what you are looking for, then they are a good less expensive cruise. Why do you think they call them the "Fun Ships." Just depends on what kind of partying you like I guess.

 

Sorry to hear of your problems on the Inspiration.:(

 

I find it hard to believe that any cruise line is going to charge somebody 50 cents to cut a piece of cake.

 

It's also hard to believe that an employee of CCL would tell you that they miss the port of call at Cozumel 50% of the time.

 

Grand Cayman is way more iffy than Cozumel and I doubt that's anywhere near 50%.

 

What does RCI do when you miss a port of call and how much OBC do they give you?

 

If you ever go on another CCL ship I hope things go a lot better for you.:)

 

Bill

[flcouple]

Sorry to hear of your problems on the Inspiration.:(

 

I find it hard to believe that any cruise line is going to charge somebody 50 cents to cut a piece of cake.

 

It's also hard to believe that an employee of CCL would tell you that they miss the port of call at Cozumel 50% of the time.

 

Grand Cayman is way more iffy than Cozumel and I doubt that's anywhere near 50%.

 

What does RCI do when you miss a port of call and how much OBC do they give you?

 

If you ever go on another CCL ship I hope things go a lot better for you.:)

 

Bill

 

Well RCI has never missed any of my ports. I have had 2 missed ports on CCL. I can't help it if you don't believe what CCL said, but that is what the agent said. Also charging us to return the luggage they lost was an insult. I think you get what you pay for sometimes. The $25 OBC they gave us on the Inspiration was gone with one set of bingo cards. I think putting board games out was also an insult to missing the port. I think what got us was that CCL acted like they could care less about what happened and made it clear that the "contract" says that they don't have to go to the ports and they don't have to do anything if something goes wrong. You get what you pay for. I remember on the news when CCL's Celebration hit bottom in Nassau and had to return to Jax. They gave people a $100 credit towards a new cruise and $50 OBC (I think). Considering the damaged was caused by CCL's captain and the entire cruise was ruined, I think that this shows that they aren't going to go the extra mile even in extreme situations. We have had good experiences on CCL's Celebration (now gone). The cake cutting fee was even on their bill. Four pieces of cake and they were charged $2 for "Cake Cutting and prep Fee."

 

I am not trying to slam CCL, but I have not experenced any of these problems on RCI or NCL. I find that very interesting.

[halos]

Just be aware that the Inspiration doesn't make port in Cozumel almost 50% of the time. That is what Carnival told us later after the messed up our cruise on the Inspiration. Nice ship otherwise.

 

:rolleyes:

To anyone who wants to know about the Inspiration and getting to Cozumel, please go to the CCL boards or the reviews section and read INFORMED and TRUTHFUL posts/reviews.

 

Also, just curious...I haven't sailed RCI yet but have one booked. If RCI misses a port, do they refund more that the port charges???

 

Seriously, your comments are killing me here....

[halos]

Thank you for that - much appreciated!

 

It's not true so don't appreciate it too much.

[flcouple]

:rolleyes:

To anyone who wants to know about the Inspiration and getting to Cozumel, please go to the CCL boards or the reviews section and read INFORMED and TRUTHFUL posts/reviews.

 

Also, just curious...I haven't sailed RCI yet but have one booked. If RCI misses a port, do they refund more that the port charges???

 

Seriously, your comments are killing me here....

 

Well since I was there and heard it myself, I assume you know nothing or the CCL agent lies. I think I'll believe the CCL agent over you anyday. I hate it when people like you make these posts personal attacks. Go to another site please.

[alcman]

We typically cruise RCI or Celebrity, but wanted a quick cruise out of NY/NJ area in April. The Miracle was half the price of Explorer (which we have booked for January) so we tried Carnival for the first time. We really liked the ship and the dining room food was, in our opinion, better than RCI. The rest was six of one, half a dozen of the other to us. Some things were better on RCI, others a little better on Carnival. All the crew we met were friendly and the passengers seemd no different a mix for us than RCI. So no reason to leave RCI, but no reason to not sail Carnival again. One thing we did conclude was that RCI was not worth twice the price for a very similar cruise and itinerary.

Jerry

[halos]

Well since I was there and heard it myself, I assume you know nothing or the CCL agent lies. I think I'll believe the CCL agent over you anyday. I hate it when people like you make these posts personal attacks. Go to another site please.

 

You don't have to believe me either. I just want people who may be interested in that particular ship to get accurate information. Missing Cozumel 50% of the time is not accurate. Posting information like that, which is unaccurate helps no one on the boards.

When that comment was supposedly made to you, didn't you think it was kind of odd?? Have you ever heard of a cruise ship missing a port half the time?? C'mon...it doesn't make sense and you know that. I think the poster who took that information seriously (keggy) should check out reviews on that ship, and maybe even ask a few questions over on the carnivalboards before believing you.

 

And I still would like to know what RCI gives it's passengers if they miss port....or do you think RCI ships are immune to mechanical issues and bad weather and none of them have ever missed a port?

Seriously, I am curious

 

Oh...and since I have an RCI cruise booked, I won't be going to another site. I will be on here periodically. The attack I made was on your post not you. It wasn't accurate and that needed to be clarified. If I had called you a liar, it would have been personal.

[flcouple]

You don't have to believe me either. I just want people who may be interested in that particular ship to get accurate information. Missing Cozumel 50% of the time is not accurate. Posting information like that, which is unaccurate helps no one on the boards.

When that comment was supposedly made to you, didn't you think it was kind of odd?? Have you ever heard of a cruise ship missing a port half the time?? C'mon...it doesn't make sense and you know that. I think the poster who took that information seriously (keggy) should check out reviews on that ship, and maybe even ask a few questions over on the carnivalboards before believing you.

 

And I still would like to know what RCI gives it's passengers if they miss port....or do you think RCI ships are immune to mechanical issues and bad weather and none of them have ever missed a port?

Seriously, I am curious.

 

Well since my knowledge is from direct experience with CCL and your is just from heresay knowledge, you couldn't be more misinformed. I am not going to engage in some kind of email flame war with you, so I'll ignore your future posts. The reality is that they do miss the ports frequently. The truth is that Inspiration is a nice ship, but CCL has no concept of customer service or doing the right thing. Since RCI hasn't done anything to mess us up like CCL, I can't tell you what RCI does. But I can tell you that I have been on more than 15 cruises in the past 30 years and CCL is the Walmart of the cruiselines and even though they have some nice ships, they don't treat you well when there are major problems. They took our money and they ran. Goodbye and good luck to you my friend!

[halos]

Well since my knowledge is from direct experience with CCL and your is just from heresay knowledge, you couldn't be more misinformed. I am not going to engage in some kind of email flame war with you, so I'll ignore your future posts. The reality is that they do miss the ports frequently. The truth is that Inspiration is a nice ship, but CCL has no concept of customer service or doing the right thing. Since RCI hasn't done anything to mess us up like CCL, I can't tell you what RCI does. But I can tell you that I have been on more than 15 cruises in the past 30 years and CCL is the Walmart of the cruiselines and even though they have some nice ships, they don't treat you well when there are major problems. They took our money and they ran. Goodbye and good luck to you my friend!

 

It's fine that you don't like Carnival...you can sail only RCI forever, why would that bother me?? I just want people to check for themselves about the accuracy (or non accuracy) of your statement.

Do you have an issue with me asking people to check this out for themselves????

 

It seems by the other posts on this thread that there are quite a few people out there who like CCL...are you insulting all of us by calling us all Wal-Mart cruisers?? Are we all so beneath you??

 

LOL...it seems you want to make this personal. My only desire here is to make sure people check out for themselves before believing either one of us.

 

Oh and as for direct experience...look at my signature, which includes the Inspiration.

I guess I was one of the lucky 50% because we made it to Cozumel. ;)

 

Here are the Cruise Critic member reviews of this ship...the good, the bad and the ugly all are on this page. I haven't read them, but I'd wager that you won't find complaints from 50% of them that they missed Cozumel. http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=ship&ShipID=10

[Cincy-David]

[quote name='flcouple']Well since I was there and heard it myself, I assume you know nothing or the CCL agent lies. I think I'll believe the CCL agent over you anyday. I hate it when people like you make these posts personal attacks. Go to another site please.[/quote]

Not taking sides, but there was no personal attack here.

Just an experienced cruiser who has been on CCL many times sharing his experience that he does not beleive this to be true. The fact was also disputed by at least one other poster prior to him. He was just adivsing others who might consider CCL to double check this before allowing this potential issue to affect your cruise vacation.

halos is a long time CC member and I have received much valuable advice from this poster and never found it to be incorrect or misinformed. With over 11,000 post, I trust his expertise.

I am not disputing what you were told, it could be a crew member just spouting off bad data on a bad day.

[joan_al]

[quote name='flcouple']Well since my knowledge is from direct experience with CCL and your is just from heresay knowledge, you couldn't be more misinformed. I am not going to engage in some kind of email flame war with you, so I'll ignore your future posts. The reality is that they do miss the ports frequently. The truth is that Inspiration is a nice ship, but CCL has no concept of customer service or doing the right thing. Since RCI hasn't done anything to mess us up like CCL, I can't tell you what RCI does. But I can tell you that I have been on more than 15 cruises in the past 30 years and CCL is the Walmart of the cruiselines and even though they have some nice ships, they don't treat you well when there are major problems. They took our money and they ran. Goodbye and good luck to you my friend![/quote]

Twenty-two posts, six negatives in this thread along.
You've been labeled a [B]TROLL[/B] :eek:

[flcouple]

[quote name='Cincy-David']Not taking sides, but there was no personal attack here.

Just an experienced cruiser who has been on CCL many times sharing his experience that he does not beleive this to be true. The fact was also disputed by at least one other poster prior to him. H was just adivsing others who might consider CCL to double check this before allowing this potential issue to affect your cruise vacation.

halos is a long time CC member and I have received much valuable advice from this poster and never found it to be incorrect or misinformed. With over 11,000 post, I trust his expertise.

I am not disputing what you were told, it could be a crew member just spouting off bad data on a bad day.[/quote]

Thank you. I appreciate your type of response. Halos sounded more like a don't believe it response which isn't appreciated. Re-read his first email to me. I found it very rude and offensive. I have to point out that one of our family members has been on well over 100 cruises and worked for about 20 years as a travel agent. She won't travel on CCL because they were so hard to deal with and always used the same line about "their contract says..." I know that when we missed the port on the Inspiration, there were several people that said that they had been on the Inspiration several times and rarely did they get to go into Cozumel. Granted I can only speak to my own personal experiences, but all these people can't be wrong. Maybe the ship has improved it's port appearances since we were on it. But at the end making us pay over $60 for them to mail us the luggage they lost (COD too) was adding insult to injury and did put a really bad taste in our mouth for CCL. We still might go on them again, but never on the Inspiration.

[flcouple]

[quote name='joan_al']Twenty-two posts, six negatives in this thread along.
You've been labeled a [B]TROLL[/B] :eek:[/quote]

Six negatives? So if I say something bad about CCL I am a troll? Sounds like the pot calling the kettle black.

[halos]

[quote name='joan_al']Twenty-two posts, six negatives in this thread along.
You've been labeled a [B]TROLL[/B] :eek:[/QUOTE]

It's all good. As long as people have access to the correct information, that's all that matters.
Oh and Cincy/David, thank you. :)

[thesawch]

I am not sure a ship would miss Cozumel 50% of the time as its a docked port.Grand Caymen is one of the most missed ports due to weather or rough seas and it is not anywhere near 50% of the time and its tendered.Sounds kinda inflated to me also!!!

[TxStacey]

[quote name='thesawch']I am not sure a ship would miss Cozumel 50% of the time as its a docked port.Grand Caymen is one of the most missed ports due to weather or rough seas and it is not anywhere near 50% of the time and its tendered.Sounds kinda inflated to me also!!![/quote]
I believe this as well..why would Carnival have Cozumel on thier itenerary if they were going to miss it 50% of the time..I have sailed Carnival 5 times and 4 of those times included Cozumel..never missed it once..
WOW! I better get my popcorn and margaritas:) ! And by the way...eventhough I am sailing RCI this year, I do take offense to the reference of Carnival being the Walmart of cruises! I would sail them anytime and any day!! I believe that anyone that uses that reference is just plain ignorant..

[TexasSunshine]

Hey There TXMary!

Just wondering if we yet have a hotel in San Juan? :)

Just found this thread and thought I would see what's going on. ;)

[ruskatab]

[quote name='flcouple']Six negatives? So if I say something bad about CCL I am a troll? Sounds like the pot calling the kettle black.[/quote]

I think maybe your confusing Grand Cayman with Cozumel. Grand Cayman is more likely to get skipped than Cozumel. Weve never missed either on any of cruises but have seen alot of disappointed poeple for missing Gran Cayman. Also what was it you said about the cake cutting fee? Ive never heard of one person on this board reporting a cake cutting fee. There must of been a mistake and you were charged for the cake.

[ruskatab]

[quote name='halos']You don't have to believe me either. I just want people who may be interested in that particular ship to get accurate information. Missing Cozumel 50% of the time is not accurate. Posting information like that, which is unaccurate helps no one on the boards.
When that comment was supposedly made to you, didn't you think it was kind of odd?? Have you ever heard of a cruise ship missing a port half the time?? C'mon...it doesn't make sense and you know that. I think the poster who took that information seriously (keggy) should check out reviews on that ship, and maybe even ask a few questions over on the carnivalboards before believing you.

And I still would like to know what RCI gives it's passengers if they miss port....or do you think RCI ships are immune to mechanical issues and bad weather and none of them have ever missed a port?
Seriously, I am curious

Oh...and since I have an RCI cruise booked, I won't be going to another site. I will be on here periodically. The attack I made was on your post not you. It wasn't accurate and that needed to be clarified. If I had called you a liar, it would have been personal.[/quote]


I think ive read where RC gives about the same amount as Carnival for a missed port like 25 OBC. Flcouple is making it out like RC gives back hundreds on a missed port and that not the case. The 2 lines are very similiar and you will like RC also but will probbaly be disappointed with the food especially the pizza. But you can get omelets for breakfast with room service on RC and they were really good.