RCCL vs Carnival

[joeyancho]

Let me start by saying I am a Diamond member. I am usually loyal to RCCL but my last 2 cruises have been on Carnival. It seems to me that RCCL has gotten expensive and the ports of departure in the Caribbean are so inconvenient. The combination of the airfare and high prices has forced me to go with Carnival in these tough economic times. I prefer Royal but I also have to watch my pennies.............Anyone feel the same???

[petesweet]

Let me start by saying I am a Diamond member. I am usually loyal to RCCL but my last 2 cruises have been on Carnival. It seems to me that RCCL has gotten expensive and the ports of departure in the Caribbean are so inconvenient. The combination of the airfare and high prices has forced me to go with Carnival in these tough economic times. I prefer Royal but I also have to watch my pennies.............Anyone feel the same???

 

Sorry - would rather not cruise then.

[honeywell]

My last two cruises were on board the Carnival Liberty, which is a newer ship. I thought it was fine, but am iterested in making the comparison to my upcoming cruise on the Independence. For much less we had two balcony cabins connecting on the Liberty. This time we are four in a cabin on RCL.

[ken_nyc]

Our first 2 cruises were on Carnival, at the time the ships were less than a year old. We had a great time on our Carnival cruises! We wanted to try a different cruise line for our last cruise and we went on the Mariner and also had a great time. We have another Royal Caribbean cruise booked for the Adventure in August. If a cruise was significantly cheaper and it was a ship and itinerary that I would want to go on I definitely would do another Carnival cruise!

[poohbear]

Ok here it goes. We sailed the Carnival Valor in March with the kids, and did Freedom of the Seas in Oct. without the kids. The kids had a great time on the Valor, and would have had a great time on the Freedom.

 

Differences I have seen: Ship decor is beautiful on RCI. Food was ok. The food on Carnival in MDR was much better. However the food in the Windjammer was better than buffet on Valor. The staff on both ships was excellent.

 

We would love to take the kids on the Freedom, but price is a problem. There are 5 of us so we either need 2 cabins or a suite and suites are out of our price range. Yes we are balcony snobs so I have to take that into consideration.

 

 

We have had a great time on both lines. I have to say if you are going to use the rock wall, flowrider, ice rink than go with RCI, but if those things are not important to you than Carnival is a great alernative.

 

Overall I would sail either. I would rather be on Carnival than no cruise at all. In the end it is up to you and your family. A vacation is what you make of it. Cruising any day of the week is better than not cruising.

[KULPN]

We cruised the RCL Voyager of the Seas to Alaska in 1999. We have cruised CCL's Fantasy, Inspiration & are now booked on the Liberty for 11/19. I thought the decor on RCL was more upscale than the art deco look on Carnival but we will cruise anywhere on any ship if we can afford it. We make our own fun & love it. When we went on the CCL Inspiration out of Tampa in 06, it was dirty & the crew seemed apathetic. I heard it is refurbished & improved. Hope so as we live in the Tampa area. Have to drive to Miami to do East Caribbean---only Western out of Tampa.

[dcastro]

Go with carnival. You'll get 90% of the stuff for 30% of the price.

[caribbeanboy]

We had a cabin for four on our upcomming cruise at the end of the Nov. and the prices dropped so significantly that we could get an additional cabin without paying a penny. So now we have 2 cabins for 2 each.

[DonnaK]

I think that sometimes, you get what you pay for. Our Carnival cruise, on a brand-new ship at the time, was a huge disappointment compared to RCI. We wouldn't sail with them again even if it were free. Now before you dismiss me as a typical RCI cheerleader, we sailed Princess this past summer, and thought it was a comparable experience to RCI. Carnival simply was a poor match for us.

 

Click on the links in my signature to my reviews for detailed comparisons.

[Dpeeps]

Ok here it goes. We sailed the Carnival Valor in March with the kids, and did Freedom of the Seas in Oct. without the kids. The kids had a great time on the Valor, and would have had a great time on the Freedom.

 

Differences I have seen: Ship decor is beautiful on RCI. Food was ok. The food on Carnival in MDR was much better. However the food in the Windjammer was better than buffet on Valor. The staff on both ships was excellent.

 

We would love to take the kids on the Freedom, but price is a problem. There are 5 of us so we either need 2 cabins or a suite and suites are out of our price range. Yes we are balcony snobs so I have to take that into consideration.

 

 

We have had a great time on both lines. I have to say if you are going to use the rock wall, flowrider, ice rink than go with RCI, but if those things are not important to you than Carnival is a great alernative.

 

Overall I would sail either. I would rather be on Carnival than no cruise at all. In the end it is up to you and your family. A vacation is what you make of it. Cruising any day of the week is better than not cruising.

I know what you mean about loving the balcony...and we too have 5 of us....and my husband and I get a balcony cabin and the kids get an inside cabin across the hall from us. They don't mind at all....they are hardly ever in their cabin and if they do want to look out of the balcony they can come into our cabin! But the kids do enjoy the rock wall, ice skating, and all that royal caribbean has to offer!!!

[songster2]

We cruised the RCL Voyager of the Seas to Alaska in 1999. We have cruised CCL's Fantasy, Inspiration & are now booked on the Liberty for 11/19. I thought the decor on RCL was more upscale than the art deco look on Carnival but we will cruise anywhere on any ship if we can afford it. We make our own fun & love it. When we went on the CCL Inspiration out of Tampa in 06, it was dirty & the crew seemed apathetic. I heard it is refurbished & improved. Hope so as we live in the Tampa area. Have to drive to Miami to do East Caribbean---only Western out of Tampa.

 

Has Voyager of the Seas ever been to Alaska? :confused:

[chotton]

I will never set foot on a Carnival ship again. I went on the Celebration for spring break my senior year of college (1995). It was the worst cruise I have ever been on. The food was terrible, staff unfriendly, and the ship was really dirty.

 

I think my wife and I will stick with RCI, Celebrity or Princess for the time being.

[mj cruiser]

I prefer RCL but always check the prices. Carnival was fine and I agree the buffet on RCL was way better but we had a great time on both cruises. If I can save tons of money and go on Carnival and use that money for other fun stuff I would do it....I just love to cruise so put me on a ship anywhere!!! :D

[Luv4dacruise]

Has Voyager of the Seas ever been to Alaska? :confused:

 

No Voyager Class ship has ever been to Alaska....Someones just a bit confused :p

[luv2vacation]

Let me start by saying I am a Diamond member. I am usually loyal to RCCL but my last 2 cruises have been on Carnival. It seems to me that RCCL has gotten expensive and the ports of departure in the Caribbean are so inconvenient. The combination of the airfare and high prices has forced me to go with Carnival in these tough economic times. I prefer Royal but I also have to watch my pennies.............Anyone feel the same???

 

I know exactly how you feel. The prices on RCCL have gotten expensive. Even with my Diamond discount I can save around $1000 by sailing on Carnival. I am talking about a new Carnival ship too. There are a lot of things I can buy with that money and still be able to enjoy a famiily vacation. I don't have a problem with Carnival either. I have sailed on their ships several times without any problems.

[Georgiagolfer]

DW and I have sailed both lines numerous times. Our last 2 cruises were Mariner of the Seas (12/07), and Carnival Glory (5/08). Both ships are about the same age, and Loved both. Mariner has rock wall, ice rink, Promenade area with parades, is more glitzy than Glory. We felt the service was equal on both sailings. Dress in MDR definitely more casual and laid back on Glory. Food OK on both with nothing to brag about.

 

With today's economy, we are looking to do more for less. If we can save $$$ by sailing CCL, then that is what we will do. For the posters that won't sail CCL if it's free, send the free cruise my way.

[xanax]

I will never set foot on a Carnival ship again. I went on the Celebration for spring break my senior year of college (1995). It was the worst cruise I have ever been on. The food was terrible, staff unfriendly, and the ship was really dirty.

 

That was almsot 14 years ago!?! Things have changed! ;)

[CARMNRICO]

I've only sailed on Carnival and had great experiences both times. We'll be on MOS in a week so I can better compare then. However, for us, it's more about the destinations than the ship so we'd probably book the least expensive cruise with the best/most ports whether it was Carnival, Royal, Princess, or Norwegian.

[anaslile]

That was almsot 14 years ago!?! Things have changed! ;)

Seriously, that's like saying you'll never eat Pizza again because you overindulged on it one time as a kid.

[CanTex]

That was almsot 14 years ago!?! Things have changed! ;)

LOL. And it was a spring break cruise too (which even today I would avoid on an cruise line).

 

Ships on both lines are much different today than what the Celebration offered at that time. CCL has only one ship of that class left in its fleet.

[COCKYMARK]

Been on both rccl is worth a little more!! go with rccl!!:o

[clwnmt2]

For us it is not always about the ports. We have seen all of the Caribbean so we go with what ship we want and have always been happier on RCL. We also check out the average age of the passengers on that certain ship and we see if it will be close to spring break. We have found out that cruises longer then 7 days tend to have an older crowd. We went on an 8 day and found more walkers and wheelchairs then on most of our 7 day cruises. Having been on both lines we do not want to cruise on CCL we just found that the buffet was not up to par and in our experience the crew was less then friendly. I am sure many of you have had great crew on CCL but we did not which is too bad because we are afraid to try them again.

[BillandKateC]

We have been on both lately and enjoyed all of our cruises. The food might be just a tad better on Carnival and the ships are nicer on Royal.

Much better service on Royal in the dining room, but we find Carnival has more activities and Bingo is cheaper with bigger winnings on Carnival.

 

So all in all both are great. We also loved Holland and Princess, but would not do NCL again.

 

We are going to do Carnival in early Jan and then back on Royal in May:)