Considering a move to Carnival

[Fawn]

I'd like some advice here from Carnival cruisers. I've done Disney for years with my daughters, and we love it. But we're thinking of trying something new...mostly because my girls are getting older, and we just need a change!

 

This is a cruise for myself and two daughters, 19 and 20 next year. The lines we are looking into are Princess, Celebrity and Carnival. We have done RCCL and didn't like it at all, so that's out.

 

Thanks for any opinions or advice on which ships you can offer us!!

[firefly333]

Carnival is more like RCL than not. If there were things you didnt like about RCL you probably wouldnt like Carnival either. What didnt you like on RCL? One thing about RCL and Carnival, neither enforces the adults only areas the way Disney does.

 

Princess and Celebrity will be quieter with fewer kids.

[dclark]

We have done a lot of cruises, been on CCL/RCL and Princess. My daughters (ages 15/17) like Princess best. They like how it has less ill behaved teenagers, feels classier and better food. I am not getting subjective here, Princess has more seafood and my daughters like it.

My wife and I both like Princess best, but still like CCL a lot. A bigger consideration is the itenery and ship. During the summer, Princess is near non existent in the carribean (one ship out of NY) and next year, they'll have another (the Emerald). I think Celebrity is not there at all during summer.

[Fawn]

We're looking at Spring break in March, 2010.

 

On RCCL, my girls hated the teen club, albeit they wouldn't be in it at this point. We thought the food was terrible...two of us lost weight...on a cruise??? We thought the entertainment was cheesy Vegas at best, the service lacking and the staff apathetic. There was a rock climbing wall that was closed 9 out of 10 times they went to it. When I say we hated it, we really did! LOL

 

One of my daughter's friends cruised Carnival and came back with stories. From the smoke filled public rooms to the "overboard" partying, they aren't sure it's for them. They like to have fun, don't get me wrong, but they're uncomfortable with some of the accompanying behavior...if that makes sense?

 

I will add that the only reason they did like RCCL at the time was because there were less restrictions on where they could go. They both love music, and liked being able to go to the bars/clubs onboard to listen and dance. At their age, that's no longer an issue anyways, of course.

[firefly333]

Bad luck about the rock wall being closed. On voyager it was even open at night, because the kids at our table rushed there every night. They said they had the wall to themselves.

 

I think RCL and Carnival has about a similar amount of drinking, and children, both cater to families. I wouldnt say Carnival has more ill behaved children, its more luck of the draw and some of the things you say your girls hated.

 

If they hated the teen club on RCL I dont know why they would love it on Carnival, but you say they have outgrown it anyway. The two cruiselines are more alike than not in a lot of these things.

 

I do agree Princess had more seafood, so I preferred the food on Princess best overall. One cruise we had the cold all you can eat crab legs, shrimp and other seafood the first night which was supper, up in the buffet and skipped the dining room as most did.

 

Carnival I liked second, but last RCL cruise I thought the food was much improved, so sometimes thats a matter of luck and taste too, but I always like Carnival food too. I can always find more than enough to eat on any cruise.

 

The shows on Carnival if anything show more, i.e. more bottoms without much clothing. Again similar to RCL, but I think Carnival has skimpier outfits, just my opinion, but I dont care one way or another, both are similar. Princess we thought it was unusual they had women of all sizes dancing and singing, not all thin skinny girls.

[patrickmoran]

I have sailed CCL, Princess, and RCL and did not find much difference between them. My personal preference is CCL but I have not sailed with older children.

[quiltingandcruising]

I have cruised RCL, CCL, Princess and Norwegian. I liked different things on different lines - With RCL the ship I was on and the staff was the best - I cruised with my kids durning spring break and my son has a great time as he was viewed as the bad boy (public school kid) and all the kids he met were private school kids - the people were not as friendly

 

CCL - again spring break but this time over 1000 kids under the age of 18 on board - never again on spring break - could have happen any ship and line just happened on ccl - again the staff was great - food not as good as RCL IMHO but good - people much friendlier and all in all had a great time - all the kids stressed me out alittle and one of them was mine

 

Princess - an Alaskan cruise - different bird altogather - dining not great - without the kids - people great

 

and Norwegian - smaller ship - ran out of the beer I drink - never heard of such a thing - did not like the anytime dining

 

Hope this helps

 

PS I am cruising on CCL again this September

[yogimax]

Just curious - what's not to like about RCCL?

[tink24]

I am also a lover of DCL. My husband and I decided to try the Splendor last week because we got an awesome deal and wanted to make a comparison. This is what we decided....

 

1) Food on Carnival was better

2) Supper Club could not compare to Disney's Palo, but it was decent. Only worth one trip though

3) DCL's ships are more elegant. Decor an Splendor was gawdy, but for the price, who cares?!

4) More pools and jacuzzis on Carnival

5) Shows, sailaway party, pirate party on DCL blow Carnival away. Carnival shows were cheesy, but I'm easily entertained.

6) Carnival's kids club was far superior to DCL for kids 5 and under

7) Cabin service and dining room service was also better on Carnival

8) embarkation was easy on both

9) debarkation on Carnival was a pain in the a$$. On Disney, we ate breakfast, walked off boat and never saw our luggage until our flight arrived at LAX.

10) There is no real substitute for Castaway Cay!

11) DCL is really expensive compared to Carnival (no amount of free soda can make up the difference!)

12) Cabins are roughly the same size. DCL has bathtubs and curtain dividers with fold down sofa beds in all staterooms. Very helpful when traveling with a toddler.

 

We basically decided that we will probably sail on DCL one more time before my son gets too old for the "magic." For the price/value, Carnival will have the majority of our business. I have sailed Princess, NCL and Royal Caribbean. Food on Princess was the best. Everything else was a wash. Hopes this helps.:)

[thepeach]

Carnival is more like RCL than not. If there were things you didnt like about RCL you probably wouldnt like Carnival either. What didnt you like on RCL? One thing about RCL and Carnival, neither enforces the adults only areas the way Disney does.

 

Princess and Celebrity will be quieter with fewer kids.

I don't agree. We did not have a great cruise in November on RCL, cancelled our RCL cruise for this November and have booked an October cruise on the Splendor. The service on both lines is about the same, but there is no comparison on the food or activities. We were absolutely bored on our RCL cruise, and the Loyal Royals at our table complained about the food. RCL is simply not the Fun Ship, and we will never go back.

[firefly333]

I don't agree. We did not have a great cruise in November on RCL, cancelled our RCL cruise for this November and have booked an October cruise on the Splendor. The service on both lines is about the same, but there is no comparison on the food or activities.

 

Iv had better service on RCL and the ships are prettier and found food much improved this past spring on Voyager. I like having Johnny Rockets with my free coupon and the pizza comes out piping hot on promenade deck and Carnival leaves it sitting for a little while. There are pluses and minuses on both which I find equal out. I also found we were blasted out by the big screen when the bands played they put on Conquest which ruined our time at the pool this past time, so RCL gets a huge nod there. I like sitting out at the pool, so to me we had plenty to do on RCL.

 

To me, I still think both lines are about equal, one has this, the other has that...

[shadoo]

We have only cruised on Carnival, so I am biased. We haven't tried any other cruise line because we have NEVER had a bad time on Carnival. Food has always been good, entertainment good, ships have been clean and service terrific.

On the Legend this past winter the "Adults only" areas were strictly enforced and we saw children escorted away from those areas. This is where we spent all our time and loved it.

The only reason we would try another cruise line is to try an itinerary that is not offered on Carnival. :)

[poobears]

Carnival gets our business because of the prices. I enjoy carnival so can't imagine why I would pay more for the extras you get on other ships. I don't need to be constantly entertained with rock walls etc and the decor really doesn't matter much. I prefer to look at the outside decor and that's the same from all the ships, a gorgeous ocean and never ending sky.

 

We can all give opinions but the only way you will know if it's right for your family is to try it and I think you definitely should. I also wouldn't judge a whole line based on one bad cruise. All cruise lines have off cruises, it's going to happen sooner or later and sometimes it's just your bad luck that you got that bad cruise. You may go again and absolutely love it.

 

For me the food on Carnival is ok, not fabulous like some (including my dh) think, hard to know if you will like it better or not.

[GlendaleCruiser]

I've cruised Carnival and Princess and have been happy with both, but Carnival's prices are better. Food was about the same, but I hear that Carnival food is better than RCCL--I'm not sure. I only know that I've taken my teenagers twice (they are older now) and any problems we've had were always minor and taken care of. They are anxious to cruise Carnival when their kids are old enough.

[rsinj]

You are going to find that you get a whole lot more value for your money than with Disney. That's not to say that DCL doesn't offer a great product, however, you definitely pay for it.

 

For the price of Disney, you can easily find yourself in a high-end suite with Carnival and be paying much less money.

 

 

 

Howard

[poobears]

I agree about Disney prices. That was our dream cruise when the kids were younger. The prices kept us away though. They are crazy high when you have a big family.

 

Dh and I keep saying when the kids are out of the house, then we can afford to do Disney :p

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Iv had better service on RCL and the ships are prettier and found food much improved this past spring on Voyager. I like having Johnny Rockets with my free coupon and the pizza comes out piping hot on promenade deck and Carnival leaves it sitting for a little while. There are pluses and minuses on both which I find equal out. I also found we were blasted out by the big screen when the bands played they put on Conquest which ruined our time at the pool this past time, so RCL gets a huge nod there. I like sitting out at the pool, so to me we had plenty to do on RCL.

 

To me, I still think both lines are about equal, one has this, the other has that...

 

I agree with your comparisons about the lines. One thing I wanted to mention from your post earlier is that I have been reading that Princess has done away with the seafood buffet on the first night.

 

Also OP is cruising spring break and didn't like RCI. I can't see how they'd like CCL.

 

Me I cruise on all lines. I go on a cruise to relax and unwind and don't walk around comparing everything.:)

 

Bill

[iancal]

We gave been on most lines from Crystal to NCL. We booked a March cruise on Carnival this year. It was our first-DW had reservations because of the bad press on some of the Carnival short turnaround party cruises. We went on the Spirit, apparently one of most conservative from a decor perspective. The cruise was 8 days, leaving mid week. We had a balcony cabin. It was a toss up between this and a HAL trip. The HAL 7 day balcony was actually less money than the Carnival 8 day balcony-but on on per diem basis they were about same. We enjoyed our Carnival cruise very much. Some things we liked better than others, but this is always the case. Would we select another Carnival cruise....yes. But we have never had a bad cruise.

[Deloresgardella]

I have sailed on RCL, Princess and NCL. I did sail Carnival about 20 years ago and really enjoyed. It has been 10 years since I sailed NCL though. I usually choose the itinerary then the ship. I really liked Princess better than RCL, of course I am older and don't need all of the extras. I am trying Carnival for the first time in many years. The last time I went on it I had a very good time and really enjoyed it.

Delores

[Fawn]

After going back and talking to my girls, the one thing they had to say about the RCCL cruise was they were bored. Other than going to hear some "lame" music at night, there was nothing to do. They didn't like the shows...but then neither did I, really. For me, looking back, it was the food/service that was the biggest issue. I've gone on the RCCL boards, and have to say that maybe we just got a really bad cruise for some reason...maybe just an older clientele so there weren't as many activities??

 

This is all helping...thank you so much!!

[firefly333]

After going back and talking to my girls, the one thing they had to say about the RCCL cruise was they were bored. Other than going to hear some "lame" music at night, there was nothing to do. They didn't like the shows...but then neither did I, really. For me, looking back, it was the food/service that was the biggest issue. I've gone on the RCCL boards, and have to say that maybe we just got a really bad cruise for some reason...maybe just an older clientele so there weren't as many activities??

 

This is all helping...thank you so much!!

 

I find the activities more similar between the cruiselines that not. One has hairy chest, one has hairy legs, whats the dif?

 

What may change from one cruise to another is who is onboard. Especially with your girls, if they find some friends to hang out with, that would make the cruise for them and kids find their own things to do. We got active with our roll call and it made my last Voyager. When I book last minute and dont get to know the CC members as much, its not quite as fun onboard. I would say whichever cruise you pick, get on the CC roll call for Carnival cruises and meet the others and get involved, it will make your cruise more fun.

[Majesty Fan]

My husband and I have done all 3. Actually I met him as a waiter on RCI and married him in 01. So I cruised a lot on RCI. Our last cruise on RCI was in 2007 that I saved for over 2 years to go on. It was a 14 night cruise to Hawaii. The Hawaii ports were fantastic. The food not so much, the entertainment was horrible one guy was yodeling, we walked out of the stage show. Matt Yee was wonderful. I did get some nice scrapbooking items but the worst was coming back to LA. Once in LA 3000 people had to clear customs. But only 2 customs agents on the ship! We had early debarkation which I thought would get us off early. Wrong it was a free for all nobody was paying attention to colors. At 10am we were finally off. We have not been back and right now have no desire to go back!

 

 

Last year after the mess with RCI we did not what to do? Go back to Disney? Try Carnival? Well we live in FL so we drive to most of our ports. We have 5 ports in 6 hours or less. Only 1 for RCI. And we do not like the Bahamas. Our 5 day cruise out of Tampa was over $700 cheaper than RCI aand 4 hours closer to home!

 

We went on the Inspiration just to check Carnival out to see if we liked it. I knew it was not a new ship but the ship had been revamped so we could handle it for 5 days. I went into the cruise with no expectations. We stayed at the Hojo in Tampa and did park and cruise. We also did Busch Gardens and were surprised how nice that was.

 

We got to the ship around 11am a 10 minute trip from the hotel. It was already pretty crowded but we did not wait long. We might have waited 30 minutes. I don't drink much but I do wish the cruiselines would do like DCL and not charge for cokes. We got my coke cup. The pool area looked nice with 2 nice hot tubs. Thee food at the lido deck was really good. I work as a rehab nurse at home and when I go on vacation I do not have high standards all I want to do is relax. There were plenty of sections. The Pizza was fantastic. It is like European Pizza wonderful and not greasy like the Pizza in the US. We did go to the opening show and it was good with a good comedian. There are 2 waterslides a speed slide and a enclosed slide. The enclosed slide had some waits for it but the other did not. There is also a adult area and a mini golf area.

 

The food was really good especially the melting cake. Our waiter was not so good but we did not let that spoil our time!

 

 

Since then we have cruised the Legend and booked on the Dream the day it came out. We still cruise Disney and are on the Magic in Oct.

Lexi

[S.S.Oceanlover]

 

 

We got to the ship around 11am a 10 minute trip from the hotel. It was already pretty crowded but we did not wait long. We might have waited 30 minutes. I don't drink much but I do wish the cruiselines would do like DCL and not charge for cokes. We got my coke cup. The pool area looked nice with 2 nice hot tubs. Thee food at the lido deck was really good. I work as a rehab nurse at home and when I go on vacation I do not have high standards all I want to do is relax. There were plenty of sections. The Pizza was fantastic. It is like European Pizza wonderful and not greasy like the Pizza in the US. We did go to the opening show and it was good with a good comedian. There are 2 waterslides a speed slide and a enclosed slide. The enclosed slide had some waits for it but the other did not. There is also a adult area and a mini golf area.

 

Lexi

 

I bet if the cruiselines charged prices like Disney does they could afford to throw in free sodas. Just off the Wonder and had another great time.:)

 

Bill

[Fawn]

I find the activities more similar between the cruiselines that not. One has hairy chest, one has hairy legs, whats the dif?

 

What may change from one cruise to another is who is onboard. Especially with your girls, if they find some friends to hang out with, that would make the cruise for them and kids find their own things to do. We got active with our roll call and it made my last Voyager. When I book last minute and dont get to know the CC members as much, its not quite as fun onboard. I would say whichever cruise you pick, get on the CC roll call for Carnival cruises and meet the others and get involved, it will make your cruise more fun.

 

 

Our biggest problem with Disney right now is that once the kids are too old for the clubs, there's nothing to do until nighttime. We all loved the bands, dancing, karaoke, shows, etc. But we're not big into laying by the pool sunning all day, and there just wasn't much else to do.

 

I will definitely look into the roll call for whatever we decide to do.

[iancal]

If it is any consolation to you, we have never liked many of the shows that we have seen on the cruise ships. To us, they seem mostly to be college shows with a higher grade of costumes. We find this especially so on Princess. We often skip them entirely. The entertainers are another thing. We have found the comedians in general to be poor. The singers and musicians really vary. I think it is hit and miss between ships in the same cruise line and ships of different cruise lines. The very best entertainment that we have had has been on NCL. We like the fact that Carnival has more band time at the pool. Princess has cut back, HAL's was pathetic.