We love X, but are considering Carnival

[niborHS]

We have been on 7 or so X cruises, and have also recently been on HAL, and love both. We are planning an impromptu (read cheap) cruise with our 2 sons, 24 & 21 for the beginning of October. I am thinking that they will find no one on X or HAL, but will have much better luck finding friends on Carnival. As a family, we tried a very old Carnival ship in 1995, have been on about a dozen other cruises with them, and a bunch just the 2 of us. My 24 year old was on RCCL twice for spring break.

Considering that, how will their category 11 suite compare to a sky suite? Are there suite perks? How different is the food? Entertainment on X and HAL has not been very good lately, so it can't be worse, can it? What about the Casino? Is there a specialty restaurant? Anyone wear tuxes on formal nights? Any info or recommendations you could give me would be great. Thanks.

[disneyfolks]

We are dedicated Celebrity cruisers, but had an opportunity in January to go on Carnival with a group of friends. It was nothing short of a disaster. We thought we would get a good suite, and got a category 12. Lots of space, but sure not very pretty. Sofa was plastic, two chairs some type of thin fabric. Balcony was as wide as the suite, but not deep enough to put a lounge chair on. Entertainment and activities I would rate as fair. Casino payouts are really not good at all, of course roulette and blackjack are about the same, but just forget about the slots. Also, staff were not very friendly, not helpful at all, and when the time came that you needed one, they were hard to find. As far as food goes, in the main dining room it was nothing short of terrible when compared to Celebrity. In fact, there were two dinners we could not eat at all. Specialty restaurant was fantastic. I would certainly say better than Celebrity. We had amazing meals there. One last thing I should point out to you, the deck plans on Carnival are, in our opinion, terrible. If you are on the 3rd deck rear main dining room, you have to go to the rear elevators from deck 5 to get to it. Seems someone decided to put the cooking area in the middle of the dining area, forcing people to use elevators (or stairs).

 

Needless to say, this was and is our one and only Carnival cruise, and we have already booked a cruise on the Celebrity Equinox.

[Flyguy35]

We are dedicated Celebrity cruisers, but had an opportunity in January to go on Carnival with a group of friends. It was nothing short of a disaster. We thought we would get a good suite, and got a category 12. Lots of space, but sure not very pretty. Sofa was plastic, two chairs some type of thin fabric. Balcony was as wide as the suite, but not deep enough to put a lounge chair on. Entertainment and activities I would rate as fair. Casino payouts are really not good at all, of course roulette and blackjack are about the same, but just forget about the slots. Also, staff were not very friendly, not helpful at all, and when the time came that you needed one, they were hard to find. As far as food goes, in the main dining room it was nothing short of terrible when compared to Celebrity. In fact, there were two dinners we could not eat at all. Specialty restaurant was fantastic. I would certainly say better than Celebrity. We had amazing meals there. One last thing I should point out to you, the deck plans on Carnival are, in our opinion, terrible. If you are on the 3rd deck rear main dining room, you have to go to the rear elevators from deck 5 to get to it. Seems someone decided to put the cooking area in the middle of the dining area, forcing people to use elevators (or stairs).

 

Needless to say, this was and is our one and only Carnival cruise, and we have already booked a cruise on the Celebrity Equinox.

 

 

We have been on Several Carnival cruises and have found them to be very good. Though we have only sailed on their newer ships so I cannot have an opinion on there older ships. I found the service on all our cruises to be excellent and the ships were in excellent condition. We found the food on most to very good, certainly a lot better than the food that we received on RCL. In terms of entertainment, I would say that both CCL and RCL are on par. i would agree that the layout of deck 3-5 is silly that you cannot go from end of the ship to the other without going up or down a couple of decks.

 

We are looking forward to our first Celebrity cruise to see how they compare, though I am not sure that our Europe cruise would be a good one to judge as it is pretty port intensive. To me, the true judge of a cruiseship/cruiseline is how they perform on the sea days.

 

Duane

[tispwisp]

We haven't been on Celebrity -- yet, but we sailed on the Carnival Glory once. We thought it was fine, just not our taste. The decor was very "glitzy", but we expected that. We thought the food was fine, but the ship was very cut up and didn't seem as open as the other ships we have been on. (The sushi bar was fantastic and the pizza was the best on all of the cruises we have been on.) The crowd was definitely young and the passenger shows had a lot more energy than on many of the other cruises we have been on. We had a good time, but went knowing that it would be a different cruise than Princess or Royal Caribbean. As far as dinner, it was more casual, but there were still quite a few men that wore tuxes - more than I thought. Don't know how the casino was since we didn't gamble, but walking through it was crowded and people seemed to be having a good time. Can't comment about the suite comparison either - we had a Cat 9A (aft corner). It was the best balcony as it wrapped around the back to the side. Best balcony we've ever had.

 

All being said, we would consider Carnival again, but it would have to been an exceptional value with an exceptional itinerary. Also, it would have to be one of the newer ships with at least a 7 day itinerary. We prefer Royal Caribbean and Princess and are looking forward to trying our first Celebrity cruise on the Constellation next year.

 

Don't know if my opinion will help or not, but thought I'd put my two cents in. We've cruised 11 times and haven't had a bad one yet!

[gsarnow]

I think that "Disneyfolks" is right on the money. AFter sailing several times with X and Princess we did not like Carnival at all - either did my teenage kids. The food was awful in the dining room after the first two nights and the service was awful...we finally started eating upstairs in the buffet for dinner. We have NEVER done that on other cruiselines. The casino was much larger and livlier on Carnival...I have no idea about the payouts. I have not found any cruiseship payouts to be very good...I would stick to blackjack.

just me two cents for what they are worth...

[mek]

I cruise frequently and like variety, so I would never stay with one line exclusively. Princess is my favorite line, but I do cruise on Carnival and always have a great time.I never book anything higher than a balcony, so can't answer your suite question, but I do enjoy the food and entertainment and personally, I like Carnival cabins; I find them to be spacious and well maintained. You will never know until you try it. My son and DIL are going on their first Carnival cruise the end of this month and prior to this have only sailed Princess. I think they will have a good time. Each line does a few things better or worse than another and I've yet to find a cruise that was "perfect."

[elpam]

We have been on 7 or so X cruises, and have also recently been on HAL, and love both. We are planning an impromptu (read cheap) cruise with our 2 sons, 24 & 21 for the beginning of October. I am thinking that they will find no one on X or HAL, but will have much better luck finding friends on Carnival. As a family, we tried a very old Carnival ship in 1995, have been on about a dozen other cruises with them, and a bunch just the 2 of us. My 24 year old was on RCCL twice for spring break.

Considering that, how will their category 11 suite compare to a sky suite? Are there suite perks? How different is the food? Entertainment on X and HAL has not been very good lately, so it can't be worse, can it? What about the Casino? Is there a specialty restaurant? Anyone wear tuxes on formal nights? Any info or recommendations you could give me would be great. Thanks.

I took the entire family on a Caribbean Carnival cruise out of Miami, and was totally satisfied. The service was great, food fine, cabin excellent. Just a little crowded, but then it was spring break. I always go on Celebrity but chose this for the younger crowd. Have a great time!

[Bridge Maven]

I would recommend asking this question on the Carnival Board in addition to this one.

 

We took a Carnival Cruise last year and I was very pleasantly surprised. Their food is not as "gourmet" as Celebrity but is very good. Our waiter on that Carnival cruise was excellent and better than many of the ones we had on Celebrity.

 

The only negative was that this particular ship had a higher passenger to space ratio than Celebrity which made the ship feel crowded. However, next year we are trying another Carnival Cruise on Legend and the space to passenger ratio for that ship is not very different from Celebrity.

 

One thing I noticed about the Carnival Legend Cruise that we booked for next year is that the prices for their balcony cabins were very similar to Celebrity Solstice but Solstice had a much bigger price difference between their balcony cabins and suites. Therefore, we decided to book a suite on Carnival Legend. It appears that their Category 11 Suites are just as nice as a sky suite on Celebrity but they don't come with Butler service. That doesn't bother us because we book sky suites on Celebrity just for the additional space and prefer not to use the services of their Butler.

[hcat]

have you considered one of the biggger Royal C ships?

 

--that might appeal to both you & your sons & may not be as big a change as the move to Carnival...

[patrice1]

I think it's really about what you want out of a cruise. I've been on Celebrity (before they were bought by RCL), RCL, NCL & CCL. I'm always surprised that folks think RCL is a notch above CCL. I think CCL is better in food, entertainment, cabins, and price. I've found all the mainstream cruise lines have more in common than we might think. Are there less amenities on CCL than on X, well of course, but the price is very different too. We love the casino, the shows and have found the food to be very good in comparison on CCL. Can't speak to differences since RCL bought X, but we are in our mid-50's and love CCL.:D On the Century, we had the tiniest room and it was OV- the Carnival OV room has a sofa and we paid twice as much on X.

[eandj]

I think October is an odd time to pick to meet young( early 20's) people even on a Carnival cruise. College is in session and those that graduated are busy hunting up or enjoying a new job. Thinking I'd pick a time when colleges are off...maybe in mid Dec. after exams.

Or a 4-5 day cruise would draw younger people.

 

You are right tho that Hal And X would skew older due to cost and lifestyle on the ships.

[niborHS]

Thank you for all your opinions. I got few responses on the Carnival board, and as you know, I would get different opinions each time I post the same question on different boards, because people always have their line that they love. As I don't list the cruises we've been on, I have tried Princess once, my husband didn't like it although I did. Also, their ships often don't have a basketball court set up, and that is something my sons like. We were also on one RCCL cruise, which we didn't care for that much either. We are mixed on NCL, because we used to like it, but do not like the free-style idea, and their cabins, unless you go to the much larger suites, are small.

Obviously, there are more in my kids age group who would be sailing during holiday times, which is what we did when we took them in HS. That is a time that works for us. My 24 year old works in finance, and need to take a full week off at one time before the end of the year, and other possibilities don't work. My 21 year old in college has 2 days off over Colombus day week-end, so he will miss very little, and he is in his last semester. Short of taking a holiday cruise once he's done, this is it. It turns out that from the roll call postings I see there are some schools that have mid-semester breaks that week, and I figured there could be young married couples too. They don't marry that young in NYC, but I know they do elsewhere.

[Bruin Steve]

I have cruised three times on Carnival...twice were years ago on older ships, the third was in 2007 on the fairly new Carnival Liberty...that one convinced us to never go with Carnival again...

 

First, the ship was incredibly overcrowded...to the point of being uncomfortable...One had to show up at the showroom over an hour early to get a decent seat...There were long lines for everything...I gave up on sushi...too long a line...there was even a line for the gift shop...

 

The food was surprisingly better than expected but the service was terrible...Dining room was overcrowded and waiters were serving One and a half times as many people and assistant waiters three times the people than on Royal Caribbean (We know--we took the two lines back-to-back and counted)...We experienced all sorts of service faux pas--like the waiter bringing multiple courses at once or asking people to pass plates to their neighbor (the dining room utilizes booths in order to squeeze the people in and the waiters can't serve the people on the inside seats properly)...

 

The cruise director and staff tried to drum up "fun" and participation with cheesey games--like everyone was divided into three "teams" and told to earn "points" for the team...

 

Here's my recommendation: Compromise on a newer, large Royal Caribbean ship...There is a younger, but CLASSIER crowd...Your kids will meet plenty in their age group...and YOU will have a better cruise...

 

My 25 year old university administrator daughter and her friend (old college roommate and now with an engineering firm) went on a RCCL Freedom of the Seas cruise last September and loved it...There was lots for them on the ship...

 

Though we love Celebrity (Our favorite), we also enjoy Royal Caribbean...

 

Friends don't let friends cruise Carnival... :) :) :)

[Bridge Maven]

I realize that everyone has different priorities about what is important in a cruise and what they like and dislike, but one of my pet peeves is when people claim that the passengers on one cruise line are inferior to another. As someone who has sailed Holland America, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and NCL, I have not noticed any differences in the "quality" of passengers The only difference I noticed is that Holland America and Celebrity have older passengers and less children. I've met college professors and physicians on Carnival and people with only a high school degree on Celebrity. In reality all of the mass market cruise lines have a very diverse passenger base.

[Bruin Steve]

...one of my pet peeves is when people claim that the passengers on one cruise line are inferior to another...

 

And one of my pet peeves is when people claim that "everyone is the same"...that there is no difference (other than age I guess) between the clientele on one cruise line and another...It is very altruistic and politically correct to say this, but it isn't really very accurate...

 

Yes, you WILL find a wide spread on all cruise lines (Heavens knows...*I* cruised three times on Carnival!) BUT, overall, there are differences...

 

Every cruise line markets to a different target demographic. Actually, just about every business does, especially in the travel industry...You don't find the same clientele at the Motel 6 as you do at the Hilton...

 

Each cruise line has its target, as reflected in its marketing. Carnival aims at the lowest segment of the cruising market. They advertise "fun" and low prices, stressing things like "Starting at only $___"...They try to price themselves below the competition. Celebrity, for example, stresses elegance and service...They are targeting a different market.

 

Another way to look at it...Much like car manufacturers have different lines (GM: Chevy, Pontiac, Buick, Cadillac; Toyota: Toyota, Lexus) to target different groups, cruise line companies do as well. Carnival also owns Princess, HAL and others..."Carnival" is their "Chevy"...they target it toward the entry-level cruisers, folks on a limited expendable budget...

 

Now, this does not mean there are not "college professors" or even some well-to-do people who somehow value low cost over other factors...and it's not to say there are pople of very modest means who value service and elegance and would rather save their money and cruise less often to go on a nicer cruise...but, the laws of averages say that, overall, the cruise lines' clientele witll match their marketing...

 

Now, it is often uncomfortable to point this out on these boards. Some people here cruise with Carnival, love Carnival and don't think of themselves as any less "classy" than anyone else...and they tend to take great umbrage when anyone points any of this out...but sometimes I just feel the necessity of being honest...

 

And also realize that "class" may not have anything to do with one's education or what job they have or how much money they have. I have met people with lots of money and little "class" and I've met people with little wealth but a load of "class"...And how much class or wealth one has may also not necessarily make them a nice or good person...

 

So, generalizing is always difficult...and it tends to rankle some people...but it is still not correct that all cruise clientele are "the same"...

[niborHS]

Bruin Steve, I happen to agree with you. That being said, I think the biggest difference is how their children behave, and the number of piercings and tatoos the children have.

[JennAngel9]

Hi OP, DH and I are in/were in our mid to late 20s and have cruised on all the lines you mentioned, and I have to say that I think NCL targets our age group most heavily. I agree with the people above who say that you are unlikely to find many young people at any time other than "spring break" or over summer, but you probably have the best chance with NCL. While I personally was not especially impressed with the Pearl, if you reserve a cat AE or above, you can sort of customize your dining experience by paying a bit extra to get reservations in the specialty dining restauarnts (where we found service to be quite good).

 

I will echo what others have said about CCL (the less positive ones). On the LIberty in Dec 06, my husband actually had to get up from our table and get me a bread basket about 20 minutes after we were seated on a formal night because nobody had even acknowledged our arrival. He was actually mistaken for a waiter as one of the very few people in a tuxedo.

 

Frankly, we would consider RCCL and CCL to be roughly the same in terms of food quality and "passenger class"-- but I think RCCL cruisers tend to at least like dressing up more. I think on either line you should prepared to hear 10 or so announcements over the PA (not possible to turn off, even in the cabins) selling you some item or hyping some activity (this happens to a lesser extent on Princess and NCL as well, I think). It's pretty obnoxious, but we are not "party people" so maybe others like it better-- but if I want to know what is going on, I can read the daily paper, I don't need to keep in touch with the Cruise Director on an hourly basis!!

 

Anyway, I think you should not go to RCL or CCL in hopes of finding more young adults (because they may not be there). That said, my husband and I would probably cruise either line again if they had the perfect itinerary (but it's unlikely they will, as we like ports outside North America). It's not a disaster, but don't expect as upscale an experience on either "entry level" line. NCL and Princess I would say are a shade better. With any of those lines, I would order eating any exotic or easily screw-upable foods in the MDRs.

 

Hope this helps! I think it's great you're taking your kids, and that you son in finance is willing to spend his sole week of vacation with the family!!

[hcat]

Thank you for all your opinions. I got few responses on the Carnival board, and as you know, I would get different opinions each time I post the same question on different boards, because people always have their line that they love. As I don't list the cruises we've been on, I have tried Princess once, my husband didn't like it although I did. Also, their ships often don't have a basketball court set up, and that is something my sons like. We were also on one RCCL cruise, which we didn't care for that much either. We are mixed on NCL, because we used to like it, but do not like the free-style idea, and their cabins, unless you go to the much larger suites, are small. ........

.

 

Just curious...What was it that you did not like about RCCL? seems so perfect from what you are describing..esp on a ship larger than Radiance class...

[jerseygirl3]

To the OP, did I miss it or did you mention which Carnival ship you're considering? A Cat 11 is very comfortable and comparable to a Celebrity Sky Suite...that is, assuming it's one of the newer ships. If it's a fantasy class ship, forget the Cat. 11's. They are glorified balcony cabins.

 

Having said that, I think given the ages of your kids, you'll be fine on Carnival. As long as you realize it's not Celebrity or HAL (and the price is right), I think you may find Carnival fine. It's not our cruiseline of choice, but our 20-something boys really enjoy it. The food is surprising good, although service may be a bit unpolished.

 

I think if your expectations are reasonable, you may be pleasantly surprised. My biggest gripe with Carnival is the passenger clientele. What you encounter will depend on the time of year you cruise, but I personally prefer to cruise with a more sophisticated, well-traveled mix of passengers. Carnival doesn't necessarily offer that, but as long as you have reasonable expectations, I think you'll be fine.

[CanWeGoYet?]

The demographics on a carnival cruise (or perhaps any cruise line) will vary by the length, cost, and port of origin of the cruise. The carnival cruise I took on a newer ship (the Pride) had passengers from all walks of life, I don't think one could make the case that it would be rare for a doctor or lawyer or other professional to chose this line. Rock bottom fares can draw a different demographic, but there have been some incredible deals of late on all the mass cruise lines.

 

The food I had on the Pride, in the main dining room, was similar to what I had on the Century cruise I took recently. I thought the preparation of the food was a little better on the Pride, and while service was good from the wait staff on both lines - on X it was more polished. Glitzy decor & lots of announcements on Carnival, and more choices in activities - some of which (watching the hairy chest contest for example) would not appeal to me. The room service menu was wonderful on X, very limited on Carnival.

 

My parents had a suite on our cruise, it was not a penthouse suite but was spacious and I thought quite nice. There were granite counter tops at the mini bar & the bathroom was huge. Can't remember if the counter tops & tub enclosure were granite or marble but they were nice. Nice walk in closet. Their balcony was large enough for a lounge chair, my Mom enjoyed sitting on the balcony reading in one of them. Cabin steward service was a definite step up in their suite than in my inside cabin. No butler for the suites though, but their cabin staff were friendly and service oriented.

[Bridge Maven]

The demographics on a carnival cruise (or perhaps any cruise line) will vary by the length, cost, and port of origin of the cruise. The carnival cruise I took on a newer ship (the Pride) had passengers from all walks of life, I don't think one could make the case that it would be rare for a doctor or lawyer or other professional to chose this line. Rock bottom fares can draw a different demographic, but there have been some incredible deals of late on all the mass cruise lines.

 

The food I had on the Pride, in the main dining room, was similar to what I had on the Century cruise I took recently. I thought the preparation of the food was a little better on the Pride, and while service was good from the wait staff on both lines - on X it was more polished. Glitzy decor & lots of announcements on Carnival, and more choices in activities - some of which (watching the hairy chest contest for example) would not appeal to me. The room service menu was wonderful on X, very limited on Carnival.

 

My parents had a suite on our cruise, it was not a penthouse suite but was spacious and I thought quite nice. There were granite counter tops at the mini bar & the bathroom was huge. Can't remember if the counter tops & tub enclosure were granite or marble but they were nice. Nice walk in closet. Their balcony was large enough for a lounge chair, my Mom enjoyed sitting on the balcony reading in one of them. Cabin steward service was a definite step up in their suite than in my inside cabin. No butler for the suites though, but their cabin staff were friendly and service oriented.

 

Great post!

[Bruin Steve]

Great post!

 

...and as written by a dedicated Carnival cruiser...

 

As someone who has cruised multiple times on both lines myself, I can assure you there is a vast difference between the two lines...Carnival fans can choose to believe it or not...

 

BTW, I have never been on a 3- or 4-night Carnival cruise, the ones with the strong reputations for having a "party crowd"...I have only sailed them on 7 and 8 night cruises...

 

Food is, quite obviously, a matter of personal taste...I always give credit to Carnival for vastly improved food over the years...but still nowhere in the class of Celebrity...Service was absolutely attrocious...I guess one COULD make the case that perhaps I just had a bad waiter...and assistant waiter, but one still musty consider overall dining room management and the crew-per-passenger ratios...And, of course, "service" as it were, in the buffet was horrendous as well...We are accustomed to Celebrity, Oceania and Royal Caribbean where someone greets you at your table in the buffet (or even helps you find a table and carries your tray) and serves you drinks...Hey, on Carnival, I would have even tken their clearing off the table from the previous guests...

 

I was actually fairly "easy" on Carnival in my earlier posts on this thread...

We actually saw people in NASCAR T-shirts in the MDR on FORMAL NIGHT!! I've never posted that because I figured no one would believe it, it was so stereotyped...

 

Yes, we did run into other professionals onboard the Carnival Liberty...most of them were in agreement they'd never cruise on Carnival again...

 

Yes, not all Carnival cruisers come from the set of the Jerry Springer Show...but there are clearly enough of them...Yeah, the rest of the ship is filled out by people from "all walks of life"...Some of them quite interesting walks of life...

 

Sorry to be so blunt, but the truth is the truth...

[CanWeGoYet?]

Bruin Steve, nothing wrong with speaking the truth as you believe, even being blunt. Curious to know though how you are so certain that the passengers on carnival are not professionals, and the few who are choose not to cruise with them again. Is it possible these individuals picked up on your disdain for the line, and were just engaging in friendly banter? Unless you have access to the passenger manifest & incomes & education levels, type of employment etc are listed (or took it upon yourself to interview every passenger on board the ships you sailed) - then I think it is a case of looking at people and deciding what "class" they are. I don't imagine you were transformed into trailer trash for your 3 carnival cruises.

 

Also, if the reason for the different sort of passenger is price - from what I've seen of cruise fares lately there is not a lot of difference in fares between cruise lines. Especially when the discounting begins to fill a ship after final payment. Yes some carnival passengers do look and act rough around the edges. But you seem to be implying (and please correct me if I'm mistaken) the average passenger on board carnival is uneducated trailer trash wearing a wife beater, or nascar t shirt, to formal night - is silly. You may label me as PC, but I am speaking my truth just as you are speaking yours.

[AMommyof2]

We haven't yet cruised Celebrity, but our one and only Carnival cruise really put my husband off of that line. We were in a Penthouse Suite on a 7 nite out of San Juan. The itinerary and the price were really great, but after that the rest was not appealing at all. The size of the penthouse was adequate for us and our two young children, but that's all I can say about it. The light on the balcony was out and when my husband asked the room steward about getting it fixed, she told him it was controlled by the bridge and against maritime law to have the light on, on the balcony. Funny thing is, the balcony lights have worked on all of our other cruises. Our room must have not been used for a while because when I first turned on the water in the bathroom sink, the water ran rust brown. The caulk around the tub was coming loose and hanging down into the tub. It stayed that way for about 3 days before maintenance finally fixed it.

 

The public areas of the ship were filthy to say the least. We had a port each day, and the pools were closed every day about 1 hour after leaving each port, leaving very little for our young children to do onboard, other than Camp Carnival, which they enjoyed. The food in the MDR was awful the first night, but got better throughout the cruise. The sushi bar was open each evening and was really good. We really enjoyed the ports but the ship really showed it's age. I do believe that particular ship went into drydock shortly after our cruise, so it might be better now.

 

Overall, my husband has no desire to cruise with Carnival again.

[LINGBER]

We have sailed Carnival several times and had different experiences each time. The most notable was the difference between an 8 night Xmas Holiday sailing on the Legend and a 4 night Thanksgiving sailing on the Valor. The Legend was a very nice cruise. (The ship was new at the time). The food in the MDR was good. Entertainment better than good and the staterooms excellent. The passengers were what we encounter on Princess,Celebrity, etc.

 

Our Valor cruise was a different story. We found the crowds overwhelming. The type of passenger was much more in keeping with Buin Steve's description than what we were used to. After one vsit to the buffet with the lines and inappropriate handling of the food, we ate every meal either in our cabin or in the MDR. We still enjoyed ourselves, but we wouldn't run to do a short Carnival cruise again.

 

Would we sail again on Carnival? Yes. If the itinerary worked and the ship was new and it was at least a weeklong trip. I really believe that the length of the cruise and the fact that Carnival was rolling out a new ship contributed to better service and experience.