Carnival Cruise Line?

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#16
For me Carnival was nothing great. We have taken several cruises on Royal Carribean and Disney Cruise Lines and Carnival can't even come close to them. I will never get on another Carnival ship again.
Shop around for better!
 
#18
We've cruised on both RC and carnival. I find that RC has nicer ships with more activities but the rooms are small and its not as much fun as Carnival. The rooms on the carnival ships are so much roomier than RC and the people are much more livelier but the layout stinks and the ships seem older. As far as the food I don't remember either being that great but I did love the 24hr soft serv machine..lol!
 
#19
I've only cruised once and it was on Carnival. Granted, it was only a 3 day cruise, but I expected more. I found the food to be very blah and cheap, and the activities and shows were pretty non-existant. I suppose there is more to do with a 7 day cruise, but in the future I will go with another cruise line for sure.
 
#20
I just got back from my 5th cruise. We have done 1 Carnival, 2 Princess, and 2 RC. We would not do Carnival again. Food has never been out of this world on any of them but I never expected it to be nor is it the reason I go on a cruise. Princess and RC are similar in accomodations, shows, etc. but I think you can get a better room/deal on Princess. Princess also has anytime dining, meaning you can go to dinner at whatever time you want, not just the 1st or 2nd seating.

We have always cruised with our friends who have probably been on 25+ cruises between the 2 of them and they have always liked RC until this last cruise. We had absolutely horrid service. In fact we all said no more RC (and no more cruises). We still had a great time though, just really disapointed in the lack of service. It really seemed like there just wasn't enough staff on board.

I would recommend picking a newer boat (no matter the line) with around 2000-2500 passengers for a first timer.
 
#21
I've never been on a Carnival Cruise, but my mother has done Carnival and Royal Caribbean cruises and she prefers RC a lot more over Carnival, just like some other posters have stated.
 
#22
I have been on carnival and really loved it! I felt like there were a lot of great activities to keep you busy during the day, excellent places to lay out and tan, exciting things to do at night, etc. I felt it was all really well organized. I have personally never been on RC but I have heard horror stories about them and would never go. For example, last summer my friend went on a cruise w/ RC and one of the stops was Puerto Rico. Apparently the ship was not full when they got there and so RC let hundreds and hundreds of people from the island come on board for the duration of the trip for almost nothing. Apparently the boat got really, really crowded (she seemed to think they were allowing people to have like 10 people to a room from what she saw), rowdy and crazy. Because RC let the people on for so cheap it was apparently just a wild party atmosphere for everyone who boarded- i guess they spent all the money they had saved on alcohol. My friend said that parents were afraid to let their children out of their sight because half the people on the boat were constantly drunk. Apparently the staff on board joined in with the party and did very little to address peoples concerns. My friend said everyone who had boarded at the original port (i think it was NY?) and paid full price was really upset and angry that 3 or 4 days into the cruise the whole atmosphere on the boat was turned upside down. I have never heard of a cruise line allowing additional people on board for dirt cheap after the cruise has already begun. Apparently the people who boarded at Puerto Rico would go back to the island when the next cruise there returned, so presumably the next cruise was affected too. Maybe this was an isolated thing but I personally wouldnt use RC after hearing this.
 
#23
piperlu said:
I have cruised on both Royal Caribbean and Carnival.

I thought the food and service was far superior on RC, and not so much on Carnival.

We just took a cruise over Thanksgiving on Carnival and we were sorry for that later on. We didn't plan very well, and there were over 700 children on the ship. I have nothing against children, I have three of my own. My children are grown and I don't want to be on a cruise where there are a lot of children at this point in my life. There were so many of them that you couldn't comfortably use any of the pools or hot tubs without them being all over you. That said, I don't think we'll use Carnival again, at least not over a Holiday.

I will say that I thought the accomodations on Carnival were more roomy than RC. It was a very noted difference. The bathroom was much larger on Carnival.

My DH and I have talked about this and have decided that we'll use RC again, but we'll upgrade to a suite so that we have more room. We were also told by some friends that Holland America is great and is more upscale. Not many children either.

All in all, cruising is great and I highly recommend it.
Click to expand...

Yes, Ive been on both as well (carnival twice and RC once). I do agree that you'll find RC much more enjoyable. I just went the beginning of December with my friends and their SOs. There were 6 of us total and we are in our late 20s. There werent too many young children or college kids so that was nice. The food was not that great but this was our first time with an Oceanview room and it made ALL the difference. It was a lot more spacious than the Inside staterooms on both Carnival and RC. However, I would recommend doing whatever you can to make sure you are not assigned to the Oceanview rooms at the very back of the ship. Both of the other couples got assigned to the very back of the ship. We were on Level 2 so you can imagine how loud it was every time the boat Dropped or raised anchor. On top of that, their rooms were noticeably rockier than mine. In terms of Entertainment, I felt that RC had more daytime activities that suited us better (during the 10% of the time I wasn't on the Sundeck). The newest RC ship "Freedom of the Seas" is the largest ship to date and has a rock wall, artificial waves to Surf on, and other amenities (although this wasnt the ship we cruised on). Also check out travelzoo.com and www.cruiseshipcenters.com (this is who I booked my last two cruises with).
What destinations are you considering? The East Caribbean is very popular. Our cruise in December was to the West Caribbean on Carnival with stops to Cozumel, Grand Cayman (my fave!), and Ochos Rios Jamaica (skip it if you can). I've also done the Mexican Riviera (Royal Caribbean) and 3 day Baja CA (Carnival) cruises.
 
#24
Norwegian Cruise lines has the eat anytime option too but they are trying to gear towards families so you might find lots of kids on the cruise. From what I have heard from other friends........Princess is the best. But for me since I've only been on carnival and RC, RC was def better.

I also heard that Star was good too but they go to the Asia-Pacific only.

If you aren't into kids being around...........have you considered an adults only vacation. My friends went on their honeymoon to Jamaica with Sandals and said they would do that again over a cruise anytime! It's all inclusive including alcohol and water sports. It might be a tad more money but you'll have a better time!!
 
#25
I went on my first cruise with Hollan America to Alaska about 6 or 7 years ago, it was amazing! The whole family went for my grandparents 50th wedding anniversay.
2 years later we went on Carnival and hated it! We did hear that the boat we went on was on its last trip, but I still expected more.
This summer I'm going on another cruise to Mexico with the extended family. They all want to go to Cabo, and Carnival is the only cruise line for the dates we've picked.

Go with RC if you can! I was reading up on them before everyone wanted to see Cabo, and they sounded great!
Luxrey with out the pricetag.

Have fun!
 
#26
i've been on 10 cruises, one carnival, i won't do it again. i'm 23, not into the party scene, and fell in love with celebrity cruises. my number one choice for a line. i went on royal caribbean during my spring break last march and i wouldn't even do THAT again. my poor mom felt so out of place because everyone was my age. and honestly i didn't like being around that many people my age...everyone was drunk. not my thing. if you have a group of people going you're sure to have fun even if it's not a "fun ship" as carnival claims theirs to be. i don't think they compare (or even royal caribbean for that matter) compares to celebrity's service and food.

next cruise, and all cruises will be celebrity :smile:
 
#27
if you care about the decor on the ship, i believe celebrity to be the classiest. i am a bit biased because i have never had a bad cruise or an unsatisfactory experience with them. plus they're releasing two new beautiful ships and i'm very jealous, i want to go. lol. carnival, i'd never again (it reminds me of just that...a CARNIVAL) and royal carribbean, i just don't feel they put as much detail into your cruise experience as celebrity. if waiters carrying trays of sorbet to serve you on hot, sunny days at sea sounds good to you, celebrity is your line.
 
#28
I have been on 3 cruises with different lines and Carnival being one of them. I am going again this October with a group of friends with Carnival. I think it will be what you make of it and who you go with. I am actually looking forward to go on Carnival because we are in our mid-20's and I remember there being a lot of options for nightlife last time I went.
 
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