Is the "I sail Carnival because it's cheap" meme your deciding factor?

yeah. i haven't cruised any other lines. i looked for a february caribbean cruise that had an adults-only pool area that wasn't indoors/had a glass roof (i.e. not the solarium on RCCL). that meant ccl and princess, and with my casino offer, princess balcony was nearly double. i'd like to try another line sometime, but the price is right on ccl....

I've only been on Carnival and Princess, so far. I definitely prefer Carnival. Not only for price, but because Carnival makes me feel like I'm at home--with the added benefit of a cabin steward and waiters and waitresses!! I like the fact that my steward will call me by my first name. I like the food. I like my Carnival bed. I like the ships. I don't need all the fancy stuff other lines have. I don't like being called "Madam" every time I turn around. Too stuffy.

Carnival to me is like walking into "Cheers" where everyone knows my name and it's like I'm on a trip with some friends!!! That means more to me than the stuffy atmosphere of Princess and their tiny cabins!!! It seems that Princess put so much "stuff" on their ships, the cabins got shortchanged!!! I know I'm only there to sleep, but I feel cramped. My cabin on Princess, I had to turn sideways to walk into it because the hall was not wide enough. My SUITCASE wouldn't even roll without turning it sideways, so it's not that I'm large-sized (I am!)!

Give me Carnival any time, and I'm ready to go!!!

We have only cruised on Carnival for several reasons and actually the first is that they cruise out of ports close to where we live. The second is price because we cannot afford the prices on most of the other cruise lines. Third we have always been treated very well by everyone working on the ships.

Yes, for the Alaskan cruise, it's totally due to price. For some cruises, entertainment or ports of call may be the draw, but with Alaska it's all about the scenery and wildlife sightings for us. With the aft Vista Suite, we have a huge deck to ourselves with a wide sweeping view and we spend a LOT of time out on that deck. We find the food to be not as good as other cruise lines (in particular Celebrity) and the entertainment to be sorely lacking, but for us that's more important on other cruise destinations.

How we select a cruise:

1. Itinerary
   
2. Itinerary
   
3. Itinerary
   
4. Schedule/Timing
   
5. Value/cost meets our needs, desires, and expectations
   
6. Familitarity (way down on the list)
   

Sometimes Carnival wins, sometimes other lines win. (RCI, NCL, HAL, Princess, and Celebrity in our history of over 20 cruises)

Not on the list at all is how many points/days/whatever it takes to get to the next loyalty level.

I've only taken cruises out of Florida and I live in Florida, so no airfare involved. This means that my budget focuses almost entirely on the price of the cruise alone and in that case, it's almost always Carnival.

An Alaskan cruise would shake things up though! I would like to take one in the next two years, but my preliminary research shows that Carnival isn't always the low price leader in this cruise type, and of course I'll have to factor in airfare.

please define trashy

Everyone here knows what I mean.

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Everyone here knows what I mean.

 

 

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I will bite. On a "value" cruise on Elation out of NOLA, a guy with missing teeth was drinking and dancing poolside with his buddy most of the afternoon. A random guy sitting next to me poolside responded: "meth is a helluva drug".

I think "party oriented" is more PC. My wife & I are easy going, she smokes and occasionally we hang out by the smoking bars with these "partied oriented" folks. Met some fun people and others you know to keep your distance. I know some our more uppity friends would not enjoy a value-type Carnival Cruise for this reason.

Who can post the formal picture of that couple and the lady wearing next to nothing. Unreal.

I'm not saying it's the majority of the people because I like to drink heavy, gamble and have a good time (hell its vacation)

But I'm sure we've all ran into more on carnival than say a celebrity

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Who can post the formal picture of that couple and the lady wearing next to nothing. Unreal.

 

I'm not saying it's the majority of the people because I like to drink heavy, gamble and have a good time (hell its vacation)

 

But I'm sure we've all ran into more on carnival than say a celebrity

 

 

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Nooooooooo! Not the chain mail dress again! :eek:

Itinerary

Ship

Price

Goes for both Carnival and Princess.

Originally Posted by Sweet Dutch Girl

please define trashy

Well that's easy, the people of Walmart . com type people. Ever been to that website? Wife beater T-shirts with vulgar comments on them. Prison tattoos being shown off. I often wonder how they even could afford a cruise. I like to people watch and I can't control what I see.:D

Well that's easy, the people of Walmart . com type people.

Funny that is the first thing that came to my mind. Also we have noticed there's a quite a few people who seem cruising is all about the never ending food at the buffets. People with massive amounts of food on their plate and keep returning for more. It is not even the good quality food, its the burgers/dogs with fries coated in the nacho cheese.

Perhaps it's because of the itineraries we select that I've not seen that much of a difference in demographics between the main-stream cruise lines, outside of age, to some extent.

The weekend sailings on CCL are definitely party-barges, but, since it's the only line on which I've taken a 3-day, I can't compare.

#purplehairdontcare

We're trying Carnival for the first time in February after sailing on RCCL, Celebrity, and Disney. While I'm a bit leery of the party crowd with a 2 year old, the reasons we're sailing Carnival is:

1) Price

2) Location - port is 30 minutes away

3) Club Ocean - takes 2 year-olds for free while other cruises charge for the nursery till 3

4) Timing - length of cruise is just right and at the right time of year

I'm not cruising Carnival for the ports (been there, done that) or the food (I'm a food snob) but I'd love to be pleasantly surprised. They're cheap and convenient, so a good first cruise experience for us could mean a new loyal customer in the future.

...its the burgers/dogs with fries coated in the nacho cheese.

Color me trashy, because that sounds delicious.

Carnival was the first line I decided to try and since I loved it I didn’t see the need to jump ship. I also have talked to several people IRL that didn’t love the other cruise lines so I don’t feel the need to try them.

I guess price is a factor though because if we want to cruise almost every year it’s much easier to do on Carnival.

For me I start with itinerary. I find one I like then start to price everything out. I live in Utah so flying is a must for us. Just like most people we have a vacation budget that we need to stick to.

Bottom line is carnival has always been cheapest for us when we add in all of our travel expenses.

If I lived near a port with other options in sure I would try them out.

9 cruises on carnival and have never been disappointed. In fact they meet my budget so well I have number 10 and 11 already booked.

We sail Carnival mainly when "the younger generation" goes with us because they truly like the activities that are geared to them. Otherwise we tend to choose other Cruiselines when our group is "adult".

 

Personally I would rather limit my number of cruises, even on Carnival, and choose more expensive options: balcony rooms, money for the steak house, money for food and drink extras, more exotic shore excursions, longer cruises, interesting departure ports where we can extend our vacation.

 

Does Carnival pull you in because of its price points? And are the number of cruises more enjoyable than a cruise where you can "frill up" your vacation?

Our upcoming cruise is only our second with Carnival but we've had the chance to sail on other lines.

My opinions - in comparison to other lines:

Service - about the same, more than adequate

Entertainment - about the same, a bit repetitive

Cabins - for what we require, more than adequate

Ports - similar, like the new "journey" itineraries

Excursions - similar

I think the difference for us is, for what we typically utilize, we are more than pleased overall with Carnival.

please define trashy

Do you really need to have the word defined or are you just trying to make a statement because you disagree with the poster?

Nooooooooo! Not the chain mail dress again! :eek:

But it looks good on her. And she's protected from sword attacks! :D

I would say cost is definitely the reason we do our couples get away on carnival but it's just us no kids!! Just want to go someplace warm and don't really care how we get there.

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We sail Carnival mainly when "the younger generation" goes with us because they truly like the activities that are geared to them. Otherwise we tend to choose other Cruiselines when our group is "adult".

 

Personally I would rather limit my number of cruises, even on Carnival, and choose more expensive options: balcony rooms, money for the steak house, money for food and drink extras, more exotic shore excursions, longer cruises, interesting departure ports where we can extend our vacation.

 

Does Carnival pull you in because of its price points? And are the number of cruises more enjoyable than a cruise where you can "frill up" your vacation?

Back when it had value, yes. I found I got as much or more than the competing lines on Carnival for less. I had always assumed it was due to the buying power Carnival commanded, buying in bulk and passing it off to the consumer. The business model of Walmart was never far off.

But then the bad things happened. The fire, the sinking, the breakdowns, and suddenly, the customers disappeared. prices plummeted, all the extras started drying up, the quality pulled back, entertainment scaled back, and they ended up where they are now. A budget line.

And they can't raise their prices while everything is scaled back. To high, and people will just book on the lines that still offer the superior everything and are still full service.

All this while the latest is the option of scaled back stateroom service. Oh how they will love the Guinea pigs that choose once a day service, while they take the staff and overextend it even more. Some haven't thought out clearly that the skipped service, that room attendant doesn't get more free time; they get more rooms.

 

But then the bad things happened. The fire, the sinking, the breakdowns, and suddenly, the customers disappeared. prices plummeted, all the extras started drying up, the quality pulled back, entertainment scaled back, and they ended up where they are now. A budget line.

 

And they can't raise their prices while everything is scaled back. To high, and people will just book on the lines that still offer the superior everything and are still full service.

 

What is wrong with a "budget line" that focuses on keeping things affordable for the masses. Don't we deserve to cruise, too, or is that only reserved for a particular "class" of society.

By the way, Carnival and Carnival Corp. hasn't been the only cruise corporation hit by disasters and problems.

Also, it is interesting to note that the following all sail under the Carnival Corp. umbrella: Seabourn, Holland America, Princess, Cunard. Personally I find it great that there are "pricing" options...and it looks, deliberately, like Carnival Corp. has made the "choice" to keep Carnival, itself, the mass market arm of their corporation. Makes perfect sense to me AND I don't think it was about "disasters and problems" that affect all cruiselines.

Funny but it's Royal Caribbean that falls into my "only if it's cheap will I book it" category (and I do find some that are cheap enough to book - inside accessible cabin for 3 on Voyager or Freedom class ships for very cheap prices - like $2000 CDN for a 6 night cruise in February 2017).

For Carnival, I like the causal atmosphere. I like the food choices with the 2.0 stuff. I like the trivia. I like the casino (placement, drinks on us card, choice of machines). I like the cabins and the bedding. I like the service. I like the relaxation. And yes, I guess I like the price as well.

On other lines I often end up paying for stuff I don't use or doesn't enhance my experience.

Truthfully I want a good bed, good food, good service, a sedate activity a couple times a day, a nicely lighted casino, and friendly people. I guess that I'm easy to please because I don't go anywhere expecting "Everything is the best thing ever!!!"