All Carnival loyalists - if you tried another line?

OK - I'm a loyal Carnival cruiser - all we've ever done. But, if you decided you wanted to try something different which line would you choose and why?

I'm trying to work around schedules for 4 kids and just about to go crazy. I'm thinking I may book a cruise for next February on the Carnival Sunshine (first time on her) for all of my family except my college age daughter and then she and I might take a 4 or 5 day cruise during her spring break next year and we might try a different line.

Money will be an issue so keep that in mind. What should we do and which line should we try?

Royal Caribbean is the only other line I've been on a tad more expensive but so pretty but I'm a carnival all the way

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OK - I'm a loyal Carnival cruiser - all we've ever done. But, if you decided you wanted to try something different which line would you choose and why?

 

I'm trying to work around schedules for 4 kids and just about to go crazy. I'm thinking I may book a cruise for next February on the Carnival Sunshine (first time on her) for all of my family except my college age daughter and then she and I might take a 4 or 5 day cruise during her spring break next year and we might try a different line.

 

Money will be an issue so keep that in mind. What should we do and which line should we try?

We liked HAL (to Alaska) for us it was the best itinerary.

We also liked RCCL - something different out of our home port & it was a longer cruise that went to Tortola.

I might be in the minority on this but I am only a loyalist to my family & friends. When it comes to cruise lines we go with who has the best itinerary & price of course for the time in which we can vacation-nothing more. Start looking to see who has what your most important features are-ports, price, dates, etc. Then take it from there.

Happy Sailing!!!

I always book my cruises based on date, destination, and finally, price. I've been on Carnival, NCL, RCCL, Princess and Celebrity. Each cruise has been wonderful but I find myself sailing Carnival twice the amount of the others combined. Princess and Celebrity are a little more upscale than the others so if you like dressing up for dinner this could be a good choice for you.

As for service, I have never had a complaint on any of my cruises.

Room size-Carnival

Military discounts-Carnival

On Board credit-Carnival

Happy Sails

With kids, I would say try Royal Caribbean. We have done Disney and Carnival and hopefully next up for us will be the Royal Caribbean Oasis or Allure.

For kids I would also recommend RCI. I have sailed on Mariner of the Seas and Freedom of the Seas. Lot of activities on those for the kids. The flow rider on Freedom was very popular as was the Ice Skating on both ships. If you book further out you can find some good pricing on RCI. I have also gotten price drops with them as I watch the pricing very closely after booking.

I like CCL, RCI and NCL. I think out of the 3 NCL is my favorite but we liked last year's CCL so much we booked another for 2016. We received no OBC for booking CCL a second time and only had OBC on our first cruise because the price went down. We have received OBC on all of our NCL cruise.

I'm not a Carnival Loyalist but the majority of our cruises have been with them. I don't choose my cruise based on a line unless I have a FCC to use up. We usually have specific dates we need to fit our vacation into. So I look at all SHIPS that fit that timing first. Then I do a sort a based on price per day and start going up until I find a ship, itererary, embarkation port that appeals to us....sometimes there are specific ships, itineraries or embarkation ports we are specifically looking for so we narrow the search down even more. We pick a few options. Research them. Then pick the one that meets most of our wants. I don't get loyalty to a brand....my loyalty is to my family wants for a vacation and my budget for that vacation. If the ship offers what we want, at the time we can go, for the price I'm willing to pay, we will be there....no matter what line it is.

I enjoy Carnival very much, but that would not keep me from trying another line.

We have been on Royal Caribbean, Princess, Celebrity, N.C.L. and find every cruise new and different!:D

Pricing is not as important as I would have thought in the beginning of my cruising life, ports are not real important either, it's just the fact of being on the high seas and on vacation with my family(DW) that counts the most.

Try them all, make new memories. Enjoy!!!:cool:

When carnival didnt improve loyalty program and instead made it worse any loyalty left.

Will be doing our first Princess cruise next month and after that plan to go back to RCCL for our first one there in about 7 years.

Look around and if you see a good price and itinerary on another line go for it.

OK - I'm a loyal Carnival cruiser - all we've ever done. But, if you decided you wanted to try something different which line would you choose and why?

 

I'm trying to work around schedules for 4 kids and just about to go crazy. I'm thinking I may book a cruise for next February on the Carnival Sunshine (first time on her) for all of my family except my college age daughter and then she and I might take a 4 or 5 day cruise during her spring break next year and we might try a different line.

 

Money will be an issue so keep that in mind. What should we do and which line should we try?

If taking the 4 kids, RCCL would probably be the best fit for your family. Normally they are higher than CCL, but sometimes equal or even lower in cost.

DH and I have both cruised Princess, but my kids have only been on Carnival. I would like to try other lines at some point, but I have a hard time looking elsewhere when Carnival is delivering at this point in our lives. My kids are 5 and 8 so that limits us a little. Waterslides are a must so that rules out Princess. I am tempted to try RC on Allure and Oasis, but the price is just too much more than Carnival. I also feel that RC is a little more scheduled than Carnival and I don't like schedules on vacation. Entertainment is not our thing either and I hear that that's why many like RC. Disney is also too expensive and not even a consideration because DH and I love the casino. That leaves Norwegian that to me seems the next closest fit for us. Its just hard to take the chance of trying something new when we haven't been disappointed with Carnival thus far.

Past 13 mons, have done 8 cruises. 4 CCL, 3 Celebrity and 1 NCL. Really didn't notice any difference. Had a good time on all. Have many cruises on RCCL but none recently. After a few drinks they all look alike to me.

I would try Royal Caribbean. I don't really have loyalty to a specific line. While I love Carnival's crews, the fact is that Carnival is slipping and offering fewer and fewer of the little things that I like.

Also, Carnival's loyalty program (at least for lower tiers) is nowhere near as nice as the other lines.

I need to book by sailing date first then price and Carnival has won out. This is fine because I have enjoyed all of my Carnival cruises. I live near NYC and I am receiving a lot of advertisements from RCL and NCL for their NYC cruises. I would be open to trying them since CCL will be reducing service out of NYC.:cool:

DH and I have both cruised Princess, but my kids have only been on Carnival. I would like to try other lines at some point, but I have a hard time looking elsewhere when Carnival is delivering at this point in our lives. My kids are 5 and 8 so that limits us a little. Waterslides are a must so that rules out Princess. I am tempted to try RC on Allure and Oasis, but the price is just too much more than Carnival. I also feel that RC is a little more scheduled than Carnival and I don't like schedules on vacation. Entertainment is not our thing either and I hear that that's why many like RC. Disney is also too expensive and not even a consideration because DH and I love the casino. That leaves Norwegian that to me seems the next closest fit for us. Its just hard to take the chance of trying something new when we haven't been disappointed with Carnival thus far.

We have never been disappointed on Carnival either - but thought since this cruise would be just me and my then 20 year old daughter we might try a little something different to see if as a family we might want to try a different line. Waterslides are a must for us too when we cruise with the whole family since my smallest ones are 9 and 11 and love the slides!

I'd love to add to my sailed days on Carnival's VIFP but like many have posted here - it's just not that much of an added benefit. My husband and I just turned gold with 26 days cruised and the next level is so far off it will take forever to reach it I'm afraid.

Im going on my first Carnival Cruise in around 60 days! But I have enjoyed NCL for many years. I don't know how it compares yet, but NCL is always reasonably priced and the crew is amazing.

I did NCL, Celebrity and I will try MSC in October. I always liked each of my cruises. There is always the good and the not so good

Venturing out, you would probably want to try out 1 of the 2 lines closest to Carnival in experience; NCL or RCCL. One used to be a step up, and one a step down, until NCL upped their game and CCL seemed to have stopped playing.

RCCL is still on top, so look for RCCL bargains.

I'm platinum on Carnival, but I think that I like NCL more. I've been on several NCL ships. I like the free style cruising. No set time or assigned table for dinner. NCL also has many more complimentary food dining options and a lot of small extra fee dining options.

I also like the shows more on NCL.

We have sailed Carnival a lot. this cruise on Saturday puts us over 100 days. We also sailed HAL..Princess..NCL..and Celebrity ......

When the management of Carnival hacked me off but good.............dissed all longtime customers, I figured...they don't want me....................I will take my self elsewhere.

I saw a cruise. Celebrity. Going to 3 ports I have never seen. St. Croix. St. Bart's. and Labadee Haiti..............would like buy another painting to go by the one I bought in 1974.---forty years ago. Feel like it helps a little. I love the painting I have. It is signed, but I have never had it appraised.

price for an ocean view......same as on Carnival Breeze. Both 8 day cruises.+ 1-2-3- promotion..........you choose one...............Free Gratuities, Free Drink Card ( alcohol, coffee, wine, soft drinks) or $200 OBC.

I was very surprised at the cost. Not that much different. We have not sailed on Celebrity in 8 years........so everything is new to us.

I am a little nervous......Carnival is so known to us...........I am looking forward to it. Everyone raves about how good the food is on Celebrity. Is it? Production Shows....all new to me. New Casino. Is it "looser" than Carnival?

I think trying a new line............is turning out to be a good thing.

I learned Prices...........depends on when you book. The odd ship, coming or going from a new port, with a few cruises scheduled .in a stand by port...........are really good deals.

Princess has a ship in the Caribbean this summer. If cabins are not filled, unlike Carnival, they send out last minute rates to P.G. and as the cruise nears...............they are low, low. IF that happens this summer...........I am going to hop on one of them. The Caribbean Princess will be sailing out of Ft. Lauderdale this summer. We have been on that ship. Loved it.

We have recently begun "wandering" after 3 Disneys and then 16 CCL's in a row. Did NCL Breakaway last summer, and RCCL FOS this past Christmas, and was back on CCL Conquest a few weeks ago. Price for Royal was double what we usually spend on a Carnival Christmas cruise - but we went for it. Truthfully, it was nice, but not THAT nice - if you know what I mean! NCL was nice enough that we have booked again for this summer. I especially enjoyed the different shows, and foods on the ships. (did not like Royal's dr food too much!) Will it stop me from cruising on Carnival again - definitely not. I am scoping out a cruise for this Christmas and February. Itinerary/ship/price will be factors- not the line.

I wouldn't say I'm a loyalist to any one cruise line, since I've only been on 4 cruises. But they were 2 on Carnival and 2 on Royal Caribbean. That being said, there is little difference between the two, except that RCCL's newer ships have so many extras on offer with a lot of extras for kids as well. I would say the biggest difference is that the decor on the RCCL ships is a little less in your face than Carnival, and on average, Carnival's staterooms are larger.

That being said, I like both lines very much, but for the money, Carnival is a better value!

All lines I have been on have been PDG. Food has been hit and miss. Shows have been hit and miss.

Size of room and quality of food on my last RCCL has turned me away from them.

I have sailed in either Balconies or Suites.

Not much of perks on CCL so I am trying NCL next year out of Tampa after my next CCL balcony cruise this summer out of Port Canaveral. I have exhausted the routes from Port Canaveral.

The NCL will be in a suite with good perks. I will see if it will be worth jumping to NCL and the "Suite Life". If so, since I am less than 2 hours from Port Canaveral, I will think hard on booking another NCL when the Spirit moves there.

Variety is the spice of life!!!!!!