Best Carnival Ship and Best Carnival Itinerary

I know it is a matter of opinion but I am interested to hear what my fellow cruisers feel is the best ship and the best itinerary.

For the best ship…what is it about that ship that blows the others out of the water (see what I did there :D)? Which cabin did you have? Was it a specific crew member that made your experience top notch?

For the best itinerary…what excursions did you do? What is not to be missed at each port? How soon are you going back?

For me, the best ship I've been on is the Valor and I have to be honest…in large part it was due to Felipe (woo hoo!) the Cruise Director. The best itinerary I've experienced has been the Key West & Cozumel itinerary.

Let's hear your thoughts!!!:cool:

I have to agree with the Valor and the ports it visits... Wonderful crew and a well kept ship!!!:cool:

Not really sure about best ship because I have not tried enough different ones. I will say that the best itinerary is the Southern out of San Juan. You just can't beat 6 wonderful ports in 7 days!! Definitely not a good choices for those that love sea days since there is only 1, but man or man do you get to see the most wonderful collection of islands out there!! Every day you wake up in a unique destination and each stop offers something different to enjoy. Most other cruises you are lucky to visit 2-3 great ports, this one has 6! It simply cannot be beaten in only a 7-day cruise.

Ship- tie btw Liberty and Legend

Itinerary- G. Turk, Aruba, Curaçao, Dominican Republic

Itinerary Liberty GT, Aruba and Curacao. Worked out much better when La Romana was skipped.

Best itinerary is Southern Caribbean from San Juan. Best ship is the one I am on.

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Don't know the best, but any itinerary that includes a stop in the Bahamas is definitely NOT one of them. Ugh.

I really wanted to do the 8 night Costa Rica, Panama, Belize itinerary before they eliminated it :mad:. A similar itinerary would get me to book a Carnival cruise for our next vacation.

Liberty still ranks as our favorite Carnival ship, even after sailing on the Dream class.

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I concur that Southern Caribbean itinerary can't be beat!;)

I have yet to sail on a 2.0 upgraded ship. So can't comment on ship.

What's so great about Liberty?

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Breeze and Liberty are my favorites, and my favorite itinerary would have to be the Grand Turk, Aruba, Curacao, and La Romana.

The Valor is my favorite ship.:D iteniary does not matter.

In terms of itinerary, since Carnival has very rare Bermuda trips, I have to go with the Valor's Southern Caribbean itinerary, and Mexican Riviera as a second choice (mine was on the Splendor, which is now on the east coast). Bermuda is my favorite location, though. In terms of ships, I have to agree with the Valor, with the Breeze coming in second. The Ecstasy is good for a small ship, too (I really like they way the Serenity area is positioned), even though half the ship is blue/orange and half is modern and pretty.

My favorite ship so far has been the Freedom - post upgrades (sailed this past May). Before that one it was the Liberty. Honestly the difference between these two was the staff! we loved our staff on the Freedom - they were beyond amazing.

Best itinerary is anything that has 2 sea days coming home. Those are getting harder to find, but we did it on the Freedom and the Dream. My fave itinerary was the last one we did to Grand Turk, DR, Curacai and Aruba. I love the longer cruises, so this 8 day was a dream!

My best cruise thus far I would have to say was on the Liberty.

However, there is something about the Carnival Pride that spoke out to me. It's too bad the Baltimore cruises have such a limited itinerary.

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Since Carnival doesn't have any ships sailing in the Mediterranean for a few years, I will skip over that itinerary and agree with the others who have voted for the Southern Caribbean route leaving from San Juan and going to St. Thomas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, and St. Maarten. 6 beautiful islands in 7 unforgettable days! I loved it so much in 2012 on the Victory that I'm doing it all over again in 2015 on the Valor ;)

I always cruise for the ports more than for the ship, so I don't really have a favorite ship. Just wondering: I see several people have said the Valor is their favorite ship. Why did you like the Valor so much? What sets it apart from the other ships that made it your favorite? It would be great to be able to look forward to the ship in addition to the itinerary hehe

I loved every ship I've been on. And so far, Antigua ranks as my favorite port stop for a beach visit. I don't know how often Carnival goes there. We were told on our Freedom cruise that ours was the first ship there in 2 1/2 weeks. Not sure I could handle a Valor itinerary. Alot of ports and not many sea days.

I find it very interesting that the Valor received several votes for Best Itinerary AND Best Ship. I guess I chose well!

I was on the Valor earlier this year, and I certainly thought it was a great itinerary. I like going to new and different places, and certainly this has that in spades. In scanning the other places Carnival goes to, I couldn't find anything quite as desirable unless I was willing to take more time away from work than I can afford at this time.

I'm less convinced that the Valor is the best ship around. Don't get me wrong; I thought the crew was fantastic and the ship was maintained extremely well with barely a flaw in sight. But they don't have the 2.0 changes yet. I'll be on the Conquest, the Valor's Frenchified twin, which DOES have the 2.0 changes, so we'll see.

You just can't beat 6 wonderful ports in 7 days!!

I can top that - 6 wonderful ports in SIX days!!! The Valor is running a super special voyage in October 2015 that ditches St. Kitts and the sea day for a day in Dominica.

Best ship: Sunshine, the food options are second to none, plus lots of activities.

Best itinerary: Well, the absolute best one would have been the Med cruise we went on that included Athens and Turkey. As has been pointed out, Carnival won't be doing Europe for a couple of years (presumably), so I'll go with the southern itinerary out of San Juan. The Panama/Costa Rica itinerary was also great.

For us to date:

• Freedom was our favorite ship -- perfect size for us, good space:PAX ratio, excellent staff and crew in all areas
  
• Best itinerary was also on the same cruise -- included Antigua and Tortola, both of which we LOVED!:D Too bad Carnival isn't sailing to Tortola currently :(
  

I love the Spirit Class ships, but my favorite ship is not one of them. I love the Splendor and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE sailing from NYC. That sail down the Hudson past the NY Skyline, the Freedom Tower, the Statue of Liberty, through NY Harbor and under the Verrazano Bridge is just fantabulous! :)

I'd love some longer itineraries out of NYC, but I really like Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay and ... okay Nassau (would like that stop to be another port) - but GT and HMC more than make up for it, and I get to have 4 Sea Days (which are my favorite.

I like the Splendor for the awesome steak house, Mongolian Wok, Burrito Bar, retractable roof over the 2 deck high lido pool area, aft adults only pool and wonderful crew!

Best cabin? By far - 6485 aft wrap.

The best ship is the one I happen to be cruising on at the time. I love 'em all. Best itinerary was the 49 day sail around South America in 2013. It was a repositioning and was only done once before in 2009. If CCL does it again. I'll be the first to book a cabin. 20 ports, 11 countries, whats not to love?

Carnival Breeze.

Southern Caribbean itinerary:

San Juan, St. Maarten, St. Lucia, Aruba & Curacao.

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I can't compare, since the only Carnival ship I've been on was the "Freedom". However, I think it is terrific, especially the 8 day out of Ft. Lauderdale. The staff was great, the food was good, and the ship was a perfect size. I loved the itinerary that included enough sea days. But the most important facts were that the prices for a solo traveller were reasonable, and it is based in Ft. Lauderdale only a 15 minute cab ride from home. My November 15th booking will make it four times this year on that ship.

Jim

Having sailed on 14 different ships in the fleet over the years, my favorite by far was the Breeze. I still though loved the "awe" factor when we were on the Destiny back in '01 when she was the largest ship afloat and the first to break 100 K tons.

Port wise, I love Aruba, have been there 3 times. Great weather and no hassles from the natives.

My favorite Carnival ship are all that I've been on - loved them all.

My favorite itinerary is the Southern Caribbean out of San Juan going to St. Thomas; Barbados; St. Lucia; St. Kitts, and St. Maarten (Saint Somewhere). We've been on cruises to the Western and Eastern Caribbean and also a Mexican Riviera but the scenery on the Southern out of San Juan is, in my opinion, the best. We did that itinerary on Carnival Valor in May 2013 and Valor is currently doing that itinerary, however, Valor and Liberty will be switching home ports in March 2015 with Liberty taking on the Southern Caribbean itinerary out of San Juan. We were just on Liberty for a Western this past April and you can't go wrong with either ship. Loved them both.