periduncan

I agree. When I'm asked about going to the paid restaurants, my reply is always, "I've already paid for my food; I'm not paying double." One plus for Carnival vs. RC is that Carnival has more delicious included options (Guy's, Iguana, others on bigger ships). Although I did agree to pay for Wonderland on one of the RC ships, and that was worth it. It was a dining experience (but as such, a one-time visit).

Agree. I was exclusively Carnival. Since the restart I've done 1 Disney, 3 Royal Caribbean, and 2 Carnival. Taking out Disney, as that's in a different class (though their food buffet was horrid and open only a couple hours) the two worst were Carnival. Completely different clientele; nothing like the pre-COVID experiences. I saw mostly Blue and Red cards. The dining room was so loud I could not hear the person sitting across from me. I like morning room service. I have to eat immediately after I get up, and having a power bar is not why I go on a cruise. Going to the buffet and standing in a line of 20, unshowered and in my robe, is not going to happen. RC gave us hot bacon and scrambled eggs on the gratis breakfast, and milk. Not so, Carnival. Coming back exhausted from a day full of excursions, a clean room and bath is lovely. Not anymore on Carnival. I could go on. The one thing that is the same prepandemic is the quality of the crew. They bent over backwards in the things they could and were so eager to please. I'm on the cusp of Platinum, where the rest of my family resides. My next two cruises are going to be on Royal, who did a better job overall. Their negatives were outweighed by the RyanAir feel of Carnival this year. I know Carnival won't go broke because we leave, but I am certain my family are not an anomaly. We would have been happier for a higher cost vs. lower quality. They will probably pick-up more "Walmart shoppers" and lose the "Target shoppers" (no offense intended, I get my groceries at Walmart--just type of bargain hunters). But one thing for Carnival to keep in mind, there once was a cruise line focused on being cheap with no frills (Easy Cruise was the name I think), and it went out of business.