im4clowns

This just happened to me for our upcoming fos.I had booked three cabins and I thought they were all due on the same day. Well because mine was a booking with a next cruise certain from 2008 my payment was due later then all the rest. I kept seeing people on the roll call mentioning their payments were due. So I checked and two of my cabins were past due. I thought they all were due a week later. Well I called rccl and no biggie. They gave me 48 hours to pay the two past due cabins.

We did the AT last Sept from sanford to va and we had a great time!

Looking forward to your review!!

After a cruise on Carnival many years ago, we started cruising with Royal Caribbean in 2003.

 

Over the years we have seen changes in both CCL and RCI. Some for the better others not so much. My wife and I are of the opinion that two lines are about equal in total comparisons, but are certainly not the same.

 

The food has definitely gone down on RCI, Carnival is about the same as before, but better than what we have found on RCI the past few cruises.

The entertainment is better in general on RCI. Live music is much better on RCI.

 

The cabins are marginally better on the new Carnival ships. Cabins on the old RCI ships are dreadfully small.

 

The "layout" of the deack plans are better on the newer RCI ships.

And RCI is always "breaking ground" by adding something new.

 

However, the Carnival Splendor was one of the most beautiful ships we have ever sailed on.

 

The service is about even, with RCI's service again declining in recent years.

 

Based on experience, I would stay away from shorter Carnival cruises as there is a different (i.e. rowdiness and 'low class') clientele than on the longer itineraries. That has not been the case on shorter RCI cruises we have been on.

 

Probably this is due to CCL's price slashing to fill the ship at the last minute.

 

I have not found this to be true on longer cruises.

 

Particularly, the past few CCL cruises we were on were as nice as the best RCI cruises we have been on.

 

In particular, the service on the Carnival Splendor last September and the Carnival Victory out of San Juan in April 0f '09 was outstanding. The ships were clean and the age distribution of the passengers seemed about like what we have found on RCI.

 

RCI does appear to be uncompetitive on price. Price is not the only factor, but it is a factor. But thereare other considerations:

 

For example: Carnival operates two ships year round out of Galveston, near where we live. If we want to cruise close to home between May and November, we can't go RCI, because RCI is in Galveston only 5 months. Carnival has sailings that go to Nassau, Freeport and Key West in addition to the Western Caribbean. RCI goes to only to the Western Caribbean.

 

 

RCI has abandoned CA. If we want to cruise the Mexican Riviera, we can't go RCI. Carnival has two ships sailing to Baja CA.

 

 

As a result of the above now sail on both RCI and Carnival based on what we can find out about the individual ships and itineraries.

 

We are sailing the Rhapsody in May for Alaska, and Carnival in October.

 

Both lines have areas in which they excel and areas where they are weaker. But we have come to enjoy both.

I agree with so much of what you write. I too have been on several carnival and rccl and there are things i like about both and things I don't like.

we are currently booked on both carnival dream leaving sept 3rd and rccl fos leaving sept 4th....I haven't been on either one of these but carnival is so much cheaper....

i have booked both with deals that were expiring end of march but now i have to decide which one to go on. carnival is ahead because of the big price difference but dh work has denied his vacation request to start on the saturday the 3rd....so unless my dh can convince them to let him have that saturday off we might just do rccl fos and pay the extra.

We used netParkFly.com- Total Auto Rent POM which is 15 minute ride to the port. It was the best way to do it. We parked on Monday 10/25/10 @ 11:00 and came home Fri 10/29/10 @ 10:00, Total cost was $53.

They drove us right up to the terminal entrance. When coming home we called as soon as we were getting off the ship and they were right there waiting for us. It was so much easier than having to find our way around the POM and driving out. I would recommend this. For a little extra cash, they will have your car washed and ready for you when you return.

It is valet parking, but you do not have to worry. Your care is safe. There were no extra miles added to our car, so we know our car sat in one spot until we go back.

we used this service for our glory cruise....it worked great for us....we were off the ship by 8:30 and the shuttle was waiting for us....definately would recommend it...