Anyone done Princess or Celebrity THEN Carnival?

I've only been on one cruise line - Princess and have a cruise scheduled on Celebrity in a couple months. I am wondering if anyone has the same experience of going from a line like one of these two and then switching to Carnival. Now before you all start to throw things at me - I've only heard good things about Carnival from people who use them... but I'm concerned I'll be really disappointed after using two higher-end lines. Is this a valid concern? What are the big differences? Don't want to spend a couple thousand dollars and be disappointed in the experience. Thanks all!

I've only been on one cruise line - Princess and have a cruise scheduled on Celebrity in a couple months. I am wondering if anyone has the same experience of going from a line like one of these two and then switching to Carnival. Now before you all start to throw things at me - I've only heard good things about Carnival from people who use them... but I'm concerned I'll be really disappointed after using two higher-end lines. Is this a valid concern? What are the big differences? Don't want to spend a couple thousand dollars and be disappointed in the experience. Thanks all!

That's depends on you, my friend. Let's say you enjoy shopping at Macy*s, and every now and then go to Nordstrom's. Would you be happy going to Walmart?

Myself, I like Carnival when I can get a super low price, sail solo with the supplement, and can stay away from the 1" of gold sales, the art auctions, Hasbro shows, Marraige shows, entertainment when other passengers are the stars,and the "activities" around the main pool. If I have to pay a fare comparable to another line, I'm taking the better cruise line. Carnival is a budget line, and when I get a budget price with them I can be very content. Otherwise I'm sailing away on Princess or Celebrity.

Have not been on Princess but have taken a few cruises on Celebrity and for my husband I it's an awesome cruise, not so much if we take our teenagers though I wouldn't think. You just need to rationalize that you will not receive quite the level of service on Carnival (no champagne awaiting you when you board, plus an escort to your cabin), the entertainment is far inferior on Carnival anymore, the last Celebrity cruise I took had a show that rivaled any Cirque du Soleil show I've seen. BUT, I also love Carnival for an economical, fun getaway. The food is always good in my opinion, in fact that was the one thing on Celebrity I did not care for as much. It's just a really different (not bad, just different) experience between the two lines. We can take one and a half to two Carnival cruises to one Celebrity so we often choose quantity over quality, saving the quality for special occasions. Again, not to totally downplay Carnival - we have a great time on them or we would not keep coming back, but it is a different ambiance and clientele than Celebrity and you just need to go in with your eyes open to that fact. Relish the variety that life has to offer!!

We have been on both Princess and Celebrity and loved both of them. We went on the Breeze and honestly I liked that one even better! Celebrity's food was probably better (but everyone's taste is different) and I loved just about everything about Princess. On the Breeze I really enjoyed the Spa, the entertainment, Guys Burger and the Bluelaguana. We are in our late 50's and have no interest in the pool activities but it was really fun to see everyone enjoy themselves. Even though the pool was crowded we always found a place beyond it that was really quiet. There are more than enough area's to get away from everyone.

Every night we were out late and had so much fun. I think a cruise is what you make of it!

I too, have sailed 'em all, and frankly, don't see a lot of difference between Princess, and Carnival. Both have their good points, and their mediocre points. Having said that, yes, Celebrity is absolutely a cut above, if that's what you're looking for in a cruise. I don't think the Celebrity food is any better, but the way it's served, and the service aboard, overall, is better. For me, Carnival, or Princess fill the bill perfectly, and offer exactly what I'm looking for in a cruise, without breaking the bank to do it. ;)

"SKY"

My first two cruises were on Holland America. loved them. Likes the service (always book a suite-had the penthouse on both) then went on Celebrity. Also had the Penthouse. It was the cruise from hell. Serivce was lacking. The ship was not in good condition. Many things did not work in the suite or were missing. The butler service was SO over rated. Then I tried Carnival. I had avoided it, thinking it would be one big long circuit party, or Kathy Lee Giffords singing:In the Morning, In the evening....". Had no expectations. Was blown away. They are the fun ships. Something for everyone. And for the price point, it cannot be beat. I still cruise Holland, but I am now Platinum on Carnival. Go enjoy!

When taking a Carnival Cruise, we don't expect it to be like Princess or Celebrity. ;)

LuLu

As you can tell from my signature, I have sailed on many cruise lines. My Carnival experience is among my most recent cruises. For years, when I brought up a Carnival cruise that I thought I might like to book, she would say: "You are not going to like it." She discouraged me, greatly, from booking--and she was an excellent travel agent. She retired. The new woman who be came my travel agent, another experienced agent, had no qualms about booking me on my first, a Carnival Freedom 6 day during Spring Break time. (My friends thought I was nuts!) I booked a veranda, just in case things were too wild and I had a place to which I could retreat.

It was a great cruise! Entertainment was great, music groups were enjoyable, service was as good as HAL or Princess, cuisine in the MDR was very good, the Steakhouse was better than HAL's Pinnacle Grill in both food taste and in service. My veranda cabin was every bit as good, if not better, than some of the veranda cabins I have had on both Princess and HAL ships. My MDR table was next to a table of some lovely young women who were going to graduate from Ball State University in a few months. One evening, none of my table companions arrived, and they invited me to join them during dinner in their conversations and laughter. Even though it was a cruise during Spring Break, I saw nor heard anything that was inappropriate. What I did see were many young people enjoying themselves. As a senior citizen, it was most certainly not objectionable. (Oh, to be their age again----in some respects.)

Go on your cruise with an open mind and expect it to be a pleasant experience. Given the right itinerary, ship, date, and price, I would not hesitate to sail on Carnival again!

We are platinum on Princess, 3 cruises on Carnival. Don't see that much difference between the 2 anymore. We go with whoever has the itinerary we're looking for at the time.

It's been a few years since I was on a Celebrity cruise but I have to say Celebrity and Holland ( never cruised Princess but family members have said it's as good as HAL and Celebrity) were quite a bit better than my first Carnival cruise this last Feb. But it was good enough to go on another one at the end of this month.

The biggest difference I saw was the food. All I will say is I didn't gain any weight on the Carnival cruise ;). Also the crew seemed way more friendly on the other two lines. I saw very few smiles and no " good morning!" greetings. That really doesn't bother me at all though so not a deal breaker.

IMHO the Celebrity ships are prettier and dinner more formal. The first nights dinner on Carnival when they handed me the menu I was thinking " where are all the other courses??" But I didn't leave hungry, and dang it, I was always too full to try out room service! Lol

We have sailed on Princess & Celebrity as well. Any ship is good enough for us as long it's the right itinerary and price. We go on cruises with an open mind and hope for a pleasant experience. We sailed on Carnival for the 1st time in 2009, it was a weekend getaway out of Miami with the kids so that was a good bonding time with them. Will be sailing again in May with our then 22 y/o granddaughter as her college graduation getaway from our cruise port so no flying involved.

I'm pretty sure we will have fun!

Been on both of them....

Celebrity has a higher level of service for sure, but you also pay for that. Food may have been slightly better.

Princess did not have better food except in their steakhouse. I found myself missing carnival food.

Entertainment and things to do have always been the best on carnival.

Just my .02

CJ

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They're all different but overall Carnival is my favorite.

I am on Carnival next month and NCL in April. Itinerary almost the same. Excited about both. A cruise is a cruise and I am doubly excited.

I agree with most posts, but it really depends on the ships. We did the Celebrity Summit last November with the free beverage package and without the kids. We did the Carnival Freedom this past May with the kids. Carnival for Kids, Celebrity for the perks like the beverage package. Food very marginally better on Celebrity. More activities and a younger crowd on Carnival. More formal on Celebrity. The Carnival ship seemed like it was much more stable in rough water? Bottom line, go with price and Itinerary, and don't forget the perks. Odds are you will have a great time on either line.

Did one princes cruise prior to joining Carnival. Princess was very elegant with a lot of entertainers around the ship, harpist in one lounge, string quartet in another, juggler/contortionist in the atrium. It was a two weeks repositioning cruise. Didn't like the food though, too fancy. Dad hated dressing for dinner every night.

Love the relaxed atmosphere of Carnival compared to princess.

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We did 2 Carnival cruises then one on Celebrity Equinox. While the Equinox was a beautiful ship we found it extremely boring. Shut down by 11:00 pm. We don't stay up super late but not that early. Day time was boring for us as well. Beautiful ship though but we are now booked for Carnival again and really looking forward to it. Preferred Carmival food as well but that can be subjective.

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I have a little different take on this one. I took a Carnival cruise 20 years ago and it was fine, I had nothing to compare it to. Then we started going on Disney and Celebrity and I swore I would never go on Carnival again. In fact, we used to make fun of our friends who would only go on Carnival. Until....we started looking at some of the prices are realized we could cruise every few months with Carnival. We decided to give it a try. We had super low expectations and went with a good attitude. We had a blast. We keep booking Carnival because of the price. I do miss the lectures and activities on Celebrity, and the top notch food, but I have always enjoyed the food on Carnival too, it's just not over the top. We did try Princess this summer and I had high hopes, but I have to say that with our experience I would rate Princess below Carnival. The food was terrible on the ship we were on, bad service, and nothing to do. I know it is all subjective, and I really believe we just picked the wrong ship, because I know tons of people that love Princess. I am just excited that we tried Carnival again and now we cruise even more! Happy sailing.

We did Carnival, then Princess, then back to Carnival. Quite frankly the biggest difference we noticed was the decor and maybe the music. We actually prefer Carnival and although we do like both cruise lines and would cruise with both we will always choose Carnival as our Preferred line.

My advice to you is you're just going to have to try it and decide for yourself and determine your own opinion because mine won't be the same as yours.

We took one Princess cruise. Did not go back and I definitely did not consider them 'high end'. Have not done Celebrity yet.

The main piece of advice I can give you is to go with REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS. Most times, when you see disappointing reviews, the culprit is because these people went on these cruises expecting something that didn't meet their own, very personal expectations. Some people sail on Carnival expecting Princess and some people sail on Princess expecting Seabourn. Both are bound to be disappointed.

We've truly enjoyed sailing on Carnival, but we set the bar lower when we choose them and normally are not disappointed. We JUST returned from our first Princess cruise and set the bar a bit higher. It was truly one of the BEST cruises we've ever taken. Everything was just a notch above. And that's a lot to say considering we sailed on a short cruise out of LA which, like short Bahamas cruises, are considered to be at the bottom of the barrel.

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Don't care much for the decor on the Carvival Dream. Princess ships (the one's I have been on) are more upscale, elegant in appearance. The Dream has a giant half moon shaped bar that engulfs the whole atrium. Never seen that before, they put it in your face as soon as you board, DRINK!

I found the service on both lines to be comparable. Both had very good service in the dining room and cabin. The exception was there is no table service in the buffet on Carnival as on Princess.

We had not been on Carnival in 12 years and wanted to try them again last week. It was a good cruise(I haven't had a bad one yet), and am glad I went. I guess it depends what you expect to get out of your cruise. Price would have to be right (low) to remain with Carnival. This is not a knock, it's just personal preference.

Thank you all so much for sharing your experiences! I'm SO much less scared to try Carnival now! Will be reading through the message boards and doing my research - and hopefully booking a family cruise with them for next fall! :)

We have done royal,celebrity and Disney and then a Carnival cruise and we did like the carnival cruise but the service was not as great as are other cruises.

Our first cruise was Celebrity and it definitely got us hooked on cruising. We avoided Carnival for years, thinking it was a lower-end party crowd. When we returned from our first Carnival cruise, my DH agreed it was the most FUN we ever had. Definitely not as elegant, definitely more laid back. Service was still exceptional, food of course is subjective but we've always enjoyed it.

I think it really depends on your reasons for cruising. I love the ocean and seeing different ports and simply relaxing. I can do it for a lot less on Carnival. The dressing up and formality is fun at times, but I enjoy it less as I get older, I must admit! ;)

We will still cruise other lines, but Carnival is convenient (out of Galveston - 80 miles from home) and the best vacation value we've found.