Tried Carnival, and it looks like we are Royalists

[ddgleason]

Well, we gave Carnival a try. Since RCI has pulled the short cruises out of LA, we have little choice on that front, so we tried the Elation out of San Diego on the 4 night run. We really wanted to like it since that is our only short cruise option on this side of the world. But after all was said and done, we just prefer Royal. It wasn't any one thing that made Carnival bad; in fact, I wouldn't say Carnival was bad. It just wasn't for us. It looks like we will stay loyal to Royal.

[Jolimont]

Thankfully we're not married to our cruise lines, looking around is actually encouraged! I'll probably try them all sooner or later.

[IBookHePays]

I know sooner or later we will try the same. I'll keep my expectations low, and hope for the best:)

[jking917]

We did the same...we tried Carnival after RCCL pulled the short cruises out of Los Angeles and we were very disapointed. We went on Paradise for a 3 night cruise. The shows were not that good and they didnt have enough entertainment for us. One night we were actually in bed by 10:30PM!!! On our vacations, this is way to early. While I had a lot of time to read, I was disappointed over the activities. There just wasnt enough to do. What I did like about Paradise was the rooms were bigger and the Chocolate Melting cake. We realized now that we are RCCL loyale. I just wish they would bring back the shorter cruises! We miss you RCCL!!. To be fair though we are booked on Mariner this summer and very much looking forward to it.

[klingoncruiser]

Well put. I feel the same about Carnival. Not a bad line, I just prefer RCL.

[MrPete]

Well, we gave Carnival a try. Since RCI has pulled the short cruises out of LA, we have little choice on that front, so we tried the Elation out of San Diego on the 4 night run. We really wanted to like it since that is our only short cruise option on this side of the world. But after all was said and done, we just prefer Royal. It wasn't any one thing that made Carnival bad; in fact, I wouldn't say Carnival was bad. It just wasn't for us. It looks like we will stay loyal to Royal.

 

Can you be more specific?

 

The food?

The entertainment?

Your stateroom?

Your servers?

Fellow passengers?

Your ports of call?

Activities?

 

We found sailing the west coast wasn't the same as a Caribbean cruise. It had just a different feel. Same with east coast Canadian cruises.

[MIcruiser99]

We did the same...we tried Carnival after RCCL pulled the short cruises out of Los Angeles and we were very disapointed. We went on Paradise for a 3 night cruise. The shows were not that good and they didnt have enough entertainment for us. One night we were actually in bed by 10:30PM!!! On our vacations, this is way to early. While I had a lot of time to read, I was disappointed over the activities. There just wasnt enough to do. What I did like about Paradise was the rooms were bigger and the Chocolate Melting cake. We realized now that we are RCCL loyale. I just wish they would bring back the shorter cruises! We miss you RCCL!!. To be fair though we are booked on Mariner this summer and very much looking forward to it.

 

Our first cruise was with Carnival and I remember thinking, "what is so great about cruising? This is really boring."

 

We decided to give it another try on a different ship and loved RCL.

 

The time between cruises was so long that I really can't remember why we were bored on Carnival or why we enjoyed our RCL cruise. Whatever the cause, we continue to enjoy our cruises with RCL.

[luvscruising2007]

We have been cruising exclusively with RCL and have loved all of our cruises.

Our next cruise is on Carnival and I am looking forward to something different.

I would be interested in learning from the OP what specifics influenced their opinion. I am going to keep an open mind and am sure we will have a great

time.

[Happy ks]

Can you be more specific?

 

The food?

The entertainment?

Your stateroom?

Your servers?

Fellow passengers?

Your ports of call?

Activities?

 

We found sailing the west coast wasn't the same as a Caribbean cruise. It had just a different feel. Same with east coast Canadian cruises.

 

 

We've only cruised once on Carnival, so I can only answer for that one time, it was enough to put us off Carnival. We would cruise the short cruise here, but only if a group of our friends insisted.

 

The food? Better that we expected

 

The entertainment? It was OK

 

Your stateroom? Gross, yes it was larger, but it was like a formica camper shell, ugly colors.

 

Your servers? Impatient and rude. We disliked the barracks style seating. The assistant server was a little better, our table was in a horrid spot, next to the serving station.

 

Fellow passengers? Table mates wouldn't speak to us, too shy, but they sat across from us in a row, we wished they would have taken seats across from each other. Other pax, well...a whole lot of cigarette smokers but people were nice.

 

Ports of Call? On a 4 night Pacific/Baja, the typical Catalina/Ensenada stops, no stop in San Diego. Monarch stopped in SD, our favorite port in this area. We stay onboard in Ensenada and that ended up being our favorite time on the ship. The sea day was torture, trapped in a funky, smokey ship on a cold, overcast day (in August).

 

Activities? Typical of any other cruise ship.

 

We thought the photographers were better than the ones on RCI. All in all, in 19 cruises, it was the only ship we have ever wanted to get off of.

 

We do believe that there are more choices out there and RCI isn't the only line. We think they have a good product for the money, but fully intend on cruising other lines.

 

Since we can't get away for more than one longer cruise per year, the shorter cruises worked well for us. We are currently booked on Sapphire Princess for this December on a 4 night cruise to Santa Barbara/Ensenada and are looking forward to it. The only worries I have is that they allow smoking in staterooms and although I realize they clean the cabins, you can still smell smoke in the corridors. I was so pleased when RCI started disallowing cabin smoking and wish other lines would do the same.

[MrPete]

We've only cruised once on Carnival, so I can only answer for that one time, it was enough to put us off Carnival. We would cruise the short cruise here, but only if a group of our friends insisted.

 

The food? Better that we expected

 

The entertainment? It was OK

 

Your stateroom? Gross, yes it was larger, but it was like a formica camper shell, ugly colors.

 

Your servers? Impatient and rude. We disliked the barracks style seating. The assistant server was a little better, our table was in a horrid spot, next to the serving station.

 

Fellow passengers? Table mates wouldn't speak to us, too shy, but they sat across from us in a row, we wished they would have taken seats across from each other. Other pax, well...a whole lot of cigarette smokers but people were nice.

 

Ports of Call? On a 4 night Pacific/Baja, the typical Catalina/Ensenada stops, no stop in San Diego. Monarch stopped in SD, our favorite port in this area. We stay onboard in Ensenada and that ended up being our favorite time on the ship. The sea day was torture, trapped in a funky, smokey ship on a cold, overcast day (in August).

 

Activities? Typical of any other cruise ship.

 

We thought the photographers were better than the ones on RCI. All in all, in 19 cruises, it was the only ship we have ever wanted to get off of.

 

We do believe that there are more choices out there and RCI isn't the only line. We think they have a good product for the money, but fully intend on cruising other lines.

 

Since we can't get away for more than one longer cruise per year, the shorter cruises worked well for us. We are currently booked on Sapphire Princess for this December on a 4 night cruise to Santa Barbara/Ensenada and are looking forward to it. The only worries I have is that they allow smoking in staterooms and although I realize they clean the cabins, you can still smell smoke in the corridors. I was so pleased when RCI started disallowing cabin smoking and wish other lines would do the same.

 

Being you're not the OP I was talking to, what ship did you go on?

[MrPete]

We have been cruising exclusively with RCL and have loved all of our cruises.

Our next cruise is on Carnival and I am looking forward to something different.

I would be interested in learning from the OP what specifics influenced their opinion. I am going to keep an open mind and am sure we will have a great

time.

 

That's what I liked when I finally had an opporunity to sail RCCL, being they were offering an itinerary I was interested in.

 

Everything was different and refreshing. It was like being a newbie again.

[Happy ks]

Being you're not the OP I was talking to, what ship did you go on?

 

These threads do have a way of running off in different directions ;)

 

Ecstasy, when it was still in LA. I would compare it to Monarch (the same age, close to the same size), but not to newer Carnival ships.

 

We cruised on Ecstacy once (of course, duh), cruised on Monarch numerous times. We still wish she were here doing the same route, we miss those little cruises.

 

Whenever I mention a Carnival cruise to my family, they sneer at me.

[JohnGaltny]

Admittedly we've only done one short cruise on Carnival but they come in third for us behind RCI and Princess. Our biggest problem is that they have NO IDEA how to handle crowds.

 

There are some things Carnival does really well. Here's the summary from the cruise blog in my sig:

 

There are things Victory does really well but other things not so much.

 

To the good are great overnight rations, specialty food outlets (BBQ , Deli and Chinese), genuinely friendly entertainment staff (see: Marcie in the Adriatic Lounge), and extremely competent, if somewhat distant, housekeeping staff (I KNOW some people prefer that). On the downside are crazy long lines everywhere and aggressively demented traffic flows; food and service in the dining room which is just meh (I can’t comment on the Lido buffet since we could never get near it) and pools with approximately 3 square inches per person. I didn’t have any real problem with kids but if you are honestly expecting to get wet with just adults you might try standing in your shower with a really close friend (or not getting caught if the friendship is more recent).

 

In summary, I think we would do this itinerary again just without the continuous fog. We would also probably use Carnival again but Victory, while generally OK and certainly very green, is just too many people on not enough ship.

[MrPete]

Admittedly we've only done one short cruise on Carnival but they come in third for us behind RCI and Princess. Our biggest problem is that they have NO IDEA how to handle crowds.

 

There are some things Carnival does really well. Here's the summary from the cruise blog in my sig:

 

The VICTORY! RUN AWAY....run away.....run away

[kd6183]

Can you be more specific?

 

The food?

The entertainment?

Your stateroom?

Your servers?

Fellow passengers?

Your ports of call?

Activities?

 

 

We found sailing the west coast wasn't the same as a Caribbean cruise. It had just a different feel. Same with east coast Canadian cruises.

 

We have been cruising exclusively with RCL and have loved all of our cruises.

Our next cruise is on Carnival and I am looking forward to something different.

I would be interested in learning from the OP what specifics influenced their opinion. I am going to keep an open mind and am sure we will have a great

time.

 

 

 

 

We sailed one Carnival cruise and approached it with a very open mind. We tend to sail the same ships more than once and were excited about the idea of a different ship more than a different itinerary.

 

We were pleasantly surprised how much we enjoyed the dining room food, however did not care for the buffet food.

 

The shows seemed typical of other cruise lines. We did really enjoy the adult comedy show that was very funny.

 

We had a category 12 stateroom and the room was a nice size but the bathroom was small for a suite.

 

We did not feel there were a lot of activities in the day. We personally did not care for the seating style at the pool area. There were a lot of chairs in a stadium style seating at the pool and most of them were just upright chairs not lounge chairs.

 

I think the biggest thing we did not care for was the fact you can't get to an outside deck to just walk around unless it was the pool deck. Even with a balcony room we like to just walk around the decks after dinner. It felt very dark and claustrophobic as we are use to seeing doors with windows and knowing you can walk outside and there seemed just no way out.

 

There is always a line where we enjoy food, entertainment and cabins more than others so we just choose to select those ships for future sailings. We mostly sail Royal and NCL and yet we know to expect a different sailing experience with each line. The rooms and dining experience are very different on both and yet we have a wonderful time as long as we are at sea! :D

 

Happy Sailing everyone! :)

[jebl]

As far as CCL vs RCL when you compare older ships RCL wins out. I had sailed on the Ecstasy and the Inspiration back in the late 90's and would always bad mouth CCL.

 

However, I sailed on the Dream in Europe and by far it beat out RCL.

 

Food was much better in the dining room..

 

Much more variety in the Lido buffet..

 

More entertainment options in the evening....

 

Value much better...

 

I was originally booked on the Brilliance W. Med cruise and after they took away some of the Diamond perks, that I had taken so long to earn (one cruise at a time), I checked out CCL. The price was half of what RCL wanted.. That left money for excursions.

 

While I love RCL's ships, especially Radiance class , the bottom line is going to be price in these tough economic times. I don't want to pay twice as much for pretty.

 

I am sailing on the Miracle in Jan so will see if CCL has gotten better on the older smaller ships as well.

[The Grumpus]

Carnival was just alright for me too. I would sail on Pride again since she homeports 30-minutes from my front door and I do like that ship's layout. But the thing I've noticed about Carnival is that there is no WOW factor... for me anyway.

[dnwside]

As the OP said I belive I prefer RCL because, well it just was better. Carnival wasn't all that bad, we were on Triumph out of New Orleans, but I have been on Soverign and Liberty and liked each a lot better.

DW overwhemingly liked Royal better. On Royal we had JS each time and liked the layout and balcony better. (we did have a hump JS on Liberty). On Triumph we had an ocean suite that did not seem to have as much room as either JS and the balcony could not even compare to the Soverign. Room stewards were equal to Royal but dining room staff was just ok. Casino was way below Royal and most other employees were not very helpful.

Itinerary and price was the reason we tried Carnival because we took DS's and ones GF. Plus it was spring break for the DS in college. Our next cruise is Apr 2, '11 on Serenade and we can't wait.

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

It always amazes me when people try one old small Carnival ship for a short 3 or 4 day cruise during spring break and say Carnival isn't for them. Any 3 or 4 day cruise during spring break or an old ship or a small ship is not going to be as good as a 7 day cruise on newer bigger ship. Just a fact. I personally like Carnival. I have read that RCI has the wow factor that Carnival may not have. Although I've been wowed by Carnival. But considering RCI cruises are generally a lot more expensive, I'll continue to sail based on cost. If RCI is about the same cost, I'll take them. I'm on the Mariner next month and I know I will have fun but I've never had a bad cruise on Carnival. There are good and bad waiters on every ship just like a restaurant at home. Same for room stewards. I actually had the best cruise ever on my last Elation cruise that was just a short weekend getaway. Best service ever in all areas. I was on the same itinerary and same ship a few months earlier and the service was good but not as good as the other. A lot of variables.

[Cruising89143]

Cruised with Carnival for many years before stepping out and trying something else. We tried the Navigator of RCI and there was no looking back for us. To me it comes down to what one is looking for in an overall cruise experience. It just depends on each person but I do believe that the only way to know if a cruise line will work is to give them a try.

 

I would rather cruise on the Fantasy class than the Destiny or Conquest class ships. They are horrible in design and after looking at the Dream deck plans, it's nothing more than a slightly enlarged version of the Destiny/Conquest class but with a lot more people crammed in. Also the majority of the reviews posted here on CC confirm my feelings.

 

Carnival got it right with the Spirit class design. Nice size ship and not overcrowded with a good passenger flow. Great aft wrap around suites too. Too bad that they only built four.

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

Cruised with Carnival for many years before stepping out and trying something else. We tried the Navigator of RCI and there was no looking back for us. To me it comes down to what one is looking for in an overall cruise experience. It just depends on each person but I do believe that the only way to know if a cruise line will work is to give them a try.

 

I would rather cruise on the Fantasy class than the Destiny or Conquest class ships. They are horrible in design and after looking at the Dream deck plans, it's nothing more than a slightly enlarged version of the Destiny/Conquest class but with a lot more people crammed in. Also the majority of the reviews posted here on CC confirm my feelings.

 

Carnival got it right with the Spirit class design. Nice size ship and not overcrowded with a good passenger flow. Great aft wrap around suites too. Too bad that they only built four.

 

 

I also love the Spirit class. I have read that those ships were originally built for another line but Carnival bought them instead. Time to google.:) I do wish they made more.

[Cruising89143]

I also love the Spirit class. I have read that those ships were originally built for another line but Carnival bought them instead. Time to google.:) I do wish they made more.

 

Actually Carnival built the first Spirit class for Costa (Costa Atlantica). The Spirit came after the Atlantica. They have also used this design for Holland America, Cunard and P&O which was called the Vista class. All of these were tied to this first ship built for Costa but were changed and have evolved for each brand.

[MrPete]

Actually Carnival built the first Spirit class for Costa. They have also used this design for Holland America, Cunard and P&O which was called the Vista class. All of these were tied to this first ship built for Costa but were changed for each brand.

 

I'm pretty sure the new Queen Victoria is a Vista class.

[critterchick]

Well, we gave Carnival a try. Since RCI has pulled the short cruises out of LA, we have little choice on that front, so we tried the Elation out of San Diego on the 4 night run. We really wanted to like it since that is our only short cruise option on this side of the world. But after all was said and done, we just prefer Royal. It wasn't any one thing that made Carnival bad; in fact, I wouldn't say Carnival was bad. It just wasn't for us. It looks like we will stay loyal to Royal.

 

Although if you want to do a short getaway, Carnival is still your only choice.:(

 

We did the same...we tried Carnival after RCCL pulled the short cruises out of Los Angeles and we were very disapointed. We went on Paradise for a 3 night cruise. The shows were not that good and they didnt have enough entertainment for us. One night we were actually in bed by 10:30PM!!! On our vacations, this is way to early. While I had a lot of time to read, I was disappointed over the activities. There just wasnt enough to do. What I did like about Paradise was the rooms were bigger and the Chocolate Melting cake. We realized now that we are RCCL loyale. I just wish they would bring back the shorter cruises! We miss you RCCL!!. To be fair though we are booked on Mariner this summer and very much looking forward to it.

 

We've sailed the Paradise a few times, since we don't have any other option for now. She's ok, but the experience is nothing like on Monarch. I do prefer the food on Paradise, but that's a small element of the cruise experience for me. The service onboard is wildly inconsistent - we've had some very good stateroom attendants and some that are mediocre (always had very good to excellent on Monarch). Dining room service was fabulous in the traditional seating, so-so in Your Time Dining. Bar service was very impersonal. And it's noisy almost everywhere but in your cabin (and even that's no guarantee) - lots of hard surfaces that reflect the noise and no comfy lounges to go hide out in. We still like going with friends, but aren't doing anywhere near the amount of cruising on Paradise that we did on Monarch (and will do if RCI would send us a replacement ship).

[Cruising89143]

I'm pretty sure the new Queen Victoria is a Vista class.

 

Correct and so is the New Queen Elizabeth.