Princess cruiser tries Carnival

[geoherb]

We returned yesterday from our first cruise together on a Carnival ship. DH and his mother had never sailed on Carnival. I sailed on the Carnivale back in 1988--so it has been a long time since I had been on one.

 

This was our 23rd cruise together and the first one with his mother tagging along. We sailed on the Fantasy out of Charleston for five nights.

 

I loved being able to drive to the port from North Carolina. That saved us a ton of money since we usually fly to Florida for cruises. But it also made for a long day both going and coming back since we had to pick up his mother, who lives an hour west of us. Without her, we could have made it to the port in a little over four hours. With her, it took seven--including loading and unloading her luggage and the extra pit stops along the way.

 

The port was well organized with great signage along the roads leading to it. My mother-in-law has trouble walking long distances. I was happy that her handicapped placard got us free parking. We received wheelchair assistance for her for embarkation, so check-in went really quickly for us (as well as disembarkation).

 

We had side-by-side ocean view cabins on the Riviera Deck near the back of the ship. I booked the cruise late, and those were the best available cabins near each other. DH and she were booked in one cabin and I had the other one. I was able to get DH a key card for "my" cabin door. Our travel agent arranged with Carnival's guest services to have a shower seat for my mother-in-law. He also got her a toilet chair that fit over the toilet, but she did not need that and ended up using it as a luggage rack in her cabin.

[geoherb]

Cabins: The layout of the cabins was pretty spartan. We had a third berth against one wall and our bed opposite it. There was a small desk with tiny drawers in it. Our cabin steward kept our ice bucket filled each morning and afternoon, but I missed having a refrigerator.

 

The bathroom seemed larger than those on Princess ships. The size of the shower was especially a nice surprise. I remember how tiny the one on my only previous Carnival cruise was, but of course that was on a ship built in the 1950s.

 

There was not as much storage space as on Princess and not as much seating area--just a small chair and an ottoman/bench type thing.

 

The television was a small flatscreen. I liked that it got regular channels (ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox). My only complaint was that there wasn't any guide to what was being shown on the additional channels. For instance, there was a special movie channel that showed fairly recent films, but not a schedule of what was going to be shown.

 

Our cabin steward (Iwayan from Indonesia) was great. We never came back from breakfast or dinner without his having cleaned our room.

[golfb4cruzing]

We are opposite. We are doing Princess this year after 5 Carnivals. As you can see I am still on the Carnival board as the Princess one is shall I say unlively. I hope our trip is much more exciting or we will gladly be back on the FunShips.

[Folsom]

Our previous cruise was on Princess, and we just got off of the Carnival Freedom.

 

Atmosphere is night and day. The average age on Princess (at least on our cruise) was 20 years older than Carnival.

 

We had given up on cruising, and had been doing AI's, because of the Princess cruise we were on, but Carnival restored my faith and I bought the FCC while on board.

 

Thanks Carnival

 

-F-

[geoherb]

Food and Dining: We ate the first afternoon in the buffet. I liked the salad bar but wasn't thrilled with the hot selections. We had "your time" dining in the Celebration Dining Room for dinner. We only had to wait once--on elegant night. I waited in line for about 10 minutes and then received a pager and we sat for another 20 minutes in the piano bar next to the dining room.

 

We ate every possible meal in the dining room, only returning to the buffet the lunch it was closed while we were in Nassau. I had a better lunch that day than the first because the Mongolian grill was open then.

 

Service was very good most of the time. The only downside was that I tried a couple of times to request something not on the menu and was told that it wasn't available. The first item was pineapple for breakfast--something I always get on Princess even though it's not on the menu. The second time was a fruit plate for dessert at lunch.

 

I wasn't crazy about the attempts to entertain us at dinner. One of the problems was that it usually just interrupted our meal (and wasn't that entertaining). It probably works better for the fixed dining times.

 

I also did not like that we always ate by ourselves, although some of the time, we were seated so close to another table that it was like having tablemates. On our previous cruises, we usually sat with others at large tables for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

 

The food in the dining room was very good. I liked the Indian vegetarian I tried the first night. Other standout dishes were the lobster, the sushi, and some of the cold fruit soups.

[golfb4cruzing]

OP no wild nights dancing until 4am?

[geoherb]

Entertainment and activities: We enjoyed the two production shows. (The second one was better.) The singers and dancers and band do a respectable job. There were only two singers--a man and a woman. The man was the better of the two. A lot of times when the dancers were on stage and the soundtrack was playing, they did not even pretend to be singing.

 

There were two comedians on our cruise. We only saw the "Cowboy Comedian" do his adult show. He was OK. It was packed. The Fantasy really needs a larger second showroom. When we left after the show, people were waiting to get in to see the next one. I'm thinking some of them were going to be disappointed because it did not look like as many people were leaving the room as waiting to get in.

 

The cruise director scheduled various activities--a lot things all at once and then a drought of time with nothing to do. One of my favorite activities on cruises is trivia, but it was disappointing on the Fantasy. (Although I did keep going back for more.) One of the disappointments was that not more passengers participated. My first one was me against a team of four. Another time was me against one woman. Occasionally they'd attract a small crowd and maybe get as many as six teams--but those were rare. In any case, I won seven of the ten times I played. The winning team got one trophy (a plastic ship on a stick plated with fake gold), which would have been hard to split those times when I played with other people if I had not already won one.

 

I enjoyed the past passenger party (which was my first chance to see the cruise director in person). I worked hard to get my cruise from 1988 recognized in order to get the invitation to this party. The cruise director said about a third of the guests were past passengers, which I thought sounded like a low number. But it made for more drinks for me.

 

And thanks to Cruise Critic, I knew what the "fun farewell" was so DH and his mother could join me for that party.

[geoherb]

No wild nights of dancing till 4 a.m. for me, although a couple of mornings I was up at 5 a.m. to do my walking. That was another disappointment--the lack of an outside promenade deck. I did do a few laps around the jogging track, but I primarily walked around the pool area and the waterworks area. My goal was to get in a couple of miles before breakfast.

 

There always seemed to be someone cleaning, but a lot of times the crew missed obvious things--such as coffee cups left in a stairwell. Some of my fellow passengers were slobs. They'd leave dishes wherever they finished an item--or were tire of it. I also noticed several could not read the no smoking signs. I tried to avoid those people. The only time I saw anyone on the staff say something was the security guy who asked a couple not to smoke in the hot tub. Apparently no one else cared.

 

It was a spring break cruise, and a good number of passengers were enjoying theirs. For the most part they did not bother us. The big exceptions were the guy who banged on our door the first night after midnight. DH jumped out of bed, thinking that something was wrong with his mother. The second night a loud group of kids woke me up also after midnight. They were talking in the hallway a few doors down. I asked that they move their conversation inside and they did without my having to call security.

[geoherb]

During my morning walks, I never saw any rampant chair hogs in action. I always try to avoid getting too much sun, so it's never really a problem for me. There were usually crowds in the hot tubs except the days we were in Nassau, when DH and I were able to enjoy quiet afternoons in them without feeling like sardines. The pool was never crowded and I swam in it a few times.

 

Our cruise skipped Freeport due to high winds. The ship sailed to Nassau a day early, arriving there around 3 p.m. It's the first time I've ever had a cruise overnight in port. I think it was a great itinerary--one that Carnival should consider adding as a regularly scheduled option. The people who enjoyed Senor Frogs both days would agree.

 

Overall, we had a good time. There were several things that we missed from Princess (and HAL and Celebrity, our other favorite lines). But for the price and convenience, it was worth it. I paid my deposit down for another one so that we can take advantage of the future cruise credit sometime in the next three years.

[big_duck]

I also did not like that we always ate by ourselves, although some of the time, we were seated so close to another table that it was like having tablemates. On our previous cruises, we usually sat with others at large tables for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

 

Just so you know, you can ask the YTD hostess to be sat at a large table but if others don't want to play, you are kind of stuck.

[OK Rancher]

I have been on both Princess and Carnival. For years I stayed away from Carnival due to its party ship image. But, when I wanted to upgrade to a verandah room and Princess and Carnival itineraries were very similar, I gave Carnival a try. Where Princess can be a bit "precious," Carnival is perhaps a little too relaxed. I remarked to my partner that it seemed that having a tattoo or piercing might have been required for at least one member of each stateroom. That said, there was no judgement or "putting on airs" on Carnival. The food was not as good as Princess, but it was good. I would not hesitate to go on either line again.

[Room Service!]

geoherb - Glad you had a good time. I was waiting to see how you liked it. I once mentioned to a woman that we sailed Car ..... , that's all I got out before she stuck her nose up in the air and said "No way" would she "EVER cruise on a Carnival ship".

[AZPam]

We are trying Carnival in May after being loyal Princess cruisers for years. Just ready for something different. Have to admit the Carnival boards are much more lively so first impression so far is good.

[FightOnRon]

We are trying Carnival in May after being loyal Princess cruisers for years. Just ready for something different. Have to admit the Carnival boards are much more lively so first impression so far is good.

 

I was a devoted HAL guy and will probably going to them for a Mediteranean cruise in a couple of years,,but as you can see I went on one Carnival ship, and an old ship at that ,and I had a blast,,enough of a lbast to go to Mexico again with them but for a longer time. I am 60 as are my wife and the couple we travel with,,but we are closer to 40 and like the up atmosphere of the Carnival ship compared to the turn in at 11 on HAL (the price isn't hard to take either).

[geoherb]

Have to admit the Carnival boards are much more lively so first impression so far is good.

A big disappointment for me was that our roll call was so quiet for our cruise. The questions and answers fly fast and furious here on the main Carnival board, so it's odd that not more people jumped in for our roll call--just 10 replies.

[cruisehappi]

Glad to see this thread. We're in the same boat (pun intended) - sailing Carnival after getting used to Princess and so many years since last Carnival. Not too worried about the casual atmosphere, as we're more casual ourselves. Just afraid I'm going to mix up what's included and not included on each cruise line!