Loyals to Royal: What would it take for you to sail on Carnival?

[Tapi]

The other thread with 700+ posts (that has turned into unsolicited propaganda for Carnival) got me thinking. To those of you who are "loyal to Royal", what would it take for you to sail on Carnival (or any other cruise line for that matter)?

 

Although I'd love to hear from people who only cruise on Royal, any input is welcome. :)

[torpeedo]

We've sailed Holland, Princess & Carnival but exclusive to Royal since 2007. Based on our experience aboard Carnival Liberty in 2006 would not sail Carnival under any circumstance.

[sharod]

I wouldn't exactly say "I'm loyal to Royal", but I do love their product!!! When looking to cruise, Royal is where I go. I have had only great experiences with them. That's why I keep going back. I do have to give credit to Disney. It was a Wonder cruise that got my husband and I hooked on cruising!

 

That said, my employers are taking the employees on a Carnival cruise to nowhere to celebrate our 15th anniversary. Due to our business, we only have a long weekend to do it. We will be on the Glory. I plan on having a great time!!!! I do jokingly say that even though it is a 2 night cruise, I am taking enough underwear to last for a week ;):D

 

ETA: If this upcoming cruise is enjoyable, I may also check into some of the newer Carnival ships!

[beachnative]

For us to cruise on another Carnival ship!!! it would take all the other ships to disappear .....but if that happened I'd switch to land vacations and give up cruising completely.

 

Royal Caribbean has treated us wonderfully over the many years that we've cruised. We are VERY LOYAL but have used other lines when an itinerary was not available through RCI (NCL Pride of America around Hawaii).

[susiecreamchs]

We'd take a free cruise....maybe.

[DonnaK]

Nothing would entice us to try Carnival again. I didn't vote because of the reasoning you included.

 

It's not that we are loyal to Royal till the day we die (we have sailed Princess and Celebrity, and will do so again in the future).

 

It's that we had a horrible experience on Carnival Miracle, and once is enough for us. Friends/family whose opinion I respect also have had negative experiences that rule out any future cruises on Carnival for us.

 

Not even if it were free, because there is still the investment of valuable vacation time, hiring a housesitter, onboard expenses, etc, that make it not worth having a cruising experience that we consider sub-par based on our previous experience and the reviews of people we trust.

[Pebbles468]

Royal does a lot well... and so Carnival! Royal tends to reward return guests with a little more benefits.

 

We booked this next cruise with Royal because of the suite perks and the price was too good to pass up for 5 of us in a 2 bed/2 bath suite! Starbucks and Johnny Rockets on the ship was a nice plus.

 

Carnival doesn't offer suite benefits or concierge level service. Given the problems the line has encountered in the past year, we were worried that there is sabotage going on -- don't want to risk being stuck at sea. That said, I don't think they are discounting enough to entice people either.

[BND]

I didn't vote because we have sailed Carnival and are going to again in 2015. Granted, we're going with friends who invited us, but having cruised 3 different lines, we can say they are are lot more alike than they are different. Mass market is mass market which they all are.

[piercetc4]

we have sailed on 4 carnival ships and enjoyed each one- i do have to say the triumph sailing a couple of yrs ago was the least favorite cruise with the ncl spirit coming in close behind...lol- but, that wont stop us from sailing with ccl / ncl again - we will just go on newer larger ships that we would have to fly to ( both the triumph and spirit were drive to port situations as we were going with a group who didnt want to fly to port in order to save $$$ for excursions and for all to get balcony cabins)

 

we love royal caribbean- its our favorite line- we love the c and a perks !!! and being able to use the visa points towards $$$ off the cruise ( i know being able to use visa points for $$$ off and balcony discount together may come to an end soon....;( so that and no smoking on the balcony may drive us to consider other lines next time we cruise)

[superduper123]

I have never sailed on Carnival, and have no intention of doing so. The only way I might consider it, is if someone invited me and they paid my way. Even then, I'm not sure.

[Sunebeach]

Sailed once with Carnival, experience that was negative was mostly the ship we were on, which gave negative impression to overall maintenance of the fleet. Plumbing issues and sewer smell constantly in our rooms. Never had that problem with Royal, even with "marine toilets".

Crew was awesome, just as good as RCI cruises, however, the overall experience was lacking. Loved Royal from the very first experience on to today. Even on very old ships (before renovations) the maintenance was good. My husband used to work in maintenance for state military facilities and his eye for that is rather biased, just saying. It would be like asking me to rate the medical facilities on board or the quality of medical care found on ships. (I am an ICU nurse for over the last 25 years). ;)

[petel]

We'd take a free cruise....maybe.

 

No " maybe "! No, not even for free.

[Ken076]

We feel Royal is really superior to Carnival in most categories. I'd still consider Carnival (probably only the Breeze or the Freedom) for an extra special itinerary and/or great price. ken

[tiessa]

I've heard good and bad about all cruiselines. The mass market cruiselines are fairly similar and they all have good and bad things about them. I've only cruised Royal Caribbean because my friend who got me into cruising had cruised RCI a number of times and liked it. She always said she was open to other cruise lines but I like RCI and they let me smoke on the balconies so we just stayed with RCI. There was no real motivation to change. Now that I've done the Caribbean itineraries RCI offers and they changed their smoking policy I am ready to venture to other cruise lines. Princess has a trip RCI nor Norwegian offer and I think that will be my first none-RCI cruise. My next one will probably be Norwegian.

 

Variety is the spice of life!

[margeecruiser]

The last cruise we took on Carnival was a fundraiser for the churches in our area. I would not book again. In fact, they tried to do this fundraiser the next year and had to cancel for lack of interest. That says a lot.

 

Margee

[Zigggypup]

The other thread with 700+ posts (that has turned into unsolicited propaganda for Carnival) got me thinking. To those of you who are "loyal to Royal", what would it take for you to sail on Carnival (or any other cruise line for that matter)?

 

Although I'd love to hear from people who only cruise on Royal, any input is welcome. :)

 

Should have added another choice:

Just want to try a new cruise line

[mein18]

I've heard good and bad about all cruiselines. The mass market cruiselines are fairly similar and they all have good and bad things about them. I've only cruised Royal Caribbean because my friend who got me into cruising had cruised RCI a number of times and liked it. She always said she was open to other cruise lines but I like RCI and they let me smoke on the balconies so we just stayed with RCI. There was no real motivation to change. Now that I've done the Caribbean itineraries RCI offers and they changed their smoking policy I am ready to venture to other cruise lines. Princess has a trip RCI nor Norwegian offer and I think that will be my first none-RCI cruise. My next one will probably be Norwegian.

 

Variety is the spice of life!

 

Ditto!!

 

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[bigeagle12]

New ship, good itinerary, and good price ... I will try them.

[Ocean Boy]

First Carnival would have to do a complete redesign of their ships. And then I might think about it for a minute or two. It has nothing to do with loyalty but everything to do with I can't stand the look of their ships.

[The Sunset Glow]

Nothing would entice us to try Carnival again. I didn't vote because of the reasoning you included.

 

It's not that we are loyal to Royal till the day we die (we have sailed Princess and Celebrity, and will do so again in the future).

 

It's that we had a horrible experience on Carnival Miracle, and once is enough for us. Friends/family whose opinion I respect also have had negative experiences that rule out any future cruises on Carnival for us.

 

Not even if it were free, because there is still the investment of valuable vacation time, hiring a housesitter, onboard expenses, etc, that make it not worth having a cruising experience that we consider sub-par based on our previous experience and the reviews of people we trust.

 

This is exactly how we feel and the same reasons why we would not cruise Carnival again. There's more to a vacation than just costs - our vacation time is actually more important to us since it's limited.

 

 

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[deanna41]

We have sailed on MSC and NCL as well as RCI just preferr RCI

[HB Cruiser]

We had sailed over 20 RCCL cruises and decided it was time for a change to see what it was like on the other side. Since the Breeze was a newer, calmed down from a visual aspect ship (not a slam against Carnival, this is from information by those that have sailed Carnival) we tried it. Had a good cruise but not a great one.

 

RCCL does some of the smaller things we evidently like much better than Carnival. Neither of us can put a finger on exactly what we mean by this. I will finalize my statement this way. When we get off a Royal ship we feel like we have been on vacation, pampered, rested, and definitely well fed. Are we ready for vacation to end on a Royal cruise, absolutely not! When we got off the Breeze, we felt none of this.

 

Already have our next RCCL cruise planned, well, booked it 6 days after getting off Breeze.

 

What would it take for us to go on another Carnival ship. Well, if ships were the same (which they are not, nothing Carnival has can stand against a Royal ship in all honesty) and itinerary were the same, it would take saving at least $500 per person before we would go!!!

 

Tim

[jagsfan]

I love Royal and Princess, have sailed on most existing and several defunct cruise lines, and I have and would sail on Carnival. Itinerary, price, convenience and circumstances such as friends sailing can affect my choice.

I have in over 40 cruises not found more good than bad on every one. That includes Stella Solaris, Royale, Emerald Seas and probably the SS Minnow.

Don't automatically rule out any cruise ship, you never know what a great cruise you might miss.

[thegima]

RC just seems like the best mix between fun/relax for us. I'd take a free cruise though, just don't want to gamble my own money on enjoying it or not.

[NeuroQueen]

Well, here is my story. We sailed carnival early in the late '80's and into the '90's. Had a blast and got hooked on cruising. In 1992 we sailed on the Majesty with our first balcony and were blown away. Sure I've gone on other lines with friends and family, but usually sail with Royal.

 

Fast forward to this year. We had a cruise booked over T'giving on the Indy. Well......Carnival sends me something from the players club (sure, I gamble but not more than $50-100 on 3-4 nights). I usually throw it in the trash. I opened it and they were offering a free cruise. I thought, sure they are. Well to make a long post short we are now going on the Valor over T'giving out of San Juan in a Lido balcony, no less.

 

I am eating my words BIG TIME, as after the Triumph debacle my famous last words were "I wouldn't go on Carnival if it were free"!!! Well, in my own defense it's not REALLY free, just port and tips. We plan on having a great time and I guess I'll pack an emergency bag. Haha!