Do you cruise with other cruise lines besides Carnival?

[glrounds]

find me a cruise as cheap as Carnival and I would go in a heartbeat!!!. I don't need production shows, casino, extra restaurants, mdr, just a buffet and a bed with cool ports and I am in.

 

22 Consecutive cruises on Carnival and that was precisely my viewpoint.

 

Over the years I've watched Carnival's product slowly go downhill (from dining, to loyalty program, to entertainment), but there was always that 150% of DO rate that kept me coming back. Then when they dumped that great rate and went to 200% of DO rate that at least opened up the possibility of other ships. I found myself looking around. And, yes, I even felt a little guilty. :rolleyes:

 

I jumped ship in late May to a great rate on a STAR PRINCESS cruise to Alaska. First cruise of the season, a little chilly agreed, but Alaska's beauty more than compensated me for that. Great ship, excellent dining, terrific entertainment (casino was dead, however) and terrific inside cabin. What was that great rate? Try $292 doubled to $584 for my solo cruise ! :DAlways wanted to do an Alaskan cruise and this was my opportunity, so I pulled the trigger. Loved it.

 

Now, I'm back to the 2nd of only two short cruises I've ever done this November 18th, on the INSPIRATION, One of the old "workhorses" of the Fantasy Class that put Carnival on the map and got it where it is today.(and with 0% added for solo occupancy):)

 

PRINCESS always gives an award for the passenger on board with the most days at sea on a Princess ship. He was my table mate. Just a great guy with story after story about cruising. What a delightful person. How many days at sea on a Princess ship had he accumulated ?

wait for it . . . wait for it. :D

 

795 !

[ShellDil]

I've sailed Celebrity, Norwegian, Royal Caribbean and Carnival. One cruise on each and of them all my least favorite was Norwegian, which was a total surprise. The entertainment and food were good, the ports great (Mediterranean on the Epic) but it was just an ok feeling on the ship. I wouldn't actively seek out a NCL again, unless the price was exceptional. I don't have anything against the line, just nothing to be wowed about it. While I felt Celebrity and RCI were a bit above Carnival in quality of food and entertainment, and cabins, I absolutely will sail Carnival again. The service was fantastic and the overall atmosphere was very positive.

 

Our next cruise is hopefully the Southern Caribbean, and Carnival's prices can't be beat! So that's where we're looking!

[Aoumd]

I've sailed Carnival and also Royal Caribbean. I look forward to cruising both in the future. I want to try some other lines too in the future, a transatlantic crossing on QM2 someday, take the kids on Disney someday when DW and I have kids, etc.

 

IMHO Carnival gives you a good basic cruise for a great price. With Royal (and I'm sure with the other lines), you pay a premium for proportionately more of something beyond a good basic cruise. Both lines give me the same bang for the buck...Royal costs more bucks for more bang. On Royal it's features on board the ship. On Cunard it's the formality of the liners of yesteryear with balls and what not. Other lines have other things...enrichment, etc.

 

So if you go into the cruise remembering what you paid for per person/per day, and think of it as a good basic cruise for a great price, you'll be impressed with all Carnival has to offer. If you go in expecting a Disney cruise or Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas for a Carnival price, you may be disappointed.

Edited November 8, 2013 by Aoumd

[j&tcruiser]

Have done over 20 cruises and am in my mid 40's. My favorite is RCI however they have gotten too high on their prices

Have also done carnival, NCL, princess and Disney. Disney very expensive and overrated. Nc

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[alreadypacked]

We are considering Carnival for our 3rd cruise, having done Disney (only because we got an unbeatable last minute deal a few years ago) and Norwegian. After lots and lots of researching, Carnival, going to the same destinations, averages about $1600 less expensive than Norweigian, Holland America, Royal Carribean, etc. etc. for a 7 days cruise. Where do you find the differences? Is it the food? Entertainment? Cleanliness? Service? I am generally a lower budget gal and love a bargin. I just want a clean, safe cruise, with decent food. I don't need first class. Just curious how/why Carnival is able to offer such lower prices. THANKS! BTW..we are looking at the Liberty's 7 days cruise to the Carribean visiting Belize, Roatan, Grand Caymen, and Cozumel.

 

I have been on 14 Carnival cruises over the last 10 years and have sailed Princess, Royal, NCL, and Celebrity in between.

 

The last few years I have become increasingly dissatisfied with Carnival's food (replacing longtime delicious MDR selections with meatloaf, fried chicken and burgers, and the buffet line with "country kitchen"). They have Replaced live musicians with DJs who play primarily rap/hip hop, so since early 2011 we have been booking more with other lines. Since December 2012 through March 2014, for the first time in 10 years, I have no Carnival Cruise booked in favor of other lines.

 

For the fall of 2014, we are again looking at Carnival--the Breeze, since it is a new ship to us and the decor looks very nice and classy and they have a larger variety of eating venues.

 

The cleanliness and size/quality of the standard cabins, however, has always been excellent. That is one of the things I like about Carnival. You can book a 4A inside cabin (low category) and it is 185 sq. ft. with a decent sized bathroom and shower. On Princess, a more expensive line, I struggle with the shower size and the size of the room in general!

 

Carnival is a "clean, safe cruise with decent food" but they used to be sooooo much better, so for a longtime Carnivalite like me, things have changed... and not for the better. But, I still think you'll get your money's worth.

 

In a nutshell, Carnival's "new food" has been the biggest deciding factor in our trying other lines. I like good quality food and am willing to pay more for it. And I'm not saying it has to be gourmet. Even at home, we avoid restaurants that used to have good food and now have what amounts to the "microwave variety".

[pspercy]

We're about to try Carnival for a "getaway" before Christmas, no one else offers anything less than a week out of Galveston (or more than a week come to that).

 

So we'll see :)

Edited November 8, 2013 by pspercy

[gnocchi_mommy]

We started on NCL, went to Carnival, tested RCL, back to Carnival, just booked another RCL. I have loved them ALL!!!! We cruise Carnival the most because of price.

 

I find Carnival ships are decorated pretty... interestingly...lol. RCL was much more beautiful! Food- Carnival is great imo, in fact I was disappointed on RCL because it didnt quite match it. Shows, are not that great on Carnival, JMO. The games are fun, always love the casino, and find the service excellent. Oh one area you will see a big cut back- no live bands on the lido deck :-( Its a DJ. And no, it's not the same experience.

[Crusin6]

Of course we do. Ncl and princess most recently

 

Ccl is not the first line we look at anymore and yes I know princess is part if carnival corp. but it is way different from ccl

[shawne71]

We only cruise with Carnival. You get more bang for your buck! :p

[halos]

We made it to platinum on CCL and once that 10th cruise had finished, we stopped booking with them. There was nothing 'bad' about our CCL cruises, but at that point, we had ventured out to other lines and found that NCL was a better fit. It's the attention to small details, better live music and entertainment, (LESS passenger generated entertainment) more dining choices, better itineraries and crew/officers that are a notch above CCL's already fabulous crew, that had us abandon CCL for now.

We are going to give Royal a second shot next year, after a disappointing cruise back in 2008 and we'll likely give Princess a go sometime in the near future. I have no real desire to do HAL right now and Celebrity was even a bit too 'old' for us ('feel-wise' as well as biologically) so I'll give them a try again along with HAL when I am 75 or so ;)

[wests5]

We are sailing on the Dream on the 30th.... have only been on 1 other CCL cruise a few years back. Looking forward to comparing this CCL with Princess who we have been on the last few years... who we have had no problems with at all... enjoy the food, shows, cleanliness, rooms, etc. We had great trips on RCI and Celebrity but they were years ago. Friends were going on the Dream.. so we were in. I guess we are pretty easy as far as vacations go... as long as it's clean. We do land vacations a few times a year, camp in the summer and do a ski week and are shooting or 2 cruises a year ... so we look for a value... but also... it has to meet expectations for "us". On land... I usually rent condo's/houses and research like crazy. Cruising is easy! We were in Colorado in September and rented in Estes Park.. was $250/night... I put everything into cruise dollars... I was like dang that's a half a cruise! Cruising.. we get an inside. We always find something good to eat... on Princess food has been great... not everything...but overall. Entertainment... overall on all ships some great.. some OK... a few we left. Sitting in the sun... enjoying a split of champagne chatting with great folks from around the world, having someone else cook and clean, getting off in ports to explore and snorkel, catching a show and hitting the casino before a last look at the ocean before bed... is a perfect day to me! Hoping the Dream is great too.... waiting to book the next trip... if we may book carnival again next or back to Princess.

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

I didn't mean order twice. I mean order two (or however many you want) shrimp cocktail dishes at the same time. This way you get as much as you want and there's no 15 minute wait.

 

In seven cruises with Carnival, including the one I took last week on the Liberty, I've never had a dining room experience even remotely close to what you've described in this thread and the others I've seen you complaining in. Last week was the first time we'd been on Carnival in three years, and we were worried that the MDR service had went downhill based on what some people here were posting. Perhaps we just got lucky, but the MDR service was on par with past Carnival cruises as far as we could tell.

 

I'm not the only one to complain about the dining on the Dream. It was the worst of my 4 CCLs. As far as doubling up (which I had already addressed in the comments) sometimes they got it, sometimes they didn't. Sometimes we WOULD ask for two orders at one time (knowing that they were small) and sometimes they STILL brought one at a time. Dude. You aren't going to convince me that their crappy service or small appetizers are my fault. Might as well give it a rest. The OP was asking for comparisons and I was being honest. There are FOUR small itty bitty shrimp or a few bites of tuna for the seafood appetizers. That's not opinion, it's fact. You try to order x 2, sometimes you got two at one time, other times you got them separate and sometimes you had to ask for it again, and sometimes you didn't get the second one. It is what it is.

Edited November 8, 2013 by TwinPrincessMermaids

[maldenmusic]

I have done 7 cruises but only with Carnival. The cost and ease of getting to the Carnival ports is the main reason.

[Blk_Amish]

I'm not the only one to complain about the dining on the Dream. It was the worst of my 4 CCLs. As far as doubling up (which I had already addressed in the comments) sometimes they got it, sometimes they didn't. Sometimes we WOULD ask for two orders at one time (knowing that they were small) and sometimes they STILL brought one at a time. Dude. You aren't going to convince me that their crappy service or small appetizers are my fault. Might as well give it a rest. The OP was asking for comparisons and I was being honest. There are FOUR small itty bitty shrimp or a few bites of tuna for the seafood appetizers. That's not opinion, it's fact. You try to order x 2, sometimes you got two at one time, other times you got them separate and sometimes you had to ask for it again, and sometimes you didn't get the second one. It is what it is.

 

If you can cook or have a palate for a decent meal you will realize Carnival went pretty banquet. My first three cruises I loved the food. On the Magic I would not consider wasting the calories to consume a few of the dishes I ordered. After the cruise my son vowed not to eat out again, due to too many bad dining experiences . Unfortunately that was short lived but he insisted on eating home for a while.

 

The bed was still comfortable.

 

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Edited November 8, 2013 by Blk_Amish

[TwinPrincessMermaids]

If you can cook or have a palate for a decent meal you will realize Carnival went pretty banquet. My first three cruises I loved the food. On the Magic I would not consider wasting the calories to consume a few of the dishes I ordered. After the cruise my son vowed not to eat out again, due to too many bad dining experiences . Unfortunately that was short lived but he insisted on eating home for a while.

 

The bed was still comfortable.

 

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Forums mobile app

 

Yup, agree again. 07 and 11 were amazing cruises with high quality dining and food, my first CCL cruises. (And my cheapest ones too.) Can CCL go back to that? Who were the 'beards' then (and no offense to any higher up 'bearded ladies' because that seems to be CC lingo for the people in charge :D)

Edited November 8, 2013 by TwinPrincessMermaids

[GRANNYOFSIX]

We cruise on Carnival and Royal..........enjoy them both for different reasons. Recently cruised 10/20/13 on Carnival Glory. Loved the 2.0 upgrades - food was delish for breakfast, lunch and dinner and everything in between! Ship was spotless. Lots of activities, good music, etc.

 

Happy cruising..........

PS We started cruising in 1993 and truly have never had a bad cruise.....:)

[Blk_Amish]

Yup, agree again. 07 and 11 were amazing cruises with high quality dining and food, my first CCL cruises. (And my cheapest ones too.) Can CCL go back to that? Who were the 'beards' then (and no offense to any higher up 'bearded ladies' because that seems to be CC lingo for the people in charge :D)

 

2007 was our first Carnival cruise after doing RCl for years. Except for the decor I was truly impressed. It was an amazing family experience comparable to our land vacation at Beaches the previous year. I chose Carnival recently for the , nicer decor, great food, wonderful service, comfortable bed, and party fun. It delivered in some of those areas but banquet food is banquet food. This is not a decline from 20 years ago but 6 with similar rates. I think they used the food budget for better decor. The Carnival Magic was easy on the eyes.

 

I think 2007 was the last year for the midnight buffet. The food was music to the eyes. If I am willing to pay the rate of 6 years ago, can I have the dining experience?

 

 

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Edited November 8, 2013 by Blk_Amish

[miataman19]

We've cruised on 13 different lines, click on my cruising profile to see which ones. I'm going to chime in on the food and wine aspect of our sailings because that's the business I've been in for the last 45 yrs. The tie for best food and wine is Cunard and Celebrity. With that said we've only sailed on QE2 and Reflection just once so I guess the first times a charm. They both knocked our socks off with TOTAL dinning experience. Service, pace of the meal the food and wine pairings offered by the staff, all 5 star. All the lines we've sailed have had avg. to great food in the MDR's and specialty restaurants. Never really had a bad experience on a ship. Some blips here and there but nothing outrageous. Princess #2..Elite with them so had to give them a plug...lol