If you're thinking of leaving Carnival

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Did one RC cruise and never ever again. We love CCL. The beds are awesome, the service and food is so much better, and the ships are so much cleaner.

 

 

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When was your cruise on RCI and what ship?

 

What was so bad that you said never again?

 

Bill

[Stateroom_Sailor]

Our family FINALLY cruised something new this month. RC Freedom. I was SO sick of the same ole same ole on Carnival. But after the first day onboard the Freedom, I missed my 'same ole, same ole' Carnival ships!

 

It sounds like it's safe to say that you weren't completely satisfied on either of your last 2+ cruises. Maybe that's ok, in that maybe we put too much expectations on these cruise lines.

 

If you are naturally a loyalist, the only other option would be to come back talking about how you found your ultimate line, with a list of things RCL did better than Carnival, because only one can be the victor.

 

Otherwise I would look at it from a new perspective, balancing out what you actually did like. The first 36 hours I was missing Carnival myself: the quickly relaxed and outgoing passengers, the MDR food, the self-serve drinks..." The last 36 hours I was loving RCL's entertainment, and deeper friendships, and the service. If you don't let what you miss take over your thoughts, you might find something worthy as well.

Edited April 4, 2014 by Stateroom_Sailor

[Sweet on the sea]

Try Princess. RC is way too expensive and crowded.

 

I agree, I think RC is getting too expensive. I'm thinking of giving Carnival a try.:)

[Swampbabe]

We cruised on NCL Star last May. To me the buffet on NCL for lunch and dinner is not as good as Carnival or Royal, there wasn't a lot of variety. BI would say that breakfast was about the same as the other two.

 

I did really like the grill area that they had out by the pool. They had fresh fruit on it pretty much all day long. The hamburgers and hot dogs were good. We were in a suite and could dine for breakfast and lunch in the steakhouse so we usually ended up there for lunch after trying the buffet a couple of times.

 

The MDR food was good and I really liked the Freestyle dining with one dining room casual on every night.

 

I just got off of the NCL Pearl last Friday and after having sailed on the Dream last June, I gotta say that the buffet on the Pearl BLEW AWAY what I experienced on Carnival. It was an altogether better experience on the Pearl. Food, entertainment, and fellow passengers. I would definitely sail NCL again.

[Kimnjimnkids]

Enjoy!

 

 

There definitely was NOT a Wipeout Cafe!! Wish there was but there was not. Are you thinking of the OOS or AOS? I was on the Freedom.

 

 

Royal~FreedomOfTheSeas 2014

Carnival Glory 2012

Disney Magic 2011

Carnival Triumph 2010

Carnival Victory 2009

Disney Magic 2008

Carnival Inspiration 2008

Carnival Victory 2007

Carnival Triumph 2002

[wanderlust_cruiser]

I have sailed RCCL and NCL & will finally try Carnival this July (-: I have heard that Carnival's atmosphere is much more upbeat and enjoyable. RCCL is more.. sophisticated and calm. I personally love NCL as they have many newer ships and awesome service, food, & entertainment. Their atmosphere is family friendly and the crew is so amiable.

 

 

-Wanderlust Cruiser

[ccruisequeen]

I sailed on RC three times (one since they mega-sized the ship's) & always felt that they could have been las Vegas casinos. No window seat unless you went into a dark lounge, or up on the Promenade outdoors. Some of the activities were fun (we participated in the Halloween costumes parade). Now that they've left Calif I don't need to cruise with them again

 

[GalvestonBear]

Different strokes for different folks.

 

I have cruised CCL more than RCCL but I have definetely enjoyed my RCCL cruises as well and would not hesitate to book them again.

 

My personal opinion is that the itinerary and time of year has more of an impact on my cruise than the line itself.

 

For example, go on a short cruise around spring break and you'll have a ton of teens and under 30-somethings that are seriously partying it up. That's great...as long as you aren't 60 and looking for a relaxing, quiet trip. Go on a 7 day cruise to Alaska in May before school is out and the exact opposite is likely true.

 

My opinion is that NCL, RCCL, Princess, and CCL are all great lines. I have not cruised MSC or any of the Euro lines but I'm sure most of the big players in that field are good as well.

[Kimnjimnkids]

I know it's been awhile since I've posted on CC...how was your cruise in Carnival?

[ASchaff]

I also disliked RC for many of the same reasons. The atmosphere sucked too.

[ScottsSweetie]

We tried really hard to find an RCL cruise to book this spring. I wanted to experience one of their larger and newer ships with our 19 year old boys.

 

Unfortunately, they couldn't come anywhere near to the price that Carnival was offering. I was willing to pay more to cruise on RCL for the experience, but not the actual difference in price that I found.

 

DH & I have been on Royal only once. It was in October right after 9/11 happened, so it was a very subdued cruise and probably not reflective of a "normal" cruise. No one was partying, sidewalks were rolled up at 10:00pm - I can't believe that is normal.

 

We have sailed NCL several times, and are considering a Princess cruise in the fall (based on the last minute specials I saw being offered last fall).

 

We will continue to try other lines as price and itinerary tempt us.

[golfb4cruzing]

I thought about leaving and DID. My day to day life is not what's on Carnival and have no desire to be stuck a week with that atmosphere. We cruise for the itinerary and like being able to sleep at night without a frat house next door. I have heard the cruises are really BRILLIANT but for my money, I'll take relaxed and a little more refined.

Edited March 29, 2015 by golfb4cruzing

[Kimnjimnkids]

I find the shorter cruises (on any cruise line) have the 'frat party ' atmosphere..,,we book 7days more

[kteachcruiser52]

OK,so now I am a little worried....my husband and I have cruised Fantasy several times and are taking our kids on their first cruise in three weeks, which will be RCI Liberty. I was looking forward to a nicer ship and more of a family environment. Hope we are not disappointed!

 

 

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Your kids will love the Liberty. We thought most things were similar to Carnival, but liked their entertainment better. Be sure to book the ice show before you board to get your preferred time. We watched the kids on the rock wall and the wave rider and they were having a blast. There was also a basketball court up there.

 

I do not like their version of Your Time Dining because people can make reservations for different imes on different days. If you choose not to make a reservation and just show up there is more of a wait than on Carnival where YTD does not take reservations. Your kids will have a great time.

Edited March 29, 2015 by kteachcruiser52

[nissach]

We tried really hard to find an RCL cruise to book this spring. I wanted to experience one of their larger and newer ships with our 19 year old boys.

 

Unfortunately, they couldn't come anywhere near to the price that Carnival was offering. I was willing to pay more to cruise on RCL for the experience, but not the actual difference in price that I found.

 

DH & I have been on Royal only once. It was in October right after 9/11 happened, so it was a very subdued cruise and probably not reflective of a "normal" cruise. No one was partying, sidewalks were rolled up at 10:00pm - I can't believe that is normal.

 

We have sailed NCL several times, and are considering a Princess cruise in the fall (based on the last minute specials I saw being offered last fall).

 

We will continue to try other lines as price and itinerary tempt us.

 

We have sailed Carnival 5 times and HAL once. Have enjoyed all of our cruises, some have been better than others. I am always looking to Royal and NCL to try them, but their price point is too high for us. For us I cannot imagine that we would enjoy the cruise that much more to justify the cost difference.

[WetToes]

We have sailed both CCL and RCCL. We like both (it's a cruise!), but prefer Carnival.

I have never experienced this "party" atmosphere that people refer to on Carnival.

As was stated earlier, short, and/or spring break cruises will probably be that. That's why (partly) we wouldn't book those cruises.

We seen individuals in "party" mode, ... on CCL, RCCL and even Celebrity! Can you believe it? ;)

[JinxyB]

I have done 3 RC cruises the past year- Allure/Oasis/Freedom and it will take a lot to get me back to Royal Caribbean. While the Allure/Oasis are gorgeous ships with great entertainment, the service and lines were awful a few weeks ago on the Oasis. Lines, lines everywhere, ridiculous prices for drinks ($24 for two frozen drinks), poor service, food not so great, bad room steward. Don't even get me started on the debacle on the Freedom (RC continued to sail with a broken engine and cut itineraries).

 

I did not like that there were no drink stations by the pool, forget about food. You were either trekking down to Promenade when Windjammer was closed. Very inconvenient. Ice cream machines with limited hours and long lines. Prices are just jacked up way too high with the "WOW" sales. I won't be back. I'm sticking to Carnival, NCL, and am biting the bullet and doing Disney. Will do X and Princess again, too (without kids).

[elliair]

Our family FINALLY cruised something new this month. RC Freedom. I was SO sick of the same ole same ole on Carnival. But after the first day onboard the Freedom, I missed my 'same ole, same ole' Carnival ships!

Biggest disappointments were:

The Cruise Director and Captain doesn't keep you 'in the loop' about anything! On Carnival they are engaging you each day in the events, activities and just daily announcements. RC does not do that! Missed it :(

The buffets during in one area...the Windjammer. And it is through ONE set of doors, (that are closed and locked when buffet hours are over)completely packed away in a tight area and there will NEVER be a table for you available unless you are practically the first ones in there at opening!! Carnival has 3-4buffets open at peak times. 1-2 is right by the main pool and the other one(s) are further back inside the AC and there is ALWAYS a table available for you and your family. They have two floors of tables! Inside AND out!!! I missed that SO BAD while on the RC cruise!!

Also RC did NOT have 'help yourself' drink stations like Carnival! The crew made it for you and if you wanted coffee, you had to wait for them to make it for you. Ugh this was horrible!! Oh and it wasn't available AT ALL during the times that the Windjammer doors were closed! So if you wanted , juice, tea, coffee during the morning, day or night but not during buffet hours..too bad! You had to take an elevator to deck 5 Promenade and get it from down there! NOT convenient when you're enjoying the pool or the decks)

No 24 self-serve ice cream!!! Only open 11:30-7! (And that's if the guy in charge opens it on time...which ours was late 5 out of the 7 days).

The food in Carnival is a LOT better!! I'm serious!! So disappointed in RC food when I've heard its the best in the industry!! Especially in the main dining room....and OMG did we miss our chocolate melting cake!!!!!!

Staterooms are ok but the attendants on Carnival are way more personable! They don't turn your room in to the 'day' room and later turn it into the 'night' room. And never any chocolate! Sorry to be petty but I missed that too! :( Oh and just forget about a welcome packet of sample amenities!! RC doesn't leave you a thing!! Not sure why but...I missed that too!

There's more I can add but my family had such excitement to try new things. See new shows. Take a 'step up' in the cruising industry...just to be terribly disappointed! I'm sure there are cruise companies that top Carnival...I am not opposed to trying others (we've done Disney and it's our top fav but it's too different for us to compare in this post on the common cruise companies) And I'm not even opposed to trying other RC cruise ships. I will just be expecting to not have the things I love the most from Carnival!!

The RC lacked the things that we find as major conveniences. And when we are on a relaxing cruise, having the convenient things available are on our top five musts!!

Bottom line...guess was NOT greener!

 

Booked our next Carnival for October!

 

 

 

 

Royal~FreedomOfTheSeas 2014

Carnival Glory 2012

Disney Magic 2011

Carnival Triumph 2010

Carnival Victory 2009

Disney Magic 2008

Carnival Inspiration 2008

Carnival Victory 2007

Carnival Triumph 2002

 

At least you got to experience how another cruise line operates. I need to book a Carnival cruise soon, but they don't go where I want to go and from the ports I want to leave from. I'm bored with the Mexican Riveria, they don't go to Hawaii when I want to go. So, I guess I must venture out to other cruise lines.

[ASchaff]

One thing I really disliked about Royal Caribbean was having to get dressed and go inside for food. I like being able to grab a quick meal and head straight back to the pool. On RC, I had people make rude comments about my non designer shoes and clothes. It was just so stuffy and so many of the people were arrogant. Sure I have run into unpleasant people on Carnival, but never like the way they were on RC.

[HazelSmrf]

Last year we did a back to back Norwegian Epic/Carnival Breeze. Prior to that we had only done Carnival cruises. With them being back to back it was impossible to not constantly be comparing everything. They were both nice ships, but we realized that we LOVED our Epic cruise while the Breeze cruise was OK. We actually thought it a plus that you weren't always hearing the cruise director. I don't even know who the cruise director was on Epic but the one on the Breeze was constantly constantly on the intercom, it's a completely different vibe. Like a carnival barker. The entertainment was huge bounds ahead on the Epic, Carnival was really blah. But Carnival does comedy better. The standing room only late night 18+ comedy shows are a blast. But NCL did food better. We had anytime dining on the Breeze and often had to wait a long time to eat and we'd get cold food, or wait an hour to get drinks etc. On Epic it was always quick. Buffet on Epic was never crowded and on the Breeze it was a huge clustercrap. Breeze had a better (less smoky) casino. NCL had better deck parties. Breeze had a nicer adult area to lounge around in with the nice loungers and day beds. Epic had better waterslides.

 

All in all both cruises were great, but we really appreciated the differences that NCL offered us over Carnival. Maybe we would have hated RCCL. It's really hard to judge those things until you've tried something new.

 

Edit: One more point to Carnival, our room steward was stellar, I don't think we ever saw our steward on the Epic.

Edited March 29, 2015 by HazelSmrf

[Maraprince]

Our family FINALLY cruised something new this month. RC Freedom. I was SO sick of the same ole same ole on Carnival. But after the first day onboard the Freedom, I missed my 'same ole, same ole' Carnival ships!

Biggest disappointments were:

The Cruise Director and Captain doesn't keep you 'in the loop' about anything! On Carnival they are engaging you each day in the events, activities and just daily announcements. RC does not do that! Missed it :(

The buffets during in one area...the Windjammer. And it is through ONE set of doors, (that are closed and locked when buffet hours are over)completely packed away in a tight area and there will NEVER be a table for you available unless you are practically the first ones in there at opening!! Carnival has 3-4buffets open at peak times. 1-2 is right by the main pool and the other one(s) are further back inside the AC and there is ALWAYS a table available for you and your family. They have two floors of tables! Inside AND out!!! I missed that SO BAD while on the RC cruise!!

Also RC did NOT have 'help yourself' drink stations like Carnival! The crew made it for you and if you wanted coffee, you had to wait for them to make it for you. Ugh this was horrible!! Oh and it wasn't available AT ALL during the times that the Windjammer doors were closed! So if you wanted , juice, tea, coffee during the morning, day or night but not during buffet hours..too bad! You had to take an elevator to deck 5 Promenade and get it from down there! NOT convenient when you're enjoying the pool or the decks)

No 24 self-serve ice cream!!! Only open 11:30-7! (And that's if the guy in charge opens it on time...which ours was late 5 out of the 7 days).

The food in Carnival is a LOT better!! I'm serious!! So disappointed in RC food when I've heard its the best in the industry!! Especially in the main dining room....and OMG did we miss our chocolate melting cake!!!!!!

Staterooms are ok but the attendants on Carnival are way more personable! They don't turn your room in to the 'day' room and later turn it into the 'night' room. And never any chocolate! Sorry to be petty but I missed that too! :( Oh and just forget about a welcome packet of sample amenities!! RC doesn't leave you a thing!! Not sure why but...I missed that too!

There's more I can add but my family had such excitement to try new things. See new shows. Take a 'step up' in the cruising industry...just to be terribly disappointed! I'm sure there are cruise companies that top Carnival...I am not opposed to trying others (we've done Disney and it's our top fav but it's too different for us to compare in this post on the common cruise companies) And I'm not even opposed to trying other RC cruise ships. I will just be expecting to not have the things I love the most from Carnival!!

The RC lacked the things that we find as major conveniences. And when we are on a relaxing cruise, having the convenient things available are on our top five musts!!

Bottom line...guess was NOT greener!

 

Booked our next Carnival for October!

 

 

As long as RCCL had the Explorer out of Bayonne, things weren't so bad until they ridiculously priced a Member sailing over $3,000 for a balcony cabin! At that point we knew we had to look elsewhere. Then to add insult to injury, they decided to give Bayonne a new ship (but only for 6 months) before sending it off to China! But it gets worse! The new ship is so high tech with the staff members given IP pads, you have to load your id photo before boarding the ship, a luggage tracking system that is supposed to be able to tell you the exact location (between the pier and your stateroom) of your luggage, etc.

 

Okay, here's the "fun" part, you need to make both show and dining room reservations prior to boarding the sip. No MDR but a bunch of smaller venues some with extra charges, but all have a fixed menu which does not change daily. You are supposed to book different restaurants to get a different menu.

 

When they received a number of complaints about the "new dynamic dining" program, they brought back the classic option (meaning either first or second) with an assigned table. But they took it one step further...your wait staff and your entire table dine at different free restaurants during the cruise.

 

You are not going on a relaxing vacation...you need a print out of your entire schedule to be sure you know where you are supposed to be and when!:p

 

Now, add in a flight simulator, a roller skating ring, bumper cars, and robotic bar tenders and higher cabin prices.

 

Sorry, this "new" RCCL this is not my cup of tea.:(

 

I have sailed on enough cruise lines (Cunard, Celebrity, HAL, NCL, Princess and RCCL) including Carnival to know what I like and expect from a cruise.

 

MARAPRINCE

[WetToes]

One thing I really disliked about Royal Caribbean was having to get dressed and go inside for food. I like being able to grab a quick meal and head straight back to the pool. On RC, I had people make rude comments about my non designer shoes and clothes. It was just so stuffy and so many of the people were arrogant. Sure I have run into unpleasant people on Carnival, but never like the way they were on RC.

 

You don't really have to get dressed. I appreciate that you have to wear a cover up or shirt in the Windjammer.

[sammee]

I'm only an hour away from Cape Liberty. The Explorer was the perfect ship, not too big or small. And there really weren't too many lines. BUT it's triple the price of any Carnival cruise out of Charleston on South.

 

Food is just as good and so is the staff.

 

Wanna see some bashing, there's a threading going on over there now. All I can say is wow, I wouldn't want to meet any of those posters on a cruise. Quite a few of the responses were hypocritical to say the least.

[lady_cruiser]

At least you tried it. Now you can make your comparisons based on your experience then on some one else's.

[ASchaff]

You don't really have to get dressed. I appreciate that you have to wear a cover up or shirt in the Windjammer.

 

When I sailed RC, a bathing suit cover or just a t shirt were not acceptable.