Would you consider Royal Caribbean a lot nicer than Carnival?

[NCteacherlovescruising]

If so, why?

[BND]

No. They're both mass market lines. They have their differences, but are more similar than not.

[briehon]

If so, why?

 

I have sailed on royal one time, 3 night on the monarch, and one time on carnival...a 7 night on the valor. I found the food and entertainment far superior on royal. There ya go, one opinion.

[Royal_Cruiser]

I've not sailed on Carnival, but between hearing from friends who have and reading these boards, about the only thing I think is close to consensus is that the desserts are better on Carnival. Other than that, it seems to be quite varied depending on individual taste.

[DonnaK]

We cruised once with Carnival, on the Miracle when she was a relatively new ship, and never again. The décor was garish and dark, making the ship feel very claustrophobic. The ship was way to small for the number of people onboard so it felt extremely crowded. The adult pool was in full sun without any shady place to set up a lounger. The cabin doors were spring-loaded instead of sliders, so they would bang open and close as people used them (particularly bothersome during the night).

 

My kids were 10 and 12 at the time, and the kid's club was very under-utilized in the tween/teen age group (my kids said that it was very "lame"), which resulted in kids running about the ship unsupervised instead of being positively occupied in the club. My kids were so bored on this cruise that they were whining to go home.

 

Service in the MDR was atrocious, and not because the wait team didn't work hard, but because they were responsible for 8 tables (48 diners), which is 3-4 times larger a workload than on RCI. Our Cabin Steward said that she was responsible for 27 cabins, which is more than twice the workload on RCI.

 

We didn't like the set up of the MDR or the buffet (booths). Tables were way too close together, and the servers had to pass the food over our heads because they couldn't move around the tables. The table wasn't set with enough utensils (for example, just one fork) and if you asked for another fork, spoon or steak knife (because you returned the only one you were given when the previous course was cleared), it took ages to come. Same with drink refills.

 

I could go on and on with everything we hated about our experience with Carnival. The link to my review of that cruise is in my signature, if you wish to read more details.

Edited July 13, 2014 by DonnaK

[Deptacon]

I have done both.....Royal is better.

 

Went on A Carnival cruise...didin't hate it...but didn't love. Sure was cheap though. Went on a royal 3 years later...spent more....but we (wife and I, young 30's) both left saying how awesome it was. Our 2 cents.

 

As a previous poster has said they are both mass market...so similar in ways but I considered everything to be just a tad better on Royal. Decor, atmosphere, food, entertainment.....the crowd....all better on Royal. The biggest thing was the crowd and OVERALL atmosphere of the fellow cruisers. You pay 10-30% more for a Royal cruise (depending on book time, ship, etc....of course) but overall I believe royal are slightly more....so this will instantly trigger and difference in the type of crowd.....those willing to spend 10-20% for something a little nicer....and those not. Not all have had this experience but I noticed it on my 2 cruises, carnival and royal, to compare...which were both around the same time of year.

 

Again....all my opinion.

 

Bare in mind you are asking this question in the Royal section so....

Edited July 13, 2014 by Deptacon

[goldz4]

I have done both and Royal is better. The entertainment, ship decor, and clientele are all way better on Royal. I like the food better on Royal, but Carnival is fine (food is subjective). I would go with Royal over carnival anytime!

[Cruisegirl6]

RC is a step above in everything!

[royalcruz]

I went on Carnival once and it was way too smokey. Other than my cabin, the dining room, and theatre there was no where I could go indoors. RC has cleaner air and that's really important.

Edited July 13, 2014 by royalcruz

[Robinola]

It depends on the ship. The Carnival Dream has a Superior sundeck at the back of the ship with Swimming pool, Jacuzzi, Bar and Foodservice that overlooks the wake of the ship. If Royal has a ship that tops that, I haven't been on it yet.

[matj2000]

Overall they are very much the same.

The RC ships are nicer, but they are all the same.

RC also has a blind, cult-like following on this site .

So asking this question here will not give you an accurate response from most people...

[skyking]

Look at my cruise history, I feel Carnival is NOTHING like RCCL, now Princess YES, but Royal is farrrrrrrr better than Carnival.

[setsail]

Don't forget to ask on the carnival board also:rolleyes:

[novalab]

Have done both & prefer RCCL. I found the decor on Carnival way to agitating. I could never really relax. The children on RC seem better behaved & tend to be with their parents when out in public as opposed to running in packs without adult supervision which we seemed to run into on Carnival. That may just be due to the times of year we normally cruised in the past. Now, we choose never to cruise over the summer or during Spring Break on either cruise line if we can help it. The food on RC seemed better to us. Service has always been good in the MDR on both lines per our experiences. Carnival does have some fun restaurants (Guy's for instance) but Royal's specialty restaurants are better & more varied. We just sailed Allure in May so I may be sort of leaning a little more towards RC at this time. That was our BEST cruise to date!

 

I urge you to try both & see what you think. In many ways they are very similar. We just like Royal better...they really do keep their ships in beautiful condition along with points I mentioned above.

 

Of course if you post this same question over on the CCL board, you might get different answers....:rolleyes::D

Edited July 13, 2014 by novalab

[jkrislc]

I did my First Carnival cruise in 1996 after having previously cruised RCI for m first cruise. At that time, we said, "Carnival, never again!" Seventeen years later we opted to try Carnival again and were actually impressed especially given the other lines, including Disney, that we had sailed since. Thus, I actually agree with some of the other posters regarding the similarity among the major cruise lines.

 

There are definitely things that I don't necessarily like on Carnival, but the same can be said about most of the cruise lines. For instance, I don't think RCI should charge for late night room service or Johnny Rockets. The same can be said with Carnival and their candy shop, dessert bar, high bar prices, etc. at the same time, they expanded the number of free dining venues onboard, which are very good, and we truly enjoy their dedicated comedy clubs and movies under the stars.

[time4u2go]

No. They're both mass market lines. They have their differences, but are more similar than not.

 

My feelings as well.

[dixieva]

I am Diamond Plus on RCI and have done 7 or 8 Carnival cruises. The biggest difference is the décor of the ships. I don't really care about that.

 

Carnival has better showers than RCI. Shaped differently so you can actually take a shower without the curtain wrapping around you. The rooms are nice.

 

We have found the food to be better on all of our Carnival cruises than RCI.

 

We cruise the Pride once a year and there is a really nice adult area on the very back of the ship with a pool, hot tubs and a bar. It is not a covered area like the Solarium on RCI which I don't like.

 

You really have to try Carnival for yourself to see if you like it. We like it just fine.

[blondie from arizona]

I agree with the other posters. Royal is definitely better. The only things better about Carnival were that the ship was close to home (West Coast departure), they gave us a towel animal every night, they gave us chocolates on our pillows, the chocolate lava cake was awesome and they serve it every night, and the bathroom was a little bit bigger (but who spends a lot of time in there?).

 

Otherwise, Royal is much better. Carnival has a more casual atmosphere, which is not necessarily a compliment. Plus, I think with the price point being a little lower, more families can take their extended families on vacation. There were a lot of "herds" of people wondering around aimlessly lost on a ship that was not well designed and had small passageways and steps.

 

Plus, Royal has a much better loyalty program with the Crown and Anchor Society.

[cruising sister]

I have sailed on 5 cruise lines and Carnival has been my least favorite with Princess a close second least favorite. I was on a very old ship and a new ship and I thought the total experience was lacking that extra spark. That being said I had a good time because of the people I was with and if a great deal came up I would probably sail with them again.

[racerxspeedy]

There are many threads on this subject - here is a recent one.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2043955

 

The bottom line IMHO - the difference is not that significant. I am loyal to whatever company provides the best vacation value.

 

With the current pricing from Royal you may see more of people "jumping ship" over to Carnival.

[harry0]

pluses

Royal-

Decor(not that big of a deal to me)

Better loyalty program

Better Kids Program

More activities-Flow rider-Ice skating

Clientel

 

Carnival

24 hour Pizza

Better pool area

Less expensive

[NCteacherlovescruising]

pluses

Royal-

Decor(not that big of a deal to me)

Better loyalty program

Better Kids Program

More activities-Flow rider-Ice skating

Clientel

 

Carnival

24 hour Pizza

Better pool area

Less expensive

 

They don't have 24 hour pizza? I ate that frequently.

[jules815]

There are many things that are similar, but having sailed on both, I would say RC is nicer.

[Havin'fun]

We cruised once with Carnival, on the Miracle when she was a relatively new ship, and never again. The décor was garish and dark, making the ship feel very claustrophobic. The ship was way to small for the number of people onboard so it felt extremely crowded. The adult pool was in full sun without any shady place to set up a lounger. The cabin doors were spring-loaded instead of sliders, so they would bang open and close as people used them (particularly bothersome during the night).

 

 

QUOTE]

 

Carnival Miracle was the only Carnival ship I have been on and I feel exactly the same way as you do - could not have said it any better!

[CP3o]

Generally, yes. But, I liked some of the food better on Carnival, both MDR and casual options. What I didn't like was bored kids looking for me to buy them a bingo card.

 

It was also sort of difficult to get off the ship (Freedom) in a port (docked). We must have waited 45 mins in line to get off of the ship in DR and nearly missed our excursion pickup. That sort of thing makes me crazy, all they needed to do was open enough exits and staff them with people to "ding" the cards as they leave. I found it much easier to walk off Allure which had a much larger # of pax.

 

I've said I would never sail Carnival again but with the right itinerary, who knows, maybe, but not with teens.

 

Both lines concern me when it comes to increasing the number of pax staff is suppose to cover. Without going to a stuffy, high end line, I'd prefer to pay a little more and have less stressed service and if RCCL could improve the food a little in casual locations, have a Tandoori Grill like Carnival, that would be nice to see.