Royal Caribbean (first impression) vs Carnival

[rudeboie]

you only get one chance to make a first impression.

 

However, the choice was not RCCL's to offer the MOS to represent what they have to offer. That's like picking the worst basketball player on a team and applying your judgement of that one player as an impression for the entire team.

 

That does not put RCCL into an equal footing to be a fair comparison. The OP has been on several Carnival ships yet has only sailed on MOS (the oldest and by far the smallest ship) as a basis for comparison to represent the whole cruise line.

 

It's not a fair comparison to rate RCCL as a whole based off of their smallest and oldest ship. It's like a frequent RCCL cruiser choosing the Carnival Fantasy and then judging the entire Carnival fleet based on that 25 year old ship. Maybe try out Radiance, Freedom and Oasis classes as well to get a more accurate gauge.

 

I'm sure RCCL probably wouldn't choose MOS as their choice to make a first impression, and neither would Carnival with any of their Fantasy Class. Though I've sailed numerous CCL and RCCL ships, I'm not trying to side with one or the other (NCL is still my preference) , I'm just trying to say that it's unfair to judge an entire cruise line based off of one ship.

 

Thanks for the review, however as one poster had said, it's probably more fitting that this review be called Carnival xxxxxxx vs. RCCL Majesty Of The Seas.

Edited February 20, 2015 by rudeboie

[Cuizer2]

However, the choice was not RCCL's to offer the MOS to represent what they have to offer. That's like picking the worst basketball player on a team and applying your judgement of that one player as an impression for the entire team.

 

That does not put RCCL into an equal footing to be a fair comparison. The OP has been on several Carnival ships yet has only sailed on MOS (the oldest and by far the smallest ship) as a basis for comparison to represent the whole cruise line.

 

It's not a fair comparison to rate RCCL as a whole based off of their smallest and oldest ship. It's like a frequent RCCL cruiser choosing the Carnival Fantasy and then judging the entire Carnival fleet based on that 25 year old ship. Maybe try out Radiance, Freedom and Oasis classes as well to get a more accurate gauge.

 

I'm sure RCCL probably wouldn't choose MOS as their choice to make a first impression, and neither would Carnival with any of their Fantasy Class. Though I've sailed numerous CCL and RCCL ships, I'm not trying to side with one or the other (NCL is still my preference) , I'm just trying to say that it's unfair to judge an entire cruise line based off of one ship.

 

Thanks for the review, however as one poster had said, it's probably more fitting that this review be called Carnival xxxxxxx vs. RCCL Majesty Of The Seas.

 

It is true that the OP choose which ship to cruise on. Nonetheless, Royal Caribbean only gets one chance to make a first impression. If Royal Caribbean doesn't want the MOS to be anyone's first impression, then Royal Caribbean need to restrict the MOS to passengers who have sailed on Royal Caribbean before. Given that Royal Caribbean has positioned the Majesty to attract first time cruisers, I would say Royal Caribbean has in fact chosen the Majesty to its ship of first impression for many people.

 

Royal Caribbean has put the MOS squarely in the sights of first timers. It was Royal Caribbean's choice to put the MOS on the 3/4 cruise schedule that is so popular with first timers. My first Royal Caribbean cruise was almost the Monarch of the Seas. However, a friend invited me on the Navigator, so that ended up being my first Royal Caribbean cruise, after having been on three other cruises on two other lines. My first cruise was on a forty year old ship. My second cruise was on Carnival's oldest and smallest ship. After being on the Navigator OTS and the Freedom OTS I sailed on the Monarch OTS. Of the ten Royal Caribbean ships I have been on, the Navigator had the biggest wow factor, the Monarch was second and the Allure was third.

 

Speaking of oldest and smallest, the Majesty is the oldest, but it is my no means the smallest. It is not even the second smallest. The Legend of the Seas and the Splendour OTS are both smaller than the Majesty. In addition, the Legend is not positioned to attract first timers, as it does a lot of longer cruises (I was on the Legend for ten nights).

 

I remember when the Navigator was put on the 4/5 cruise schedule, so that first timers could experience Royal Caribbean's newer ships. Royal Caribbean could do the same thing with any of its current "latest and greatest", but has chosen not to. That is Royal Caribbean's choice, not the OP's.

 

So, if Royal Caribbean has chosen to put the worst player on the basketball team where first timers are most likely to find it, then that is Royal Caribbean's choice.

 

As to Carnival, its Fantasy class is also positioned to attract first timers (as those are the ships that do the short itineraries that are so popular with first timers) and Carnival chose to spend millions on all eight of those ships to make them even more attractive to first timers.

 

Once again, Royal Caribbean only has one chance to make a first impression. Fair or not, Royal Caribbean is going to be judged by this first impression. If the OP was not favorably impressed, then Royal Caribbean will never get the chance to change the OP's impression.

 

Further more, it would be equally unfair to judge a cruise line by its best, since that would mean that everything that came after would fall short.

[Aquahound]

Once again, Royal Caribbean only has one chance to make a first impression. Fair or not, Royal Caribbean is going to be judged by this first impression. If the OP was not favorably impressed, then Royal Caribbean will never get the chance to change the OP's impression.

 

I would agree with this assessment if the op was not a seasoned cruiser. This would make more sense if the op were a first time cruiser or maybe was on only one or two other cruises....the type of person who doesn't know and understand one ship from another.

 

But this op said they have been on "several" cruises of another line. With that sort of experience, they should know how different ships can be within a cruise line and should know enough about the ship they booked and how it fits in with the rest of that cruise line's fleet. I guarantee they know the difference between Carnival Fantasy and Carnival Breeze, so they should also understand the difference between Majesty and a ship like Quantum. They're so different, they might as well be different cruise lines.

 

I agree with the others who said this was a first impression of Majesty of the Seas, not RCI.

[cruzeluver]

No "WOW" factor on Freedom of the Seas.

Is it a fine ship? Yes

Will you have a good time ? Yes

 

Will it blow your socks off? Maybe if it's your first or second cruise ever. No, if you've ever sailed before on any other cruise line

 

Really? I very much beg to differ.

 

We went on Freedom of The Seas after many cruises on Carnival, Celebrity, Royal and Norwegian and in terms of offerings, only Allure and Oasis have more features/amenities than a Freedom class ship.