Royal Fan Does Carnival

[Midwestgal]

Actually, it seems that we all are!:eek:

 

Your are so right!

[gkbiiii]

I can't remember a past thread where RCI cruisers seem to be so positive about experiences with Carnival. I post this only because it seems to be a major shift in thinking on this board. I wonder if it is getting the attention of RCI at all?

 

My only Carnival cruise was on the Victory, which was generally a poor ship, but this new Vessel looks outstanding: the Carnival Vista http://www.carnival.com/cruise-ships/carnival-vista.aspx

 

My prior sailing on the Victory, the dining in the main dining room, was better than on most of the Royal ships I have been on. There are several areas where Carnival, is seriously stepping up their game and may give Royal C&R members pause:

 

1. The New Havana State rooms/suites with a hammock & special private pool and indoor/outdoor VIP Club Lounge.

 

2. Family Harbor stateroom/suites that are nautically decorated, with a Private VIP Family Lounge, Plus "kids eat free in specially Dining".

 

3. Spa level stateroom/suites, which include full spa facilities.

 

4. Fantastic sounding dining options, which Specialty Dining sound much better than Royal's current offering.

 

5. Traditional dining is kept on, with NO mention of any Dynamic intensions!!

 

6. Wonderful outdoor spaces with a full hanging obstacle course.

 

7. Very attractive main lobby with a more Latin traditional feel.

 

I could go on, but the ship looks real special; this coming from someone who was not into Carnival, but I need to give credit, where credit is due!!

Edited March 29, 2015 by gkbiiii

[davy jones]

I can't remember a past thread where RCI cruisers seem to be so positive about experiences with Carnival. I post this only because it seems to be a major shift in thinking on this board. I wonder if it is getting the attention of RCI at all?

 

Royal, CCL, and NCL compete in the same cruise market segment, so it stands to reason that they would be alike with some attempts to differentiate themselves. It's much like Ford, Chevy, and Chrysler (or Pepsi and Coke).

 

I have seen many comments that RCI, CCL and NCL are more similar than different, but those comments only seem to arouse the ire of the Royal or nothing folks here.

[APDMOM]

Background:

 

We are in our late 50’s and cruise mainly to unplug and relax. We are very active and enjoy rising early and going to bed late. We can take or leave most ports and enjoy staying on a quiet ship.

 

This was our 12th cruise and our first cruise on Carnival. We chose the Liberty based on the ship and the itinerary. We were so convinced we would enjoy the ship we booked a back to back cruise (8 day southern itinerary followed by 7 day eastern itinerary). Ports were Aruba, Bonaire, Grand Turk, Nassau, Puerto Rico, and St. Thomas.

 

The Good:

 

Bonaire – our first visit to this island .. it was gorgeous

Food – quality – of RCI, Princess, Celebrity, HAL, and Carnival – we felt the quality of the food was 2nd only to HAL.

Food - variety – Guy’s Burgers (best burgers at sea), Blue Iguana (Mexican – excellent shrimp tacos), Mongolian Wok, Buffet, Deli, 24 hr Pizza (2nd only to Princess), and Fish and Chips (including fried oysters) - the best variety of any ship we have been on and it was all free except for the Steakhouse ($35 pp)

Aft Pool – love the aft pools on Princess, HAL, and Carnival

Comedy Club – rotated different comedians each week performing 4 shows each – 2 family/2 adult – loved 4 of the 5 comedians we heard

On turnaround day (66 of us were B2B) had small reception, drinks, free picture of group, and a bottle of champagne and fruit basket delivered to our cabin

 

The Same:

 

Chair hogs

Waiters and room stewards were excellent

Entertainment – production shows were good

Ship - like all cruise ships at sea 365 days a year it showed some signs of rust in various places

 

The Bad:

 

Casino lounge –live music and entertainment nightly – my wife could not stand the smoke – so we missed a bunch of good entertainment

Ship layout – typical Princess, HAL, Carnival – Dining rooms and galley prevent walking all the way through the ship on decks 3 and 4

Piano Bar – entertainer was bad – only second time we encountered a bad vocalist

Casino – took my money

 

Summary:

 

Great cruise, great ship, great staff, great food. Will definitely cruise with Carnival again.

 

Any questions, ask away.

Excellent comparison. This is very similar to our experience with Liberty. Wish we could go to Bonaire!

One thing we experienced as different though is the entertainment... I think entertainment on Royal is a cut above as far as the main shows are concerned. Otherwise, I completely agree with your comparison. We would cruise Carnival again too, if we find a good deal on school holidays. :)

[Ms. Fun Bunch]

We are actually looking at the Breeze for this October with two other couples.

 

I normally cruise with Carnival. I love the Breeze and have sailed it twice so I highly recommend it. The decor is more subdued and the area in front of the casino where the entertainment that you spoke about takes place is further down the hall on the Breeze so there is no smoke.

[Rocket3D]

Does Carnival offer discounts of any kind for Gold solo cruisers?


I know NCL has Studio cabins and RCI does sometimes
have 150%, 175% solo pricing.

Except for NCL and RCI, I haven't found any price breaks
for solo cruisers.

:cool: Edited March 31, 2015 by rocketsurgery