RCCL Versus Carnival (and a little NCL) - My Observations

[payitforward]

The vast majority of my cruises have been on Royal Caribbean. I love their ships, service, entertainment and almost everything else. However, this past year, I also had the opportunity to sail on Carnival Splendor and to do a preview cruise on Norwegian Bliss. I did my best to compare the three as close to sailing as possible. Unfortunately, time slipped by before I was able to complete my reviews. Below is what I was able to accomplish as close to sailing time as possible.

Ships/Public Areas

I confess that I am biased here. I have taken many Royal Caribbean cruises, know their ships like the back of my hand, and find them easy to navigate. I am a big fan of the Promenade. It is a great place to people watch, eat, drink, shop and more. I prefer the Voyager and Freedom class ships as Radiance feels too small (no Promenade), and Oasis feels too big. Having a chronic illness and mobility issues, I cannot take advantage of the adventurous activities that so many people love on Oasis class ships. I thought I would love Central Park, but always found it to be overcrowded, and difficult to navigate on my scooter. There are also a number of areas that are only accessible from one elevator bank or the other. When you can walk, running up one flight of stairs, over and down another may not be a big issue. But, when you have to take an elevator (and they are ALWAYs in short supply on Royal Caribbean), this is a huge time waster. Most doors in public areas are motion sensor automatic doors. After Bliss, I appreciate this feature even more.

Norwegian Bliss

 I was not a fan of the shopping area. It felt disjointed and cave like. I did, however, love the outdoor space where the bars opened to the outside and they had comfortable furniture where you could relax and enjoy the ocean.  The atrium of the Bliss opens to a number of floors. Much of the time, it’s nice to stand there and look down while enjoying whatever activities are happening there. In the evening, however, the music playing in the atrium was so loud, it destroyed any hope of enjoying things on the floors above.  The doors in the public areas require you to hit a button. These buttons are not by the doors, but are usually on a nearby wall. As a result, I would have to drive to the button, hit it, and then back up to get back to the door. This was not a well thought out design.

Carnival Splendor

I will start by saying whoever designed and approved the décor on this ship should be shot. Who thought that covering a ship in pink tiger print polka dots was a good idea? The décor in all of the public areas is tacky and garish. The ship is fairly easy to navigate – once you learn that you cannot go all the way through on deck 3. There are two pool areas; both pools are small. The aft pool is meant for those 18 and over. Unfortunately, this pool doe s not have steps. The only way in and out is a ladder. I did manage to go down the ladder, and to pull myself onto the deck to get out.  The shopping on Splendor was minimal. There were only about four shops, and there wasn’t a lot to buy in them.

Winner Ships: Royal Caribbean

Elevators:

Royal Caribbean

The Voyager and Freedom class ships have two banks of elevators; fore and aft. The port and starboard sides of the ship have  four elevators at each bank;  for a total of eight elevators on each end. I often find at least one is out of service. The wait for an elevator on Royal Caribbean can be painfully long. Also, there are certain floors that can only be accessed by the port or starboard banks of elevators. This complicates things further.

Bliss

My trip on Bliss was so short that I can’t offer a ton of observations on the elevators. I don’t recall having to wait too long, but my memory on this has already faded.

Splendor

Splendor has three banks of elevators. The fore and aft banks have at least 10 elevators. The third (middle) bank has 6. Although the elevators on Splendor are smaller than Royal Caribbean’s, I never had a problem getting one.

Winner Elevators: Carnival

Staterooms

Splendor

They called my cabin on Splendor an ambulatory accessible cabin. According to the description, it is meant for people who require mobility devices including canes, walkers, wheelchairs and scooters, but who can walk short distances.  When I opened the door and saw this cabin for the first time, I was shocked and a bit panicked. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a cabin this small. Just getting my scooter inside was a bit of a challenge. When the scooter was parked inside, it was either blocking access to the door, the bathroom or one of the beds. We began parking it in the shower each night so that we could both get to the bathroom. The shower was a good size, but the grout was VERY dirty, and the tile and grout looked like they had been installed by a preschooler.  Finally, I have never experienced so little storage in a cabin. There were a few small shelves by the bathroom sink. The closet has shelves on one side and a place to hang clothes on the other. There is nowhere in the cabin to put things like toiletries and makeup. We were VERY glad we brought our over-the-door shoe organizers as that was where almost everything went.  There was only one electrical outlet in the entire cabin, so I was very glad I brought an outlet splitter and extension cord. (AND, that they were ALLOWED on Carnival!)

 

Bliss

I got spoiled on the Bliss as the accessible cabin had an automatic door, a place to park my scooter right inside of the door, and an outlet to charge it. There was also plenty of storage space. There were actual dresser drawers; something previously not seen in my staterooms. They have added USB charging ports to the lamps on the nightstands. This was a handy feature. The balcony door was a single door as opposed to two doors. I found the extra “wall space” by that door somewhat odd.  There were loungers on the balcony; which is always a HUGE plus for me!

Royal Caribbean

It’s been a while since I’ve stayed in an interior stateroom on Royal, but I recall those cabins being significantly larger than my room on Splendor.  (And that was BEFORE I needed accessible cabins!) When traveling alone, I will often get a non-accessible stateroom. If there is a coffee table in the room, I ask my attendant to remove it so I have more room to park my scooter. They generally have a couple of drawers in the vanity/desk and shelves behind mirrors to store toiletries. When traveling with a roommate, I get accessible cabins so they don’t have to climb over or around my scooter.  These don’t have quite as much storage space in the vanity (so they have room for a wheelchair underneath), but the rooms and balconies are a GREAT size. I LOVE that they have lounge chairs on the balconies. I could easily sleep out there. The Freedom and Voyager class ships only have one pair of electrical outlets in each stateroom.  It is located by the vanity. Normally, this can easily be worked around with an extension cord, but Royal still prohibits them.  You must ask your cabin attendant and hope he/she can find one. When they do, it’s one of those huge orange industrial cords.

Cabin Winner: Norwegian Bliss

Food       

I am not including Bliss in this category. Because this was a preview sailing, they pulled out all of the stops.  I’m sure the menu on normal sailings will be completely different.

Splendor

During the day, there are plenty of options! In addition to the main dining room, there is a barbeque place, burrito bar, “off the grill,” Mongolian Grill, pizza, the deli and more.  The main dining room was open for breakfast; even on port days.  The quality of food varied from one venue to another. All of the food I had in the main dining room was excellent. (But, there were fewer options from my “favorites” list.) I didn’t really think it was possible but the steakhouse on Carnival clearly beat out Chops on Royal Caribbean. The buffet, however, was horrendous! At least twice, I tried eating from the buffet only to go get pizza because the food on my plate was awful. I read that Carnival had many more late night food options than Royal Caribbean. I did not find this to be the case. After midnight, every item from room service carries a fee. During the day, the “free” room service options are limited to salads and cold sandwiches. All of the hot items carried a fee. Where Royal Caribbean has Sorrento’s Pizza, Carnival has the Pizza Pirate. From a quality and taste perspective, the pizza battle goes to Carnival hands down. That said, the wait at Pizza Pirate is especially long at night.  It seems they can’t cook fast enough to keep up with demand. Where Royal Caribbean has the Café Promenade, Carnival has the Deli. Again, the winner is Carnival by far. At the Café Promenade, they have a small selection of pre-made sandwiches that never have much protein in them. The Carnival Deli makes your sandwiches to order, has a much bigger selection, and great quality. Still, both cruise lines have the same number of options after 9:30pm.

Royal Caribbean

While it may not have the variety that Carnival’s buffet has, the food in the Windjammer is FAR superior to the food at the Splendor buffet.  There are generally more items I love in the Royal Caribbean dining rooms. Also, if there is something I truly love, but know they won’t be offering it each night, I put in a request to my waiter. I almost always get that item each night. Royal Caribbean has more options on their room service menu, and charges a flat fee instead of charging per item.  As mentioned earlier the Café Promenade offers finger sandwiches with very little protein in them. The pizza at Sorrento’s is mediocre at best.

Food Winner:  Dining room, buffet and room service all go to Royal Caribbean.  Variety goes to Carnival. Quality is too subjective for me to say.

Entertainment/Activities

This category easily goes to Royal Caribbean over Carnival! Royal offers Broadway style shows and game shows each night. I never struggle to find things to do on Royal Caribbean. In fact, I usually miss out on a few things I want to do, because there are so many other things I want to be doing.

On Splendor, there were no production shows that looked like they would be good. We often struggled to find activities during the day and in the evenings. I spent the majority of my free time in the casino. (More on that later.) We tried to go to the piano bar one night, and the player/singer was terrible. Almost everyone had walked out by the third song. We then went to the comedy show. I found his comedy so juvenile that I eventually left that too. By the time you’re performing on cruise ships, you should really be at a level beyond “fart jokes,” and “butt humor.”

Casinos

I love to play both blackjack and craps. I tend to spend a LOT of time in the casino, but I am not a big spender. I usually bet the minimum or just over on blackjack. On craps, I will play the pass line, odds and the inside.  I have been on 12 Royal Caribbean cruises, and have never gotten as much as a free drink from the pit bosses.  I believe I have received a certificate for $100 off on a future cruise at most. I am made to feel as though I don’t matter because I bet low; despite the fact that I bet often!

On Splendor, the pit bosses and dealers were calling me by name by day two. They also frequently bought me drinks for the first three days. On day four, they asked me for my card. They then attached a tag to it saying I was now entitled to free drinks whenever I was in the casino for the remainder of the cruise. They treated me like royalty. As a result, they probably also got a lot more of my money.  The cruise discounts I have been offered by Carnival from that cruise on have been phenomenal.

Casino Winner: Carnival Hands Down (pun intended)

Pool Areas

I’m not really sure it’s fair to compare Carnival Splendor to the Royal Caribbean ships I usually sail. I do understand that Splendor is an older ship. That said, the pool on Splendor was TINY. It also did not have any stairs. The only way to enter/exit the pool was by ladder. As someone with mobility issues, this was somewhat difficult.

Pool Areas: Winner – not chosen as it’s not apples to apples.

I had originally intended to review and compare many more areas. However, time got away from me. It’s now been so long that I don’t remember a lot of the areas or comparisons.

What I learned by stepping out of my “comfort zone” and trying both Carnival and NCL is that the lines are really more alike than they are different. I also learned that many of my preconceived notions (read “negative impressions”) about Carnival were not valid.

I am still loyal Royal Caribbean, but would no longer hesitate to sail Carnival if it better fit what I was looking for at that time.

[Nightrythm]

Thank you for a well written review.

[grandmarnnurse]

As someone that has cruised all 3 of these cruise lines, I can give my two cents! Although I have not cruised Carnival since 2007, I have booked 2 cruises with them because I’m excited to see all their changes, and new food venues. I always had excellent food on Carnival. I’ve sailed both the Indy and Oasis on RCCL, and although there was plentiful food throughout the day, I did feel their late night offerings was lacking. And I totally disliked that the only complimentary beverage outside the regular meal time was either coffee or water. And at meal times in the Windjammer, the attendant filled glasses of beverage rather than letting you self serve then, or throughout the day. And their soft serve ice cream was out on the deck by pool and closed up by evening. Now, onto NCL. First let me say that since I haven’t tried Carnival food since 2007, this may be unfair to them, and they may win out after my March Breeze cruise, but in my opinion, NCL wins hands down for the best food. Their buffet was honestly the largest and very best we have ever had at sea. The best! And their beverage stations remained open, along with soft ice cream. And the buffet opens up for late night snacks from 9:30-11:30pm nightly. Fantastic! But the one thing that the other two don’t even come near is O’Sheehans Irish Pub on NCL. It is a 24 hour complimentary sit down (not grab and go) restaurant with A FULL MENU!! There is nothing comparable on RCCL or Carnival. And NCL offered the most selection of specialty restaurants, also. As for the MDR, totally excellent, but they lose when it comes to serving lobster. They don’t unless you pay an upcharge, where I had complimentary lobster on RCCL and Carnival. 

Edited January 14, 2019 by grandmarnnurse

[robc1972]

Been on Royal, Carnival and MSC.

As far as ships overall, Royal and MSC are nice and about the same, Carnival is usually tacky (Splendor is the worst with all the pink everywhere).

Food I would say they are all about the same. All have there pros and cons.

Pool areas have all been about the same on the ships I have been on. Splendor does have the advantage of the retractable roof for bad weather.

Cabins, Royal and Carnival are about the same, MSC have been the smallest I have stayed in.

[Tapi]

3 hours ago, payitforward said:

Carnival Splendor

 

I will start by saying whoever designed and approved the décor on this ship should be shot. Who thought that covering a ship in pink tiger print polka dots was a good idea? The décor in all of the public areas is tacky and garish. 

I agree that decor on the Splendor (as well as many Carnival ships, specially the older ones) is tacky and garish. But this is all thanks to Carnival’s partnership with interior designer Joe Farcus who is known for his bold and over the top designs. For many years, Carnival wanted to make a bold statement, and they definitely accomplished that with Farcus. Carnival’s interior decor was (and still is) a topic of conversation (and controversy) in the cruise industry. But he no longer designs Carnival ship interiors and the company has moved towards more toned down, understated, and tropical decor aboard its newest ships. 

 

I was never a big fan of Joe Farcus designs, and like you, I found them to be tacky and garish, but at the same time I found it interesting that each design actually had a reason to its madness. Each ship’s design followed a central theme or idea and I enjoyed figuring out what that theme was and how Farcus had brought it to life with all the elements throughout the ship. Although the new ships are more “tastefully” decorated, they’ve lost the Farcus touch that made each ship very unique. 

 

By the way, Joe Farcus still designs interiors for sister ship Costa, in case you’re interested!

Edited January 15, 2019 by Tapi

[PhillyFan33579]

3 hours ago, Tapi said:

I agree that decor on the Splendor (as well as many Carnival ships, specially the older ones) is tacky and garish. But this is all thanks to Carnival’s partnership with interior designer Joe Farcus who is known for his bold and over the top designs. For many years, Carnival wanted to make a bold statement, and they definitely accomplished that with Farcus. Carnival’s interior decor was (and still is) a topic of conversation (and controversy) in the cruise industry. But he no longer designs Carnival ship interiors and the company has moved towards more toned down, understated, and tropical decor aboard its newest ships. 

 

I was never a big fan of Joe Farcus designs, and like you, I found them to be tacky and garish, but at the same time I found it interesting that each design actually had a reason to its madness. Each ship’s design followed a central theme or idea and I enjoyed figuring out what that theme was and how Farcus had brought it to life with all the elements throughout the ship. Although the new ships are more “tastefully” decorated, they’ve lost the Farcus touch that made each ship very unique. 

 

By the way, Joe Farcus still designs interiors for sister ship Costa, in case you’re interested!

 

Personally I love the tacky designs of Joe Farcus.  Like you mentioned, it made every ship unique, which I still find appealing today.  I think the design of Breeze, Vista, Horizon, and Sunshine to a degree are all pretty boring. To me, the last Carnival ship that was well designed and decorated was Magic.