Carnival in Europe (Norway) info for a potential Carnival newbie please

[debsjc]

Hi
We are tempted by the route and reasonable price of the Carnival Pride ex Dover this summer, 9 night Norwegian Fjords cruise. Have never cruised Carnival before, usually travel with Princess or HAL (and have also been with NCL & Oceania)
Would love information on what mix of passengers might be on this route, don't want to feel too ancient being 50! We aren't really party people 
Also how good the dining options are, as food is an important part of our trip as well.
 

Edited March 26, 2022 by debsjc

[shiner6]

I also had this question. We are in our 60's and booked Norway for next summer 2023.  Got a vista suite!

[pinto18]

My guess is that you will be one of the youngins...I don't think a 9 day Fjords cruise would draw a young party crowd. Sounds nice!

[csm5986142]

I would not hesitate to book this cruise if I were you.  I am about your age and have been on 19 cruises total (most with Carnival but have also done HAL and NCL to get a specific itenerary).

I don't think you would feel ancient, for the most part Carnival has a pretty good mix of ages (on the 7+ day cruises), and I don't see this itenerary being a younger crowd.  We prefer Carnival for its laid-back atmosphere - we both are in rigorous career fields, and when we are vacation, we just want to relax and unwind.  I definitely do not consider myself a party person (for the most part I avoid crowds and never go the clubs).  

As for the food, I love the food on Carnival and find it to be just as good as the other lines I've been on, but I admit I'm not a foodie.  I rarely go to the specialty restaurants (only when others in my party want to) the main dining room is very good in my opinion.  I've met a lot of people on cruises (who are new to Carnival) and are shocked at how good the food is (apparently Carnival doesn't have a good reputation for food?  I don't know?).  Recently on Carnival Mardi Gras we met a couple who travel frequently (usually cruise on Royal Caribbean) and said they were so surprised to find they preferred the food on Carnival (but again, food is very much personal preference).

Every now and then we think about booking Princess or Royal Caribbean just to try them out, but we have been so happy with Carnival, we haven't yet.

[Essiesmom]

Food on Carnival is comfort food.  Not fancy, gourmet.  It suits me.  People who sail on longer cruises, and those far away skew older.  I have been on long Carnival cruises where I looked around and thought ‘anyone on this cruise who doesn’t have white or gray hair is dying it’.  The Journeys cruises come to mind.  
Those who book a nine night cruise in Europe, pay for air and a night or two in the departure port generally aren’t young with families.  EM

[Astromaid]

We are booked on the June 10 cruise to Norway, I turn 69 during the cruise and husband is 67. We enjoy Carnival cruises and Royal. I figure this cruise will attract an older crowd who are interested in the ports. We just got off the Vista and found the food great. We ate in the main dining room and was pleased with the choices and quality of the food. We love Guys and the mexican (try them for a hot delicious breakfast burrito), 

[let's go cruising]

3 hours ago, Astromaid said:

We are booked on the June 10 cruise to Norway, I turn 69 during the cruise and husband is 67. We enjoy Carnival cruises and Royal. I figure this cruise will attract an older crowd who are interested in the ports. We just got off the Vista and found the food great. We ate in the main dining room and was pleased with the choices and quality of the food. We love Guys and the mexican (try them for a hot delicious breakfast burrito), 

We (58 and 56) are on this sailing too. I expect it will NOT be a big party cruise either. We have been sailing on Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. We prefer Carnival for value and fun. 

[Aplmac]

Cold-weather/temperate-clime cruises

are often a lot more staid than Caribbean cruises!

Our two Canada Cruises out of Manhattan NYC (2011 and 2013)

contrasted greatly with our several Southern Caribbean cruises

out of Barbados.

It was hard to believe it was a Carnival cruise
but also nice to have a quieter crowd!

 

We had fog going back to NYC

- a different experience for this Caribbean islander!

 

[maryann2]

Carnival in Europe is not the party crowd.

Still a lot of fun and relaxed. It is all about the ports and wonderful places you will visit.

[Essiesmom]

My big disappointment with Carnival is the lack of enrichment lecturers on cruises with a lot of sea days.  This was standard on our longer cruises on Cunard, Princess, Celebrity, HAL but on the Carnival Dream transAtlantic in 2009, Rome to NYC there was no one.  EM

[debsjc]

Thanks for all the information, really appreciate it. Sounds like it would be a good fit for us. There are only 2 seas days anyway, and lots of port days. Just have a few more things to research, but may well book this one 🙂

[EllieinNJ]

We are booked on the June 9 2023 cruise to Norway because we aren't ready to go back to Europe now.  I've been reading the roll calls for the 2022 Norway cruises and there seems to be a lack of excursions at the present time.  Hopefully there will be more added but by this time next year I would have had all my excursions already booked.  Maybe it's because the ports were closed for so long and next year they will have their vendors sooner.

[Aplmac]

1 hour ago, Essiesmom said:

My big disappointment with Carnival

is the lack of enrichment lecturers on cruises with a lot of sea days.

This was standard on our longer cruises on Cunard, Princess, Celebrity, HAL but on the Carnival Dream transAtlantic in 2009, Rome to NYC there was no one.  EM

 

 

You get what you pay for!!

[let's go cruising]

28 minutes ago, EllieinNJ said:

We are booked on the June 9 2023 cruise to Norway because we aren't ready to go back to Europe now.  I've been reading the roll calls for the 2022 Norway cruises and there seems to be a lack of excursions at the present time.  Hopefully there will be more added but by this time next year I would have had all my excursions already booked.  Maybe it's because the ports were closed for so long and next year they will have their vendors sooner.

They added a lot this week for our June 10, 2022 cruise. From 29 excursions to 44. It went back down to 42 the following day. I don't know what was removed.

[nybumpkin]

We're also booked on the 6/9/23 sailing out of Dover. In 2013 we sailed the Baltic cruise out of Dover with two of our three sons, then 13 and 17. I would say that cruise tilted older when it came to passengers but there was a definite mix, ranging from families with kids to seniors. We loved the atmosphere on board - not a party crowd, but also not in bed by 9 pm. (DH and I will be 63 and 62 when we sail.🙂)

 

As for food - in 25 cruises on Carnival we've had very few meals we found poor. The vast majority have been very good to excellent. David's the steakhouse on Pride, is very good. I will be interested to hear whether they have any special meals on this itinerary - when we sailed the Baltic and ported in Warnemunde, they had a German buffet for dinner.