Why Carnival?

[hazz24]

We've been on Carnival Glory and Destiny, and RCCL Voyager of the Seas and Explorer of the Seas. All in balcony cabins.

 

All were comparable to us.. minor differences only. Food is slightly better and better variety on Carnival, and we love 24 hr ice cream and pizza, and the different stations, and the 24 hr accessibility of the drink stations.

 

The Kid's programs are comparable but facilities vary... Only Glory and later have good facilities on Carnival. On Destiny the kids are taken to the upstairs of the buffet restaurant in the evening. Facilities were huge and great on Voyager and Explorer. Entertainment seems to be a bigger focus of RCCL but I've seen good and bad shows on both. Slightly lower score to Carnival Destiny for having only one show some nights, at 10:30 (too late!)

 

 

Activities and staff, equal on both.

 

A lot of the difference in experiences had to do with passengers, weather, and ports. But they were different, not better or worse. For example, the teens on the Explorer were a large group and not well supervised, and that was annoying. But that happened on only 1 of 4 cruises.

 

By all means give Carnival a try!

Thank you again. I think we will give carnival a try when we take the kids. How many cruise's do you need to take before you have some sort of vip status?

[flowerchild]

Agreed, NCL is awful. Rude staff, poor food etc. Conquest class is wonderful and is on a par with Royal Carribean. Try it, you'll like it, I promise.

 

I've been on RCCL, Carnival and NCL. Each have thier unique style but share many many things in common.

 

I was on the NCL Sun and the NCL Star which were both large, newer ships that were just lovely. I had a better experience on the Star than the Sun food wise, but I think that had more to do with the individual kitchen staff, since they share the same menus fleet wide. The Star had it more together (food wise) than the Sun, and you will find that within any line, not just NCL. You will encounter rude staff on all ships, read the reviews for any ship and you will find people that have had bad experiences on every ship. NCL's freestyle dining concept is brilliant, IMO, if you go prepared and educated on how to take advantage of all the options, like all the FREE signature restaurants, like the Tex Mex and Italian restaurants. Other lines are experimenting with the Freestyle concept as well.

 

I found RCCL and Carnival to both have thier virtues, also, but found the quality of food and entertainment to be somewhat equal.

[Casino Player]

Hi...I just noticed that you will be going to be on the Triumph 11/10/07 cruise. I am going with 2 of my girlfriends and its my first cruise. Have you been on this ship before...

Hi. Just got back from a trip on the Miracle today. Been on two really nice cruises on the Triumph before. Love the ship. Carnival has really good food. They have lots to do on the cruise. The Triumph has a large casino. Love to play at the craps table. They have a nice gym if you like to exercise. Service seems to have gone down a bit, but, don't know if it's just that one ship or if it's because of Carnival's policy of charging tips to sail and sign account. Service was better when you tipped service personnel yourself.

Have fun. Enjoy your cruise.