Is What they say about RCI true?

[kidless]

:confused: Ok, been on only Carnival have our first RCI cruise coming up next May. We were looking for a change and hopefully a step up. But reading the boards and I still do go to the Carnival threads I read a lot of comments on the RCI crowd. They make it sound like we will be on ship with a bunch of boring snobby people that roll up the carpets and go to bed at 11. I find this hard to believe so tell me how much fun you are. :D

[MtnBikerFallDown]

I've done Carnival and RCI and had a very good time on both. I prefer RCI, and I consider myself a fun person. The carpets do not get rolled up at 11pm. That doesn't happen until 2 or 3 am. :D

 

Seriously, there are lots of fun people onboard, lots of activities. But, as with anything, most of it as what you make of it. You go in it to have fun, and I guarantee you will!

 

So, don't worry and start gearing up for fun, fun, fun!!!!!

 

What ship are you on and when are you sailing? Sign up for the meet and mingle/roll call and you'll meet the specific people you are sailing with. You'll probably find a lot of people you'll have plenty in common with! Also, it helps you get excited knowing a few people onboard.

[Sue L]

It is their way of justifying staying with Carnival. You will have a blast. 11pm? I don't think I went to bed before 2am and that is because I need my sleep. I have never found anyone snobby or boring.

[Guest maler]

That has not been my experience on RCI although some itineraries and some times of the year are more like that than others.

My wife & I are seldom in bed before 2am. (not counting that afternoon 'snap')

[Merion_Mom]

:confused: Ok, been on only Carnival have our first RCI cruise coming up next May. We were looking for a change and hopefully a step up. But reading the boards and I still do go to the Carnival threads I read a lot of comments on the RCI crowd. They make it sound like we will be on ship with a bunch of boring snobby people that roll up the carpets and go to bed at 11. I find this hard to believe so tell me how much fun you are. :D

 

Sorry, kidless, they are right, of course.

 

We ARE a bunch of boring snobby people. We roll up the carpets and go to bed at 11.

 

In the morning. ;)

[Tranquil Waters]

:confused: Ok, been on only Carnival have our first RCI cruise coming up next May. We were looking for a change and hopefully a step up. But reading the boards and I still do go to the Carnival threads I read a lot of comments on the RCI crowd. They make it sound like we will be on ship with a bunch of boring snobby people that roll up the carpets and go to bed at 11. I find this hard to believe so tell me how much fun you are. :D

 

Well, that doesn't sound too much worse than what you will read on this board about the Carnivore's...... :D :D :D . Such is life and the war of the cruise lines.

[lori450]

Go to bed? The cabins have beds?!?

[cruisinfanatic]

:confused: Ok, been on only Carnival have our first RCI cruise coming up next May. We were looking for a change and hopefully a step up. But reading the boards and I still do go to the Carnival threads I read a lot of comments on the RCI crowd. They make it sound like we will be on ship with a bunch of boring snobby people that roll up the carpets and go to bed at 11. I find this hard to believe so tell me how much fun you are. :D

Bet most haven't even been on a RCL ship.

[kidless]

I've done Carnival and RCI and had a very good time on both. I prefer RCI, and I consider myself a fun person. The carpets do not get rolled up at 11pm. That doesn't happen until 2 or 3 am. :D

 

Seriously, there are lots of fun people onboard, lots of activities. But, as with anything, most of it as what you make of it. You go in it to have fun, and I guarantee you will!

 

So, don't worry and start gearing up for fun, fun, fun!!!!!

 

What ship are you on and when are you sailing? Sign up for the meet and mingle/roll call and you'll meet the specific people you are sailing with. You'll probably find a lot of people you'll have plenty in common with! Also, it helps you get excited knowing a few people onboard.

 

We are on the Mariner May 11th we have Jr Suite and Balcony for our adult kids. We have gone to the roll call but it tends to be slow but we have signed up for the meet and greet. DH & I tend to be out going freindly people and usually meet new friends on the cruise. Even some we have cruised with again. RCI seems to have so much more to offer on ship to do and honestly we like Carnival but we feel they have gone down in the last couple of cruises with service, food, entertainment and other areas I won't mention and we are thinking sometimes you get what you pay for.

[moakie]

For what it's worth;

I'm no expert by far as I only have 1 cruise under my belt, But when I was on the Enchantment it was alledgedly sold out. I my whole 5 days of staying out everynite till 1:30 or 2AM I never saw a truly drunk person or anyone doing any drunken antics. Never smelled "recycled lunch" inside of any of the bar restrooms either.

Maybe we were all to old to party hardy:o ? ..........Or quite possibly mature enough to know how.:D

 

I'm an old fuddy duddy in my kids eyes.

 

Go RCI and have a great time. (It's fun acting old! )

[BillOh]

On the bigger ships, there is plenty of different areas for both you fun people and us boring people, ok me, my wife may go out with the fun people once in awhile.

[piercetc4]

you will have a blast on mariner- just sailed her oct 14 07 - was seldom we got back to cabin before 2 a.m.- so many venues going with music and dancing and casino and shows- great time!!!!! like someone said, it does depend on time of yr that you sail as to party all night long atmosphere or just til 1-2 a.m.........carpets never roll up by 11......................not that we have seen anyway- :)

[dolfinmusic]

Welllllllll.....we just recently returned from an RCI cruise and I do have to admit that I think we were in bed around midnight most nights :o I think we are just getting old and it would have been the same if we were on Carnival! We were just so sleepy! I think becuase we rocked so much due to Noel! :rolleyes: Snobby - no way!!! Everyone was sooooooo nice!!! Now I have only been on Carnival for a long cruise and a 2 night cruise and I did not see the partying and all the drunks that people claim Carnival to be! Maybe a lot has to do with when you sail, from what port and the length of the cruise. I think you will have a great time on RCI!

[cruiserbryce]

I dont think what "they" say is necassarily correct...you'll get a few snobby people no matter where you cruise...but as far as rolling up the carpets and going to bed by 11...were were up until past 2 in the bars or lounges on 3-4 nights of our last cruise

[996turbos]

If you want a cruise that rolls up the carpets at 11pm, try a Disney cruise. Moms and dads must go to bed with the kids. We have done 8 Disney cruises of 3,4, and 7 day cruises and while we enjoyed them they were not a hot spot for night life. We have done 2 RCI cruises (on Freedom and Mariner). We were up till 2pm most nights. Plenty of people were still out and about when we packed it in. I saw no staggering drunks at that hour either. The crowd on RCI does seem a bit older than on the Disney cruise but not snobbish or boring really. However there were these diamond plus member that ..........ah, never mind:p . Go and have a great time. :D

[Inshape]

It is a quieter ship which is better. I find that once in my cabin I do not hear people running all down the halls. Maybe this gives the impression that everyone is sleeping. NOt true. Go into any lounge and there are people there. Been on Mariner twice and will do once more in Oct with friends we meet on cc and hit it off during the cruise. As for the roll call...it is early. Keep going on and striking up conversation. There is so much more to do on RCI ships than on CCL. WE did 3 CCL cruises and now we are on our 4th in less than 2 weeks. I do not think I can return to CCL no matter what. RCI cruises are more...but if you know how to play the game it comes out pretty even. You book another cruise while onboard(that is 100$ obc per cabin) you get a RCI visa and that gives you hundreds of dollars off. We use it for booking to get double the points. FOr every 5000 points you get 50$ in obc. They are running a special now if you sign up you get 15,000 points which is good for 150 off the cruise or 3 $50 vouchers for obc. If you do not use the obc you cash out and take it home.

You also find a TA (Picard2117@cox.net) who gives you something back for booking with them. Write to me and I will give that to you. She is wonderful. You can make the change up till final payment. Any price drops she will honor and make it work for YOU. Paying for 2 cabins, JR and a balcony will bring you lots of OBC--10% of the cruise portion(not the tax or port fees). With all those working for you, the prices are lower than a ccl cruise. The ships are nicer and the crew is wonderful and the layout of the ships will be so much easier to manage than a CCL ship. Once you go to RCI you can not go back. HAve fun. Let me know if you need some more info about the TA.

[bcs819]

We've sailed both - and didn't find RCI to be boring or snobby - just didn't find it that much better than Carnival. Wasn't worth it to us to pay so much more for the same thing. Don't miss the QUEST - that's the only thing we wish we could bring over to Carnival :)

[relaxandenjoy]

I'm in my mid 30s so I'm not typically a "party animal" at home. That said, I never get to bed before 3 or 4am on RCCL. I always meet fun people in every venue. We dance the night away in the club or "people watch" somewhere, then catch a sandwich on the Prominade before calling it a night. Usually, there's one night on a 7 night cruise where I have to go to bed before midnight just to recover so I can go back to the routine the next night. (I also say I'm going to bed early the last night so I can be up early to get off the ship. Then I spend the entire travel day miserable because I only got an hour of sleep. :cool: )

[cruisersunsetbrat]

We were on Mariner of the Seas May, 2007. We sailed Carnival Triumph last week (and are still not caught up on our sleep!). We found RCCL lacking in entertainment - day & night. In fact, we spent several days just trying to get the darn TV in our room to work so we would have something to do! You might love RCCL - we did not. Maybe we had an "off week." Good luck.

[Cruzaholic41]

You're going on the Mariner, which is a FANTASTIC ship. You will love the Promenade.

 

As for activites and crowd, go and judge for yourself. You'll see that the Carnival cheerleaders were wrong.

 

Fact is, Carnival doesn't even have a ship that can compare to Mariner and her sisters.

[Jennifer in Atlanta]

I have sailed both (twice) and hands down choose RCI on level service alone.

 

I have found people just as friendly and active (nightlife wise) on both, its just RCI doesn't have people puking in the corridors at all hours.

 

If anything, I love the fact that RCI leaves their hot tubs open all night whereas Carnival closes them around 11pm.

[Sugar*Magnolia]

Snobby? Eh, that is just trying to justify staying devoted to Carnival. I can understand that since Im replying in defense of RCI lol. Been on Voyager and Explorer, been on X, maybe you'd think Im snobby? hehe No, we have never encountered snobby people who call 11pm their bedtime. We have such a good time! Maybe it is a step above, who knows? I cant comment b/c we have never sailed Carnival.

 

Im certain you will enjoy cruising with Royal Caribbean!

[cruisinisforme]

I have done both, and in fact still do because I have friends who prefer carnival, but I still prefer RCCL. I agree the service is so much better on rccl, to me its worth paying more for. But now that I am diamond I dont really pay more anyway with all the discounts they offer.

 

I see you are going on the mariner, she is my favorite ship, you will surely have a great time on her!

[crpcruiser]

We just got off the Ecstasy after previously sailing 4 times with RCI. We went with another couple without the kids and we like to party and have a good time. We thought Carnival was supposed to be fun but most time we were looking for something to do. The live band that played in the Chinatown lounge was ok, but didn't really play any good songs that made you want to get up and dance and the DJ in the disco had a limited playlist to choose songs from. We even went to the late night pool party and buffet and it was dead.

 

You will find on RCI that the staff is much more friendly and that there are more activities to do throughout the day and into the late night. We also thought that Carnival could do a better job in scheduling some of the activities. For example, The men's belly flop competition was at 4:30pm right before the sailaway from Cozumel at 5:00pm. They had a hard time getting enough people to participate because there weren't too many people out by the pool at that time. They should have done it on either sea day around 2:00pm when most people were out by the pool and more people could have enjoyed it.

 

You also will find it easier to get around the ship on RCI. You know the old saying "You can't get there from here" it applies to the Ecstasy. Sometimes you have to go up a flight of stairs and then back down to get to get to something on the same floor. On RCI the ships are designed to heve a more open feel and you can get to everything on one floor without having to use the stairs.

 

I know you will have a good time on your cruise RCI.

[Chigirlcruzin]

:confused: Ok, been on only Carnival have our first RCI cruise coming up next May. We were looking for a change and hopefully a step up. But reading the boards and I still do go to the Carnival threads I read a lot of comments on the RCI crowd. They make it sound like we will be on ship with a bunch of boring snobby people that roll up the carpets and go to bed at 11. I find this hard to believe so tell me how much fun you are. :D

 

I caused quite a stir a few weeks ago asking why people felt the need to put down CCL when they've never been on a CCL ship. The same thing applies here...I don't know why people feel the need to judge something they haven't tried, or worse, judging the people that choose the opposite of you. Go, and have a blast. You'll be able to compare the two yourself when you get back. I love Carnival, but I'm looking to try RCL in 2008. Just want to see what else is out there.