Celebrity VS Carnival

[Drew B]

You mention the entertainment as being "excellent" on both...I would refute that. Viewed in a vacuum, one might think so...It's hard not to enjoy oneslf while being entertained. But, having viewed RCCL entertainment and Carnival entertainment back-to-back, it's really easy to quantify where Carnival falls short. First, the good: Carnival's comedians on our ship were excellent. That's where the excellence stops. Royal Caribbean's production shows were outstanding (as they are on it's sister line, Celebrity)...FOUR singers rotating with multiple costume changes and a bit of variety. Carnival cut corners, using only TWO singers...which also meant they could not rotate off for costume changes or for rests...So, the quality suffered greatly. To make matters worse, Carnival relied heavily on TAPED back-up vocals. Clearly inferior shows. Past this, the two non-comedy, non-production shows on Carnival included an incredibly tacky "hypnotisty show", where the guest hypnotist shilled constantly for his diet and quit smoking DVDs...and a "Guest performer" show where the guest performer was merely a former Carnival production show singer.

 

I'm not sure that citing the number of singers necessarily tells the full story. On both of my Celebrity cruises, I thought that at least one of the singers was downright awful, and I would have RATHER they had cut that singer and gone with a smaller number. On all three of my Carnival cruises, both of the singers were flat out excellent. I'm sure that, as with everything, the caliber of the singers is a function of the luck of the draw. But I imagine that it is easier to keep standards up if they are only looking to fill two slots than if they have to fill four.

 

The shows? Prepare to show up an hour ahead of time for a reasonable seat (getting a seat at an "X" show is simple--show up a few minutes before showtime and sit where you want)...

 

I've never been that lucky on X. If I didn't arrive WAY before the posted time for the show (which sometimes wasn't possible due to dining times), I ended up with lousy seats. It wasn't worse than on Carnival, but it wasn't substantially better, either...

[nps001]

Interesting...I never really thought about it until this posting. I don't recall not finding a seat on my Carnival cruise. I do recall that on X, we arrived for the shows just slightly before the start and had no issues finding seats. In fact, the seats we found were always up front, and one time we ended up sitting with the CD's wife, who recognized up from the Century a year earlier.

 

I would guess it all depends on the show, sailing, passengers, etc. and not so much on the cruise line.

[Minoushka]

Just got back from Celebrity Galaxy yesterday

WAs on Carnival mIracle at Xmas

 

DEcor -Carnival wins Miracle is a beautiful ship

Galaxy rather bland

 

Embarcation

 

Celebrity at 8pm was faster then normal wait

WE got champagne on both lines

 

With Carnival because my son was in a wheelchair -hip surgery etc etc

we zoomed right in right to our large balcony cabin which we loved !!!

 

Beds more comfy on Carnival

Cabin very squashed for 3 on Galaxy

AC the PITS ON Galaxy

 

Food MUCH MUCH BETTER ON CARNIVAL SAME old same old on Celebrity for breakfast and lunch

Dinner great on both lines

 

Itineraries both were GREAT!!!

SErvice excellent on both

 

Shows on Carnival better

 

Will do both again -CElebrity only if price were really good!!!

[woodofpine]

I was on Miracle (one of C.'s best ships) too. It had the finest bedding I've had on a ship. The cabin was great: I couldn't help but note the teak veranda deck as I looked over at Connies synthetic deck coat.

 

Miracle is a far more impressive interior architectural structure than the M-class which has no real atrium and claims a single straight staircase as a centerpiece ('big deal').

 

Coolcruiser did a good job of reminding that waffles and reheated pasta isn't culinary rocket science. My personal experience with X mid-tier shipboard managers is off putting (to put it nicely) but Carnival's maitre d' actually did some excellent proactive touble shooting and service...

 

A poster's knock about Carnival's pax being 'Greyhound' pax was a hoot (and inaccurate). X pax could be as readily chastigated for being Buick owners that pretend they're riding a Mercedes limo. I'd bashed Carnival once after a low season 3 day budgeter on the aging Fantasy. No more after Miracle.

 

After a string of four cruises on 4 lines (X, HAL, C, Princess) I agree the big ship lines are far more similar than dissimilar. To say otherwise, I really believe is making mountains out of molehills.

 

But while on Crown Princess a couple months ago, I thought of X... surprisingly in a "It's time to do X again" way. X strives for a very nice unhurried dining service style, and attentive service style generally that I like a lot (the line's hull maintenance and other issues aside), together with lower pax numbers, cloth refresher towels after port, and escorted embarkation... Yah - X does a very good job. It'll be interesting to see if X can maintain these distinctions with ever expanding ships and those pesky bean counters behind the scenes and unfortunately in the galley (as at all the bigs).

[nps001]

While I have always stated that decor is a personal taste, I just don't get your comment about the Grand Foyer.

 

I'd take a classy white onyx back lit staircase over a monstrosity of a old time Vegas decor anytime. The Miracle reminds me of a New Orleans Carnival float (no pun intended).

 

I do agree with you about the likeliness of many cruise ships. However, when it comes to decor, simple elegance beats out glaring ostentatiousness every time in my book!

[Drew B]

Personally, I feel the fact that they light up the stone stairway in the lobbies of M-Class ships makes it every bit as tacky as if the room were festooned with neon.

 

I find the decor on X in general to be somewhat drab with some really questionable art. The best things about the decor seem to occur in the strangest places. For example, the lighting design in the stairwells on Mercury...

 

Carnival, for better or for worse, has a much more vibrant and consistent visual personality on each ship. If you like it, it's great. If you hate it, it's awful.

[woodofpine]

NPS- With Carnival you have to be open minded, yah - it can be (it is) a bit garish. But Miracle has a 5+ deck atrium and a well appointed and positioned bar/lounge with entertainment on the floor with a high pizzazz specialty restaurant at the top under enormous skylight (with glassed elevators etc.) Sorry - a two deck marble staircase with a purser's desk at the bottom doesn't even begin to come close.... Miracle has some nice low key spots too, the interior bow walk around with large windows out to the waves being cut was good...

 

But - as ship 'art' goes, I've liked Celebs with nice photos on the normally barren cabin passageway walls... etc.

 

And the dining on X is VERY nice... comparing lines... I always wondered what prevented Princess from designing a two tier restaurant (like X and most others)...

 

Voting with stomach service I'll go X. But Carnival has some great ships, and some not so great...

[Sky Sweet]

While I prefer Celebrity when cruising with only adults, I think the Carnival Cruises out of New York are probably better for family reunions which include a lot of children.

 

I'd like to add to the above. There are a number of different reasons why my husband and I cruise.

 

A relaxing escape to the Caribbean from cold northeast winters

 

Travel oriented European Cruises

 

A romantic getaway for the two of us

 

Three generation cruises with our married children and grandchildren

 

Family reunions with our extended families

 

An opportunity to take a vacation with good friends

 

Therefore, Celebrity is desirable for some of our cruises, but not all of them. While condition of ship is not a big issue for some people, we chose Brilliance of the Seas instead of Celebrity's Galaxy for our upcoming Greek Isle Cruise because a ship's condition is important to us.

 

For family reunions that include a number of children, I think Carnival and Royal Caribbean are better than Celebrity.

 

For a romantic getaway, my husband and I are looking into a cruise line that is more upscale than Celebrity.

 

My point is that one cruise line is not intrinsically the best for people who take different cruises for different reasons.

[CathyCruises]

Egad! I don't consider myself to be a snob of any kind, but I have to say both versions are quite dreadful! I haven't been on C in years, but I can see nothing has changed and I certanly am not inspired to try again. Even worse than the suite was all the geegaws making it look like, well, "Carnival" in Rio or New Orleans--can you say g-a-u-d-y???

Thanks for posting and refrshing my memory!

 

Cathy

[Soccerfan]

Copied my post from the Carnival section.

 

We got off Celebrity Century yesterday. This was our first cruise with a line other than Carnival (8 cruises) so just wanted to put my 2 cents worth in :D

 

Red writing is another cc members comments :)

 

Embarkation:

Celebrity: We just walked in no lines, no waiting it was great. (we got there at 11:45am the ship didn’t sail till 10:00pm.) Was offered a glass of champagne or OJ when we got on board. This was the easiest boarding we ever had. Celebrity wins hands down.

 

Carnival: we have always waited in line and when you thought you were ready to board there would be another line it seemed.

Definately agree with this, sometimes our Embarkation with Carnival has been close to resembling a warehouse where everyone is herded in. Not a fun way to start the cruise. No stress with Celebrity here

 

The room:

Celebrity: While the rooms are smaller than Carnival, the mirrors on one wall made it seem larger and the décor was slightly better. The bathroom only had 2 sets of OK towels. :(

I agree with this as well, the Celebrity rooms appeared to be warm, cosy and inviting. I really liked them and did not miss the extra space as they were well designed. Carnival wins on the bathroom issue though, I didn't like the towels or the above counter small sink that was pretty useless except for brushing your teeth in. Washing your face resulted in water everywhere on Celebrity.

Carnival: much more storage and the beds are softer and more comfortable. Carnival gives you a big basket of shampoos, razors and lotions etc (never the same each time.) We always had 4 – 6 sets of nice white fluffy towels in the bathroom and the shampoo and body wash in the shower seemed to be better (just my opinion, the shampoo on Celebrity dried my hair out, I should have brought my own, always did but Carnivals was a good quality and worked well for me.)

Our Celebrity pillows were lumpy and the bedding wasn't that nice, give me Carnival here!

 

The food:

Both cruise lines are comparable with quality; Pizza on both lines is really excellent. Celebrity has homemade ice cream YUMM. Waffles are the best. And in the deli they have Potato chips. We did not find the spa restaurant I probably would have like it. The buffet was never crowded and we were always able to find a table. True

 

Carnival had soft serve that is available 24 hours a day. Carnival has a wider variety of food, there was always several different nationalities represented in their food. I like the WOK station where you can pick and choose your ingredients, sauces etc and they cook it for you. The Deli is much better also. We missed the warm rolls and bread at dinner time also.

We tried Muranos, the speciality restaurant on Celebrity Century. You could chose 1 starter, 1 Entree, some cheese and a dessert, BUT if you are prepared to pay $145 per person instead :eek: you will get a 5 or 6 course meal with a sample of wine at each course. We stuck with the peasant menu of $30 each. It was nice but not enough, Harry's on the Carnival Liberty puts Muranos to shame. A big point for Carnival, Celebrity should take a few lessons from Harry's here.

The dining room on the Century was very quiet and I found that I missed the personalization of the service, our waiter was professional but we never felt we knew him because of this.

 

Ambience of the Ship

Celebrity's ship was beautiful, very elegant and soothing. Carnival's decor is pretty loud. Depends what you like.

Celebrity was pretty quiet in general, this was nice depending on what you wanted.

 

I have to say that the ship's crew on the Century was always very very pleasant, so many times staff wished us a good cruise and welcomed us and it appeared genuine. Although Carnival has good staff for the most part Celebrity does take the award on superior customer service.

 

What I did not appreciate about Century;

 

- No irons! I was looking for a laundry room to do a quick iron over my dress before dinner, there was none. Had to be sent out to be pressed instead.

 

- Soda Card included a large insulated mug in the cost, this was great and Carnival should do the same but no Pineapple juice etc at the bar with a soda card. You had to pay.

 

- No water fountains on pool deck that I could locate.

 

- Beautiful bar aft ship on deck 11. Don't warn you about flying soot! My friend ended up with a black face and I found the the inside of my beach bag was black due to soot falling into it. Staff said sometimes that happens :eek:

 

My Biggest beef on Celebrity was not with the cruiseline or the staff but rather the arrogance and snottiness of some of the passengers, for example;

 

There was a medical emergency at sea the day before we arrived back into Miami. Not certain, but someone said a pregnant woman had an appendicitis and needed medical aid immediately. The Coast Guard was called and they flew in to airlift this passenger and a nurse off the ship. All the deck chairs on one side had to be pushed back from the pool area to the covered deck area for safety reasons due to high wind that would be caused by the helicopter. The people in the covered deck area on our side just sat there and wouldn't move their chair back to assist in what the staff were trying to achieve. They did not want to be disturbed even for a medical emergency! My friends lounger was put close to another lady's lounger and the woman lifted her leg and kicked the lounger out of the way. People would just not budge to help out in this situation.

 

When we were leaving the ship there was a major delay due to the Immigration computers going down resulting in people standing in line for well over an hour and for some even 2 hours. This caused back logs in the hall and elevator area. The elevators were near the doors, one young couple got off the elevator with their butler and proceeded to stay right there even though they were told many times that the line up was way behind us. They just blanked everyone. Some people just ignored the fact that other people had been waiting in line and they just cut in front of other people and ignored passengers comments.

 

 

Would I cruise Celebrity again? Yes, as overall it was a lovely cruise bar a few idiots, but that had nothing to do with Celebrity, these people came on with their nose up in the air and no class and left the same way.

I like this cruise for a romantic getaway just the 2 of us or maybe 1 other couple with us but;

 

Before I went on a Celebrity cruise I did not realize that the Dancing waiters are fun and really do add a party atmosphere to dinner:D , I missed the fun atmosphere of Carnival. We often go cruising with a large group and I'll stick with Carnival for this aspect. I found the entertainment on Carnival better than Celebrity especially the singers on the pool deck during the day, the Celebrity ones were fine as long as they kept the entertainment as instrumental only and did not try to sing, they were so off key it was embarrasing.

 

Both are great cruise lines for different reasons. Enjoy

[reefexplorer]

Hi, I posted this thread on both Celebrity and Carnival websites and the responses are different you may want to read the Carnival website it is really interesting

 

Linda

[southerncruiser934]

I have just returned from my 13th cruise on Carnival Cruise Lines and I have to honestly say this line is going downhill fast. I have cruised with Carnival for 20 years so I have seen many improvements over the course of the past 7 or 8 years. But my last two cruises with Carnival have been so disappointing that my husband and I have decided it is time to "jump ship." We are VIP members, however our cruise began with an embarkation nightmare and ended up being a 7-day cruise that we thought would never end. We have rarely been on a cruise when we were happy it was over! We boarded the Carnival Pride in Baltimore for a 7-day cruise to the Bahamas. Carnival is very good about escorting VIP members to a private lounge to check-in, however their computer was down in the VIP lounge so we waited for 45 minutes while a gentleman and his two very young sons were also waiting to check-in. The regular check-in line was having no issues so we would have been better off checking in at the regular counter except that our Sail & Sign card and other documents were in a shoebox on the desk of the VIP agent. As we waited, a family with three more children showed up, the littlest one screaming his head off. (As it turned out we were serenaded by this little screamer for the entire cruise). When we got to our balcony cabin we found it in very bad condition, with chipped paint, very small and with very few hangers. The smoke on this ship wafted through every public area of the ship. When we complained we were told that the ship was built for travel through the Panama Canal, so it was narrow and the public areas were low in the ship (so why is this ship being used to sail to the Caribbean?). The "Captain's Party" consisted of $1 off regular price drinks and no hors d'hoevres. There were kids everywhere and the dress code in the only dining room onboard was not enforced. David's, the "upscale" supper club had a spiral staircase that led to the lido deck buffet, so the noise from the people, plates clanging, and kids crying below could be heard. Maybe I'm just getting old and it's time to upgrade. I have also cruised on Royal Caribbean and Norwegian so I have something to compare with Carnival. Carnival has gone back to the days of cheap cruising with loud, obnoxious people who don't manage their kids. Some of the crew have such thick accents you can't understand them. The evening menu in the dining room seemed to have the same entrees several times during the cruise. The entree selections on the buffet in the Lido Deck never changed the entire week.

 

It was apparent everywhere that Carnival is cutting cost and nickel and diming their customers to death. Activities on the ship, with the exception of evening entertainment, involved some kind of gimic designed to get people to buy something extra.

 

Recently while trying to book our 3rd Mediterranean cruise, this time on the Carnival Magic, we were told that our "guarantee" balcony cabin category could put us in a "Cove" balcony (buyers beware), a much lower category than we have previous gotten with a guaranteed balcony cabin. When we attempted to book a specific cabin (which Carnival recommended) we were told by a Carnival agent that Carnival reserves the right to move us if they can fit more people in our cabin. I was mortified, and no one at Carnival seemed to care that we were unhappy. We ended up deciding we will not sail on Carnival, especially not on a 12-night cruise in the Mediterranean again.

 

I have been reading the posts about Celebrity cruises and I believe we will try Celebrity next time. I know there are thousands of posts from happy Carnival cruisers, so I think you have to pick a cruise line according to the clientele it attracts. Families with kids, college kids, and 20-somethings would probably enjoy Carnival and not pay attention to the details my husband and I appreciate.

[Casino Player]

This was our first cruise with Celebrity, after looking on these boards (back in Aug) I almost decided I didn’t want to go. There were several postings on how great Celebrity was and how awful all the other lines were. I noticed most of these posters hadn’t even tried the some of the cruise lines that they were cutting down. I wasn’t sure if I could put my nose up in the air as high as theirs (LOL) and didn’t know if I was really interested in taking vacations with a bunch of snobs. :eek:But I can honestly say that I am glad we took this cruise. We had a wonderful time, met some really great people and the ship was really nice.

 

HHHHHEEEEELLLLLLLLLLOOOOO reefexplorer: I sail on both lines (Carnival and Celebrity) and I do like them both although they give you a different cruise experience. Don't like all cruise lines though. RCCL and NCL gave my wife and I far inferior cruises than did Carnival and Celebrity. I would not hesitate to go with either line if they had a cruise I was interested in.

We are trying a line we never sailed with before this year. Next year, we are going on a Celebrity voyage.

[LOP]

Hi, I posted this thread on both Celebrity and Carnival websites and the responses are different you may want to read the Carnival website it is really interesting

 

Linda

 

 

Couldn't find it on Carnival site...can you post a link here?

[klingoncruiser]

Nice summary. I have always found Celebrity food to be much better than any of the other lines. However food is just subjective. I must admit that something must have changed on Carnivore. Their buffet is about the worst I have seen. (excluding Pizza). I have been on both lines several times and really do prefer Celebrity. But if the ports are right, I would go on Carnival again.

[boxkite]

At the risk that too much has already been said, here are my thoughts. Note that we have not yet sailed on Celebrity but will do so this summer on the Solstice (I've done much research on Celebrity over the past six months). We have sailed on Carnival two times and RCCL once.

 

* Carnival has great cold soups

* Carnival's melting chocolate cake is the best, our whole family loved it!

* Nice having soft serve ice cream 24 hours a day on Carnival.

* Great pizza available around the clock - don't see any you like, ask and they will make one for you.

* Carnival's deli is open late until either midnight or 1:00 AM I think.

 

Carnival sounding pretty good? Then why do we cruise RCCL and now Celebrity?

 

In a word, SERVICE. My wife and I both felt the service on Carnival could be better, much better.

 

First is the language barrier, it was just very difficult for us to understand our wait staff and cabin service staff. While we all understand that most cruise service people do not speak English as their first language, it is my understanding that many cruise lines work with their service personnel to improve their English. I’m not sure what Carnival does, but many of the service staff on our three Carnival cruises could have used some help with their English.

 

Second our head waiter could use some sensitivity training. The next to last day of the cruise we learned that our dog had died. When my wife explained to our head waiter why we were sad, he made a joke along the lines of “what, did a Pit Bull kill your dog? Luckily I was away from the dinner room table at the time the waiter told the joke or there would no telling what I would have done.

 

Third we had two cabins and the level of service was uneven between the two. Different cabin attendants were responsible for each and it was difficult to find them and communicate with them when the need arise to do so.

 

We sailed on RCCL last summer and found the service to be much better. It was much easier to communicate with service personnel and they were always happy to help when asked.

 

We look forward to sailing with Celebrity this summer and have high expectations that the service will be outstanding.

 

Let me end by saying that Carnival does have a very good product and has many things going for it. If Carnival brings one of their newer ships to Galveston, who knows we may try it again!

[Laurab23]

This was our first cruise with Celebrity, after looking on these boards (back in Aug) I almost decided I didn’t want to go. There were several postings on how great Celebrity was and how awful all the other lines were. I noticed most of these posters hadn’t even tried the some of the cruise lines that they were cutting down. I wasn’t sure if I could put my nose up in the air as high as theirs (LOL) and didn’t know if I was really interested in taking vacations with a bunch of snobs. :eek:But I can honestly say that I am glad we took this cruise. We had a wonderful time, met some really great people and the ship was really nice.

 

HHHHHEEEEELLLLLLLLLLOOOOO reefexplorer: I sail on both lines (Carnival and Celebrity) and I do like them both although they give you a different cruise experience. Don't like all cruise lines though. RCCL and NCL gave my wife and I far inferior cruises than did Carnival and Celebrity. I would not hesitate to go with either line if they had a cruise I was interested in.

We are trying a line we never sailed with before this year. Next year, we are going on a Celebrity voyage.

 

Hello CasinoPlayer.We were on the Carnival Dream with you.We really enjoyed that cruise.Looking at Silhouette but wow,the prices seem a little high.Hoping that Carnival Magic does a couple of cruises from NYC like the Dream did.Maybe we'll meet up with you again sometime.

 

Laura

[scottcruises]

Linda,

Your opinion and comparison is valued.

What is always interesting to me is how different people value different things and how our individual perceptions are often colored by our different experiences and standards.

 

Let me say that I do not believe that I am a snob...I have been on over 20+ cruises (most of which are noted in my board signature)...And I've cruised on seven different cruise lines...But I do prefer Celebrity...And I doubt I will ever cruise with Carnival again...

 

A lot of that comes from my recent experience of having cruised Royal Caribbean and Carnival in back-to-back weeks. Whereas you may have been comparing your recent sailing on Celebrity to more distant pleasant memories of Carnival cruises, I had the vantage of experiencing two cruise lines in an almost direct comparison.

 

Though you mention embarkation, debarkation, food, cabin and ambience, I think there are some very important aspects you missed. Perhaps they are less important to you or you just didn't pay attention to the same things I pay attention to.

 

Let me also say that there are some things Carnival does do well. Though, IMHO, their food is far short of Celebrity, I will say that it is surprisingly good. Carnival has improved in theis regard drastically over the years. The service, which I'll get into in a moment, is not even close.

 

You mention the entertainment as being "excellent" on both...I would refute that. Viewed in a vacuum, one might think so...It's hard not to enjoy oneslf while being entertained. But, having viewed RCCL entertainment and Carnival entertainment back-to-back, it's really easy to quantify where Carnival falls short. First, the good: Carnival's comedians on our ship were excellent. That's where the excellence stops. Royal Caribbean's production shows were outstanding (as they are on it's sister line, Celebrity)...FOUR singers rotating with multiple costume changes and a bit of variety. Carnival cut corners, using only TWO singers...which also meant they could not rotate off for costume changes or for rests...So, the quality suffered greatly. To make matters worse, Carnival relied heavily on TAPED back-up vocals. Clearly inferior shows. Past this, the two non-comedy, non-production shows on Carnival included an incredibly tacky "hypnotisty show", where the guest hypnotist shilled constantly for his diet and quit smoking DVDs...and a "Guest performer" show where the guest performer was merely a former Carnival production show singer.

 

Now, back to service:

 

The first thing we do onboard EVERY cruise is to hit the buffet for embarkation day lunch...We couldn't help but notice this difference between Celebrity, RCCL and Carnival. On Celebrity, a crew member will greet you at the end of th line and carry your tray for you to an open table, then ask if there is anything else he can get you--beverages, forgotten silverware, condiments, etc. On RCCL, once you find your table, a crew member is right there to ask you what else he can get you. On Carnival, you need to search ard for a table in the overcrowded buffet, likely find one that hasn't even been cleared or wiped off, then leave your food and go back out again to find the drink station etc. Absolutely no help or service in the buffet area...

 

As to Dining Room service, we counted--the number of tables served by our waiter and our assistant waiter...Each waiter on Carnival was serving, at a minimum 1.5 times the number of people per seating as were the waiters on RCCL...and they seemed to be sharing the same assistant waiter with two waiters! The effect on service was that service was always rushed, things were forgotten...Often our appetizers and soup or salad and sometimes the main entree all arrived at the same time. Either due to the rush...or the fact that the dining room was so crowded, the waiter never followed the "rules" of which side to serve or remove from...We even saw our waiter, when serving the table across the aisle from us, handing a plate to someone and telling them to "pass" it to someone else!! I don't even have the time to enumerate the large numbers of service faux pas we noticed...Of course, I am also aware this isn't important to some people and they'd likely never notice it...And some might call me a "snob" for making it an issue...but trust me, I am not a snob...I just think that the "elegance" factor on a cruise is an important part of service...I also will tell you that on Celebrity, RCCL, Princess or Oceania, I virtually never have to even ask for refills on my iced tea...On Carnival, I'd often have to ask...and then ask again...

 

The cabin size on Carnival...and the storage space in the cabin was, as the OP noted, ample...I have no real complaints on the cabin--other than the day-glo orange vinyl decor...I don't think the cabin was appreciably larger than the same category cabin on the newer RCCL or M-Class "X" ships though...

 

The Carnival ship, itself, however, was laid out poorly, walkways were insufficiently narrow...and, the most notable thing was the overcrowding...The space-per-passenger ratios (we were on Carnival Liberty) were outrageous compared to the RCCL Liberty of the Seas...and those ratios pale compared to the Celebrity M-Class...When you add to that that "X" passengers and even RCCL passengers tend to be more 2 to the cabin, putting kids in their own cabins, etc., we didn't seem to meet a single Carnival passenger who did this...So all of those many "quads" on Carnival had four passengers in them. Carnival customers seem to want to cruise them for the bargain prices...and want to get the most for their money...So, basically, throw whatever is listed as "full double occupancy" out the window...There are about one and a half times as many passengers jammed onto each Carnival ship...

 

What goes along with that is that there are lines and crowds for everything...Forget waiting for a few pieces of sushi at the Carnival sushi counter...The shows? Prepare to show up an hour ahead of time for a reasonable seat (getting a seat at an "X" show is simple--show up a few minutes before showtime and sit where you want)...Carnival did cut down on my drinking--hard to get a bar waiter in the showroom...Why? I don't know...they seemed to hawk incessantly every other profit area like no one else...

 

The payoff with Carnival is that their cruises, for the most part (not always the case) tend to cost a few dollars less...

 

But, after 20+ cruises, I've decided it's well worth paying a little more for service, elegance, roominess, less stress, etc.

 

I've done three Carnival cruises now...But I doubt I will ever do another...

 

Just sailed on the Magic with what I think they said was the most kids they've ever had on a ship ~1600.

 

No real lines, no real crowds, no problems of any type. The difference in price between the two lines you've mentioned for the same cabin and decks was in the thousands.

 

It's all about what you value and what interests you. I would never set foot on a cruise ship and expect to see, nor want to see a high quality show. That's why we have Broadway and NYC. I do expect food, drink, warm weather and sun. Everyone is different, but you are over simplifying things if you believe it comes down to just money. I could care less about shows, we go to the cities for that and they blow away anything on any ship at sea.

 

EDIT: I have no idea how this was appearing as the first post on the site which is why I responded, I just saw the dates and realized this thread is two years old. Would delete the post if I could.

Edited January 6, 2012 by scottcruises

[CathyCruises]

On Celebrity, a crew member will greet you at the end of th line and carry your tray for you to an open table, then ask if there is anything else he can get you--beverages, forgotten silverware, condiments, etc. On RCCL, once you find your table, a crew member is right there to ask you what else he can get you. On Carnival, you need to search ard for a table in the overcrowded buffet, likely find one that hasn't even been cleared or wiped off, then leave your food and go back out again to find the drink station etc. Absolutely no help or service in the buffet area...

 

 

Well, since it's been revisited, I just want to say that on our most recent X cruise, the above description of service does not exist at all--they have followed the Carnival example. No trays, no help unless you are obviously in need (in a wheelchair, on crutches, etc.) and no help at all from staff with drinks, condiments etc. I'm not complaining, just stating a fact.

[PROCRUISE]

We like Carnival, we like Celebrity (leaving next week on The Constellation), we like Holland America, and I bet we like Princess, which we're cruising with for the first time in February. We haven't found any perfect cruise line yet nor have we found one that we'd never consider again, although NCL came close. We just enjoy cruising period. So let's hear it for all the cruise lines who give us good value and great vacations, period! Not sure why this 2 year old message is up and running, but my comment remains still good even in 2012.

Edited January 7, 2012 by PROCRUISE

[cruise pup]

I love cruises so I'm very open minded when it comes to cruise lines. They all have their advantages and disadvantages. But I travel solo and that means I'm at the mercy of the cruise lines offering a good fare to begin with and then some sort of break on the standard 200% single supplement. Throughout the years, the cruise line which offers the best deals for solos has changed. Last century NCL had great solo rates at a time when RCCL wouldn't give solos the time of day (my t/a called to get solo rates for 1 cruise and was told there weren't any). At the moment RCCL and Celebrity seem to be giving both great special rates on cruises and breaks on the single supplement whereas Carnival seems to be charging the most (Two years ago I took a Carnival Miracle cruise during Memorial Day. The 8 night cruise cost me $800. I priced the same cruise for this coming Memorial Day and it's $1,000. more to sail solo in the same category). Would I pay extra to sail Carnival instead of Celebrity? Only if the Carnival cruise was a theme cruise and I'd get thrown off these boards for naming that theme. ;). But seriously, it's working out fine for me when I can sail on Celebrity in a cabin all to myself for under $85. per day. So Carnival can go ahead with their master plan. I own Carnival stock and if that's what it takes for them to make money I'm okay with that and will use the shareholder benefit for cruises on Princess.

[thejman]

 

The first thing we do onboard EVERY cruise is to hit the buffet for embarkation day lunch...We couldn't help but notice this difference between Celebrity, RCCL and Carnival. On Celebrity, a crew member will greet you at the end of th line and carry your tray for you to an open table, then ask if there is anything else he can get you--beverages, forgotten silverware, condiments, etc. On RCCL, once you find your table, a crew member is right there to ask you what else he can get you. On Carnival, you need to search ard for a table in the overcrowded buffet, likely find one that hasn't even been cleared or wiped off, then leave your food and go back out again to find the drink station etc. Absolutely no help or service in the buffet area...

Say what? Not once on my 15 night Infinity cruise last month did a crew member carry any passengers buffet tray, much less offer to get drinks and condiments! What am I missing?

[scottwdieterle]

This was our first cruise with Celebrity, after looking on these boards (back in Aug) I almost decided I didn’t want to go. There were several postings on how great Celebrity was and how awful all the other lines were. I noticed most of these posters hadn’t even tried the some of the cruise lines that they were cutting down. I wasn’t sure if I could put my nose up in the air as high as theirs (LOL) and didn’t know if I was really interested in taking vacations with a bunch of snobs. :eek:But I can honestly say that I am glad we took this cruise. We had a wonderful time, met some really great people and the ship was really nice.

 

HHHHHEEEEELLLLLLLLLLOOOOO reefexplorer: I sail on both lines (Carnival and Celebrity) and I do like them both although they give you a different cruise experience. Don't like all cruise lines though. RCCL and NCL gave my wife and I far inferior cruises than did Carnival and Celebrity. I would not hesitate to go with either line if they had a cruise I was interested in.

We are trying a line we never sailed with before this year. Next year, we are going on a Celebrity voyage.

 

Can you help me out here with some additional information? I am looking at doing a celebrity and I only have done carnival and I like to gamble as well! I have some more questions! How are the table limits at blackjack on Celebrity?

[MarKay525]

 

Can you help me out here with some additional information? I am looking at doing a celebrity and I only have done carnival and I like to gamble as well! I have some more questions! How are the table limits at blackjack on Celebrity?

 

Hi - since this is a four year old thread and your question deals more specifically with Celebrity's table limits, you may want to start a new thread with a subject specific to your question - you might get better responses.

 

Good luck in the casino.

[rumpelstiltskin]

I prefer X over Carnival.

 

The last Carnival cruise taken was 4 yrs ago.

 

The MDR fare was OK, but the buffet at dinner time was awful.

 

The clientele isn't much different than on other cruise lines. Our tablemates were all very pleasant as usual.

 

And that cruise had the best Passenger Talent Show I've ever seen. The contestants were all very good, it was hard to choose who should win First Place.

 

I think the food on X is better. Ate in the buffet once on the most recent cruise. Had roast turkey, & it was as good as Thanksgiving dinner.

 

Also like the X Solstice Class ships better than the Carnival ships. But that is just my preference.