Royal Caribbean cruiser tries Carnival-- How do they Compare

[kirchubel]

:cool: Hey...

 

My hubby & I are relative novices at cruising. In 1997 we took a 3-day cruise on Viking Seranade from LA to Ensenada & in 2005 we took a 4-day family reunion cruise from LA to Ensenada on Monarch of the Seas. Both are Royal Caribbean ships. My husband got seasick, but then took some meds RC handed out and was fine. I took the meds right away & never got sick.

 

Both times -- due to budgetary constraints -- we booked cruises in the winter. On the first Cruise, we had pretty rough water (in mid-Feb.) On the second, it was so rough (in December) that we couldn't even take our scheduled stop on Catalina island b/c the tenders wouldn't have been able to take us to shore. I was bummed!

 

I took the meds they handed out, just like I had earlier, but this time I felt depressed and moody. I stopped taking the medication and perked up a bit - and didn't feel very sick. Some of the folks we were traveling with got VERY seasick on the day at sea.

 

Both times my husband & I stayed in inside cabins on the lowest deck.

 

NOW I'm trying it again...the eternal optimist.

 

This time we're taking a 7-day cruise in March on Carnival Legend. I'm PRAYING we don't get seasick. I'm hoping the water will be calmer. We also have an outside cabin this time but we're still on the bottom deck b/c the woman who helped us book told us those decks feel the motion less than higher decks.

 

Question: Any hints on medication to bring (I know that Carnival doesn't provide it.)

 

Also, anyone want to compare RCI to CCL for me? Thoughts?

 

 

[Kurbanfan]

You can't even compare the Viking Serenade and Monarch to the Legend. Nothing to do with cruise lines, the ships are just not comparable.

I don't think you will be disappointed on the Legend. Go and have a great cruise!!!

[pkrchkr]

:cool: Hey...

 

My hubby & I are relative novices at cruising. In 1997 we took a 3-day cruise on Viking Seranade from LA to Ensenada & in 2005 we took a 4-day family reunion cruise from LA to Ensenada on Monarch of the Seas. Both are Royal Caribbean ships. My husband got seasick, but then took some meds RC handed out and was fine. I took the meds right away & never got sick.

 

Both times -- due to budgetary constraints -- we booked cruises in the winter. On the first Cruise, we had pretty rough water (in mid-Feb.) On the second, it was so rough (in December) that we couldn't even take our scheduled stop on Catalina island b/c the tenders wouldn't have been able to take us to shore. I was bummed!

 

I took the meds they handed out, just like I had earlier, but this time I felt depressed and moody. I stopped taking the medication and perked up a bit - and didn't feel very sick. Some of the folks we were traveling with got VERY seasick on the day at sea.

 

Both times my husband & I stayed in inside cabins on the lowest deck.

 

NOW I'm trying it again...the eternal optimist.

 

This time we're taking a 7-day cruise in March on Carnival Legend. I'm PRAYING we don't get seasick. I'm hoping the water will be calmer. We also have an outside cabin this time but we're still on the bottom deck b/c the woman who helped us book told us those decks feel the motion less than higher decks.

 

Question: Any hints on medication to bring (I know that Carnival doesn't provide it.)

 

Also, anyone want to compare RCI to CCL for me? Thoughts?

 

 

We did RCCL and are now Carnival krazy.We loved the VOS to Alaska but we tride the smoke free Paradise( not any more:mad: ) and the the Carnival Spirit and now the Pride.There is some differences but most of them are trivial.The Legend is a good size ship and I can tell you the Paradise was as small as the VOS and I never got sick.The Spirit class ship are large and have great stabilizers:) . If you have a problem get the gravol going ASAP.Or use what ever works for you.Relax try a Carnival cruise and see what you think Don't forget to leave a review and if all else fails and you just don't enjoy your time on the Legend go back to RCCL but don't close the door on another Carnival cruise later

Regards from Canada

[mom2girls]

I'm pretty sure you'll LOVE the Legend. If you're interested I have a link to the review of my June 8th sailing in my signature. There are pictures in the review.

[dutchiegirl6]

If you're worried about sea-sickness, try taking a Bonine or Dramamene (non-drowsy formula) at night. For my first cruise I was worried about getting sea sick and took one at night before I got on the ship the next day. I took one every night before bed (just in case it did cause drowsiness, i would be asleep anyway). I never got seasick.

 

On my second cruise I only took one dramamene the night before I got on the ship just to have it in my system and I didn't take another one the rest of the cruise. The ships have nice stabilizers and even during 'rough' seas it wasn't that bad. My first cruise was on the Miracle which is a sister ship to Legend. I really loved the layout. We were also in oceanview rooms on the riviera deck. Could barely feel the motion at all!

[hevuk]

Carnival do provide free sea sickness meds.Just go to either the pursers deck or infirmary.I personally got them myself on the Legend{not for seasickness but a tooth abcess i had}and they worked fine.

You,ll love the Legend,its a great ship.I am so jealous!!!:(

[KatSt]

I haven't been on the Legend, but I've been on all her sister ships, the Spirit, Pride and Miracle. They are all great ships. You will have a wonderful time.

 

By the way, Carnival does give out medication for sea sickness if you ask at the Pursers desk.

 

I always take Bonine. I start the day of the cruise before we leave port and then take 2 pills every day. It works beautifully.

[bonnys]

I use the prescription patch and have never had any problems. My sister went with us last time and didn't take anything and got sick. About an hour after she used a patch she was fine from then on.

[Cotton]

Hi Kirchubel. Welcome to Carnival. I think you will find many more similiarities than differences in the two lines. The service and activities are pretty much the same, w/Carnival being a bit more hokey, but really ok.

 

I prefer Carnival for the 'best bang for the buck', and it doesn't hurt that they have larger cabins, and much better cuisine.

 

As far as seasickness, this is what I do: I take one Bonine about an hour before boarding the ship, and one every night just before going to sleep. Works well for me. I tried the 'patch' once, and hallucinated; elephants on deck, etc.:rolleyes:

 

If you DO get seasick, go to the frontmost part of the ship you can, look straight out at the horizon, not down at the water. Let the cool breeze hit you in the face for a few minutes. The worst thing you can do is go to your cabin to lie down. Big no-no. (An old sea captain uncle of mine gave me these hints years ago.)

 

I hope y'all enjoy your Carnival cruise.:)

[mek]

We were on the Viking Serenade in 1991 and loved the ship, the food, and the service - RCCL was really a great line back then, even though that particular ship was a converted ferry/liner. Since then we have been on four more RCCL cruises and have experienced varying degrees of satisfaction. The biggest problem I have is with the food. The ships are beautiful and activities unique. Still, I prefer Carnival over RCCL even though I don't care for some of the decor on Carnival. Better food, larger cabins, better prices have kept coming back to Carnival and away from RCCL. Just remember, its all what you prefer and the only way to find out if you like Carnival is to try it once and go from there. Good luck with your cruise.

[DreadPirateRobert]

I've only done one RCCL. it was ok but nothing special. Carnival has everything I'm looking for so for the most part I'll stick with them. Nothing wrong with RCCL but Carnival maintains 2 ships 3.5 hours from my home. RCCL has one ship part time.

 

As far as seasickness goes I rarely have problems, just lucky I guess. I have used the wristbands, maybe they work maybe it's placebo effect. Buy them at a drugstore before you leave. They are 3x the cost once you get on the ship.

 

I hope you have a wonderful trip.

[glrounds]

As another poster stated, there is no comparison when you take the older 3 and 4 dayers and compare them with the Spirit-classed, LEGEND. Incidentally, my favorite class of Carnival ship.

 

Larger ship than the RCCL ships, cruising the Caribbean (much calmer than the Pacific along California's coast), should be much smoooooooooooother. :D

[hawkfanI]

It's humorous that if you posed the same question on the RCCL board you would get a completely opposite answer! I can't offer an opinion on either because we've only sailed on Celebrity and Princess. We chose the IOS because the ship itself is a destination and being the parent company of Celebrity it was somewhat expected that service and quality would be similar. My parents leave tomorrow on Spirit for an Alaskan cruise, I'll look forward to their reviews of the ship, service & quality.

[letsgocruz1]

Hi Kirchubel. Welcome to Carnival. I think you will find many more similiarities than differences in the two lines. The service and activities are pretty much the same, w/Carnival being a bit more hokey, but really ok.

 

I prefer Carnival for the 'best bang for the buck', and it doesn't hurt that they have larger cabins, and much better cuisine.

 

As far as seasickness, this is what I do: I take one Bonine about an hour before boarding the ship, and one every night just before going to sleep. Works well for me. I tried the 'patch' once, and hallucinated; elephants on deck, etc.:rolleyes:

 

If you DO get seasick, go to the frontmost part of the ship you can, look straight out at the horizon, not down at the water. Let the cool breeze hit you in the face for a few minutes. The worst thing you can do is go to your cabin to lie down. Big no-no. (An old sea captain uncle of mine gave me these hints years ago.)

 

I hope y'all enjoy your Carnival cruise.:)

 

Cotton, I had to LOL about your patch experience. Elephants on deck :D that's so funny. While I didn't have hallucinations, I did have the strange side effect of amnesia! I'm not kidding, I wore it on my Liberty cruise and cannot even remember the day we went to Freeport. (and that was my Birthday!) I remember thinking that the water looked pretty, and that the cab ride felt long. Other than that, nada. My BFF is a pharmacist and says that while it's rare, it can happen. (that, and it made my eyes so red that I looked evil!)

 

So rest assured you're not the only one the patch didn't agree with. I agree, Bonine is the way to go. Works great and no drowsiness.

[rimau]

People react to seasickness differently. I lie down and feel much better. Ginger pills have been recommended and I think I will try them for our next cruise. Bonine works fine for me but leaves my mouth dry.

[boyma4]

Just returned from my first RCCL cruise and Carnival won hands down, however, the RCCL cruise was just a 3 day so I won't say that I won't sail RCCL again until I've tried a longer cruise. Carnival had better food, bigger rooms, and service was superior. I was surprised because I've always been told that RCCL was better and that is why the cost is generally more. Didn't find this to be the case for me at least this time.

[teacher2cruiser]

We've sailed twice once in March on RCL and second on NCL in January. The weather and the rocking of the ship in January was really rough. People were sick everywhere on that boat. I agree that being in the cabin was the WORST place for feeling whoozy. We never got sick, though. We take ginger pills about 3 days before sailing and then one each morning of cruise plus one Bonine every night before bed. It must work, because on that last cruise, when so many people were sick, we weren't. The cruise we took in March on RCL had no rocking of the boat and it was wonderful. I'm going to be new to Carnival in March too (the Glory) so I can't make a comparison there.

[missabbi]

I was on NCL's Dawn in between two hurricanes coming and going. We missed two ports and the shipped rocked so much you could hardly walk a straight line. Ex-husband and I had a good time though....we wore out a deck of cards playing gin rummy.

 

Take bonine for the sea sickness....it works great.

[dragonflymy2000]

a few things....the water in the pacific is much much more choppy in the winter than the atlantic (i have done both in winter) last time i needed meds (march/pacific) carnival was able to give me something which worked fine but i did sleep alot.....i have been on sovereign of the seas and the legend and you will have an awesome time of Legend, its a great ship

[kirchubel]

I'm very excited now that I've read everyone's responses. I didn't know that you could take Bonine the night before, and that makes sense, thanks! I'll also stash away some ginger pills in case the Bonine makes me crabby again. I want to thank everyone for their advice & good wishes. I'm a daily visitor to these boards and learn SO MUCH from you all! You guys rock! :o

[kristyintx]

I started taking 1/2 Bonine two nights before our cruise last week, and then I took 1/2 before bed the first two nights of the cruise. Now I know it's supposed to be the "less drowsy" formula and I only took 1/2 but it still made me feel a little out of it during the day. So I stopped taking it after the 2nd night.

 

I also took Ginger tablets two-three times a day, just to be on the safe side. I continued this throughout the cruise.

 

I never had any problems at all, even when we were on a smaller boat in Grand Cayman that was rocking all over the place and people were hanging their heads off the railing losing their breakfast. No problems for me!

 

Good luck and have fun!

[kirchubel]

I'm pretty sure you'll LOVE the Legend. If you're interested I have a link to the review of my June 8th sailing in my signature. There are pictures in the review.

 

 

I had a wonderful time reading it. I have also sent a link to our friends who are going with us on the Legend - it is their first cruise and I know they will be interested in reading everything. Thank you SO MUCH!

[alfngf]

:cool: Hey...

 

My hubby & I are relative novices at cruising. In 1997 we took a 3-day cruise on Viking Seranade from LA to Ensenada & in 2005 we took a 4-day family reunion cruise from LA to Ensenada on Monarch of the Seas. Both are Royal Caribbean ships. My husband got seasick, but then took some meds RC handed out and was fine. I took the meds right away & never got sick.

 

Both times -- due to budgetary constraints -- we booked cruises in the winter. On the first Cruise, we had pretty rough water (in mid-Feb.) On the second, it was so rough (in December) that we couldn't even take our scheduled stop on Catalina island b/c the tenders wouldn't have been able to take us to shore. I was bummed!

 

I took the meds they handed out, just like I had earlier, but this time I felt depressed and moody. I stopped taking the medication and perked up a bit - and didn't feel very sick. Some of the folks we were traveling with got VERY seasick on the day at sea.

 

Both times my husband & I stayed in inside cabins on the lowest deck.

 

NOW I'm trying it again...the eternal optimist.

 

This time we're taking a 7-day cruise in March on Carnival Legend. I'm PRAYING we don't get seasick. I'm hoping the water will be calmer. We also have an outside cabin this time but we're still on the bottom deck b/c the woman who helped us book told us those decks feel the motion less than higher decks.

 

Question: Any hints on medication to bring (I know that Carnival doesn't provide it.)

 

Also, anyone want to compare RCI to CCL for me? Thoughts?

 

 

 

We just returned for the Legend and LOVED it, its a great ship. I never felt any movement until we left Cozumel and that night it was swaying a bit, nothing bad that made anyone sick just more motion. To me I feel more on the lower decks than I do the upper decks but maybe its just me? My dh gets seasick and we took some ginger pills with us and he took those, he said he still felt a little but never got sick. He went to the pursers desk and got dramamine so Carnival does supply it. He never had any side effects from it at all. They gave it to him everyday he went and asked for it without any issues at all.

 

I've sailed twice with RC and just the once with Carnival. I noticed differences between the two but nothing that would make me not choose one or the other again. Well maybe except for the prices.

[poobears]

I was worried about sea sickness because I get car sick very easy. I took bonine about 2 hours before boarding on day one and that was it. Never needed any more even though it was rough a couple of days.

 

On our excursion I took my sea bands just in case since we were going in a speed boat. I'm so glad I did, a few minutes in I knew I wasn't going to make it LOL Grabbed out my sea bands and within a minute or so I was good as new.

 

For me seabands work better than any meds on the market. They are almost instant relief and it lasts until I remove them with no side effects. Other than the fact they aren't that pretty :D

[msbr]

Once upon a time, I would have said RCI hands down. Our last cruise on CCL's Miracle changed that opinion. We could not have asked for a better cruise, staff or ship.

I have come to believe that the cruise is going to be what you make of it. There will always be great crews on each cruise line just as each cruise line will on occasion have a less than perfect team.

Once upon a time, RCIs meals were far superior, imho. However, after last year, our meals we fabulous compared to the meals and service we had on RCIs Jewel in 2006.