Mariner or Carnival Glory?

[JAKcruiser]

My husband and I (both in our early 40's), along with our 12 year-old son, are trying to decide between the Mariner or the Carnival Glory for the Eastern route on the 10/26/08 sailing.

 

The Mariner will cost us $1,000 more. We know the Mariner has the skating rink and the rock climbing wall, but besides that, is it worth the huge difference in price? Is there much of a difference in the kid's club?

 

Thanks!

[Lionesss]

Having recently returning from the Mariner, and never sailing the Glory, I can only give but high praises for the Mariner.

We have a 13 1/2 year old daughter. We never saw her. As I posted on another thread, I wish I would have taken a picture of her to remember her by. (Just kidding).

The kids activities are ongoing,and they post a daily kids compass in your room the day before.

The crafts, swims, skating, pizza parties, movies and planned activities kept them quite busy for their age group. Our daughter met so many new friends before we sailed on our thread, and met many more on board.

They were kept too busy to get into trouble.

I Will definitely sail RCI again because of all the planned activities.

Later

[DonnaK]

Yes, Mariner is worth every penny more than Carnival! Service is just one area where we felt Carnival fell way short as compared to RCI. The size of the ship compared to the number of people onboard (passenger to space ratio) is more favorable on Mariner, so even though it holds more people, it seems less crowded.

 

For tweens and teens, RCI has a much better, well-attended program. My teens were bored on Carnival, whining to go home.

[silentbob007]

I've sailed both Glory and Mariner-sister ships ... personally I wouldn't spend $1,000 more for Mariner, but that comes down to how much that amount of money affects your finances. I traveled with my 10-year old niece on the Glory and she always had plenty to do, even without the ice rink, etc.

[Inshape]

Too bad you did not take advantage of all the things others do to get the costs of the RCI cruise down a bit. First is to get a RCI visa and they give you 10,000 points right off the bat. That gives you 100$ OBC. Then you book your cruise with it, and when booking RCI on the visa you get double points, so that has to be at least another 5000 points that add up.That is another 50$ waiting for you on the ship. Then I book with a TA that gives me back some OBC as a thank you for booking with her. All of that adds up.

If you do book on RCI always get a future booking certificate for any future cruise. That gives you an additional 100$ obc per cabin booked. This all adds up to make it a no brainer between CCL and RCI. But that said, it is not going to happen for you so you and only you need to decide if you want to save 1000 or spend it. If you ahve never been on RCI then you will not know what you are missing and your Glory cruise should be ok. WE gave up on CCL. Our kids, ages 12 and almost 14 now love RCI for the amount of things to do on the ship. There is so much to keep us busy with them and without them. On CCL there is very little to do besides the pool. That said, they now just like to hang out with the kids they have meet. I would save the 1000 and cruise Glory and just go and hope for the best. Then I would do all that I said in the beginning of this post and bring your price down closer to CCL. I was given a free cruise as a summer contest winner in my husbands office and we would not use it. We asked them to give us the money and let us book with RCI ourselves. That is how much I likeRCI.But if you do not know the better, then CCL should be fine as your first cruise. The food is very good, and the entertainment is very good too. the differences is that the ships are not as nice and it is louder all over the ship. The flow of people is not as good on the ccl compared to rci. 1000 $ is a big difference, if it makes no difference to you then take RCI. The layout of the ship is beautiful, the decor is stunning, the promenade is wonderful and the service is great. good luck with the decision. Just remember it is not an all or nothing...once you cruise you will want to do more...

[ERICnLISA]

That thousand dollars could get you some great excursions on your Carnival Cruise. The stops are the same except for CocoCay(RCI) and Nassau(CCL). Our kids enjoyed Camp Carnival and Club O2 and we just booked the Glory because a 7 night on Carnival was cheaper than a 5 night on RCI so we could go back to Costa Maya. But as everyone likes to say, Carnival is the Wal-Mart of cruises, but being an enlisted man I'm always shopping at Wal-Mart saving money:D and really enjoy sailing Carnival!!!

[RoyalCruiser2007]

I've been on both Carnival Valor (Glory's identical twin) and Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas (Mariner's twin) and I highly recommend you choose Mariner over Glory. On Mariner, as on Navigator, you'll never run out of things to do. Glory as with Valor is a very boring ship. It has pools, food, and CASINO! I emphasize casino because come the evening, it's the ONLY thing to do. On the other hand, on Mariner there always a million things to do.

[silentbob007]

I've been on both Carnival Valor (Glory's identical twin) and Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas (Mariner's twin) and I highly recommend you choose Mariner over Glory. On Mariner, as on Navigator, you'll never run out of things to do. Glory as with Valor is a very boring ship. It has pools, food, and CASINO! I emphasize casino because come the evening, it's the ONLY thing to do. On the other hand, on Mariner there always a million things to do.

 

Funny about experiences ... I've thought that both offered quite a bit at night. On Glory and Valor, I spent my nights in the piano bar, listening to karaoke, attending production shows, etc.

[Georgiagolfer]

DW and I have sailed CCL Glory 3 times and RCI Mariner 1 time, and loved both ships. Each are different and each are very similar (confusing statement, isn't it?). Service, food, both OK with nothing outstanding on each. Loved the deli and fish & chips on Glory. Also loved the Cafe Promenade on Mariner, especially the soft cookies made daily.

 

Mariner has a rock wall and ice rink which Glory doesn't. Found plenty to do in the evenings on both ships. Had a Cat. 11 on Glory and JS on Mariner. Mariner room was actually a tad larger and had a huge walk-in closet. As for the $1000 price difference, this would be a no brainer to me. As much as we enjoyed Mariner, not worth an additional $1000 to the DW and myself. Our Mariner cruise was actually $25pp cheaper than our last Glory cruise. We always try to sail a ship where we can qualify for either a Senior or Military discount. As these aren't available at all times and on all ships, we look for the best rate.

 

We love cruising and only cruise on CCL or RCI.

[akcruz]

With having a 12 year old I would go with the Mariner. Unless Carnival has changed their programs they have always been lacking in the 12 - 14 age group for activities. We sailed on Glory when my son was 11 so he was able to use the kids club. When he was 12 we did Mariner. While he loved both cruises, if it weren't for the 'teen' activities on Mariner I bet he would have been bored even with the rock wall, etc. We saw a ton of early teens roaming the ship when on Glory since they didn't have anything much for them.

[shipshape sam]

My husband and I (both in our early 40's), along with our 12 year-old son, are trying to decide between the Mariner or the Carnival Glory for the Eastern route on the 10/26/08 sailing.

 

The Mariner will cost us $1,000 more. We know the Mariner has the skating rink and the rock climbing wall, but besides that, is it worth the huge difference in price? Is there much of a difference in the kid's club?

 

Thanks!

 

 

We have sailed on both and would pick Mariner of Seas. :)