Review - Carnival/RC B2B

[CruiserChloe]

Hello all. I am a mid-20's gal who just took my first 2 cruises. I am related to a Travel Agent who booked B2B cruises on the Carnival Imagination and Royal Caribbean Majesty of the Seas. I am well traveled by air and land, but have never taken a cruise before, so I tagged along. Being the planning type, I lurked on these boards and numerous other websites to gain as much pre-knowledge as possible. I decided to create a Cruise Critic membership and share my experience with you all. Please understand, this review reflects my own opinions and experiences and not that of my Travel Agent Aunt. Also, I am well aware that the same exact people do not cruise every week...this is just what I experienced. This will be sorta long....sorry. :o

 

Please forgive me if I do not use certain terms. For example, I have no clue what the specific room categories were that I stayed in. I'm a cruise rookie.

 

Carnival Imagination Our first cruise was the Imagination. I was awed by the size of this ship. Despite constant reminders from dear Aunt that this ship was small compared to others, it was huge to me. I had no idea these ships were so big. I could tell the ship was old because the interior looked as though it was designed by someone on LSD.

 

Here are the good points --- Service - I was amazed how well the service was. My room attendent and dining room waiter remembered my name after one meeting. I thought this was great. Not only them, but the bartenders remembered as well. Everyone had a smile. I felt like a real Queen.

Food - I did not go hungry on this cruise. The food was great. It wasn't on par with a gourmet restaurant or anything, but it was excellent for what I expected it to be. The desserts were fabulous.

Ship - I had a great time on this ship. We spent a day at sea and I was attracted to the waterslides on the back. Again, this was my first cruise, so I was in awe the whole time.

 

Here is what I didn't like so much --- Dining Room - They serve great food and act very proper, then go and ruin it all with cheesy dancing and games. I was not impressed by this. It did not help that the loud music was played over cheap, crackly speakers.

Passengers - Most people on this ship made great travel companions, but there was a large number of people that I was very weary of. Believe me..I know that dress does not make the person, but you can just tell when someone is up to no good. Coincidently, there was a problem with digital camera thefts on board. Rumor has it that several people were arrested upon return to Miami. There was also a large number of people that were took intoxication to a new level. I think the medics were kept busy. Oh well, I guess you get what you pay for with fellow passengers. I didn't let it ruin my cruise.

 

 

Majesty of the Seas I'll get to the comparisons at the end. On Monday, we disembarked the Imagination and boarded the Majesty of the Seas. this was an easy process. Again, I was awed at the site of the ship and it's size. And again, I had to be reminded over and over that the ship is small compared to Royal Caribbean't new ships. Blah, blah, blah...it was huge to me. The first thing I noticed about the ship was that is was much prettier than the Imagination. The main central area with the elevators was all wood and brass, unlike the weird colors on the Imagination. This cruise was a 4 nighter.

 

The good points --- Service - Nothing changed. Just like on the Imagination, they remembered my name and I was treated like a Queen.

Food - Again, the food was great. I didn't go hungry on this ship either.

Ship - There were no sea days, so I did not spend as much time enjoying the ship as on Imagination. If there was a sea day, I don't think I would have had as much fun because there wasn't a much to do outside as on the Imagination. However, the evening lounges were excellent. I love the Viking Crown Lounge and the 360 degree view.

Dining Room - They only sang on one night and it did not include forcing the diners to get up and dance. I thought this was much more appropriate for dining room behavior.

 

The bad points --- Room - I was on deck seven in an oceanview room. This room was very small. My biggest complaint was the outdoor deck that goes all the way around the ship. Every time someone ran by, all I hear (and felt) was thud, thud, thud! If I would have known better, I would have chosen another room. From touring the ship, I found the oceanview rooms on deck 9 to be much bigger and nicer. Also, I learned that these small rooms are not fleet wide. I guess they only exist on this and one other identical ship....both of which are on an eventual chopping block.

 

 

Ports: I have been to Key West and Nassau on other vacations, so I knew what to expect there. Majesty of the Seas went to Coco Cay. This island was a piece of heaven in the Bahamas. I loved it! Imagination spent a day at sea. I also loved this! My next cruise will do both!!!!

 

Comparison:

I had a great time on both cruises. All in all, I liked the Majesty more. This is probably because I am not a huge party girl. Also, the fellow passengers did not cause me to clutch my pocketbook harder.

(Please note....The racial demographic was the same on both cruises...so that is not what I mean. The "thugs" on the Imagination were not all of one particular race or sex.)

I found the service, the food, and the entertainment to be very equal. The shows were ok, but not as good as I thought they would be. The singers on both ships were great, but the dancing was kinda lame.

 

I loved cruising! There's just something very tranquil about the waves and wind while the ship is steaming along at night. I now want to jump in with both feet. I am already planning a cruise on the Freedom of the Seas. I also want to try that new ship Carnival is building (Dream??).

 

Thanks for your time. If anyone has any questions, I'll do my best to answer.

[firefly4423]

thanks for the insight on both cruises! Its nice to see a comparison

[firefly333]

I did not like the cabins on Majesty's sister ship either, but I was on deck 8 above the track. I knew not to book deck 7 as people walking by can see into your cabin. Sorry about that. Im not sure you can say there wouldnt have been more to do on Majesty on sea days .... since you said there were none. Typically on sea days on either line there are more things like hairy chest, hairy legs (forget which cruiseline has which), belly flop on RCL etc.

 

Fair comparison otherwise, other than the tiny cabins on Majesty (which is being retired), the cruiselines are pretty similar. I too decided never to book a ship in this class of RCL Ships again either because the cabins are so small. However, I love love love Voyager .... dont judge all cruises by these, especially RCL. A 3 day RCL cruise on the oldest ship isnt totally indicative of the whole cruiseline.

[CruiserChloe]

Fair comparison otherwise, other than the tiny cabins on Majesty (which is being retired), the cruiselines are pretty similar. I too decided never to book a ship in this class of RCL Ships again either because the cabins are so small. However, I love love love Voyager .... dont judge all cruises by these, especially RCL. A 3 day RCL cruise on the oldest ship isnt totally indicative of the whole cruiseline.

 

Thank you firefly. I did have a wonderful time on both cruises. But truth is, now that I've seen what else is out there, I probably will not book these classes of ships on either line again. I can't wait to try the newer ships to compare. Like I said at the end, I am in the process of booking Freedom of the Seas for DH and I. Other family are looking at Dream. I want to join them as well.

[firefly333]

Thank you firefly. I did have a wonderful time on both cruises. But truth is, now that I've seen what else is out there, I probably will not book these classes of ships on either line again. I can't wait to try the newer ships to compare. Like I said at the end, I am in the process of booking Freedom of the Seas for DH and I. Other family are looking at Dream. I want to join them as well.

 

that sounds awesome. The only good thing I can say about Majesty is its a cheap way some who live locally have used to get to diamond and diamond plus fast and cheap. You will be awestruck with freedom of the seas. wait until you see the dining room and promenade.

 

I want a spa cabin on Dream, wish it wasnt ported so far from Texas.

 

Both sound awesome.

[CruiserChloe]

The only good thing I can say about Majesty is its a cheap way some who live locally have used to get to diamond and diamond plus fast and cheap.

 

Yea, I believe it. There were a lot of Floridians on board both ships. If it was that convenient, I probably would too. ;)

[firefly333]

Yea, I believe it. There were a lot of Floridians on board both ships. If it was that convenient, I probably would too. ;)

 

We drove to Florida and did a B2B on SOV which is now retired, but sister to Majesty, identical, and we had both OV and inside. Would never do inside again, I couldnt wait to get off, lol. (and I thought I wasnt that fussy). It did get me to platinum, I wanted access to the platinum balcony discount .... and then this year they changed it so balcony discount cant be combined, so it was a waste for me.

[mom2lillirissa]

Thanks so much for the comparison. I went on my 1st cruise on RCI back in May, and now have booked with Carnival for Oct. and this time, we are taking our 4 year old with us. We are a bit worried about the "party image" that Carnival has, since we are not drinkers/party people, but Carnival is a bit cheaper so we are giving it a shot. I will give my comparison in Oct.

[chiarigirl]

My first cruise was on the voyager out of galveston. The only problem i have with that is they are only in galveston like 3 months out of the year. For my first cruise the ship was awesome, my parents had been on the rhapsody twice. On my moms first cruise she won a free one on bingo. So we went on the voyager, we had a balcony room and since i was the 3rd person we got a super cheap rate for me. So i guess you could say i was spoiled. The decor was cool and i could barely feel the ship move.

 

I went on the fantasy with my friend about 18 months later. It was a lot different, of course i was going from a fairly new ship to the 2nd oldest ship. I went after the evolutions of fun, I wasnt realy keen on the decor, but i dont cruise for the decor so it wasnt that big of a deal. The fantasy was much rougher and i could feel the ship moving, but it is a much smaller ship so i was prepared for that and being in october we had some rougher waters. Plus we had to drop anchor in the mississippi for 8 hours to fix the engine. It worked to our advantage so we were in progresso at 9 am instead of at 7am and got to stay two hours later.

 

The food was good, i liked the buffet better on RCCL, and the dining room food was a little better on RCCL, however i still did not starve, and ate most of what i received. The dining room service was not great on carnival, but it was not the fault of our server or assistant he was doing great. He had two 8 top and four 6 top tables so dinner lasted close to 2.5 hours, they would start singing about the time we got out entrees and we were always last, however it gave us a chance to get to know our tablemates better. I didnt mind the singing, but they didnt make us get involved either, i find it kind of entertaining, mainly watching our waiter try to avoid the singing. The entertainment was great on both of them.

 

I liked the lounges better on the fantasy, I loved the cats lounge and the lounge with the piano bar. There was a harry potter of about 300 on our cruise so a lot of times the lounges were closed for them, and they seemed to be in costume everynight, so some nights at the show i would have a pointy wizard hat in my way, but i dealt with it. It was in october so I just pretended like it was always halloween.

 

I fully enjoyed both cruises, it is hard for me to judge the activities because one cruise was with my parents and one was with my friend. So we did different types of things. I prefer carnival mainly for the price and the fact they have more ships close to Oklahoma. I would rather pay less and cruise more. Also i would rather get an inside room which i just sleep in, and get to do more at my ports.

 

As far as the type of people i did not notice a different type of class of people on either cruise. You always have to smart with your valuables. All cash goes in the safe, I dont carry a wallet onboard, i have my card and any cash i need for the casino i go get before i leave. My camera goes in my fanny pack, and my laptop goes in a drawer under my clothes when i am not in the room. I know they screen employees etc, but i dont see the point in tempting anybody whether they're in a tux or a shirt with the sleeves ripped off. The way i see it most other cruisers are doing the same thing as me, trying to get a nice reasonable vacation for a good price.

[CruiserChloe]

I liked the lounges better on the fantasy, I loved the cats lounge and the lounge with the piano bar.

 

I loved the piano bar on both ships...although both were entirely different. On Imagination, it was upbeat and a lot of fun. People were dancing. On Majesty of the Seas, it was a little slower paced and a little more elgant. It was very relaxing. The Majesty's piano bar was much prettier because of all the sails and rigging. It was called the "Schooner Bar."

 

The bar to go to for dancing and fun on Majesty was "Boleros." Now, that place was cool! The Latin band was awesome!