AandBmom

Having done Carnival Breeze with my kids (10 and 7 at the time) as well as Freedom of the Seas, I completely agree with the OPs review. We loved both ships.

Perhaps b/c we had one of the very first sailings out of Florida on the Breeze, we had a fabulous cast of entertainers and found the singing top-notch. Later reviews of the Breeze were not good for the entertainment.

For the age of my kids the water slides on Carnival (as well as the ropes course on Breeze, which I believe might be the only ship to have this), Carnival was better as far as *activities. I don't think my kids would have done the flowrider or the rock wall, and the kids splash area seemed to be much more baby-ish. The ice skating is fun, but not why we go on a cruise (we're usually trying to get away from ice).

The adults only pool area on Freedom of the Seas was awesome, and frankly would be a reason I would choose that ship. The Serenity area an Breeze was nice, but lacked a pool, and seemed more crowded.

Given the pricing, at least ever sailing I've compared, Carnival is substantially cheaper. And that would mean the ability to cruise more often.

Completely agree on the food comments of options. I would not choose ECLIPSE over Carnival based on food. In fact, the extra options on Breeze such as Tandoori Grill, Blue Iguana and Guy's were huge pluses for us.

 

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Forums mobile app

Absolutely to everything you said. I missed the Tandoori Grill, Blue Iguana and Guys so much. I also missed the hot buffet items from Carnival believe it or not. Lunch was boring in the Windjammer.

Thank you for the comparison. We have been on several CCL cruises and are considering RCCL for the first time. We have two small children that would be sailing for the first time and were lured in to consider RCCL because of the Kids Sail Free deal. Now I have more information to help me make that decision. :)

When you're looking at those deals make sure you look at the total price. I noticed that the adults price doubled when the kids were free. Overall it was about the same. That might not be the case with all sailings but it was for the one I looked at. The kids might really like the dreamworks experience. The Freedom class ships have lots for kids to do!

Sorry that your JR experience wasn't the best; I happen to like them a lot, but every situation differs. I'm curious though...how did your bill come up to $61? Even with 6 people, that's a lot of money spent. Was it the cost of beverages added to the $4.95 per person?

My father law had a beer and a few of us had milkshakes so the bill got up there.

How do these burgers compare to Guy's Burgers on Carnival? We've cruised on several ships with Johnny Rockets, but only have done it for breakfast on Oasis. We're not much for up-charge dining. But, we'll be on Allure with kids this fall, and it might be fun. HOWEVER, if the burgers are not as good as Guy's I will likely never hear the end of it from DH, who will remind me that we don't have to pay for good burgers on Carnival!!

IMO the Guys burgers were delicious with lots of toppings to choose from. The Johnny rockets ones were gross.

Johnny Rockets doesn't charge for food.

 

Johnny Rockets is a service restaurant, where Guys is self serve. The service charge at JR is the tip for the service.

Good point, but I still thought the food at Guy's was way better or if you want service, the dining room is way better IMO.

Thanks for the comparison. I found it to be very fair and open-minded. I am also sailing on FOS this year and it is my first cruise on Royal. I'm actually more excited for this cruise because lately I've been finding myself "Carnivaled Out." Don't get me wrong...I LOVE Carnival, but I want to experience something different. Something as small as different jokes, or different activities. All the Carnival cruises I've been on the last few years are just starting to mesh together and I can't even tell one from the other anymore. I will say I did love the Breeze though.

That's exactly where we were! We loved the Breeze but wanted to try something new. So glad we did. Also now I feel I can engage in discussions more with friends when they go on and on about how RCCL is better or Carnival is better.

Aside from the kids camps, did your kids like the other areas of either line better? Pools, water park areas, golf, etc? Did one seem more kid friendly than the other?

My kids are 3,4,8 and 9. I'd say they loved each ship in different ways. On the Carnival Breeze they loved the ropes course and the 5D theater but on RCCL they though the flowrider and rock climbing were cool. They never tried the skating b/c we're from Canada and it's winter - enough skating around here! The golf was slightly better on the Carnival breeze but equivalent between the RCCL Freedom and the old Carnival ships.

My kids missed having water slides on RCCL as many Carnival ships have them now. The splash stuff was great on either.

The only different/better thing about RCCL was that our cruise was a dreamworks cruise so it was nice to see the characters out and about and to have movies playing continuously in the cabin (great for those quiet moments b/w events).

My kids would sail either in a heartbeat. We always make sure we choose a ship with a kids water area and some extra kid fun things whatever line we choose.

Thank you for the comparison! Having only sailed on Carnival, the little differences (i.e. robes, towels, access to drinks, etc.) would have been a surprise. Don't know if we will ever sail another cruise line - no reason to fix what isn't broken - but knowing about the subtle differences ahead of time if we were to book is immensely helpful.

I felt the same way because I love Carnival but after doing 5 Carnivals in a row I was starting to feel like it was the same buffet, same dining room menu, same layout, same system etc. I wanted to try something new and I'm so glad I did. It's nice to see how they do things different and as I mentioned some things were better some I didn't care for as much but loved my cruise as much as a Carnival one.

How do you compare shows and entertainment?

I found the RCCL shows way more professional seeming and entertaining. The Carnival ones I often find to be more like a dance recital.

The skating show is awesome too which is a nice change. The only thing I missed on RCCL is the comedians.

Are they in the rooms like at Carnival? It really doesn't matter if I have to swipe my card it was the having to go up to the pool deck to retrieve them and to turn them back in esp on port days when taking them off the ship...no need to have to go up to the pool before going down to gangway.

Yes on Carnival they are sitting in your cabin with a note saying "take me out in the sun but please leave me when you're done" or something like that. Your cabin steward changes them out whenever they are laying around or if you ask for it. You can also change them for fresh ones on the pool deck. So nice to start each day with clean fresh beach towels ready to go in your cabin.

Edit to my original comment: I re read your question you were asking if they're not in the cabins on RCCL. No they're not, you have to go searching for a towel on the pool deck.

As of Jan 2014, RCI no longer requires a ship's card to get pool towels.

 

Woody

That's only on some ships. I sailed last week on the Freedom and you did require a card to get a towel but my friend was on the Radiance the week prior (Feb 2014) and she didn't.

The pool towel only on deck annoyed me because we also had to return them there and we typically would have them wrapped around us to walk back to cabin. And I'll admit it, I'm fat and our cabin was way aft so no I didn't like to have to walk the towels back up, or try to remember to do so before dinner, carry wet towels when I was now dry. The last night Mom who had a scooter took them back up to the pool deck, the stand wasn't open but she found a crew member to take them and they swiped her card...but nope still was billed for them on our card the next morning so I had to go down to Guest Services and explain they WERE returned the night before, etc...the housekeeper staff there just removed it. But again annoying...also would have been nice to have the towels in room since there were only 2 bath towels in our cabin on RCL, and I need one for my hair. Loved that Carnival left the towels in the room, and room steward exchanged them and tracked the inventory.

Totally agreed! I felt petty complaining about it, but it was kind of annoying.

I've done it twice on Allure, so that is my limited experience.

 

The chocolate offerings for the pancakes and waffles were good, Just skip the chocolate milkshake and get chocolate milk instead.

This was on our Freedom cruise last week on the buffet, but don't get too excited, it's not really all that exciting. The pancakes and waffles just have something akin to nestle quick poured over them. My hubby and kids didn't care for it. But contrary unlike the quote above, we found the milkshakes to be delicious and this is the only time they're "free".

I had the French toast ordered fresh in the dining room each day and loved it.

As long as everything is packaged/sealed, you should be ok. We bring granola bars, chocolate, other candy, nuts for the flight there and back, but rarely end up touching these during the cruise. There's so much else to eat that it usually isn't necessary.

 

Even for port days, sometimes I'll just grab a box or two of dry cereal in the WJ at breakfast to throw into our backpack.

That's us exactly. Granola bars and nuts to hold us over on the plane but really there is no need on the ship. There is so much food everywhere on the ship that you really don't need your own. Between meals we would stop by Sorrentos for pizza, biscotti, dessert, fruit, etc, or swing by the windjammer to grab snacks. The meals are so big too that you might not even be hungry between them. I'm a huge snacker at home but found I ate 3 square meals with hardly any snacks, except for as noted Sorrentos in the afternoon to hold me until dinner.

For ports we always took cereal from the buffet for the kiddies.

Correct, milkshakes not included in any of the unlimited drink packages. I believe the milkshakes were around $4.

I think they're included in the package that has frozen drinks and special coffees.

I don't want to be a buzz kill but in my opinion Johnny Rockets on the Freedom last week was terrible. I was so excited to eat there and was getting tired of the buffet so we tried it on the last day of our cruise. The shakes, sundaes, fries and rings are good but unfortunately the main meal itself was a bust. The burgers were covered and I mean covered, both sides of the bun with ketchup. My BBQ chicken bacon sandwich was slathered in so much BBQ sauce that the bread was mushy and falling apart. My husband can eat nearly anything but found his burger inedible as did my son. My Father in Law found the hotdog to be okay but rather boring and pretty much like the one on the buffet. Our bill was $61 for 3 adults and 3 very small children and we hardly ate. While $61 for 6 people for lunch isn't high, if you consider that we could've had a yummy meal in the dining room for $0 extra it seems expensive. The server was really nice and their dance was fun but we should've eaten in the dining room with my eldest son and my nephew. They had any amazing lunch.

A hint about milkshakes, they're free at breakfast in the dining room at least one of the days!

We were on the Freedom last week and I found the dining room attire very similar to Carnival. On our two formal nights our boys (4,8 and 9yrs) wore dress pants, shirt and tie. On the other nights they wore khaki pants and a golf shirt but I wouldn't have had a problem with them wearing dress shorts. Our 3 year old daughter wore a sun dress every night. I wore capris or summer pants on regular nights and a dress on formal night. Hubby wore khakis and a golf shirt on regular nights and dress pants, shirt and tie without a jacket on formal night. I looked around specifically counting men with or without jackets and noticed it to be about 1/2 and 1/2. Some people on here will tell you that he must have a jacket some will say not. Honestly, nobody will give him the stare down in either, nor will they give your kids the hairy eye ball if they're in dress shorts. Enjoy and pack light.

Oh that reminds me, I found it kind of annoying that the door didn't open all the way in the bathroom on the Freedom of the Seas. On my Carnival ships I could open it 180 degrees and I think it even stuck open on a magnet. On Royal it didn't stay open which was annoying at night when I wanted the door open for kids and to reduce door opening/closing noises but didn't want it swinging when the ship moved.

We were on the Freedom last week. It is beautiful. Here are my highlights:

Sorrentos pizza, biscotti and desserts - yummy!

If you have your time dining ask for Madan, he's amazing (only in Galileo's)

flowrider is so cool

rock climbing is fun

the scavenger hunts and trivia are fun

loved sitting around the pool in the solarium but get chairs early!

eat the key lime pie

the skating show is well worth it but book ahead

evening shows are great

check out the promenade often, stuff is always going on

catch the parade and like others said go early and sit at a pub

when you get tired of the windjammer after day 3 eat in the dining room. Breakfast is good and lunch is awesome in the dining room

We have cruised with Carnival 7 times and have enjoyed them all. We are celebrating our 30th anniversary this fall and wanted to go on a B2B to celebrate.

I researched and researched and finally booked a 13 day cruise on Royal as the cruise went to 3 islands we have never been to and it was cheaper than any 2 Carnival cruises I could find.

I appreciate your opinions. Not having the comfy robe was the one thing that will bother me. I love the Carnival robes.

We will see after this anniversary cruise if we go back to Carnival next time or RCI.

If you ask for one you might be able to get one.

On the Freedom of the Seas we brought a bottle to dinner each night and were never charged. We asked our waiter the first night and he said something about officially if it's something on their menu but you bring your own they're supposed to charge or something but then he said "don't worry I'll take care of you" and never charged us. Most of the time though we opened it ourselves before heading to the dining room.

Last week on the Freedom we did not have pool towels in our cabin. We had to get them from one of the two towel stations on the 11th deck. Often times only one station was open unless it was middle of the day. They scanned our cards but were pretty liberal with extra towels. I prefer them being in the cabin, especially when getting ready to go into a port.

This comparison is limited to my experience on Carnival (Legend, Imagination, Sensation and Breeze) and Royal Caribbean (Freedom of the Seas).

Cabins: as a general rule they’re bigger on Carnival and I noticed that I missed the space a bit but it wasn’t that big of a deal. Both lines have adequate storage and cabin layout. I missed my Carnival robe though on RCCL. It’s a nice touch that Carnival gives everyone a robe, not just elite members. Also RCCL don’t give pens or paper or toiletries or anything like Carnival does. The shower however was awesome compared to Carnival as it had closing doors and great water pressure but I heard from a friend this is ship dependant, not across the line. I also liked that Carnival gives you pool towels in your cabin and they change them for you whenever you need them to. This was nice on Port days as I found it a slight bit easier to just pack up in our room than having to send someone up on deck to get 6 towels for our family whenever we needed them. Not a big deal, but something I enjoyed on Carnival a little more.

Ship layout: this depends on the ship, not the line IMO. I thought the layout was fine on every ship I’ve been on, but I did like how RCCL has the interactive maps everywhere and their signage is better to find your way around. Elevators seemed less cramped on our RCCL ship than previous Carnival ones. Décor seems to be hit or miss on either line. We loved the promenade though which Carnival ships don’t really have. It was bright, open, inviting and fun.

Food: I found the dining rooms to be equivalent, menus equivalent and food equal for the most part. I however prefer Carnival for lunch and breakfast. They have much much more variety. I got bored of the windjammer after day 3. The food just repeats in every line. Carnival however has lots of different themed areas all around the ship which I preferred. We defaulted to the dining room for lunch and breakfast whereas on carnival we never found a need to. I like how Carnival makes it easier to eat around the pool. They serve food and drinks on the pool deck, on RCCL you have to walk further and get fully dressed and go into the buffet area to get food. Carnival has buffet food out there, pizza out there and sometimes a hotdog stand. I kind of like being able to eat in my lounge chair in my bathing suit on vacation and I missed this on RCCL. I also found it hard to get a cold drink other than water on the pool deck on RCCL. Whereas on Carnival you could walk over to a drink station really close by. Lastly, there is only 1 little ice cream machine on RCCL and it’s on the pool deck. Carnival seems to have a few more spread out so they’re easier to access. Pizza however is way better on RCCL. Sorrentos is delicious and it’s nice that they have Italian desserts, fruit cups and biscotti there.

Staff: amazing on both

Kid’s camp: My children actually preferred Carnival. Carnival has more toys in the camp for kids to play with and the children liked the free play time more on Carnival. They also liked the Carnival scheduled activities more. I found they watched more movies on RCCL which wasn’t as exciting for them.

Entertainment: The skating show is a nice touch but it’s a tradeoff for Carnival’s comedy show. You can really only see the skating show once but Carnival has a different comedian almost every night. I missed that. The production numbers were way better on RCCL in my opinion. Also the little extras like parades, entertainment on the promenade, etc were awesome. We also loved the rock climbing and flow rider but on Carnival loved the ropes course and the 5D movie theatre.

Pools: hot tubs were hotter on RCCL which was nice. Pools were bigger too which was nice. Splash area for kids though was better on Carnival b/c of the slides. But, it was nice that they had hot tubs for adults in the splash area so adults could sit in there while kids played. I don’t remember that on Carnival.

Crowd: We met nice people on both lines and observed rudeness on both lines.

Cost: Everything seemed a little more on RCCL. From the price of the cruise, to the price of drinks, to the daily tipping amount. There also seemed to be more things in general that weren’t included on RCCL. For example Johnny Rockets charges $5 a person whereas Guys Burgers doesn’t charge any fee. Room service has a charge at certain hours, Carnival does not. Fresh squeezed juice there was a charge on RCCL but you could get it at least in some places on Carnival included.

Embarkation/Debarkation: same on both

Overall we really loved both. I would sail either again in a heartbeat. I will make my book my next cruise based on price, ship reviews and itinerary as I don’t find the differences to be enough to sway me towards one or another.

Thanks so much! We are carnival regulars wondering if we should try rc!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Definitely give it a try. I'm so glad that we did. It was awesome but now I realize that Carnival is great too!

This comparison is limited to my experience on Carnival (Legend, Imagination, Sensation and Breeze) and Royal Caribbean (Freedom of the Seas).

Cabins: as a general rule they’re bigger on Carnival and I noticed that I missed the space a bit but it wasn’t that big of a deal. Both lines have adequate storage and cabin layout. I missed my Carnival robe though on RCCL. It’s a nice touch that Carnival gives everyone a robe, not just elite members. Also RCCL don’t give pens or paper or toiletries or anything like Carnival does. The shower however was awesome compared to Carnival as it had closing doors and great water pressure but I heard from a friend this is ship dependant, not across the line. I also liked that Carnival gives you pool towels in your cabin and they change them for you whenever you need them to. This was nice on Port days as I found it a slight bit easier to just pack up in our room than having to send someone up on deck to get 6 towels for our family whenever we needed them. Not a big deal, but something I enjoyed on Carnival a little more.

Ship layout: this depends on the ship, not the line IMO. I thought the layout was fine on every ship I’ve been on, but I did like how RCCL has the interactive maps everywhere and their signage is better to find your way around. Elevators seemed less cramped on our RCCL ship than previous Carnival ones. Décor seems to be hit or miss on either line. We loved the promenade though which Carnival ships don’t really have. It was bright, open, inviting and fun.

Food: I found the dining rooms to be equivalent, menus equivalent and food equal for the most part. I however prefer Carnival for lunch and breakfast. They have much much more variety. I got bored of the windjammer after day 3. The food just repeats in every line. Carnival however has lots of different themed areas all around the ship which I preferred. We defaulted to the dining room for lunch and breakfast whereas on carnival we never found a need to. I like how Carnival makes it easier to eat around the pool. They serve food and drinks on the pool deck, on RCCL you have to walk further and get fully dressed and go into the buffet area to get food. Carnival has buffet food out there, pizza out there and sometimes a hotdog stand. I kind of like being able to eat in my lounge chair in my bathing suit on vacation and I missed this on RCCL. I also found it hard to get a cold drink other than water on the pool deck on RCCL. Whereas on Carnival you could walk over to a drink station really close by. Lastly, there is only 1 little ice cream machine on RCCL and it’s on the pool deck. Carnival seems to have a few more spread out so they’re easier to access. Pizza however is way better on RCCL. Sorrentos is delicious and it’s nice that they have Italian desserts, fruit cups and biscotti there.

Staff: amazing on both

Kid’s camp: My children actually preferred Carnival. Carnival has more toys in the camp for kids to play with and the children liked the free play time more on Carnival. They also liked the Carnival scheduled activities more. I found they watched more movies on RCCL which wasn’t as exciting for them.

Entertainment: The skating show is a nice touch but it’s a tradeoff for Carnival’s comedy show. You can really only see the skating show once but Carnival has a different comedian almost every night. I missed that. The production numbers were way better on RCCL in my opinion. Also the little extras like parades, entertainment on the promenade, etc were awesome. We also loved the rock climbing and flow rider but on Carnival loved the ropes course and the 5D movie theatre.

Pools: hot tubs were hotter on RCCL which was nice. Pools were bigger too which was nice. Splash area for kids though was better on Carnival b/c of the slides. But, it was nice that they had hot tubs for adults in the splash area so adults could sit in there while kids played. I don’t remember that on Carnival.

Crowd: We met nice people on both lines and observed rudeness on both lines.

Cost: Everything seemed a little more on RCCL. From the price of the cruise, to the price of drinks, to the daily tipping amount. There also seemed to be more things in general that weren’t included on RCCL. For example Johnny Rockets charges $5 a person whereas Guys Burgers doesn’t charge any fee. Room service has a charge at certain hours, Carnival does not. Fresh squeezed juice there was a charge on RCCL but you could get it at least in some places on Carnival included.

Embarkation/Debarkation: same on both

Overall we really loved both. I would sail either again in a heartbeat. I will make my book my next cruise based on price, ship reviews and itinerary as I don’t find the differences to be enough to sway me towards one or another.