Carnival Valor - 9/27/09 - 10/4/09 - Review & Comparison. with RCI

[djneph]

Before we start the review, I will do a short comparison between RCI and Carnival (since people always want to try a new line). I have sailed RCI about 10 times (former employee so don’t have any Crown & Anchor Status) and only on Radiance and Voyager Class ships. Also, last RCI sailing was 2.5 years ago, so things have probably changed a lot since all lines a trying to lower costs.

 

Anyone who says RCI or Carnival is superior to the other in my opinion is not being completely objective. These two lines are basically the same with very minor differences. My list below is just my observations and my preferences. I still prefer RCI over Carnival it is definitely not worth an extra $900 (that was how much extra it would have cost to sail on a similar 7night cruise on RCI that same week). If the total difference was under $200 a may choose RCI, but anything over that it’s not worth it at all.

 

Lastly, keep in mind we have sailed RCI about 10 times, so some of the things we preferred and or were disappointed with is probably because we are so “used to” RCI that the experience became synonymous with cruising for us and Carnival did things differently so it was just an adjustment.

 

I will probably give Carnival another shot – even though it pains me to admit – they have a good product and I liked it (ssshhh….don’t tell any of my former co-workers)

 

Food: (Hardest to judge because it is so subjective)

 

Breakfast (buffet area we don’t do MDR):

Prefer RCI by a small margin for two reasons. DW loves French toast over pancakes, RCI has both pancakes and French toast every day, Carnival alternates (one day pancakes – one day French toast). Also, I love corn beef hash (only eat it when I cruise, since I am sure it’s not the healthiest of breakfast foods). Carnival only had it one day; Royal has it every day for breakfast. Toast/Bagels – RCI has untoasted bread available and someone to toast bread for you on the spot, Carnival toasts the bread ahead of time and puts it on the line so it got cold and hard. A plus for Carnival was the very tasty salsa to put on my eggs… mmm so good!

 

Lunch:

Hands down Carnival wins. The selection for the most part seemed better and tastier; they had more things we liked. A plus for Royal is their Salad bar – seemed like they had bigger selection of veggies for your salad. The Deli was decent, however I do like how Royal has cold sandwiches pre-made (didn’t like having to wait in line for a Tuna Salad sandwich). The Burrito bar was a little disappointing (the flavor was lacking), but that’s probably because I am spoiled by Free Birds Burrito in Austin. Also, the wok station I did not like, long lines for food lacking flavor (I prefer spicy wok creations) again, it was good, but for my taste buds I will pass.

 

Dinner:

It’s even. I found the food on both lines excellent and tasty. Carnival gets big thumbs up for having shrimp cocktail available for dinner every night (Royal only had it one night). I love shrimp cocktail (again it is one of those things I only eat when I cruise – its simple, but just soooo good!) and I like being able to order it everyday, instead of ordering like 2 or 3 orders on the one night it is served on Royal and feeling like George Castanza (“he the ocean called and they are running out of shrimp”). The Thai Pumpkin Soup was AWESOME! I could bath in it, very nice Carnival

 

Dessert: I give it to Royal. We don’t have a sweet tooth, so we found Carnival a little too sweet (I know who would not like sweet desserts). Again, just a personal taste thing, other than that the desserts were good – bread pudding was delicious.

 

 

Service:

I think they are equal. Currently, I would give a pico-meter edge to Royal because of the experience we had in the dining room. The service seemed rushed (seems like they are in a hurry every night, because they have to do a song/dance every night) and the waiters weren’t very friendly and didn’t talk much to us. They forgot our orders on multiple occasions (ie. didn’t bring the Ice tea or Cappuccino). Also, I ordered the flat-iron steak almost every night and every night had to ask for the A1 sauce (on RCI the staff would remember I like A1 sauce and bring it with the steak). The waiters could have just had an off week or we didn’t mesh well so that’s why they weren’t as friendly or talkative; I have had one bad waiter on RCI too and she was horrible.

 

Entertainment:

DW and I don’t really do the show’s in the theater (I don’t like any of them so I never go, not into musicals). I think they are equal, maybe an edge to Carnival because they had Adult Comedy on multiple nights (3 different acts), where as RCI would have just one night. A plus for Carnival was also the Poolside TV, we watched a few movies at night and we really enjoyed it, which is definitely something that would bring as back to Carnival.

 

I think I will stop here for now… give you guys a break lol. I will be back with a few more comparisons later and then we will do some pictures and overview of each day. Also, I have the Capers if anyone wants me to post them.

[whendoweleave?]

It'll be interesting to see how it plays out, since even though you say you prefer RCI, at this point in your review, Carnival seems to have the edge when you compare point-by-point.

[amcjeep4life]

Food: (Hardest to judge because it is so subjective)

 

Breakfast (buffet area we don’t do MDR):

Prefer RCI by a small margin for two reasons. DW loves French toast over pancakes, RCI has both pancakes and French toast every day, Carnival alternates (one day pancakes – one day French toast). Also, I love corn beef hash (only eat it when I cruise, since I am sure it’s not the healthiest of breakfast foods). Carnival only had it one day; Royal has it every day for breakfast.

 

I agree about the french toast/ pancake rotation. However, we had corned beef hash as a selection everyday in the main dining room. That's one reason we prefer the MDR to the buffett. :p

[scperk]

Yes, I'd like to see the rest of your review...We are sailing on the Valor on Oct 18..My TA keeps telling me I need to try the Voyager class of RCCL but I fine it hard to pay what they want for a cruise......:)...........Dennis

[cruisingbajan]

Thank you for posting your review. I love valor reviews:D.

 

Thank you also for taking the time to make the comparison and objectively so at that. Good job all around. Looking forward to more.

[Froufie]

Looking forward to the rest of your review and Capers!

[djneph]

Stateroom:

I think they are pretty equal, maybe an edge to RCI. A plus for Carnival on the bathroom, the shower felt much bigger and roomier, I think the shape and curtain help, than the RCI shower with its cylindrical shape and door instead of curtain (I am a big guy 6’4 270lbs). A negative for Carnival was the safe, I did not like having to use a credit card (or any other card with a magnetic strip) to open it, I prefer the 4-digit combination safe on RCI (I had to either carry the safe card with me or leave it the room).

 

Stateroom TV:

Equal – Carnival Plus: I liked that I could look at the dinner menu daily when I want (on RCI they list it on a channel, but you have to wait for the screen to change as they display other info on that channel). Carnival Stateroom TV is better than RCL because they have broadcast channels (FOX, NBC, CBS…etc) so we saw Sunday and Sunday Night football, some college games on Saturday (LSU v. GA and OK vs. UM). Also it was nice to watch reruns of Seinfeld late at night just before going to sleep. A negative for Carnival was looking up your seapass account – you had to enter your 4-digit folio number every time you wanted to see your account (Not a big deal, just annoying).

 

Ship:

This is were RCI is leaps and bounds ahead of Carnival, I don’t even think Carnival is in the same ballpark as RCI. The décor on Carnival is a little too much for me, it’s not horrible as some have suggested, but just need to tone it down a bit (too much going on). There some area’s that I liked (I will post pictures). Example: Rosie’s Restaurant (buffet area) was very nice, better than Windjammer café, I liked the early 40’s, industrial revolution feel with the stainless steel look, kind of like an old dinner. However, overall I prefer the décor and design of RCI, things just seemed to have been a little more thought out. The top deck above the pool deck on RCI is all railings (about 5 rails) on Carnival it was a steel plate with two railings at the top, when lounging in a pool chair on that deck you get a better view on RCI. The Pool deck on RCI feels more open and better designed, plus I didn’t like some of the hand rails on the pool deck were made of metal (no wood on top) so they got pretty hot in the day time. The Internet café is in a horrible place, only way in is through the cigar bar (awful smell), I think someone dropped the ball on that one. The public bathrooms seemed to be harder to find (could just be that I know exactly were they are on RCI) and once you walk in, man those public bathrooms are small and cramped. The Carnival ship felt a litter more tight and everything was felt more compact (lower ceilings).

 

Promenade:

I think they are pretty close, with RCI winning because of the Royal Promenade’s WOW factor on Voyage/Freedom Class ships, I like Promenade Café. However, Carnival does have a nice design feature on their promenade, the windows, which during the day is a nice feature because you see the ocean go by as you walk, but at night the window doesn’t do much. The whole I hate a mall thing is baloney. Royal Promenade and Carnival’s promenade are the same (shops, café, bar) except Royal decided to make it 3 stories high. It just feels more open on RCI. Even if you compare the Radiance Class with the Valor, RCI wins.

 

Dining Room:

The dining room on RCI is much nicer and the windows have much better view. We had a window seat on Carnival, but the view was a disappointment. It looked out on the deck with the life boats, so you saw life boats and people walking by starring at you. On RCI the dinning room looks nicer and the views from the window are very nice. Even in the upscale dinning rooms (Portofino/Chops v. Supper Club) the location on RCI ships is much better, and the window seats offer a spectacular view.

 

Misc. – Little things and stuff I forgot to mention before:

 

Carnival Plus:

-Deck numbers on the carpet in front of the stairs – We though it was cool.

-Mailbox like thing next to your door where staff can leave you your luggage tags, capers, and account printout.

-Chocolate on Pillows! I don’t eat them, but like getting them

-Pitcher of water in the dance club/casino for self service. We don’t drink alcohol so it was nice being able to get water without having to get the attention of a bartender (very nice on busy nights)

-Brining your own Soda! This part it awesome, I like a soda for lunch and dinner, so I brought a 12-pack of diet coke saved me about $20 bucks :) Didn’t have to be a mule and smuggle it on board

-Waterslide – AWESOME! I don’t rock climb or ice skate (Don’t know about Flowrider yet, haven’t sailed on Freedom Class).

 

 

Carnival Negatives – areas it can improve

-RCI had more selection of deli meats for breakfast – see next line.

 

-Mustard in the morning, always had to hunt some done (for lunch no problem had it at all the tables), RCI has little mustard packets available. I like to eat a bagel sandwich for breakfast (ham/turkey & cheese, cream cheese and mustard – I know sounds gross, but friend in “HIGH” school introduced me to this weird sandwich and still like it).

 

-Carnival Capers – Specifically night before a new port – Carnival & RCI insert a little pull out section about the upcoming port. RCI has more info on the port, it gives you a little story about the history of the port and info on exchange rates and estimated taxi fares (Carnival seems to focus on stores). This one may only matter to us, because DW and I have a tradition when cruising, every night I read her a bed story – this bed story is the little story about the ports history they provide. Again, no big deal, but just something we do together and it has become a tradition – so not having a bedtime story for her was little sad.

 

-Captain – I rarely heard from the Captain on the Valor. On RCI the captain would speak daily, especially before leaving port – he would tell you how far the next port is, what our avg. cruising speed would be to get there on time, weather for the night and next day in port, and give you some silly fable/Chinese proverb at the end. Could just have been the captain on Valor – I don’t know if it’s the same on other Carnival Ships.

 

-I missed seeing the days change on the elevator floor – RCI has name plates on the elevator floors that tell you what day it is. Again, not a big deal – just something silly and fun.

 

-Smoke smell- I don’t know if RCI has better ventilation or this Carnival cruise had too many smokers onboard, but the Casino area smelled way too much of smoke. I mean even has I was walking down the stairs and was in between decks 6/5 I could already smell it.

 

-Maître D- I never met him on the Valor. On RCI he would introduce himself the first night and pass by a couple nights and say hi – on lobster night he would come by your table and help get your lobster tail out of the shell and take the shell away.

 

Promenade Café (Voyager/Freedom Class) vs. 24hr Pizzeria – Promenade Café wins, pizza, sandwiches (mmm ham/cheese croissant)

 

Late nigh Snack – Sea View Café vs. Aft Pool Grill – Sea View café (Radiance Class) wins – mmm buffalo chicken strips and Cuban sandwich.

 

Upscale Dining Venue – RCI wins, because I am not big on steak and the menu in Protofino is awesome and the food great. Supper Club (Scarlet’s Steakhosue) food was good, but menu was similar to MDR (escargot, lobster bisque, shrimp cocktail).

 

Room Service - I like the selection on RCI - like being able to order from the dinner menu and eat in your stateroom (good for days you are tired or feeling ill). Also, like being able to order hot breakfast food to be delivered in the morning. However, don't like the $3.95 charge after midnight now on RCI.

 

That’s all for the comparison. Overall Carnival is a great product and the price was amazing when compared to same destinations for similar time of year when compared to RCI. In the end I still prefer RCI, but will be always looking at Carnival before I book my RCI cruise. If the price difference is $100-$200 more on RCI, I will still sail them, however, if the price difference is $900 more on RCI, NO WAY. I think everyone owes it to them selves to try both lines, especially if the price is similar, because they each have good things to offer.

 

We probably still prefer RCI over Carnival because we have sailed RCI so many times and I am used to them and the experience has become synonymous with cruising for us. However, I could easily find myself sailing Carnival a few more times and who knows I may get so used to them I start leaning towards Carnival.

 

Anyhow, when I get home, I will start with the overview of the days, post pictures and scan the capers… until then…

[djneph]

Food: (Hardest to judge because it is so subjective)

 

Breakfast (buffet area we don’t do MDR):

Prefer RCI by a small margin for two reasons. DW loves French toast over pancakes, RCI has both pancakes and French toast every day, Carnival alternates (one day pancakes – one day French toast). Also, I love corn beef hash (only eat it when I cruise, since I am sure it’s not the healthiest of breakfast foods). Carnival only had it one day; Royal has it every day for breakfast.

 

I agree about the french toast/ pancake rotation. However, we had corned beef hash as a selection everyday in the main dining room. That's one reason we prefer the MDR to the buffett. :p

 

Next time I am on Carnival I will have to pop into the MDR just to order cornbeef hash everyday.

[oncruisecontrol]

Food: (Hardest to judge because it is so subjective)

 

Breakfast (buffet area we don’t do MDR):

Prefer RCI by a small margin for two reasons. DW loves French toast over pancakes, RCI has both pancakes and French toast every day, Carnival alternates (one day pancakes – one day French toast). Also, I love corn beef hash (only eat it when I cruise, since I am sure it’s not the healthiest of breakfast foods). Carnival only had it one day; Royal has it every day for breakfast. Toast/Bagels – RCI has untoasted bread available and someone to toast bread for you on the spot, Carnival toasts the bread ahead of time and puts it on the line so it got cold and hard. A plus for Carnival was the very tasty salsa to put on my eggs… mmm so good!

 

One of my friends who I cruise with loves toast---but not the stuff that they toast ahead. On every Carnival cruise we've taken, she asks one of the personnel on the line to toast white bread for her while she waits because she likes it hot, right from the toaster. They have always done it for her no matter what ship we've been on. But, I'm sure most people just accept the status quo; it probably never occurs to them that the staff would be happy to toast bread to order for them. If enough people request this service in their comment cards, maybe Carnival will begin to provide it.

[oncruisecontrol]

In my previous post, the first paragraph is what the OP wrote. The second paragraph is my response. I deleted a little too much here. Was in a hurry.

[frazzledrazzle16]

Thanks for the review! :)

For now, we are sticking with Carnival until we reach platinum status, but one of these days I will get around to trying RCI. It's always interesting to hear comparisons of the two, especially since a lot of times they are either "almost identical" or "I will never sail this line again" and leave it at that, but in this case I felt your review was very objective and helpful. So thanks again!

[ehfl]

I've also been on both lines, including the Carnival Valor. Good review, and I would agree. I actually like the shower doors on RCL better than the curtains on Carnival.

 

There is really no comparison between the ships...RCL would have to win in virtually every category. I found service to be similar, but a bit friendlier and more attention to detail on RCL.

 

As for food, I liked Carnival a bit more for lunch at the buffet. The flow at the buffet on RCL is much better though. There are multiple stations with the same food, so if there is a line at one place, you can almost always find a station with no wait.

 

Dinner was about the same on both, but RCL tends to use a bit too much salt. The premium restaurants are really, really good on RCL.

 

The bottom line, is that I've had a fantastic time on every cruise I've been on, whether RCL or Carnival. If you go on a cruise on either line, and don't have a good time, it's not the line's faut....it's yours.

[Mlkkc]

I agree a 100% with ehfl

[LHP]

Yes, I'd like to see the rest of your review...We are sailing on the Valor on Oct 18..My TA keeps telling me I need to try the Voyager class of RCCL but I fine it hard to pay what they want for a cruise......:)...........Dennis

 

Dennis:

 

We were on this cruise with the OP....I wish I was going back with y'all.

 

Even if you are not into karaoke, please go by and tell Kim (karaoke host) his Cruise Mom said HI. He is sooo entertaining. (especially later in the evening when he really get going)

 

Gary (the CD) is a sweetheart. Not to many announcements....very visible.

 

We really liked the new Captain's celebration (instead of the Captain's cocktail party). It lasts for 3 hours and you can really stand and have a conversation with the Captain or officiers or staff....not just a hand shake and a nod.

 

And while there are no more free drinks at the Captain's event ($1 off instead)...they DO have the free drinks the last evening in the Eagles Lounge from 5pm - 6pm. Complete with music to dance to etc. We really enjoyed it.

 

They were all wonderful with DJ. Gary and Sam (ACD ~ and she is a delight) know me as "DJ's Mom".

 

Rise Up is the band from the Phillipines and they ROCK.

Play That (Joel and Lorna) is the duo in the Atrium and they are GREAT.

 

I am embarrassed to say that for the very first time...I missed most of our Cruise Critic Meet and Greet. (it has never happened before) BUT it was scheduled the same time as afternoon karaoke....so you know who won out.

 

I did "slide in" for a quick hello. But then it was right back to karaoke.

 

We had a direct flight (free because of points woo hoo) from Memphis to Miami and back...so that was SWEET. 2 hours and a few minutes and we were HOME!!

 

Have a great cruise....

[3redheads]

To the OP, how do you compare the beds?

 

I've always had a difficult time on RCCL's beds, but LOVED Carnival's beds. If they weren't so expensive, I'd buy one.

 

I agree with you on many of your points. We took our first Carnival cruise in August. The lines are VERY similar.

[LHP]

To the OP, how do you compare the beds?

 

I've always had a difficult time on RCCL's beds, but LOVED Carnival's beds. If they weren't so expensive, I'd buy one.

 

I agree with you on many of your points. We took our first Carnival cruise in August. The lines are VERY similar.

 

I am not the OP (but was on the cruise with him) and sadly ....I have to say my bed was to hard.

 

This is the very first time I have ever had this problem. In fact, we own the Carnival bedding and sleep on it every night....

 

but my bed was not up to par on the Valor.

 

Hopefully, mine is the exception and not the rule...

[pokergirl34]

I am not the OP (but was on the cruise with him) and sadly ....I have to say my bed was to hard.

 

This is the very first time I have ever had this problem. In fact, we own the Carnival bedding and sleep on it every night....

 

but my bed was not up to par on the Valor.

 

Hopefully, mine is the exception and not the rule...

 

Nooooooooo!!!! That is one thing we are both really looking forward to. We love Carnival's beds. I have never slept so well on vacation as I did on the Elation. That bed was pretty firm though...hopefully the Valor's are similar.

 

OP - great comparisons. It is interesting to read your perspective.

 

I would LOVE to see some Capers :) Thanks!