Is Carnival really a low income cruise line?

[H82seaUgo]

Seriously? Man, I must just ignore this type of think because i've never even HEARD of such a thing. I know they do the hairy chest thing, though I've never seen it.

 

haven't seen a beer drinking contest in over 15 years.

[Warm Breezes]

I'm not sure why everyone thinks that RCCL is so much more than expensive than Carnival. I have 3 people booked in balcony 6-3-12 sailing, cost is 3919.00. I can book RCCL balcony/3, same date, FOS, for 4134.00. Hardly seems like enough money to make RCCL a superior class ship or people:eek:. We have cruises RCCL many times and I really didn't find much difference at all other than more subtle:confused: interiors.

 

When I am comparing ships the only ships that come out comparable in price to CCL or NCL for a week I can sail are usually the older RCCL ships and I'd rather go on a newer CCL or NCL than an older RCCL. When I was searching for our last cruise we wanted something different. We were looking for a new larger ship. We narrowed it down to NCL Epic and RCCL Oasis. We compared the same week, same itinerary (only opposite directions), and same category rooms. NCL Epic came out $1000 less for the 4 of us. That paid for our plane tickets, taxis and shuttles. Maybe someday we will sail on RCCL. But for now, their ships have not enticed us enough yet to want to spend the bigger bucks they are charging. I don't consider RCCL superior, but I do think they are more expensive.

[tracyanns]

Yes we did. I figured for our first cruise that would be nice! Kinda bundled with our 10yr anniversary (even tho that was last month). :)

 

It is nice, but it is hard to go backwards...so it you love cruising, you may have just cursed yourself. See if you are one of those people that spend a little or alot of time in the room, if you it is very little, book a good balcony and you will get the same experience, minus the bathtub!

[Cruzaholic41]

There will be beer drinking contests and hairy chest contests by the pool.

 

Carnival seems to be doing something right, to have grown from 1 ship to being the largest cruise company in the World. They have enough different cruise models to please everyone. My goodness, they own Princess, HAL, P&O, Cunard, Carnival, Costa (I think about 11 companies, but can't remember the rest).

 

What ship has beer drinking contests, and what games do they play? I do not ever recall seeing this on Carnival, or any ship for that matter. :confused:

 

Also, I have to laugh at the second comment. It's funny how when talking about the Costa tragedy, folks around here did all they could to disassociate Carnival and Costa. Good to see that when making a positive point, they are associated again.

[Cruzaholic41]

When I am comparing ships the only ships that come out comparable in price to CCL or NCL for week I can sail are usually the older RCCL ships and I'd rather go on a newer CCL or NCL than an older RCCL. When I was searching for our last cruise we wanted something different. We were looking for a new larger ship. We narrowed it down to NCL Epic and RCCL Oasis. We compared the same week, same itinerary (only opposite directions), and same category rooms. NCL Epic came out $1000 less for the 4 of us. That paid for our plane tickets, taxis and shuttles. Maybe someday we will sail on RCCL. But for now, their ships have not enticed us enough yet to want to spend the bigger bucks they are charging. I don't consider RCCL superior, but I do think they are more expensive.

 

Having been on Oasis, yes, it is superior and the cost is consistent with the difference in experience.

[funfamilyof6]

I'm not sure why everyone thinks that RCCL is so much more than expensive than Carnival. I have 3 people booked in balcony 6-3-12 sailing, cost is 3919.00. I can book RCCL balcony/3, same date, FOS, for 4134.00. Hardly seems like enough money to make RCCL a superior class ship or people:eek:. We have cruises RCCL many times and I really didn't find much difference at all other than more subtle:confused: interiors.

 

It really depends on when you go and what ship you are doing. We are giving Carnival a try for the first time after a few RCCL cruises and a couple of Disney. We like to cruise in August. RCCL was almost twice the price of Carnival when we priced cruises out a couple of months ago. It was an easy decision for us. :)

[jonbgd]

There will be beer drinking contests

 

.

 

Beer pong still exists......... Where????

[jgr8fulbear]

You get what you go looking for

[tracyanns]

What ship has beer drinking contests, and what games do they play? I do not ever recall seeing this on Carnival, or any ship for that matter. :confused:

 

Also, I have to laugh at the second comment. It's funny how when talking about the Costa tragedy, folks around here did all they could to disassociate Carnival and Costa. Good to see that when making a positive point, they are associated again.

 

No one disassociated Carnival and Costa as CCL being the parent company, what they disassociated was the Carnival was the one that ran the ship aground...that was the captain, under no orders from Carnival.

 

Only you can control your own actions and while CCL may be LIABLE for it, they were not RESPONSIBLE for it...

[tracyanns]

Beer pong still exists......... Where????

 

Ping pong table on the Miracle on my cruise every night at 10:00PM:eek:;):D

[Cruzaholic41]

No one disassociated Carnival and Costa as CCL being the parent company, what they disassociated was the Carnival was the one that ran the ship aground...that was the captain, under no orders from Carnival.

 

Only you can control your own actions and while CCL may be LIABLE for it, they were not RESPONSIBLE for it...

 

The holding company is not liable for what Costa did. Those lawsuits are sure to get thrown out. As for the disassociation never had happened, I think I may have read some threads you didn't. Many don't exist anymore.

[tracyanns]

Having been on Oasis, yes, it is superior and the cost is consistent with the difference in experience.

 

I guess that depends on your experience. I think in order for Oasis and Allure to be worth the difference in price you have to use the amenities you are paying for. If don't use the flowrider, the rock climbing, the zip line, the ice skating and the boardwalk...you might as well pay less for a ship that doesn't have any of that...

 

I am the first person to say that I think everyone should sail one of them atleast once if they can, just to see Central Park and have a drink on the Rising Tide Bar. But, if you don't care about the ship and what it offers, it is not worth paying for that experience. These ships are about the ships, not about the ports.

 

Also, I did not appreciate that they charged me a corkage fee to bring a bottle of wine into Chops that I JUST had bought across Central Park at the Wine Bar. They did not have anything in Chops that I wanted to drink so the Wine Bar had a better selection...they said since I bought it on the ship I could drink it in any restaurant...they even opened it for us...Chops said no, there is a corkage fee if we drink it in there because we didn't buy it in there. Pretty sure RCCL gets the profit from the bottles you buy in both restaurants, yet are trying to make more off of this scam...

[frankdp]

Also keep in mind - if you go into this thinking its going to suck , it will.

 

If given a free meal at either, I would go to Outback any day of the week compared to Ruth Chris' because I just don't want to dress up to go eat a steak. I don't care if RC is better, its not my atmosphere. I don't go into Outback thinking its going to suck because its not RC's, I go in there knowing I'm about to eat something I enjoy.

 

You've obviously never been to Ruth's Chris. Or you don't like steak.....

[Laurin612]

I've run into that kind of snobbery also when I tell people what cruise line I am sailing on. It's pretty much always from people who haven't actually sailed Carnival--they just "heard" such and such about it being a no frills, lower class cruiseline.

 

My husband and I would definitely be considered upper-middle class and Carnival is our favorite cruise line. We have cruised RCCL, Princess, Carnival and a few other smaller lines that are no longer in existence (Dolphin, Regency). We find that the Carnival cruises really are more fun and people seem more "down to earth" and fun loving. We also find Camp Carnival's kids program to be far superior to RCCL and Princess' similar offerings.

[pe4all]

When I am comparing ships the only ships that come out comparable in price to CCL or NCL for a week I can sail are usually the older RCCL ships and I'd rather go on a newer CCL or NCL than an older RCCL. When I was searching for our last cruise we wanted something different. We were looking for a new larger ship. We narrowed it down to NCL Epic and RCCL Oasis. We compared the same week, same itinerary (only opposite directions), and same category rooms. NCL Epic came out $1000 less for the 4 of us. That paid for our plane tickets, taxis and shuttles. Maybe someday we will sail on RCCL. But for now, their ships have not enticed us enough yet to want to spend the bigger bucks they are charging. I don't consider RCCL superior, but I do think they are more expensive.

Just out of curiosity, I would love to know if you looked at Magic, or even the upcoming Breeze on CCL, and did a comparison with them. (as they are newer, larger ships) Everytime I check dates/prices/itineraries/balconies against Epic/Oasis/Allure, CCL comes out $1,000 or more LESS expensive than RCCL/NCL, which is why we have stayed with Carnival!:D

[frankdp]

"a decline in customer service AND the people that cruise" What does this mean really? Are there more criminals? they are not as smart as you are? they are dirtier? or just not as "classy"as you think you are?

 

Comments like this just come off as so snobbish and arrogant. Just dont get how some with a little money (or think they have money) act as if they are so much better than others.

 

Dude, you are acting like an ass........There is nothing in this person's post that is offensive, he/she is just stating an opinion. At least you're not being "snobbish or arrogent", just mean.

[Cruzaholic41]

I guess that depends on your experience. I think in order for Oasis and Allure to be worth the difference in price you have to use the amenities you are paying for. If don't use the flowrider, the rock climbing, the zip line, the ice skating and the boardwalk...you might as well pay less for a ship that doesn't have any of that...

 

...the Broadway production shows, the Aqua Theater shows, the ice skating shows, the huge adults only venue and pools, the live bands all over the ship including the pool deck, the parades, the street parties. All this makes the cost worth it. But I see your point. If the venues and shows don't interest you, no, it is not worth paying extra.

[Warm Breezes]

Having been on Oasis, yes, it is superior and the cost is consistent with the difference in experience.

 

Worth $1000 over NCL Epic? Especially if I'm not into ice skating, surfing, zip lining or walking in parks on a ship? Value is subjective and I couldn't imagine anything else that RCCL Oasis could have to offer that would make it worth that much more than what we got for our money...BTW we had an awesome time on the Epic. My favorite cruise to date. I've enjoyed all of cruises on NCL, CCL, and DCL. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to try RCCL and I have nothing against them. I just can't find a cruise on them that interests me more than the others being offered, during the time I can sail, at a price I'm willing to pay.

[Scrapenthusiast]

I really don't think Low Income people have money to spend on a cruise. Iwould say it's more middle class, not the rich snooty types !!! Just my opinion.

 

Agree!

[stevenr597]

We are Platinum Level cruisers on Carnival. We also shop at both Target and even Wal-Mart. On many weekend we will dine out at the local Italian Restaurant and have salad and a Pizza. At other times we will dine out at are area Barbeque restaurant.

 

WE LOVE CARNIVAL!!!

 

Are we a "low income" group?

 

I might add that I am a Physician and my wife a Physical Therapist. We have also been on many of the other cruise lines including Princess, Celebrity, Cunard and Azamara. We also eaten numerous times at many of the "upscale" restaurants in our area. We have also recently completed a cruise to the Orient.

 

What I am trying to say is that on Carnival, like many of the other cruise lines, you will get a mix of many different groups.

 

ENJOY YOUR CRUISE

[CourtneyLovesCruising]

I believe it to be low class that your 'friends' would say this about your purchase.

[tracyanns]

The holding company is not liable for what Costa did. Those lawsuits are sure to get thrown out. As for the disassociation never had happened, I think I may have read some threads you didn't. Many don't exist anymore.

 

Well, I don't happen to have a copy of the CCL Corporate documents to see what, if any liablity they have, but as a parent company, they are already liable...own CCL stock? They are liable as the parent company to their stockholders as their stock has been negatively affected by both of these recent Costa accidents.

 

You may have read some threads that I didn't, but some people also don't know how to articulate what they really want to say...I read some posts that definately could have been worded better and there are also people out there that don't KNOW that they are associated...people get third party info or bad info and it spreads like WILDFIRE...

 

How many posts do we have or had on here about the Passengers getting robbed on a CCL excursion? Do you know that I had 2 phone calls about that? 1 from a loyal Royal cruiser that said "this is what happens on Carnival, these things don't happen on Royal"...like Carnival robbed them...but that is his mentality. The next day someone is telling me that they got robbed on the private island...I said it was the Splendor, which sail the west coast of Mexico so it was NOT HMC, but the swore it was...that is the ignornace part...hear part of a story and throw together the rest!

 

I am not sure that any class action law suits are going to go through, but there is definately going to be some law suits or some settlements...this is isn't going to just go away, especially for those that died.

[Warm Breezes]

Just out of curiosity, I would love to know if you looked at Magic, or even the upcoming Breeze on CCL, and did a comparison with them. (as they are newer, larger ships) Everytime I check dates/prices/itineraries/balconies against Epic/Oasis/Allure, CCL comes out $1,000 or more LESS expensive than RCCL/NCL, which is why we have stayed with Carnival!:D

 

Actually we didn't. Like I said we were looking for something different in that vacation and we had just done 3 Carnival Cruises in a row. The food and and entertainment were all starting to taste and look alike and we were ready for a change. Not that we didn't like our Carnival Cruises, we did. We were just up for a change and NCL Epic and RCCL Oasis were the 2 ships that interested us the most at that time. I have to admit that we were leaning more towards Epic to start with because the entertainment they offered was geared more towards what we wanted to see. With it being $1000 less than Oasis that just sealed the decision for us. We absolutely loved the Blue Man Group, Howl at the Moon and Cirque Dreams.

[helicopter]

Beer pong still exists......... Where????

 

On my patio, during the summer, with my college age grandkids and their friends:eek::D (drinking age, not driving);)

[LHP]

Personally, I think Carnival gets a bad rap, because they do draw a lot of first time tourists that have never traveled much.....much less cruised.

 

And a less traveled crowd brings with it a host of "issues"....