Do you cruise with other cruise lines besides Carnival?

[cruizinisthebest]

Just Carnival so far and have very little negative commentary about any of our trips. Each has been a blessing and a treat! I love to cruise and looking forward to trying another line. Thinking Norweigan may be next.

[elliair]

We cruised on both Carnival and Princess. Many years ago on RCL but haven't ventured back to them. We're cruising on Princess in about 3 weeks to Hawaii - 15 day. The price was excellent and the on board credit was great - better than what Carnival offered us. Also, we are driving to ship which is a big plus for us.

[jimdalva]

Do you cruise with other cruise lines besides Carnival?

 

 

 

 

YES

[mapman_2004]

Our last cruise was on Disney: amazing cruise no doubt, but not worth the 2 to 2 1/2 times the cost in my opinion. We did get Kids Sail Free, which is the only way I will sail with them again.

 

Carnival is great, and worth every penny. Use the savings from Carnival and apply it to Port Excursions and Steakhouse dinners.

[CarnivalBreeze319]

Edit

Edited November 7, 2013 by CarnivalBreeze319

[CarnivalBreeze319]

Carnival is an Amazing line for the price! Give it a try. I don't think you will be disappointed

[seannyice81]

I've sailed only with CCL and RCI so far. The RCI ship (Independence of the Seas) was awesome! Service and food were meh'. What I paid for an inside cabin on that cruise though could have easily bought me a balcony cabin on a CCL ship. Thats mostly why I've sailed CCL. I cannot beat the pricing. The large majority of their staff are excellent too, and seem to be more engaging. Conquest Class ships are going to start feeling like home away from home.

 

That said... I will be trying other lines. I really, really, want to try the Norwegian Epic. I'm a little disappointed though, that it'll sail only Western Caribbean once Getaway goes into service.

[cjknox]

Definitely.

 

The biggest factor for me is the itinerary. It's less about the cruise line because you can have a great time on all of them; but of course each cruise line has it's own style.

 

You are certainly doing yourself a huge disservice by sticking exclusively to one cruise line.

[BubMunkeyBles]

We booked Celebrity out of San Juan. It was $1400 for an ocean view with free drink package. We thought it was a great deal and get to try a new line.

 

I'm also book on Royal. Definitely more expensive but it worked with the dates I needed and I wanted to try their ships.

 

Variety is the spice of life. :)

[rebel7254]

Of course. But then it might take another 15 min to get... That was our experience. The lights were flicking on and off for the next service before we had even had dessert... I assume having to order it twice was part of the reason... And sometimes they would double up but to be honest a lot of times we didn't know what they brought, since we hadn't ordered it so special requests were so-so...

 

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Forums mobile app

 

I didn't mean order twice. I mean order two (or however many you want) shrimp cocktail dishes at the same time. This way you get as much as you want and there's no 15 minute wait.

 

In seven cruises with Carnival, including the one I took last week on the Liberty, I've never had a dining room experience even remotely close to what you've described in this thread and the others I've seen you complaining in. Last week was the first time we'd been on Carnival in three years, and we were worried that the MDR service had went downhill based on what some people here were posting. Perhaps we just got lucky, but the MDR service was on par with past Carnival cruises as far as we could tell.

Edited November 7, 2013 by rebel7254

[rebel7254]

I just want a clean, safe cruise, with decent food. I don't need first class.

 

Then Carnival should be just fine.

[OCruisers]

In our case we absolutely most often cruise on other cruise lines ... just also sometimes cruise on Carnival.

Charleston is an extremely convenient port for us and Carnival Fantasy is the only ship in town. :rolleyes:

 

LuLu

~~~~

[rdevine10]

We have cruise Disney, Carnival and RCCL. We are going on our 4th cruise and the only line I really looked at was carnival. (Mostly due to price!). While all experiences have been slightly different, there was no way I could justify the $5000 price tag for disney dream for the same dates we are doing the fascination for a mere tiny fraction of that cost.

 

I always go with the idea that you make the most of the experience you have. Go in with a good attitude that you will have fun and guess what, you likely will!

 

PS while I loved Disney (it was more 5 star), there were SO SO many kids, and while I love the characters, its great to have activities not based around them sometimes! (and this is coming from a disney nut!).

 

We didnt find a huge difference between carnival and royal. We had a great time on each line and would gladly sail either. However, Royal is very pricey for a 7 night cruise for 4. Carnival is much more economical!

[LadySam1968]

I'm looking at other lines for my 2015 Baltic cruise. Price wise for the itinerary I want NCL and princess seem to be comparably priced.

[Sailor_Sally]

I have sailed Carnival , RCL, NCL , Costa & Celebrity . I enjoyed them all . My least favorite is RCL .

[soccersharon]

Boarding the Epic on the 16th. Variety is the spice of life :)

 

Sent from my GT-S5830D using Forums mobile app

[JimAOk1945]

We have sailed on Carnival, Princess, and Royal Caribbean. We have enjoyed them all. In the future, we have plans to try other cruise lines. To us, a cruise is all about the itinerary.

 

Happy cruising everyone! :)

Edited November 7, 2013 by JimAOk1945

[Blk_Amish]

I just want a clean, safe cruise, with decent food.

 

Carnival should be prefect. The food is banquet, which is easy when you they preparing meals for thousands of people. Without a doubt you will have a few great meals and the rest mostly good to so-so. If you value what goes in your body, there might be one or two that's not worth the calories, send back. The bedding is lovely. Between my first and my most recent cruise, there was a huge decline in the quality of the food, which you will not miss.

Edited November 7, 2013 by Blk_Amish

[S.S.Oceanlover]

We are considering Carnival for our 3rd cruise, having done Disney (only because we got an unbeatable last minute deal a few years ago) and Norwegian. After lots and lots of researching, Carnival, going to the same destinations, averages about $1600 less expensive than Norweigian, Holland America, Royal Carribean, etc. etc. for a 7 days cruise. Where do you find the differences? Is it the food? Entertainment? Cleanliness? Service? I am generally a lower budget gal and love a bargin. I just want a clean, safe cruise, with decent food. I don't need first class. Just curious how/why Carnival is able to offer such lower prices. THANKS! BTW..we are looking at the Liberty's 7 days cruise to the Carribean visiting Belize, Roatan, Grand Caymen, and Cozumel.

 

I would say the service, food and cleanliness are about equal with other lines but the entertainment is sorely lacking.

 

If entertainment isn't what you cruise for then I'd say go for it.

 

As to your question about how CCL can offer their cruises that cheaply, they really can't get anymore money then they are charging now so they really have no other options but to price their cruises so cheaply.

 

They certainly can't mothball half the fleet.

 

Bill

[arby70]

I look at Carnival a lot now because their prices seem to be quite a bit lower. They're not my favorite line, but I think their product is pretty good. Their cruises are a pretty good buy, and I have had good crews on every ship I've been on, including Carnival (I've sailed with Celebrity, RCL, NCL and Carnival.) I'm taking Carnival to Alaska next June and I'm looking at a 4 day Baja cruise with them this winter. I know I will enjoy my cruises, and if I were you, I'd give them a try.

[Minoushka]

I have sailed many different companies ...carnival was first then NCLThen RCI! Celebrity. ,Princess,.MSC! ,Costa ,ans Cunardand .HAL

I would go back on all except MSC where food was only available at specific times ,making it hard t get anything between 3and6 when we were back from excursions ...they hadpizza with ridiculous lines of people waiting and starving ....if you were Italian you got Royal treatment everybody else ..no plus the cruise director was sooooooo rude ..unbelievable ..he told me I did not speak English ...i spokeAmerican ......to which I replied technically I speak Canadian ..he was one very obnoxious man

I think choose the itinerary then ship to suit your budget ...thats how I do it

I will say Celebrity and Hal are not party ships ...quite the contrary very subdued and quiet ..little or no night life ...with kids very boring

Carnival ncl and rci doa better job in that department .But to me best food is on Princess and Cunard

Liveliest ambiance .....Costa

[RWolver672]

We went with RCI once because we wanted to go to Aruba and at the time Carnival didn't go there. We didn't feel as comfortable with RCI as we do with Carnival so now that's the only line we cruise with. Not going to take a chance on another line.

[kentuckyluckyguy]

This thread is of great interest to me as well. I've only sailed Carnival and the small Bahamas Celebration and am looking to broaden my cruise horizons by trying some of the other lines.

 

I too have noticed Carnival is almost always the least expensive, but I think I'm willing to pay more and see what the difference is.

 

I've been told by some table mates on my last CCL cruise that HAL is way to quiet and the ship is basically shut down for the night by 11pm. I've been told Disney is typical "over the top Disney" just like they do everything but man it's pricy, just like the parks. I've also been told RCCL is good and that the balconies are very much worth paying extra for.

 

There aren't many places I haven't cruised to other than places like Aruba, St. Lucia and St Kitts and I'm looking hard at the RCCL cruises that leave out of Florida and port in those spots. It's difficult to justify airfare to San Juan for a great cruise price when most of the time the airfare is double the cruise cost.

 

I'd also be very interested in trying Princess and Celebrity too....and am curious if anyone has had any experience on the MSC line?

[LHP]

I personally can not wait to try Oceania, as soon as our son with Autism gives us the OK.

 

(change is not their friend)

[askimdog]

find me a cruise as cheap as Carnival and I would go in a heartbeat!!!. I don't need production shows, casino, extra restaurants, mdr, just a buffet and a bed with cool ports and I am in.