What keeps you sailing with Carnival ?

[KPfromCT]

We love what Carnival offers. You honestly cannot beat the price. We always have a great time. We are not into the shows, so I cannot complain about that part of it. The food is good, and I am not cooking it.

The beds are comfy, and I am not making them.:D:D They leave us a towel animal w/ chocolate, each night.

We also LOVE their itineraries......

Last year we did Antigua, Tortola, St. Thomas, and Nassau on the Breeze.

 

This year, Aruba, Dominican, Curacao, and Grand Turk. Again, on Breeze.

 

Love this ship!!!!!!

 

Keep up the good work, Carnival.:D

[mrsd912]

We've got our second Carnival cruise coming up, and we came back because it's the best value for our dollar. The service and food were really good on our last cruise, and we didn't have a desire to attend the shows anyway.

I'm sure we'll cruise with Carnival in the future as well. We'll probably try other lines as well, but not for a bit.

[buddylover]

I'm waiting for them to offer me a free cruise!

 

Yeah, me too! That would help me come back....LOL....for sure!

[Carnival Queen]

We have enjoyed 5 other cruise lines, but keep coming back to Carnival because it is casual and comfortable.

 

But the same as golfadj, if they don't fix the entertainment, we'll be gone!

 

We love Carnival (are VIFP) and like the perks, but have found that the entertainment and at sea activities have gone downhill the past few years . . . however, have recently read the same thing about other lines. Our last cruise in January we tried RCCL - Legend of the Seas - and the entertainment was terrible!!! (We were told by loyal RCCL cruisers to give them another try on their Freedom class ships or higher, where entertainment is much better). Our friends are on one now, so anxious to hear their thoughts.

 

We also had a much older (and some rude and obnoxious) crowd on RCCL - some have attributed that to the sail date right after the holidays and the length (10 days), but we weren't the only ones that felt that way (see several reviews posted). We also are not boozers or partiers, but the ship was dead at night!!! We chose that ship for the great itinerary - many ports we had never been too, so in that respect it was great. And we did meet lots of nice people, had some fun different experiences, and a nice group at our table for 10 in the MDR.

 

However, am planning our cruise for next year and will be returning to Carnival. I like their itineraries better, think their food (especially Lido buffet) is better, great service and great value. Except for some of the new mega ships with the ice shows, etc., I think all of the cruise lines have "cut back" the last few years . . . and they can because we all keep coming back!! :)

[Laurie S.]

I just finished my fifth cruise with Carnival. As can be seen in my signature, I've also cruised HAL numerous times, and RCL and Princess once each. I like Carnival because it is fun and has a casual atmosphere. Yet, I can dress up in the evenings and not feel out of place. I love HAL, but not many of its passengers. We don't care for the shows on any of the ships, but we do love karaoke, dancing, and drinking. Carnival works for us.

[Almost Packed]

Value for my $ and fun.

 

Camp as well.

[JohnSpo]

I don't need all the wow factor of the newer RCCL ships. I'm not going to zip line, ice skate, surf, rock climb, etc. I know what I'm going to get with a Carnival cruise and I'm good with that. I think RCCL is good for some people, but I'm not willing to pay more for features that I won't use.

 

 

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I totally agree. I like not having to pay for things I will not be doing. Overall I think that Carnival offers great value for the cruise fare they charge. The good food and great service also keeps me coming back.:cool:

[jakeT]

Nothing to love about Carnival. Just cheap prices keep coming. And now free cruises.

[kathy884]

We really like a mid ship balcony so that's the type of cabin that we look at when we consider a cruise. Seeing the ocean from our own private balcony for us is a big part of what cruising is about. We would not even consider a cruise without a balcony and would definitely do a land based vacation instead before doing that. An inside balcony looking over the promenade area on the Allure or Oasis would not be a substitute for this requirement for us either. Anyway when I've priced this type of cabin on RCCL larger new ships these seem to go cost wise for a pretty big premium.

 

This year 2014, for one of our two vacations we had a larger vacation budget than normal (splurge for our son's senior year in high school -- a chance to do something a little more exotic / expensive than we normally do on vacations). Anyway, this is the first time that Allure or Oasis could be in the running due to cost. Pricing expected expenses for the entire vacations related to one of those, cost was around $7500 over DS's spring break which was within our $8000 budget. But when push come to shove, I just couldn't pay that to do a cruise to ports we had been to so many times before. It seemed like a waste to me to spend that much on a cruise (knowing we can have a good time on another line and go to those same ports any year with our normal vacation budget.)

 

For the same money, we are flying to Lihue, HI and spending a week in Kauai, an island we thought would be fun to visit that we haven't been to before. Wild to me that a land based vacation where I am paying more than $1000 pp for air costs less than a cruise vacation with mid ship balcony on RCCL's biggest newest ships that leave out of Florida and wouldn't take us anywhere new.

 

I realize that I haven't sailed Royal, so don't know what I am missing, but the perceived value just isn't there for me.

[manunia]

i am still going with Carnival for two reasons only: 40 minutes to drive to the port and ability to take Friday-Monday cruise without taking time off work (my schedule is relatively flexible, i can start earlier/later to make my 8 h workday)...

Breeze and Spirit are my favorites.

if there were not any conditions i would go with Celebrity, Princess, RC, HAL in corresponding order.

Never had tried other lines...

i feel sad thou to see how cruise lines make cuts in service and loyalty programs...

[NOSaints1]

I do like the prices, as we have to fly there. This year were taking the Valor, but I will miss the Guys burgers and the tortillas. We booked an aft balcony. At the time we looked at the Jewel and it was about the same price but for an OV.

 

 

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[INCHARGE]

Price is the #1 reason I travel Carnival. Price got me on in the first place. We are able to travel more because of the prices. When we leave these cruises, no money is owed on any credit cards. If we can't pay for it by putting money aside each payday, we won't be going.

 

Cabin sizes are #2 because I have just discovered this Scenic Grand Ocean View cabin that is cheaper than the balcony. This works for us, and now we are spoiled to it. My Sunshine cruise was based on when this cabin was available. Now I really can't leave because of the size and views from this inexpensive cabin! :)

 

Carnival has the larges regular cabins of any that I have researched. Whenever I have been tempted to travel another line, charging me more for those tiny cabins just do not sit well with me. I don't do suites, so I need to get as much cabin bang for my buck. Call me cheap, but that's "MS. CHEAP" to you. :eek: :D.

[Warm Breezes]

As I write this we're going on the Valor in November, and it will be my 3rdcruise with Carnival, we've had a blast the other times, foods good, service is good. Than you look at Royal and ships like the Oasis, FOS and Quantem. I wish Carnival had intenerays like Pacific Coastal, Europe. I don't think we sail Carnival for the loyalty program, we don't have the WOW factor like Royal, can't compare it to Princess or Celebrity. I'm just wondering what all of you cruise Carnival for? Sometimes you feel like your missing something on other cruise lines, let me know what you think? I just wonder if anyone from Carnival reads these.

 

 

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We don't always sail Carnival....but we have sailed them the most and will continue to sail them if they meet the criteria for our vacation we are planning. We have sailed DCL, NCL, and in 2 weeks Princess. We are willing to sail any line that meets our wants. I don't expect Carnival to be the same as the other cruise lines. I prefer the lines to give me a slightly different experience. When Carnival has a ship that fits into the timing we can go, the itinerary we want to sail at the best price available...we will probably sail them, unless we are looking for a specific ship we want to sail like we did with Disney and NCL Epic.

 

IMHO food, service, and entertainment are subjective and could be different ship to ship. I have found that I prefer NCL's entertainment to Carnival....but not enough for me to choose NCL over CCL. DH likes CCL's food over NCL's....but not enough for us to choose CCL over NCL. Both of us like DCL overall over NCL and DCL....but not enough to pay the premium to sail them unless we have little kids to enjoy it with like we did when we first sailed on them. We would like to try RCCL, but can never justify paying the premium to sail them vs the other ships that end up on our shortlists for the vacations we are planning. In a nutshell it is usually the better value we get on Carnival that has us choosing them....but sometimes there are other things like timing, itinerary or the ship itself that has us choosing a ship on another line.

[Velvetwater]

Only done one cruise but here are the reasons I booked again

 

1) Price

2) 4k secret cabins and generally larger basic cabins than other lines

3) you can dine on your time without having to pre pay tips (ahem RCCL)

4)Less formal but still has elegant nights unlike NCL

5)It seems to have a younger cruiser thing going on

 

If they are not in Europe next year its very likely Ill be on RCCL or NCL or maybe Costa.

[NOSaints1]

Reason why we book Carnival is price, service, good food and activitys, we don't make a lot of money but we don't have debts or kids, and in our mid 30s but Carnival makes it affordable for us to travel. We put a deposit down and pay it down as we have extra money.

 

 

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[mrBit]

NOSaints1,

 

Satisfaction and familiarity; we know what to expect and always have a relaxing vacation. We have sailed other lines and choose based on what we know we'll like.

 

Granted the newer RCCL ships do have a 'wow' factor, but they don't seem like cruising to me. I do enjoying seeing them, but expect they're not much like being at sea; they may be fine and we'll sail them some day I'm sure, but not in the near term. 6K fellow passengers and a central park....no thanks. :o If they follow Carnival's lead and start offering up free trips I'm not sure I'd take them up on that option either.....Not enough time to spend doing something I'm not sure I'll enjoy. This coming Monday when it's ZERO degrees and snow piled high I'll take any cruise line up on any free offer for next weekend. :cool:

 

 

Bingo! We have sailed Carnival 5 times, loved, loved, loved it... we recently got off Navigator and had a good time as well. I loved the flow rider and the ship is very impressive and speciality restaurants.

 

But Navigator did not "feel" like a cruise, I felt like i was in a mall and more "at home land based." We did everything on the royal promenade and 2 speciality restaurants but I don't why it just did not "feel" like a cruise but it was still very much enjoyable.

 

I don't know if it was the time of the year but we did sail Carnival in winter as well, but NOS did not seem full (maybe a good thing) even though I am sure it was booked solid. But we went to all the shows, dining and everything and could not find where everyone was at??? The shows like the Ice show was awesome but half full... people missing out on one of the best shows i have seen on a cruise. Hey but less crowds can be a great thing except for a "festive feel" each so called "party" RCI announced... we went to but hardly anyone showed up and the deck parties were cut short. I guess the energy was different on NOS. To add we cruised with my oldest son at the time on Carnival who is now 10 years old but then he was 3 and he loved Freddy. He has great memories from Carnival... so now 2 more boys later ages 3 and 6 whom have never cruised grew up with Freddy stuffed dolls and such :P They can't wait to go on Triumph but I showed them the dream works theme on RCI and next year, they are excited about that.

A note on kids, back when we cruised carnival, RCI did not take children under 3 for camp services (was a deciding factor at the time).. this has now changed as we found out on NOS, kudos to RCI for the change.

 

We don't necessarily always hold the same reason for why we cruise each cruise. Sometimes it was for ports, others just to relax and have fun or sail with family. This last cruise was to just have fun and relax.

 

Anyway.... we are booking Triumph for this Dec and Freedom or Oasis of the Seas next year for summer 2015. We have not found the prices to be all that different, Magic is pricey out of Galveston during peak season as is NOS. Florida seems to be cheaper so that is why we are looking at Freedom or Oasis for next year.

 

So i guess what keeps us with Carnival was the feel and energy and fun of each cruise we had, they have always done a great job and as for RCI, we want to go again as well and while the energy is not the same, the vacation we had on Navigator while different from what we had before was nice enough to book RCI again as well.

Edited March 2, 2014 by mrBit

[morganboys]

I ask myself that all the time. originally my sister and her family were going to sail with us in june so we booked. stupid me booked es. They had to cancel. had I not booked es I would have canceled as well & booked with royal instead. since I am not going to give up my monies we are sailing the freedom in june and can't wait for another great cruise to get here. not the freedom I wish I was going to be on but it will be a great cruise regardless.

[Carnival Beerleader]

It puzzles me why posters here make it obvious that they dislike even have a hatred for carnival. They may have good reason but why then do they keep posting on these boards, anybody have the answer

Edited March 2, 2014 by Carnival Beerleader

[LandlockedCruiser01]

1. PRICE. Even when paying double as a solo, I still pay less than I would on RCI or NCL.

 

2. NOT TAKING THE CRUISING OUT OF CRUISING. It seems like RCI and NCL are heading in that direction: very hotel-like restaurant choices, no assigned seating, no dress-up nights, numerous land-based activities (ice skating, etc.), and ships that pretty much isolate you from the ocean. Carnival's newest ships still seem to have that cruise touch, albeit less so than their older ships. They still have glass-enclosed promenades, sports on the pool deck, elegant nights, and assigned dining. You still know you're on a cruise, rather than a floating AI.

 

3. PEOPLE I MEET. Almost everybody I met on Carnival cruises were nothing short of friendly. I had an easy time getting along with the people I met, and all of them were down-to-earth and open to meeting new people. Nobody was snooty or pretentious. As for obnoxious people, they found their way onto Carnival ships too, but I never had more than a brief, passing interaction with them.

Edited March 2, 2014 by LandlockedCruiser01

[NOSaints1]

To me I think the one thing I like about Carnival is that it has a lot of free restaurants, where if you look at NCL or Royal is a lot of there restaurants have a charge.

 

 

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[deborahjo]

For us it is Price first and foremost. Allows us to cruise more.

Next we do not need all those bangs and whistles that RCCL has. I am not saying they are bad but I can find anything I want to do on a Carnival cruise ship and be extremely happy and content.

Not as many people on the ship I sail either. Love that. I do not want to be on a ship with more then 6000 people.

[h_blond2]

I cruise with Carnival because of the price and the ease of getting to a port. New Orleans is a very easy drive from southeast Missouri. I cruise just to get away and to relax, I don't think I need to pay a ridiculously high amount to do that.

[Sarah@Sea]

Wanted to add...Early Saver rate and getting OBC for price drops after final payment. :D

[UATLB]

I have traveled on carnival(16), princess(1), ncl(3),royal(3)

I keep returning to carnival because it's enjoyable and well priced for my family of 4. I don't go to the shows so I don't notice the the "downfall" as people say but there is enough to do on the ship without going to the shows.

 

A vacation is what u make of it if your looking for pampering & someone to wipe your butt u need to wake up and shut the alarm clock off!!!

[FuturzMinion]

I'd say the service, the food, and the Waterslides! :3 :V I am deciding whether Royal Caribbean would be ok also.