What keeps you sailing with Carnival ?

[BenjiRodney]

Carnival offers me the most bang for my buck. The staff has never been rude or ignored requests like they have on Royal. Both cruises we did on Royal were two to three times more expensive than Carnival, why did we go this year, because Carnival did not have a Bermuda itinerary. It just amazes me that I can get a suite on a larger Carnival ship for cheaper than I had to pay for an Oceanview room on Royal, on an older smaller ship.

 

 

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[Casco Bay Kid]

Not a big fan of bumper cars. So I like Carnival.

 

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Edited October 14, 2014 by Casco Bay Kid

[trvlgirlmq]

My family has also enjoyed the value we receive when cruising on Carnival. Our family vacations are usually in summer when my kids are out of school. I did some price comparison for the week of Memorial Day 2015 and here is what I found:

 

2 adults/2 kids

Carnival 8 day Breeze base price for Lido Balcony $794 pp

RCCL 7 day Independence base price for Deck 8 Balcony $1080 pp

NCL 7 day Getaway base price for Deck 8 Balcony $824 pp

 

NCL comes closest in cost but for 1 less day and 1 less port. Also, it is the only game in town for NCL in summer sailing from Florida. I would never be opposed to trying something new but there has to be the perceived value for my vacation dollars. We chose the Breeze again for this reason.

[MistyRo76]

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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Getting ready to book my 16th Carnival cruise. I keep coming back because I've never had a bad experience and the pricing can't be beat. I'd rather be able to cruise more often than pay more for bells and whistles that I'd probably never take advantage of anyway. I'm not closed off to trying another cruise line...but when I've compared cruises and prices, I always come back to Carnival. It's also nice for me to know what I'm getting, be familiar with cabin classes & pricing promotions, not have to spend two days just learning my way around the ship, etc.

 

Misty

[Badfinger]

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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Because we live within a 4-hour drive to Galveston and have two kids in school. Carnival was the only line sailing from Galveston in the summer of 2012 and 2013. And they were much cheaper for the same itinerary than RC in 2014. Flying would make a cruise a no-go price wise, and driving more than 4 hours to another port (such as NO) does not sound like much of a vacation. Plus the Magic is a great ship.

[Tapi]

If Carnival was more expensive than a competitor currently offering a comparable or higher quality itinerary with or without more onboard amenities, would you sail with the competitor?

 

 

Carnival is my cruise line of choice if a) I want to sail cheaply and/or b) I'm looking for a convenient sailing closest to home. But if a different cruise lines is offering the same itinerary, chances are that I will lean towards the other cruise line.

 

We just returned from a short, Pacific Coastal sailing from Los Angeles on Princess (review with pics below :)). It was about $130pp cheaper than a similar sailing on the Imagination or Inspiration. It was absolutely phenomenal, something that I normally don't say when I return from a short, cheap cruise on Carnival. While I've truly enjoyed my previous Carnival cruises, the experience on Princess was superior in basically every aspect and truly special.

 

Even if both Carnival and Princess had been equally priced, without a doubt we would've still chosen Princess. The fact that this time it was cheaper was just icing on the cake! :)

 

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Edited October 15, 2014 by Tapi

[Disconnections]

Thank you to those who further provided insight. For those who may have missed the question, I quoted it below.

 

 

Out of a total of 124 unique members that responded to this thread, 118 of them have provided insight of why they choose to sail Carnival.

 

Out of those 118 members, 83 (or 70.3%) referenced price or overall cost. Many of those members had stated price is their determining factor when selecting a cruise, with others placing it in their top three. A few had made the statement that Carnival is the cheapest cruise line.

 

My question to those 83 members or whoever would like to respond:

If Carnival was more expensive than a competitor currently offering a comparable or higher quality itinerary with or without more onboard amenities, would you sail with the competitor?

Edited October 15, 2014 by Disconnections

[Tapi]

It's also nice...not have to spend two days just learning my way around the ship, etc.

 

 

 

Misty

 

 

JMHO, but for us it's been a superlative to explore a new ship and discover things that are different from previous ships that we've sailed on. Even on the largest ships, we've never felt as if we've wasted our time learning our way around. On the contrary. Sailing on the same cruise line over and over and basically knowing where everything is has been a big reason why we have branched out and not repeated the same cruise line in the last 4 years. There's something very exciting and refreshing about, not only learning a new ship, but discovering what each new cruise line has to offer.

 

 

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Edited October 15, 2014 by Tapi

[ccruisequeen]

 

We just returned from a short, Pacific Coastal sailing from Los Angeles on Princess (review with pics below :)). It was about $130pp cheaper than a similar sailing on the Imagination or Inspiration. It was absolutely phenomenal, something that I normally don't say when I return from a short, cheap cruise on Carnival. While I've truly enjoyed my previous Carnival cruises, the experience on Princess was superior in basically every aspect and truly special.

 

Even if both Carnival and Princess had been equally priced, without a doubt we would've still chosen Princess. The fact that this time it was cheaper was just icing on the cake! :)

 

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Would make sense if inspiration and imagination would ever do that type of cruise. Only time it was ever offered was during the swine flu scare.

 

 

 

 

[jsfromsc]

If another line were cheaper, of course I'd consider it. There are cases where I'd consider another line even if it were somewhat more expensive, like a better itinerary. I'm not interested in the giant ships like Allure or Oasis, because that seems overwhelming to me. I would definitely consider Princess. We've been talking about doing Alaska, and I've read some really great things about the Princess itineraries for Alaska. But I don't want to pay twice what it costs to sail on Carnival, especially if I have to pay a hefty airfare. I might pay extra for a cruise with no smokers and no kids. ;)

[chill6x6]

Last 2 or 3 cruises with Carnival have been basically because of availability. If NCL had a cruise out of San Juan, I would have picked it. If NCL had a cruise to Curacao/Aruba for 8 days or less…would have cruised it. Compared to NCL/Princess the Carnival entertainment really is a step or two down. Really. Still Carnival provides a pretty good cruise at a fair price providing entertainment isn't a priority.

 

Trying Jewel of the Seas next to see how it compares to the Valor.

[HollandAvery]

The level of service provided and the friendliness of staff! We have received EXCELLENT service that was beyond our expectations and our staff has always been very friendly and welcoming. I love when our cabin steward would always happily shout "Hello Mr. Giovanni and Ms. Megan!" down the hall every time he saw us coming and going! Great guy (:

[Tapi]

Would make sense if inspiration and imagination would ever do that type of cruise. Only time it was ever offered was during the swine flu scare.

 

The itinerary that I'm referring to is the short 4 night cruise that goes to Ensenada. While Princess does offer a longer Pacific Coastal 7 night cruise that goes to San Francisco, they use the same name to refer to their short itineraries as well. They offer a series of these cruises every fall that visit Ensenada and alternate between Catalina Island, Santa Barbara and San Diego for the second port.

 

 

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Edited October 15, 2014 by Tapi

[Tapi]

Would make sense if inspiration and imagination would ever do that type of cruise

 

 

I went back and re read your post. I think I misunderstood it. Yes, it would completely make sense! Even though we did a short sample with Santa Barbara, my wife LOVED it. She said that it was such a breath of fresh air and something completely different than the same old Cozumel, Nassau itineraries over and over. She actually said that she would prefer a Pacific Coastal cruise over a Caribbean cruise, even with the longer flight (for us) to the west coast.

 

 

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[dltvermont]

We are total cruise newbies so cant comment why we come BACK to Carnival but can tell you why we chose it this time! We had our first cruise ever back in April/May. That one was just the two of us and we used NCL because a friend recommended it to us and it had the itinerary we wanted at a price that seemed good to us. This year (2015) we decided the kids would LOVE a cruise so we decided to include them. I checked NCL and Carnival and the identical itinerary with NCL was ALOT higher in price so we chose Carnival (which by the way another friend uses all the time and recommended).

 

I am looking for price vs itinerary and the fact that we are very laid back people and look for anything that is more casual. I dont want to HAVE to dress up unless I WANT to dress up for dinner etc.

[mom2tcdx2]

Prices keep me coming back, though I have never had a bad experience on a Carnival Cruise. With the exception of my very first cruise, all the others on Carnival have been 7 day ones. They have plenty of things to do, food is fine, service has been good. I can't complain about any cruise I have done with Carnival. So if they are going to be as affordable as I have found the last 3 to be I will continue to book.

[legion3]

I would love to take my wife on a pacific coastal. I was stationed in the CG in California, Oregon and Alaska and know it would appeal to her. Our small kids however 7 and 5 and the air fare addition make it almost a non-starter. I just can't fathom the idea of paying more for air fare than the cruise, but it does limit us to Florida.

 

Also not sure Princess would have all of the things our kids would like at this point. I know they have a kids club but not all kids clubs and amenities are equal.

 

Would love to stay at the Queen Mary. Loved the review!

[Tapi]

Also not sure Princess would have all of the things our kids would like at this point. I know they have a kids club but not all kids clubs and amenities are equal!

 

 

Although we loved our cruise on Princess and had a phenomenal time as a couple, we would NOT choose it if we were traveling with our toddler aged children. We checked out the kids facilities and read their list of activities for future reference, and although they do seem to have a decent program and we saw several families onboard, it seemed more limited than what we've experienced on more family friendly cruise lines.

 

 

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[Badfinger]

Out of a total of 124 unique members that responded to this thread, 118 of them have provided insight of why they choose to sail Carnival.

 

Out of those 118 members, 83 (or 70.3%) referenced price or overall cost. Many of those members had stated price is their determining factor when selecting a cruise, with others placing it in their top three. A few had made the statement that Carnival is the cheapest cruise line.

 

My question to those 83 members or whoever would like to respond:

If Carnival was more expensive than a competitor currently offering a comparable or higher quality itinerary with or without more onboard amenities, would you sail with the competitor?

 

You have to realize that cost also includes your travel to get to the port. We can drive Galveston. Their are limited itineraries out of Galveston. But after sailing on the Magic, the competitor would have to offer the equivalent of the Cloud 9 Spa...the big Therapy Pool and three different saunas. And last I checked, RC NOS out of Galveston has nothing to compare. So it would have to be a lot cheaper, and I am talking at least $500, probably more, for me consider a cruise without Cloud 9 Spa facilities. However, I don't think that is a decision I will have to make.

[KPfromCT]

Carnival is a perfect fit for our family and friends.

I am not embarrassed to tell people we prefer Carnival.

A lot of people ON these boards, and off these boards, think Carnival is the Wal-Mart of cruise lines.

I couldn't disagree more.

The staff is always friendly. They are always cleaning.

Food is subjective for EVERYONE, so that doesn't even play into the equation.

Never encountered any fights, or obnoxious drunks vomiting, urinating, fighting, etc.

Maybe we've been lucky?

It works for us, and that's all that matters.:D:D:D

[42CruiseCrazy]

"Never encountered any fights, or obnoxious drunks vomiting, urinating, fighting, etc."

 

Neither have I, on any Carnival cruise. The obnoxious behaviour that I have

Never encountered any fights, or obnoxious drunks vomiting, urinating, fighting, etc.

 

 

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[KPfromCT]

"Never encountered any fights, or obnoxious drunks vomiting, urinating, fighting, etc."

 

Neither have I, on any Carnival cruise. The obnoxious behaviour that I have

Never encountered any fights, or obnoxious drunks vomiting, urinating, fighting, etc.

 

 

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:confused::confused::confused::confused: What am I missing here? I was being serious.

I have read others posts about it, but, I, personally, have never had issues.

[Luluwa]

The perks for being Platinum keeps me coming back to CCL

 

 

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[Domino D]

Out of a total of 124 unique members that responded to this thread, 118 of them have provided insight of why they choose to sail Carnival.

 

Out of those 118 members, 83 (or 70.3%) referenced price or overall cost. Many of those members had stated price is their determining factor when selecting a cruise, with others placing it in their top three. A few had made the statement that Carnival is the cheapest cruise line.

 

My question to those 83 members or whoever would like to respond:

If Carnival was more expensive than a competitor currently offering a comparable or higher quality itinerary with or without more onboard amenities, would you sail with the competitor?

 

For us the answer is Yes (given that the we could depart from Florida). I have no problem with Carnival and have enjoyed all my cruises, but we mostly look at where a cruise is going and the cost. If NCL, RCI, Princess, etc. were going where we haven't been, and charging less than Carnival then we would go with them.

 

We have no where near as much experience as many of you, but we have enjoyed the amenities, entertainment, food, etc. on all our cruises. Each cruise has had its strengths and weaknesses, but in the end they have all been enjoyable and adequate. For our last two cruises, and our upcoming one we have gone with Carnival because of the combination of cost and itinerary.

 

We discussed the more upscale amenities of Princess, Holland, or Celebrity. We looked at the entertainment and activities of RCI and NCL Getaway. But in the long run 8 days, going to 4 Eastern Caribbean ports, Christmas week, for less than $3500 outweighed all the others. Had one of the other cruise lines offered the same itinerary for $100 less we probably would have tried them.

 

I am guessing as we visit more ports, and accumulate more ship time we might find our priorities shift.