Why should a loyal carnival cruiser try RCCL?

[Whenisdinner]

Why go for hamburger when I have filet mignon?

 

Carnival sea day brunch, steak and eggs is Filet B-)

 

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[ryano]

Back to the topic at hand though, I dont feel I can give a legit review of Carnival because my only experience was as a first time cruiser on the oldest, smallest, crappiest ship they had at the time that even most Carnival cheerleaders hated. That was 6 years ago and as I understand, Carnival has cut back a lot since then.

 

You know what though? I had an absolute blast on that cruise and if nothing else, Carnival Holiday is what got me hooked on cruising. Next I tried RCI and havent looked back.

 

I dont hate Carnival at all. In fact, I would go on a Carnival cruise tomorrow as long as it was on a new ship.

 

I just think RCI ships are much better and more pleasing to the eye. From all the pics Ive seen of Carnival ships, I just dont care much for them. I feel service is a bit better on RCI too. Food is too subjective. There is choices on RCI that I dont care for and the same goes for Carnival. I couldnt stand the Melting Chocolate Cake that everyone raves about. Their flat iron steak was like shoe leather but unless you pay for an upcharge steak on RCI its the same way. Both have enough food on board that most anyone should be able to find stuff they like and certainly wont go hungry.

 

I would like to go on Carnival Breeze but that would be about my only choice.

 

Just my little two cents on the whole Carnival vs RCI argument.

[mjldvlks]

. . . Why go for hamburger when I have filet mignon? . . .

 

Well, sometimes a good burger just fits the bill. But since we are speaking metaphorically, some might define the burger and the filet differently.

 

As to OP, I haven't cruised Carnival so can't share any direct comparison. Have several RCI cruises and have been happy with them all. But the bottom line is -- only you can decide. It's a pretty personal thing. SO if it's going where you want to go at a reasonable price, try it and see. Then you will know for sure and won't have to take our word for it.

[CruiseAddict1982]

So you bumped your head and forgot about your Brilliance cruise you told everyone on the Carnival forum about? :D:eek:

 

This is TOO funny!

 

 

Lol sucks to be caught in a lie

 

 

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[Paulxyz2004]

I have sailed carnival many times. I have sails RCCL mariner of the seas about 10 years ago. For anyone who has cruised both RCCL and CCL can you tell me why I should try RCCL again...

 

Considerations: RCCL more expensive, only 1 person has to purchase beverage program on RCCL, prefer easy access to food options by the pool on carnival.

 

 

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As a loyal Carnival cruiser you should stay loyal!

[cruiserider444]

I've saled Carnival 3 times and the only thing I have been disappointed in were the shows. I enjoyed the food and never had complaints, in fact our picky in laws couldnt believe how great the food is on Carnival. I am trying Royal for the first time next month and looking forward to a change. I will go on any cruiseline based on availability and schedule. We usually leave from NY/NJ since we are based out of here. we have also sailed NCL and didnt mind the food/freestyle dining and the shows were phenominal.

 

We have hesitated to try Royal because of the price, but I figured we finally try it before explorer leaves the port for good. plus, we are heading to St Martin, my fav island! I cant keep going to the same itinerary with the same shiptos, like Carnival Splendor is going, so I need change.

[Rogueperson]

I'll tell you why a loyal Carnival fan should sail Royal Caribbean. Its the same reason why you should sail NCL, Celebrity, Princess, Holland America, and any other cruise line that suits your fancy.

 

To see how it compares. To see if it suits you better.

 

If you're only criteria is price point, than Carnival will win almost every time. They're the biggest and can price others out.

 

But, if you're willing to experiment and try new things, you won't be disappointed.

 

I'm booked on my 3rd Royal Caribbean for the new years eve cruise on the Grandeur.

 

I've been on four Carnival cruises as well as Princess, Norwegian and Celebrity. Each cruise has its strength and weaknesses. Carnival is still my favorite, but just by a hair.

 

Price. Carnival wins every time.

 

Shipboard Activity. They are neck and neck here. It is very dependent on the passengers.

 

Shipboard entertainment. This is subjective, but Carnival wins out because I really enjoy their comedy shows. RC does not have a special venue for comedy, but they do have comedians.

 

Food. Subjective as well, but my opinion says Royal Caribbean edges out slightly here.

 

Service. Carnival wins here in my opinion. The service on my 2 Royal Caribbean is inconsistent. Some areas blew me away in their astounding service, and in the same vein and day, they angered me is their carelessness. Carnival is just more consistent across the board.

 

Atmosphere. Royal Caribbean has a more mature feel to their ships. Carnival takes a theme and plasters it all over. It can be good or it can be bad. This is totally dependent on your tastes. My fiance' and I love the Pride because we love Renaissance Art, but others felt it was very gawdy.

 

Ameneties. Royal Caribbean wins hands down. Its their big selling point. Ice rink, flowrider, rock wall, bumper cars, skydiving simulator, promenade. This is why you should try Royal Caribbean.

 

Bottom line. Try everything you can. The cruise lines give you benefits for staying with them, and with the amount of money and time we spend for vacations, its to their benefit to do so. Do the benefits outweigh the experience of other lines? Debatable. I personally believe that one needs to try out different things. It keeps everything fresh.

[PSCruiser]

This is really a simple answer. When you book a hotel, do you book a Super 8 or Red Roof, or to you book a Hilton or Marriot?

 

When you eat out, do you go to Denny's or to you go to a Steak house?

 

The same goes for CCL and RCCL. In the last several years, CCL went backwards and RCCL has went forward, which has separated the two. You pay for what you get. If all you care about is whether you can get a hamburger at the pool than CCL is for you. If you want a better entertainment options, better "activities" and an all around better customer service, than RCCL is for you.

 

I no longer sail on CCL, do not go to Denny's, and I stay away from cheap. All these items cost more money, and I have no issue with paying for it.

 

Good job of making the comparison in non-cruise terms. I agree completely.

[Crystalkrt]

Do you only eat at 1 restaurant?

Do you only stay at comfort suite s hotels?

Do you only fly jet blue?

 

Why stay only with carnival when there are much better options? To me royal is the best cruising experience. their ships are gorgeous, their pools are big, good food, shows are awesome, not to mention their promanade s, rock climbing, surfing, ice skating, etc.

[Cruising89143]

Nice work outing her. Her posts are a fun read. I'm sure there's more where they came from. ;)

 

You can be sure of that.

[joepeka]

I'll tell you why a loyal Carnival fan should sail Royal Caribbean. Its the same reason why you should sail NCL, Celebrity, Princess, Holland America, and any other cruise line that suits your fancy.

 

To see how it compares. To see if it suits you better.

 

If you're only criteria is price point, than Carnival will win almost every time. They're the biggest and can price others out.

 

But, if you're willing to experiment and try new things, you won't be disappointed.

 

I'm booked on my 3rd Royal Caribbean for the new years eve cruise on the Grandeur.

 

I've been on four Carnival cruises as well as Princess, Norwegian and Celebrity. Each cruise has its strength and weaknesses. Carnival is still my favorite, but just by a hair.

 

Price. Carnival wins every time.

 

Shipboard Activity. They are neck and neck here. It is very dependent on the passengers.

 

Shipboard entertainment. This is subjective, but Carnival wins out because I really enjoy their comedy shows. RC does not have a special venue for comedy, but they do have comedians.

 

Food. Subjective as well, but my opinion says Royal Caribbean edges out slightly here.

 

Service. Carnival wins here in my opinion. The service on my 2 Royal Caribbean is inconsistent. Some areas blew me away in their astounding service, and in the same vein and day, they angered me is their carelessness. Carnival is just more consistent across the board.

 

Atmosphere. Royal Caribbean has a more mature feel to their ships. Carnival takes a theme and plasters it all over. It can be good or it can be bad. This is totally dependent on your tastes. My fiance' and I love the Pride because we love Renaissance Art, but others felt it was very gawdy.

 

Ameneties. Royal Caribbean wins hands down. Its their big selling point. Ice rink, flowrider, rock wall, bumper cars, skydiving simulator, promenade. This is why you should try Royal Caribbean.

 

Bottom line. Try everything you can. The cruise lines give you benefits for staying with them, and with the amount of money and time we spend for vacations, its to their benefit to do so. Do the benefits outweigh the experience of other lines? Debatable. I personally believe that one needs to try out different things. It keeps everything fresh.

 

Excellent post Hansen, very objective and accurate IMO. We've done mostly Carnival, one HAL and one Royal (another booked) and your comparisons are pretty spot-on. :)

[thegoodlife247]

Wow. I didn't mean to start so much drama. Anyway, I haven't been to a show in many cruises so that isn't important to me. I do like the comedy and trivia on carnival though. I enjoy relaxing, laying out in the sun, eating and drinking. That's what vacations are to me. I loved carnivals fantasy class ships as I have sailed on 3 of them. I love the layout even though they are smaller it seems they aren't as crowded as the dream class and RC voyager class.

 

Y'all are correct it is up to me if I want to pay more for a "nicer" ship with more amenities and different atmosphere. Just trying to see if there are any other differences that I should be aware of before making my decision. Right now I think I will continue to sail carnival unless we get an awesome deal on an RC

Itinerary that we want to go on or we cruise with family that are loyal to RC. Thanks again for everyone's input. Feel free to keep the drama going....

 

 

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[divewithchuck]

I enjoy both Carnival and RCL have sailed many times on both and continue to cruise on both, just depends where I want to go and how much I want to spend...

 

 

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[swsf99a]

Rogue person gave a nice comparison of cruise lines...but....lets also look at loyalty programs. My wife and I have sailed Disney (Wonder and Fantasy), HAL (Eurodam twice), Celebrity (Constellation twice), and about 16 RCI ships...small ships to the Allure. We are Diamond members, close to Diamond +. Loyalty perks with RCI------$225 balcony discount, priority embarking and disembarking, free Internet minutes, two free photos, at least three parties with free drinks, Meet the Captain, Crown&Anchor , and a "top tier" party. Also a nightly Diamond lounge event 5-8pm, with free drinks,beer,wine,champagne,mixed drinks etc. access to Diamond lounge for free specialty coffees during the day/ night. A separate breakfast area in Main dining room, free spins in casino(win a key chain or better), other discounts on merchandise, priority on shore excursions,tenders......discounts on laundry......I do not know what other cruise lines offer on their loyalty programs, but Royal will be hard to beat. I expect to hear from others on this post! Thank you in advance.

[printingchick]

I'm short for time and have to admit I didn't read the other answers, most of which I'm sure were more elegant than mine.

 

Look at my signature. I'm a former Carnival cruiser. I used to argue with RCL loyalists. Why would you EVER pay more to cruise on Royal when Carnival offered such a great product?? Simply insane!!

 

I took my first Royal cruise because my traveling companion couldn't stop talking about how his friends just RAVED about their Adventure of the Seas cruise. I relented. I tried it. I never looked back.

 

• I immediately noticed that the older Royal ships were maintained to a far higher standard than the older Carnival ships. (I mean cosmetically, but ... )
  
• Sea day activities are FAR more active and FUN in my opinion. I feel Carnival banks too much on it's PARTY atmosphere.
  
• The decor. When I was on Carnival, I laughed when people said the ships were tacky. Once I experienced Royal, I laughed at the fact I never noticed how really UGLY some of the Carnival ships are.
  
• All thsi said, I LOVED my Carnival cruises. Took SIX of them. Under different circumstances, I might not have ever tried an alerternative. But I did try...and I liked Royal better...
  

Best of luck! Only YOU can decide what is right for YOU, but you'll never know until you try!

[laumicmah]

Wow. I didn't mean to start so much drama. Anyway, I haven't been to a show in many cruises so that isn't important to me. I do like the comedy and trivia on carnival though. I enjoy relaxing, laying out in the sun, eating and drinking. That's what vacations are to me. I loved carnivals fantasy class ships as I have sailed on 3 of them. I love the layout even though they are smaller it seems they aren't as crowded as the dream class and RC voyager class.

 

Y'all are correct it is up to me if I want to pay more for a "nicer" ship with more amenities and different atmosphere. Just trying to see if there are any other differences that I should be aware of before making my decision. Right now I think I will continue to sail carnival unless we get an awesome deal on an RC

Itinerary that we want to go on or we cruise with family that are loyal to RC. Thanks again for everyone's input. Feel free to keep the drama going....

 

 

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You are a lot like me. We don't do the theater shows but like the comedy shows and trivia and karaoke. We also love the Fantasy class (been on Sensation, Fascination and Imagination)...love the smaller ships. I also really liked the Pride but wasn't fond of the Glory (lines for everything, just too many people). We like eating and drinking. I like to lay in the sun but DH doesn't (he gets antsier on sea days, but we try to find trivia and he hits the gym). Not so into the silly pool stuff like the hairy chest contest, nor do I like the singing waiters in the MDR so much. But we liked Carnival's food and really love their pricing.

 

As far as loyalty. I have 7 CCL cruises under my belt and was well on my way to whatever it's called (when you get 10 cruises...was platinum, I think) and then they changed it to days cruised. We take shorter cruises, plus one of my cruises was a free cruise I won at Bingo on the Fascination (now the free cruise doesn't count). So, I am now far off from getting to whatever level (platinum, I think) with my 25 days counted (need 75 for platinum now). I would keep going on Carnival if I only needed 10 cruises to be Platinum but now that I need 50 more cruise days...well, might as well branch out. I just hope we like the food on RCI as much as we liked CCL's. I also hope they have comedy shows and karaoke and trivia...or something else we might enjoy (do they have piano bars?).

Edited April 18, 2014 by laumicmah

[swsf99a]

What are the loyalty perks if you get to Platinum with Carnival ?

[SeagoingMom]

You are going to get cheerleaders for both lines. It is simple, you get what you pay for. My first cruise was in 1990 on the Royal. After that I cruised many times on Carnival and then I went back on the Royal. All I can is what a difference. From the crew who treat you like family to the class of people who you vacation with is totally different from Carnival. I would say the food was equivalent. I feel Carnival did beat Royal in entertainment but Royal had things that Carnival didn't. (ex: ice skating show, rock climbing wall, parades on promenade deck to name a few). Also even though Royal's rooms may be a bit smaller, I felt like I had more room since it was set up better. Mirrors in the bathroom and near the vanity area opened up and had shelves inside for your items. Nice not to have clutter around.

...class of people?????:eek: Seems as though most on this thread have sailed with both lines -- did they move "up" or "down" in the world each time?"

[CruiseAddict1982]

...class of people?????:eek: Seems as though most on this thread have sailed with both lines -- did they move "up" or "down" in the world each time?"

 

 

Sad to say but the class of people is different. I noticed that too.

 

 

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[hubofhockey]

I have sailed carnival many times. I have sails RCCL mariner of the seas about 10 years ago. For anyone who has cruised both RCCL and CCL can you tell me why I should try RCCL again...

 

Considerations: RCCL more expensive, only 1 person has to purchase beverage program on RCCL, prefer easy access to food options by the pool on carnival.

 

 

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If access to (and not quality) food and price are the most important things, you should stick with Carnival. Spending extra money to be on a nicer ship with more dining and better entertainment options is really a waste for many and why Carnival is such a successful cruise line.

[time4u2go]

If access to (and not quality) food and price are the most important things, you should stick with Carnival. Spending extra money to be on a nicer ship with more dining and better entertainment options is really a waste for many and why Carnival is such a successful cruise line.

 

Unfortunately more dining options does not necessarily mean better dining options.

[LMaxwell]

Unfortunately more dining options does not necessarily mean better dining options.

 

Not to veer wildly off topic, but I had an interesting discussion with a long time Princess cruiser last week and we both came to wondering if Carnival food is ranked so highly because it is of noticeably higher quality than Princess or RCI (which we both doubted simply because of the price point; it is doubtful they allocate MORE $$ per guest on food) or if people perceive it as better because it is food they are more used to (comfort food, fried foods, stuff not "out of the ordinary").

 

Sometimes people perceive more adventuresome / upscale / not everyday type of food to be "bad" because it is not to their tastes. That's not to bash Carnival, but just to point out that on RCI, in comparison, you are likely to encounter more foods that are not of the everyday variety. If you are a picky eater or prefer fried foods / comfort foods, Carnival could appear to be the superior choice.

 

Food is very subjective and it was an interesting conversation to have and conclusions drawn seemed very likely.

[hubofhockey]

Unfortunately more dining options does not necessarily mean better dining options.

 

 

It doesn't. To be honest, the biggest dining advantage Royal Caribbean has is actually breakfast, where Carnival's breakfast is just pretty awful. Several years ago, Carnival had a great concept in the supper clubs. Sadly, those were cut out and their single specialty restaurant is now simply a decent steakhouse.

 

For us, the advantages of Royal Caribbean are nicer ships, better entertainment, more restrictive smoking policy, dining, and pool areas in that order. Carnival does have advantages, especially for young families, because they offer excellent pricing on the 3rd and 4th passengers in a cabin, making it a great family value. We took advantage when our kids were small and enjoyed some great Caribbean itineraries at bargain pricing. I don't think the Carnival product is bad at all. They hit a sweet spot for many.

[WetToes]

I look at it like I look at marriage: choose the right one the first time and you'll never look at another.

 

I've been on RC 3 times, and every time it gets better. Why go for hamburger when I have filet mignon?

 

jayblue RCCL cruiser

 

This is a ridiculous statement. :rolleyes:

Judge without knowledge much?

The people on HAL might ask YOU the same question. ;)

[jayblue]

This is a ridiculous statement. :rolleyes:

Judge without knowledge much?

The people on HAL might ask YOU the same question. ;)

 

If HAL works for them and they're happy with it, then it's their "steak" and they need look no further.

 

I've been fascinated with RCCL since I stepped on Majesty of the Seas back in 1993. I've looked into other cruise lines and found different features that might appeal, but nothing holds a candle to them.

 

;)

 

jayblue RCCL cruiser