Carnival vs Royal Caribbean (Galveston)

[duchessuta]

Now...before I begin, please know I'm not going to bash either company nor do I mean to insult anyone else's opinions. These are my opinions, not facts...but I thought I would share. I know I would've liked to see something like this... So for anyone that is curious, this was my experience.

 

A little bit of background... I have been on 8 Carnival cruises (5 ships, I think), my first being on the Ecstasy in 2008 and the most recent being on the Liberty in 2012 (I'm also booked for the Glory in 2015). I have never been on another cruise line. My husband has only been on one other cruise, our honeymoon, when we went on the Victory in 2012.

 

We live in Texas so Galveston is an easy port. I fell last August and broke my ankle pretty severely and had surgery in April. We wanted to go on a trip and decided in January to do a cruise in the summer (I'm a teacher). When I looked, the Magic was really pricey and so were flight tickets. Royal Caribbean now goes year round and the navigator was quite a bit less than the Magic (like over $600 for the same room category). I keep hearing how much "better" RC is...and I love Carnival, so I decided we should try it.

 

First the terminal in Galveston... RC uses terminal 2, Carnival gets the bigger one. It's smaller, we got there early and things moved pretty quickly. I was walking with a crutch, so I got moved through the special assistance line. It went REALLY fast and we were through in less than 30 minutes from the time EZ cruise dropped us off to walking on the ship. They take really good care of special needs. With Carnival when I went with my mom (also special needs) we were just given a chair and had to wait. Wasn't a big deal but RC did a great job.

 

Ship decor... When I first saw the ship, I thought it was very pretty. It's not loud or bright or colorful like carnival. The main staircase has a beautiful centerpiece. But as the days went on, I found myself very bored with the decor. Maybe because I am used to Carnival's colorful decor...and I missed it. The promenade deck on the Navigator looked like a mall...I wasn't a fan. They did have a cool looking English pub. But overall, it was very meh... I did NOT like the layout of the ship at all. Again this might be because I'm used to carnival and their layout. But I thought all the decks were closed off and it nothing flowed well. I missed the promenade deck on carnival where you could walk the entire ship on that level. The navigator felt smaller.

 

 

(More to come...I have an appointment)

[Badfinger]

Funny you mention price. We booked a cruise on RC NOS but then cancelled it as the Magic was $500 less for the Cloud 9 Spa cabins (1 balcony, 1 interior). Same dates plus we liked the Magic itinerary better.

[duchessuta]

Funny you mention price. We booked a cruise on RC NOS but then cancelled it as the Magic was $500 less for the Cloud 9 Spa cabins (1 balcony, 1 interior). Same dates plus we liked the Magic itinerary better.

 

I haven't looked at the comparison since.... Maybe it was the category... Or maybe it was because this is their first summer in Galveston?

[rosecruise]

I'm curious to hear more of your thoughts. I am debating on the Magic or NOS next May. I've only cruised Carnival, but Royal last time I checked was cheaper.

 

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[duchessuta]

Excursions were pretty much the same...

 

Activities on board... We were so bored on our RC cruise. There just wasn't much going on that we were interested in. They did have daily shows, but those don't much interest me in the evening. The only had a comedian the first and last night at 10:30. The times never worked for us, unfortunately. I was really hoping for one during the week, but there wasn't. We were really disappointed. Guess Carnival is called the Funship for a reason.

 

The staff was incredibly polite and friendly. I found the wait staff a little friendlier on this RC cruise than *most* of my carnival ones. However, I was disappointed that my room steward only did a towel animal 2 nights of our cruise (and used our towels so when I got out of the shower we were short a towel).

 

Food... Here was a biggie for me. I did NOT like the dining room menus. There were only a few nights I could even find anything that sounded good. And then when I ordered them, they weren't very good. I had overlooked fish and shrimp. The shrimp wasn't cleaned at all (gross). They did have some good sugar free desserts. The bread and butter pudding was awful, tiramisu was good.

 

The specialty restaurants were quite good, on the other hand, especially Giovanni's table. I just felt like they were focused on the specialty restaurant food instead of the main dining. I like Carnival's menus so much better.

[duchessuta]

I'm curious to hear more of your thoughts. I am debating on the Magic or NOS next May. I've only cruised Carnival, but Royal last time I checked was cheaper.

 

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How many times have you cruised with Carnival. I honestly think RC was nice (except for the food) but I much prefer Carnival. Most of that probably has to do with the fact that I'm used to Carnival and I enjoy their ships. If you've only cruised once, the differences may not be as noticeable.

[duchessuta]

I had always heard that the food on RC was so much better... (IMO) that is not the case at all. Even the steakhouse on board... You have to pay $35 to eat there, then if you want one of the nicer steaks or a lobster, you pay on top of that.

 

Johnny Rockets...not anywhere near as good as Guy's burgers and mine was literally dripping with grease. I couldn't even eat it. And you had to pay for Johnny Rockets, whereas Guy's is free.

 

The breakfast buffet was better on the navigator, it had more options. The dining room breakfast was not as good as Carnival. The food was just not as good...I got eggs Benedict and the hollandaise sauce was awful...almost sour. My husband got it the next day, hoping it was a bad day...nope.

 

Lunch in the buffet was ok. The always have pizza, hot dogs, and hamburgers. The pizzas tasted frozen and not even a good one. Hubby had the hot dog and hamburger and said they were ok. They have a good salad bar, but no vinaigrette (which was a bummer for me) except for two of the 7 days. They don't have a deli, but there is a place to use bread and make your own sandwich and they have one sandwich a day next to the salads, never tried them.

 

Room service... I was so excited to have hot foods on the room service , we tried everything. We liked the salads and the spinach dip (though not enough chips). The steak sandwich was decent. The rest wasn't good...the pizza wasn't even brown on the bottom, but the flavor wasn't good even if it had been.

[duchessuta]

Overall I definitely like Carnival better. I don't think I would cruise with RC again unless it was just a lot cheaper. The food and activities are better on Carnival (unless you want to go to the specialty dining restaurants most of the cruise), then RC food was really good).

 

I'm not sure if I forgot anything. If anyone wants to know something, feel free to ask.

[rosecruise]

How many times have you cruised with Carnival. I honestly think RC was nice (except for the food) but I much prefer Carnival. Most of that probably has to do with the fact that I'm used to Carnival and I enjoy their ships. If you've only cruised once, the differences may not be as noticeable.

 

I will be leaving on my 7th Carnival cruise in 12 days, so I guess I'm gonna notice the differences. Lol

 

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