San Juan Carnival Fascination vs RCCL Jewel OTS

[Agocruisin]

Hello,

 

We are carnival through and through, both DH and I are platinum. I tried RCCL over ten years ago and don't remember being impressed, though we were cruising with a toddler at the time, so...

 

Looking at a San Juan cruise next year, and seeing similar pricing between RCCL and Fascination. Identical itinerary.

 

How can I compare the two? As a frame of reference, on carnival, we love serenity deck, the steak house, MDR food, and the piano bar. The kid loves the music style shows like Motown and vroom.

 

So....would I like RCCL enough not to miss my platinum perks (huge one being priority boarding, tender and laundry!)

 

Tks for any input!

[glentally]

Hello,

 

We are carnival through and through, both DH and I are platinum. I tried RCCL over ten years ago and don't remember being impressed, though we were cruising with a toddler at the time, so...

 

Looking at a San Juan cruise next year, and seeing similar pricing between RCCL and Fascination. Identical itinerary.

 

How can I compare the two? As a frame of reference, on carnival, we love serenity deck, the steak house, MDR food, and the piano bar. The kid loves the music style shows like Motown and vroom.

 

So....would I like RCCL enough not to miss my platinum perks (huge one being priority boarding, tender and laundry!)

 

Tks for any input!

 

I am going on the Fascination May 1st for a few reasons. I had $1000 in credits to use and I LOVE the ports. We were cruising on the Liberty Dec. 13th but I had to cancel, hence the credits.

 

I like the bigger RCL ships for the ice shows, the atrium's, etc. So if the money is right RCL but the main reason for this itinerary is the ports. That said i booked one of the few balconies on the Fascination ( compared to most ships ) . I am going with my sister so we have more"space" and heck, never had a balcony I didn't LOVE!

 

Hope all that helps.

[scottsgal]

The Jewel is a beautiful ship - love that class of ship. Lots of glass and sea views. I'm not a Fantasy class of ship fan at all so I'd personally pick the Jewel, loved the adult sanctuary pool area. It's a great itinerary so I'm sure you will enjoy either ship.

[coevan]

I thought only the suites were balconies on the Fascination?

[mrb1963]

Take Jewel of the Seas every time over Fascination. I was really surprised Carnival put this ship here and doesn't price it way way cheaper than the RCCL ships.

[Stinger-pr]

Take Jewel of the Seas every time over Fascination. I was really surprised Carnival put this ship here and doesn't price it way way cheaper than the RCCL ships.

 

They are selling out basically every sailing at the prices they have out, which for some dates are even more expensive than the same date the previous years on the Conquest-class ships the Fascination is replacing. As long as it sells, even when RCCL is porting two ships and Norwegian and Celebrity also coming to play seasonally, Carnival will never lower prices in San Juan.

 

That said, Carnival is still the cheapest option of them all.......depending on your point of view. When you take into consideration other "perks" the other lines offer (Norwegian's "Free at sea" options, Celebrity's luxury and current free drinks option) the question of cheap vs. value starts to pop up.

[Cruzaholic41]

This is a no brainer to me. I can't imagine any scenario I would want to cruise the tired, old Fascination over the beautiful Jewel of the Seas. This one isn't even close in my mind.

 

Of the things you mentioned - Jewel has a gorgeous adults only Solarium pool that blows away Carnival's serenity deck. Schooner Bar is the daily/nightly piano bar, and the entertainment on RCI is excellent.

[Cuizer2]

Hello,

 

We are carnival through and through, both DH and I are platinum. I tried RCCL over ten years ago and don't remember being impressed, though we were cruising with a toddler at the time, so...

 

Looking at a San Juan cruise next year, and seeing similar pricing between RCCL and Fascination. Identical itinerary.

 

How can I compare the two? As a frame of reference, on carnival, we love serenity deck, the steak house, MDR food, and the piano bar. The kid loves the music style shows like Motown and vroom.

 

So....would I like RCCL enough not to miss my platinum perks (huge one being priority boarding, tender and laundry!)

 

Tks for any input!

 

I have eleven cruises with Carnival and twelve cruises with Royal Caribbean. While I have not been on either ship, I have been on three Fantasy class ships and one Radiance class ship. I am not impressed by either class. My favorite Carnival class is the Spirit class and my favorite Royal Caribbean class is the two newest Voyager class ships.

 

Based on my experience and my knowledge of the two ships, if the itinerary and price are the same, I would choose the Jewel of the Seas. The Jewel OTS has everything you listed above for Carnival (I don't believe the Fascination (entered service in 1994) has a steakhouse. I believe only the Spirit, Conquest and newer ships have a steakhouse. The Jewel is ten years younger and, in my opinion, a better option if price and itinerary are the same.

[Tapi]

I was really surprised Carnival put this ship here and doesn't price it way way cheaper than the RCCL ships.

 

 

That's a big part of their strategy. Drastically reduce capacity in order to artificially increase demand, thus giving them the ability to charge more. And Carnival is exactly counting on people like the OP that will lean towards Carnival out of loyalty or past guest perks, or on people that will always flock to Carnival because of their low price reputation and not price compare with other cruise lines.

 

With NCL, Disney, Celebrity, Carnival, two Royal ships as well as a handful of luxury cruise lines now offering sailings out of San Juan, options out of this port of embarkation haven't been this good since the 1980's, back when Carnival, Royal, Cunard, Costa, Norwegian and Chandris (Celebrity's predecessor) all had ships sailing from there.

 

Personally, I would tell the OP to shop around and not get too hung up on Platinum perks. I'm Platinum as well and I've spent the last five years shopping around and trying new cruise lines. Still love Carnival, but I've learned how little value Carnival's Platinum perks have, specially when I've been treated as well or better as a newbie on other cruise lines than as a Platinum on Carnival.

Edited March 9, 2016 by Tapi

[It's a Ship!!!]

Since you have never been on Royal Caribbean, this is a perfect opportunity to try something different. This itinerary is very port intensive, so it's not like you are going to be stuck on the ship if you don't like it.

[burgedw]

I have been checking both lines and I do not see how the itinerary is identical. RCCL does not stop at St Kitts and St Lucia, St Kitts not a big deal, but St Lucia is a awesome. As for pricing, I'm have a B2B in Dec booked and I got it for 500.00 per person 7-day than for the xmas one 700 for 8 day RCCL is not even close in price on that one

[Tapi]

I have been checking both lines and I do not see how the itinerary is identical. RCCL does not stop at St Kitts and St Lucia...

 

 

It does (well, almost identical). Jewel of the Seas doesn't sail the same itinerary every week. It alternates. One of the available itineraries is indeed almost the same as the one on the Fascination, visiting St. Thomas, St Kitts, Barbados and St. Lucia.

Edited March 9, 2016 by Tapi

[luv2trvlnow]

When Carnival cancelled our Valor cruise for March of last year we switched over to the Celebrity Summit. It was a wonderful cruise and it did not cost more than Carnival. In fact it ended up being the same exact cruise fare. There was a little difference in the taxes since they went to 1 different port. It was nice to try something different.

 

We didn't miss the perks that came with my son being platinum, and it was nice to have something different which made cruising exciting again.

[Tapi]

We are carnival through and through, both DH and I are platinum...

 

 

 

So....would I like RCCL enough not to miss my platinum perks?

 

 

Something else popped in my head. I know that you're looking at southern itineraries out of San Juan on Royal right now, but something else to consider for future reference is that MSC cruise line is offering a loyalty match program, meaning that they will match your current past guest status with a different cruise line to an equivalent status on MSC. I emailed MSC with my Platinum status and I was given Gold status with them (not the same as Gold on Carnival. On MSC, Gold is the second highest tier below Black status).

 

MSC is currently operating the MSC Divina (built in 2012 and about the same size as a Dream class ship) out of Miami on alternating itineraries to the western and eastern Caribbean, with a handful of special short and long sailings. Next year the Divina will be replaced by the brand new MSC Seaside still under construction.

 

Something to think about if loosing your Carnival past guest perks is weighing too heavily on your decision to stay with Carnival.