Just off Liberty, Carnival vs Royal comparision

[cruiser fanatic]

Hi all,

I just got off the Liberty today and I thought I would do a comparison between Carnival and Royal Caribbean since we mostly do Carnival and haven't done Royal in a long time.

 

Embarkation/Debarkation: Carnival wins here by far. Their terminal is much more organized, more staff are directing you, and a better layout. The terminal where the Liberty docks was a zoo. There was not enough staff, some of the staff were giving different directions, long lines, and just not very organized.

 

Ship: Royal Caribbean wins here. The Liberty is a beautiful ship. Very fancy ship, very clean, great layout, and very modern. Carnival has more of a Vegas style, tacky décor, layout can be confusing, and not as modern.

 

Food: Carnival wins here. The food in the Windjammer on the Liberty was good but the food in the dining room was awful. There was also not much of a variety. The food in the dining room on Carnival is better and has more of a variety. The food on the Lido restaurant on Carnival is good. The pizza at Sorentos wasn't very good. The pizza on Carnival is better. Chops Grille was very good. We ate at Johnny Rockets twice. It was good but not as good as Guy's Burgers on Carnival where it is free. We didn't eat at Sabor or Giovanni's Table.

 

Outside/Pool/Adult areas: Royal Caribbean wins here. The Liberty is a big ship with a lot of amenities. The Liberty had 2 big pools and several hot tubs. The Solarium is much nicer versus Carnival's serenity. I liked that some of it was covered and that there was a pool and a hot tub. There was plenty of seating on the open decks. Not many chair hogs compared to Carnival. You don't have to be up by 7:00AM to get a chair.

 

Passengers: Royal Caribbean seemed to have an older crowd compared to Carnival's younger/party crowd. The elevators were used more often on Royal as some guests couldn't walk up one flight of stairs. We did like that the crowd wasn't as loud and rowdy compared to Carnival.

 

Crew: Tie here. Both Carnival and Royal Caribbean have excellent crew members.

 

Stateroom: Carnival wins here. Royal Caribbean definitely has smaller staterooms then Carnival. We also did not like that there was no CBS, NBC, etc.. on Royal Caribbean. Carnival seems to have a larger stateroom with more space and much better TV channels.

 

Entertainment: Tie here. We enjoyed all of the production shows on Royal Caribbean. The Ice Show was great, in fact we saw it twice because it was so good. We liked that they had a real band playing. We enjoy the shows on Carnival but miss the real band. We found that Royal Caribbean lacked activities. There seemed to be more seminars on how to loose weight/relieve back pain then there was trivia, or games by the pool. Carnival seems to have more activities going on during the day.

 

Overall: We enjoyed our Royal Caribbean cruise but we found that we prefer Carnival. The TV was a big disappointment. I know that some people do not care about the TV on vacation but we enjoy laying down at night and watching TV. The Liberty is a beautiful ship and we will consider the Liberty if we sail Royal Caribbean again.

 

I would be happy to answer any questions.

Edited May 8, 2016 by cruiser fanatic

[Clarea]

Thanks for the comparison report.

[Funbobby68]

Thanks for the comparative review ... Good to know

 

 

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[atnolan94]

Thanks for the info!

 

I can understand the TV thing. But you're supposed to be on vacation! lol.

 

I think carnival/royal is like ford/chevy, its probably based more on what you've always done. I've just always done royal, and honestly thats the BIGGEST reason I stick to it.

 

That being said, You may see me on that new MSC Seaside one day...

[vickiw0318]

Loyal Royal here too. (What would you expect on the Royal board?:)) I confess to liking the line for many of the reasons you mentioned - better pool areas, more reserved decor, less rowdy passengers, ease of navigating the ship, etc. I hate hitting dead ends like I did both times I cruised Carnival.

 

However, I am with you on Guy's Burgers. Wish he'd get mad at Carnival and move over to Royal!

[Peeker28]

Appreciate the comparison, hubby is loyal to Royal and I would go on a newer carnival ship. I do wish that RC had a good burger place like Guys. I like the bathrooms on Royal better and I feel that RC takes better care of their ships

Edited May 8, 2016 by Peeker28

[gambler]

Thank-you. I agree, better pizza on Carnival and love Guys Burgers!

[Paulette3028]

 

Passengers: Royal Caribbean seemed to have an older crowd compared to Carnival's younger/party crowd. The elevators were used more often on Royal as some guests couldn't walk up one flight of stairs. We did like that the crowd wasn't as loud and rowdy compared to Carnival.

 

Entertainment: Tie here. We enjoyed all of the production shows on Royal Caribbean. The Ice Show was great, in fact we saw it twice because it was so good. We liked that they had a real band playing. We enjoy the shows on Carnival but miss the real band. We found that Royal Caribbean lacked activities. There seemed to be more seminars on how to loose weight/relieve back pain then there was trivia, or games by the pool. Carnival seems to have more activities going on during the day.

 

I would be happy to answer any questions.

 

On the wide variety of Royal ships that I have sailed on from Her Majesty to Allure, I have to disagree with you on the 'older crowd' issue. Just because the elevators are used more often by some of the older passengers (that YOU may have seen) does not mean that the overall age of the passenger blend is 'older'. Older passengers would have less interest in the activities onboard a Royal ship such as flowrider (just to name one). We have had late night disco dancing on all of our Royal cruises, and 'older' people were not those in attendance.

 

As far as lacking activities on board a Royal ship.....again I have to disagree with you. Multiple times a day, generally 3 each day trivia (for example is scheduled). Add to that dance classes either poolside or in a lounge to go along with other things to do. I have never felt there was an abundance of seminars on topics like weight loss/pain relief/foot analysis (although they did have them in the gym/spa over the course of a cruise) -- there is always the art auctions and shopping seminars for each port (from a personal POV I can do away with those -- but that won't happen).

[cruiser fanatic]

On the wide variety of Royal ships that I have sailed on from Her Majesty to Allure, I have to disagree with you on the 'older crowd' issue. Just because the elevators are used more often by some of the older passengers (that YOU may have seen) does not mean that the overall age of the passenger blend is 'older'. Older passengers would have less interest in the activities onboard a Royal ship such as flowrider (just to name one). We have had late night disco dancing on all of our Royal cruises, and 'older' people were not those in attendance.

 

As far as lacking activities on board a Royal ship.....again I have to disagree with you. Multiple times a day, generally 3 each day trivia (for example is scheduled). Add to that dance classes either poolside or in a lounge to go along with other things to do. I have never felt there was an abundance of seminars on topics like weight loss/pain relief/foot analysis (although they did have them in the gym/spa over the course of a cruise) -- there is always the art auctions and shopping seminars for each port (from a personal POV I can do away with those -- but that won't happen).

 

You are free to disagree. I am just reporting what my experience was. I absolutely saw an older crowd. As far as the elevators, most people that I talked too were seeing the same thing.

 

As to the trivia, yes there was some but not all day. Carnival has trivia going all day long. Looking through my Compass again, there were seminars going on constantly throughout the day. Again, there were some dance classes, just not as many as Carnival. I felt that the activities that were going on were geared towards older people. Not necessarily a bad thing considering the crowd. I just prefer more activities. I could also do away with the art auctions and shopping seminars. The art auctions that I passed by did not look well attended.

[atnolan94]

Seeing the Carnival Vista is rather appealing too. I like that they are moving away from the "vegas-style" gaudy decor. And things like the ropes course are very cool. However, if you are into the newest, biggest ships, no one has come close to matching the diverse neighborhoods on the oasis-class ships.

[George C]

Thanks for the comparison, one thing I will totally agree is TV on RCCL is terrible it is so bad they played same episode of Big Bang all week along with same episode of Persons of interest every day, at least we had a suite with a dvd player and brought some TV shows like Big Bang and some movies too watch.

[cruiser fanatic]

Thanks for the comparison, one thing I will totally agree is TV on RCCL is terrible it is so bad they played same episode of Big Bang all week along with same episode of Persons of interest every day, at least we had a suite with a dvd player and brought some TV shows like Big Bang and some movies too watch.

 

The same episode of Big Bang and Persons sounds about right. They also played Two Broke Girls a lot.

[mrlddst]

That's funny, I love Royal but hate the tv! My husband and I still talk about a Carnival cruise where we spent every day watching Hart to Hart like it was brand new. There was always something to watch. My last Royal cruise, I had to load up my IPad with movies to watch.

[Truluv]

Thank you for the comparisons! We liked the food and higher energy of Carnival (I'll never forget DH (now deceased) breaking into dance to a favorite rock song already blasting on deck one morning when we were pretty much the only ones up that early...he may have been prematurely gray and a professional, but his inner soul was eternally 21).

 

We had switched from Carnival to RCL 15+ years ago. The RCL big ships offered better activities for our kids as they got older, particularly the full-size basketball courts for our 6'6 and 6'7" sons! I'll be turning RCL Diamond this summer. I've been thinking about trying Carnival's newer ships, but I'm wondering if I'm just too old for Carnival now that I've hit 60's. I also haven't seen any Carnival pricing specials for solo's, unlike the RCL BOGO deals. Have you cruised with Carnival in the Fall or winter, when kids are in school and the average age might be higher?

[Panda3]

Thank you for the comparisons! I think it comes down to either what you know, or maybe even the particular cruise you get on.

 

Over the years I've converted my DH to RCI. I did give in once and take the Carnival Dream a few years ago, a special spa room. DH and I can say it was the worst cruise. Mainly there was a sewage smell every day from the dining areas, the PAX on this particular cruise (not Carnivals fault) were the the worst, cutting lines, not watching their young ones, visibly treating cruise staff terribly. We tried to enjoy the hot tub kids were throwing ice cream cones in it, parents not around. Uncomfy chairs in the adult lounge area, and not enough pools for a ship that size. I do have to say the spa on Dream was better than the spa on Oasis,and thats the only place where Carnival excelled. I really tried to keep an open mind but the food is sooo much better on RCI. And I love the vitality program. I actually lost weight. I'm not just comparing the carnival dream to royal oasis. We love smaller ships like the enchantment too. Just giving my two cents.

 

What's amazing about this cruising lifestyle, is that there are choices!:)

[bigsky]

Used to cruise on Carnival. Depending on the Royal ship, I feel it's a nice balance of younger and older. I wouldn't generalize Royal of being an older crowd. When we went on the Oasis, besides our Disney cruise, we've never seen so many kids! I feel Royal has a nice balance of fun and class. To me, Princess was an older crowd. Carnival is a bit too much party ship for me. Though if the price was right and itinerary, I wouldn't be against trying the new Carnival Vista is it? Would take a lot since we love Royal so much. I don't see us going anywhere else.

But it's nice everyone has so much to choose from. What's good for one maybe not for another.

[cruiser fanatic]

Thank you for the comparisons! We liked the food and higher energy of Carnival (I'll never forget DH (now deceased) breaking into dance to a favorite rock song already blasting on deck one morning when we were pretty much the only ones up that early...he may have been prematurely gray and a professional, but his inner soul was eternally 21).

 

We had switched from Carnival to RCL 15+ years ago. The RCL big ships offered better activities for our kids as they got older, particularly the full-size basketball courts for our 6'6 and 6'7" sons! I'll be turning RCL Diamond this summer. I've been thinking about trying Carnival's newer ships, but I'm wondering if I'm just too old for Carnival now that I've hit 60's. I also haven't seen any Carnival pricing specials for solo's, unlike the RCL BOGO deals. Have you cruised with Carnival in the Fall or winter, when kids are in school and the average age might be higher?

 

We mostly cruise when kids are in school because the prices are lower. The average age is a little higher when kids are in school but we have always found Carnival to have more of a younger crowd no matter what time of year.

 

I say give Carnival a try. If you do, try one of their newer ships like the Vista or Breeze. They will have the most to offer. We tried Royal Caribbean because we wanted to try something new. Although, it wasn't our favorite cruise I am glad that we gave Royal Caribbean a try. We still had fun.

Edited May 9, 2016 by cruiser fanatic

[cruiser fanatic]

Thank you for the comparisons! I think it comes down to either what you know, or maybe even the particular cruise you get on.

 

Over the years I've converted my DH to RCI. I did give in once and take the Carnival Dream a few years ago, a special spa room. DH and I can say it was the worst cruise. Mainly there was a sewage smell every day from the dining areas, the PAX on this particular cruise (not Carnivals fault) were the the worst, cutting lines, not watching their young ones, visibly treating cruise staff terribly. We tried to enjoy the hot tub kids were throwing ice cream cones in it, parents not around. Uncomfy chairs in the adult lounge area, and not enough pools for a ship that size. I do have to say the spa on Dream was better than the spa on Oasis,and thats the only place where Carnival excelled. I really tried to keep an open mind but the food is sooo much better on RCI. And I love the vitality program. I actually lost weight. I'm not just comparing the carnival dream to royal oasis. We love smaller ships like the enchantment too. Just giving my two cents.

 

What's amazing about this cruising lifestyle, is that there are choices!:)

 

Out of 20+ cruises, the Carnival Dream is the only ship that I have not liked. The food wasn't very good and the ship smelled bad. I can definitely understand the frustration with the hot tubs on Carnival. Parents do not supervise their children. The food in the Windjammer was good and there was a lot of variety. I just wasn't very impressed with the dining room food or the variety.

[AmberTeka]

Someone posted a wise comment that Cruises allow for a lot of opinions.

 

The Dream is my favorite Ship. and My DH says we have more sea days on Carnival than most Sailors have in the military. We are Platinum on Princess. Some on HAL and booked again for next March. also have a cruise booked on Princess. I book way out to get cabin I want and usually lower prices. Also plenty of time to SAVE up money to pay off cruise early.

 

Carnival does have Early Saver. I like that. Princess.......love it. HAL does have OLD people for real. And you can get the illusion that , at night, you are on a huge "yacht" just the two of you. LOVE that. Also like the people. Heavy on New Yorkers. I like NYC folks. very straight forward. FOOD on HAL.......in my opinion.......best cruise line we have been on. Like the Specialty dining on NCL but can get pricey. Carnival food............I know the menu by heart. Always find something I like but a change will be nice. Buffet...not a big fan. Princess has a great buffet. And I love the International Court. HAL is the line where we line up fifteen minutes before the MDR opens to get in quick. The food when we cruised, all three times, was wonderful.

 

FIRST TIME on RCI...FOS in September. I cannot wait. I LOVE threads like this one. When we return, God Willing, I will write a review of my comparisons. Bear in mind...........I NEVER had a BAD Cruise on any line.

Princess has Satellite TV. More channels than you can watch. HAL. Been several years since we sailed on the Westerdam the last time. Think they have Satellite TV.

 

Carnival.........TV out of Miami Local stations. CNN. TNT. ABC. CBS. NBC. No cable news. I am a new junkie and I miss.......Fox. Fox Business. and MSNBC.

Still.....I bring books to read too............Looking forward to our cruise On FOS very much. We have been in ports, side by side with FOS, many times. NOW we will be ON FOS looking at the other Cruise ships parked by us.

Edited May 9, 2016 by AmberTeka

[JaniceB]

Thanks for the comparison. I can't wait to see the pool area on the Liberty. I have seen pictures and it really does seem to outdo the Carnival pool areas.

[mkam2821]

Some people like vanilla, some like chocolate. I think much depends upon luck and when you are cruising. We tend to cruise when kids are in school as traveling with other people's children is not a vacation to me. We've always enjoyed the food and service on HAL (6 cruises) but last trip (3 years ago) noticed a decline in service. Entertainment on RCCL (to me) is far superior to all of the other mid-range commercial cruise lines both in variety and quality. CCL, love their spa cabins located near and with unlimited access to the thermal suite but we did the Splendor last December and returned MDR entree 4 evenings (NEVER ever returned entrees on any line before) Princess (10 years ago) great for Alaska and the ship was beautiful but service was not what it should have been. Costa, (7 years ago) had a fun time but announcements in 4 languages throughout the day can get old VERY quickly.

In the end, every line has its hits and misses. Regardless of fellow passengers, food, change of itinerary, excursions etc., we have enjoyed EVERY cruise we have ever taken. As long as no one is ill, it's GREAT.

Attitude is the difference between adventure and ordeal

[mkam2821]

sorry for the dupe-edited

Edited May 9, 2016 by mkam2821
duplicated post

[Paul65]

Enjoyed reading your thoughts. I've never sailed on a Carnival ship, though have considered it, at times. Most of what you wrote confirms my thoughts that I'd probably not like it as well as Royal Caribbean. I'm not so sure on the food, though. What did you think was "awful" about the food in the dining room? I sailed on the Liberty recently, and we didn't have any complaints about the food. Not every meal was a WOW experience, but we never had a bad meal.

Edited May 9, 2016 by Paul65

[ryano]

Just off Magic myself. To me, about the only thing Royal beats Carnival on is their ships. Freedom class ships are awesome. Dream class ships arent bad though (at least Magic anyway). Royal does have better pool areas and great entertainment. As a mobility impaired cruiser, I do like the pool has a lift on Royal Caribbean. No such thing on Carnival even on their newest ships. Everything else, IN MY OPINION, on Carnival was either as good or better than Royal. I know food is subjective but IMO, the food is as good on Carnival. Magic just came out of a major drydock and has all the cool stuff Breeze has.

 

Guys Burgers > Johnny Rockets and included in the cruise price.

 

Prime Steakhouse > Chops. No comparison there. Prime is everything Chops USE to be.

 

Cucina De Capitano = Giovannis table and less expensive.

 

Carnival MDR food = Royal Caribbean and in some things better.

 

Lido Marketplace > Windjammer

 

Pizzeria De Capitano > Sorrentos. No comparison there either. Fresh made thin crust pizzas using quality ingredients. Sorrentos is horrid and not even as good as most frozen pizzas.

 

Drink price on Carnival much better than Royal. Even tipping 1-2 dollars a drink I still came in 3-4 dollars cheaper per drink than my last cruise on Royal Caribbean not tipping extra.

 

Service on Magic was excellent in all areas. It was a very mixed crowd onboard. Carnival is also selling out their ships without running stupid gimmick sales. I love Royal Caribbean but their prices have gotten outrageous on everything and unfortunately, thats a big deal to me. I will try an Oasis class ship one day but my next cruise is on Carnival Magic. She is a great ship with a great crew.

 

Just my .02

Edited May 9, 2016 by ryano

[Paulette3028]

Some people like vanilla, some like chocolate. I think much depends upon luck and when you are cruising. .........

Attitude is the difference between adventure and ordeal

 

So true.....my attitude when I walk on a cruise ship is let's have a GREAT vacation and so I do.