my first Royal Caribbean Cruise (5 previous cruises on Carnival)--RCCL vs Carnival

[Clarea]

There was an umbrella stand on the deck but they rarely used it. But sadly, no sitting. I think that standing like that in crocs on the lip of the pool would be maddening.

They told us on Oasis that the standing was the biggest problem. They switch off quite often.

[BillOh]

The OP must have been referring to Sorrento's instead of Cafe Promenade.?.?

The OP was on Adventure, it doesn't have a Sorrento's. Just pizza in the Promenade and Windjammer. I have been eating RC pizza for 10 years now and did find it a little better than it has been on Adventure last May, but still not to anything most people would call good.

[BillOh]

Correct, I know my criticism is focused on the food...but that is a huge part of cruise ships in my opinion. The rest of the ship (entertainment, pools, activities) seemed very similar to any of the carnival cruises i have been on.

 

I am very curious to know if the food options are different on the oasis class of ships? I do understand that I am judging off of one royal caribbean ship that had to be 10-15 years old.

 

 

You will find more available and more late hours on the Oasis class and at the Pizza Sorrentos on that class of ship you can get made to order pizza that approaches good ;)

 

 

 

To the OP, thanks for the message. I wish someone would buy me a Carnival Cruise so I could do a comparison. My BIL, a veteran Carival cruise and advocate was going to plan a family cruise on Carniva, of course, but he died early on in the planning process. (useless info I know)

[George C]

I am not likely to switch to Carnival , but agree on WJ , I think all other lines do a better job at the buffet

[CPT_b_dds]

Did they at least have a place to sit? When we were on Oasis this past June, they didn't even have a place to sit or have any shade.

 

oh my gosh, im laughing out loud right now concerning this. one night i walked by the solarium pool and there was not a single person in the enitre room...and there right on the edge of the pool was the life guard with his toes over the edge ready to jump in and save a life....they must have a rule that they MUST not sit. lol

[BillOh]

oh my gosh, im laughing out loud right now concerning this. one night i walked by the solarium pool and there was not a single person in the enitre room...and there right on the edge of the pool was the life guard with his toes over the edge ready to jump in and save a life....they must have a rule that they MUST not sit. lol

 

 

I may have seen the same guy. Yes, they are not allowed to sit and I think I was told by someone who asked, they rotate in 3 hour shifts. I'm guessing from what I have seen they are there for one purpose only, life saving. Being 58 years old I have spent thousands of days at pools with lifeguards and nobody drowned so life guards did more police/discipline work that life saving. I watched two early teen agers fighting it out in the pool and the lifeguard watched until one kid ran away crying. (There was no worry of drowning at any time)

[CPT_b_dds]

You will find more available and more late hours on the Oasis class and at the Pizza Sorrentos on that class of ship you can get made to order pizza that approaches good ;)

 

 

 

To the OP, thanks for the message. I wish someone would buy me a Carnival Cruise so I could do a comparison. My BIL, a veteran Carival cruise and advocate was going to plan a family cruise on Carniva, of course, but he died early on in the planning process. (useless info I know)

ok, now THAT pizza looks great! I would be happy with that! haha

[Mikew0805]

I have been on other cruise lines... to be specific, carnival. Overall, Royal Caribbean is a decent cruise line that was satisfactory in many ways. However, I would not recommend this cruise line to others knowing that I've had better experiences on Carnival. One of the biggest reasons I would not recommend Royal Caribbean to a friend or family member is because of food choices and hours the food is available. Remember, I'm comparing everything to carnival cruise lines. The windjammer (royal Caribbean buffet) pretty much had the same lunch choice selection every day with the food being very mediocre and bland. Carnival had several choices at lunch aside from the buffet which was a huge step up from the level of royal caribbeans buffet...carnival has the "guys burger joint"....the blue iguana Mexican bar...Indian station...Mongolian BBQ....sandwich bar...all of these options free of charge. The only choice with royal Caribbean (that was free of charge) was the windjammer buffett (and of course the dining room). Johnny rockets was another option but with a surcharge. Carnivals pizza bar was way better pizza (thick brick oven pizza vs thin stale pizza on royal Caribbean) .Royal Caribbeans self serve ice cream closed at 9pm and carnival had it open 24 hours/day. The first evening on this ship I went to the windjammer(royal Caribbean buffet) to get a later evening meal (after 9pm) and it was CLOSED! carnival has midnight buffets around the clock, at least until midnight. The dining room experience in the evenings was more comparable to carnivals level of taste but id still give the advantage in taste and quality in the dining room to carnival. Room service has a charge on royal Caribbean, carnivals was free. Carnival had self serve laundry facilities on their ship...royal Caribbean you had to pay for each item a la carte with the dry cleaning service.

 

We've gone on 5 carnival cruises and this was our first royal Caribbean. All we heard before this trip was how much "classier" and "better" this was than carnival. We had the opposite experience and were just shocked when we experienced differently.

 

So to summarize, carnival has more food options throughout day with no required upcharge, better quality food in the buffet, the availability of food 24 hrs a day, and there isn't as many upcharges that royal Caribbean had (no laundry, pay for room service, etc). The public bathrooms throughout ship were very poorly maintained and reeked of urine. We've always heard that carnival was a party ship vs royal Caribbean...that the people were classier...our experience was that both ships had people partying and the same level of class. So those are my reasons. I wish I felt differently but the differences were clear as day. I'm glad i know for myself now.

 

The food options are definitely reduced on RCI. I find so much more variety on CCL when it comes to included dining.. for me though, obviously via my signature, it does not affect my booking with RCI. ;p

[Thorben-Hendrik]

On our last cruise I noticed they cut down very significantly on the choices at the Cafe!

[KatPem]

Thanks for all of the commentary. My husband and I will be on the Adventure, our first RC, in October. Chose it for the itinerary, a little nervous about the unknowns as we are used to Carnival but excited cause it is a cruise lol Love to hear other's input.

[molsonschooner]

I can agree with a lot of what you say. We have only been on one Carnival cruise and we did find the food to be better than what we have had on Royal.

I can't say I have experienced dirty smelly washrooms on Royal, maybe I am just lucky

[CPT_b_dds]

Thanks for all of the commentary. My husband and I will be on the Adventure, our first RC, in October. Chose it for the itinerary, a little nervous about the unknowns as we are used to Carnival but excited cause it is a cruise lol Love to hear other's input.

 

you will really still enjoy the cruise..im really not trying to dissuade anyone from royal caribbean...just thought id share my experience with my previoius cruises with Carnival. I choose Royal Caribbean this time specifically becuase of the itenerary....I wanted to bonaire since I lived there 20 years ago for some time. Royal Caribbean provided a nice itenerary to go to bonaire, curacao, and aruba leaving out of San Juan. So I knew i was taking a chance on a 15 year old ship. You will still love it...Hopefully knowing some of these difference will prepare you so you are not shocked...just remember to bring enough clothes for your cruise or pay for the dry cleaning service...I was planning on cleaning my own clothes and that was a huge "shocker". Enjoy your cruise!

[CPT_b_dds]

I can agree with a lot of what you say. We have only been on one Carnival cruise and we did find the food to be better than what we have had on Royal.

I can't say I have experienced dirty smelly washrooms on Royal, maybe I am just lucky

 

I think the issue of the bad smell in the bathrooms had to do with it being an older ship. Im guessing the newr royal caribbean ships might not have this problem.

[baileybrad]

I think the issue of the bad smell in the bathrooms had to do with it being an older ship. Im guessing the newr royal caribbean ships might not have this problem.

We sailed on the AOS on 7/22 and did not experience any smells out of the ordinary in any of the public restrooms. The 1 bathroom on many ships that can be quite a mess at times is one that is near the pool (on the AOS they are located on the outside between the main pool bar and the Solarium bar) because it gets lots of heavy traffic. Even this one was fine on the week of our sailing.

[baileybrad]

Thanks for all of the commentary. My husband and I will be on the Adventure, our first RC, in October. Chose it for the itinerary, a little nervous about the unknowns as we are used to Carnival but excited cause it is a cruise lol Love to hear other's input.

I would you suggest that you read some of the reviews for the AOS found in the review section. You know what you enjoy on a cruise so avoid focusing on reviews that get bogged down in some random issue that is of no importance to you.

 

You will not go hungry on a RCI cruise. I really do not see the need to have soft serve ice cream available 24 hours a day or having a midnight buffet after I have just finished dinner at 10:15PM. But if one expects or enjoys that then, no, the AOS does not have that available and it would be a disappointment if you went to look for it and did not find it. We found the pizza on the AOS to be quite good for a quick snack when returning back on the ship after touring an island. Having a daily speciality pizza was nice. Our teenage sons really enjoyed the pizza on the RCI ships. We find plenty of food choices that work for us in the Windjammer for breakfast, lunch, and the post lunch period up to 5:00PM. The burgers are decent. Not called out by a special name but still good burgers.

 

I hear how folks talk about RCI is constantly trying to upsell. When I am on the ship, I pay no attention to it. We have done an occasional specialty meal and sent the kid's to Johnny Rockets as a treat for them. But we have not chosen to do so on our last 3 cruises. We find the food in the MDR to be pretty darn good. And like any cruise ship if you get something that you do not care for....they will bring you something else. We really like the soups and other starters on RCI. Lots of good choices.

 

Most important thing is to check out your Cruise Compass to see when is food served so you do not show up at the Windjammer at 10:00PM when it is stated in the CC that it closes at 9:00PM.

 

Not sure what your stops are but we loved Curacao (first time there). If you are stopping at St.Martin and have not done Bernard's Tours......they are quite good.

 

The only thing that we did not find to be all that great on this cruise was the evening shows. We had seen the hypnotist performing our week and we did not like the show when we saw it the 1st time.....so obviously, we did not go to it. One of the comedians was really funny to us but the other one not so much. The illusionist was very good. Of course, the entertainers will most likely be different when you sail. We do not care for the ship sing and dance shows so that limited us. Do try and see the Love and Marriage show. If Casey, the cruise director, is still on when you sail it will be very funny. His wife is expecting in the fall. The ice show is good, too. Of course, entertainment is a personal preference.

 

Hope your cruise weather is great. If you have any specific questions, please feel free to ask.

[DaisyL]

I certainly agree with the OP has said comparing CCC with RCL and I've been on older as well as newer ships. I think the food and meals, choices and quality, were better on CCL. We also cruise NCL.

 

Having said that, we think RCI is the most organized of all. Embarkation and disembarkation is stress free where as with CCL (and NCL, as well) are a free-for-all. RCL is also very organized for excursions, next cruise desk, show reservations, tendering, getting on and off the ship at ports, etc.

 

To be honest we will continue to cruise all cruise lines and try others but overall we prefer the experience with RCL the best.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Carguylee]

I have been on 3 cruises on CCL and 3 on RCL, they were both comparable to me in food and service. I do like the extra options on carnival like guys burger and blue iguana, but our preference is RCL because we prefer the ships. I would gladly go on CCL anytime though.

[CruisinSunBunny]

We sail our first RC cruise in October, and have sailed Carnival before. You compared room service saying Carnival's is free. But aren't only continental options available on Carnival? Like fruit, bagel, coffee?

 

From what I've gathered, the continental options are also free on RC, and there's only a charge for a made-to-order breakfast like egg, bacon, and hashbrowns.

[CPT_b_dds]

We sail our first RC cruise in October, and have sailed Carnival before. You compared room service saying Carnival's is free. But aren't only continental options available on Carnival? Like fruit, bagel, coffee?

 

From what I've gathered, the continental options are also free on RC, and there's only a charge for a made-to-order breakfast like egg, bacon, and hashbrowns.

 

if i remember correctly..both royal and carnival offer similar continental food items...i dont think it was very different. The charge for room service on royal is $7.99 and i believe you can order as much as you want...honestly, I rarely saw plates/bowls, etc in front of any rooms on my ship and I personally dont believe anyone really used the service.....all you have to do is charge a little and nobody does it :) maybe a smart move on royals part...

[baileybrad]

We sail our first RC cruise in October, and have sailed Carnival before. You compared room service saying Carnival's is free. But aren't only continental options available on Carnival? Like fruit, bagel, coffee?

 

From what I've gathered, the continental options are also free on RC, and there's only a charge for a made-to-order breakfast like egg, bacon, and hashbrowns.

It is my understanding that RCI still offers a complimentary continental breakfast. Not sure how elaborate, others with more knowledge will respond to that. The change that RCI is touting is that they have "upgraded" / come up with a new and improved room service menu that they now charge $7.95. I am not interested in encouraging their upsell in this area. I do seem to remember that the for certain types of suites that there might not be a charge. I like my eggs, bacon, etc. hot so we have and always will just go and get our own meal's in the morning. Our sons did order room service on their first couple of RCI cruises several years ago.....just for the novelty of it. It was complimentary then except for a few dollars tip for the delivery.

[SRF]

New upgraded RCCL room service menu:

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/en_US/pdf/Room_Service_Menu_2017.pdf

 

Items off the "Continental Breakfast" section are free. Other items have a $7.95 per person charge, unless you are in a Grand Suite or higher class stateroom. Then room service is free.

[katiel53]

I guess I feel that for whatever reason, I need to give my opinion. I have sailed Carnival enough to be almost Diamond and Royal Caribbean enough to be Diamond Plus. I am just saying that to show that I have sailed both frequently so I am not basing my opinion on just one sailing on either line.

 

I don't know which ships you have sailed on when you have sailed Carnival, but you sailed on one of the old Royal Ships. It's almost like sailing Paradise except it's a year or two newer. It wasn't until the last few years that Guy's Burgers and Blue Iguana appeared on most of Carnival ships, so I don't think it's been on all their ships for long if at all.

 

Just like Oasis class has many choices for lunch, such as Park Cafe, the solarium, Cafe Promenade etc. Of course these are newer ships just like those on the newer Carnival ships have more places for lunch.

 

I do agree about the pizza as I think Royal Caribbean has the worst pizza ever and I do love thin crust, but it's like they use fake cheese and it's horrid. Contrary to what was posted, on Oasis class, here again, newer ships, pizza can be ordered the way you want it with many ingredients that Carnival doesn't even have on their menu.

 

I agree about the self-serve ice cream. It is almost non-existent on Royal. I'm not so sure it's a disadvantage though as at night when the kids are running loose as they do so many times on Carnival, the ice cream machines seem to be the target of abuse.

 

On Carnival the buffet at lunch has many of the same items daily, salads, fruits and there is a difference in the carving stations and a few items surrounding it. I think it's the same on Royal as there are different things daily, but a lot of the same.

 

I think for entertainment, Royal doesn't use the passengers as the main entertainment as Carnival does. Karaoke every night and the other entertainment, to me is lacking.

 

I know there are other comparisons as well, but I think I have said enough. I will still continue to sail both lines, but I know when I go on Carnival Dream class ships, which are my fav of Carnival ships, I will have a good time, but I will spend more time in the casino because there aren't good shows etc. for me.

 

Each passenger has his/her own desires and that's why there are so many different lines and ships. Just as I wouldn't sail on Paradise, I wouldn't sail on Majesty or some other old(er) Royal ship because I am spoiled and like all the bells and whistles and tons of choices on my cruise.

 

I hope you enjoy whatever you choose.

[perditax]

if i remember correctly..both royal and carnival offer similar continental food items...i dont think it was very different. The charge for room service on royal is $7.99 and i believe you can order as much as you want...honestly, I rarely saw plates/bowls, etc in front of any rooms on my ship and I personally dont believe anyone really used the service.....all you have to do is charge a little and nobody does it :) maybe a smart move on royals part...

 

If it was a smart move, it was NCL's first. I believe they were the first to abolish room service that was included with cruise fare.