A Celebrity loyalist booked on Carnival

[Duanerice1]

We were looking for a "cheap" late September/October cruise out of S Florida, longer than 7 nights. Would have really preferred Celebrity but the price..... We couldn't justify paying $1,100 more for 8 nights. And that's with no perks, just a standard veranda. Elite benefits are not worth $1,100 - lol.

Living in S Florida we cut our teeth on Carnival and RCCl in the late 90's on the weekend "booze cruises". When we decided to do a week long cruise we chose Celebrity and never looked back. About 3 years ago we went on the Carnival Breeze with family for a week and were pleasantly surprised. Great ship, nice spa, good food and some cool places to eat - included. And yes, it's not Celebrity but it was fun. So we've been there and know what to expect.

Also looking for a change. Last 4 cruises were on an S class and we need to switch it up a bit. The last couple were a bit sedate. Was looking for M class but I think that is only out of San Juan. I'll keep looking as I have about 100 days to cancel and can also transfer to a TA within 90 days. Deposit was only $200 total for the two of us. So there is a bright side :)

And I know someone will come on here and say Celebrity is not expensive and give examples of "great" deals. Well I hope they do and I am always looking for a cruise deal.

[Kiwifromkiev]

And I know someone will come on here and say Celebrity is not expensive and give examples of "great" deals. Well I hope they do and I am always looking for a cruise deal.

 

 

Sadly, I’ve noticed that X prices are creeping up ... no scientific data here but as an accountant I do have a fair “feel” ;) can’t compare with other lines but seems that it is more likely to grab a better deal elsewhere (again, comparing apples with apples eg NCL with NCL)

 

Hopefully someone will come up with a good suggestion!

 

 

 

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[TFLG]

Creeping???, the jump in the last year or so has been more than a creep. There are still decent deals but some of the brochure prices on the cruises for 2019/2020 are crazy high.

 

It's pretty easy to score a really cheap 7 day cruise for the Caribbean on the other lines, especially on their older ships. I did see some pretty good deals on Celebrity Equinox for certain dates. The base prices were quite a bit higher but the TA I was looking at was offering, booze, grats and OBC so that netted the price down close to a cheap Carnival cruise.

[Lastdance]

I think I would only book Carnival if I was part of a large group that wanted to travel together...maybe. If I cannot cruise the way I want to, then it won't happen, as there are so many other venues...but to each his/her own! And yes, the prices are going up, up and up!

[Cruise Raider]

We sail across several different lines with our favorite being Celebrity and our most cruises on Princess (20+). We took a chance and sailed on Carnival a few years back and it was really fun. We even ran into some fellow passengers that we recognized from a previous Celebrity cruise ... they also stated they were having a good time.

I still prefer Celebrity but met a lot of nice people on our Carnival cruise, a couple of which we still keep in touch with. We loved the itinerary and had a little change of pace to boot.

We are bargain travels and although elite on both Celebrity and Princess, we do like to switch it up a bit now and again. Just recently looking into some sailings on NCL and Holland America, both of which we've cruised with before and enjoyed immensely. It's all about the deal for us.

[helen haywood]

We have sailed Royal, HAL, NCL, Carnival, Costa, MSC and Celebrity (we are Elite Plus.) We’ve enjoyed every single cruise on every line. Any day at sea is a good day for me.

 

 

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[andrek]

We had a great trip a few years ago on the Carnival Magic. We booked into the spa cabins with a balcony. It was terrific. We pretty much stayed in the spa during the day and ate at the specialty restaurants at night. The best steak I have ever had was in the Steakhouse restaurant on that ship. We had lots of fun and made our own cruise. It is not Celebrity but it was a great change of pace.

[Kiwifromkiev]

 

I am looking at Equinox 11 nights on 24 September and 10 nights on 5 October. The prices are reasonable but I only see NZ$ price and also you did not indicate the itinerary/price for your Carnival booking so it is hard to compare ...

 

 

 

 

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[buffetking]

Just got off the Carnival Sunshine, 4-14 to 4-22 from Port Canaveral, FL. Ports: Aruba, Bonaire, and Turks & Caicos.

Did this cruise for my 60th birthday. We normally cruise with Celebrity and Princess.

I liked being on vacation and cruising... but did not like being on the Sunshine. It was modified a few years ago.

It seems Carnival has spent considerable time ensuring every inch of the ship somehow produces revenue.

There is even a bar in the library. Expect to pay high prices for anything extra. Second hand smoke from the casino entry/exit

could be smelled 2 floors above.. yuck. Our cabin was not clean when we arrived. Heavy dust coated most surfaces and it was clear the floor had not been vacuumed. I spent an hour with a wet towel cleaning all the shelves, railing around the bed, closets,

drawers, light fixtures, TV, phone, and bathroom. The once white towel was black when I finished. I noticed there was a message on the phone. It was for the previous guests, from the medical department wondering if they were still feeling sick. Hello! So, I spent more time sanitizing everything with wipes I brought. Our room steward was nice... but did not clean the room well at all.

Basically just brought new towels. Carpet remained dirty, balcony was really dirty, Bathroom sink quickly wiped... leaving a trail

of white soap everywhere. I have never had an unclean cabin/bathroom/balcony on Celebrity.

Most of the activities on Sunshine were geared toward getting you to spend money. No more chocolates on your pillow at night,

no more tablecloths in MDR except on formal nights... little cuts... but most folks I met mentioned them. Also lackluster service.

Even in the F. 555 steakhouse. Order Surf & Turf... take lobster out of shell yourself. At $35 a person extra.... they should have better service. Waitress displayed and explained various cuts of beef to us at the start. She mentioned they were all aged more than 28 days.. so I asked: any of the steaks dry aged? She had no idea what I was talking about and kinda got pissy with me for the rest of our meal.

This was my 31st cruise. I've been all over the world on Holland America, Celebrity, Celebrity Xpedition, RCCL, Norwegian, Vantage, Cruise North, Princess, and... Carnival. Notice I put Carnival last.

 

Cheers,

 

Da fat one.....

[buffetking]

Almost forgot. I'm taking Celebrity Silhouette this June 9th for Scandinavia and Russia.

Hopefully their service is still top notch. I'll post my experience when I return.

 

"Some call me heavy"

"Others say I'm corpulent"

"Me thinks I'm merely chunky"

With a fork in me wee hand,

and a chocolate Bon Bon in the other..

 

I be...

Da fat man

[deliver42]

As you can see by my signature, I've sailed a few lines ( Carnival, NCL, RCCl, MSC, and Princess. To me, I'd rather spend a few dollars more to avoid Carnival. While I had a good time, I find their prices on their newer ships up there with everyone else, but with no perks at all. On our last Carnival cruise, the Dream, a few years ago, the stateroom was always dusty, and that was when they did two cleanings. The stewards just have too many cabins to do it thoroughly.

[Duanerice1]

I am looking at Equinox 11 nights on 24 September and 10 nights on 5 October. The prices are reasonable but I only see NZ$ price and also you did not indicate the itinerary/price for your Carnival booking so it is hard to compare ...

 

We are paying $1,536 USD total with fees and taxes for a decent placed balcony cabin. Can't find anything close. Couldn't do an inside or ocean view on an 8 day cruise. I'd go crazy :). I spend a lot of time on the balcony so that is important to us.

[Kiwifromkiev]

We are paying $1,536 USD total with fees and taxes for a decent placed balcony cabin. Can't find anything close. Couldn't do an inside or ocean view on an 8 day cruise. I'd go crazy :). I spend a lot of time on the balcony so that is important to us.

I hear you, I am the same - need to be able to feel the air :) so is your cruise 8 days?

 

Just had another look - taking into account exchange rate - no way Celebrity is even close in price, even though it is a couple of days longer - on a per diem basis :(

[Tatka]

We sailed numerous times with Celebrity, Royal, Princess, Holland, NCL, MSC, Cunard, Carnival.

Celebrity is one of our favorites even though we don't meet often.

 

Carnival is the only one line we couldn't adjust to even after 3 times. Something about ambiance and atmosphere, decor.

 

We aren't planning to sail with Carnival anymore, but if we had to we'd probably choose Spirit class (Miracle, Legend, Spirit, Pride). They have very ugly decor, but at least design is much better than Conquest class (Sailed on Liberty and Glory and couldn't stand pool design, overcrowding etc)

 

We would gladly choose inside cabin on Celebrity ship if we had to over balcony on Carnival.

 

I'd try something in the middle. RCCL maybe?

If you reached Elite with Celebrity RCCL will match it with Diamond status which offers some nice perks.

[Denny01]

We have used a number of Lines, but look to Celebrity as our choice in most cases. With that said, we’ve never been on a bad cruise, enjoyed them all in some way, including our Carnival cruises. Yup, I can’t take part in the Hairy Chest contests (hair doesn’t grow on ‘steel’ - or the top of my head!), and we stay away from the Congo lines and so on, but enjoyed the cruise.

 

Carnival is more ‘colorful’ and, no other way of putting it - louder, but not a killer experience for us. Dining was OK, and service was fine. We’ve not gone on a Carnival cruise as just a couple (always with family and grandkids, and large group of party friends), so that imparts our enjoyment of a line such as Carnival.

 

The only major problem I’ve had on a cruise is on one of the huge ships of 5000+. With it so large, didn’t have any feel of being at sea, and didn’t enjoy or need/use all the ‘attactions’. Enjoyed the great shows that they have, but not worth doing again. I don’t need to be in a pretend New York Times Square. If I want that, I’ll go to NYC.

 

Den

[villauk]

Good morning,

In my post above I ruled out the Sunshine as unacceptable.

It's more important to choose the "right ship" than the "the right cruise line".

Carnival ships are different.

Celebrity ships are different too. I can definitely recommend Equinox or Eclipse, but I would say "at your own risk" about the Silhouette and the Reflection.

Carnival has much better than the Sunshine, more enjoyable ships to cruise (Conquest Class, Spirit Class and the Splendor).

As to cleaning, guess what ship is this:

 

 

Can’t be X as no dirty underwear left on the shelf :')!

[keithm]

Sadly, I’ve noticed that X prices are creeping up ... no scientific data here but as an accountant I do have a fair “feel” ;) can’t compare with other lines but seems that it is more likely to grab a better deal elsewhere (again, comparing apples with apples eg NCL with NCL)

 

Hopefully someone will come up with a good suggestion!

 

 

 

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We booked a concierge cabin on the Reflection Jan. 2019 for about $2500PP. I thought that was pretty damn reasonable. I feel it's because the Edge is coming out & they still want fill up the S class ships. Really doesn't matter as we switched over to Oceania Riviera & will cancel the Celebrity trip shortly. We did the Riviera this past Jan. It was leaps & bounds over our 2017 Eclipse trip. Since our 2017 Eclipse trip had declined so much in quality(we thought) we did a 10 day "tryout" on Oceania, after cancelling our 2018 Eclipse reservations.

[cruzeluver]

Just goes to show how much different folks can have different experiences.

 

We are not loyal to any line as we like to mix it up and have varied experiences. Having said that, Royal and X tend to be our "go to" lines but not exclusively.

 

Contrary to what some others have posted, Sunshine is actually our favorite of the Carnival ships we have sailed on. In fact it is one of the few we have actually sailed on twice. We had no cleanliness issues. We loved how many dining options there were and while some were better than others none were bad. In fact, I would put Jiji's Asian Kitchen up against any specialty restaurant on X, Royal or MSC and they have managed to keep the prices more reasonable.

[sippican]

Good luck with your Carnival cruise!

We were of like mind a few years ago. We had a really bad experience on our first Carnival cruise, and the conditions on ship were subpar in the areas of safety, cleanliness and maintenance when compared to Royal, X and NCL. We figured we'd give them another chance and tried another bargain cruise on a different ship. That cruise too was more than a bit disappointing (torn drapes, teeny cabin, threadbare towels, leaky window) ... We concluded that if they care for the internal operating systems on the same level as those that are visible, we want nothing more to do with the line. (Remember their numerous mechanical breakdowns?)

We are also willing to spend more to avoid Carnival.

[Pavovsky]

This blog gives an overview of a Carnival cruise https://solentrichardscruiseblog.com/2018/02/09/carnival-dream-a-very-pleasant-surprise/

 

 

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[Mike981]

We're going back to Celebrity after several years away. We did AI's as a couple and Carnival with the kids.

Each line has its own style. I don't have the same expectations for Carnival as I do Celebrity. Carnival allowed us to take some fantastic family trips. This January we are back on Equinox and both of us are looking forward to being reminded of why we fell in love with cruising in the first place.

[Georgia_Peaches]

I've done Carnival several times and each occasion was a really good time. As I've matured though, so have my tastes and expectations. My problem with Carnival is that they don't really offer any suite perks and I've never really see an offer for a drink package outside of "drink credits". With Celebrity, I know what I'm getting with a suite and I can always count on their drink package.

[Stateroom_Sailor]

After 3 Carnival cruises, each significantly inferior to the prior experience, we won't be sailing Carnival again. Maintenance, cleanliness, Lido deck food, customer service, and financial shenanigans were all issues, just to name a few.

 

You could always do Infinity with us on Halloween, or Nov 1st and Nov 5th B2B. Veranda's are inexpensive, and perks or included.

[varoo]

Just goes to show how much different folks can have different experiences.

So true, and furthermore even the same folks can have very different experiences when cruising the same itinerary on the same ship at different times.

 

 

No reason why a Celebrity loyalist can't also enjoy a Carnival cruise, as long as you can be flexible, go with realistic expectations and don't expect it to be the same as Celebrity.

We have done that a couple of times on the Carnival Spirit (one of the smaller ships), when it had an itinerary that nobody else was offering at the time we wanted to go.

It was a longer cruise, not at school break time, so very few children on board.

We enjoyed it and had no complaints about the cabin, the food, or the service.

Some of the activities did not appeal to us, so we just skipped them, as we would do on any other cruise line.

Edited April 26, 2018 by varoo

[FlamingJune1967]

Good morning,

In my post above I ruled out the Sunshine as unacceptable.

It's more important to choose the "right ship" than the "the right cruise line".

Carnival ships are different.

Celebrity ships are different too. I can definitely recommend Equinox or Eclipse, but I would say "at your own risk" about the Silhouette and the Reflection.

 

What is wrong with Reflection? We have Reflection booked based on our love for Eclipse - I thought they were basically the same. Have I missed something?