Sailing carnival

[jsscuba2]

I may not be the best person to bring this up since I have sailed Carnival 35 times. How many of you out their are getting tired of sailing carnival. Better yet sailing the same itineraries where carnival sails.  When checking for cruises I always check Carnival first, but many times I end up searching other cruise sites. In recent years I have sailed RCC to the British Isle. Holland American , MSC for free drink, and this summer RCC on a Trans Atlantic. I have booked Carnival for a cruise in January, my umteenth time to Western Caribbean and the Radiance to Europe in 2020. So how many of you find yourself searching for new iteneraries and new adventures.

[PhillyFan33579]

I have sailed on Carvinal 23 times (cruise number 24 coming up Christmas week) and I am far from being tired of Carnival.  To me every cruise is unique because we always meet new people who we enjoy spending time with, regardless of whether we are traveling alone, or travelling with family and/or friends.  Additionally the staff and entertainers (bartenders, comedians, piano player, etc.) are different every cruise, although we frequently see people we have met on previous cruises. That’s what makes every cruise an adventure in my book, even if we are sailing on a ship we have sailed on before or visiting port(s) we have been to before.  

[Taters]

My husband and I are platinum non Carnival but are mostly tired of the Caribbean, Mexico, Hawaii and Panama Canal itineraries.  Or next cruise (January 6th) is a 14 night Southern Caribbean on Pride, but our last two cruises have been on HAL (Baltic and Transatlantic from Italy to Ft. Lauderdale), and our next 2 cruises will be on HAL (Transatlantic from Ft. Lauderdale to Copenhagen and Transpacific from Yokohama to Vancouver).  Yeah - I don't care if I never go to Cozumel again!

 

And it may sound petty, but I love tablecloths at dinnertime.  

[coevan]

We love cruising Carnival and enjoy our Platinum perks. We also love all vacations and are not married to cruising. We love A.I.'s and just land based hotel and resort vacations. We might try a MSC as they are offering to match perks and the Yacht Club upgrade is intriguing. 

[boomhower]

Kind of a loaded question.  It is not so much a cruise line question as a monetary on.   All the main cruise lines take the same basic Caribbean/Alaskan/Panama/Transalantic ports.  For something else it is a lot more money. Carnival is clearly the budget line, asking more than what they offer doesn't make sense, you need to look at other more upscale lines. 

[RWolver672]

We are going on our twelfth cruise coming up in February, the eleventh on Carnival.  We tried RCL and didn't like it so we stay with Carnival because we really enjoy them.  

 

We have been to St. Thomas, San Juan, Grand Turk, Cozumel, Aruba and Curacao several times.  It never gets old because we do something different each time we are there.  

 

As long as we are still enjoying Carnival, we see no need to change cruise lines.  

[job09]

This is my first carnival cruise, I'm a diamond member on RCCL and Select on Celebrity wanted to try something different.  Try Alaska loved it!  Went in August on Celebrity we had amazing weather, saw whales bubble net feeding right off the side of our cruise ship.  Going to the Naturalist talks is fun too.  Europe is amazing as well, cruising is a great way to see Europe more affordably.  I'm getting tired of the Caribbean too but it's a stress free way to vacation with kids.  

[NCTribeFan]

Yeah, there are only so many ports in the Caribbean.  I would sail Europe if it were within my budget.

 

I have 29 Carnival cruises since 2001 and am 5 nights away from Diamond.  I'm booked on the Radiance TA in June 2020 but have no plans for another Carnival cruise before then.

 

I leave on Sunday on MSC Divina for my first cruise with them and I hope I love them, since they have some very interesting itineraries at good prices.

 

I have only one RCI (my 2nd cruise) and would do more, but for the inside cabins I typically book, their's are closest-sized on most ships.  I've been spoiled by Carnival's larger inside cabins.

 

I sailed my first NCL cruise last spring (14 nights Star eastbound TA) and really enjoyed it.  Bought a Cruise Next certificate and had booked the Jade TA for April but cancelled as I couldn't find return air that worked for me.  The free drinks program is great.

 

I've sailed HAL 3 times and really like them.  I get casino offers that give me a solo discount meaning I'm not paying 200% like I have to on Carnival.  My Carnival casino offers aren't that great.

 

I prefer a longer sailing, and Carnival's Journeys sailings are so popular that the prices are crazy.  I can sail 11 nights on HAL for considerably less than 14 nights on Carnival.

 

Honestly, I'm just tired of the same old, same old with Carnival.  Other than the size of the ships and having a few more bars and places to eat on the larger ones, it's all the same.  Same activities.  Same shows.  Same food.  Same jokes from the CDs.

 

Yes, all the mainstream lines are more alike than they are different, but I'm just not excited about Carnival any longer. 

[Banditswife]

We've done about 14 cruises, 12 on CCL.  We found that HAL was just not a good fit for us, & RCI isn't always in the budget.  We continue to sail CCL because of our Platinum perks & value for the money spent.  It is an easy vacation for us- no driving (except to/from airport,) meals included, room included, entertainment included, & we get to see some beautiful places that would be unavailable to us otherwise.  Sure we could do an AI on some beautiful island, but we like the atmosphere of a cruise better.  So we will keep cruising CCL, might branch out to try NCL,  RCI or some other brand sooner or later.  For us, why change what we already know we enjoy.

[Tapi]

On 12/3/2018 at 4:51 AM, boomhower said:

Kind of a loaded question.  It is not so much a cruise line question as a monetary on.   All the main cruise lines take the same basic Caribbean/Alaskan/Panama/Transalantic ports.  For something else it is a lot more money. 

I used to be pretty loyal to Carnival until 2011. Then I started venturing out and I realized that I could sail on other cruise lines (some that are considered premium) for less money. So from a monetary standpoint, it’s made sense to branch out and take a break from Carnival, plus we’ve explored places that we couldn’t visit on Carnival.

 

And even though it’s been nice to have Platinum perks when sailing on Carnival, we’ve realized that those perks aren’t that great or enough to keep us sailing with them. We’ve had better service and perks as newbies on other cruise lines than as Platinum on Carnival. 

 

And it’s not only in the Caribbean where we’ve found better pricing. We sailed to Alaska on Holland America, Pacific Coastal on Princess, and we just returned from a fantastic Thanksgiving Mediterranean cruise on MSC. All of them were cheaper than sailing on Carnival on similar dates. Heck we did MSC in the Caribbean in 2016 for less than a weekend booze cruise on Carnival! We now have Anthem of the Seas to Bermuda booked for 2019 and it’s the same price as sailing on Carnival’s shorter Bermuda itinerary on a refurbished, older ship (Triumph/Sunrise). The per day cost on Carnival is actually substantially higher considering that it’s a shorter itinerary. The decision on that one was easy.  

 

The only cruise where I’ve had to dig (considerably and painfully) deeper in my pocket was for our Disney Fantasy cruise last year. Glad we experienced it but never again. 

Edited December 6, 2018 by Tapi

[vsclausen]

35 on carnival, by far the most cost effective especially without packages. We are liking Norwegian. Did 30 days around South America this March.  The free at sea comps even with the extra gratuities are really reasonable compared to carnivals drink package and there are no restrictions.  Music is good however not as wild except in the dueling pianos which is great.  We are doing an MSC cruise in the Carrebean this fall mostly to maintain our black card.  All of the lines are leaning towards these mega ships their all huge but the bells and whistles get in the way of elbow room.  With that we have 33 days booked on Carnival and 9 on NCL in 2020 25 of which are in Northern Europe.

[Don Kehote]

On 12/2/2018 at 6:22 PM, jsscuba2 said:

I may not be the best person to bring this up since I have sailed Carnival 35 times. How many of you out their are getting tired of sailing carnival. Better yet sailing the same itineraries where carnival sails.  When checking for cruises I always check Carnival first, but many times I end up searching other cruise sites. In recent years I have sailed RCC to the British Isle. Holland American , MSC for free drink, and this summer RCC on a Trans Atlantic. I have booked Carnival for a cruise in January, my umteenth time to Western Caribbean and the Radiance to Europe in 2020. So how many of you find yourself searching for new iteneraries and new adventures.

Well, I'm not rich, so this doesn't apply, can't help you.

 

 

[ocaladee]

Choose where you want to go not the cruise .line.  I haven't cruised as much as most, but have tried several lines.  Loved Princess but they are limited in the caribbean when I want to go.  This will be our first Carnival in 20 years as the one and only time we did was the worst cruise ever.  Talked hubby into trying again.  I have friends that have 30 carnival cruises and love it.  I am glad we booked as I was going to do RCCL as it included Cuba and that is now gone.  Price wise we are getting a balcony for the price on the RCCL that stopped in Cuba. Also going out of Tampa an hour drive instead of 7 to Miami which we have no desire to drive in.

[PhillyFan33579]

20 minutes ago, ocaladee said:

Choose where you want to go not the cruise .line.  I haven't cruised as much as most, but have tried several lines.  Loved Princess but they are limited in the caribbean when I want to go.  This will be our first Carnival in 20 years as the one and only time we did was the worst cruise ever.  Talked hubby into trying again.  I have friends that have 30 carnival cruises and love it.  I am glad we booked as I was going to do RCCL as it included Cuba and that is now gone.  Price wise we are getting a balcony for the price on the RCCL that stopped in Cuba. Also going out of Tampa an hour drive instead of 7 to Miami which we have no desire to drive in.

 

It takes 4 hours to drive from Port Tampa to Port Miami.  Where do you live that it is an hour drive to Tampa but 7 hours to Miami?

[elcuchio24]

On 12/2/2018 at 6:22 PM, jsscuba2 said:

I may not be the best person to bring this up since I have sailed Carnival 35 times. How many of you out their are getting tired of sailing carnival. Better yet sailing the same itineraries where carnival sails.  When checking for cruises I always check Carnival first, but many times I end up searching other cruise sites. In recent years I have sailed RCC to the British Isle. Holland American , MSC for free drink, and this summer RCC on a Trans Atlantic. I have booked Carnival for a cruise in January, my umteenth time to Western Caribbean and the Radiance to Europe in 2020. So how many of you find yourself searching for new iteneraries and new adventures.

 

We base it all on itin, have sailed 5 different lines in the past three years. Nothing wrong with that! I honestly thing it makes me enjoy all the lines more. Never understand why someone would be loyal to only one line. Variety is the spice of life!

[elcuchio24]

On 12/6/2018 at 9:50 AM, Tapi said:

I used to be pretty loyal to Carnival until 2011. Then I started venturing out and I realized that I could sail on other cruise lines (some that are considered premium) for less money. So from a monetary standpoint, it’s made sense to branch out and take a break from Carnival, plus we’ve explored places that we couldn’t visit on Carnival.

 

And even though it’s been nice to have Platinum perks when sailing on Carnival, we’ve realized that those perks aren’t that great or enough to keep us sailing with them. We’ve had better service and perks as newbies on other cruise lines than as Platinum on Carnival. 

 

And it’s not only in the Caribbean where we’ve found better pricing. We sailed to Alaska on Holland America, Pacific Coastal on Princess, and we just returned from a fantastic Thanksgiving Mediterranean cruise on MSC. All of them were cheaper than sailing on Carnival on similar dates. Heck we did MSC in the Caribbean in 2016 for less than a weekend booze cruise on Carnival! We now have Anthem of the Seas to Bermuda booked for 2019 and it’s the same price as sailing on Carnival’s shorter Bermuda itinerary on a refurbished, older ship (Triumph/Sunrise). The per day cost on Carnival is actually substantially higher considering that it’s a shorter itinerary. The decision on that one was easy.  

 

The only cruise where I’ve had to dig (considerably and painfully) deeper in my pocket was for our Disney Fantasy cruise last year. Glad we experienced it but never again. 

 

Hey Tapi---did you do a review for the MSC Med cruise? If you can link it, if not just let me know if you approved :-). Was the weather decent in Nov? I am shopping for one for next year. Thanks!

[JaniceB]

After sailing in the Havana area of the Horizon, I am not looking for other cruise lines to sail.  I loved the Havana area.  I previously sailed 1 Celebrity and 2 RCL before this 13th Carnival.   I think Celebrity will also be in our future.  The service was fantastic.  I missed the dining room experience this time on Carnival.  We were not seated at table and a handed menu, napkin not placed in lap and no drink waiter.  We couldn't even get a cup of coffee or a glass of ice without asking numerous times.  I haven't sailed HAL since 2005 but might try  it again also.  

[JaniceB]

On 12/6/2018 at 9:50 AM, Tapi said:

I used to be pretty loyal to Carnival until 2011. Then I started venturing out and I realized that I could sail on other cruise lines (some that are considered premium) for less money. So from a monetary standpoint, it’s made sense to branch out and take a break from Carnival, plus we’ve explored places that we couldn’t visit on Carnival.

 

And even though it’s been nice to have Platinum perks when sailing on Carnival, we’ve realized that those perks aren’t that great or enough to keep us sailing with them. We’ve had better service and perks as newbies on other cruise lines than as Platinum on Carnival. 

 

And it’s not only in the Caribbean where we’ve found better pricing. We sailed to Alaska on Holland America, Pacific Coastal on Princess, and we just returned from a fantastic Thanksgiving Mediterranean cruise on MSC. All of them were cheaper than sailing on Carnival on similar dates. Heck we did MSC in the Caribbean in 2016 for less than a weekend booze cruise on Carnival! We now have Anthem of the Seas to Bermuda booked for 2019 and it’s the same price as sailing on Carnival’s shorter Bermuda itinerary on a refurbished, older ship (Triumph/Sunrise). The per day cost on Carnival is actually substantially higher considering that it’s a shorter itinerary. The decision on that one was easy.  

 

The only cruise where I’ve had to dig (considerably and painfully) deeper in my pocket was for our Disney Fantasy cruise last year. Glad we experienced it but never again. 

May I ask why your would never again sail the Disney Fantasy?  

[evandbob]

When I realized I knew what the CD announcement was going to be, I suddenly realized that it was time to try other cruiselines.  That factor, as well as Carnival's raising solo pricing to 200% led me to branch out to other lines.  So glad I did.

 

Right now, I have a Carnival casino fare booked, as well as a Carnival 9 day Norway sailing.

 

I've also booked a 2 week NCL cruise around South America's Cape Horn, a 10 day NCL Panama, an 11 day Celebrity Southern, and a 7 day Symphony of the Seas.  We've sailed MSC and Disney in the past.

 

I now view diverse lines as a positive experience.

[Butterbean1000]

We have always entertained cruising on other lines and I'm sure we will one day.  We have our 11th Carnival cruise booked on a ship we haven't sailed on yet. I think sailing on a different ship every time helps to keep things fresh.  I have one more cruise and I'll be platinum. That's sort of a goal of mine. Not for the gifts or perks, because I can buy most of them.   When I started cruising, I just never saw myself as being able to cruise as much as I have. I do credit Carnival for allowing me to be able to do so with their affordability and fun vacations.  So right now, I'm dancing with the one that brought me.