Carnival and RCCL - Differences?

[handbellplayer]

We are planning a cruise on Sunshine out of Charleston in July.  We chose this cruise because it’s an easy drive to the port and a five day cruise works for our family.  It will be DH and me (both 65), DS (42 and divorced) and his 18 year old daughter, and DS and wife (40) and their 3 year old.

 

We are Diamond on RCCL (have sailed on every class except Quantum) and haven’t sailed on Carnival and many years.  We are very used to the way things work on Royal ships.  Can you help me with the main differences between the lines?  I’m not looking for food comparisons, because I think food is totally subjective. I'm not looking for characterizations of our fellow cruisers. What are the major differences we’ll see in boarding procedures, cabins, etc.?  I already know I cannot take my older granddaughter to the Serenity area.  I’m pretty bummed about that because this cruise is a celebration for her high school graduation, and she’s allowed in the Solarium on Royal ships.

 

What other differences will we see?

 

[keywest1]

We have found the cabins to be larger on Carnival.  

Carnival also has assigned terminal check in times now.  Unless you are Platinum/Diamond or buy Faster to the Fun, you select a 30 minute time window when you do your online check in.  The times are enforced--if you show up early, you will either be told to come back at your assigned time or directed to a separate line to be checked in as the other line clears.

[handbellplayer]

37 minutes ago, keywest1 said:

We have found the cabins to be larger on Carnival.  

Carnival also has assigned terminal check in times now.  Unless you are Platinum/Diamond or buy Faster to the Fun, you select a 30 minute time window when you do your online check in.  The times are enforced--if you show up early, you will either be told to come back at your assigned time or directed to a separate line to be checked in as the other line clears.

We purchased FTTF for that very reason.  Trying to make things as easy as possible with a restless toddler.

[JaniceB]

Don't have any dining plans to purchase, don't have to make reservations for shows, no sales on drink packages except per purchase has a discount, photo package on Carnival in nothing like RCCL and more free dining choices on Carnival.

[TNcruising02]

I loved my RCL cruises, but I also enjoy cruising on Carnival.  

Carnival has a better variety of comedy shows.  They usually have two comedians at the start of the cruise and then two new ones at the second half.  Most of the comedians have several different shows, both family and adult.

Carnival has self service laundry on several decks.  They have food served near the main pool - Guy's Burgers (very good) and Mexican food.  You most likely won't get the hard sell as you are dining.  That happened to us several times while cruising RCL.

Carnival's dance parties are on the outside deck in the middle.  They have contests and other things going on in this area throughout the cruise.  Snagging FTTF was a good move!  I always try to get it.

I think the theater shows are better on RCL, but Carnival's aren't bad.  We like Carnival's comedy shows, so that's not a big deal to us.

Edited April 5, 2019 by TNcruising02

[handbellplayer]

12 minutes ago, TNcruising02 said:

I loved my RCL cruises, but I also enjoy cruising on Carnival.  

Carnival has a better variety of comedy shows.  They usually have two comedians at the start of the cruise and then two new ones at the second half.  Most of the comedians have several different shows, both family and adult.

Carnival has self service laundry on several decks.  They have food served near the main pool - Guy's Burgers (very good) and Mexican food.  You most likely won't get the hard sell as you are dining.  That happened to us several times while cruising RCL.

Carnival's dance parties are on the outside deck in the middle.  They have contests and other things going on in this area throughout the cruise.  Snagging FTTF was a good move!  I always try to get it.

I think the theater shows are better on RCL, but Carnival's aren't bad.  We like Carnival's comedy shows, so that's not a big deal to us.

These are exactly the kind of tips I'm looking for - thanks! Keep them coming!

[lcpagejr]

We are in the exact opposite...Cruised on Carnival almost exclusively for past 15 years... Now trying RCCL next week(haven't cruised with them since 2000). I'll be curious in the differences.  But I think you will notice a very friendly crew and receive excellent service. Carnival seems to be the leader in this area compared to other mainstream cruiselines

[fdwt994]

1 hour ago, handbellplayer said:

We purchased FTTF for that very reason.  Trying to make things as easy as possible with a restless toddler.

 

Our kids had fun on the RCCL kid's program last year, but they can't stop talking about the fun they had with the program on Carnival in 2016.  My impression is that Carnival does a better job with it.  There's also a Dr. Suess breakfast (and other Suess activities shipwide) on Carnival that was MUCH better done than the character breakfast on Oasis of the Seas. 

 

Our last cruise was with RCCL (Oasis) and while we had a great time, our next cruise will be with Carnival because, well, it just seems we have more fun on Carnival.  I'll be happy to cruise RCCL again, but Carnival seems to know how to use their CD's, events, etc to build the overall feeling of "fun."  

 

I know this is about as subjective as the food, but I hope you find it helpful.      

[handbellplayer]

17 minutes ago, fdwt994 said:

 

Our kids had fun on the RCCL kid's program last year, but they can't stop talking about the fun they had with the program on Carnival in 2016.  My impression is that Carnival does a better job with it.  There's also a Dr. Suess breakfast (and other Suess activities shipwide) on Carnival that was MUCH better done than the character breakfast on Oasis of the Seas. 

 

Our last cruise was with RCCL (Oasis) and while we had a great time, our next cruise will be with Carnival because, well, it just seems we have more fun on Carnival.  I'll be happy to cruise RCCL again, but Carnival seems to know how to use their CD's, events, etc to build the overall feeling of "fun."  

 

I know this is about as subjective as the food, but I hope you find it helpful.      

No - that's great.  My next hurdle is to convince my sorta overprotective DH and DIL (first baby in their late 30's!) to try the Children's program.

[handbellplayer]

28 minutes ago, lcpagejr said:

We are in the exact opposite...Cruised on Carnival almost exclusively for past 15 years... Now trying RCCL next week(haven't cruised with them since 2000). I'll be curious in the differences.  But I think you will notice a very friendly crew and receive excellent service. Carnival seems to be the leader in this area compared to other mainstream cruiselines

Thanks!

[cruise_mojo]

hi handbell,

 

we are getting ready for Rhapsody next weekend the 13th out of tampa and are leaving early on Tuesday for some Orlando time at universal but are platinum on carnival ( which would be like diamond on royal ) or maybe higher we have 147 days on carnival. we're platinum on royal too

 

generally and we mean no offense but there always seem to be a lot of people with their noses stuck up in the air on royal - for sure you won't see much of that on carnival, what you might see is somebody wearing their overalls to dinner though! 

 

so dress as you like but don't get offended if you see some lax dining room dressing - 

 

I have read everyone's comments on the comedy shows and they are good. LOTS of comedy on Carnival, they'll maybe only shift comedians on longer crusies so depending on your length of cruise you may have 2 or 4 comedians.  up to 5 shows a night sometimes though...

 

they do have Hasbro game nights some nights or afternoons in the main show lounge that the kids and adults might love, big sized connect four and other games with people and kids from the audience asked to get up on stage and play with the participants and winners getting some games as prizes

 

big bingo games, newlywed game of course, the ADULT QUEST (like on royal) I agree Royal's shows generally are better but recently we have seen some new Carnival shows that if they have them on the Sunshine will be pretty good

 

Guy's burgers are KILLER! and free! the taco thing blue iguana are good, they mix shrimp, fish pork and beef back and forth during the week always two or three choices each day with fresh made tortillas and they also do wraps and burritos 

 

back of the buffet they'll have the pizza - and deli thing     ( I've not been on sunshine yet we are going next march does it have the soup bar?  guys? and does it have the fish fry thingy? ) 

 

carnival ships had a Mongolian wok deal but IM sure after taking it out the buffet will have an Asian line in it now I'd think

 

sunshine has two dining rooms, generally one will be fixed dining and one will be anytime or my time similar to royal - they do have a steak house on the first day you can get free house wine one bottle per table or a discount off a more expensive bottle usually 

 

and the Sunshine has the outdoor movie screen up on the pool deck too

 

Sunshine was the former Destiny they remodeled the ship a few years ago and it has all the waterpark upgrades on it I'd suspect. 

 

if I run across anything else I'll let you know - we sail Sunshine to Cuba next  March! for our 40th anniversary from Charleston😍

 

cruise mojo from east bend NC ken

[cruise_mojo]

oh and forgot to tell you about the SEADAY Brunch! on seadays with no port calls you can hit the dining rooms for breakfast up till about 1pm they have a breakfast menu AND a menu with Caesar salad, fancy mac and cheese, filet mignon and eggs, eggs benedict, knockout fancy French toast , fire roasted tomato soup one of my favs and spicy! 

 

this last cruise this unusual corned beef hash thing I'd never seen before with almost like poached eggs sitting on top of corned beef hash.... 

 

and lots of other goodies always a crowd on sea days for the brunch 

 

and yes there's that aforementioned Dr seuss breakfast thing too

 

when our kids were little they loved the kids program, Carnival does do a good job with them but they also have GREAT facilities up top with all the water slides and water park stuff too 

 

 

[handbellplayer]

15 hours ago, cruise_mojo said:

hi handbell,

 

we are getting ready for Rhapsody next weekend the 13th out of tampa and are leaving early on Tuesday for some Orlando time at universal but are platinum on carnival ( which would be like diamond on royal ) or maybe higher we have 147 days on carnival. we're platinum on royal too

 

generally and we mean no offense but there always seem to be a lot of people with their noses stuck up in the air on royal - for sure you won't see much of that on carnival, what you might see is somebody wearing their overalls to dinner though! 

 

so dress as you like but don't get offended if you see some lax dining room dressing - 

 

I have read everyone's comments on the comedy shows and they are good. LOTS of comedy on Carnival, they'll maybe only shift comedians on longer crusies so depending on your length of cruise you may have 2 or 4 comedians.  up to 5 shows a night sometimes though...

 

they do have Hasbro game nights some nights or afternoons in the main show lounge that the kids and adults might love, big sized connect four and other games with people and kids from the audience asked to get up on stage and play with the participants and winners getting some games as prizes

 

big bingo games, newlywed game of course, the ADULT QUEST (like on royal) I agree Royal's shows generally are better but recently we have seen some new Carnival shows that if they have them on the Sunshine will be pretty good

 

Guy's burgers are KILLER! and free! the taco thing blue iguana are good, they mix shrimp, fish pork and beef back and forth during the week always two or three choices each day with fresh made tortillas and they also do wraps and burritos 

 

back of the buffet they'll have the pizza - and deli thing     ( I've not been on sunshine yet we are going next march does it have the soup bar?  guys? and does it have the fish fry thingy? ) 

 

carnival ships had a Mongolian wok deal but IM sure after taking it out the buffet will have an Asian line in it now I'd think

 

sunshine has two dining rooms, generally one will be fixed dining and one will be anytime or my time similar to royal - they do have a steak house on the first day you can get free house wine one bottle per table or a discount off a more expensive bottle usually 

 

and the Sunshine has the outdoor movie screen up on the pool deck too

 

Sunshine was the former Destiny they remodeled the ship a few years ago and it has all the waterpark upgrades on it I'd suspect. 

 

if I run across anything else I'll let you know - we sail Sunshine to Cuba next  March! for our 40th anniversary from Charleston😍

 

cruise mojo from east bend NC ken

 

15 hours ago, cruise_mojo said:

oh and forgot to tell you about the SEADAY Brunch! on seadays with no port calls you can hit the dining rooms for breakfast up till about 1pm they have a breakfast menu AND a menu with Caesar salad, fancy mac and cheese, filet mignon and eggs, eggs benedict, knockout fancy French toast , fire roasted tomato soup one of my favs and spicy! 

 

this last cruise this unusual corned beef hash thing I'd never seen before with almost like poached eggs sitting on top of corned beef hash.... 

 

and lots of other goodies always a crowd on sea days for the brunch 

 

and yes there's that aforementioned Dr seuss breakfast thing too

 

when our kids were little they loved the kids program, Carnival does do a good job with them but they also have GREAT facilities up top with all the water slides and water park stuff too 

 

 

Thank you so much!  I'm getting excited!

[shoptom]

SCORE 44
SHIP Royal Caribbean Enchantment of the Seas
DATE 2018/08
APP 0/5 n/a
BATHROOM 3/5 No problems.
BED 3/5 No problems.
BREAKFAST 4/5 Delivery time was seemingly random.
BOARDING 5/5 Porter at car, walked right on ship.
CASINO 4/5 Grace actually won something.
COFFEE 3/5 Dark, but chunky
ENTERTAINMENT 3/5 Nothing special, but happy to watch.
DINNER 3/5 Good, but not enough selection.
MUSTER 1/5 Outside, slow, and crowded.
OBC 3/5 No problems.
ONLINE 3/5 No problems.
SCHEDULE 3/5 No problems.
SERVICE 3/5 No problems.
STEWARD 3/5 No problems.

SCORE 47
SHIP Carnival Breeze
DATE 2019/01
APP 3/5 Sometimes was useful on the ship.
BATHROOM 5/5 Drained and vented well, great shower head.
BED 2/5 Very hard, but good comforter.
BREAKFAST 4/5 Was perfect three days except silverware.
BOARDING 4/5 Easy on with little delay.
CASINO 2/5 Just didn't do it for us.
COFFEE 4/5 Dark and consistent.
ENTERTAINMENT 1/5 Poor direction and theater design.
DINNER 4/5 Average quality, but a lot of options.
MUSTER 4/5 Inside back of restaurant for one minute.
OBC 1/5 Can't use prior, shows wrong amount.
ONLINE 4/5 Shop for room options.
SCHEDULE 2/5 Late notice for cancellation and some wrong scheduling.
SERVICE 3/5 No problems.
STEWARD 4/5 No problems, friendly.

[jbethel11]

Carnival doesn't nickel-and-dime you as much as royal does. Carnival has many more "free" dining options and has better prices when winning competitions. Their rooms are much more spacious, though their bathrooms are smaller with a curtain. The balconies on Royal are almost twice the size of Carnival's, though that may be an unfair comparison as I am basing this off of the Sunshine and Harmony OTS. Before the Breeze debuted in 2012, most ships had a more "gaudy" decor. On the contrary, most Royal ships are more "contemporary" decor. Carnival has fewer entertainment options compared to Royal, but Carnival pleases the "sport/games" aesthetic more. 

[cruise_mojo]

rule of thumb, they do the same thing, the just do it differently is the way I look at it

 

and don't go into it looking to get offended by something different...

 

same deal for NCL over time we have sailed ncl 5 times but most of them pre freestyle, we have a higher rating on royal than days sailed but suites and conversion are responsible for that so we got lucky on the conversion helping us get to platinum and we'll hit emerald quicker too

 

on carnival we hit platinum in only 43 days with the old 10 cruise rules so its taking forever to get to 200 days and diamond 

 

biggest perk is they wash clothes for us for free and the number of bags varies according to the length of cruise

 

of course none of this helps the newbie but it does help understand why when you get up the scale why you stick with one line, we always recommend the cruise line we think people would fit into best according to what they tell us they are looking for in an experience and their age and demo - then we tell em to make sure and try another line before taking 5 cruises on ONE line 

 

just to see how the other half lives 

 

NO matter which line we sail on though we hear the exact same stories from a few passengers though! blah blah I'll never sail so and so cruise line again!  They all have their tricks and tips and foibles I guess. 😀  IF I could afford it and Celebrity and Princess sailed from closer to home we might sail them a heck of a lot more! ( only sailed once each on them so far )  and since we've pretty much given up on flying ( after 40 yrs of my wife working for the airlines... ) 

[grandmarnnurse]

21 hours ago, handbellplayer said:

We purchased FTTF for that very reason.  Trying to make things as easy as possible with a restless toddler.

I bought FTTF for my last cruise and absolutely loved it! I know that I will try to get it for all my cruises now. My last cruise was on the Breeze in March, and it was our first cruise back with Carnival since 2007, sailing RCCL and NCL. We were pleasantly surprised, but our ship is of the Dream class, and your ship is of the Destiny class. Your ship went through a dry dock several years ago where it was reborn as the Sunshine from the Destiny. My daughter has sailed it twice and loved it, so I am sure you and your family will as well. It is true that Carnival’s cabins are larger than RCCL and NCL, but I only book inside cabins, so that is my comparison. I know you don’t want to hear about food, but I will tell you that we thought it better, and with all the complimentary grab-and-go options, Carnival can’t be beat. We loved the Dive In Movies that were shown most nights out on Lido deck, with free popcorn. Most of the movies are fairly new releases. But back to FTTF—-we breezed through check in, and we were in our waiting area to board within 5 minutes of getting off of our shuttle, and then as soon as the D&P passengers boarded, we were on. And the best part was being able to drop our carry on bags in our cabin right away. No dragging it around until 1:30! A real plus if you have a toddler in tow. If there is anything else you’d like to know, feel free to ask. Let me just end it by saying we felt Carnival to be 100% more fun. So much so, we have a B2B booked for next year to celebrate our 50th Anniversary. We loved the ease of going to shows whenever we wanted without having to book ahead, as we did on RCCL and NCL. And the comedy shows are fabulous and plenty of them scheduled, where only a few were on the other lines. 

Edited April 6, 2019 by grandmarnnurse

[handbellplayer]

You guys are the best!  Thanks.  We are not very particular people, so we don't sweat the small stuff.  I have seen shorts and backward baseball caps in the dining room on RCCL ships - I think anything goes in the dining room on both lines.  I love the casual eatery options on Carnival.  I just wish more of them were open at dinner time.  We actually sailed on Destiny when she was a few months old - don't know whether anything will look familiar.  We really want this to be a wonderful family experience.  In addition to buying FTTF, I've rented a villa at Half Moon Cay.

[30scruiser]

For the kind of differences you are asking about the only real procedural difference we noticed is that for Anytime Dining there are no reservations and they do not try to give you the same waiters each night unless you specifically ask (which could potentially increase your wait time). 

 

Other than that most things basically work the same.

 

Also, I am generally a rule follower but I don’t think anyone would notice or care if an 18 year old is in Serenity as long as she’s not with a group of teenagers or acting obnoxiously. 

[bandjwayne]

My family has cruised about the same number of Royal as Carnival cruises (~12 total).  Like you said too, Carnival works well for my family's schedule as they have many more itinerary options.  

 

Like others have said, I like the comedy shows and casual food options better on carnival.  They also beat Royal on the water slides/kids water areas.  

 

I like Royal's main dining better and feel that they do a little bit better overall on service (more pool deck bar waiters, etc).

 

We were just on the Harmony in Feb (adults only) and then were on the Paradise in March (family - 12 yr & 9 yr old boys, hubby, & myself).  I had very low expectations for the Paradise after having just sailed on one of the best cruise ships, but was very pleasantly surprised.  The only time I thought the Paradise felt crowded was on sea days by the pool...spring break so no surprise, however the crowds were better than the beach crowds in FL at that time.

 

Some things other things I noticed....Carnival allows you to carry on pop, which Royal does not.  Carnival has bottles of water available to be delivered to your room for a very reasonable price.  The latest Carnival's hot tubs were open was midnight while Royal had at least one open all the time.  Carnival's room attendant asked us if we wanted morning, night, or both for room cleaning.  We haven't ever had Royal ask us that.

 

We've had awesome times on every cruise...there will always be little things that annoy you, but you make it want you want!  Enjoy!!!

[handbellplayer]

1 hour ago, 30scruiser said:

For the kind of differences you are asking about the only real procedural difference we noticed is that for Anytime Dining there are no reservations and they do not try to give you the same waiters each night unless you specifically ask (which could potentially increase your wait time). 

 

Other than that most things basically work the same.

 

Also, I am generally a rule follower but I don’t think anyone would notice or care if an 18 year old is in Serenity as long as she’s not with a group of teenagers or acting obnoxiously. 

I am also very much a rule follower, but this girl could easily pass for 21 and she would be very quiet and calm.  It would just be very cool for her, her aunt (my DIL) and her Nana (me) to be able to spend a little girl time together.

[cruise_mojo]

take note of what bandjwayne says on pop and water

 

Carnival does let each passenger take on a 12 pack of canned water or soft drink or juices but each has to be in cans. No sense in bringing canned water on though since you can buy really reasonable cheap bottled water delivered to your room for about 4 - 5 bucks a 12 pack.   Carnival doesn't have the drink machines like royal has but they do have bottomless bubbles deals if you'd want the stickers and they do sell the cups for refills too but you still have to get the sticker for your card. 

 

just have to make sure any drinks brought on board are canned and you can bring the usual two bottles of wine on board per cabin as well and they say they'll charge the corkage fee in the mdr 

 

our last cruise we encountered something new - a delivery charge for the stuff I ordered like flowers and a bag of popcorn delivered to our room? has anyone else had this recently it was on Elation in march from JAX THIS WAS FOR ITEMS ORDERED PRE-CRUISE 

 

so I'd watch that if they start charging a fee on top of a 12 pack of water!! one person might wanna buy all the water for your whole party if they do add this charge in. 

[crzndeb]

20 minutes ago, cruise_mojo said:

 

just have to make sure any drinks brought on board are canned and you can bring the usual two bottles of wine on board per cabin as well and they say they'll charge the corkage fee in the mdr 

 

Just a small correction...Royal is 2 bottles of wine per cabin. Carnival is 1 bottle each for guests over 21 per cabin.

[kctwinmommy]

Here is a post I did comparing the two. And like you said, I tried to compare things that we just noticed, as a pro/con type thing. It's more so looking at the things we noticed about being on RCI for the first time. But since you're familiar with those things, you'll recognize the things I'm talking about.

 

 

[Mikew0805]

On 4/5/2019 at 4:57 PM, handbellplayer said:

We are planning a cruise on Sunshine out of Charleston in July.  We chose this cruise because it’s an easy drive to the port and a five day cruise works for our family.  It will be DH and me (both 65), DS (42 and divorced) and his 18 year old daughter, and DS and wife (40) and their 3 year old.

 

We are Diamond on RCCL (have sailed on every class except Quantum) and haven’t sailed on Carnival and many years.  We are very used to the way things work on Royal ships.  Can you help me with the main differences between the lines?  I’m not looking for food comparisons, because I think food is totally subjective. I'm not looking for characterizations of our fellow cruisers. What are the major differences we’ll see in boarding procedures, cabins, etc.?  I already know I cannot take my older granddaughter to the Serenity area.  I’m pretty bummed about that because this cruise is a celebration for her high school graduation, and she’s allowed in the Solarium on Royal ships.

 

What other differences will we see?

 

I think they are more alike than different based on the things you are interested in hearing about. Bigger standard cabins on CCL. 

 

Now, I know you didn't want to hear about it.. but the food options that are included are much better on Carnival. I do not know if you like breakfast burritos or not, but we could not get enough of the breakfast burritos at the Blue Iguana when we were on the horizon. We had them on day three, and then every morning thereafter. 

 

Overall we both agreed that we had more fun on the Horizon, then we had on any cruise in the last few years. We are looking forward to the Mardi Gras.