Why Carnival?

[jet228]

Hey cruisers! Just for a little background, I've cruised twice with each of Carnival, Royal Caribbean (after next weekend), and NCL. My cruises on Carnival were 7 and 4 years ago. 

 

I'm constantly dreaming and test booking cruises from a bunch of different lines,  and weighing the pluses and minuses of all. 

 

Carnival never seems to win when it comes to straight up value,  and I'm wondering from the die hard Carnival fans: why do you book Carnival? Is it itinerary,  ship amenities,  or something else?

 

I'll likely go on a Carnival cruise again soon as I want to see how the product has changed in the past 4 years so just curious for input from fans.

 

Thanks!

[firefly333]

I love in texas so rcl and carnival are the only choices or disney I guess. Value is subjective and what seems like a ok deal, 2 months later, the other line has better prices for me.

 

I've quit booking because of the pretesting and the rigamarol right now.

 

I love guys and some lunch choices on carnival but then rcl has better prices recently. And they give me free drinks as a loyalty perk. I know there will be someone saying how they love the laundry perk on carnival. I dont cruise to do my laundry. Free drinks wins for me ..even if I dont drink them all. 

 

I'm especially looking forward to several nights at JiJis next week. I book my pocket book. ..well except for a friends cruise I might do .. the march spring break 2023 cruise. And I'm hoping to hit the 340 pt mark on rcl and being down that price. 

 

I like carnival is less dressy. 

[BoozinCroozin]

For me it was price when I could sail. Our plans were to be on an RCL Oasis class ship for our first cruise. Every single time RCL canceled a cruise the future cruise prices all went up drastically. Each time we were still within a small range with the added money. However, after they canceled our March cruise, all cruises when we could sail were 2-3x over the last cruise price. We were paying ~$3,000. The next cruise window we had, it was $6-$8,000 for the same cruise. We opted for Carnival because MG was affordable. That July cruise was canceled and we moved to Magic in November. 

 

For me, it comes down to what it costs...simple as that. I am not going to pay 2x for what I had before. 

[jetsfan58]

It's always been a total and true Price Valuation for me. I could traditionally take two Carnival Cruises for the price of one Royal Cruise. That always made it a no brainer for me. This philosophy has remained true as I am a true Carnival Cruise Nut.

[firefly333]

15 minutes ago, jetsfan58 said:

It's always been a total and true Price Valuation for me. I could traditionally take two Carnival Cruises for the price of one Royal Cruise. That always made it a no brainer for me. This philosophy has remained true as I am a true Carnival Cruise Nut.

Maybe carnival is cheaper for families, as I never see more than 100 or so difference on average both ways. Rcl just had solo rates for all my cruises with no supplements. 7 days for than 500 starting including fees. Someone posted they got a large ocean view balcony for 689 total. Since I dont gamble carnival cant touch those prices mostly .. though they have a few deals, but here and there i see a deal. I'm at 750ish for march corner aft balcony next march and all the rest of my rcl before then cheaper. And my ta upgraded me on all of them during the recent wow sale. Rcl wins the price war recently. 

 

I've never seen what you say carnival half what rcl costs. .. we must be booking different cabins. Both have lots of deals right now. Covid priced deals. 

[Colorado Beach Bum]

Everyone has their opinions on what’s value/important to them.  Been on Carnival, RCL and NCL and all have been great for what they offer.  The newer RCL and NCL ships definitely were a step up on Carnival but when it came to food we always liked Carnival the best especially deck food for things like guy’s burgers, cantina, pizza, deli.  Just off Mardi Gras last week and I will say Carnival upped their game big time and this ship is totally on par with newer NCL and RCL ships.  And the food was great adding even more choices than I previously mentioned. 

Edited September 5, 2021 by Colorado Beach Bum

[jetsfan58]

16 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Maybe carnival is cheaper for families, as I never see more than 100 or so difference on average both ways. Rcl just had solo rates for all my cruises with no supplements. 7 days for than 500 starting including fees. Someone posted they got a large ocean view balcony for 689 total. Since I dont gamble carnival cant touch those prices mostly .. though they have a few deals, but here and there i see a deal. I'm at 750ish for march corner aft balcony next march and all the rest of my rcl before then cheaper. And my ta upgraded me on all of them during the recent wow sale. Rcl wins the price war recently. 

 

I've never seen what you say carnival half what rcl costs. .. we must be booking different cabins. Both have lots of deals right now. Covid priced deals. 

Same type of Carnival deals. My family members just snagged a 6 day Cruise during the Carnival 48 Hour Sale. About $220 total for a port hole cabin. I will take that any day.

[OCruisers]

The times we've cruised on Carnival has totally been because it offers roundtrip cruises out of Charleston, SC ... which is only two hours away from where we live.  

[jetsfan58]

19 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Maybe carnival is cheaper for families, as I never see more than 100 or so difference on average both ways. Rcl just had solo rates for all my cruises with no supplements. 7 days for than 500 starting including fees. Someone posted they got a large ocean view balcony for 689 total. Since I dont gamble carnival cant touch those prices mostly .. though they have a few deals, but here and there i see a deal. I'm at 750ish for march corner aft balcony next march and all the rest of my rcl before then cheaper. And my ta upgraded me on all of them during the recent wow sale. Rcl wins the price war recently. 

 

I've never seen what you say carnival half what rcl costs. .. we must be booking different cabins. Both have lots of deals right now. Covid priced deals. 

Also please note that I said "Traditionally" as I have no idea what Royal charges now for their Cruises since we don't prefer to cruise with them. 

[pjhootch]

I have always been about the price/value.  Carnival was originally the best bang for our buck when I had three teens/kids sailing and needed a cabin for them.  Those kids grew up and I sometimes still have them come along on cruises with us and once we started putting three in cabin Carnival usually works out best.

 

Right now Carnival has me all wrapped up because we had a big family cruise, including the airfare, booked for Europe in May 2020.  When that was cancelled in April of 2020- I had a lot of $$ tied up in Carnival gift cards (10% off a European cruise with air for 5 people is a substantial amount and was worth the pain of getting the cards through Allstate).   That was redistributed into a variety of cruises which were all substantially cheaper, and then those cruises were canceled and rescheduled with $600 per cabin.  And I have casino offers I rebooked on to sweeten the deal. 

 

When this round of cruises is completed I will branch out and suspect RCL and MCO will suit me just fine.

[firefly333]

1 minute ago, jetsfan58 said:

Same type of Carnival deals. My family members just snagged a 6 day Cruise during the Carnival 48 Hour Sale. About $220 total for a port hole cabin. I will take that any day.

I never get those deals. If I did I might agree carnival is cheaper.

 

I'm paying as much for vista as I did before covid. Cheapest I've seen is about 400ish 1A port hole cabins for shorter cruises with taxes. Maybe more like 330 right now on a few dates for breeze. Nothing as cheap as you say. 48 he sale for me was pay for a ov get a balcony, still double solo supplement. Rcl wins unless carnival starts sending me some of the deals others get. 

[snowballs mom]

We look at pricing, ports, availability of spa thermal suites, and length of cruise. We normally travel during the year when school is in session to avoid large groups of kids and college students (we are older). We have cruised Carnival, RCL and Celebrity. RCL is not my favorite. We do appreciate the platinum laundry perk on Carnival, as well as the pay machines. Since we tend to cruise for three weeks minimum and my husband works out every day it would get gross fast without that. We spend a lot of time in the thermal suites, and visit beaches or take snorkeling excursions. In general, Carnival gets us where we want to go for a decent price in a balcony cabin. 

 

We have found that other lines have better main theater shows, but we prefer the comedy shows and the live music in various venues around the ship.

[jetsfan58]

10 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I never get those deals. If I did I might agree carnival is cheaper.

 

I'm paying as much for vista as I did before covid. Cheapest I've seen is about 400ish 1A port hole cabins for shorter cruises with taxes. Maybe more like 330 right now on a few dates for breeze. Nothing as cheap as you say. 48 he sale for me was pay for a ov get a balcony, still double solo supplement. Rcl wins unless carnival starts sending me some of the deals others get. 

Hey don't feel bad at all. I never get those deals either and have been Cruising for a long time with the Carnival brand. I guess it is about timing; they received an email message (about two weeks ago) and jumped right on the Cruise.  

[scpirate]

I chose carnival because a port is 2 hours away and i am  taking 3 grandsons .Price wise i find better deals and values on other lines but i can sail anytime i have no job to go to. The convenience of not having to go to miami and the boys are all about the ship anyway.i dont think they could care less about the port since they have been to nassau before. Their grandma might love them dearly but they know how to push her buttons so i try to keep our family trips short and sweet.

[crzndeb]

I sail Carnival when it has unique itineraries, but I realize that some people don’t have the same amount of time to cruise like I do. I have no interest in going to the Carib over and over just for a cheap price, when I don’t really get anything out of it, plus being on the West coast, I don’t want to fly 6 hrs. I’m already at top level on Carnival, so no goals there. I would still like to sail eventually on Mardi Gras or Celebration, so I’m not saying I won’t go to Carib ever, but it would probably be a Journey’s cruise.

Like Firefly mentioned, being a solo cruiser, my goal is to hit 340 points on Royal, so I can get a discounted solo rate. I am sailing to Alaska on Oct 1 and 8 from my home port and getting 56 points closer to that goal. And, like Firefly, I like the drink vouchers I can use all day 🍸.  I also have the Panorama booked in Dec., using gift cards I got back from cancelled cruises, and the Cheers offer they were giving. 

I also don’t gamble, so I would never get any casino rates. 
It’s all about choices and what each one of use prefers. They are both good cruise lines with pros and cons.

[AtSeaWithChris]

To me it’s about the fun. Carnival reminds me of going to summer camp and the people aren’t as pretentious. You’ll see people from all different walks of life. We can afford to go on other cruise lines but at the end of the day Carnival resonates in my blood. 

Edited September 5, 2021 by AtSeaWithChris

[Indytraveler83]

We've never cruised with any other line than Carnival, so I can't say what the actual "value" of other lines are. But...

 

I price check Carnival vs RCL, MSC and sometimes NCL, and the actual price on Carnival is cheaper every time, and usually by a significant amount. 

 

We tend to be non-peak season cruisers, and I think Carnival discounts their low demand cruises more than the others, or at least that's my experience. 

[Prismism]

Simply put: Carnival brings the party. If you factor in the ships that leave from Texas, you have a combination of the friendliest people who also know how to have a really good time. My wife and I live in Dallas, and we like enjoy the nightlife. We know how to handle our booze. We feel right at home when stepping onto a Carnival ship leaving the port of Galveston. Every cruise we go on, we become celebrities on that ship. (We've won the carnival quest competition the last 3 cruises we've been on.)

[tallnthensome]

I just got back from the Panorama yesterday. To be honest honest, the only reason I went is because even I know when offered to sail a new ship for a week for my wife and It costs less than the drink package foe two it's a great value. Wonderful cruise all around ..... except for the Lido buffet...... but that's still great overall. I still got Cheers as well and had some of the best drinks and bar service we have had over 20 years. 2500 out of 4000 passengers definitely  increased our enjoyment and personal attention. 

[Bases5]

I just booked today 8 day Carnival Pride out of Tampa on a sailabration cruise 

Extended Balcony + $500 casino credit, drinks on us everywhere for both of us. 
$100 PP.  

With all the credits stock holders, we will have a additional $1,087 in OBC. 
Hard not to love them. 

[Badfinger]

For us it was ease of access to Galveston and price.

 

Traveling with 4 in the past and having done 6 cruises so far, only once did RC ever come close in price.  

 

But even if they matched, it would have been Carnival for me.  The deal breaker is the Cloud 9 Spa.  I absolutely love it and won't sail with it our its equivalent.  So right now I am a Dream Class or bust kind of Cruiser.

 

Admittedly I have not look at RC for a while to see if their newer ships have an equivalent Cloud 9.

 

Wife and I broke a 5 day on the Breeze...Cloud 9 Spa Balcony (includes access to the Spa of course) for $673 total for both including ports fees and taxes.  

[tallnthensome]

1 minute ago, Badfinger said:

 

 

But even if they matched, it would have been Carnival for me.  The deal breaker is the Cloud 9 Spa.  I absolutely love it and won't sail with it our its equivalent.  So right now I am a Dream Class or bust kind of Cruiser.

 

Admittedly I have not look at RC for a while to see if their newer ships have an equivalent Cloud 9. 

I just had the Cloud 9 spa on the Panorama last week and had it on the Vista. In comparison to the spa on the NCL Bliss and others the Cloud 9 is like showering at a campground .  If you want to be blown away go on the Bliss. I can say this with multiple experiences on both. Even MSC's newer ships have better. Just saying don't limit yourself because you're missing out. 

[Linda the Book Lover]

I have sailed on Carnival, RCCL, Princess, NCL, and MSC. The prize for the best relaxing no dress clothes needed goes to Carnival. The money issue answer is it depends for me because I sail in different cabins depending on the cruise line.  Sorry, but I am 70 and I am really attached to relaxing on a balcony and the cabin must have one. My DD and I sail mostly on Carnival (perfect for the short cruise out of Long Beach) and we are booked for the Miracle and the Panorama (7-day). I do not have enough loyalty points which will give me anything to write home about, but I love the casual fun atmosphere of Carnival. We also sail NCL which I am Platinum and the perk of free laundry is a perk for me. The dress code is loosening and long pants still are the norm for the dining rooms at night. Top picks for the daughter, granddaughter, and me trips Carnival and NCL.Great value and lots of fun for multigenerational travel.The pick for the husband and I when we travel alone together is NCL and MSC . We do not mind dressing a little bit for dinner and we have perks on both of these cruise lines (Diamond on MSC). We have worked hard and we are now retired.  It does cost us more but after several health issues we look at cruising together as a celebration of life, so yep, we spend more money here. 

[pc_load_letter]

We're on the west coast (San Diego) and were regularly taking the three and four day Carnival cruises from Long Beach to the point we were going once a month. Decided to buy CCL stock when all the cruise stocks plummeted.

 

Carnival was supposed to have a ship in San Diego for a year "trial" but the pandemic nixed that.

 

There is an NCL ship in San Pedro but we loved the easy convenience of the Carnival three and four day cruises.

 

[Linda the Book Lover]

9 minutes ago, pc_load_letter said:

We're on the west coast (San Diego) and were regularly taking the three and four day Carnival cruises from Long Beach to the point we were going once a month. Decided to buy CCL stock when all the cruise stocks plummeted.

 

Carnival was supposed to have a ship in San Diego for a year "trial" but the pandemic nixed that.

 

There is an NCL ship in San Pedro but we loved the easy convenience of the Carnival three and four day cruises.

 

We have driven from Nor Cal but now we just take a short SW flight down. So agree about the convenience and the stock. 🙂