Which Ship to Sail on?

[Neonch]

 

Was hoping to get some opinions on which of the ships below you would recommend or like better than another.

I have done 4 Princes and 4 Royal cruises but looking to try Carnival.  Would be taking my two daughters, 11 and 14.  Below are the ships we are looking at for a 5 day in October.   

 

Paradise out of Tampa 

Freedom out of Orlando

Sunshine  out of Charleston 

 

Any suggestions or recommendation for a Carnival newbie would be appreciated. 

[May1cruiser]

Paradise is the smallest of those and has the least bells and whistles. I liked sunshine but it was years ago- we enjoyed her. 

 

you should be able to compare ships on carnival website to view offerings of each. 

 

Lately, ships are still fun, crew amazing, but some ships show wear from the shutdown and loss of revenue for several years. Adjust expectations accordingly- none of these ships are new.

[jsglow]

Okay, here's my 3 cents. Paradise is one of the last couple Fantasy class ships.  No doubt she's the most outdated of the 3 and certainly the smallest.  Her price point and itinerary would need to be significantly superior for me to choose her. Freedom is a nice, but aging Conquest class ship; the backbone for Carnival operations for the 2000s and much of the 2010s.  I'd absolutely sail her again.  She's probably in the top 2 in terms of refurbishments of those 5-6  approaching 20yo ships.  Port Canaveral is a very good port to sail from.  Sunshine is the very first total retrofit done by Carnival (converting the late 1990s Destiny) completed in 2013.  She absolutely has the most bells and whistles of the 3 listed.  I've sailed her but not out of Charleston. Fully featured boat with everything many of the new builds have (think restaurants) plus the best Serenity in the fleet (not available to your daughters/too young.)  I will tell you that none of these boats are anything like a giant Oasis class RCL ship.  If that's what you're looking for, you won't find it in these all older vessels.  You'd never catch me on one of those giant mega ships but just so you understand.

 

Might I offer you a suggestion?  Sister to the Sunshine is SunRISE sailing out of Miami.  She's similarly rebuilt rolling out about 2018 and runs some really excellent 5 night itineraries; my favorite of which is Nassau, Half Moon Cay and Grand Turk.

Edited July 7, 2022 by jsglow

[mz-s]

I vote Freedom out of Canaveral. She is a bigger ship than Sunshine yet holds the same number of guests so less busy. She does not have all the upgrades of Sunshine but I personally wouldn't care about that. Sunshine is the second oldest ship in the fleet and at this point she is like an old beach motel that was nicely remodeled about 10-15 years ago but never touched again. If your family is the kind that likes the rock climbing walls etc on Royal then maybe ignore my advice.

[pcvtmom]

Sunshine is one of my favorite ships.  We've sailed from Charleston many times, and that's coming to an end in 2024. 😔

 

[jsglow]

Just now, pcvtmom said:

Sunshine is one of my favorite ships.  We've sailed from Charleston many times, and that's coming to an end in 2024. 😔

 

It's going to be interesting to see where she goes. I like her too.

[craig01020]

I'm no expert since I've only sailed Carnival once (so far). I was on the Freedom in February and I really liked her. Staff was great, food was good. I would recommend her, even if her whale tail is now missing.

 

 

[jetsfan58]

Welcome to the wonderful World of Carnival Cruising. My decisions were always made based on the cost of the ship, the distance we either had to drive or fly and our personal choices. We enjoyed them all and each Ship had a special and unique presence. 

 

Whichever ship you choose just enjoy the Carnival Voyage!!  

 

 

[zentraveler]

Sorry OP, off topic, but am doing my first Carnival sailing on the Miracle out of San Francisco in early September. Any opinions about her and how she fits into the rest of the fleet? We usually sail on much smaller ships so I don't expect the same kind of service but tuning into Carnival since it sails out of SF so much (and I could walk to the port if I wanted to). Trying to orient a bit to that cruise line. 

[jsglow]

You sail on 'much smaller' ships zen?  What lines?  Miracle is like 80,000 tons.  Quite small by today's standards for the mass market lines.

[firefly333]

8 minutes ago, zentraveler said:

Sorry OP, off topic, but am doing my first Carnival sailing on the Miracle out of San Francisco in early September. Any opinions about her and how she fits into the rest of the fleet? We usually sail on much smaller ships so I don't expect the same kind of service but tuning into Carnival since it sails out of SF so much (and I could walk to the port if I wanted to). Trying to orient a bit to that cruise line. 

That class has the most sf per pax of the carnival fleet. Sunrise etc are amped old triumph class which got a bad name when it got stuck in the middle of the ocean so they redid the ship, added more cabins and more food and renamed them. People seem happy.

 

Miracle isnt as crowded. I did miracle to alaska and liked it.

Edited July 7, 2022 by firefly333

[zentraveler]

3 minutes ago, jsglow said:

You sail on 'much smaller' ships zen?  What lines?  Miracle is like 80,000 tons.  Quite small by today's standards for the mass market lines.

I do understand that this is a mass market ship and am adjusting my expectations accordingly. Our last 3 cruises were on Windstar and Seabourn and we are on Seabourn in October and I don't in any way expect the experience will be similar. We have also been on HAL once to Alaska.

 

We have a Princess trip booked in 2 weeks. The San Francisco port seems to only have Carnival and Princess and since we live here in the city we thought we would try some cruises where we could just take a 15 minute ride-share to the pier and get on - no flying needed. And of course, the fact that they are less expensive and much less trouble makes it easier to consider just getting on them.

 

Trying to get a feel for both of these cruise lines, but will clearly know more after taking our first cruises on each of them. 

[Essiesmom]

OP, with your choice of departure ports, I am wondering where you are coming from?  Since you are considering north to mid Florida, and Charleston, you might also consider  Elation out of Jacksonville.  Very easy port to get to, and she is twin to Paradise.  EM

[Bostwick girl]

Of the choices you mentioned, I prefer Freedom, good size ship, kinda just right. And I prefer sailing out of Port Canaveral (Orlando).

 

[havanadaydreaming]

Id want to sail out of FL.  

 

Freedom is bigger ship, big win for me would be the dive in theatre the paradise lacks.  

[Pyrate13]

Another vote for Freedom and Port Canaveral. We will be on her twice this fall. Love the Conquest class ships.

[lazydayz]

I would choose Freedom as well.  We have been on it several times and find it has plenty to do without taking forever to get there.  

[Bernardo62]

On 7/7/2022 at 3:02 PM, Neonch said:

 

Was hoping to get some opinions on which of the ships below you would recommend or like better than another.

I have done 4 Princes and 4 Royal cruises but looking to try Carnival.  Would be taking my two daughters, 11 and 14.  Below are the ships we are looking at for a 5 day in October.   

 

Paradise out of Tampa 

Freedom out of Orlando

Sunshine  out of Charleston 

 

Any suggestions or recommendation for a Carnival newbie would be appreciated. 

Don't know your money!!! Have your kids pick!!

You can't go wrong with any of them!!

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

On 7/7/2022 at 4:43 PM, jsglow said:

Okay, here's my 3 cents. Paradise is one of the last couple Fantasy class ships.  No doubt she's the most outdated of the 3 and certainly the smallest.  Her price point and itinerary would need to be significantly superior for me to choose her. Freedom is a nice, but aging Conquest class ship; the backbone for Carnival operations for the 2000s and much of the 2010s.  I'd absolutely sail her again.  She's probably in the top 2 in terms of refurbishments of those 5-6  approaching 20yo ships.  Port Canaveral is a very good port to sail from.  Sunshine is the very first total retrofit done by Carnival (converting the late 1990s Destiny) completed in 2013.  She absolutely has the most bells and whistles of the 3 listed.  I've sailed her but not out of Charleston. Fully featured boat with everything many of the new builds have (think restaurants) plus the best Serenity in the fleet (not available to your daughters/too young.)  I will tell you that none of these boats are anything like a giant Oasis class RCL ship.  If that's what you're looking for, you won't find it in these all older vessels.  You'd never catch me on one of those giant mega ships but just so you understand.

 

Might I offer you a suggestion?  Sister to the Sunshine is SunRISE sailing out of Miami.  She's similarly rebuilt rolling out about 2018 and runs some really excellent 5 night itineraries; my favorite of which is Nassau, Half Moon Cay and Grand Turk.

I agree, the Celebration or the Sunrise, except for the mega ship. We always like sailing on smaller ships. However we decided to give the Harmony a try because of the price and what is offered. To our great surprise it was like the small ship as for bumping into anyone. Guess because it is so big it did not seem crowded at all. The shows and the ice skating were magnificent. The food was fantastic. The buffet was awesome. So many different experiences we have never had. Going on it again in September. Give it a try. Bet you will be sup prized as we were.