Starting to get a Carnival vibe

[DrSea]

On 7/31/2022 at 7:09 AM, firefly333 said:

I haven't been on splendor but many others and never thought ge how tacky. Frankly I'm tired of the green decor on rcl. I like all the bright colors on carnival and never once said how tacky. It's a vacation. Unrelenting drab olive green on rcl looks dated to me. 

 

Vista has a brewery onboard since you say you like beer. Only a few ships have a brewery but  might be worth looking into. 

 

I like the fast food lunches on carnival better and their pizza is made from scratch unlike rcl. They the white pizza. It's my favorite. Cookies and dinner better on rcl. Each has things they do better.

 

The decor never mattered to me lol. 

 

Looks are subjective. To me, the splendor is one butt ugly ship. All these pink circles gave me a headache. I was getting motion sickness on the ship due to rough waters, and all the repeating pink circle pattern just made it worst. To me, it's tachy AF. 

 

 

 

 

[DrSea]

8 hours ago, kwokpot said:

We've sailed all those lines and like them all for different reasons. Just got off Virgin this week and it was GREAT. Food was amazing an rivals Celebrity(Our favorite line) and maybe surpasses it. The only negative with Virgin are their cabins. We had an XL Balcony, best cabin before suites, and it's SMALL and not enough storage. The design, although attractive, is cheap Target chic and the room reassembles a dorm room. We love the Mardi Gras and the vast array of food choices is mind boggling. Enjoy your cruises!

Virgin has better food than Viking?

[DrSea]

On 7/31/2022 at 6:03 PM, Drew B 58 said:

I find the “tacky” decor charmingly hilarious!  I’ve sailed Splendor twice and found Miracle’s (infamous) main dining room hilarious!

 

 

It's like looking at herpes sores or genital warts with the way they are clustering...ugh. This may be the ugliest thing I have seen at sea. I have a visceral reaction when seeing this.

[Drew B 58]

41 minutes ago, coaster said:

Saw your post after I just posted recently. My bad... Hope MDR spaces dont get tackier than this. Not sure why it is hilarious. Just a poor choice. Joe Farcus do this?

 

 

No need for an apology.  And I agree with your taste.  I’m just able to garner pleasure from things that are tacky as well as from things that are more classy…

[kwokpot]

Just now, DrSea said:

Virgin has better food than Viking?

I never said that. I said Virgin's food rivals Celebrity and may be a bit better. I just got off a four night Virgin cruise, and having sailed on Celebrity 22 times I need to sail on Virgin again (already booked an 8 nt Valiant Lady cruise for January) before I can give a more definitive comparison. 

[DrSea]

Just now, kwokpot said:

I never said that. I said Virgin's food rivals Celebrity and may be a bit better. I just got off a four night Virgin cruise, and having sailed on Celebrity 22 times I need to sail on Virgin again (already booked an 8 nt Valiant Lady cruise for January) before I can give a more definitive comparison. 

Haha. I was like dang. That's a bold statement to say that Virgin's food is better than Viking. Full disclosure, I have never been on Virgin before. 

[kwokpot]

9 minutes ago, DrSea said:

 

Looks are subjective. To me, the splendor is one butt ugly ship. All these pink circles gave me a headache. I was getting motion sickness on the ship due to rough waters, and all the repeating pink circle pattern just made it worst. To me, it's tachy AF. 

 

 

 

 

Agree 100. I've completed 25 Carnival cruises and my one cruise on the Splendor was definitely my worst cruise with Carnival SOLEY because of the decor. Instead of being happy on the ship the decor depressed the hell out of me.  

[kwokpot]

2 minutes ago, DrSea said:

Haha. I was like dang. That's a bold statement to say that Virgin's food is better than Viking. Full disclosure, I have never been on Virgin before. 

 

2 minutes ago, DrSea said:

Haha. I was like dang. That's a bold statement to say that Virgin's food is better than Viking. Full disclosure, I have never been on Virgin before. 

The food quality was fresh and the plating of the meals was beautiful. The pastries below from the Food Hall were Land Based Pastry Shop Quality. The Acai Fruit Bowl in the first picture was fresh and flavorful, Frittata perfectly cooked, and Waffles crispy yet fluffy inside.

[kwokpot]

2 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

 

 

 

 

Edited August 3, 2022 by kwokpot
dup

[mdin]

17 hours ago, coaster said:

Watching more Carnival YouTube videos from same couple as I speak. Miracle with purple or pink grapes in MDR is hard to digest. Trying to keep an open mind though...

I occasionally like to watch cruise videos and would like to check them out if you don't mind sharing the couple's YouTube name. Thanks.

[coaster]

Sure. They are not overly dramatic like many on YouTube. Just down to earth people.. Seems like they sail on Carnival the most.

 

https://www.youtube.com/c/parodeejay

 

Edited August 3, 2022 by coaster

[3smithboys]

On 8/2/2022 at 9:00 PM, kwokpot said:

I never said that. I said Virgin's food rivals Celebrity and may be a bit better. I just got off a four night Virgin cruise, and having sailed on Celebrity 22 times I need to sail on Virgin again (already booked an 8 nt Valiant Lady cruise for January) before I can give a more definitive comparison. 

Can I ask you about the age demographics you noticed while on your Virgin cruise? I’m intrigued to try one; however, DH and I are afraid we’ve missed the mark being 50. We figured it was geared more to people in their 20’s to 30’s or maybe 40’s.

[kwokpot]

3 hours ago, 3smithboys said:

Can I ask you about the age demographics you noticed while on your Virgin cruise? I’m intrigued to try one; however, DH and I are afraid we’ve missed the mark being 50. We figured it was geared more to people in their 20’s to 30’s or maybe 40’s.

On our particular cruise, which was a 4 day going to Key West and Bimini, midweek, I would estimate the majority of passengers were from 25-50. Sure there were over 65's but definitely in the minority. It was younger than most Celebrity cruises except when we were cruising Celebrity during Spring Break Season. 

 

I think the key to whether you'll enjoy a Virgin cruise depends on how much you value the traditional elements of cruising. Despite my warning pre-cruise to my husband about how Virgin does cruises differently just to be different, on embarkation day he was a bit put off on how they didn't do this or that like the other cruiselines. He was most miffed about the Food Hall concept. I think part of that was expectations, and part was not enough signage. Some of the food stands are service only, some are both self serve and service. There's no signs on the tables that there will be servers to take your order for some of the food selections, while beverages, breads and sweets are self serve. Once we 'figured out' how things worked, he was very receptive to the food hall concept vs traditional buffet. 

 

As mentioned the two other big changes are the entertainment and non-suite rooms. As you can see here on the Celebrity boards there's many Celebrity devotees that enjoy a certain cruising experience and are resistant to changes about anything, from a chair(BTW, the furniture on Virgin is closer to Kelly Hoppen than to classic Celebrity furnishings) down to what type of Champagne is served. We love the new, modern, and different of the Celebrity E-Class and welcomed trying Virgin and had a great time. 

My number one wish for Virgin is to have slightly larger and better designed cabins that aren't suites. Otherwise everything else that was different was just fine by me. 

Edit: Oops, I forgot this thread is on the Carnival board. We sail different lines and I enjoy participating on all the CC discussion boards. 

Sidenote: We are SUPPOSED to be on the Oasis right now from NJ but my husband tested positive for Covid today, when two days ago he was fine. Was it from the Virgin cruise? Possibly. He started feeling not good yesterday, even though two days ago he tested negative. We didn't wear masks on the Virgin cruise and neither did 99.95% of the passengers. We did wear masks on the plane to and from FL, and so far I'm negative. Such is life.

 

Edited August 5, 2022 by kwokpot

[3smithboys]

13 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

On our particular cruise, which was a 4 day going to Key West and Bimini, midweek, I would estimate the majority of passengers were from 25-50. Sure there were over 65's but definitely in the minority. It was younger than most Celebrity cruises except when we were cruising Celebrity during Spring Break Season. 

 

I think the key to whether you'll enjoy a Virgin cruise depends on how much you value the traditional elements of cruising. Despite my warning pre-cruise to my husband about how Virgin does cruises differently just to be different, on embarkation day he was a bit put off on how they didn't do this or that like the other cruiselines. He was most miffed about the Food Hall concept. I think part of that was expectations, and part was not enough signage. Some of the food stands are service only, some are both self serve and service. There's no signs on the tables that there will be servers to take your order for some of the food selections, while beverages, breads and sweets are self serve. Once we 'figured out' how things worked, he was very receptive to the food hall concept vs traditional buffet. 

 

As mentioned the two other big changes are the entertainment and non-suite rooms. As you can see here on the Celebrity boards there's many Celebrity devotees that enjoy a certain cruising experience and are resistant to changes about anything, from a chair(BTW, the furniture on Virgin is closer to Kelly Hoppen than to classic Celebrity furnishings) down to what type of Champagne is served. We love the new, modern, and different of the Celebrity E-Class and welcomed trying Virgin and had a great time. 

My number one wish for Virgin is to have slightly larger and better designed cabins that aren't suites. Otherwise everything else that was different was just fine by me. 

Edit: Oops, I forgot this thread is on the Carnival board. We sail different lines and I enjoy participating on all the CC discussion boards. 

Sidenote: We are SUPPOSED to be on the Oasis right now from NJ but my husband tested positive for Covid today, when two days ago he was fine. Was it from the Virgin cruise? Possibly. He started feeling not good yesterday, even though two days ago he tested negative. We didn't wear masks on the Virgin cruise and neither did 99.95% of the passengers. We did wear masks on the plane to and from FL, and so far I'm negative. Such is life.

 

Thanks for your thoughtful response. DH and I have mostly cruised on Carnival. Tried NCL, Disney, and RC too. We loved Disney and did several when our kids were younger. As they got older, they decided Carnival was their favorite. Now they are old enough that they could go on Virgin with us if we wanted to try it. We didn’t feel like the other 2 lines called us back, but never say never. 
 

We just went on the Mardi Gras and for us, that was a game changer. We booked the Celebration for a Southern next summer. 
 

Sorry you tested positive and are missing your next cruise. We also texted positive after our b2b… we figured it was going to happen even being double vaxxed and double boosted. 
 

I’m interested in Virgin because I kind of like the adult only idea. DH and I are teachers and can only travel during school holidays. Oh course, we like kids, it just would be nice to take a break away from them now that ours are older.

[kwokpot]

36 minutes ago, 3smithboys said:

Thanks for your thoughtful response. DH and I have mostly cruised on Carnival. Tried NCL, Disney, and RC too. We loved Disney and did several when our kids were younger. As they got older, they decided Carnival was their favorite. Now they are old enough that they could go on Virgin with us if we wanted to try it. We didn’t feel like the other 2 lines called us back, but never say never. 
 

We just went on the Mardi Gras and for us, that was a game changer. We booked the Celebration for a Southern next summer. 
 

Sorry you tested positive and are missing your next cruise. We also texted positive after our b2b… we figured it was going to happen even being double vaxxed and double boosted. 
 

I’m interested in Virgin because I kind of like the adult only idea. DH and I are teachers and can only travel during school holidays. Oh course, we like kids, it just would be nice to take a break away from them now that ours are older.

We loved the MardiGras, had a B2B in April on her. If you enjoy Carnival I would definitely say try Virgin. Just be aware that there's no traditional Comedian show, which I not most Carnival cruisers love to attend (We can take it or leave it). Virgin is the only cruiseline that does a deck party better than Carnival!

[3smithboys]

51 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

We loved the MardiGras, had a B2B in April on her. If you enjoy Carnival I would definitely say try Virgin. Just be aware that there's no traditional Comedian show, which I not most Carnival cruisers love to attend (We can take it or leave it). Virgin is the only cruiseline that does a deck party better than Carnival!

Thanks again for your response. We don’t care about the comedy shows and most entertainment in general. We spent a lot of time in the piano bar. We love good food, so if the food is good and the atmosphere is nice and relaxing, we are happy. 

[CruizinSusan70]

On 7/31/2022 at 1:51 PM, Wallbanger said:

Absolutely disagree.  31 cruises and just got off of the Miracle. It is by far my favorite Carnival ship. Bigger is not better and I have been on the Vista several times because it sails out of Galveston. The Miracle may be gaudy, but the Vista has all the charm of an IBM office hallway. The Miracle had no waiting in long food lines at any time and the elevators were not packed and slow moving as it is on larger ships. I will continue to cruise on the larger ships, but only because that is what is usually available, but it seems to me the only advantage they seem to have is a larger television. 

Enjoy the Jubilee once she gets to Galveston.   The Mardi Gras was a game changer for Carnival and it looks like the Celebration will be raising the bar just a bit with it's little improvements.

[CruizinSusan70]

On 8/2/2022 at 10:14 AM, karmamule said:

We're making a point of trying all the major cruise lines. So far we've hit MSC, RCL, and NCL, and have Carnival, Celebrity (twice), and Virgin coming up this year and next. Carnival is first up this October on the Mardi Gras. Looking forward to seeing how Carnival goes for us!

Highly recommend Princess with their Princess Plus program of 50.00 per day covering tips, wifi and drink package.  Was even better when it was 40.00 per day.  Also check out the new Prima Class on NCL if you have not already.  Will be a game changer for them like the Excel Class is for Carnival.

[CruizinSusan70]

On 8/2/2022 at 3:03 PM, karmamule said:

 

If I had to look in my crystal ball I'm going to guess my partner will love Carnival best for all the comfort food options and I'll prefer Celebrity. We both love big ships so the Mardi Gras certainly qualifies, and the Valiant Lady will be the smallest ship we've ever been on in recent years.

The Edge Class on Celebrity is great.  We've been on the Edge for 7 days (2020) and the Apex for 12 (2022).  Next year is 18 on the Beyond.  But before that is 14 on the MG (2022) and 19 on the Celebration (2023).

[CruizinSusan70]

On 8/2/2022 at 8:02 PM, coaster said:

Watching more Carnival YouTube videos from same couple as I speak. Miracle with purple or pink grapes in MDR is hard to digest. Trying to keep an open mind though...

Joe Farcus had to be taking some hallucinatory drugs back in the day when he was designing the decor of some of the ships from the mid 80's through 2000.

[CruizinSusan70]

On 8/2/2022 at 8:59 PM, DrSea said:

This may be the ugliest thing I have seen at sea.

You must not have seen some of the hairy chest contests or belly flop contests from back in the day.   It would cause lunch to regurgitate a bit.

[CruizinSusan70]

On 8/3/2022 at 5:09 PM, coaster said:

Sure. They are not overly dramatic like many on YouTube. Just down to earth people.. Seems like they sail on Carnival the most.

 

https://www.youtube.com/c/parodeejay

 

They primarily sail on both Carnival as well as Royal.  They were happy when they made Diamond status on RCI so they had access to the lounge for upgraded coffee and got their 4 free drinks per day.  They have also done two on Princess, a handful of Celebrity, NCL to Hawaii and one Disney cruise, all within the past year plus.

[Illbcruzn4life]

1 hour ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

The Edge Class on Celebrity is great.  We've been on the Edge for 7 days (2020) and the Apex for 12 (2022).  Next year is 18 on the Beyond.  But before that is 14 on the MG (2022) and 19 on the Celebration (2023).

If only they were in our budget.😕 We have champagne taste on a beer budget.

 

Even NCL is out of our budget. Start with an inside cabin for $699 pp and before you know it your total is $2500

Edited August 6, 2022 by Illbcruzn4life

[DrSea]

2 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

You must not have seen some of the hairy chest contests or belly flop contests from back in the day.   It would cause lunch to regurgitate a bit.

No those were fun. My friends would participate. 

[CruizinSusan70]

15 hours ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

If only they were in our budget.😕 We have champagne taste on a beer budget.

 

Even NCL is out of our budget. Start with an inside cabin for $699 pp and before you know it your total is $2500

The best value is MSC.  Have a reservation next July on the Meraviglia out of Brooklyn for 7 nights including their drink package all in for 800 pp.