Carnival after Celebrity?

[NCteacherlovescruising]

5 hours ago, HWC_Mom said:

We had only sailed with Celebrity and then decided Carnival was so cheap might as well give it a try.  While Carnival is fine Celebrity is more comfy for us. It's like the difference between a chain restaurant and fine dining. You know you'll have a fine meal but you won't leave thinking wow that was amazing.  Although I did enjoy the pint sized margarita and we do enjoy the Guy Fieri burgers on Carnival.  We will be cruise Celebrity in June for my 50th birthday.  For any special events Celebrity is the way to but for a cruise that is simply fine, gets you away Carnival ain't that bad, although there was a screaming match and fight in the main dining room the last night on our last Carnival cruise.   So there's dinner theatre 😂

Nice way to spend your milestone birthday!  I agree about special occasions!  We will be on Celebrity for our 30th anniversary next summer. 

[Cruise a holic]

Had sailed on Carnival- but not for many years now about 5 times.  IMO it doesn't compare with Celebrity.  We find Celebrity more upscale- the food, service and accomodations so much better on Celebrity- Carnival is as advertised the "fun ship".  We found many wild twenty somethings behaving like students on a college campus.  Running drunk down the hallways and being very rowdy.  While they are trying to up their game- by have special areas, not sure if I would try them again.  We love Celebrity- and if with multigenerational family members also love Royal- especially the Oasis class- looking foward to trying the Icon class next year.

[debsjc]

We sailed Carnival Pride last summer, after mostly sailing Princess and HAL. We picked it for the routing and the price, but we really did not like the ship and their on board customer service is terrible. 

 

I maybe would go with them again, if it was a bargain and a good routing, But I wouldn't go back on the Pride. Breaking bathrooms and aircon issues all over the ship, and the worst front desk I have ever come across in 20 years of cruising. The food was okay, but even the staff in some of the bars were really rude. 

[NCteacherlovescruising]

11 hours ago, Cruise a holic said:

Had sailed on Carnival- but not for many years now about 5 times.  IMO it doesn't compare with Celebrity.  We find Celebrity more upscale- the food, service and accomodations so much better on Celebrity- Carnival is as advertised the "fun ship".  We found many wild twenty somethings behaving like students on a college campus.  Running drunk down the hallways and being very rowdy.  While they are trying to up their game- by have special areas, not sure if I would try them again.  We love Celebrity- and if with multigenerational family members also love Royal- especially the Oasis class- looking foward to trying the Icon class next year.

We loved the Oasis of the Seas!

[russianmom]

I usually do 1 Carnival girls cruise a year (we are in our 50s, friends since high school.) We were just in a Havana cabana cabin on Horizon in October and we decided that we have definitely aged out of the shenanigans on Carnival. They do make the best pizza of all the cruise lines and Guy's Burgers is delicious. Our havana cabana cabin was cute and we liked the private area but it was taken over every day by a huge drunk rowdy group traveling together and the main pool area is a joke. Disembarking at the ports is a hot mess as well and the drunk pier runners are a sight to behold!! . We'll stick to Celebrity and the The Haven on NCL where it's more calm and serene.

[Fly and Sail]

1 hour ago, russianmom said:

I usually do 1 Carnival girls cruise a year (we are in our 50s, friends since high school.) We were just in a Havana cabana cabin on Horizon in October and we decided that we have definitely aged out of the shenanigans on Carnival. They do make the best pizza of all the cruise lines and Guy's Burgers is delicious.

 

Never been on Carnival, but I have to say any burger must be better than the dog food prepared at Mast Grill (Burgers, Hotdogs), and even the Celebrity Pizza has become sloppy.

[RichYak]

3 minutes ago, Fly and Sail said:

 

Never been on Carnival, but I have to say any burger must be better than the dog food prepared at Mast Grill (Burgers, Hotdogs), and even the Celebrity Pizza has become sloppy.

The Guy's burgers on Carnival are really good. So are the fries. Also excellent are the made to order burritos with a wide array of hot sauce choices. They serve breakfast burrito's too, which IMO are the perfect meal. These are some of the things that Carnival does that I wish Celebrity would do as well. Another example is using the app for MDR dining. The Carnival app lets you know the approximate wait time, you indicate when you're ready for a table and the app responds when your table is ready.

[ptcflyer]

Long time Celebrity cruiser here.  We took advantage of free Casino cruise offer on Carnival Luminosa 22 day Trans Pacific last month.   (22 Days for $349 in Verandah).   Only gambled one or two Carnival cruises 10 years ago.... with less than $1,000 loss.     Was worried about the down grade to Carnival, but in reality it was an okay cruise.    

 

Likes:   Burgers better.    Mexican Buritos Great offering.   Casino was busier with friendly staff.   Comedy Club was definitely a consistent theme.   Sea Day Brunch was very good!!!  Best pancakes I ever had!     MDR dinners were comparable, but service was definitely less formal.   Technology and scheduling meals, etc was a bit better with Carnival.    Without kids, the cruise was very comfortable and did not feel crowded.   Elevators arrived in an instance and 95% of the time, no one else joined us.   

 

Dislikes:   Frequent, long public announcements of activities throughout the day.  (No published activity planner).   Loud music at the pool with DJ was not to my taste.    Ship decor and layout were inferior to Celebrity.   (narrow halls,  low ceilings,  mediocre room decor).   Less selection in Cafe.   Only one daily cleaning.  (no night time turndown.).     Ship maintenance was comparable to Solstice...  could be better.      Towel pick up required room number... with check in / check out.    Crew tried to please, but they did seem a bit stretched In most departments.   

 

With the right offers, right itinerary away from summer and Holidays....  Carnival isn't a terrible alternative.