What's your favorite older ship?

[n6uqqq]

50 minutes ago, kad56 said:

Bloody Mary. Not a venue (I rememember that wrong).

Makes sense now. I had a BM at the atrium bar.

[IntrepidFromDC]

Pride. 🙂 🏴‍☠️

 

[trummy]

I like the tiered seating of the lido deck, on the Conquest class. It's great for the playoffs and the Superbowl.

[JMAE]

We love the Pride. We have sailed her 11 times, with more planned.  

[jsglow]

3 hours ago, kad56 said:

Ok, following up on this - how's the Magic? It has some great itineraries I love, but I've read that it's a tired ship that's showing its age.

I haven't been on Magic since before Covid. That said, there's a subset of folks who simply think that anything that's not brand new is 'tired'. There's always imperfections. I'd sail on her in a heartbeat though.

[five.]

23 hours ago, kad56 said:

Interesting, I've seen some cool itineraries on the Magic, but I was thinking I should avoid it because I heard it wasn't well maintained.

The last time I was on Magic was shortly before the covid shutdown, so I don't have firsthand knowledge of it lately.

 

But it's an ongoing concern for cruisers and there are regular threads on the topic, one of the recent ones I saw can be found here:

 

[jsglow]

14 hours ago, JMAE said:

We love the Pride. We have sailed her 11 times, with more planned.  

I think I'd say the same if you made me pick one ship. I've been on her for 45 nights if I'm doing my math right; more than any other ship.

[CruiseAdict218]

On 8/5/2024 at 10:33 AM, kad56 said:

What do you like about the Elation?

Her interiors are probably one of my favorites, definitely represents a different time from a more current cruising era, I would sail on her again and hope to sail on Paradise at some point as well.

[JustAGirl2896]

Spirit and Freedom are tied as my faves due to the decor and Layout! Breeze is a close second for the same reason. 

[Gari]

The Spirit does by far my favourite and the Pride is number 1 in my book. 

I love the layout, passenger versus crew and staff ratio and outside open walk around deck ( all Spirit class pluses). 

[hapytobehr]

On 8/5/2024 at 2:16 PM, Saint Greg said:

AKA The Pink Panther.

 

Or the Pepto Bismol ship

[UPNYGuy]

Easily the spirit class. They offer the most space per pax in the fleet, and have a nice, outdoor promenade. I love the steakhouse location, and the spacious main dining room. These ships have a Goldilocks feel to them, and always feel like home to us. 
 

For what it is worth, DW and I started cruising on Holland America, on their vista class (not related to the Carnival vista class). These ships have a similar space ratio. While not sisters, they were designed concurrently. We *do* like the newer and larger ships, but we cruise on the spirit class (and similar sized ships of other lines) regularly 

[bury me at sea]

Conquest class, specifically the Freedom.  Love the scenic ocean view cabins at the front of the ship.  

[MistyRo76]

I really enjoyed the Sunshine when we sailed her last year, and I am considering a Bermuda cruise on her out of Norfolk in 2026. 

 

She has many of the upgrades newer ships have such as added on specialty dining (Bonsai Sushi and JiJi's Asian Kitchen, which is maybe the best specialty restaurant in the Carnival Fleet!), waterworks with the sports square and ropes course, Ocean Plaza with a large Red Frog Pub and more. But it still feels very similar to the other Conquest class ships which I also love. 

 

As others mentioned, Sunshine also has the best Serenity area maybe in the entire fleet - even though I didn't get to experience it since we were traveling with our kiddo! But it looked fantastic from afar! LOL

 

We went during fall break and while there were some lines, it wasn't any worse than I'd expect on other ships during a peak sailing time. Guys and Blue Iguana had long lines for food at peak lunch times but they went fast. And children's stuff had long lines - We got to Build A Bear in the Limelight Lounge 30 minutes before it was supposed to start and there was already a long line. We got number 22. While we were waiting for the BaB workshop to start, I had to run up to our cabin and when I got back they were handing out number 115 and there were still people in line. So just know going in that you may have some lines and you'll be fine! 

[BallFour4]

The Conquest class were the last ones that gave some level of privacy on balcony cabins. When the Conquest came here to Galveston post Katrina it was a game changer for cruising. The Triumph was a true workhorse, but those big open areas with multi-level lounge decks around the pool gave a much more open area for the Speedo Deck. 
 If you have a balcony on Deck 6 of the newer ships you are the show when your curtains are open. It’s like the diorama we made in 5th grade. 

.

[bguppies]

On 8/5/2024 at 7:15 AM, kad56 said:

And why? 

 

I've seen a ton of info on the new class of ships, but I'm finding it harder to figure out which older ships are nice. I like clean, well-maintained ships where I might find a quiet spot when I want to retreat from the fun. A nice serenity deck....

Sunshine has a nice serenity Deck layout, but the ship itself was let go over the shutdown and was the worst rustbucket we have ever been on. (and we have been on all the oldest Fantasy Class ships)

 

Our balcony had rust spots all around and a developing rusty hole in the floor of the balcony. Looking off our balcony, all the winches and equipment within view were all rusted. (I joked we had better not go down, because I seriously doubted any of the lifeboat winches actually worked anymore.)

The bathrooms throughout the ship were not kept very well. Gunk in the corners and mold and gunk buildup on the toilet partitions.

 

Any of the Spirit class ships will have the best layout. Plenty of quiet spots to relax and read a book.

Great flow for the amount of passengers on the ship. (easiest to get around on ANY class of Carnival ship.)

[surfone]

Spirit class ships.  Pride has a little Edge.