Carnival Good or Bad

[Donalds_best_pal]

We have only been on DCL and loved it. We are going again this november. I was looking at low carnival is and thought that is was pretty cheap. I use to hear bad things about them and wondered how they are. If carnival is good we could go on 2 cruise this year since carnival has low fares. Just wandered what people thought.
Thanks
Matt

P.S Sorry if i am posting the same topic twice,i couldnt find another one.

 

[wovenwonder]

To get lots of info on Carnival Cruise -- you may want to visit the message boards at www.cruisecritic.com -- although the DCL section on cruise critic is pretty lame -- the ones for other lines are actually very good.

 

[bennytobunny]

I guess it is down to personal choice, but saying that last year we done both Disney and Carnival, and if I put my hand on my heart I can only say you get what you pay for, some people swear by carnival personally I thought it was tacky cheap, the cabins were small pokey, dark and gloomy, I would step foot on another carnival ship if you paid me $1000,000,000.
The foot wasn't very nice, it wasn't child friendly and it was full of loud drunks. There is no comparison to Disney, Disney is all out class, save your money and either do another Disney cruise or a holiday you have been waiting for, I wouldn't touch Carnival if you can help it, but as I said it is really personal choice, I am sure there are people that like it I just haven't found one yet.

 

[bennytobunny]

I guess it is down to personal choice, but saying that last year we done both Disney and Carnival, and if I put my hand on my heart I can only say you get what you pay for, some people swear by carnival personally I thought it was tacky cheap, the cabins were small pokey, dark and gloomy, I would step foot on another carnival ship if you paid me $1000,000,000.
The food wasn't very nice, it wasn't child friendly and it was full of loud drunks. There is no comparison to Disney, Disney is all out class, save your money and either do another Disney cruise or a holiday you have been waiting for, I wouldn't touch Carnival if you can help it, but as I said it is really personal choice, I am sure there are people that like it I just haven't found one yet.

 

[prymsu]

It is geared more towards adults and parties, but we never had any problems. I guess we have been pretty lucky. If the price is right, I would say go for it, but then that is just my thoughts.

The reason we have cruised so much is because you can get some good prices through carnival, especially since they have so many ships to fill.

 

[westjones]

I have never been on anything except the DCL but today at the Dentist I was reading Parents magazine and they were talking about the Royal Caribbean "Adventur of the Seas". It said that ship had an indoor ice skating rink, rock climbing wall and mini golf, as well as a kids club.

Does anyone have any experience with this ship? We love the DCL, but this year will be our 3rd time and they kids club activities seem to be the same each year and the shows are still the same, and well, we were thinking that in a couple years we might want to try something new. We already know that in 2003 we are doing DCL again, so we are looking at 2004.
DJ

 

[KenP]

I have cruised on the Magic and the Wonder and most recently on the Carnival Fantasy.

I must say I enjoyed the Disney cruises better. However, it's not like the carnival is "bad", it's just that once you have done Disney it's hard to go back.

In short, the Disney cruises are Hilton/Sheraton quality. Carnival is Days Inn /Holiday Inn 'ish.

The kids program on Disney is superior.

The cabins on Disney are superior.

Disney treats you as a honored guest ; Carnival sometimes treats you as a potential criminal (one example: Carnival has video cameras and "checkpoint" shoplifting deterent devices in their Photo Gallery). I don't blame Carnival - the "class" of cruisers is lower on the Carnival.

Having said all that I still might cruise on carnival if the fare was low enough.

 

[lespaul55]

I've cruised both Carnival and Disney with my children. If I were to choose Carnival and want the same quality of staterooms as Disney, avoid the older smaller ships. We have cruised both older and newer ships on Carnival. The Victory, Destiny, Triumph, and Pride all have suites with verandahs much like Disney. We cruised on the Triumph with 3 verandah suites and it was fine. Carnival's older ships have only a few verandahs. The older ship we took, the Holiday, our stateroom was really beat up with broken drawers etc. Carnival's ships are also more wildly decorative, some would say gaudy and tacky.

Also avoid the shorter cruises which attract more of the drinking and partying types. We were on a 7 day spring break cruise that was all families. Our children are older and don't spend much time in children's activities any more so I can't comment on Carnival's child program.

I enjoyed the food more on the Carnival ships. I thought the caliber of Disney's shows was better than Carnival's song and dance type. But I also enjoyed the comedians on Carnival much better.

It will be interesting to hear my children's input on the 7 day, coming June 29th.

Leslie

PS When we took our spring break Triumph cruise, I also priced Royal Caribbean Voyager,sister ship to the Adventure. It was thousands more for the 3 balcony cabins.