Carnival vs. Royal Caribbean?

[busy mom]

Trying to plan a 4 or 5 day cruise out of Orlando as part of our November Disney trip. We are new to cruising. Any opinions out there on Carnival or Royal Caribbean? My kids are teenagers if that helps...thanks!

 

[tammymacb]

Hi, we've sailed Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Disney, Celebrity and Norwegian.

We just sailed the new Carnival Dream this January. Our next cruises are Jan 11 on the Carnival Miracle, Oct 11 on the Disney Dream and possibly the Disney Magic in the Med in '11 also.

That being said, I think both Carnival and Royal are fun. My DD has sailed on every cruise we've done ( She's 13 and has been on 9 cruises ) She likes Carnival and Royal Caribbean the best.

My guess is Carnival will be cheaper. But, some of the middle aged Royal ships are nicer ( none of the brand new ships will be doing 4 nighters ) If I had the opportunity to jump on the Navigator of the Seas for your dates, I'd start there. Very nice ship, and depending on your kids ages, TONS to do, athletic court, mini golf, rock climbing wall and ice skating rink. Ben and Jerry's, Johnny Rockets...

If you have specific questions let me know. But, my answer would be that I think there will be far more to do on a middle aged RCCL ship than a middle aged Carnival ship.

 

[ctjsowens]

We've done Royal Carribean 2 times with one being out of Port Canaveral. Loved them both times. Top notch service with very clean ships.

 

[Darcy03231]

We're avid cruisers and have sailed Carnival, Royal Carribean, Princess, and Celebrity. I find the Carnival and Royal Carribean lines to be very similar. For me the big differences are:

Carnival - More of a Las Vegasy style decor, cabins are slightly larger, tends to have more going on late at night.

Royal Carribean - More of an upscale feel (brass, wood, etc.). Their cabins are slightly smaller.

On both lines I've found the food and service to be pretty comparable.

My teens prefer Carnival.

 

[of the seas]

We only do Royal Caribbean and my kids love it. We are to scared to try Carnival. We don't want to take a chance on not liking it. The kids love there special areas. They loved it when they were yonger and they love it even more now they can go in "Fuel" and "The Living Room". They can have their fun and we have our fun-which makes for a totally relaxing vacation!

 

[benolathe]

Don't have any first-hand knowledge about Carnival. But can give a big YES to Royal Caribbean. The whole family really enjoyed the cruise. One to the bahamas when the kids were about 8 and 10, and another to Alaska when they were 15 and 17. Both times, the kids really enjoyed themselves participating in the kids' club, or just hanging out with other teenagers on the ship. There is a lounge area specifically for teenagers.

Actually, they said that they enjoyed the bahamas cruise even more than the trip to WDW we had done the year before. WDW and a cruise are very different vacation experiences.

 

[kmvand1]

I just booked a graduation cruise for my son. We are getting two cabins for the four of us, and have never done a cruise before. I chose Carnival leaving out of Port Canaveral. We will be going to Disney for 5 days prior to the sailing. I hope I didn't make the wrong choice!

 

[HeatherC]

Have done both several times and think they are both great. My kids prefer the Royal Caribbean Voyager Class since they have the rock-climbing wall, mini golf, full basketball court and inline skating.

Both are great lines and you would have fun on either. Like someone else mentioned...if you can get a good price on the Navigator...jump on it. One of the nicest ships doing a shorter itinerary out of any line.

You can also do a virtual tour on RCCL's website which is cool.

Have a great time!

Also...if you can do longer than 4 days...go for it. You WILL NOT regret it!

 

[DL55]

I just booked a graduation cruise for my son. We are getting two cabins for the four of us, and have never done a cruise before. I chose Carnival leaving out of Port Canaveral. We will be going to Disney for 5 days prior to the sailing. I hope I didn't make the wrong choice!

You will have a fun time! Try not to worry. It can be relaxing or as busy as you want.

OP: Although I haven't been on RCCL I've heard they are great for teenagers with all the activities. I think you will have fun on either line.

 

[curseofcurves]

I don't have any experience with Carnival (and was actually wondering the same as the OP), but I have been on Royal Caribbean once and really loved it.

On Royal, there are always activities going on like trivia, bingo, game-show type things, contests, and dancing. Same thing with food, it's always available so you can fit it around your schedule. There was a small bakery/coffee shop/pizzeria in the Promenade that had some sort of offering mostly around the clock and there was also the buffet in the Windjammer that served breakfast, lunch, and dinner( both places included in your cruise fee.) I actually never set foot in the formal dining room, mostly because I was by myself visiting an on-board entertainer and was too shy to eat with a table full of strangers. In addition to the big shows on a few nights, the entertainers did parades, jazz sets in the lounges, and street-singer sets in the promenade.

Royal also delivers a pamphlet every morning (or late at night, I can't remember) of the day's special events and lots of info on the day's port of call. It was very easy to make your own schedule and never feel like you missed out on something.

What I'm wondering, in particular, is how Carnival compares to Royal Caribbean in that respect. How are the food, entertainment, and activities set up schedule wise?

 

[loveysbydesign]

great info here...for more info check out cruisecritic.com

 

[Justsyd2]

I've done both, and I'm booked on another Carnival cruise. They are both great lines, but with teens I would go with Carnival. RCCL has a much more upscale, sedate feel to it, where they might feel a bit restrained. The rooms on the Carnival ships are also larger than RCCL. Other than that, food, service, entertainment, and ships are very similar.

 

[tammymacb]

I don't have any experience with Carnival (and was actually wondering the same as the OP), but I have been on Royal Caribbean once and really loved it.

On Royal, there are always activities going on like trivia, bingo, game-show type things, contests, and dancing. Same thing with food, it's always available so you can fit it around your schedule. There was a small bakery/coffee shop/pizzeria in the Promenade that had some sort of offering mostly around the clock and there was also the buffet in the Windjammer that served breakfast, lunch, and dinner( both places included in your cruise fee.) I actually never set foot in the formal dining room, mostly because I was by myself visiting an on-board entertainer and was too shy to eat with a table full of strangers. In addition to the big shows on a few nights, the entertainers did parades, jazz sets in the lounges, and street-singer sets in the promenade.

Royal also delivers a pamphlet every morning (or late at night, I can't remember) of the day's special events and lots of info on the day's port of call. It was very easy to make your own schedule and never feel like you missed out on something.

What I'm wondering, in particular, is how Carnival compares to Royal Caribbean in that respect. How are the food, entertainment, and activities set up schedule wise?

IMO, the food on Carnival was very good. When we sailed the Dream this January, it had been a while since our last Carnival cruise. We decided to eat as a family in the dining room every night and I was pretty impressed by the food. Especially the desserts, ( I feel like mass produced dessert anywhere are usually tasteless ) I thought the supper club on Carnival was a bit expensive ( we paid $30 per person which is much higher than our recent DCL meals at Paulo ) The entertainment was fine ( I'm not a huge fan of cruiseline type entertainment, anyway ) and the activities were enough that you could keep busy or relax.

 

[NCRedding]

We've sailed the RCCL Radiance of the Seas and the Carnival Liberty. We enjoyed our Carnival cruise much better than the RCCL cruise. In fact we liked our 2 NCL cruises on older ships better than RCCL, which ranks last out of the 10 cruises we've taken (the rest were on DCL)

The food on our Carnival cruise was far superior to RCCL in flavor, presentation and service. RCCL offered some "headliners" (ie, the Osmond Bros) but their production show was "high schoolish" in both correography and talent. I found the comedians hilarious on Carnival. There were also a ton more small entertainment going on on Carnival, like singers in the atrium, bars, etc.

I went into our Carnival cruise not expecting too much, but it was an awesome cruise!!

 

[sherry7]

Trying to plan a 4 or 5 day cruise out of Orlando as part of our November Disney trip. We are new to cruising. Any opinions out there on Carnival or Royal Caribbean? My kids are teenagers if that helps...thanks!

I've been on 6 Royal Caribbean cruises, but none on Carnival. My son was 15 when we took our first cruise, and he's really enjoyed them.

As for the question between Royal Caribbean and Carnival...I think it's wise to look at the choice of ship. For example, RCCL Monarch of the Seas sails out of Port Canaveral (closet to Disney), and I really wouldn't recommend that particular ship for a first time cruiser with kids. Why? Because it's one of their oldest ships, it's rather small, the cabins are smaller, and it's just not as up to date and has less things for your kids to do. The Carnival Sensation also sails out of Port Canaveral as well, and suffers from the same problems.

I would make the (short) drive to Fort Lauderdale, and do a cruise on RCCL Navigator of the Seas. This particular ship is newer, larger, has a ton of amenities for kids/teens (rock climbing wall, inline skate track, ice skating, basketball court, mini golf, and of course pools and hot tubs).

Someone mentioned that Carnival cabins are larger than RCCL cabins. True, but on most of the ships, it's a total of 5 square feet per cabin...which is literally just a few inches of floor space. IMO, that's nothing to base your decision on.

When booking the cruise, you might want to check out the price of booking 2 separate (adjoining) inside cabins, instead of 1 balcony or oceanview cabin. Sometimes (not always) the price is very similar, and you end up getting double the space and 2 bathrooms.

I also recommend visiting the cruising forums at CruiseCritic.com.

 

[avgeek81]

My mom and i did a 5night cruise to canada on Carnival 2 years ago and we have an 8 night cruise to the Bahamas booked for June. We liked the food, we ate in the dining room 3 of the 5 nights. We would just look at the menu posted outside to see if we saw something we liked. We thought the nightly shows were very entertaining but we may be easily impressed. They had a list of activities sent to your room daily. We did trivia and bingo and watched a "name that tune" style game. They also broadcasted some of the activities (like a newlywed style game) on the closed circuit tv station. We thought the cruise was very relaxing we like to sit by the pool and read and we took afternoon naps every day. We didnt have any kids with us but i think there is a lot for them to do. There was obviously kids on the cruise but we didnt see too many of them except when we went to play mini golf. so i think they had their own areas.

 

[luvmy3jewels]

My family has cruised on both Carnival and Royal Carribbean and we think both are great!! Carnival's food was a little better than RC (can anyone say choc. melting cake) and RC's service was a little better in general.

If I were comparing cruises between the two brands, I would pick a cruise based on which itenerary/port I liked best!

By the way, my 7 yr old ds said that the cruise was his favorite vacation that we have taken because we got to visit a different country every day and experience so many different things.

 

[MrsPete]

My guess is Carnival will be cheaper.

People always say that, but it doesn't seem to work out that way for me -- maybe I just pick the wrong weeks.

We're reserved on Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas this summer, and it was $1111/person for a balcony cabin. The Carnival Dream -- an equivalent ship in size/amenities, same week, similar itinerary -- is $1259/person for a balcony cabin. I don't remember Princess' exact price, but it was a tad over $1200.

 

[tammymacb]

People always say that, but it doesn't seem to work out that way for me -- maybe I just pick the wrong weeks.

We're reserved on Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas this summer, and it was $1111/person for a balcony cabin. The Carnival Dream -- an equivalent ship in size/amenities, same week, similar itinerary -- is $1259/person for a balcony cabin. I don't remember Princess' exact price, but it was a tad over $1200.

You can compare equivalent iteneraries. But, not exactly those ships. The Dream is brand new, sailing for the first time this fall....You'll pay the most for the newest ship. And it is Carnival's newest ship. The Liberty of the Seas ( while I agree a very nice and newer ship ) has been out since 2007 and is no longer RCCLs "newest and greatest ship". Hence, ( my guess ) why you'd pay more for the the Dream than LOS.

 

[Disney-Kim]

I just booked a graduation cruise for my son. We are getting two cabins for the four of us, and have never done a cruise before. I chose Carnival leaving out of Port Canaveral. We will be going to Disney for 5 days prior to the sailing. I hope I didn't make the wrong choice!

My only concern here is that the Carnival ship you booked is one of the older smaller ships....try to research and see if one of the newer bigger ships are available and maybe out of Ft Lauderdale or Miami....

We have sailed out of Pt Canaveral twice and the Carnival ship parked next to us always looked small...so just double check. There may be less to do for your family on the older small ships.

I think the Valor and the Liberty are newer/bigger ships. of course the Dream but that is the newest and maybe the priciest.