Carnival

[luv2sleep]

Know this is a Royal Caribbean cruise like board but I'm hoping the questions I have are more appropriate here than on the DCL board.

Anyone cruise Carnival out of southern California? How did you like it? Anything to seriously avoid? My family is considering a family cruise but since not everyone has a ton of cash to spend I'm hoping to find something local to do that doesn't involve flying.

 

[bzkds]

I, personally, have not sailed Carnival. But I have a friend here who does every year, and LOVES it. In fact, they just went last week with their 2 teens. I guess the thing we hear most in NorCal is to avoid the short 3-4 day cruises, but that the week long cruises have a much nicer atmosphere on board. I hope someone else will chime in.. but did you also check Cruise Critic?
Beth

 

[dpswift]

Between DH and I we have been on four Carnival cruises. We always choose longer cruises 5 or more nights because of the short cruises being known as party cruises.

We tried to get a Carnival family cruise together but one family member refused to try Carnival. Long story short. She and her husband took a Carnival cruise alone and had a great time. She has sailed most other lines. She agreed that Carnival was not bad.

We have always had excellent MDR service, it has far exceeded the MDR service on Disney. We did My time dining however did try for the same servers.

The teen club was great my DDs had a great time.

They have activities for people of all ages.

 

[KateDrake]

We did a 7-night Mexican Riviera in 2012, and LOVED it! I think it is all about knowing what you are getting into. Set your expectations at a realistic level, and it will be great. My MIL made the great analogy that DCL is like shopping at Nordstrom or another nice department store. Carnival is like shopping at Target. Sure, Target is not as nice as Nordstrom. But you can still find some great stuff at Target, you just have to go in knowing that it is a different shopping experience.

We went in January, so I was worried there wouldn't be any other kids in the clubs, but I felt like it was perfect. There were enough that the kids all made friends, but not so many that I worried my DD and cousins would get lost in the shuffle.

One thing I see people complain about all the time is the food on Carnival. But if you dig a little deeper, you usually find that they skipped the MDR and ate at the buffet. I would HIGHLY recommend eating in the MDR as often as possible. We did it most mornings for breakfast and it was totally empty! I actually think it was probably faster than waiting around at the buffet. For lunch, we sometimes did the buffet, but more often did the specialty shops like burgers, pizza, deli, Indian food, Mongolian grill, etc. And at night we only missed the MDR once, and decided that was a horrible idea. So just avoid the buffet, and you should have some pretty decent dining experiences.

 

[luv2sleep]

We did a 7-night Mexican Riviera in 2012, and LOVED it! I think it is all about knowing what you are getting into. Set your expectations at a realistic level, and it will be great. My MIL made the great analogy that DCL is like shopping at Nordstrom or another nice department store. Carnival is like shopping at Target. Sure, Target is not as nice as Nordstrom. But you can still find some great stuff at Target, you just have to go in knowing that it is a different shopping experience. We went in January, so I was worried there wouldn't be any other kids in the clubs, but I felt like it was perfect. There were enough that the kids all made friends, but not so many that I worried my DD and cousins would get lost in the shuffle. One thing I see people complain about all the time is the food on Carnival. But if you dig a little deeper, you usually find that they skipped the MDR and ate at the buffet. I would HIGHLY recommend eating in the MDR as often as possible. We did it most mornings for breakfast and it was totally empty! I actually think it was probably faster than waiting around at the buffet. For lunch, we sometimes did the buffet, but more often did the specialty shops like burgers, pizza, deli, Indian food, Mongolian grill, etc. And at night we only missed the MDR once, and decided that was a horrible idea. So just avoid the buffet, and you should have some pretty decent dining experiences.

Thank you! This is great info! That's exactly what I ended to know. Great tips!

 

[luv2sleep]

We finally went on our Carnival cruise and had a blast! I loved it! I've even booked another trip! It's so much cheaper than other lines. The food was really good. The service was great! Had a great time. Would recommended it to anyone.

 

[ronandannette]

Where did you end up going? Not on Carnival, but we've done the Baja 4-day from Los Angeles twice on RCCL (back in the day when they still sailed there). We actually loved that itinerary. Catalina Island is super-charming and Ensenada was just Mexican "enough" to make us feel like we'd been somewhere exotic. Carnival now sails that route every week and I'd recommend it as a reasonable way to try cruising at an affordable price.

 

[luv2sleep]

Where did you end up going? Not on Carnival, but we've done the Baja 4-day from Los Angeles twice on RCCL (back in the day when they still sailed there). We actually loved that itinerary. Catalina Island is super-charming and Ensenada was just Mexican "enough" to make us feel like we'd been somewhere exotic. Carnival now sails that route every week and I'd recommend it as a reasonable way to try cruising at an affordable price.

We did the same cruise. 4 day Baja to Catalina and Ensenada.

 

[luv2sleep]

I wish other cruise lines should do the short trips out of LA ports during the summer also. So convenient and I'd like to try more lines.

 

[woody73]

Anyone cruise Carnival out of southern California? How did you like it? Anything to seriously avoid? My family is considering a family cruise but since not everyone has a ton of cash to spend I'm hoping to find something local to do that doesn't involve flying.

We finally went on our Carnival cruise and had a blast! I loved it! I've even booked another trip! It's so much cheaper than other lines. The food was really good. The service was great! Had a great time. Would recommended it to anyone.

In April, we sailed on Carnival for the first time. It's a 20-minute drive for us to the Port of Long Beach. It was nice not having to fly, rent a car, and stay in a hotel to cruise.

The food was good, as was the service. The cruise was particularly memorable as we had 15 family members (including 4 teens) cruise together.

Woody

 

[NancyIL]

Where did you end up going? Not on Carnival, but we've done the Baja 4-day from Los Angeles twice on RCCL (back in the day when they still sailed there). We actually loved that itinerary. Catalina Island is super-charming and Ensenada was just Mexican "enough" to make us feel like we'd been somewhere exotic. Carnival now sails that route every week and I'd recommend it as a reasonable way to try cruising at an affordable price.

I really enjoyed my 4-day RCI cruise on Monarch of the Seas out of Los Angeles in 2006. It also stopped at San Diego - in addition to Catalina Island and Ensenada.

 

[usnuzuloose]

Sailed on Carnival and loved it. You can see my TR at the bottom.

 

[ronandannette]

I wish other cruise lines should do the short trips out of LA ports during the summer also. So convenient and I'd like to try more lines.

http://www.princess.com/find/searchResults.do
Princess is doing a bunch this fall and winter and into next spring. I've sailed Princess also and really, really enjoyed it - I'd highly recommend them actually. It's a completely different environment than Carnival though.

I really enjoyed my 4-day RCI cruise on Monarch of the Seas out of Los Angeles in 2006. It also stopped at San Diego - in addition to Catalina Island and Ensenada.

Oh that's right - it did, didn't it! I can't believe I forgot. DH and I had an absolutely marvellous day at Sea World on one of our port stops there. Thanks for awakening that memory!

 

[woody73]

. . . Princess is doing a bunch this fall and winter and into next spring. I've sailed Princess also and really, really enjoyed it - I'd highly recommend them actually.

On Princess, we love the warm fresh baked cookies in the afternoon, and the fresh popped popcorn at the Movies Under the Stars.

Woody

 

[Summerl30]

We are thinking of trying carnival because they are the only ones cruising out of charleston and we might find ourselves in charleston in the spring.