Has anyone cruised with Carnival?

[ChrisinNJ]

I am considering a cruise instead of a trip to WDW this year. I got a great deal on a Western Caribean cruise on the Carnival Valor. I have only ever cruised on Royal Caribean.

I am worried about the old adage "you get what you pay for." I read some reviews on cruise critic, some good, some bad. Anyone here have experience with Carnival to share???

 

[janets]

I work p/t as a TA. Carnival is a good line but is less expensive than Royal for several reasons.

Their ships simply cannot compare to the Voyager, Freedom and Oasis class ships. However, that said, there is nothing wrong with them. Yes, they have had their "fun ship" reputation, but they are not the old party ships we all remember from years ago. They have worked hard on getting rid of that reputation and making themselves a family friendly line.

The Valor is a nice ship. You simply have to go into the cruise with a good attitude. If you go thinking "this is never going to be as good as Royal and I'm going to get what I paid for" you're going to find things wrong.

In reality, things go wrong on all lines. Just remember you are on vacation, if something is really bothering you, go to the guest services desk and ask for help. Be polite, don't demand and things will generally be fixed. Remember that they are feeding lots of people so you're not eating gourmet food. Yet that chocolate melting cake is possibly one of the best things I've ever eaten.

You've got some great ports (Grand Cayman, Belize, Roatan and Cozumel), you'll have a twister water slide and the outdoor movie screen, and I would recommend you try the steakhouse (for an extra fee).

I think you'll have a great time. Remember, you're getting a good price, food all day, travel to great ports, and a lot of fun available. Just enjoy!

 

[TaraPA]

I'm glad to read Janets post regarding Carnival losing their party reputation. We cruised Carnival twice, about 12 years ago, and it was awful. We had always used RC, and had ventured out to Norweigan & Celebrity which were just fine, but Carnival - . Glad to hear they've improved! They were total party ships back then (ours anyway - can't even remember the ship name - if you said it, I'd know it - none of the ones Janets mentioned) - just one big party of drunken idiots, bad food & sub-par service. Even their shore excursions were cheesy & not well-run. Most were "drink-til-you-drop" pirate ship excursions. Why we took the 2nd cruise after the 1st bad one I can't even rememer (I'm sure low price had something to do with it!). Like Janets said - just don't go in comparing it to RC - in our opinion they are the best in that price-range of cruise lines! Try it - you might just be surprised!

 

[jacksmom]

We had cruised Disney and RCCL prior to our Carnival Valor cruise last spring! It was okay, the ports were great! We did a western also! The food was good, but they were always short staffed in the diningroom so service was not great! Also the ship never seemed really nice and clean, though our stateroom was clean! The cruise director was good, but not enough to do on the ship compared to RCCL! I did feel like I got what I paid for, I just wished I had gone ahead and paid more and cruised with RCCL again!

 

[ali2000]

My husband and I have always cruised RC, but I went on a girls' cruise last year on Carnival and I had that "this can't be as good as RC" mindset. I could tell the difference between the two, but it is definitely not the party cruise it used to be. In many ways, it was very similar to RC; in fact, our dinner server was outstanding!
I would cruise Carnival again, but one of the main reasons I wanted to stick with RC was because of the amount of trips I would accrue, which in turn receives special promotions, discounts, and coupons.

 

[Justsyd2]

Our first cruise was with Royal Caribbean, second cruise with Carnival. They are very similar. The food on both lines was excellent. We actually saw more people partying on RC than Carnival! Our next cruise is booked on Carnival. I love that their rooms are larger and their ships really do seem to me to be more fun than Royal Caribbean.

 

[aggielawyer]

I've been on two cruises with Carnival. I've never cruised with anyone else, so I don't have anything to compare it with, but I never had any issues and would cruise with them again.

 

[Darcy03231]

I'm a frequent cruiser (2-3x per year) and have enjoyed every one of my cruises on Carnival. In fact, its my kids favorite line (we've done Royal Carribean, Carnival, Princess, Celebrity, Norwegian and DCL). My experience is that its been comparable with RC. RC has a more upscale feel to the decor of the ship (Carnival is more Las Vegasy). Food and service have been about the same. The staterooms on Carnival are larger. Kids programs are about the same, but my kids liked Carnival's better. Some of the older ships can be a bit run down (as can the older RC ships).

I've cruised on the Valor and had a wonderful trip. Have a great time!

 

[teedisney]

We've cruised both. We thought we were too young on RC but that was 10 years ago. We cruised Carnival last year and had a great time. Food was about the same. Entertainment about the same.

I actually enjoyed the water slide on Carnival. We have a child now and he loved the kid's club.

 

[DVCBELLE]

I did that exact cruise in November. Carnival is okay in my opinion - but my comparison is DCL. I found the entertainment to be mediocre at best. The food was great but the buffets could get very crowded. We loved the ports.

My biggest complaint was the kids club. It closed twice during the day and at 10 at night - they had a lot of activities that you could send your kids to and pay for it - I felt like they were constantly pimping that to my kids which got annoying.

 

[lucigo]

We just got back from a Carnival Cruise on Thursday. It was #10 for me and my 6-yo so we obviously really enjoy it. My favorite things about this cruise were the Mongolian Grill, the chocolate melting cake, and the service. My 22-yo and 18-yo just hung out and relaxed. My 15-yo was in Club O2 most of the cruise and we hardly saw her! My 6-yo loves the water park and playing mini-golf on the top deck. We all enjoyed the shows together (shared virgin daquaris).

My main reason for liking Carnival so much is that Camp Carnival has not let me down once in all 10 cruises. My son has autism and they are wonderful with him. He loves to go and play with the kids, make crafts, play video games, etc.

Good luck making your decision! We like both our Disney vacations and our cruises. With the meal plan I personally think the food at Disney is better than the cruise food, but a cruise is much more relaxing than a Disney trip.

 

[lucigo]

My biggest complaint was the kids club. It closed twice during the day and at 10 at night - they had a lot of activities that you could send your kids to and pay for it - I felt like they were constantly pimping that to my kids which got annoying.

The kids club is closed from 12-2 so that the under 2 kids can go in their with their parents and play. Its open until around 1am every night but after 10pm they have parties that have a fee, I don't know how much we were always exhausted by then.

They also have cell phones that work on the ship that they give to parents in case your child needs you. This was great peace of mind for us, plus since all of our group had camp phones, we could call each other.

The color a t-shirt was free, and my son got all kinds of little freebies throughout the cruise including a cute little rubik's cube. The only other thing I know of that had a fee was build-a-bear (or other animals), but we never did that, my son would rather have his stuffed Yoshi than a funship freddy LOL

 

[tinatark]

We've cruised with Princess 3x, last year, got a great deal on the Carnival Liberty over spring break - Carnival was okay, but we'll be going back to Princess - in fact, in 2 weeks!

It seemed like the activities were staggered- we napped in the afternoons, before dinner - nothing going on we were interested in - that didn't happen w/Princess. Our teens prefer the Princess teen program. I have to say the Princess (I think Princess and RC are pretty equal) cruise staff seemed to be notch above Carnival.

 

[OhhBother]

We cruise a lot (me, 37, and DH, 41). We don't have kids, we're not big night-life people, and we never step foot in casinos.

We've been on Disney multiple times, Carnival multiple times, Royal Caribbean once, Princess once and Celebrity once. Without question, Celebrity is our favorite. The Solstice is a gorgeous ship. However, I would cruise any of these lines again without hesitation. We find the food to be best on Celebrity and Carnival. Entertainment was best on Disney and Celebrity.

We're doing a 12-day cruise in Hawaii next month on the Carnival Spirit and can't wait. We've been on the Carnival Valor and found it to be very nice (we had an aft wrap balcony -- also have one on the Spirit). But be warned -- the decor on the Valor is ultra-gaudy. Overlook that, and you'll have fun!

 

[bucket o' butter]

We cruised on the Carnival Valor 4 years ago and we loved it. Many relatives have been on RC and always had great things to say about them, so we weren't sure how we would like Carnival. I can't compare it RC, but we did not have any complaints. It certainly was not a "party" ship like their reputation has been in the past. We had great service and would cruise with Carnival again. We did the Easter Caribbean though, so I don't know anything about the Western ports.

 

[momofrrr]

We cruised for the first time two summers ago on Carnival Conquest. We had a wonderful time. Our kids never wanted for anything to do and neither did we. We did not spend enough time in our room for anything other than a clean bathroom to matter, not that that was the case. The rooms were great. We had a balcony and loved sitting there. We had a GREAT server in the dining room and dinner was always excellant. We had not one single complaint.

 

[Tinkerbelle32]

We've cruised both Carnival and RC. Just got back from the carnival conquest for the second time. We love carnival! The rooms are much larger compared to RC. I would take carnival anyday! Enjoy your cruise.

 

[Cdn Gal]

We did the Alaskan cruise last summer with Carnival and it was AMAZING!!!! We had an interior room and our friends had an outside balcony and we were treat exactly the same as our friends even though we spent considerably less. What we discovered is that you are never really in your room so why pay the extra $$$? However that said, if I had a child I would want a balcony only b/c then you could enjoy the outside while your child slept in or had a nap or whatever. That would be hard to do if you had an interior room.

 

[PurpleDog]

My wife and I have done 2 cruises: both leaving from San Juan and both 7 nights. One was with Royal Caribbean and the other Carnival.

The biggest difference to us was dining. The buffets on RC were very good, and the ones on Carnival mediocre at best. Carnival cuts corners with its food by basically offering the same food at the buffet for all seven days, while RC changes it up 2-3 times over the 7 days. The formal dining rooms on RC had much nicer food and the level of service was better.

The balcony cabins on each ship appeared to be the same size, and the service was good on both ships. I will also mention that if you need to stay somewhat connected [via internet] while away from the USA, like I do, the Carnival ship had much faster connections. However, you pay ALOT to be connected on either ship.

 

[mrsmom]

I have taken my 4 kids on two carnival cruises and getting ready for another one in June on the Liberty.We all have had a great time. Enjoy your cruise!