RC Vision of the Seas or Carnival Legend/Pride?

[Princesca]

Hi all We are looking to take a less-expensive cruise in the first half of 2024, and are leaning toward sailing out of Baltimore so we can avoid the cost of airfare. (Baltimore is a fairly easy drive for us and we have family there.) That would limit us to either RC Vision of the Seas or Carnival Legend or Carnival Pride. For context, we have only sailed on DCL before (we are realizing we've been horribly spoiled and the bar is set pretty high), and we will have a three year old at time of sailing. Any other ports would be 13+ hours from us.

We don't do casinos, we don't smoke (and have a hard time being around it secondhand), and we aren't big drinkers (maybe a couple of pina coladas per cruise). We prefer quality of food to quantity. We aren't big 'party people' and don't mind a sleepier ship, and a good kids' club is definitely of interest. We aren't 100% sure our kid will be potty trained by then, depending on when we go, so it's a pro for us that Carnival doesn't require that.

The itinerary doesn't matter so much for us as long as it's going somewhere warm, though we would definitely get off the boat at Coco Cay or Half Moon Cay to enjoy the beach. Other than that, we'd probably stay on the boat most of the time (they mostly go to the Bahamian ports which don't interest us that much). So bonus points for a good splash pad on the boat or nice adults-only areas.

For the cruises we've looked at, Carnival appears to be about $1000 cheaper at present... but we are both really visual people and I'm honestly not sure I can relax with all the chaos that seems to be present on those Carnival ships. Like I know it sounds overly dramatic, but all those patterns and the darkness of the central lobby, etc, are just not relaxing to me. But maybe we would adjust?

Given this, which ship would you pick? Are there any ports/lines I'm forgetting? I did check out SC as well, but it is less convenient and similar enough to the Baltimore options that it's not worth it. Norfolk appears to be shut down for cruises in 2024.

Thank you!!

 

[CynBeth]

We don’t have kids but have done several cruises with RC to Alaska, Western Caribbean, and Bahamas and really like them. We will hopefully be on a Mediterranean one in a few weeks. I heard Carnival is more like a party ship but never have gone with them so no personal experience but a few people I know who have were not crazy about that line.

 

[deadvc]

Caveat, I've never sailed Carnival. But personally, I never will. They're a real bottom of the barrel line and it seems like any time you read a nightmare story for a cruise out of the US it was Carnival. I feel like stepping down from Disney to Carnival would be like stepping off a cliff.

Royal probably won't be quite at Disney's standard either, but if it were me it wouldn't even be a question. I'd go with Royal.

 

[Princesca]

Caveat, I've never sailed Carnival. But personally, I never will. They're a real bottom of the barrel line and it seems like any time you read a nightmare story for a cruise out of the US it was Carnival. I feel like stepping down from Disney to Carnival would be like stepping off a cliff.

Royal probably won't be quite at Disney's standard either, but if it were me it wouldn't even be a question. I'd go with Royal.

I do worry about the safety of Carnival. It does seem like they are more often in the news. I know they've been trying hard to clean up their image as well, but I keep seeing stuff about a pervasive pot problem on the ship, and while I have no issue with people doing that, I don't want to breathe it or my toddler to be breathing it. It's probably an exaggerated problem, but...

 

[CM Dad]

My wife and I live in northern VA, so the port of Baltimore is about an hour drive for us. We have cruised on the Enchantment of the Seas, which the Vision replaced. We do have a cruise on the Vision scheduled for August.

We have also cruise with Royal out of Bayonne, NJ. That was actually on the way back home from visiting family in the Albany NY area. Not sure where you live in relation to Baltimore, but NJ might be an option for a relatively close port.