Royal caribbean or carnival?

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Lew

would go with Royal Caribbean over Carnival every time. It's a different class altogether, although on my last cruise, an American at our table preferred Carnival as the best cruise line ever.
It's just a matter of personal opinion, but if RCCL have the features that you prefer, that's the one to go for.

bluedreams1810

It really depends. Carnival is usually cheaper and is geared more toward "party people." It is after all a fun ship. I've been on 3 carnival cruises and LOVE them! I've heard the food on Royal Caribbean is horrible, but I've never been so I'm not sure. But I do want to go on Royal Caribbean one day.

theman

I have to agree....Carnival is definitely better. Everyone says if you are a young person, carnival ships are "party" ships for only college kids...not true. They either don't know what plain fun is, or they have never been on a Carnival cruise, so they cant say which is really better. Carnival is not a party ship, but a FUN ship. Just good old fun, lots to do..sure there is gambling and drinking but not "partying" as other people describe it. On my cruises there arent many college kids either, a few, but not much. Have fun...and of all the ships from Carnival I recommend the Splendor, it is fantastic!

Michael

Here are some comparisons:

FOOD: If you travel on a newer Carnival ship, like Valor, I'd say the food in the dining room is as good or maybe even better than RCCL. The food on the Lido Deck is better on RCCL. The buffet has staff to serve you on RCCL - getting you drinks or condiments or assisting you in locating an empty table.

ACTIVITIES: Carnival has the "Hairy Chest" contest, RCCL has the "Sexy Legs" contest, both have the belly-flop contest. But RCCL has more for people who get bored sitting around the pool. Mini-golf, in-line skating, ice-skating, cruise staff versus passenger dodge ball and basketball games, rock-climbing... I have a son in the military too, so I'm not exactly YOUNG, but I like to stay active and found more to do on Royal.

SHOWS: Not a gambler or a Bingo player, but I like the shows. Both lines have the typical Vegas-style show, comedians, etc. RCCL also had the ice show (an ice-skating rink on the ship is pretty darn cool) and some side-splitting game shows. They host parades on the promenade, complete with costumes and floats - lots of fun.

PIANO BAR: Carnival wins big time - at least in my limited one-cruise-on-Royal experience. Ron Pass on the Valor is the best piano bar player out there. Adventure of the Seas's piano player played dentist-office music. There was no audience participation. The guitar player in the British-style "Duck & Dog" pub proved to be an adequate substitution - but still no Ron Pass.

CABINS: Adventure is not a new ship like Valor, but the cabins were a lot nicer. Valor had larger bathrooms, but RCCL had nicer cabins with larger windows.

FELLOW PASSENGERS: I felt there were fewer passengers behaving badly on RCCL. As a travel agent said to me, that extra cost may weed out some people who really don't know how to behave on a cruise.

Hope this helps.

If you need more information, feel free to post it on my community http://www.ucruiser.com/ :)

-Michael

Smil3ys!! =]

Carnival...enough said :]

Daisy C

I've been on both. Right off the bat the answer is Carnival. They are the Fun Ship. Royal Caribbean is nice and fancy but with fancy comes boring. Royal Caribbean has certain things going on at certain times. Not Carnival. They party from day to night. They have games, contest, and the shows are awesome. Lots of partying and fun. Since I see you are 15 there are clubs if you want to do that with kids your age. They open up the night club just for you guys too. If you are looking for something more down to earth and you want to feel like you are in the Titanic then go with Royal Caribbean. But don't say I didn't warn you. If you want fun Carnival is the Way to go. Trust me, I've been on 7 Carnival Cruises and 1 Royal Caribbean and luckily I am leaving on my 8th Carnival Cruise in 19 days. Have Fun. Bon Voyage!!!!

Catherine

yep

Matt

Well, I have only done royal caribbean, but i have to say, the teen oom was great. The bedtime is like 2am not 1030 on carnival. I partied till 2am, then went on the ppol deck and ate ice cream (yes, and ice cream ship on the pool deck) with some people i met that very day until 4am, then we basically fell asleep except for one of us who woke us up, and sent us to bed (you get in trouble for sleeping on the pool deck i bet).I was 12 and i went on the grandeur (second to smallest class of ship). The arcade was totally lame, and the ben and jerrys was like $7 for one scoop. You could get free soft serve in a cone only on the pool deck. dinner was amazing, but you have to get early dining. All teen activities are during late dining, so you will miss out. The solarium cafe had the best fries ever. Remember all food is free all day (although most cafes are only open certain hours). If you just went swimming, then you could get fries and pop with some new friends. Pop is like $15 unlimited the whole time. All bars serve pop all day (like i got a sprite on the way to breakfast, and a coke on the way back to my room). Speeking of fbars, you have to walk through them to get to certain areas of the ship, and some can be awfully smoky

Jack

Royal caribbean...enough said :]

ctelly22

I have cruised with both and prefer royal caribbean. Everything on royal caribbean is just better. The breakfast was great, waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, sausage, made to order omelette's. Also the service was great, the staff was very friendly and accommodating. Also they offer more activities. I've been on a few royal caribbean cruises and I can say that I have never been bored. If anything I've been sad that I couldn't do everything I wanted to do. They have the rock climbing wall, ice skating rink, arcade, dance lessons. Their ships are definitely worth the price.

live2cheer21

i'm 14 and just got back from royal caribbean and it was amazing! i met new friends and we just wandered around the ship the whole time. The teen activites were kinda boring except for the dances . the curfew is 2 am but they never really check so you and your friends can just chill til they find you. RCL also has really awesome private islands. also carnival is more of a party ship and that tends to draw the "interesting" and drunk people so on royal i felt safer because there werent as many of those people. the breakfast is also really good plus you can go to johnny rockets or their other restaurants. me and my friends went to the pizza place at 3 in the morning on the last night. i miss my cruise so bad! i would totally reccomend Royal !

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