RCI or Carnival

[JerryHirsch007]

Originally Posted by lzyby57

I am new to the cruising world and I have a question to ask. I am thinking about a cruise for August and I have was wondering if RCI or carnival is the better cruise line. I was thinking about the Freedom of the Seas for RCI and for Carnival it was Valor, Liberty, Glory or Triumph. Any help is greatly appreciated.

The answer depends on whether you prefer wine & cheese snacks or beer & pretzels! Rccl is the 1st. Carnival, with its beer guzzling contests is the 2nd!

[Dave the Wave]

Originally Posted by JerryHirsch007

The answer depends on whether you prefer wine & cheese snacks or beer & pretzels! Rccl is the 1st. Carnival, with its beer guzzling contests is the 2nd!

Very good analogy!

[jimt]

IMO both lines are great but food & alcohol policy's are better on Carnival. I don't thing you can go wrong with either line. I see that a lot of the RCI cheerleaders are pushing RCI. But I can tell you that my Carnival cruises were great.

[skymaster]

Originally Posted by JerryHirsch007

The answer depends on whether you prefer wine & cheese snacks or beer & pretzels! Rccl is the 1st. Carnival, with its beer guzzling contests is the 2nd!

Yea, I guess the belly flop contest beats out the beer guzzling anytime. (I'm platinum on both lines, and I've never seen a beer guzzling contest aboard either line?)

[Dave the Wave]

The belly flop contest is a classy event!

[thecruisequeen]

[Donna]

Yep, very classy indeed.....I just love those pool games :-)

[skymaster]

Dave, now you owe me a cup of Joe. I left you wide open to post another of your great Belly Flop pictures. (I really like this one) 8)

Ken
"Sky"

[JerryHirsch007]

Originally Posted by lzyby57

I did actually post it in Carnival, but nobody has written back to me over there. Thank you all for your help.

Maybe they have to sober up 1st! Also, it could be that the Carnival crowd can't access the internet from their trailers !

[thecruisequeen]

[jlauntz]

lzyby57. Iknow that I answered your Carnival post! In fact you had 6 responses,with the last one posted on 1-27. It did take a while before your first response 2 days to be exact, PATIENCE is a virtue. Anyway I will repeat, I have only sailed on one RCCL ship the " Explorer of the seas" It was a beautiful ship but I still prefer Carnival. Best of luck on choosing and enjoy your cruise on whichever line you choose.

[Dave the Wave]

Originally Posted by JerryHirsch007

Maybe they have to sober up 1st! Also, it could be that the Carnival crowd can't access the internet from their trailers !

Could not have said it better!

[Kuki]

We sailed the Carnival Freedom last week with friends who have only previously sailed Princess, HAL and RCI.

They said the Carnival Freedom cruise was the best of the lot.
I found that pretty interesting.

[IBCRUZIN']

I have cruised on both lines. However, my one and only RCCL cruise was on the Voyager in 2004. Since then I have been a Carnival devotee. The reason for that is because I now cruise solo (went on RCCL with hubby) and I find the price, cabin size, and atmosphere much more attractive for a solo cruiser. When I was on the Voyager, everyone was coupled off and in small family groups. There was one woman cruising alone with her two kids, a small group of 30-something women and one young man of approx 21 cruising with his mother. Other than those passengers, I never ran into anyone who wasn't cruising with their SO. Also, on the Voyager, the ship was ASLEEP every night by midnight, dance club was a ghost town throughout the cruise. I like to party into the wee hours.

The ship was wonderful and the service was better than on Carnival ships. However, IHO, Carnival has better food and more variety in their buffet. I found the Voyager to be crowded and "busy" with so many passengers squeezed onto the deck with the bars and shops. I don't remember any of their activities so either they didn't stand out from Carnival activities or there were not many to participate in.

I did enjoy the Voyager and hated to see the cruise end. The service on this ship at that time has never been matched by Carnival. However, Carnival passengers are friendlier and more open and laid back.

Cruising solo on RCCL is generally twice as expensive as cruising solo on Carnival. That is a big difference. For the price of one RCCL cruise, I can pay for 2 or 3 cruises on Carnival. The great service on RCCL is not good enough to make me want to spend all of my annual vacation money on one vacation.

However, I am leaving next week on 2 b2b RCCL cruises to re-sample the RCCL experience. They are 4 day cruises that were on a super sale and therefore actually cheaper than Carnival at the time. Also, after so many Carnival cruises, I am ready for a bit of a change.

When I return, I will be able to make a first hand assessment whether there is really any big difference.

I am taking the Carnival Destiny to do the Southern Caribbean. I looked at Adventurer of the Seas but, again, it would have cost me twice as much to take the AOTS as the Destiny and they both get very similar reviews. Plus the Destiny's itinerary is just a bit better than the AOTS.

I agree with the other person who said it is 6 of one, half a dozen of the other. It really depends on what is top priority to you: cost, service, food, itinerary, cabin size, activities, atmosphere, activities, and the list goes on.

Good luck and happy cruzin'

[Dave the Wave]

IBCRUZIN, good points. I did a Carnival cruise in a 1A with one lower and one bunk. Missed the larger bed but the large shower was great for entertaining and I paid 150% instead of 200%. My experience on RCI though has been that there are a lot of singles and groups of singles. It certainly varies by the week, time of year, mix of passengers ect... I think more singles on the shorter cruises and times when kids are in school.