Experienced Carnival Cruisers?

TinkerBabe · 29 Jul 19, 08:16 AM

Morning all,

We have cruised many times with Royal Caribbean and have really enjoyed it every time. We would ideally have preferred to sail with them next year as part of our Las Vegas and Grand Canyon trip, however they unfortunately do not sail from Long Beach LA. Our options are to fly to a Florida cruise port and sail from there (however cruise prices and itineraries seem quite limited and expensive for 2020 with RC) or cruise with Carnival on their new ship Panorama. Has anyone got any feedback about their experiences with Carnival? We usually have the drinks package which is unlimited with RC, but I note that with Carnival it is for a limited number of drinks per day. Thanks for any info anyone may have.

JoS · 29 Jul 19, 02:56 PM

I am a big Carnival fan and have maybe been on 10 cruises. We did 2 from Longbeach but on the Imagination then Inspiration. Cant fault them at all. Amazing staff, who make you feel so special. Lovely clean ships. Food in main dining room very good, while the buffet is typical buffet style food. As for the drinks package. Its capped at 10 alcoholic drinks per day and as much water, soda, coffee etc as you like. We found the 10 more than enough for us, and with being off ship on port days struggled to fit 10 in. We like to drink as well!
I hope to book another cruise for February we love them so much. Not tried any other cruise line to compare it to, but I am so happy with Carnival I dont want to in case they are not as good.

TinkerBabe · 29 Jul 19, 03:11 PM

Ah thank you so much, this is great to hear! We are similar in that we love RC so much we are nervous about trying a new line, but I have heard from others that the 2 are more similar than they are different. It looks from the carnival website that the Cheers package includes up to 15 alcoholic drinks per day (unlimited non alcoholic) which is fine. Do you find the variety of included food to be good on carnival? RC has the main dining room, the buffet and a pizza/sandwich bar which I must admit gets a little limiting on a 7 day cruise (there are other pay options, I�m just thinking specifically about included food venues) and it seems that Carnival May have a better offering in this respect with Guys Burgers and The Blue Iguana- are these included or pay as you go options? 😊

JoS · 29 Jul 19, 03:31 PM

Originally Posted by TinkerBabe

Ah thank you so much, this is great to hear! We are similar in that we love RC so much we are nervous about trying a new line, but I have heard from others that the 2 are more similar than they are different. It looks from the carnival website that the Cheers package includes up to 15 alcoholic drinks per day (unlimited non alcoholic) which is fine. Do you find the variety of included food to be good on carnival? RC has the main dining room, the buffet and a pizza/sandwich bar which I must admit gets a little limiting on a 7 day cruise (there are other pay options, I�m just thinking specifically about included food venues) and it seems that Carnival May have a better offering in this respect with Guys Burgers and The Blue Iguana- are these included or pay as you go options? 😊

We find the food fine. Main dining room very good. Lobster and steak on formal night on 7 day cruises. There are menus posted online. Maybe see if you can find them? Pizza is lovely and sandwiches and hot dogs great. Loved the turkey sandwich for lunch then got a few bits from buffet. We like Guys and Blue Iguana and often have BI breakfast burrito instead of breakfast. These are included. We dont pay for any other meals like sushi bar. We didnt find it limiting at all, and we did a back to back at Christmas, so same food for us for 14 days. Was it 15 drinks? Must have drank more than I thought lol. My sister has sailed both cruise lines. She found RC to be more formal, whereas Carnival more fun. If you prefer more formal you may not like Carnival. What I so so love is the staff make you feel so special. Maybe its the same on other cruise lines. I am a member of a Carnival FB group. Have you checked on there? Maybe some one can compare to RC. I have no complaints at all and will continue to use Carnival for my future cruises.

traceylou1972 · 29 Jul 19, 03:43 PM

My favourite cruise line is Celebrity but I have cruised on Carnival many times. Wouldn�t hesitate cruising with them again. It�s a very relaxed ship and the crew are all lovely. They have the best show for formal night too. Enjoy you will have a ball.

niccynoo66 · 29 Jul 19, 03:44 PM

Hello,
We have sailed twice with carnival (Horizon and vista) and we are booked on the Panorama for next Aug.
Both cruises were great, no negatives from us. We ate in lido, MDR, steak house and guys burgers and liked them all.
We went to shows, went to craft classes and trivia plus port day trips.
All staff were very happy and helpful

We are a family of 4 , me , hubby and two teens and always stay in family harbour area as the extra facilities suit us.

hope this helps a bit,

Nicky x

TinkerBabe · 29 Jul 19, 04:19 PM

Thank you so much everyone this has helped such a lot! Nicky-it is the Panorama next August (22nd) that we are considering (will book as soon as flights are out). Everyone�s feedback has really put my mind at rest, sounds like we will love it (we will be with our children, ages 21 & 22, and friends).

JoS · 29 Jul 19, 04:23 PM

Originally Posted by TinkerBabe

Thank you so much everyone this has helped such a lot! Nicky-it is the Panorama next August (22nd) that we are considering (will book as soon as flights are out). Everyone�s feedback has really put my mind at rest, sounds like we will love it (we will be with our children, ages 21 & 22, and friends).

Any questions feel free to ask. If not hope you enjoy Carnival as much as we do

niccynoo66 · 29 Jul 19, 04:45 PM

Originally Posted by TinkerBabe

Thank you so much everyone this has helped such a lot! Nicky-it is the Panorama next August (22nd) that we are considering (will book as soon as flights are out). Everyone�s feedback has really put my mind at rest, sounds like we will love it (we will be with our children, ages 21 & 22, and friends).

That is the cruise we are booked on !

We are planning to go around California first before ending up at Longbeach to embark the cruise. I am waiting for flights to be released, only Thomas Cook are out but I have points for BA and virgin so want to see their prices first !

Have you looked at the Havana area for cabins , they looked really nice and I think they have their own pool area.

Nicky x

TinkerBabe · 30 Jul 19, 12:33 PM

Your trip sounds similar to ours, we plan to start in Las Vegas before driving to LA and embarking the cruise. We love the west coast and have had some of our best holidays there, like you we have virgin miles and a companion voucher so we are hoping for Virgin flight availability, but I�m tempted to book the cruise now with the reduced deposit (would only be $198 for all 4 of us) in order not too miss out on the currently quite good pricing. Decisions decisions! 😊